# Adventures in Kalamar! - (Now) Forging Darkness



## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

This thread contains the chronicle of my mostly weekly Thursday night gaming group. We are starting out with the Coin Trilogy of Adventures from Kenzer & Co. so I'll mention these two things right up front. One, these posts will contain spoilers, so read them at your own risk. Second, some of the information contained herein is copyrighted Kenzer & Co. and it's use is solely intended for background information and in no way represents an intent to infringe on that right. I am not trying in any way to step on that copyright and if it is necessary, I will remove the portions contained in the posts.

That being said, here is some background information on the group itself. The group consists of six players. Three of these players are from a bi-monthly group I run (we were playing in Greyhawk but have since moved to Kalamar at the beginning of September.) The other three are people whom I contacted over the internet who were looking for a group in my area. Of the group, four are long time players of D&D while the other two are very new (my wife and one of the players girl friend.)

I decided to use the standard method for generating ability scores. The only difference was I allowed each player to produce three sets of scores instead of one. They could choose which set to use first, with the other two as backups for additional characters, just in case.

Our first session together was basically for the group getting together for the first time (I had met with everyone individually before hand to at least make sure that they would understand my expectations and style of play and vice versa) to generate their characters and to come up with how the
adventuring group formed (I wanted the players to have a lot of input in this area.) So, we spent about two hours generating the characters and then started to come up with background information for them.

We are currently meeting weekly on Thursday nights for 2 1/2 to 3 hour sessions. So far, we have met a dozen times. You will sometimes notice changes in tone and style in some of the session logs. This is because I ask each player to take a turn at writing up the log each week, with the detail from their characters perspective. This helps me out in that I don't have to take notes all the time, it serves as a refresher for what happened the previous week and puts a different spin on what happened because of the different points of views. 

The next several posts will contain the stat blocks of the various characters followed by the session logs.


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## The Sunderer (Jan 15, 2002)

I look forward to it  

Now how do you subscribe to a thread?


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Cast of Characters*

*Chin*

*Male Reanaarian Mnk1*; medium-sized humanoid (human); HD 1d8+2; hp 10; Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 16 (+3 Dex, +3 Wis); Melee: Siangham +2 (1d6+2/Crit:20/x2), Dagger +2 (1d4+2/Crit:19-20/x2), Club +2  (1d6+2/Crit:20/x2); Ranged: Dagger +3 10 ft. (1d4+2/Crit:19-20/x2), Shuriken +3 10 ft. (1/Crit:20/x2), Sling +3 50 ft. (1d4+2/Crit:20/x2); Unarmed: Strike +2 (1d6+2/Crit:20/x2), Flurry of Blows +0/+0 (1d6+2/Crit:20/x2); SV Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +5; AL LG; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 9.

*Languages Spoken*: Merchant's Tongue, Reanaarese

*Skills*: Climb +6, Escape Artist +5, Hide +7, Jump +4, Knowledge (Arcana) +1, Listen +4, Move Silently +7, Sense Motive +4, Tumble +4.

*Feats*: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike (Virtual).

*Special Abilities and Qualities*: Unarmed Strike, Stunning Attack, Evasion, AC Bonus (unarmored), Unarmored Speed Bonus.

*Personal Information*: Male human, 18 years old, 5' 10", 170 lbs. Literate.

*Level Information*:

_Level 1_:

Ability Scores: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 9

Race - Human; 1 extra feat at first level; 4 extra skill points at first level; 1 extra skill point at 2nd level and above; can have any favored class.

Languages - Merchant's Tongue, Reanaarese; Chin is literate.

Class - Monk Level 1

Benefits - HP 8 (max on d8); BAB +0; Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2; (SA) Unarmed Strike, (VF) Improved Unarmed Strike, (SA) Stunning Attack, (SA) Evasion, UAB +0, Unarmed Damage: 1d6, AC Bonus +0, Unamored Speed 30 ft.

Hit Points - 10 (8 +2 Con)

Feats - Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative

Skill Points - 20 (4 +0 Int +1 Human) x 4

Skill Ranks - Climb 4, Escape Artist 2, Hide 4, Jump 2, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Listen 1, Move Silently 4, Sense Motive 1, Tumble 1


*Daloren*

*Male Reanaarian Ftr1*; medium-sized humanoid (human); HD 1d6+2; hp 8; Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (+3 Dex, +2 Leather); Melee: Dagger +2 (1d4+2/Crit:19-20/x2), Light Mace +2  (1d6+2/Crit:20/x2); Ranged: Dagger +2 10 ft. (1d4+2/Crit:19-20/x2); Unarmed: Strike +2 (1d3+2 subdual/Crit:20/x2); SV Fort +2, Ref +5, Will -1; AL LC; Str 14, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 12.

*Languages Spoken*: Merchant's Tongue, Reanaarese

*Skills*: Appraise +6, Balance +7, Climb +6, Disable Device +6, Gather Information +4, Heal +3, Hide +7, Listen +2, Move Silently +7, Open Lock +6, Search +7, Spot +3, Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +3.

*Feats*: Expertise, Improved Initiative.

*Special Abilities and Qualities*: Sneak Attack +1d6, Traps (use Search to find).

*Personal Information*: Male human, 17 years old, 5' 4", 120 lbs. Literate.

*Background*: Daloren was born in the small town of Heeno to an innkeeper by the name of Grunweld, and his wife Merlinda. Life was good for the small family and Daloren, being an only child, received much affection and attention. This is how Daloren spent the first decade and a half of his life. He would often work at his father’s inn dur-ing the day and sneak off at night to pursue his own ambitions.

There are two passions which drive Daloren: the quest for knowledge and the thrill of adventure. When he was growing up, his mother would often tell him bedtime stories. These stories, while most often fables, helped to instill a sense of wonder in him. As he grew up, he found himself wanting more and more to go out and see the world for himself. He would often pester the travelers staying at his father’s inn to tell him of their adventures, while secretly wishing to be finding his own adventures instead of listening to them second hand.

On his sixteenth birthday, he decided that the time had come for him to set out and forge his own destiny. With a hug to his parents and little more than the clothes on his back, Daloren left home with no particular destination in mind. His first stop was Zoa, a large port city. There he spent a few weeks trying to find work at anything interesting (scribe, caravan guards, etc.), but was unsuccessful. It was then that he met up with a bunch of soldiers from the local military. Seeing this as his chance to finally get some adventure, he quickly joined. Due to his natural quickness and keen mind he was selected to become a scout. As a scout his primary mission was to locate and report enemy information so he was well trained in the stealthy arts. He was also trained in many different skills to help him navigate through the dangers of traveling in unknown areas, things such as the finding and removal of traps as well as some basic knowledge of healing. He progressed well in his training and quickly was sent into the field.

Life in the military was not all that Daloren thought it would be and he quickly grew bored with it. As a first-line scout, he thought he would see a lot of action. Unfortunately, his unit was assigned to a relatively quiet area and most days they were lucky if they encountered a deer let alone any enemies. The monotony of guard shifts as well as the relative laziness of the others in his unit left Daloren with a bad opinion of the military. When his time of enlistment was over (one year) he left the service without a second thought.

He happened upon the small trade town of Haanex, and has spent a few days there just trying to see what is around for someone of his skills and talents. With some luck, he should be able to find some work as a scout...

As for the future, Daloren would like to try his hand at the arcane arts. His natural bump of curiosity as well as his keen intellect would make him a decent mage or so he thinks. He does want to still continue his scout training as well so it will be interesting to see which direction he will go in.

*Level Information*:

_Level 1_:

Ability Scores: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 9

Race - Human; 1 extra feat at first level; 4 extra skill points at first level; 1 extra skill point at 2nd level and above; can have any favored class.

Languages - Merchant's Tongue, Reanaarese; Daloren is literate.

Class - Rogue Level 1

Benefits - HP 6 (max on d6); BAB +0; Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +0; (SA) Sneak Attack +1d6, (VF) Armor Proficiency (Light), (SA) Traps (use Search to find).

Hit Points - 8 (6 +2 Con)

Feats - Expertise, Improved Initiative

Skill Points - 48 (8 +3 Int +1 Human) x 4

Skill Ranks - Appraise 3, Balance 4, Climb 4, Disable Device 3, Gather Information 3, Heal 4, Hide 4, Listen 3, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 3, Search 4, Spot 4, Tumble 3, Use Magic Device 2.


*Lulla*

*Female Gnome Clr1*; Cleric of Boegoo, The Coddler; Divine Focus: small pillow; small-sized humanoid (gnome); HD 1d8+3; hp 11; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 15 ft. (Armor Penalty); AC 17 (+2 Dex, +4 Scale Mail, +1 Size); Melee: Club +1  (1d6/Crit:20/x2), Light Mace +1  (1d6/Crit:20/x2); Ranged: Light Crossbow +3 80 ft. (1d8/Crit:19-20/x2); Unarmed: Strike +1 (1d2 subdual/Crit:20/x2); SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +5; AL CG; Str 10, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 11, Wis 17, Cha 13.

*Languages Spoken*: Merchant's Tongue, Gnome

*Skills*: Diplomacy +2, Heal +7, Knowledge (Religion) +3.

*Feats*: Improved Initiative.

*Special Abilities and Qualities*: Low-light Vision, +2 bonus on savings throws against illusions, +1 attack bonus against kobolds and goblinoids, +4 dodge bonus against giants, +2 bonus on Listen and Alchemy checks, if Int 10+ can cast dancing lights, ghost sound and prestidigitation 1/day as 1st level caster, Spontaneous Casting, Turn Undead.

*Personal Information*: Female gnome, 37 years old, 3' 6", 42 lbs. Literate.

*Level Information*:

_Level 1_:

Ability Scores: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 17, Cha 13

Race - Gnome; -2 Str, +2 Con; Low-light Vision; +2 bonus on saving throws against illusions; +1 attack bonus against kobolds and goblinoids; +4 dodge bonus against giants; +2 bonus on Listen and Alchemy checks; if Int 10+ can cast dancing lights, ghost sound and prestidigitation 1/day as 1st level caster.

Languages - Merchant's Tongue, Gnome; Lulla is literate.

Class - Cleric Level 1

Benefits - HP 8 (max on d8); BAB +0; Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +2; (SA) Spontaneous Casting, (VF) Armor Proficiency (Light), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Medium), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Heavy), (VF) Simple Weapon Proficiency, (VF) Shield Proficiency, (SA) Turn Undead.

God - Boegoo (The Coddler)

Divine Focus - small pillow

Domains - Healing, Protection

Maximum Spell Level - 7

Spell Save Base - 13

Spells Per Day - 3 (0), 2+1 (1)

Turns Per Day - 1 (Cha)

Number of HD Turned - 2d6+2 (+1 level, +1 Cha)

Hit Points - 11 (8 +3 Con)

Feats - Improved Initiative

Skill Points - 8 (2 +0 Int) x 4

Skill Ranks - Diplomacy 1, Heal 4, Knowledge (Religion) 3.


*Pug*

*Male Reanaarian Ftr1*; medium-sized humanoid (human); HD 1d10+2; hp 12; Init +2 (+2 Dex); Spd 20 ft.(Armor Penalty); AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 Scale Mail); Melee: Greataxe +5 (1d12+4/Crit:20/x3), Light mace +4 (1d6+3/Crit:20/x2); Ranged: Javelin +3 30 ft. (1d6/Crit:20/x2); Unarmed: Strike +4 (1d3+3 subdual/Crit:20/x2); SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will -1; AL LG; Str 17, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12.

*Languages Spoken*: Merchant's Tongue, Reanaarese

*Skills*: Climb +7, Handle Animal +3, Jump +7, Profession (Fisherman) +0.

*Feats*: Weapon Focus (Greataxe), Power Attack, Sunder.

*Special Abilities and Qualities*: 

*Personal Information*: Male human, 17 years old, 5' 10", 220 lbs. Literate.

*Level Information*:

_Level 1_:

Ability Scores: Str 17, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12

Race - Human; 1 extra feat at first level; 4 extra skill points at first level; 1 extra skill point at 2nd level and above; can have any favored class.

Languages - Merchant's Tongue, Reanaarese; Pug is literate.

Class - Fighter Level 1

Benefits - HP 10 (max on d8); BAB +1; Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0; (VF) Simple Weapon Proficiency, (VF) Martial Weapon Proficiency, (VF) Armor Proficiency (Light), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Medium), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Shield Proficiency

Hit Points - 12 (10 +2 Con)

Feats - Weapon Focus (Greataxe), Power Attack, Sunder

Skill Points - 12 (2 +0 Int +1 Human) x 4

Skill Ranks - Climb 4, Handle Animal 2, Jump 4, Profession (Fisherman) 1 [cross-class].


*Shaedra*

*Female Half-Elf Pal1*; Paladin of Foornaar, The Speaker of the Word; medium-sized humanoid (half-elf); HD 1d10+2; hp 12; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 20 ft.(Armor Penalty); AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 Scale Mail); Melee: Greatsword +4 (2d6+4/Crit:19-20/x2), Longsword +4 (1d8+3/Crit:19-20/x2), Heavy mace +4 (1d8+3/Crit:20/x2); Unarmed: Strike +4 (1d3+3 subdual/Crit:20/x2); SV Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +6; AL LG; Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 16, Cha 16.

*Languages Spoken*: Merchant's Tongue, Elven

*Skills*: Craft (Weaponsmith) +1, Diplomacy +4, Handle Animal +4, Heal +5, Profession (Guide) +4, Ride +4.

*Feats*: Improved Initiative.

*Special Abilities and Qualities*: Immune to magic sleep spells and effects; +2 bonus on saving throws against Enchantment spells or effects; Low-light Vision; +1 bonus on Listen, Search and Spot checks; Elven Blood; Detect Evil; Divine Grace; Lay on Hands; Divine Health

*Personal Information*: Female human, 27 years old, 5' 7", 115 lbs. Literate.

*Level Information*:

_Level 1_:

Ability Scores: Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 16, Cha 16

Race - Half-Elf; Immune to magic sleep spells and effects; +2 bonus on saving throws against Enchantment spells or effects; Low-light Vision; +1 bonus on Listen, Search and Spot checks; Elven Blood; can have any favored class.

Languages - Merchant's Tongue, Elven; Shaedra is literate.

Class - Paladin Level 1

Benefits - HP 12 (max on d10); BAB +1; Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0; (VF) Simple Weapon Proficiency, (VF) Martial Weapon Proficiency, (VF) Armor Proficiency (Light), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Medium), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Shield Proficiency, (SA) Detect Evil, (SA) Divine Grace, (SA) Lay on Hands, (SA) Divine Health

Hit Points - 12 (10 +2 Con)

Feats - Improved Initiative

Skill Points - 8 (2 +0 Int) x 4

Skill Ranks - Craft (Weaponsmith) 1, Diplomacy 1, Handle Animal 1, Heal 2, Profession (Guide) 1, Ride 2.


*Thalen*

*Male Half-Elf Ftr1*; medium-sized humanoid (half-elf); HD 1d10+2; hp 12; Init +2 (+2 Dex); Spd 20 ft.(Armor Penalty); AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 Scale Mail); Melee: Greatsword +3 (2d6+1/Crit:19-20/x2), Dagger +2 (1d4+1/Crit:20/x2); Ranged: Dagger +3 10 ft. (1d4+1/Crit:20/x2), Short Bow +3 60 ft. (1d6/Crit:20/x3); Unarmed: Strike +2 (1d3+1 subdual/Crit:20/x2); SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will -2; AL ?; Str 13, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 7, Cha 15.

*Languages Spoken*: Merchant's Tongue, Elven

*Skills*: Climb +5, Jump +5.

*Feats*: Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (Greatsword).

*Special Abilities and Qualities*: Immune to magic sleep spells and effects; +2 bonus on saving throws against Enchantment spells or effects; Low-light Vision; +1 bonus on Listen, Search and Spot checks; Elven Blood

*Personal Information*: Female human, 26 years old, 5' 10", 150 lbs. Literate.

*Level Information*:

_Level 1_:

Ability Scores: Str 13, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 7, Cha 15

Race - Half-Elf; Immune to magic sleep spells and effects; +2 bonus on saving throws against Enchantment spells or effects; Low-light Vision; +1 bonus on Listen, Search and Spot checks; Elven Blood; can have any favored class.

Languages - Merchant's Tongue, Elven; Thalen is literate.

Class - Fighter Level 1

Benefits - HP 12 (max on d10); BAB +1; Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0; (VF) Simple Weapon Proficiency, (VF) Martial Weapon Proficiency, (VF) Armor Proficiency (Light), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Medium), (VF) Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Shield Proficiency

Hit Points - 12 (10 +2 Con)

Feats - Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (Greatsword)

Skill Points - 8 (2 +0 Int) x 4

Skill Ranks - Climb 4, Jump 4.


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*The Root of All Evil - Session I - A Beautiful Autumn Day*

*Harvest 16th, 744 YND*

Our tale starts with, of all things, a wandering monk. This monk, named Chin, left his monastery in the hills of Vrykarr Mountains to find a group of people to band together with in order to perform good deeds in the world. His mentor suggested this course of action to him in order to broaden the young monk's horizons as he felt that Chin was too insular in his training at the monastery. He told Chin that it would be good for him to wander the world outside of his current training in order to expand his knowledge and mind. So Chin left the monastery one morning, at the beginning of the month of Harvest, trying to decide how he would accomplish what his master was asking of him.

Chin wandered away from the Vry Naasu Headlands. At first, he didn't know which way to go, but eventually found himself at the shores of the Reanaaria Bay. He marveled at the sight of the bay, having never seen such a large body of water. "Which way to go," he wondered, "south to the more civilized areas or north to the sparsely populated ones?" He decides to head north, mainly because he is enjoying the autumn weather and sees a forest area in that direction (he has heard that the trees change color at this time of year and wants to see that.)

On the 16th of Harvest, he happens upon the town of Haanex, which lies nestled on the northwestern edge of Reanaaria Bay, just south of Skarrna and the lands of Skryvalkker Hurrkal. Primarily a fishing and trade town, the 350 inhabitants welcome the merchants heading to or from Skarrna along the coast. Little more than an overnight stop, the village grew around the fortified hostel and a fishery. Most businesses involve the fishing industry or provide goods and services for travelers. Some local farmers work the fields west of town and several shepherds also live in the area.

As Chin enters the town, the monk is pleased to discover that Haanex houses a temple of Foornaar, The Speaker of the Word. Where better, he thinks, to start seeking honorable and trustworthy travel companions? As he enters the temple, the monk sees that he is not its only visitor on this day. A young man in obvious distress is speaking with the priest.

_"Well, I fell off the side and got tangled in the net," the youngster is telling the priest. "They had to cut me free and lost the whole morning's catch."

"Again, Pug?" replies the priest. "That's three times this week! Hmm. Maybe you're right, and you aren't cut out for the fishing business."

"Well, what else am I to do? I don't have any other skills!"

"You know that's not true, Pug. Why, you were a wonderful soldier. Your sergeant told me himself you were the finest fighting man he'd ever seen. And you showed me all those medals you won."

"Oh, I was never any good, I was just in the right place at the right time. But anyway, that's not going to help me support my family."

The monk has heard enough. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think I may have a solution for this young man's problem."_

After spending some time explaining his proposal and assuring Pug that yes, he really does want him along, and no, he doesn't think Pug's incompetence would just get them both killed, and yes, they will be helping people and serving good, and yes, there should be some money in it for Pug's family, the monk finds himself with his first traveling companion.

While this was happening, a young paladin entered the temple overhearing the proposal the monk has made to Pug. She approaches the pair as they are leaving the temple. "Greetings fellow travelers! I could not help but overhear what the two of you were discussing. If what you said about your intent on performing righteous deeds is true, I would be interested in join up with you. I am out and about on my own for the first time and am looking for a few adventuring partners." Pug suggests that they go to the Ki-ren's Rest Inn to talk over the details of forming a group.

The three head off to the inn to sit down in the bar to have a conversation. On their way there, they see this fellow meandering down the streets. He appears to be lost. Pug decides to approach him to offer any assistance.

_"Greetings, traveler, is there something I might help you to find?" says Pug.

"I'm not sure," replies the half-elf fighter, "I am trying to find something, but can't remember what. I think I was looking for a group of people to ply my fortune with, at least that's what I can recall."_

Pug invites the fighter to join them and all four continue on to the inn.

While the four new comrades are getting to know one another a little bit better, two more people, a man and woman, walk in through the door. As the young man surveys the inn, he catches a familiar glimpse out of the corner of his eye. He takes a moment to contemplate what he sees, trying to make a connection. "Hmmm, Haanex. Hmmm, that gent at the table. What's the connection?" Then it dawns on him, it's Pug, the fellow from the Zoa militia he spent some time with as a scout. Yeah, during those boring days when the most he would due is rustle up some deer for the group to hunt down. Pug always did seem a nice enough fellow and that is an interesting group he's with. I think I'll go over and say hi.

_He turns to his gnome companion, saying, "I know that fellow over there, let 's go say hello."

"Hey, Pug, you old dog!!" cries out Daloren, "is that really you?"

Pug turns in the direction of the voice, "Is that you Dal? I don't believe it. What are you doing up in these parts?"

"I got pretty fed up with the militia work, it was to boring. So, I decided to set off on my own. Been traveling for a while when I met up with Lulla, here". He introduces Lulla to Pug and Pug introduces the others, Chin, Shaedra and Thalen. "So what's going on?" ask Daloren.

Chin speaks up describing his mission and his goal of forming an adventuring party to go around performing good deeds. "Mind if we join up with you?" asks Dal, "cuz it sounds like you could use our talents to round out your group."_

The six sit down together, talking a bit about themselves and what they might want to do to start off. They decide that they'll go to bed and meet here for breakfast to begin their first quest. It is late in the evening and as the group decides to retire, they notice a handbill on the wall:


_*ADVENTURERS NEEDED*_​_
to undergo a quest to find​*VALUABLE TREASURE*​some danger involved​100 gold pieces to be paid​to any survivors​Contact Veoden in​Leaning Tower​at sunset​_ 

The group decides that this might be worth investigating and will talk about it in the morning.

*Harvest 17th, 744 YND*

The next day, Pug asks one of his sisters about the tower.

_"Oh, right," she says, "I guess that crazy place wasn't here when you left. About two years ago, this crazy old man shows up in town and asks the Guurhols (you remember, the builder family two houses down) to build him this tower. Only he insists that they put it in the middle of the swamp up there. They tried to talk him out of it (they're good honest folk) but he would have none of it. 'Build it here,' he says. 'It's a good place.' So they did. Well, you can see what's happened to it, and that just 6 months after it was built. He's been shoring it up himself; the Guurhols would never do such shoddy work. Why do you ask?"

Pug shows her the handbill. "It was just a thought I was having. I met this wandering monk yesterday, and he wants me to go ad-venturing with him. I know, it's crazy. I don't know what I was thinking. You all need me here and I'm not--"

"No, no, no!" two or three of his siblings simultaneously interrupt. "It's a fine idea, of course you should go do good deeds and seek your fortune. Yes, it will be hard here without you, but we'll manage to muddle through somehow. You really should do this!"_

And having received that most sincere and vocal support, Pug heads off with a clear conscience to tell the others what he has heard about Veoden and his tower.

After informing the group about what he found out, Pug and the others spend the rest of the day in town doing a little shopping. Then, at sunset, the group approaches the tower as instruction in the handbill. The tower is an architect's nightmare. At least 50 feet tall and 10 feet on a side, the square tower leans like a drunken man who has had his body snapped at several key points. Cracks in the mortar and the huge wooden supports make the place look like it could topple over at any moment. Even the tiled roof has holes in it, though the tall lightning rod atop it seems to be
perpendicular to the ground.

They knock on the door and a sleepy man answers. He blinks and asks, "What do you want?"

Chin holds up the handbill and tells the man that they have come in response to it. He considers this for a moment, remembers, and then invites them in and telling them to have a seat and make themselves comfortable. Once everyone is seated, Veoden sits in the center of the room and looks everyone over for a moment. He then relates the Legend of the Falling Star:

_"A little over a hundred years ago," he begins, "the Star fell from the sky - or so the legend goes. It fell this time of year, on a quiet night with just the slightest chill of winter in the air. The ones who saw it said that it flashed blue and white and screamed as it fell. Many felt it was a sign of the gods."

"It fell northwest of town, far away in the Vrykarr Mountains where the giant-kin rule. Most believed the Falling Star destroyed itself when it struck the earth. Still, many foolhardy souls sought the Star. None succeeded and few have returned. Eventually, the people forgot the Falling Star."

"Years later, the great sage Caaranian proved that stars are made of mithral, a magical metal that takes enchantment much more readily than normal steel and is stronger than that metal as well. Sages agree that the site of a fallen star is often a good place to find mithral. When the locals heard of these findings and remembered the legend of the Star that Fell, they once again searched the hill and mountains for the Star."

The wizard looks at each of the adventurers squarely in the eye.

"Mithral is used to make magic swords, armor, weapons, and other enchanted things," he finally says. "I want some. I'm willing to pay you 100 gold pieces for one pound of the metal, proportionally more if you bring me more. Are you willing to seek out this metal?"_

The group asks for a few moments of privacy to talk. They decide that this might be a good way to gain some finances to support them in their endeavors. They respond to Veoden that they are willing to perform this task for him if he can supply them with some basic things that he thinks might be useful. Veoden agrees and relates further information about the story of Dairoo and his Map:

_Veoden continues his story, "Save one man, Dairoo, who was found just west of town almost dead from exposure and wounds. He claimed that he had found the Star but that wizards and monsters guarded it. He carried in his pockets a few bits of an odd, silvery metal that the town blacksmith could not work. No matter how hot the forge, the metal simply refused to melt. Dairoo claimed it was mithral but refused to reveal where he had found it. He would only say that it lay in the evil lands to the west and was not worth what he had seen to go get it."

"He never did tell exactly where the Star was located, but he did draw a map for himself. The map long outlived its master, who died the following harvest of a mysterious wasting disease. Dairoo seemed to just waste away over the course of a month. He blamed a curse but would say no more about it. He called his son to his bed just before the end and held a whispered conversation with the youth. Then he expired, his flesh seeming to whither even as he lay there."

"The map was handed down from father to son in the Dairoo family, until the last son who had no children. During the harvest of his twenty-fifth year, he died of the same disease that befell his ancestors. No one knows for sure, but some suspect that the map was buried with him in the cemetery outside of town. Legend has it that the Dairoo curse continues even after death. Fear of the curse has kept even the most determined grave robbers away."

"That is all I know of the map and the Fallen Star."_


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session II - Graveyard Stomp, by Pug*

When we left off, I had thrown in my lot with an impressive group of adventurers, strong, brave and wise folk who for some reason felt that I could be of some use to them. I just hope I don't let them down too badly.

Anyway, we went to see this strange man, Veoden, who had a proposition for us. He wants us to bring him mithral, in the form of a fallen star, which wouldn't seem so bad except that there has to be a horrible curse involved. He is willing to pay 100 gp (that's right, one hundred gold pieces), for every pound of mithral that we bring him. I could set up my family for a long time with some of that money!

So here's the story that he told us: many years ago, a star (made of mithral) fell to earth somewhere to the northwest of here. Lots of folks tried, and failed, to find it. One person, Walker Dairoo, claimed that he had found it, but he wouldn't tell where. He did, apparently, have a map. He also, apparently, had a curse, and he died on 18 Harvest of some year or other. His son inherited the map and the curse, and died on 18 Harvest of some other year. His son inherited the map and curse, and, you guessed it, died on 18 Harvest of yet another year. Finally, we come to Atuur Dairoo, the only one in the family with enough sense not to have a son of his own. Predictably, he died on 18 Harvest 738. The map was supposedly buried with him, and that took care of the curse. That is, unless somebody's stupid enough to go get the map from him. Which, of course, is exactly what Veoden proposed that we do.

After some discussion, we agreed to head to the graveyard and get the map. Veoden told us just where we could find Atuur Dairoo: in the biggest mausoleum in the graveyard. Fortunately, that meant we wouldn't have to actually dig up any graves. I for one wasn't too clear on how grave robbing and serving good go together, but Lulla and our paladin (what was her name again? oh yeah, Shaedra), two of the most devout people I've ever met, assured me that it was all right, particularly if by our actions we could relieve the curse which may still lay on Atuur and his kin.

We headed off to the graveyard that very evening (17 Harvest) arriving there about 10:30 PM. _(DM's Note: There was much debate whether to go to the cemetery that night or the next morning. The group reluctantly agreed that the town would be much less likely to be upset by not seeing them poking around there.)_ The gate was locked, but the wall is easy to scale and we did so with no trouble (it reminded me of when I did that as a child on a dare). We found the mausoleum fairly quickly. The word "Baolo" was written faintly on the outside of the crypt. If I weren't such a complete idiot and had paid any attention to the town history my mother was always going on about, I would have known that Baolo was the name of a prominent family here in town a long time ago, and that we were in fact in the wrong place. But no, as usual, I proved completely worthless and we tromped on in (after Daloren showed off another of his remarkable scores by picking the lock to the place). Specifically, I tromped right in; with Chin the monk and the paladin close behind.

The crypt itself was a mess. The caskets were open, there was stuff strewn all over, and the bones of various dead Baolos were scattered about the floor. That is, they were scattered about the floor until they started to get up and move around! You heard me right, all of a sudden there were four living skeletons in that place, and they started going after us. Well, I took a mighty swing at one of them with my greataxe and completely missed him. Meanwhile, Shaedra destroyed another with a single blow. I'm so worthless to this group; it's only a matter of time before they realize that. Anyway, we managed to destroy them all (Chin took out two with his bare hands! I've never seen anything like that). I even got a lucky shot in on the last one and took it down, but not before it managed to rake me with one of its claws (how clumsy I am!).

Since we still thought we were in the right place, we set about searching and re-consecrating the place, which took us a good long time. By the time we finished searching and cleaning, it was close to 2:00 AM. Needless to say, we didn't find the map, but we did find a surprisingly large amount of coin (around 50 gp worth!), some gems (7 of them) and a scroll tube made of bone. And in fact, there was a scroll in the tube, which Lulla informed us, was magical in nature. Apparently, it contained a spell which would give one of us complete protection from evil beings. (Unsurprisingly, it wouldn't be long before, thanks to me, we completely wasted this wondrous and powerful spell). However, we found no map, and it was only then that we realized that this was in fact the crypt of the Baolo family, not the Dairoos we were looking for.

At this point, we realized we would have to search the whole graveyard. Eventually, we found where the Dairoos are buried. They're all by themselves in a far corner of the graveyard, in (sigh) graves. So that meant digging. Great. And we without our shovels. Even better, Shaedra meditated over the Dairoo's graves for a moment and told us that there was evil emanating from each of them. Off we went, at 3:30 AM, dejected, trudging back to town. We filled Veoden in on what happened and arranged to head back the next night with picks and shovels (conveniently provided by Veoden).

So it was that we found ourselves dragging Atuur Dairoo's coffin from his grave shortly after midnight on 19 Harvest (we decided to wait until midnight to avoid the 18th, that cursed day which had claimed all the Dairoo men). We had spent a half hour digging in front of his creepy headstone (which reads "Last of the Dairoo Line/May the Gods Watch Over Him and Keep Him/The Curse is Ended") to uncover the coffin, only to find that it was wrapped with heavy chains and strong locks. This was a disturbing sign. In their desire to keep anyone from getting into Atuur's coffin (or perhaps to keep Atuur from getting out), the townspeople had used locks of such quality that even Daloren couldn't pick them. Eventually, I had to break them open with my axe (finally, a way I could be useful!). At this point, we stood well back and pulled the coffin lid off with ropes. Nothing happened, initially.

Then Shaedra approached the coffin (what bravery!) and took a look. Apparently, she saw the map, because she tried to take it out with the tip of her sword. Unfortunately, this activated Atuur, or whatever it was that he had turned into, and he spoke.

*"Doom on those who rob my grave! The curse allows me to destroy defilers!"*

The creature then stood up so we all could see it. I don't know what manner of creature it was, but it had ghoulishly pale and clammy skin, a ghoulish grimace on its face, and spoke in a frightening, ghoulish voice. I think I'll call it a "Spooker."

The Spooker leaned over and bit (!) Shaedra. I didn't notice immediately, but apparently its bite rendered her instantly paralyzed. I charged in, swung my axe and hit the foul creature. At first I thought I had dealt it such a mighty blow that I had utterly destroyed it. Unfortunately, after staggering around for a moment, the Spooker came back and attacked me. Thankfully, it missed, and we closed in on it. Lulla did something then, summoned the power of her god, perhaps, and we all suddenly felt a surge of strength and well-being. I am sure that without this we would not have survived the fight. Eventually, we did manage to destroy the creature. And this time, we did find the map (and a fancy stick-pin with jewels all over it).

We put the remains of poor Atuur back in his coffin, sealed it shut, and placed it back in his grave giving him a "proper" burial with Lulla presiding over the ceremony. Then we covered him back up so that no one would know that he was dug up in the first place.

The map is strange, with locations and dates noted on it. Some of the dates are old, some haven't happened yet. One of them is 18 Harvest 738 YND (the date Atuur Dairoo died), but one is even 8 years from now! We will have to puzzle over this some more. In the meantime, we wondered if there might be more information buried with the other Dairoos, specifically with Walker, the one who found the star initially. So we decided to dig up his grave (his headstone reads "May the gods take pity on his poor cursed soul").

Half an hour later, Chin and I were standing on the eldest Dairoo's coffin. The good news was that there were no chains or locks to deal with. The bad news was that the coffin was so rotten there was no way to get it out of the hole. So I (stupid, stupid) bashed it open with my axe while standing on top of it. Sure enough, this guy had turned into one of those Spooker things too, and he grabbed for my leg. Lulla, fearing for my wretched worthless life, pulled out the scroll and cast its protective spell on me (losing the magic of the scroll forever in the process). The Spooker burst out of the coffin and was standing between Chin and me. The quarters were so close that I couldn't attack it, so I leapt out of the hole. Before I even turned around to look back at it, Chin, Lulla and Shaedra had all struck it and it was destroyed. So, as noted before, the spell from the scroll was completely wasted. Or so it seemed.


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session III - Who Do You Trust?*

*Harvest 19th, 744 YND, 4:30 AM*

We have just finished re-burying Walker Dairoo and are really tired. The sun will be up soon, so we decided that it would be prudent to head back to town now. Hopefully, no one will realize someone was digging up the graves in the cemetery. It's going to be a long walk back since Lulla is now wearing scale mail for better protection, and it takes us about two hours.

On the way back, we do a lot of talking about the Dairoo map. Chin wants to go to each place listed on the map in chronological order of the dates associated with each location. Pug questions what to do about the evil obelisk, since it doesn't have a date written underneath it. Dal comments that it will take a long time to go everywhere. Then a thought hits Shaedra. Since the date on the Dark Hills matches the date of Atuur's death, that is where they have to go. But in order to get there, they have to follow a zigzag path, like the one shown on the bottom of the map that represents the Black Lake. This will take them to a couple of the locations where they will probably find clues to the exact location of the Fallen Star.

Everyone agrees that this is probably the best thing to do. The next question is, how much do they reveal to Veoden? Do they even go back to let him know they have the map now? If they do, do they show it to him? Chin wonders why Veoden seems so aloof. "Why do we always see him after sunset? Maybe he fears the sunlight." Everyone else tells him he's crazy for even thinking Veoden's a vampire.

"Why did he send us to the mausoleum first, as a test?" Chin wonders out loud some more. "He should have known the Dairoo's weren't in there." No one has a good answer for this, although Pug points out the wizard has only been in town for two years, arriving two years after Atuur died.

The group finally reaches Haanex, retiring at Pug's family residence to catch some much needed sleep. They all get up late in the afternoon, decide to have a good meal, talk some more and get a good nights (as opposed to days) sleep. They wake up the next morning, all refreshed.

*Harvest 20th, 744 YND*

Our group decides, over a nicely prepared breakfast, to see Veoden again. The semi-amnesic half-elf fighter will be staying behind, with the map. The group is very leery about bring it with them. So, after stuffing themselves, they are off to see Veoden, to return the shovels and picks they borrowed and to talk to him a bit more.

They meet with Veoden, who informs them that he is not terribly familiar with the area. He will help them in any way he can, but cannot personally go with them as he has to take care of Boelain, his 8-year-old son. When ask why he is so interested in obtaining some mithral, he responds, "A friend of mine and I need some to conduct some experiments." He does not give any further information as to what those experiments are. He does offer some advise and tells the group to seek out Girion, an experienced guide he has use the services of in the past. Veoden tells them Girion can be usually found in the Thirsty Hound in town.

The group thanks Veoden and goes off into town to prepare for their journey into the Rokk Forest and surrounding lands. They purchase enough trail rations for 7 people to survive 10 days. Then, they go off to the Thirsty Hound. The Thirsty Hound is a cheap tavern that has a unique smell of sweat, vomit, and stale beer. The few dim lanterns in the place barely illuminate the sawdust-covered wooden floor. Several tables and chairs fill the room and a long bar stands against the nearby wall.

As the groups enters and looks around they see a fat, dirty bartender, who seems to pick his nose constantly, serves drinks and talks to two women at the bar who wear dark armor and cloaks. Across the room a man plucks at a lyre and sings battle hymns and songs of war. A few other men at one table cheer him on.

Since they have no idea who Girion is or what he looks like, they approach the bar to speak with the bartender. He comes over to them and asks "What can I get you?"

Shaedra immediately responds, "We're looking for someone named Girion. Is he here and if so, could you point him out?" The bartender replies, "Yeah, he's here. That's him over in the far corner. They guy in the green cloak with the hood pulled low drinking beer. How about a beer for yourself?"

Shaedra flatly states "Thanks, after we're finished with our business," and starts to go directly over to where Girion is sitting. Chen grabs Shaedra by the arm and tells her in a low voice, "It might be better to order some beer first."

She turns to him and defiantly states, "I told him I would come back after we're done with our business," and walks off towards Girion. While she is heading over, the rest of the group orders some beers, then follow her. They find her talking to Girion.

Shaedra has already introduced herself and stated that the group she is with was told that he was a guide for the parts around Haanex. He cautiously states, "Yes, I know these parts fairly well. Where is it you want to go?"

Chin chimes in at this point, explaining very vaguely that they are looking for something but have to go to several different places to possibly find the exact location of what they are looking for, etc. This goes on for a minute or two before Girion says, "So, where do you want to go?"

Chin then continues, avoiding any specific information as to the locations the group wants to investigate. Girion, a fairly cautious fellow, after hearing no direct answer to the question he has been asking, says "Alright, I'd be willing to help you out, for ... 2 equal shares in all treasure and items you find."

Shaedra, at this point, is getting fed up, between the vagueness of Chin answering Girion's question and the rather extravagant payment required and says, "Thanks, but no thanks," and walks away. Most of the rest of the group follows. Chin, however, persists, trying to turn the already upside down conversation back to some semblance of normality. He does nothing but persist in confirming Girion's suspicions that the group is just an inept bunch of blokes. He pointedy states, "Well, forget my offer. If you and your companions ever figure out what you want to do, maybe then we can do business." He gets up and walks away.

Chin rejoins the group and they try to figure out what happened. When asked, Shaedra replies, "No, I didn't detect anything evil about the man. He price for employment is to much." Chin attempts to convince the group that they should go back and try to bargain with Girion, but under no  circumstances should they agree to part with any magic items the group finds. Maybe buy out his shares, but no allow him to have any. A huge argument ensues about what information should be told to Girion and what price to pay.

They finally decide that it would be worthwhile to have a guide and go back to Veoden to see if there is anything he can do to help out. Veoden is not amused that they seemed to tick off Girion but agrees to give them a note from him to give to Girion. He steps out for a couple of minutes and returns with a sealed parchment instructing them to give it to Girion. Back they go to the Thirsty Hound.

They enter the bar to find no sign of Girion. They go up to the bar and order some beers in order to talk to the bartender. They ask him if Girion is around. He says, "Nope, he left a while ago muttering something about a bunch of inept, idiotic adventures who were looking to get themselves killed." There is a grin on his face. They thank him, finish their beers and leave.

While walking about town some more, they finally decide to attempt to bribe the barkeep for information and see if he would be willing to deliver something for them to Girion. Daloren goes back into the Thirsty Hound for the third time today, saddles up to the bar and orders another beer. When the bartender brings him them beer, he slips 2 silver pieces towards him asking "You know when Girion might be back?"

By the time Dal finished asking the question, the silver was gone. The bartender replies "He said he would be back tomorrow afternoon." Dal slips another silver piece on the bar. "You know him pretty well, don't ya." "Yeah," the barkeep responds, "we have some 'arrangements'." "Could you deliver something for us?" "Ok, what is it?" Dal takes out the parchment and another silver piece, handing it to the bartender. "Just this. Thanks. We'll be back late tomorrow afternoon." He then finishes his beer and leaves.

They all head back to Pug's house for the night. Everyone is beginning to wonder about the monk as he wants to set up watches through the night. Lulla and Shaedra tell him he's nuts, nobody sets up watches in a town like this, and there is no need to. Finally, they all go to sleep.

*Harvest 21st, 744 YND*

The group gets up the next day, agreeing, that if they do get to meet with Girion, they will tell him that their ultimate destination is the Dark Hill by way of, at a minimum, the Mud Flats and the Sodden Copse. They go out in the late afternoon to the Thirsty Hound, to see if Girion will meet with them. On the way, they see some new handbills up that say:

_*                     ADVENTURERS NEEDED*
                 to undergo a quest to find
*                      VALUABLE TREASURE*
                    some danger involved
                 100 gold pieces to be paid
                      to any survivors
                      Contact Veoden in
                        Leaning Tower
                          at sunset_

They are all surprised to see these up again since Veoden has hired them. They have no idea why he might put them back up. As they are contemplating this, they arrive at the Thirsty Hound. They ask the bartender if Girion is around. He says, "Wait a moment, I'll send someone to get him." They order a round of beer as they wait. A few minutes later, Girion comes down from upstairs. He walks over to the group, saying "Here," and hands the deal parchment to Chin. Chin looks at it and realizes the seal has not been broken. He asks, "Why didn't you open it, it's from Veoden?"

"Yeah, I know it's from Veoden and he knew I wouldn't open it," say Girion. Shaedra asks "Why?" "Because," states Girion, "I can't read."

After absorbing this piece of information, Chin asks, "Mind if we open this?" "No, go right ahead," states Girion.

Chin opens the parchment and finds a blank note inside. "I don't understand." "Well, Veoden thinks I should give you another chance. Where do you want to go?" Shaedra tells him, "Eventually the Dark Hills, but we want to go to the Mud Flats first, followed by the Sodden Copse." Shaedra continues, "Let's talk somewhere else, like Pug's place, say two hours after sunset." "Alright, I'll meet you there," states Girion. The group then leaves.

On the way back towards Pug's place, Chin convinces the group that they should check up on what Veoden is up to with the new handbills and suggests that he hangs out near his tower to see who shows up. He waits in the shadows till a while after sunset, seeing no one arriving at Veoden's and heads to Pug's house to join the others. On the way back he toys with the idea of pulling down all the new handbills he sees. He decides against it.

At about two hours after sunset, Girion shows up. They show him the map and tell him that they are looking for a fallen star that supposedly landed in the Dark Hills, believing that clues to its location are at places indicated on the map. He agrees to meet them at daybreak the next morning on the road-heading west out of town. "Ok, I'll help you out for an equal share in all you find. Agreed?", says Girion. "Agreed." replies Shaedra and everyone goes off to get sleep for the night.

*Harvest 22nd, 744 YND*

The group meets Girion on the road lead off to the west from town, to the Mud Flats. In order to move a bit quicker, Chin carries Lulla for the first day, he weight and equipment being not much of a burden. About lunchtime on the second day, they reach the Mud Flats. These moors are covered with touch and crooked bushes and scrub brush. The ground is very wet and the wind seems to always blow here. They search the area for the rest of the day, finding nothing before retiring for the evening about a half hours walk back the way they came.

*Harvest 24th, 744 YND*

They get up the next morning and start heading north towards the Sodden Copse. The group is dejected that they didn't find anything to help them out in the Mud Flats and hope to do better when they reach the Sodden Copse. On the third day out, they hear some rustling and low grunts off in the woods. Chin and Daloren seek off into the woods to check it out. Quietly they approach, almost reaching the spot where they think the noise is coming from, only to hear something take of running. They can't make out what it is so Chin gives chases.

After running after the noise for a few minutes and failing to catch up, he stops to listen again. He hears some rustling off towards the north and slowly moves in that direction. At the last minute, a shift in the wind gives him away and the deer bolts off into the woods. He returns back to the group and tells them. They decide to camp for the night.

Next time, the start of a new day (Harvest 27th, for those keeping track)


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session IV - Captured!*

*Harvest 27th, 744 YND*

The party gets up the next morning to continue their trek to the Dark Hills. Girion estimates that they will reach the beginning of the area by the end of the day. Other than Chin chasing another boar late in the day, the time traveling is uneventful.

They camp for the night just inside the Rokk Forest and spend a blissful evening.

*Harvest 28th, 744 YND*

The group gets up nicely refreshed and begins their searching of the Dark Hills. This section of the Vry Naasu Headlands is almost a small mountain range twenty miles long and half as wide. The hills are steep and treacherous, dangerous and dark. Crevasses and dark gullies, some of which are hidden by the deadfalls or accumulation of leaves or debris make the place even more hazardous. The trees that grow here are stunted and warped. After searching for half of the day, the group finds, in the very center of the hill, the crater of the meteor.

They survey the site of the crater, noticing movement in the center where a large rock is located. They look a little more closely and see a couple of goblins apparently working of the fallen star. They also see a hut off to the right of where they are, right at the lip of the crash site, as well as two cave entrances to the left, about 20 feet down into the crater. The group chats momentarily and then decides to investigate the hut first by moving to the back of it through the tree line around the crater. What a noise bunch this is!

A not to small amount of clanking is made as the group moves through the woods. The goblins by the meteor take notice and look in the general direction. They fail to notice anything significant, but one does go to one of the caves. The group makes it to the rear of the hut, sending Daloren off to check it out.

He sneaks over to the back end of the hut. It is built from what appears to be charred wood and stands unguarded. Poorly laid wooden shingles top the shack, though the chimney and exterior of an obvious fireplace of stone and mortar appear better constructed. There is smoke bellowing out of the chimney.

He finds a shuttered window in the rear of the shack, closed. Traveling around to the front, he sees another shuttered window as well as a single door, locked by a chain and lock on the outside, both of which are steel and very new. Moving back towards the rear of the shack, he finds a crack large enough to look in through.

Several candles and a fire in the fireplace illuminate this room. Standing in the center of the room is a short, fat man with curly gray hair on the sides of his balding head. He wears an odd cap that seems to be simply a bill strapped to his head. His rough clothing is covered by a leather apron out of the pockets of which jut several pieces of chalk, small tools, and a long piece of charcoal. A chain connects the manacle on his leg to the largest stone in the fireplace. A tiny silver piece glows in the coals of the furnace.

A large forge, bellows and two barrels full of a dark liquid stand near the fireplace. Three tables covered with lab equipment, papers, scrolls and books, almost fill the room. The stench of sulfur, chemicals, blood and smoke lay heavy upon the place. A tapestry hanging from a rod covers another room or closet across from the fireplace.

Daloren heads back to the woods and tells the others what he saw. Pug decides to take his crowbar to task on the shuttered window in the rear of the shack. Moving into position, he cannot help but make a little bit of noise. He gets to the window and tries to open it with his crowbar. Unbeknownst to him, the goblins in the center of the crater hear him and decide to investigate. They start walking towards the shack.

Pug continues to work on the window, trying to find a spot to get the crowbar in. He has had no success so far. All of a sudden, he hears a lion roar about 30 ft. to his left. The ghost sound cast by Lulla _(DM's note: innate spell ability due to being a gnome)_ has caught him off guard for a moment until he sees the group behind him in the woods signaling that it is all right. He continues, unsuccessfully, to open the shuttered window.

The goblins heading for the shack pause momentarily and then move to the front of the shack. Two goblins move to each corner in the front of the hut while the other two start going towards the rear of the shack along each side. Neither Pug nor the goblins see each other. Pug moves to the corner of the shack, giving up on the window. The goblin heading down the side towards Pug spots Pug at the same moment as Pug spots him. Battle ensues.

Daloren heads out from the woods running up to attack the goblin in front of Pug. Pug swings at the goblin and misses. Girion, the guide they have hired, follows Daloren and takes the goblin down. The goblin at the corner of the shack that can see this yells something out, before moving forward to get in the way of the three. Chin then moves to the other end of the rear of the shack, shortly followed by Shaedra. Lulla also moves toward where Chin is, but stays in the woods. A goblin peeks his head around the corner and upon finding Chin there, turns around taking off. Chin is too startled to do anything about it. 

Unknown to the group, the last goblin has already started running back to the cave on the other side of the crater to inform his leader that the sounds they heard earlier are a bunch of humanoids attacking them from the shack. He has gone for reinforcements....

Daloren overheard what the goblin yelled out and sees the goblin running across the crater, informing his compatriots that he is going to get help. Pug, Daloren and Girion continue their assault on the goblin who moved up in front of them, removing the threat. Chin takes off at a flat run after the goblin, unaware that two have actually started back toward the caves. He is able to catch up to the closer one, getting in front of him. The goblin attacks Chin, wounding him. Shaedra and Lulla move to the rear shuttered window.

Daloren heads to the front door, checking out the chain and lock in detail. Girion and Pug head over to the lip of the crater in front of the shack. Pug takes out a javelin, throwing it at the goblin standing by Chin. Pug is not having a good day, missing the goblin horribly and severely wounding Chin, who is now barely able to stand. The other goblin left runs into the cave. Meanwhile, Shaedra bashes the shutter to pieces.

Daloren, Pug and Girion make towards Chin to help him out, while Chin extracts himself from the goblin in order to find Lulla. The goblin attacks Daloren nicking him. Shaedra and Lulla climb in the now opened window at the rear of the shack.

Daloren finally finishes off the last goblin in sight, while Pug and Girion move back to the shack. Chin gets around the back of the shack to the window. Shaedra peeks around the curtain in the shack to see Arowain, chained to the fireplace. Lulla starts to heal Chin after which he climbs into the shack.

There is a short lull _(DM's note: really short, like about 18 seconds worth)_ in the action, which allows everyone to get inside the shack, except for Girion who remains outside guarding the crater, when he sees at least a dozen goblins running out of the cave. Shaedra manages to find out that Arowain is here against his will and wants to be freed. But before that can happen, 17 goblins storm the shack.

Just as some of the goblins reach the front of the shack, Lulla opens the shutters on the other window to get a clear view. Goblins start trying to jump through the window, some succeeding. Others run around the back of the shack, some go straight to the front door and 3 confront Girion outside. The battle continues....

Three goblins have gotten inside from the front, with more on the way. Others are attacking the door. Chin has gone back out the rear to attack the goblins approaching there. He is pinned by three of them. Girion is holding his own for the moment. The door is splintering. Daloren heads to the front window inside the shack to help out Lulla, dropping a light mace at the feet of Arowain on the way. Pug and Shaedra move the combat the goblins entering through the window.

Shaedra has started to kill a couple of the beasties while they plink away at Lulla. Suddenly, the front door bursts into pieces and more goblins start to pour in. Pug is the first to go down, unconscious _(DM's note: subdual, barely.)_ He is shortly followed by Lulla _(DM's note: subdual, barely.)_ Chin climbs back inside while two goblins follow after him through the rear window. Three more are still outside trying to hit him.

Chin attacks one of the goblins that followed him inside, tripping himself, falling to the floor, stunned. The goblins whack him over the head, into unconsciousness _(DM's note: he still has some hit points left, the hits were subdual damage, again.)_ Now only Daloren, Shaedra and Girion remain, as well as Arowain, who is strangely enough, not being attacked even though he is striking the goblins with the mace.

Daloren goes down next _(DM's note: subdual, barely.)_ Now it's Shaedra inside, Girion outside and still 10 goblins between them. Girion takes out one more before being wounded and out of action _(DM's note: -2 hit points, stablized at -6.)_ This leaves Shaedra alone. She valiantly stands surrounded taking out 2 more goblins before she succumbs to the blows _(DM's note: again, subdual, barely.)_

The party has been captured.


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session V - Rescued!*

*Harvest 28th, 744 YND*

When we last left our heroes (?), they were all unconscious in a rickety shack having been subdued by a particularly ferocious group of goblins. That is, all but one, Thalen, who is in the woods behind the shack looking after the group's gear. _(DM's note: This is the Half-Elf Fighter whose player had not been able to make the previous session.)_

After hearing the noise of battle dying down and eventually stop, Thalen listened for his comrades. Unfortunately, he didn't hear them at all, just the garbled language of the goblins. Trying to find out what happened to his fellow adventures, he creeps to the edge of the forest behind the alchemists shack. Once he finally makes out the details, he sees, to his horror, the entire band of adventurers, as well as the guide Girion, being carried, bound with ropes, off to the cave directly opposite the shack. None of them are moving. Thalen wants to investigate further around the shack, but several goblins come up from the crater with wood and tools.

In order to avoid being seen, he goes through the woods, very carefully, around to the other side of the shack for a better vantage point. He looks out from the forest and sees that the goblins are apparently rebuilding the front door to the shack. "No use trying to find out what's happening inside the shack," he thinks to himself. "Gotta do something to get my new friends back." he decides. Thalen goes back through the woods once more to the place where the groups equipment lies.

He rummages through all the equipment stashed there, hoping to find something useful as well as any kind of idea as to how to rescue his companions. The only thing he finds is the groups traveling gear, nothing that might help. "Well," he thinks, "I better do some recon before trying anything." So, one last time, Thalen travels slowly through the woods, halfway around the crater, to a point where he is about as close as he can get to the cave entrance his friends were carried in.

Looking out from the woods, he sees two goblins guarding each cave. Thalen is getting very nervous and afraid, for there is no way he can handle four of these wretched creatures alone. "I need some kind of distraction, what can I do?" he ponders. "Let me see if I can get a little closer." and Thalen very carefully comes out from his cover, inching his way over to the top of the crater, right to the side of the cave entrance. A goblin looks in his direction, but does not see him.

"It's only the four guards in the crater, maybe if I throw a rock to the other side, some of them will go and check it out." Thalen searches around and finds a rock that he can throw the distance he wants to. He prepares his bow for easy reach and is about to throw the rock, when some noise comes to his ears. Quickly looking around, he realizes that the noise is from the tree line on the far side of the crater between the shack and the other cave. The guards are looking in that direction.

Seizing the opportunity, he throws his rock in the direction of the sound. What he hears next is totally on expected. Some creature has howled in surprise. The goblins start preparing their weapons in earnest, looking nervously towards the woods. All of a sudden, two eight foot tall, maybe taller, very ugly humanoids with large heads come out of the woods, staring down at the goblins in the crater. A look of glee appears on their misshapen faces, almost like they are looking to have some fun. One drops what looks like a tree trunk it was carrying like a club while the other drops a large sack on the ground. Thalen notices two of the guards, one at each cave entrance, run into the caves as the two large creatures start to pick up boulders. As goblins come pouring out of the caves, the hideous monsters on the craters rim start throwing boulders at them.

Thalen picks up his bow, thinking "Now's my chance." He climbs down the crater next to the cave entrance, where only one goblin remains. His luck, which has been holding out, escapes him as he gets down to side. The goblin has seen him. Quickly, he fires an arrow at the goblin, missing him. The goblin takes the javelin he's holding and throws it at Thalen, hitting the ground off to his right, while yelling for support. But the other goblins are too busy dealing with the playful antics of the two ogres. Thalen fires off another arrow, this time slaying the guard. He quickly climbs down, and after briefly checking out the cave entrance, drags the dead guard inside.

After quickly surveying the room, the only thing of note is a door in the rear. He gently tries the door, finding it locked. Listening intently, he hears some noise on the other side of the door. Thalen searches the body of the dead guard, hoping to find the key, but he has no luck. He needs to get beyond that door, so he pulls the dead body in front of the door but far enough away so that the door will open and whoever is on the other side will see it even if the door is only cracked opened. He prepares his bow and determines a position to get into so that he can fire into the doorway as soon as the door opens. All is ready and he pounds on the door, with the strikes getting softer ending as if someone had just fallen down. Thalen jumps into position as something the vile creatures call a language is spoken from behind the door. Thalen, murmurs and moans before he finally slaps the floor with his foot. As silence descends on the room, it feels like an eternity before the voice behind the door stops. The silence continues for a while longer before Thalen finally hears the key in the door...

As the door starts to open, Thalen fires his bow through the opening and a sound of surprise issues forth. The door swings open a little bit more as the goblin accidentally lets go of the door. Thinking quickly, Thalen drops his bow and dives for the door, to prevent it from closing. The goblin is unable to stop Thalen from getting beyond the door and tries to bash him, missing. Thalen pulls out his sword and makes short work of the goblin. After listening for any noise coming from the corridor beyond the door, he gets the key from the door, pulls both goblins into the corridor, and goes to the cave entrance to make sure that no other goblins are coming this way. He sees the ogres having a huge amount of fun, bashing the goblins around, even using some of them as boulders. Going back into the cave and the corridor beyond the door, he closes the door and locks it. Taking stock of the situation, he counts himself fortunate to have made it thus far.

"Ok," he says to himself, "time to find the others." as he slowly travels down the corridor eventually coming to a T-intersection. The passage leads straight ahead and to his left. About 20 feet or so down the left corridor is a door on the right, while about 40 feet straight ahead there are two doors, one on each side of the corridor. He decides to go down the corridor to the left. After cautiously approaching the door, he listens and hears a lot of talking going on, but in a slightly high pitch than he heard the other goblins speaking. He decides to bypass the door, keeping an ear out to any sound from behind him, and continues down the corridor to the point where it turns to the right.

Peeking around the corner, he sees the corridor continue with no doors in sight, for about 60 feet, before it turns to the left again. Slinking down the corridor, he reaches the end where it turns to the left. Thalen carefully looks around the corner and sees to goblins standing in front of a door. Hoping that his luck has held out he fires an arrow at one of them. Unfortunately, the goblins have seen him and Thalens shot misses. One of the goblins throws his javelin at Thelan glancing off the wall corner right in front of him. Thalen does not believe it would be good to let these two past him, where they might get reinforcements from the room he past, so he draws his sword and charges at them, hitting one of them enough to severely hurt, but not take him out of the action. The other goblin grabs his morningstar and swings at Thalen. "Ow, that hurts." Thalen cries to himself as blood flows from his side, "I must take the two of these out."

He swings at the one he hit previously, dealing a mighty blow that collapses the goblin. The remaining goblin attempts to deal the final blow to Thalen, but misses wildly, providing Thalen with an excellent opportunity which he takes advantage of to dispatch his remaining foe. Tired but triumphant, he checks the corridor he came down, finds no one coming and goes to the door. With the key prepared, he tries the door, finding it unlocked. Slowly and carefully opening the door rewards Thalen with the sight of his very groggy companions all tied up on the floor. The only one still unconscious is the guide, Girion. Everyone is glad to see him.

Moving quickly, he cuts the ropes binding his friends and tells them to follow him, carrying whoever cannot walk by themselves. They have their armor on, but not their weapons, and pick up the morningstars and javelins the goblins were using. Slowly creeping back the way he came, Thalen pauses at the door he listened to once more. Chin and Daloren also listen at the door, but cannot make out what is in the room. They need to get out quickly, but really do not have enough weapons to go around. Thalen leads them to the T-intersection and tells them to quietly wait. But they are not quite enough. Some smaller goblins come out of the door down the other corridor off of the T-intersection. Thalen starts running at the yelling like a mad man. They turn around in fear, back into the room, with a resounding slam of the door. Thalen checks the door and finds it locked, with the sound of things being piled against it. Turning to go back to the rest of the group, he finds that they have followed him.

"I told you to wait back there," he says. Lulla replies, "I thought you were leading the way out and so we followed you to help you." "Alright," Thalen states, "wait hear until I check out the end of the corridor." So Thalen goes down the corridor further, finding that it turns to the left and dead ends. "Great, now what. I really need to find more weapons, but I don't think they are in here. They're probably in the other cave." Thalen calls out softly to the group, "Come down here." They arrive in the dead end. "Wait here until I check the other end out. It's the best defensible position, and I don't think they will come looking this way." and off Thalen goes.

He unlocks the door he entered to get into this cave and then locks it behind himself. Carefully, he looks out the cave and sees that the goblins are taking a beating. Almost half of them are down with some of those not moving. The ogres, on the other hand, are starting to be worn down as well. Looking over to the other cave entrance, he sees only one guard, nervously watching his comrades. Thalen knocks and arrow and fires at him, and with his continuing luck, misses. The guard is caught unaware, but spots Thalen, who quickly knocks another arrow, fires and finally hits his target. The goblin falls, no longer moving.

With as much stealth as he can muster, Thalen winds his way to the other cave entrance, unnoticed. He pulls the body of the guard into the cave, leaving him out of sight. Looking down the corridor out of the back of the entrance, he goes to the first door on the right. After listen, hearing no sounds, and checking if the door was locked, he enters and his luck finally returns in full force. For what does Thalen see but a pile of weapons on a table, the weapons that belong to his friends. Grabbing a tattered blanket off of a bed, he puts the weapons into it, wrapping them up so he can carry them.

Back to the cave entrance he goes. Looking outside, he sees that the battle looks like it will end shortly, but no one is looking this way. Back to the other cave entrance, completely without notice, Thalen carries the weapons. Unlocking the door, he brings the weapons down to his friends and explains to them that they have to get out of here now, as the distraction to the goblins outside might not last much longer. They all hurry to the cave entrance and once everyone is through the door, Thalen locks it.

Looking at where the battle has been raging, Thalen sees that the ogres have left and that the goblins are starting to carry their fallen comrades down the crater, back to the caves. "Ok, we are going to have to make a run for it. I'll stay here in the entrance way to cover you and then follow behind." So the group bolts out the cave, running up the side of the crater, to get to the forest. The goblins see them. Thalen yells "Run faster!" and lets loose with an arrow, actually hitting for the first time, slaying one of the remaining eight goblins, who drops his fellow goblin he was carrying. The others each start to drop the goblin they were carrying and draw weapons.

Pug turns and lets loose with a javelin, slaying one more goblin and then starts down the crater. There are now six left. "Great," Thalen is now thinking, "now's my chance to get out with the others." But before he can move, Chin turns around a runs down the crater side towards the area to the side of the goblins, between them and the meteor. "No!!" yells Thalen. "Those idiots, now I have to stay to cover them." He fires another arrow, missing this time. Shaedra turns, hesitates for a moment, but then charges down to engage the goblins. Daloren throws a javelin, missing and moves down towards where Thalen is. Lulla stays with Girion.

The goblins are now attacking, two each at Chin, Shaedra and Thalen, with Pug heading towards Shaedra and Daloren towards Thalen. Shaedra swings mightily at one of the goblins in front of her, almost completely taking it's head off with her great sword. The other goblin in front of her connects with a morningstar, however, and even the slight hit is enough to take her down. Thalen is now using his short sword, missing completely. Daloren throws the other javelin at one of the goblins in front of Thalen, spearing it to the ground, while Pug does the same to one attempting to approach Chin, who is trying to lead the two chasing him away from the rest of the group. Unfortunately for Chin, the remaining goblin nails him hard with his morningstar, bring him down. Pug has now reached Shaedra's side and Daloren has ganged up on the goblin in front of Thalen. The goblin who brought Chin down is turning to help his comrades. Unfortunately for him, Pug takes out the goblins in front of him, Daloren takes out the one in front of Thalen and Thalen picks up his bow shooting an arrow in the returning goblin. There are no more.

After ensuring that all the goblins are dead and their fallen comrades wounds are tended to, the group heads back to their gear, carrying Girion, Chin and Shaedra. While Thalen looks after the groups unconscious fellows with Lulla, Pug and Daloren go back to the shack, bashing down the rear shutter window. They enter the room where they were captured, to find Arowain still there but this time with his jaw almost to the floor. Arowain says "I thought you were all done for." Pug responds, "No quite yet. How come the goblins didn't attack you?"

Arowain goes on to explain: "The goblins are there to mine the mithral from the fallen star. I am using the mithral to create, what is called, a Coin of Power. Unfortunately, the evil witch Daresh is forcing me to do this. She promises to let me go once I have finished with the work, but I believe she is just going to kill me. The Coin of Power is a very powerful thing, and very evil. The goblins also are here to make sure that nothing happens to me, although after bashing a few heads in I'm sure Daresh is going to let them have their way with me once my work is done."

As Arowain finishes, the front door swings open violently and there is a Dejy woman standing there. "What's this I see? Intruders. Well, you will never have the Coin. It is mine." And with that, she levitates the coin to her hand crying "Mine, MINE, MIAWWEEEWEEE". Arowain yells, "Wait, the final ingredient. I haven't finished yet." Meanwhile, as Daresh closed her hand on the red hot coin, it burned, melting her skin, grafting itself to her palm. She reels in agony.

Thalen has, at this point, crept around the shack to the front, bow ready. He fires a shot a Daresh, totally missing. Daresh points a finger at Pug, saying "You will pay for this, you slug". Pug starts to respond with "That's Pug, you ugly...." when Arowain screams "No!!!!" pushing Pug out of the way. A bolt of black shoots forth from Daresh's hand where the coin is now pulsating as if it were alive, hitting Arowain in the shoulder. Arowain's shoulder explodes, as his arm is ripped off, while his body suddenly starts withering. Daresh gestures with her hand, steps forward and disappears.

Pug rushes over to Arowain who cries "Don't touch me or you will die as well. Listen carefully. The final ingredient for the Coin was blood. Unfortunately, when Daresh grabbed the coin and it fused with her, it got the blood from her. They will now fed off of each other, gaining more and more power, until they cannot be stopped. Only another coin can stop her and the only other person I now who can make one is Halaan. Go to Veoden and tell him what has happened." With that, Arowain dies, as a severe storm starts raging outside.

What will the group do next?


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session VI - We Got What We Came For, Now Let's Go Home*

*Harvest 28th, 744 YND*

It's raining. No, it's pouring. No, it's coming down in sheets and waves as our intrepid group holes itself up for the night in the ramshackle shack that was once the prison workshop of Arowain the Alchemist. It has been a very, very long day and everyone does their best to fortify the entrances to the shack so they can get some rest. They stay in the shack overnight, through the entire next day and night finally felling fit enough to venture forth after a full two nights rest. While staying in the shack, they rummage around for anything useful, finding some alchemists tools, books and scrolls. Lulla takes the books and scrolls, figuring to start developing her ingrain talent for alchemy.

*Frosting 2nd, 744 YND*

The torrential downpours have made a mess of the area, essentially turning it into one huge mud puddle. The first order of business is the cremation of Arowain. The group is sorry that they must do this, but their is no way they believe they can make it back to Haanex with his body. After cremating Arowain, they check out the meteor. Yes, they is mithral in it, but it is going to take several days to get enough ore out to have a pound of the stuff.

To cover their backs, they decide to check out the caves to make sure the goblins aren't a threat. They enter the cave system to their right first as this was the one they were held captive in. Upon entering the cave, they find the door they locked smashed to pieces. The goblins that were inside are not there any more.

Off to the cave on the left, checking each room as they go by. The first guard barracks proves to be a windfall as they find a mithral nugget weighing a pound hidden in the bedpost of one of the bunk beds. Onwards they go, collecting anything useful they find along the way. Unfortunately for Pug, he is caught in a trap of flaming oil as they try to go into one room. And Chin finds a secret door that connects to the room they were held, in the other cave system. But that's all they find as the remaining goblins had pulled out during the first night of the vicious storm.

Now that they feel much more secure, they start to mine the meteor for another pound of mithral. The groups wants to keep the pound nugget for themselves, for it might be valuable. They mine the meteor for the remainder of the day and the entire next day. Finally on the following day, they start heading for home.

*Frosting 4th, 744 YND*

The air is turning colder with the approach of winter as the group starts the four day journey back to Haanex. About mid-afternoon, Chin spots something white slowing moving in a clearly off to his left. He takes off running towards it as it might be some animal to catch to supplement the dwindling food supplies of the group. He gets to about 30 feet from the clearing when a horses head comes up and stares directly at him. He suddenly stops. The horse doesn't move. Lulla moves up to Chin and after a brief discussion slowly walks to the edge of the clearing while preparing herself to speak with animals _(DM's note: Lulla has this because she is a gnome.)_

When she reaches the clearing, she tries to talk to the horse. It is not going well, as she seems to get images of things in her mind, but nothing very coherent. It's just not working. One of the images catches her mind's eye, that of Chin preparing a rope into a lasso. As she starts to contemplate this, the pegasus in the clearing unfolds its wings and takes to the air. Everyone is astonished that they had a close encounter with such a magnificent creature.

They continue on, finding a good place to spend the night, which is uneventful

*Frosting 5th, 744 YND*

The group spends the entire day traveling back to Haanex, camping for the evening in a nice small clearing. While getting ready to prepare dinner, they spot some fire light from off in the distance. They quietly travel over to where the light is and see two large creatures by what looks like a cooking fire, apparently arguing. There is a large sack on the ground next to them and there appears to be something alive in it as the sack is moving a bit. Daloren over hears some of the conversation, with things like who is going to do the cooking and who is going to get to eat first. They decide that this is probably not a good thing for whatever is in the sack, so in order to find out what is going on, Lulla casts a ghost sound spell, sounding like a bear, off in the woods in order to lure the two creatures away.

The creatures don't quite believe the sound but head to the edge of the other side of the clearing, just to make sure. As they walk off, one of them takes a great club and lightly taps the sack on the ground, which crumples. Daloren and Chin quietly run up to the sack and look inside, seeing a dwarf. With not enough time to take him with them, they head back to the woods to tell the others what they found.

The group decides to rescue the poor dwarf. Lulla and Girion head off through the woods around towards the other side of the clearing while the two large creatures return to their fire pit and their arguing. Shaedra and Thalen take positions between where Lulla and Girion are and where Daloren, Chin and Pug wait to rush forth to grab the dwarf. With everything ready, Lulla casts a dancing lights spell off in the woods where she originally cast the ghost sound of the bear.

The ogres, upon seeing the dancing lights, go roaring off into the woods. This allows Chin, Daloren and Pug to race up to the sack, grab it and start to make off for the safety of the woods. Unfortunately, it takes a little too long as they make a bit of noise just as the dancing lights spell wears off. The ogres turn around and come running back after the puny humans that are stealing their dinner. The ogres catch up to the group of Shaedra, Thalen, Chin, Daloren and Pug. One throws his huge greatspear at Pug, but misses. Meanwhile, Shaedra and Pug go up to the other ogre, Shaedra severely wounding it with Pug finishing it off. This enrages the first ogres who now closes in on Daloren. Daloren tries to attack the huge creature but fails as he is pounded by the creatures enormous fists and knock down, critically wounded. The rest of the groups surrounds the remain ogre and takes it down.

Daloren is healed by Lulla and the group takes a quick 5 minute breather. The question is, what are they going to do with the dwarf?


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session VII - What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into?*

*Frosting 5th, 744 YND*

We last left our group of adventures sifting through the remains of two ogres that were apparently going to eat a finely dress dwarf for dinner. After ransacking the bodies and taking whatever they thought was valuable, our intrepid group carries their spoils, the unconscious dwarf and the weapons of the ogres, a huge greatspear and greatclub, back to their campsite. They use the ogres weapons to fuel their fire while rousing the dwarf.

After getting the dwarf conscious, they find out that Stiruck is a merchant dealing in fine clothing. His caravan was attacked and he barely escaped with his life. Unfortunately for him, he ran into these two ogres. He thanks the group for saving him and asked them if they would be so kind as to escort him to the nearest town. They agree. He also asks them if they happened to find an ornate dagger in the things they recovered from the ogre as it was a family heirloom. The group reluctantly returns the dagger to him and they do not even ask if there was anything else that might have been his. Stiruck decides at this point that just getting back to a town might be the wisest thing to do, instead of pressing this group for his twenty gold pieces that he is sure they have.

They spend the evening and the next two days traveling back to Haanex.

*Frosting 7th, 744 YND*

It is late in the afternoon, the sun setting, when our adventurers see the outskirts of Haanex. They head to the town. When they arrive, the split their spoils with the guide Girion who goes on his way after declining to join in on their adventures. He tells them that he has other business matters to attend to, but if they ever are back in the area to look him up as he would be interested in the tales of them surviving any adventures they have. He has an interesting grin on his face as he says this and walks away.

They take Stiruck to Pug's house, offering him a good, hearty meal and a room to stay in for the night. Stiruck mentally notes that at least they didn't take advantage of him and helped him out, at least for the night. The group then goes directly off to see Veoden.

They knock on Veoden's door and he answers, looking, at first, puzzled because he didn't recognize the rag tag dirty group and then changing to surprise when he realizes who they are. He tells them to come in saying that he is quite happy to see them.

While Chin tries to tell Veoden everything that happened, Veoden quickly interrupts him to find out if they got the mithral. When they respond yes, he brings them up to his lab to examine the ore. Upon examination, Veoden tells the group that he is pleased and tells them to return to the sitting room where he will meet them in a few minutes. The group decided to hold on to the one pound nugget they found for themselves.

Upon returning to the sitting room, Veoden gives the group 100 gold pieces as payment and proceeds to ask about how they found the ore. At this point, the group, led by Chin, relate the entire tale of their two week adventure. When they come to the part about Arowain and later Daresh, Veoden becomes quite concerned and ushers his guests out of the tower, asking them to stay in Haanex until he contacts them. He tells them that he has another task for them - a much more important one.

The group leaves and goes to the Ki-Ren's rest, obtaining rooms, a fresh bath and some good food. All that is except for Pug. He returns home to his family's house and speaks with Stiruck. The group wants to find out if Stiruck would be willing to sell the gems they have found and at what price, figuring that him being a dwarf, he would have a good eye on the gem trade. Stiruck agrees to do this in the morning for a 10% commission. Pug agrees.

Later that night, the group receives a note saying "Please come to my tower at your earliest convenience. There is something we must discuss." They leave the tavern, picking up Pug from his house and head to Veoden's tower. This time, however, Veoden receives them looking fully rested for the first time. Once they are all comfortable in the sitting room once again, Veoden speaks to them.

"Something of terrible import has happened. The Coin you witnessed Arowain make is an item of great strength. It is my understanding that its power continues to grow as long as its owner lives. Furthermore, using the Coin will corrupt the wielder to embrace the ways of evil. Normally this would not trouble me, for the Coin tends to destroy the one who uses it after only a few days or weeks. Unfortunately, from what you have said about this wizard Daresh and what happened to her, this is not the case. The Coin will not destroy her. The two will feed off each other and that will keep her alive. Her powers will continue to grow.

I've not heard of this Halaan that Arowain recommended but I do know someone who can possibly tell you how to find him. Seek out the Wizard Geolain in the city of Zoa to the south and tell him that I've sent you. He is a friend of mine from days past and he is very good at getting information. He can tell you how to locate Halaan. Do you agree to undertake this task?"

The group ponders momentarily before heartily agreeing. They ask Veoden if he knows of someone they can get horses from. Veoden tells them that they need to get to Zoa as quickly as possible and the best way to do that is by boat. In fact Veoden tells them he will arrange passage for them in the morning. He also provides them with directions to Geolain's tower in Zoa and he will contact them tomorrow after he has made arrangements for their voyage. He bids them a good night and for the first time in two weeks, our good hearted adventures get a decent night's sleep.

*Frosting 8th, 744YND*

They awake the next morning spend a large portion of time outfitting themselves on a shopping spree. Basically buying essential items like rations, a few also purchase some new weapons and Chin buys a barrel, just in case something happens during their voyage so he has something to float on. Stiruck manages to get some very good prices for their small gems, pleasing the group. He also finally realizes that they are a bunch of novice adventures and decides to give them a break, telling them that he knows some dwarves in Zoa, who owe him a favor and if they are in need of hospitality they should look up Purguld the blacksmith. They thank the dwarf and wish him a safe journey home.

Veoden contacts the group in the late morning letting them know that he has booked passage for them on a ship called the Forsaken, a cog that is sailing with the evening tide. He hopes their passage is a swift one. He also mentions that he has already paid captain Pocaat for the voyage.

They finish up their shopping, although Pug has given much of what he has earned to his family and board the ship late that after noon. The ship sails with the evening tide.

*Frosting 12th, 744 YND*

Sailing through the Reanaarian Bay for the last three days as gone very well. But today, the wind dies and the sails fall limp. All is calm. The rest of the day, the ship simply sits in the sea, the crew becoming restless and the captain and officers nervous. When the group asks about it, the crew replies that the weather doesn't feel natural - the winds are usually reliable in this region. This calm leads into the night.

*Frosting 13th, 744 YND*

Everyone awoke to the same conditions as the previous day, a dead still sea. The crew is becoming more nervous by the hour. Even people trying to catch some fish are having no luck whatsoever. The group decides to perform night guard duty, in addition to the normal crew rotations.

Very late that night, while Shaedra and Thalen are on watch (along with Chin who has decided to sleep during the day and stay up all night), one of the crew screams as she is thrown overboard. They turn to see this green creatures, with great staring deep black eyes, scaly skin with webbed fingers and toes and mouths filled with sharp fangs. The other crew member on watch yells out "sea devils!!". Everyone quickly goes into action. Chin rushes towards the spot where the sailor was thrown over the railing while Shaedra deals with the two that have come over the bow of the ship and Thalen yells down into the cargo hold where the sailors quarters are to awaken them. Meanwhile, a fourth creature appears at the stern. Shaedra manages to approach one of the two on the bow and attacks, causing it some pain. Chin is trying to take out the one that threw the girl overboard but is not having much success besides hitting it the first time. Thalen begins shooting at the other one on the bow.

The fourth creatures charges at Chin, who is cornered against a rail in his battle with his foe. The charge is quite successful and Chin goes backwards over the side of the ship. The battle rages on. Pug, without having any armor on, comes up out of a hatch and is quickly surrounded by the two creatures that were dealing with Chin. Shaedra lands a mighty blow, killing the creature in front of her. Thalen continues to miss the other creature with his bow.

Pug takes his greataxe and swings mightily, cutting right through one of the two creatures he is facing, and continues on right through the second!! He has even surprised himself. Chin is rescuing the sailor who went overboard. The remaining creature jumps over the bow and into the sea. Fortunately for everyone, no one was hurt.


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session VIII - The Calm Ends?*

*Frosting 14th, 744 YND*

Everyone awakens to a beautiful, but still totally calm day. All are nervous at this point, the attack last night does not sit well with everyone since the sea is calm once again. Tension among the crew is rising rapidly and the adventurers are trying to keep to themselves as much as possible without making it look like they are avoiding the crew.

The sun sets and the mood is apprehensive. If an attack came during the night yesterday with the sea being calm, won't the same happen again tonight? All are on their toes. And just like last night, four creatures try to sneak up on board the ship, starting to wreck havoc.

It happens, again on third watch, except, this time, Pug is sleeping on deck and four crew are on duty. The first thing anyone notices is a muffled cry of surprise from one of the crew as he is pinned dead to the mast from a heavy crossbow bolt. Everyone quickly looks around to see the four creatures that are attacking. Chin kicks Pug to wake him. Two of the remaining crew go to gang up on one of the sahuagin toward the rear of the ship, while the two sahuagin at the front fire their crossbows Shaedra and Thalen, both missing. The last sahuagin at the rear of the ship, fires another heavy crossbow bolt, killing another crew member.

The two crew members attacking the sahuagin between are not doing well. They do manage to inflict some minor damage before one of them is cut down by a trident. Chin rushes over to help the other sailor out. Meanwhile, Shaedra goes after one of the two at the front of the ship, hitting it and wounding it severely. Pug gets up and moves toward the other sahuagin at the front of the ship while Thalen lets loose with an arrow at it, missing. The sahuagin at the rear of the ship reloads his crossbow.

Chin manages to deal the creature in front of him some severe damage, but not enough to take him down before the sahuagin spears the other sailor dead with his trident. The four crewmen that were on watch are now dead. Shaedra deals another blow to the creature in front of her, killing it. Pug, in an almost repeat performance of the previous night, takes out the sahuagin in front of him in one mighty swish of his greataxe. Thalen decides to shoot at the sahuagin that reloaded its crossbow, missing again. The creature returns fire, missing Thalen.

Chin lands another punch on the sahuagin he faces, finally taking it out. With this turn of events, the last sahuagin jumps into the water over the back end of the ship. Everyone takes stock of what happened. The adventurers are unharmed, but four crew members lost their lives. The captain is happy that the adventurers were present to help them out, sad that he lost four crew and apprehensive in that he wonders why he let that crazy wizard talk him into taking these people as passengers. Maybe they are bringing his ship bad luck, he wonders to himself.

*Frosting 15th, 744 YND*

Everyone again awakens to a beautiful day, but this time a breeze is picking up. There is a massive sigh of relief from everyone on board as the ship finally gets underway. It is the start of what turns into a very pleasant day. All on board are starting to relax as the day wears on. However, this is not to be the case that night as the sahuagin return...

This time they try to come on board during the second watch, which has Daloren and Pug up, along with Chin and two crew. This time, however, the group on board the ship spot the intruders first. They get themselves into position so that the sahuagin don't have an opportunity to fire the crossbows. Pug and Daloren work in tandem on two of the attackers, taking one quickly down. Chin and the two sailors do the same to the other two creatures. The remaining two creatures try to hit the group, but only succeed in slightly wounding Chin.

The adventurers and sailors pound on the remaining sahuagin, killing them both. It was over before it even started. This time, they killed them all.

*Frosting 16th, 744 YND*

Good weather continues to prevail and all are pretty sure that the sahuagin won't be back since none of them escaped. _(DM's note: the sahuagin were on a sporting trip. Each one was attempting to throw victims overboard and then leap off the ship to fight in their own element. They were trying to each kill one man or woman, cut off the head and take it with them. Unfortunately, they only partially succeeded on the first night.)_

*Frosting 19th, 744 YND*

Sailing has gone well for the past several days. Good winds have propelled the ship to the point where they are almost half way to Zoa. During the morning today, however, the watchman cries out and points frantically to the northeast. There, a quarter mile away and making a lazy course toward the ship, is a serpent at least 30 feet long. Captain Pocaat orders the helmsman to bring the ship about and to the southwest but the serpent by then is making a course directly toward the Forsaken.

The serpent is about 420 feet away when the crew opens fire with the single ballista on board the Forsaken. Chin and Pug utilize some of the heavy crossbows they recovered in their fight with the sahuagin to take pot shots at the creature. The crossbows hit once or twice and when the creature is about 270 feet away, it submerges.

Time passes very slowly as everyone is frantically looking for the serpent. All of a sudden, it climbs aboard the front side of the ship after swimming underneath it. It attacks Shaedra, severely wounding her. The crew turn the ballista in its direction, fires and hits it. Pug runs up to help Shaedra, but takes severe damage from a bite by the serpent _(DM's note: AoO, the serpent has a 10 ft. reach)_ and before he knows it, he is unconscious in the tightening coils of the sea serpent _(DM's note: failed his grapple check verse the creature who automatically get a free one on a successful attack.)_ Daloren runs up to join the fray, but just like Shaedra and Pug, takes a tremendous amount of damage from a bite, but it doesn't stop him from dealing some damage with his longsword. Chin fires the heavy crossbow he's holding at the creature, hitting it as well.

Shaedra, in the best position to see Pug, realizes that if something isn't done now, Pug is going to die _(DM's note: he is at -9 hit points after the constriction damage.)_ So, she attempts to climb up the serpent by first ramming her greatsword into it, causing a great deal of damage, pulling herself up to Pug and touches him with her hands, thereby saving him from dying. The serpent has had enough by this point _(DM's note: it had taken 50 points of damage so far, it only had 55)_ and retreats to the ocean, drop Pug into the deep. Chin immediately jumps overboard and rescues Pug. The crew pull them back on board where Lulla heals Pug to consciousness and almost fully restores Daloren and Shaedra.


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session IX - First It's Monsters, Now It's Ships!*

*Frosting 22nd, 744 YND*

It's been three days since the almost disastrous battle with the sea serpent and sailing has been going well. But early in the morning, the lookout shouts out, "Sail ho!" He is pointing ahead, about 20 degrees off the starboard bow. On the horizon, about eight miles out, a single sail can be seen. The sail gets larger as it heads in the general direction of the Forsaken. At present speeds the two will meet in a little over an hour.

A half hour later, the ship is moving on a definite intercept course, and Pocaat begins ordering the crew to battle stations. The ship unfurls a black flag on her mast. Pocaat looks at the ship through his spyglass and mutters, "Pirates!" Chin asks the captain if they can out run the ship. Pocaat tells him "No, not with them having both sail and oars." The group prepares for the coming battle, arming themselves with light and heavy crossbows as well as the ballista.

As the pirate vessel approaches, Chin and Pug wait with heavy crossbows, Daloren with a light crossbow, six crewmen with light crossbows and two crewmen are at the ballista. The enemy ship is about 140 feet away when the ballista fires, missing the ship. The vessel continues to close the range and is now about 100 feet away, within optimum range of the heavy crossbows, so Chin and Pug fire. One pirate is hit and goes down. The ballista is reloaded.

The ship is now about 60 feet away and everyone open fires. Chin downs another pirate with the second crossbow he has, the crew brings down two more with light crossbows and the ballista nails a fourth. Pug is reloading his heavy crossbow. The pirates have just lost half the crew complement. The ship starts to turn away.

As the ship turns, it is still within light crossbow range, so Pug and the crew fire again, killing two more pirates. The ship sails off to the whoops of the crew. _(DM's note: This battle should not have been this lopsided. The pirates had 50% cover on their ship, giving them an AC of 18. Both the group and the crew rolled really well.)_

With the pirate threat averted, they continue to sail on to Zoa.

*Frosting 24th, 744 YND*

Two days after the encounter with the pirates, another cry of "Sail ho!" goes up from the crow's nest. Once again, he points in the general direction the ship is sailing, a little off the port bow this time. Pocaat immediately looks at it through the spyglass, but it is still little more than a silhouette against the sky. The Forsaken closes with the ship, taking a good hour to get within four miles. It is evident that the other cog is abandoned.

The sails are in tatters and the lines and rigging hang loose. It indeed looks dead, though a figure is visible hanging over the wheel. In another half hour, the Forsaken is within a mile of the vessel. Through the spyglass, the Captain can see that the man in ragged clothing might still be alive. Another figure appears to be perched on top of the mast. The word "Hyperion" is barely visible on the sun bleached side of the hull.

Pocaat refuses to bring the Forsaken closer that a half mile, when asked by Chin if he is going to investigate the ship to see if it needs help, to avoid the possibility of plague or evil on the abandoned vessel. Chin asks if they can take the dingy over to check the ship out and he grudgingly agrees. So Chin, Daloren, Lulla and Pug start rowing over to the cog, leaving Shaedra and Thalen on the Forsaken.

As they approach the other vessel, the man tied to the wheel suddenly raises his head. His face is emaciated and thin with starvation. "No!" he screams. "Get out! Get out!" Then he coughs and his head falls down on the wheel of the ship again. He moves no more. They continue to row over to the Hyperion, pulling the dingy up along side of the ship where a gangway would normally be deployed. It being about ten feet wide here, Chin to the left and Daloren to the right climb up on deck while Lulla and Pug wait for them to get out of the way so they too can climb up.

The dingy lashed on deck has had the bottom stoved in and scratches line the sides of the boat. The main deck cover has several holes smashed in it and the tarpaulin is gone. Lying all around the mast are several dead bodies still dressed in the ragged clothes of sailors. Loose bones, many of which look to have been gnawed, are scattered about the deck. The aft door to the lower deck is gone, leaving a black, gaping hole in the quarterdeck. A body has been lashed to the top of the mast. It has no head.

As soon as Chin is about to move further in on the deck, a scream of "Attack!" comes from the companion way (which is very dark) and the creatures do so. One by one, the five dead bodies arise and move towards Chin and Daloren. But first, Chin is able to move far enough away to allow Pug to climb up on board. Daloren move to attack one of the zombies, missing it. The other zombies rise and now two face Chin, two face Pug and one faces Daloren. Suddenly, another scream is heard, coming from the dingy. Two lacedons (sea ghouls) have climbed into the small boat and start attacking Lulla, who is now all alone. Lulla defends herself with her mace to no avail. And in the mist of all this going on, a ghostly, disembodied hand is now flying around the deck. _(DM's note: There is an evil cleric of Galapiti, The Harvester of Souls, on board, who has basically taken over the ship, turning the crew into zombies. He has just cast the spell spectral hand.)_

Chin attacks one of the zombies with a flurry of blows, missing completely. Meanwhile, the ghostly hand touches Pug and he feels an intense amount of pain, like that from being cut by shards of glass. _(DM's note: the cleric Varin has just cast inflict light wounds through the spectral hand.)_ He takes revenge on by swinging his greataxe at one of the zombies facing him, dropping it to the ground. Daloren disengages from the zombie by him, tumbling over the side of the ship to get to Lulla's side in the dingy, ending up flat on his face next to her on the bottom of the boat. The zombies on deck attack Chin and Pug, but have no success.

Meanwhile, down in the dingy, the lacedons each attack Lulla and Daloren. The one facing Lulla misses but the one standing over Daloren hits him twice causing some minor damage. Lulla again tries to strike them with her mace, missing, while Daloren gets up and barely nicks the one in front of him.

Chin attacks the zombies again, using his iron fists and sends one down in a crumpled heap. Pug is having a bit of a problem as he still has one of the original zombies facing him, the one Daloren was fighting is now flanking him and this ghostly hand is still flying around the deck. The spooky hand comes flying at him again, but misses this time. _(DM's note: Varin is trying to touch him with the spell chill touch.)_ He tries to attack one of the zombies, but he also misses. Down in the dingy, Daloren misses the lacedon in front of him and also shouts to Lulla that there are zombies on deck and these things are undead as well. The lacedon facing Lulla misses again and the one in front of Daloren hits him, except this time, in addition to being hurt, Daloren can no longer move! Lulla clenches her pillow, calling upon her patron deity Boegoo, The Coddler, to destroy the abominations around her and her friends. The lacedons turn and jump into the water, while the remaining three zombies run for the corners of the ship.

Chin decides to investigate where the voice came from, going over to the companion way. He feels a sharp pain and then light headedness when he reaches the entranceway. _(DM's note: Varin has used the spectral hand to deliver the spell vampiric touch, draining 6 hit points from Chin and giving them to himself.)_ Pug goes up to the quarterdeck to dispatch the zombie that ran up there. Lulla tries to help Daloren, but there is nothing she can do.

Chin takes a moment to hide in the shadows of the companion way, letting his eyes adjust to the light before moving further into the passage. He wishes there was more light available. His foe slips down the corridor to the room at the end of the hall, the captains quarters, and Chin doesn't notice him slipping in. Lulla climbs up to the deck and continues up to the quarterdeck intent on talking to the man lashed to the wheel. Pug reaches the zombie on the quarterdeck and easily rids the world of it.

Chin moves down to the end of the corridor slowly feeling his way while hugging the wall, searching for his foe. Lulla heals the man lashed to the wheel while Pug comes over to find out what she is doing.

Chin finally realizes that this ship is the same as the Forsaken and that the captains quarters has enough windows into it to light up the corridor if he pushes the door fully open. It is already crack open, so he forces it all the way open. Lulla finds out that the mans name is Captain Wien and that there is an evil cleric of The Harvester of Souls on board who has taken over his ship.

Chin sees an unattractive little man, small, thin and stinking of sweat, his bald head glistening with perspiration. He wears black robes with an azurite pin and displays his golden sickle holy symbol openly. On either side of the door and in each corner of the room are the remains of a skeleton, mostly dust now. Torn, bloodstained strips of canvas line the walls, giving it the feel of an abattoir. The sunlight coming thought the bloodstained sails make the place dim and red. Other than what looks like a mall bloodstained chest on the loft aft at the top of a short ladder, no other furniture stands within. On the wall above the chest a skill hangs on a nail beside a large scythe. _(DM's note: This small temple to the Harvester of Souls has only been in use a week or so, but it is already a place of death and decay. Varin has been using the chest as an altar and already sacrificed more than one crew member and several valuables as well.)_

Chin attacks the cleric with a flurry of blows, missing. The cleric tries to touch him while muttering some words, but loses his concentration due to the activity of Chin. Pug decides to go help Chin and gets to the entrance of the companion way. Lulla finds out that the evil cleric has been torturing Captain Wien in order to get him to sail the ship, but he has resisted thus far. She can hear the sound of battle below them.

Chin again tries to take the cleric down, but is having a difficult time _(DM's note: Varin is wearing plate mail making his AC 17 when added with his Dex.)_ Varin again tries to touch Chin, this time succeeding while saying "I bring you death!". Chin drops to the floor. _(DM's note: Varin has the death domain and the special ability for that domain is to perform a death touch once per day, which for Varin causes 5d6 points. If this roll is equal to or greater than the remaining hit points of the creature touched, the creature dies, instantly, no saving throw. Chin had 21 hit points and Varin got a 25.)_ Pug, upon hearing the sudden silence, races down to the companion way. He sees Chin lying on the floor, not moving at all. He moves up to the evil cleric, swinging wildly. Lulla unties captain Wien from the wheel, laying him down on the deck.

Varin attempts to cast a spell on Pug, and inflicts more pain on him, just like before. Pug is getting very upset by this point and with a mighty swing of his axe, severs the evil clerics body in half. _(DM's note: Pug rolled a critical hit with his great axe, causing a whooping 27 points of damage, more than Varin had.)_

What will happen now?


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session X - It's Good To Be Back On Land*

*Frosting 24th, 744 YND*

Pug is standing over the dead body of Varin, the evil cleric of the Harvester of Souls in the captain's quarters, out of breath from dealing with him. Chin's crumpled form lies on the floor nearby. Lulla has come inside to see if everything is alright, but is shocked to see Chin's dead body. Pug tells her that there may be more creatures on board and she should check on Daloren while he takes care of things in here. Lulla goes out to make sure Daloren is alright.

Daloren is just coming out of his paralyzation when Lulla approaches. He climbs up on board the cog from the dingy and the two of them sit down to rest while Lulla tells him what has happened. They rest, that is until they hear a loud crash and smell some smoke.

Pug has been checking out the room the cleric has been using as a temple. He strips the cleric of his belongings, the half-plate mail, the scythe and a pair of vials. He then goes over to the chest that is drawing his attention and he examines it, first by looking and then by opening it up, which is when a glyph on the chest is triggered causing Pug to suffer some damage from the fire explosion. Some of the sails covering the windows also catch on fire. Pug, thinking quickly as he grew up in a family of fishermen, rips the sails down and stuffs them out the windows into the sea. That taken care of, he proceeds to open the chest, finding a huge (for him) pile of gold coins, some gems and a couple of vials, all blood soaked.

He closes the chest up, picks it up, and starts carrying it out of the room. On the way out of the room, he crosses the threshold of the doorway, banging into the doors to open them some more. Brrr!! He trips another glyph dealing him some more damage, causing him to fall on the floor of the corridor unconscious, with a big thud and crash as he drops the chest as well. Daloren goes running to see what the noise is, running across the glyph on the floor in the entranceway of the corridor, paralyzing him. All is quiet.

Lulla hears the silence and calls out to Daloren and Pug. There is no response. She goes to the corridor entrance and sees Daloren standing there frozen, just like he was in the dingy only minutes before. Pug lies beyond him and looks to be in terrible shape, burned and covered in what looks like ice crystals. She needs to get to Pug in order to save him but is afraid to try and get past Daloren in case she might suffer the same fate. In the end she bowls Daloren down, walks over his body to get to Pug and using the power of Boegoo, heal Pug of some of his wounds.

They bring Daloren out on deck, as well as the body of Chin, the chest full of loot, the items from the dead cleric and the body of the captain. Captain Wien is in really bad shape and after investigating the remaining small rooms off of the corridor leading to the captains quarters, they decide to place him in one of those rooms on a bed to rest. Now it's time to see what else is on the ship after throwing the remains of the zombies overboard.

Down into the hold the three go, carefully looking around. As they approach the bow of the ship, they get near where the galley is only to see the partially butchered body of a man lying on the floor in the forward port corner of the room. The corpse turns its head and stares at them, lifting up a knife that was hidden behind it. As they watch in horror, the thing cuts at its left forearm until the appendage falls off, then pushes it toward the stove by the porthole. They are so disgusted by the vile creature, that they dispatched it quickly. _(DM's note: Varin ran out of food and animated this zombie to butcher itself whenever anyone enters the room. He has been eating of this meat, using purify food and drink spells to keep it from poisoning him.)_

After getting rid of this additional body, they continue their search, first opening the hatch at the stern that leads to the bilge, seeing that it is filled with large rocks, sand and water that has seeped into the ship. They then check out the companion hatch at the bow of the ship, revealing the same thing. Having searched the hold of the ship, the group heads back to the stern of the ship to go back up on deck, that is, until they hear some noise coming from the bilge below them. It sounds as if something is heading towards the bow hatch to the bilge. They surround the hatch and open it.

Out of the hatch pops a young human who is yelling about some skeletons chasing him. Recognizing that this person is not undead Pug attempts to close the hatch and succeeds, but not before a small skeleton of a giant rat comes out of the hatch. It is quickly dispatched by Lulla and Daloren. The human thanks the group for saving him, telling them that his name is Rufio and he has been hiding in the bilge for a least a week. He didn't think he would get out alive. Pug asks him if there are anymore of those skeletons down below and he says yes. The group decides to take them out now, instead of being surprised later.

Once everyone is ready, Pug flings the hatch open once more, and several more creatures come forth. In the end, four more small animal skeletons burst forth, only to be quickly dispatched by the group. When they have been dealt with, Rufio inquires about the fate of the rest of the crew and the ship. As they head back up to the main deck, Pug, Daloren and Lulla fill Rufio in on what they have found out so far. When they get back into the sunlight, everyone starts to let their guard down and take stock of the situation. Until they smell some smoke and it's not coming from Pug!

Daloren looks down the corridor to the captains quarters and sees it ablaze. Pug didn't get all the embers out! They quickly start putting everything into the dingy when Lulla realizes that the captain in still in one of the beds in a side room off of the corridor. Daloren goes to get him, picking him up and carrying him to the dingy while the rest of the group finish loading the small craft. Daloren quickly checks to see if captain Wien is still alive and he is. With everyone in the dingy, they start rowing away from the Hyperion back to the Forsaken. About half way there, they watch as the fiery remains of the Hyperion sink below the sea.

At this point Rufio inquires about the dead body in the boat. The group explains that it is of a fallen comrade and they haven't had time to decide what to do to pay him homage. Meanwhile, Lulla checks on the captain to find out that he has died. _(DM's note: The captain started suffering smoke inhalation damage when the fire broke out and went negative in hit points. No one thought to check on his condition any more than, yup, he's still breathing. After fifteen minutes before checking again, he was dead.)_ They decide to roll the body over the side of the dingy to give him a burial at sea, as well as not to invited any questions from the captain and crew of the Forsaken. Rufio agrees to go along with the plan.

They get back to the Forsaken, bringing everything back on board. Captain Pocaat asked them what happened. He is especially curious since he just witness a burning ship sink below the waves. They tell him all about the evil cleric, with Rufio filling in some of the details since he was present onboard when the cleric took over. Pocaat makes a comment that he wishes he never agreed to the charter to take them to Zoa. Nothing but bad luck has befallen him and his crew ever since the group came on board. He also asks about the chest and what's in it. They tell him that it has some things they found over on the ship, possessions of the cleric, charts, maps, mostly a blood stained mess. The open the chest to reveal the half-plate sitting there, all covered in red. Pocaat tells them to close the damn thing and keep it locked until they reached Zoa. He and the crew are nervous about the contents, which suits the group just fine. They retire to the cabins for some much needed rest (and to count the 18 gems and 1121 GP.)

_(DM's note: There was something else going on behind the scenes involving the players [not specific to the adventure itself, but closely related to one of the characters] as this was all going on. The player of Chin really liked the character [he is now playing Rufio], so much so that he had been trying to subtly persuade the other players to try and get Chin resurrected. By this point of the evening, he was starting to drop clear hints on what he thought the group should do. The group, on the other hand, basically was ignoring him. It bears notice here due to what happens later and the fact that they didn't try to appraise the gems they found at this point. They didn't want the player to know if they might have enough cash to actually try to get him resurrected.)_

*Frosting 27th, 744 YND*

Finally, about mid-morning, the city of Zoa can be seen off in the distance, situated on a small bay off Reanaaria Bay, it is well built and defended. Stout walls surround the city, 20 feet tall and built by followers of Gaaria (the Founder.) The walls are well constructed and contain many stones with small engravings, runes, or prayers to the Founder. Three stout gatehouses guard the paved roads that lead to the city, each filled with militia.

Built directly into the reef, the walls to the east of Zoa tower over the waters of Reanaaria Bay. A large "sea gate" stands at either end of the coral reef, each at least 100 feet wide and deep enough to allow entrance to the largest of ships. An inverted porticullis protects each gate; the militia raises them at night or where the city is under attack, preventing any ship larger than a longboat from entering or leaving. A 100 foot tall statue of Huunaav (The Traveler) stands in the midst of the sea wall, his ancient face looking out toward the sea with a grin.

Most buildings in Zoa are tall. Most stand three stories high and many rise as high as six. Occasionally, a bridge spans the distance between two buildings. The main city docks butt up to the market directly and it is not unusual to see a ship being unloaded and goods taken directly to a booth where they are then sold to buyers. Both areas are loud with sellers and filled with the smell of cooked food and exotic spices.

The group disembarks the Forsaken, carrying their friend Chin on a litter between Daloren and Rufio, while Pug and Shaedra carry the chest between them, but not before captain Pocaat thanks them for riding passage with him and if they ever need passage again to go elsewhere. They enter the dock area and are overwhelmed by the sight. The city of Zoa is something indeed. The place is huge! Buildings seem to be everywhere and the group has never seen so many people in the same place before in their lives (well, except for Pug and Daloren who were in the militia here for a while.) The noise is amazing. Somewhere off in the distance, the sound of metal on metal rings out, while on a nearby corner, a vendor sells his wares, shouting out "Sausages!" every few seconds. Men and women in robes, togas, and furs wander the street. It is truly remarkable.

The first order of business is what to do about Chin. They ask around for where they can find a temple of The Halls of the Valiant, because, although they do not know if Chin worshipped any particular god, they figure that since he was full of chivalry and valor, the Knight of the Gods, Naemae, would be most appropriate. They are given directions to follow the docks to the right and they will come upon the Circle of the Gods.

The Circle of the Gods. Temples of the various gods surround this large plaza on all sides. Most noticeable is the Hall of the Coin, standing to the south and connecting the Circle to the Market. The Sun Spire is large and impressive as well while the House of Waves is interesting if for no other reason than it sits atop the water of the harbor.

The center of the plaza is an immense reflecting pool, 40 feet across with seats all around, making it a comfortable place to sit and read on warm days. Artists often bring their easels to the square and one can find any number of paintings of the temples, the water itself, or various persons in the marketplace.

They group finds the Halls of the Valiant and enter, looking to find someone to speak with. They attract the attention of a cleric, who comes over and greets them "Good afternoon, is there something that I can help you with?" At this point, Pug explains the history of the group, how Chin came down from the monastery, brought this diverse group of people together, only to have his life stolen from him by an evil cleric of the Harvester of Souls, may he burn forever on the ship at the bottom of the sea. He concludes with "Chin was my hero!"

Pug asks what it would take to have their friend returned to them. The cleric ponders the question for a moment, and responds "Well, it would cost you 1550 GP, and would require two other things. The first would be to perform a small quest for us. The second would be to return you friend to the monastery that he came from." The group discusses this and asks "Why must we return Chin to the monastery, would he not be resurrected here?" The cleric responds, "While that might seem to be the case, the returning your friend to his monastery is necessary for the completion of the spell." They group has run into a problem, several actually. They don't have the time to take a side trek to Chin's monastery as they need to locate Halaan, they don't have that much cash on hand and, besides that, no one knows where the monastery is. In the end, they decide to ask the cleric to give their friend Chin, a pyre burial at sea. The cleric agrees, asking them if after breakfast tomorrow morning would be alright. The group would prefer to have it in the afternoon and the cleric agrees. They leave Chin with the cleric.

_(DM's note: Up to this point, Chin's player has been getting more and more persistent about trying to get Chin raised, even to the point of suggesting that the playing group adopt a formal policy, similar to the dividing up of treasure, on the subject of resurrection for characters. Basically, the others told him that they didn't think it was necessary. At this point, the player went to the bathroom and then the kitchen to get something to drink. The rest of the group now decides to appraise the 18 gems they found in the chest, finding out they are worth about 1500 GP and agree NOT to tell Chin's player their worth, in the hopes of him realizing they didn't have enough money to get him resurrected. Shaedra's player even said to him point blank, aw, just let him burn in a sea pyre! What you have to appreciate is that this player and I are in another group that have been playing the same characters for 16 years, constantly having them resurrected and when they get killed off at a really high level, reincarnated back to first level. The current groups attitude came as a bit of a shock to him.)_

After dealing with the arrangements for Chin, they head to the Crossed Cutlasses, a five story inn, one of the best in town for the money. Many militia frequent it in their off-duty hours and both Daloren and Pug remember this establishment from their days in the militia. After securing some rooms, the group heads out, following the directions Veoden gave them, to find the wizard Geolain. His tower is virtually on the other side of the small bay Zoa is built around.

Behind walls nearly 15 feet high and an iron gate stands the 60-foot tower of the man they seek. Next to the gate, a large bell is set into the stone wall. A think rope dangles from it. Pug pulls on the rope and they wait. A few moments after the bell rings out, the door to the tower opens. A young man wearing dark tight robes and a leather apron approaches the gate. He smiles politely through the bars, "Hallo and good day to you. May I ask your names and business here?" The group introduces themselves and tell the young man that they are here to see Geolain, the wizard, on a mission for the wizard Veoden. The young man asks them to please wait here and he will return momentarily.

The young man returns, "Geolain will see you now." He opens the gate and with a deep bow, bids them enter, "My name is Joa, apprentice to Geolain. Please follow." Joa escorts them through the tower doorway and into a drawing room. "Please, make yourself comfortable." and with that, Joa turns on a heel and exits through a door on the far wall.

Moments later, lovely young women whisk into the room. They bear trays of cookies, cakes, and sweetmeats. One carries a small barrel of ale and another brings a delicate decanter full of sweet wine. Shortly after the girls leave, an old man with thin white hair on top of his head enters the drawing room, "Greetings. I am Geolain the Wizard." Geolain wears fine gray robes, cinched tight with a simple leather belt.

The group explains all that happened up in the vicinity of Haanex, including the Coin and the task set forth by Veoden, to find the person named Halaan. Geolain claims that he can find out where Halaan is but they will have to do something for him. He tells them to return the next evening, an hour before dusk, and he will have their answer. He then dismisses them and exits the drawing room.

They return to the Crossed Cutlasses for some fine food, drink and for some, a nice hot bath. It is a restful evening.

*Frosting 28th, 744 YND*

After sleeping in this morning, the group gets up and has a hearty breakfast. They decide to see if they can better provision themselves by seeking out the dwarven blacksmith Purguld, who Stiruck, the dwarf they saved from the ogres, said lived in the city. The bring the half plate mail, the note from Stiruck and head over to Small Town.

Until very recently, this area was part of the Lower Coins (a groups of hills where the most affluent in Zoa live.) An influx of dwarves and gnomes from the mountains inhabited a growing shanty town outside the north gate. Seeing a way to increase revenues, the council passed an edict trebling the gate entry. Angered by this action, the dwarves and gnomes hatched an ingenious scheme.

The refugees quickly gathered all their wealth and descended en masse on the southern path of the Lower Coins. They bought up as many local homes and as much land as they could and converted the area into a small dwarven burrough. Before those in the Coins realized what was happening, the dwarves owned the entire section of town right next door. By spring of the present year, the dwarves and gnomes thoroughly entrenched themselves in the second richest section of town.

The artisans of town resented the dwarves' new "artisan district" almost as much as the rich resented the (now) poor dwarves living in close proximity to them. Add to that the noise from smithies and the unique smells from the smelting houses and tanneries, and the tension rose.

It has not improved. The area is heavily patrolled by the city militia, especially by men on the Coins side. Dwarves have their own patrols, though they have no authority from the city. A city garrison, recently placed in Small Town, keeps the peace as well.

The group finds Purguld, who is suspicious until Stiruck is mentioned and the letter from him produced. He agrees to look over the half plate mail, giving the group a good offer for it. When asked about items for purchase, he shows them other armor and weapons. The group goes to work trying to decide what to buy.....

_(DM's note: I'm waiting to see if they are going to try and use the gold from the chest, it being blood stained and all. Should be interesting. This is where we left off for the evening and will pick it up from here on Dec. 13th.)_


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session XI - Farewell Chin, It's Time To Move Along*

Quick note first, Galen, the new character replacing Chin, was originally going to be a magic-user type, first starting out as a rogue and then multiclassing into magic use. Due to some conversations at the beginning of the night, the player decided that he would prefer to have another monk character as he really enjoyed playing one. So the character has changed as well as his name, which is now Rufio. I've edited the previous session to reflect the name change. Now on with the session...

*Frosting 28th, 744 YND*

The first order of business (while waiting for Thalen's player to arrive) is, of course, trying to convince everyone to get Chin resurrected. The subject has returned and Chin's player makes a last ditch effort to have the group find someone who can perform the deed. After much debate, the group decides that they will attempt to find someone who might be able to do it, besides the Halls of the Valiant whom they have already spoken to. So, Shaedra and Lulla go out to gather information, trying to find a cleric in the city who is capable of performing the deed. Their search is indeed fruitful, mainly because they find out that there is no cleric in the city capable of performing a resurrection. The best they could find was a cleric named Mist (Clr14) of The Traveler. Returning to the group and letting them know of this information, they resign to the fact that they will continue with their current plans for Chin's funeral.

_(DM's note: This was the primary reason, hidden in the background, that Chin's body needed to be returned to the monastery. The Halls of the Valiant would do all the preparation work necessary, as well as receiving the fee and having a small quest performed, for the resurrection so that when they returned Chin to the monastery, the ritual could be performed immediately.)_

Our intrepid heroes now continue their shopping spree, which actually turns into a "Let's just pick up a few things." Several decide to update their armor to breastplate (Pug, Shaedra, and Lulla) while some better weapons are found. The biggest surprise purchase was by Lulla, as Marty the pony is her new mount. Maybe now she can keep up with the rest of the group easier, since no one will have to carry her around.

After finishing their shopping expedition, they all return to the Halls of the Valiant for Chin's funeral. They contact the cleric they spoke with the previous day who then calls on two other clerics to join him. The entourage then proceeds to the mouth of the river that flows from the north that feeds the small bay that the city of Zoa is built around. It is a short walk northeast from the Circle of the Gods. When they reach the mouth of the river, attendants can be seen by a small boat, loaded with a wood pyre with Chin on top. After reaching the boat, the cleric asks the group if they have any finally words to say about their companion.

Pug is too choked up to say anything. Lulla expresses the thought that she hopes Chin will watch over them. Daloren says that Chin will be missed. Shaedra states that Chin served well and it is time for him to return to his god. Thalen, takes a torch from the cleric after the cleric asks if someone from the group would prefer to light the pyre and does so. The burning boat is pushed from shore into the bay. There is an extended moment of silence. The group then sits on the shore watching their friend leave, telling stories of his valor. After about an hour, the boat sinks below the waves. The last comment was about Chin refusing to die and it is a shame that it happened. _(DM's note: This comment was said with dual meaning, referring to Chin's player so forcefully trying to get Chin resurrected. I included it here because it gave me an idea, basically of having Chin occasionally haunting the party, especially at times when they are not following the path he was originally trying to lead the group on, to go out and do good deeds. I think I'll have a lot of fun with this and will eventually enlist the help of Chin's player once I set events in motion that show how it will work.)_

The group gathers their belongings and head back to see Geolain. They approach his tower at the scheduled time, an hour before sunset, pulling the rope to ring the bell once again. They wait only a fleeting moment before Joa arrives, "Welcome, friends." Joa leads them into the tower as before. This time the servants provide a more bracing selection of bread, cheese, cold meat and wine.

After chatting for a few minutes, the door creaks open and Geolain steps into the room bearing a large sack. "I want you to rescue some things for me. Some idiots who call themselves the Sentinels of the True Way have stolen several books from around Zoa. They play to burn them tomorrow morning - barbarians! I want you to save the books before the heathens destroy them." They agree to perform this simple task for him.

He hands over the large sack containing a blank scroll and three more nondescript large sacks. "Simply save the books and bring them to me. Once you've accomplished this, I will draw you a map to Halaan on the blank scroll. You need to be careful though. The Sentinels of the True Way have many allies, not the least of which is the House of Scorn." When asked if he knows where the books are being held, Geolain responds, "I do not know, but, Driscall, the owner of the Blind Beggar Inn should." and he provides directions to the place.

Following the directions provided by Geolain, the group finds itself heading into the section of Zoa called the Dregs. This is where the original town of Zoa began and where the oldest buildings in the city still stand. Home to the poorest citizens, this area is rarely patrolled by militia. Thieves, criminals and the poor rub shoulders anonymously. The houses here are run down and often propped up, though some of them show signs of having once been nicer.

They reach the Blind Beggar Inn, where a full-sized wooden beggar, eyes wrapped in cloth, stands by the front door holding out a wooden cup. Next to the door, weathered to the point where it is almost impossible to read, is a sign that says "Blind Beggar" in the merchant's tongue. Rufio drops a copper piece in the cup and the group enters the inn.

The inside of the inn is dark and dirty. A small bar with some rickety-looking tables and chairs populate the main room, accessible from the entrance. A stone fireplace, blackened with soot, lies on the north wall. A stairway leads up to the second floor but it is roped off and looks unused. A man stands behind the bar in front of a door that apparently leads to a back room. Two commoners sit by the bar milking their beers while another man lies face down at a table with a half-full mug of beer beside him.

Rufio walks up to the bartender asking where they can find Driscall. The bartender tells him that Driscall went to visit the Willing Maid and will not likely return until tomorrow. He then asks them to buy some drinks. Rufio tries to convince the bartender to provide more information by placing a gold piece on the bar, again asking about Driscall, "Are you sure he's not around. We really need to talk with him." The bartender repeats the same answer, again asking them to buy some drinks. "Not right now, we need to find Driscall. Can you tell us where the Willing Maid is?" The bartender tells them how to get there. When Rufio looks down, the gold piece he had under his finger is gone.

While this is happening, Shaedra decides to check out the man lying face down at a table. She tries to rouse him, to no avail as he is passed out cold. Since the place seems to be providing so little information, the group goes over to the Willing Maid, a tavern, inn and brothel that is a sleazy and expensive place to eat, sleep, or indulge in the baser instincts. Four stories and leaky in the rain, the place is relatively safe, though some patrons have been know to disappear in the night. Lulla waits outside the front door with Marty and Daloren, while Thalen, Rufio and Shaedra enter.

Rufio goes to the bar to try and find out where Driscall is. He talks to the bartender finding out that Driscall hasn't been here tonight and that it's not the day of the week that he usually shows up. This is puzzling to him and he goes outside to Lulla and Daloren. Daloren makes the comment "Us looking for someone who we don't know what he looks like, doesn't look good." Meanwhile, Shaedra goes up to one of the ladies present asking for a description of Driscall. She is fairly intimidating to them and they describe Driscall to her. Thalen is trying the same idea out on another lady, using bribery as the tactic. Rufio and Daloren decide to go back to Geolain to try and get a description of Driscall. Shaedra finally is given a description of the man just like the bartender from the Blind Beggar Inn. She collects Thalen and Lulla leading them back to speak with the shifty bartender again.

Rufio and Daloren pull the rope at Geolain's tower with Joa coming to the front gate. They ask him about getting more information about Driscall. Joa disappears for a couple of minutes. When he returns, he tells them that all they know is he owns the Blind Beggar Inn. They decide to run back to the inn to talk to the bartender again. On the way back, they see Shaedra, Thalen and Lulla riding Marty up ahead. They decide to try to surprise them, but Thalen notices them before they can pull it off. Shaedra turns around saying "Notch down the testosterone guys, will you!" They then exchange information as they continue back to the Blind Beggar. Upon hearing who Driscall really is, Rufio says "I'm going to go in there, jump over the bar and kick him in the chin." Everyone else groans while Shaedra says "We don't want to talk about him anymore" _(DM's note: there was an awful lot of side jokes about Chin flying around this evening. Everyone was getting into it    )_

They arrive back at the Blind Beggar Inn. They decide that Shaedra will go in to find Driscall while Rufio holds the door open in order to hear what is happening. Thalen goes around to the back of the building to cover any rear exits. Daloren and Lulla will cover the front of the building. Shaedra walks in to find the place just like they left it before but the bartender is gone. Realizing that the man at the table would be useless to talk to, she heads over to the two men nursing their beers. She asks them, "Do you know where Driscall is?" The answer back is "Who?" She says "The bartender". "Oh, you mean Helmut. He left to run an errand."

Thalen has quietly entered the rear of the Inn ending up in the kitchen. He finds no one there. Rufio enters the Inn going to join Shaedra. Daloren decides to try looking around the back alley for any signs of tracks leading away recently. It is difficult to do so due to the cobblestone streets. Rufio reaches Shaedra and the two men saying "We need information about Driscall. What can you tell us" as he places 7 gold pieces on the bar. The two men open up telling them that the bartender is indeed Driscall, he split as soon as the group left last time and is probably at his house right now. They get directions to Driscall's home, collect everyone else and leave.

Thalen and Daloren decide to run ahead to try and possibly prevent Driscall from getting away again. They reach Driscall's house, a two story high structure, the upper level overhangs the street. Right next door to a weaver, the small house looks dark and locked. They check for other entrances to the house, finding only the two windows on the upper floor besides the front door. While Thalen hides Daloren by standing in front of him, Daloren quietly picks the lock on the door, a task that is getting easier for him to do.

The two of them sneak into the house, closing and locking the front door. They don't want Driscall to have an easy escape. The first floor consist of a small sitting room and even smaller kitchen. They hear some movement upstairs. Thalen quietly climbs the stairs going up, easily seeing a man who looks like he's packing his bags. Thalen motions to Daloren to join him, pointing out the man. Daloren sneaks up behind him and with Thalen ready to rush the man, attacks him with a couple of punches that daze him. Thalen comes barreling across the room, hitting the man again who collapses into an unconscious heap on the floor.

Daloren goes down stairs to open the front door for the rest of the group while Thalen makes sure that Driscall can't get away. Thalen then searches the upper level while the rest of the group decides to search to main level. No one finds anything. Rufio decides to go downstairs to check out the cellar barely missing being hit by a longsword. There are four men in chainmail down there waiting for them and a short battle ensues! The four men are fairly easily vanquished, but not before Rufio is staggering around at the point of collapse due to being hit twice. Thalen was also hit once before the four men were dispatched. Lulla heals them both. When they look around, they find 35 books in a pile, the ones that are going to be burned in the morning.

It looks like they found what they were looking for.


But what to do about Driscall?
How long are they going to stay there and will they go back to Geolain's directly?
Will they return all the books?
Check back again to find out!!!


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session XII - Look, There's More Bodies Outside*

*Frosting 28th, 744 YND*

It is starting to get well into the evening when our heroes find the books they were looking for. They are at Driscall's house with Pug upstairs on the second floor watching over the tied, unconscious body of Driscall on his bed while all the others are taking a quick breather in the basement after confronting 4 guards of The Sentinel of the True Way. The group in the basement starts examining the 35 books on the table mostly containing information discussing magical, scientific or even depraved, evil philosophy. Three of the books do catch their eyes.

The first is Raspar's Silver Book. The covers of this book are made of very thinly pounded silver, bound with copper wire. On the front of the book is a symbol: a serpent wrapped around a hand, and the name "RASPAR." The book contains spells ranging from 0 to 2nd level.

The second is the Book of Carlisle. The book's covers were once fine leather but have been bleached by the sun and look water damaged as well. The pages are all dogeared, but the spells recorded in the book, ranging from 0 to 2nd level, are intact.

The third book is The Leaf and Twig. This druidic book of herbs and medicine allows anyone to learn the Profession (herbalism) proficiency as if it were a class skill so long as she has the book to reference (else it drops to a cross-class skill).

The group begins to pack up the books, while Pug feels a shiver go up and down his spine. He goes downstairs to the main level, calling out to the group to see if see or hear anything funny. Then there is a knock on the door. Pug, beginning to get worried, calls down to the basement "Shaedra, do you detect any evil?" She replies, "Yes, somewhere upwards from where I am, toward the street."

The group in the basement quickly makes it way up to the main floor. Much discussion ensues. Pug, Shaedra and Rufio go up to the second floor as it is the only floor to have any windows. Shaedra tries to see who is at the front door, but the second floor of the house overhangs the first and it is not possible to see the front door. The rest of the street is empty. They forego the idea of climbing out the window down to the street and instead return to the main level. After some more discussion, Daloren opens the door with everyone ready for whoever is there. Standing in the entranceway is no one. In fact, nothing is outside of the house. _(DM's note: I handed an index card to Pug earlier describing the shiver and at this point, I also handed one to Lulla that said "There is nothing outside the house." It took a while before she realized that this included Marty, her pony.    )_

Daloren announces that there is no one to be seen, so Rufio heads out into the street first. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Rufio is hit by two crossbow bolts and an arrow, and is now face down unconscious in the street about ten feet from the doorway.

_(DM's note: [rant] Ring! The bloody phone rings at this point, about 1/3 of the way into the session. It's work with a production problem, which means I absolutely have to handled it. I was POed about it, especially since the operator at the other end is a dolt. It takes me an hour to straighten things out, including dialing into work to make sure everything is ok. It totally ruins the mood for me, especially since the problem should not have occurred in the first place, since the idiot didn't follow directions the first time from the first person he spoke to. By not following the directions, he made things worse and that meant I had to get involved to fix the situation. And to top it all off, the original problem occurred 1 1/2 hours before he called me! Needless to say, the first person contacted and I spoke to his supervisor the next morning about it. [/rant] So, if this session seems a little shorter than the others, this is why._

Shaedra moves out of the building to pull Rufio into an alley so that she can lay on hands to heal him. She is also shot at, but they totally miss her. Someone moves down the street to the alley where Shaedra is and tries unsuccessfully to attack her. Daloren heads to her aid, taking down the assailant. Thalen heads out of the build, down the other direction, stopping at an alley where he sees a dwarf with a hand axe waiting for him. Another thug comes down the street to attack Daloren, to no effect. Pug moves out to help Daloren while Lulla realizes that Marty is missing. She listens carefully to see if she can detect anything, hearing the clatter of hooves down past where Daloren and Pug are.

More arrows and bolts fly, coming from both directions of the street. Daloren is hit with an arrow. Shaedra heals Rufio. Daloren and Pug try to take down the second thug wounding him, while two more dwarves accost Thalen. All of a sudden an enraged half-orc barbarian comes charging at Pug, but in his rage, misses him. Thalen is now dealing with three dwarves who are having trouble hitting him and vice versa. The archer doesn't miss him, however, and Thalen now has an arrow in his side. Lulla moves up towards Pug and Daloren searching for Marty.

Rufio decides to investigate down the alley way the he and Shaedra are in, but it is difficult seeing anything in the dark. Shaedra moves up to help Daloren and Pug out and is unable to hit the thug who misses Daloren. Daloren takes him out with his sword, while Pug puts the raging barbarian to rest. Another crossbow bolt flies toward Daloren, missing, while the same happens with an arrow aimed at Thalen. Thalen finally manages to hit one of the dwarves, but he is still standing. The dwarves continue to show how inept they are at their attempts to hit Thalen. Lulla hears Marty further down the street and heads in that direction seeing Marty held by someone around a corner.

Rufio comes running out of the alleyway at the sound of surprise from Lulla upon find her pony reaching the spot where see is at. The person holding the reigns to the pony drops them and runs away to the next street and around the corner. Shaedra charges one of the dwarves flanking Thalen, delivering a killing blow. Pug starts heading down the street past where Shaedra and Thalen are, trying to see if there are any others in that direction. The dwarves continue to attack Thalen, but are still having no success. An arrow flies at Pug, missing him and Pug still can not tell where it came from.

Rufio runs after the flee fugitive, runs the corner in the direction the fugitive went and stops to try and find a trail. Shaedra takes down a second dwarf while Daloren and Lulla calm down Marty. Thalen finally takes out the remaining dwarf while Shaedra and Pug hear the patter of feet fleeing across the rooftops. There is no way they are going to catch that one. Meanwhile, Rufio has lost the trail of the other.

The group gathers to six dead bodies, putting them in Driscall's house. The strip the bodies of anything they think that they might be able to sell, take the books and head back to the inn where they are staying. _(DM's note: The group is in a really sleazy part of the city and I was trying to decide if a city patrol should show up or the locals were to get involved in some way. Since I couldn't decide, I rolled a d20, getting a 1. Ok, nothing showed up, but I decided that the two that escaped followed the group back to the inn and would keep tabs on them. This will fit in nicely with the next module, Forging Darkness.)_

*Snowfall 1st, 744 YND*

After getting a night's sleep, the group sends a runner in the morning to Geolain, explaining briefly to him that they had the books and would bring them by later that day. They just needed to get some rest. The group decides to go and sell the stuff they got the night before, except for Daloren, who decides to read up on some of the books. Later that afternoon, the haul all the books to Geolains, giving him every last one. He is quite pleased and draws a map for them. It shows Halaan to be somewhere in the Reelio jungle, a 5 to 6 day voyage by ship from Zoa. He strongly recommends that they travel by sea as the jungles are known to contain many orc villages. The party considers their options.


What will the two escapee's following the group do?
What will Driscall do once he is free and finds ten dead bodies in his house?
Will the city militia be contacted about the sale of ten sets of armor and weapons once those bodies are found?
How will Marty react to a trip aboard a ship?
How will Lulla react to Marty on the ship?
How will the rest of the group react to Lulla and Marty?

_(DM's note: I was thinking about how the group was going to get the pony to travel by ship. I'm going to have the pony be nonchalant about getting on board. However, sometime into the voyage, the pony is going to get seasick. This should provide a bit of fun when Marty starts throwing up    )_

Stay tuned....more coming after the session this Thursday!


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## wsclark (Jan 15, 2002)

*Story Hour Transferred*

This completes the transfer of my story hour from the other boards. The next session is in two days and I should have the session posted sometime on Friday.


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## Halma (Jan 17, 2002)

*Glad to see you on the New Boards*

I just wanted to say hey and to give my rating that I feel you deserve.  ***** Stars.

Good Job and keep it coming.  I would like to see some more Character created view points if at all possible. It was cool to see Pugs point of view.


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## wsclark (Jan 18, 2002)

*Re: Glad to see you on the New Boards*



			
				Halma said:
			
		

> *I just wanted to say hey and to give my rating that I feel you deserve.  ***** Stars.*




Wow, thank you very much. I never thought people would like it that much.



			
				Halma said:
			
		

> *Good Job and keep it coming.  I would like to see some more Character created view points if at all possible. It was cool to see Pugs point of view. *




W played tonight and I'm writing up the session tomorrow. The player of Thalen is also going to write up the session and once I receive it, I'm going to post it as well, probably after the weekend.

Some strange twists this time out. A mugging. Daloren, Pug and Shaedra (the paladin) going bar crawling. Thalen trying to get into the sewers. Rufio asking anyone he meets who can cook if the have any good recipes for pony. Lulla refusing to fully heal people because they are teasing her about Marty. A seasick pony. Two apes causing major havoc to the party. Lots of jokes as Rufio's player suggest names for the adventuring party (like The Chinless Ones). Just a few things. Check back tomorrow (or today as it is now where I am)


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## LightPhoenix (Jan 18, 2002)

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your story hour very much as well.  It brought a grin to my face knowing that Chin's player was making jokes after his death was finalized.

The only thing I would like to know is who wrote each story hour, since you stated that it was being rotated... Thanel's and Pug's were easy enough to spot, and I think I got one other, but overall it was hard to tell.

Can't wait to see the seasick pony 

(Oops, seasick has two of those squiggly letters)

LightPhoenix


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## wsclark (Jan 18, 2002)

LightPhoenix said:
			
		

> *I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your story hour very much as well.  It brought a grin to my face knowing that Chin's player was making jokes after his death was finalized.*




Thanks again. And it is not only Chin's player who is still making jokes (I think he has had enough of them now .) Everyone is still ribbing him about Chin. The player is trying to get the group to come up with a name for themselves and out of the over two dozen suggestions, 2/3 of the dealt with Chin in some manner. There were so many flying around I couldn't keep track of them. I'm going to ask my players to list the ones they remember and post them here for the fun of it.

I also am thinking of letting the people here decide on the name for the group, which if a good one can be thought up, I will use when they get back to Zoa. Either the city militia or The Sentinels of the True Way will just start calling them that name 



			
				LightPhoenix said:
			
		

> *The only thing I would like to know is who wrote each story hour, since you stated that it was being rotated... Thanel's and Pug's were easy enough to spot, and I think I got one other, but overall it was hard to tell.*




Well, I wanted it to be rotated a lot more than it current is, but that hasn't been the case. I indicate who wrote each session, so the only one actually written by a player has been Session II - Graveyard Stomp, by Pug. I have written all the others. I'm trying to encourage everyone to write up whatever they can, and if I get any, I will post their versions as well. I will continue to write up each session in addition to any I receive from the players. Unless it is indicated in the post subject, I wrote that session.

I'm also going to suggest to my players that they join ENWorld once the new boards go live so they can participate in this thread as well.



			
				LightPhoenix said:
			
		

> *Can't wait to see the seasick pony
> 
> (Oops, seasick has two of those squiggly letters)
> 
> LightPhoenix *




I'm writing up last night's session this morning. It should be up sometime today. The seasick pony was fun but it was also entertaining on how the group realized they had a problem getting Marty off the ship to go into the jungle since the ship was anchored off the shore. Ever try to get a pony into a dingy?


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## wsclark (Jan 18, 2002)

*Session XIII - What A Nice Place We've Found*

*Snowfall 1st, 744 YND*

Our ever intrepid adventurers have just received a sketched map to where Halaan is from the wizard Geolain. Shaedra and Lulla (with Marty) decide to head down to the docks to charter a ship to take them to the area indicated on the map and back again. The others head back to the Crossed Cutlasses where they are staying.

Shaedra and Lulla survey the ships in the dock area. They think about making a sign, holding it up and walking around till they get a response, but decide against it _(DM's note: Shaedra's player suggested holding up a sign like the ones drivers hold in an airport for people to find a ride.)_ Shaedra notices a well kept and trim ship and approaches. She asks for the captain who comes down to talk to her. A simply, neatly dressed man comes to the ship's rail.

[Ship Captain] "I'm Haarckel, master of the Gryphon. What can I do for you ladies?"

[Shaedra] "We are looking to charter a ship to us to the Reelio Jungle and back again. Have you ever traveled there?"

[Haarckel] "I've been sailing these waters for 22 years and know that area fairly well. Do you have a particular destination in mind?"

[Shaedra] "If you have a map, I can point out the area."

[Haarckel] "Come aboard and I'll show you some of my nautical maps. I'll have one of my crew watch your pony for you."

Lulla and Shaedra board the ship after giving Marty's reigns to a crewman who Haarckel sent down the ramp leading up to the ship. Once on board, they are politely told to go up to the main deck where the captain will me them with the map. The captain returns a minute later carrying an oversized looking scroll. He rolls the map out on the deck.

[Haarckel] "So what are your names ladies?"

[Shaedra] "I'm Shaedra and this is Lulla"

[Haarckel] "Well, Shaedra and Lulla, where abouts did you want to go?"

Shaedra points to a spot on the map.

[Shaedra] "Here, in this area."

[Haarckel] "That's a pretty rough area. Why you heading there?"

[Shaedra] "We are looking for someone and this was the last place they were at. How long would it take to get there and can we charter your ship?"

[Haarckel] "Oh, about 5 1/2 days. My ship is available for the next two weeks if you like. That would leave you about three days to find whomever your looking for. After that, I would have to leave to get back here as I have a manifest to pick up."

[Shaedra] "I thin that would be fine."

[Lulla] "How much would it cost?"

[Haarckel] "Are you planning on taking that pony with you? If so, you'll have to care for him."

[Lulla] "Yes, but there are four others besides ourselves. A total of six passengers and the pony."

[Haarckel] "My, that's a fairly large group. I guess you shouldn't have any problems then. 100 GP round-trip."

[Lulla] "Sounds reasonable. How about half when we leave and the other half when we start our return voyage?"

[Haarckel] "That's fine. When would you like to leave? I can be ready by first light tomorrow morning."

[Shaedra] "That would be just fine. You wouldn't mind providing any references about yourself, would you?"

[Haarckel] "Sure, go talk to Pinoor the silk merchant in the market. I deal with him all the time. If you're here at first light, we'll leave. Deal?"

[Shaedra] "Deal"

Shaedra and Lulla depart for the marketplace. After a short search, they find Pinoor's Lustrous Silks and enter the establishment. A middle-aged elf appears.

[Pinoor] "Greetings, how can I help you today?

[Shaedra] "We are here looking for references on a man named Haarckel. We are trying to decide if we want to business with the man."

[Pinoor] "Ah, captain Haarckel, a fine man and gentlemen. I've been dealing with him for over 10 years. He is one fine, fair and honest person."

[Lulla] "What type of relationship do you have?"

[Pinoor] "He is my primary shipper of silks from all around Tellene. We have had a profitable arrangement for quite some time."

[Shaedra] "Thank you very much for the information."

As they leave, Lulla gives Pinoor a gold piece. The two head to the Crossed Cutlasses where they join the other for dinner. They let the others know about the arrangements they made and discuss if there is anything else they need to do. After dinner is over, Lulla decides to go to bed to get a good night's rest. Rufio heads over to the bar for a while. Thalen decides to go wander the streets of the city. Shaedra, Daloren and Pug head out on the town bar hopping _(DM's note: Yes, the paladin went bar hopping, but not drinking as she was trying to gather information about the Reelio Jungle)_

Thalen wanders for a bit before being accosted by over a half dozens youths. They come up to him pleading and begging for food and/or money. He eventually gets fed up with them and shuffles them off. As they run off down the street, he takes quick stock of himself finding that he is missing his silvered dagger. Thalen runs after them turning a street corner where one went only to find a quiet empty street.

He pulls out his greatsword and starts to investigate each door and window down the street. After finding no lights in windows and checking his sixth locked door, he throws his hands in the air cursing. He sheaths his sword and proceeds to look for sewers.

Meanwhile, Shaedra, Daloren and Pug are hitting a few bars. Pug and Daloren are having a good time putting down the ale, while Shaedra is successfully obtaining some information about the Reelio Jungle. She finds out that it is also call the Obakasek Jungle and is inhospitable territory fanning  outward from the southern slopes of the Lopoliri Mountains down to the Kalamaran Sea, around the peninsula and heading up the west side of the Reanaaria Bay. Rain is a daily occurrence and temperatures seldom drop below 95 degrees. Goblinoid tribes inhabit the entire region, with main orc villages on the Reanaaria Bay side and have adapted to the rigors of the jungle. Because the heat and humidity accelerate decay, bronze has never been supplanted by iron or steel as the latter metals tend to rust too easily. Few permanent structures exist, most buildings are flimsy huts designed merely to provide shelter from the rain. Fortifications are exclusively stone. Certain tribes in the region have domesticated warm-blooded lizards and use them as steeds or hunting companions. There are huge warm-blooded lizards with ferocious dispositions that hunt in this jungle. If, as rumor goes, these lizards can swallow an ogre whole, they would be terrible opponents indeed.

After frequenting several establishments, the group starts heading back to the inn running into Thalen, who for some reason is trying to pull a sewer grate out of the ground in the middle of the street with no luck. Shaedra smacks him upside the head telling him to stop be foolish. Daloren and Pug continue back to the inn since it is about midnight, but Shaedra and Thalen head down to the docks to see if they can find out anything else about captain Haarckel.

Back at the inn, Rufio has not been having much luck finding out any information that he seeks. He asks to speak to the chief cook at the inn. He is quite disappointed to find out that the cook doesn't have any good recipes for pony. Disgusted, he heads off to bed.

Shaedra and Thalen reach the docks, it now being somewhat after midnight. They go over to the Gryphon, having Thalen check out the ship. He sees to crewmembers diligently going about their duties onboard. He sits down on the dock for a while, watching. Returning to Shaedra who was waiting a short distance away, he tells her that the ship looks like it is run real well and the crewmen onboard were quite alert in their duties. They decide to go to a tavern nearby in the dock area to see if they can gather anything else about captain Haarckel.

They enter a seedy inn full of rowdy sailors yelling and whooping about. One yells out to them to come and sit in his lap. Shaedra responds "Get lost.", but the sailor yells back that he was talking to the guy next to her. The two of them ignore what is going on and head over to the bar. Thalen orders an ale while Shaedra asks about Haarckel. She finds out that the people here think he's nothing more than a goody, goody since he and his crew never frequent the bars and taverns are the dock. She asks him how he handles such a rowdy bunch and he indicates Din and Dum, the two ogres over in the corner. At eight feet tall and full of muscles, they make very effective bouncers.

Thalen tells the barkeep that the ale tastes like pisswater and asks if he has anything else. The bartender tells him he has some fine brandy for the discriminating folks that is 5 gold pieces a glass. Thalen says that it is outrageous at 5 gold pieces for a glass and demands what else he has. He responds with ale. Thalen takes another mug, tosses it down and yells while leaving that he'll never drink this pisswater again. The two of them head to the inn for a couple of hours of sleep.

*Snowfall 2nd, 744 YND*

The group gets up before daybreak the next morning, thanks to the wakeup call Rufio ask for the night before. They have a light breakfast of bread and cheese and then head to the ship. All get on board and they set sail at first light.

*Snowfall 5th, 744 YND*

The first two days of sailing turn out to be very pleasant. Rufio has asked the ship's cook if he has any recipes for pony, he doesn't.

Now it is the third day at sea when the group starts to notice it getting warmer. Captain Haarckel approaches them saying that they will hit a little rough water as they are about to cross a temperature zone caused by a strong current in the sea. They encounter a bit of rough water when Lulla notices that Marty doesn't look right. Pug goes over to check on Marty. There is a huge retching sound as the pony heaves and throws up all over Pug. Lulla is aghast at the prospect of her pony being sick and tries to help Pug out, just as Marty heaves again, but from the other end. Rufio and Shaedra catch the captain, up on the poop deck with a big smile on his face. The captain tells them that they have to clean up the mess and where the mops and buckets are. Pug and Lulla spend the rest of the day quieting Marty down and cleaning up.

*Snowfall 8th, 744 YND*

About midday the vessel reaches the area where they group wants to go, luckily without further incidence. After pulling within a mile of shore and searching for over two hours seeing little but jungle, they spot something. They see the remains of what looks like a large stone castle about a hundred yards from the sea and covered in vines. They decide to investigate only to realize that it is going to be very difficult getting Marty ashore in a dingy. They break off into two groups, the first making it to shore with no problem and the second, containing Pug, Lulla and Marty. Marty seems to have placed complete trust in Pug, who has no difficulty getting Marty into the dingy and keeping him calm for the trip. They tell the crewman returning to the ship that they will investigate the castle and return here before dark to let them know that everything is alright.

As they hack through the foliage of the jungle, huge mosquitoes swarm about their heads, landing on any exposed flesh. Finally, they break through to a cleared area and see the amazing sight of a castle hidden among the jungle foliage. The castle looks uninhabited. Across the cleared area filled with grass at least three feet tall, they can see that the walls are covered with vines. Merlons are missing from the battlements and the walls are broken in places. A gaping black hole stands at the foot of the outer wall, protected by neither gate or porticullis. Several sticks stand just outside of the gaping hole, each of them topped with a skull. A grim silence fills the area.

The group moves up to the walls of the castle which are 20 feet high with a plinth of about 10 feet. The tapered wall closes to about 5 feet wide at the top. The keep climbs to a fantastic 80 feet at its highest point high over the trees in the area. From the sea, it looks like a tall hill. Debate ensues on the best way to enter the place. Should they scout the entire outside of the walls, go through the gaping hole archway or climb up the towers. While all this is going on, Shaedra heads to the southern most tower and tries to climb the vines with no success. Pug then gives it a try also failing. Thalen takes a grappling hook and rope from his backpack and tries to hook it on to the top of the tower. No luck. Pug tries with the grappling hook. No luck. Thalen, no luck. Pug, finally gets it hooked while the rest of the party watches on in amusement.

Daloren climbs up first reaching the top of the tower. He finds a light ballista there as well as a trap door. Rufio follows him up. They can see that both the southwest and southeast towers have light catapults on them. Peering down into the outer bailey of the castle, they see tall grass grows in the courtyard in front of the keep. Two large, rotted, wooden doors lay on the ground just within the main entrance, the iron that once bound them little more than rust. The blowing breeze makes the grass ripple as if it were alive. They can see more of the skill-topped poles standing near a large iron bound door in the wall of the keep.

They yell down to the others what they see telling them that they are going to open the trap door and head down. They fling the door open revealing a very dark chamber. Rufio lights a torch revealing the remains of an armory, though the weapons are rusted or rotten to uselessness. Daloren and Rufio head down into the tower while the rest of the group heads over to the main entrance way. Upon traveling down the stairs to the ground floor, the two find rotted bunks for a dozen men and an exit door. They try unsuccessfully to bash the door open since the lock is nothing more than a solid piece of rust. Meanwhile Lulla, Pug, Shaedra and Thalen enter the outer bailey through the main entranceway, stopping where the massive doors lie on the ground.

After hearing the failed attempts of Daloren and Rufio at the door, Pug goes over and with two smacks, bashed the door in. Lulla stays with Marty just inside the outer bailey while Thalen and Shaedra head over to the iron bound door to the keep. Just as Thalen is about to try and open the door, an ape rips into him, severely wounding him.

Rufio drops the torch he was holding, grabs his crossbow and fires at the two apes over by Thalen and Shaedra, missing. Before Thalen can gain his composure, he is again attacked by the ape and is now on the verge of death. Shaedra steps back at uses her powers to heal Thalen which is not enough to wake him, but he is now stabilized. Lulla pulls out her weapon and charges the closest ape, hoping to attract its attention so that others can join in the battle, but misses. Pug also charges and hits one of the apes. Daloren moves around to the back side of the two apes, flanking one of them with Pug. Pug's attack draws the attention of one of the apes and he is savagely attacked, suffering some major damage.

Rufio realizes that the grass around him is starting to smolder, picks up his torch and stomps the newly starting fire out. One ape takes a vicious swipe at Daloren and he has now suffered major damage. Shaedra steps up to join the fight, hitting the undamaged ape. Lulla tries to bash the ape Pug hit and succeeds in wounding it. Pug then delivers a mighty blow to the ape he and Lulla are fighting, severely wounding it. Daloren hacks at the other ape causing slight damage. The ape involved with Pug and Lulla decides to head for the nearest wall, moving by Lulla who takes a swinging barely scratching it _(DM's note: she rolled a 1 for damage, but needed a 3 to kill it, they didn't know how close it was.)_ The ape moves to the wall and quickly climbs up to the battlement.

Rufio, now that he has the small brushfire out, moves over to where Marty is. The one ape left tries to run away as well, but Daloren manages to hit him when he passes by, killing it. There is no sign of the escaped ape. Lulla goes over to Thalen and  performs some major healing on him. In disgust over their teasing of her about Marty, she just lightly heals Daloren and Pug. Serves them right for the things they were saying.

They try to open the main doors to the keep after Daloren spends a couple of minutes, first check for any traps and then picking the lock on the door. It is swollen and stuck from the humidity. With a huge effort, they manage to get them to open. It is very dark inside. While Thalen lights a lantern, Daloren casts Light into the keep revealing a great hall. They gather everyone inside and pull the doors shut.

Rotten tapestries still cling to the walls of this large room. A broken table lies beneath a chandelier of silver and crystal that hangs from the ceiling 20 feet above, just higher than a balcony that runs along the south and east walls. The balcony is 10 feet above the floor. A body lies on the floor near a broken longsword. The tapestries hang from beneath the balconies and show scenes of rustic woodlands and sylvan groves. Those tapestries on the west wall hang from the ceiling.

Rufio heads over to check the body. Pug checks behind the tapestries along the east wall. Thalen heads towards to door in the north wall to the left of the fireplace of the 60 ft. by 35 ft. room. Shaedra notices some bedrolls by the fireplace and goes to check them out.

The body Rufio examines is dressed in rags and rusting chain mail and is only a few months old, then checks out the west wall tapestries. The tapestries on the east wall that Pug is checking out have either fallen or been torn down along with the bar that held it at its northern-most point. Thalen discovers the several logs sit next to the hearth which has relatively fresh ashes. Shaedra examines the bedrolls.

Rufio find nothing but wall behind the tapestries. Pug finds a door on his side. Thalen reaches the door in the north wall. Shaedra finds a journal in one of the bedrolls with the name "Halaan" on the cover. Most of the entries deals with the expedition which set forth overland from Zoa over a year ago, following the coast. It notes the loss of bearers and mercenaries quite often. The entries near the end are the most interesting. They read:
_
26 Famine, 563 (est.)
Stumbling upon the castle before dark was a stroke of luck. It can be used for shelter and a base camp. There are only four armed men, six scientists (including myself) and a dozen or so native bearers left.

28 Famine, 563 (est.)
Native drums are beating and beating. I fear there may be cannibals and that we have intruded upon their lands. It would be best to depart this place, but the shelter it offers is excellent and it is a good place to set up a signal to any passing ships.

29 Famine, 563 (est.)
I have taken the liberty of placing a magical device in the highest tower with the aid of our priest, allowing any who follow to find me. Tomorrow I will take the bearers, men, and two mercenaries into the interior to search for the city where the ice lays. I will leave this journal to aid any who might follow.

Use the magic to find me. The drums are louder. This place, once a godsend, might well become a prison.
_

Stay tuned for the next session......


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## Halma (Jan 25, 2002)

*Bump*

More, More


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## Broccli_Head (Jan 26, 2002)

...and when's the next session? You're playing "A Gathering Darkness", right? Where in the module are you? 

I guess it's been a while and I have lost track of the characters. Any updates soon?

Thanks, your loyal reader, BH.


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## wsclark (Jan 26, 2002)

Thanks for checking in Halma and Broccli_Head.

I wish I had more at the moment, but we didn't have enough players to game last night. I have a house rule that more than half of the players need to present to game. Only 3 of the 6 could make it so we will wait until next week.

Sorry everyone, but I'll see if I can come up with a prelude. I'll also post updates to the characters as well.

[Edit] forgot to answer BH's question. The module is The Root of All Evil, part one of the Coin trilogy. The group is getting fairly close to completing it. Knowing my group, about three to four sessions worth. after this, it is on to Forging Darkness.


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## wsclark (Feb 1, 2002)

*Session XIV - So What's Here?*

*Snowfall 8th, 744 YND*

It is late in the afternoon and the adventures are in the great hall of the castle that they found in the Reelio jungle. They have just found a journal, written by Halaan, that tells them he left a method to find him in the upper most reaches of the castle. It's time to find out what is here.

The great hall is about 35' by 60'. To the left of the fire place in the north wall is a door. Pug has found another door behind the tapestry hanging on the east wall. Lulla has looked behind the tapestry along the south wall to find it covers the opening to the south turret, containing a circular stairway going up. After a brief discussion, it is decided that the group needs to make sure that the first floor of this castle is secure before moving on to find what Halaan left upstairs. They listen intently at the east door, hearing nothing. After checking for traps and finding the door unlocked, the door is opened by Pug.

They find that a pile of debris fills the center of the room. The walls and ceiling are blackened by smoke. After a careful search, they conclude that nothing identifiable remains. The group heads to the door in the north wall, listens, hearing nothing, checks for traps and finds the door unlock. Daloren opens the door. as soon as he opens the door, the stench of rotten food hits him, almost making him gag. Amid the tables and cabinets in the room something moves making a scratching noise on the stone. Daloren is immediately set upon by dire rats. Three of them are able to get into a position to attack him before he knows it, with one taking a bite out of his leg. He attempts to close the door, pulling it shut while the rats attack again. He manages to get the door closed, but one of the rats is now in the great hall. It is quickly put out of its disease ridden misery.

The group formulates a plan to deal with the rats. They surround the door way so that only one of the beasts can come through at a time. With all ready to attack the first thing coming through the door, Pug kicks the door open. The rats come through the door, one at a time and the group has no problem dispatching the remaining 8 of them. Well, except for Pug losing his grip on his greataxe, flying out of his hand backwards over his head, almost burying itself in Rufio. It is a very near miss, but they finish off the rats. They enter the kitchen surveying the room. There are doors in the west, north and east walls, all having large holes gnawed in the base though it looks like someone repaired the northern door and the rats gnawed through the repairs as well. They listen at each of the doors hearing nothing.

The first door they go through is the one in the east wall. It opens to reveal two beds and a small desk and chair, all of them covered with dust. Bedcovers have been thrown on the floor and all of the desk drawers are open and empty. There is a door in the south wall. Pug goes over to it and kicks it in. There is nothing but an empty closet behind it. Searching the room does not recover anything.

The second door they go through is the one in the north wall. After following, what has now become standard procedure of listening, checking for traps and whether the door is locked, Shaedra opens the door. This door leads into storage rooms full of rat holes, droppings and broken pieces of wood or cloth. The rats have already eaten all of the thirty-year-old food once stored there.

Off to the final door leading out of the kitchen in the west wall, Pug opens it finding a corridor that narrows and then widens leading into the west turret. Here, there is a dark and dusty chamber with a lightly used circular stairway going up. Shaedra and Lulla listen carefully but hear nothing above. They go up the stairs.

They reach the second level, in a chamber just like the one below. But instead of walls being opposite the stairs, there is a balcony that overlooks the great hall. They can see that a balcony seems to run all the way around the hall, but walls block the way from here. Listening again, they continue going up.

They reach the third level, finding two skeletons on the floor. One is a dwarf and wears the rusted remains of a chainmail shirt and leggings. A few tufts of hair still coat his chin. The other wears only a loincloth. Nearby lie a battle axe covered with dwarven runes, a small metal shield with what appears to be red dragon's scale mounted on it, and a javelin. Daloren casts _detect magic_ and finds out that the shield radiates a faint aura of abjuration. It is given to Lulla along with the battle axe. Shaedra takes the javelin for the time being. Since the stairway chamber at this level appears to be completely walled in, they head ever upwards after listening.

Now at the top of the stairs on the fourth level, they are again basically walled in. There is a narrow corridor heading north, similar to the one they used on the first floor to get to these stairs. The go through the corridor which opens up after about ten feet, but ends fifteen feet later. Shaedra starts searching the walls and lo and behold, finds a secret door. Carefully listening, she hears nothing and opens the door. There is another circular stairway off to the northeast, leading up and down, while a corridor heads east. They start heading down the corridor finding that it goes to the other side of the castle with another corridor about half way down heading south. There is a door about midway down the north wall and the corridor is full of dust, but at the intersection there is another door in the west wall of the corridor heading south with a hole burned in it. Two skeletons, both clad in the rotten remains of loincloths, lie in the intersection. Rotten spears with stone heads lie nearby.

Pug pokes the skeletons to see if they move, nothing happens. Meanwhile, Lulla starts listening at the door in the north wall. Pug and Rufio wander down the corridor heading south, noticing two additional doors in the east wall and one in the west before reaching the end of the corridor which opens up into the south turret tower. They head back to join the group. Lulla hasn't heard anything behind the door and following standard party practice, they enter the room without incident. The room contains a wardrobe, chairs, chest of drawers, foot locker, and bed. All are a mess, been ransacked long before their arrival. All of the furniture has been damaged and is worthless. It is now off to the first door on the west wall of the corridor heading south, the one with a hole burned in it. After listening and checking, they enter the room.

The room is a mess! Skeletons in rotten loincloths and broken or rotted spears, arrows, and axes, all with stone heads, litter the place. Broken glass and twisted metal stand on the two tables. Debris litters  the cabinets and shelves that line the south and west walls. Black marks cover the floor in the corner near the door and in the southeast corner lies the remains of a skeleton in burned and blackened robes. The walls, ceiling, and floor around the figure are all burned. They start searching the room for anything useful when all of a sudden, they are attacked by monstrous centipedes! Rufio takes damage from them as he is flanked by two. No one but Shaedra seems to be able to hit them as she takes the first one out with a well placed critical hit with her greatsword. Pug is bitten by one. The group is not having any luck in dealing with these things as Pug momentarily slips as he tries to cleave the creatures.

Shaedra moves up to deal with one of the two attacking Rufio, but can't seem to hit it. Rufio takes more damage and so does Lulla. Pug takes damage from two of the creatures and is starting to get annoyed. Pug provides a might cleave, killing two of the huge insects and steps over to help out Shaedra. Daloren can hit the broad side of a castle. Thalen, Rufio and Lulla have no luck either.

Shaedra misses again while Pug is hit again. Rufio looks wobbly and barely escapes his situation by moving to the far corner of the room. Fortunately, none of the creatures hit him as he moves by. Pug swings and kills one of the creatures that was flanking Rufio. Lulla and Daloren still can not hit any creatures, but fortunately, the centipedes do not hit them either.

Shaedra moves to help Lulla out, killing one of the two facing her. Pug moves to help Daloren out killing one more. Daloren finally manages to hit one, killing it. The remaining one is quickly dispatched. Rufio downs a potion of _Cure light wounds_ and Shaedra _lays on hands_, fully healing him. Shaedra goes over to Daloren and cures the disease he picked up from their encounter with the dire rats earlier that day. Lulla cures the fairly well beaten up Pug before they continue. Unfortunately, Pug and Lulla don't feel completely well, feeling not as quick as they were before. They suspect that the centipedes have some type of poison in their bite.

They exit the room and head south down the corridor, going to the remaining door in the west wall. After listening and checking the door, they enter the room. Books lie everywhere around the room. While a few still stand on the shelves that line the walls, most are scattered about, spines broken and pages torn. On the good-sized, bloodstained table in the room lies a skeleton. A torn, stuffed chair stands nearby next to a smaller table.

They start searching the room, Daloren especially since he is interested in finding books on magic. About a minute into the search, they suddenly see a man appear seated at the table, reading a book. The ghostly image causes Pug, Rufio and Daloren to become rooted to the spot, unable to turn away from watching the ghost. The man has dark hair and wears out of date clothing. As they watch, he looks fearfully towards the door, is then lifted by unseen hands and placed on the table. Though he struggles, cuts begin to appear on his arms, face, and chest. Suddenly, his chest seems to burst open and he lets out a final, fearful scream before lying still. The body fades away, leaving only the skeleton of the table.

After taking stock of themselves, the group decides to rest here for the evening. Daloren spends some time searching through the books in the room, finding a few interesting things such as "Making glass", "Uses of Common Animals in Magic" and "The Magical Properties of Gemstones".

*Snowfall 9th, 744 YND*

The group wakes up refreshed and ready to continue their exploration. Even Pug and Lulla feel a bit better, but not completely whole. The leave the room crossing the corridor to the southern most door on the east wall. After checking the door out, they open it revealing bookcases still full of books standing on two walls while in the far turret there are several broken chairs and a broken table with a thick layer of dust. This is the first room they have entered that is basically undisturbed. Most striking about the room is a large circle made of precious metals set into the floor. Silver and gold are interwoven with iron and steel in a double circle with runes between the two rings. Two braziers stand close by the edge of the circle, while a third lies toppled on the floor across the room. Within the circle stands a raven peering right at them.

They enter the room, looking around, amazed that the room isn't trashed. They then noticed Rufio shaking his head as if something was bothering him. Pug asks him what's wrong. He replies, "There was a voice in my head saying, 'Take me with you! Take me with you! I want to leave!, Help me!'". Shaedra immediately tries to detect evil and is surprised to find a great deal emanating from the raven. She tells everyone that the raven is evil and as they turn to look at the raven, it begins to change its form into a 2 ft. tall humanoid with leathery bat-like wings, deep red skin and gleaming white teeth and fangs sporting a barbed tale.

It say, "Free me. I've been stuck in here for 30 years." Pug says, "Why should we free you?" It replies, "Because I've been stuck in here for 30 years. It is a long time and so lonely. There is no one to talk to." Shaedra addresses the imp, "If you help us find what we are looking for, maybe we will free you." The imp tells her, "If you free me, I'll help you find what you are looking for." "Not quite", she replies, "you have to help us first before we might let you out." He answers, but not directly to Shaedra as he shifts his gaze to Pug, Daloren and Thalen, "You know, in the room right below this one contains a throne made of solid gold." Pug, Daloren and Thalen look at one another with something strange in their eyes. Daloren and Pug turn to the imp and Pug says "What else is there?" "There is a chest sitting next to the throne as well", the imp responds. Daloren asks, "And what is guarding all of this?" The imp tells them "A small cat." Daloren and Pug look at each other, notice Thalen is already gone and tell the group that they'll be right back after they get Thalen. 

Shaedra, Lulla and Rufio stay behind trying to deal with the imp.

Pug and Daloren catch up to Thalen as he heads down the stairway in the southern turret. When they reach the next floor they find that weapon racks fill the place though most of the swords and other weapons look rusted beyond repair. Two crumbling skeletons lie on the floor. After searching through the mess, they find a number of items intact: a heavy crossbow, three short swords, a halberd and a might composite longbow (+4 Str bonus).

They then continue through a set of double doors to a large great room which is completely wrecked. In the center is a large table with a blackened hole in it, the rest of it partially burned. Fallen metal rods lie on top of ashes near the north wall while another that has fallen from the west wall lies in the rotten tapestry it once held. An intact tapestry still hangs from the east wall and shows a mighty battle. Toppled chairs are scattered about the room and at least two full skeletons are here. The doors they came through are very ornate. Their face and the floor directly before the, are both blackened. Before them lies a skeleton. In the east wall are a set of double doors. Daloren checks for traps and finds one that has already been tripped. Now on to the doors, which are locked, actually doubly locked. He takes his time and after several minutes succeeds in picking both of them.

Shaedra, Lulla and Rufio tell the imp that they are going to check on their friends and will be back. They head down the stairs and stop in the entrance to the great hall, just as the others open the double doors on the east wall.

As the doors to this room slowly open, the sight in front of the rich, velvet curtains on the far side of the room grab their attention. In the center of the turret, steps lead up a few feet to a dais on which stands an ornately decorated throne of brilliant gold. A small vial (detect thoughts) lies on the thrones cushioned seat. Next to it is a heavy chest upon which sits a small, dark-colored cat! 

Pug, Daloren and Thalen enter the room, starry-eyed at what they see. They approach the throne and chest. To see if the cat is friendly, Daloren attempts to pet it. It softly responds. Daloren, filled with confidence kneels down to examine the chest lock. As soon as he attempts to touch the chest, the cat jumps on his back and tries to claw him to death! Daloren and the cat are grappling each other and the noise they are making reaches the ears of Shaedra, Lulla and Rufio who head into the room just in time to see Daloren throw the cat off his back. The brave group of adventures swing wildly at the cat, killing it with no harm to themselves.

Daloren turns back to the chest to have a go at the lock only to see a slightly larger black cat sitting on the chest! Shaedra exclaims, "Great, a cat with nine lives." But Pug has an idea and goes over to the cat trying to grab it. He succeeds in grappling the thing, yelling out "Get something to put this thing in!". Lulla pulls out a sack and they stuff the cat into it. It tries to claw its way out, starting to shred the sack. Shaedra brings up a backpack and they plop the cat, tied up in the sack, into it. They then beat it unconscious.

Finally, with the cat out of the way, Daloren starts working on the lock, but can't open it. Pug decides to use brute force and after he and Shaedra beat up on the chest for quite some time, they finally get it open. It has taken a half hour to see that the chest contains (with Daloren's appraised value for each item):

 a gold crown studded with gems (6,000 gp)
 an ornate spyglass (900 gp)
 a silver tiara with small sapphires (2,000 gp)
 a platinum scepter studded with rubies (7,000 gp)
 a jade bracelet of intricate design (1,400 gp)
 a pair of silver and gold earrings (300 gp each, 800 gp for the set)
 an ivory armband (600 gp)
He also estimates that the throne is worth 10,000 GP to the right buyer.

The six of them look at one another with big grins on their faces.


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## wsclark (Feb 8, 2002)

*Session XV – What Else Can We Find and Why Do We Hear Drums?*

*Snowfall 9th, 744 YND*

It is mid morning and the glistening is finally receding from the adventurers eyes as they take all the loot and load it into their backpacks. They continue to search the throne room, finding another chest behind the velvet curtain. Daloren checks it out finding no traps and proceeds to take his time to open it.

Ouch!! A needle stabs him and it has some liquid on it. Fortunately, Daloren is very healthy today and the medium-sized monstrous spider poison doesn't affect him. _(DM's note: He passed both of his saving throws. Too bad, if he had failed either one, his strength would have gone down by 4, by 8 if he failed both. Rats.)_ After finally unlocking the chest, they find 2,730 sp inside, after taking about 15 minutes to count them. They load this up with everything else they have found thus far and proceed back into the great room.

A thorough search of the great room yields nothing, so they look to see what else might be on this floor. There are two additional exits from the room, both of them hallways, one to the northeast and one to the northwest. They follow the northwest one to find a stairway leading down to the second floor along the west side of the hall, a door in the east wall and the hallway opens up in the north revealing a circular stairway leading up. They decide to check out the door in the east wall, listening to hear nothing. After checking for traps and whether the door is locked, they enter the room. Broken cots and beds lie around the room, even one stuffed into the fireplace. Two skeletons are on the floor, one still clutching a rusted sword. Other bones and debris are also evident. A though search provides nothing.

They decide to check the other hallway before heading either to the second floor or back to the fourth floor. Wandering down the hallway, they find a door in the north wall. After following now standard protocol, they kick the door open. The room is full of shelves, most of which are empty. Jars of bootblack polish, weapon oil, and other essential martial supplies line the rest. A table stands in the north corner of the room. A thorough search provides nothing. It now off to the stairs and a debate on whether to go down and explore the second floor (championed by Rufio because they haven't been on that floor yet and believes they should "clean it out" before going up) and going up to find what was hinted at in Halaan's journal (championed by Shaedra who wants to find it as the castle appears to not contain much of anything). They decide to go up, but at the fourth floor, Rufio, Pug and Daloren decide to check out the one door they haven't touch on the fourth floor. They head off there while Shaedra, Lulla and Thalen continue up to the fifth floor.

Rufio, Pug and Daloren get to the door and, once again, check for traps, try to pick the lock and open the door, but it won't move. The door appears to be stuck so they throw their might into the door. It doesn't budge. Pug starts hacking away at the door.

Meanwhile, Shaedra, Lulla and Thalen have reached the fifth floor, which seems to have a very similar layout to the fourth. They decide not to investigate and continue up to the sixth floor. The sixth floor is different as the circular stairs continue up but the landing is actually more of a room with a single door to the south. They decide to check out the door. After listening and hearing nothing, they open the door and see a huge, 10 foot tall, snake, arched up and ready to meet them, with large fangs glistening and eyes glittering. They scream and quickly close the door. _(DM's note: I didn't describe the room to them, I just handed them the adventure quest drawing from the module depicting the room. Lulla's player actually let out a scream. It was great)_

Downstairs, Pug has given up on the door, although he has hit it repeatedly, he doesn't seem to be able to damage it _(DM's note: It's arcane locked at 10th level)_ The three of them decide it's time to catch up with the others and return to the stairs, starting to head up. When the reach the fifth floor landing, they hear a scream and quickly rush up to join the others. Shaedra and Lulla explain what they just saw behind the door. After a very short discussion, all agreed that they would have to take care of this now instead of letting it take care of them later.

They prepare to assault the snake. Lulla casts Bull's Strength on Pug. Daloren casts True Strike on himself. Rufio pulls out his crossbow. Pug readies his greataxe and Shaedra readies her greatsword. Thalen provides illumination from the back of the group. _(DM's note: I guess I should point out that the group has the concept of the "lantern bearer". Anytime a player can't make a session, their character becomes the lantern bearer for the group. This is what Thalen is doing)_ The plan is to have Pug kick the door in, Shaedra to get into the room first because of her high fortitude as protection against poison and Rufio to fire his crossbow at the snake, while Lulla prepares her mace and Daloren prepares his longsword and shortsword.

Pug kicks the door open. Shaedra gets into the room. Rufio fires his crossbow at the snake, hitting it square in the middle. The snake doesn't even flinch. Lulla and Daloren prepare their weapons. With surprise over, Daloren gets to act first, rushing into the room taking swings with his weapons. He connects with his longsword, knocking some stuffing out of the snake. Stuffing? He stops swinging as he realizes that the huge snake is nothing more than a stuffed trophy. The entire group feels ridiculous for attacking a stuffed animal. They search the room finding behind the snake, in the center of the room, a stone basilisk. In the southeast corner is a stuffed deinonychus while mounted on the southwest corner are the jaws of a giant shark.

_(DM's note: I almost couldn't keep myself from laughing out loud with this encounter. It just ran perfectly, the players fears doing all the work. I was still chuckling while driving to work this morning)_

After securing the trophy room, our group decides to continue up to the top of the tower. They reach the seventh floor landing, which is room-like, similar to the sixth floor, except a little larger and the only door is in the east wall. They continue up to the eighth floor landing. Here the stairs continue up to the ceiling and the room has an exit through a door in the south wall. They going up to the top of the stairs and find a trap door in the ceiling. Shaedra pushes the trap door open with her greatsword and the group quickly climbs out onto the roof of the tallest tower of the keep. They can see for a fairly good distance here and search the entire roof, finding nothing. What they are looking for must be on the eighth floor.

Back down they go to the door in the south wall. Listen, check, nothing, the door isn't locked. Pug kicks it open revealing a table and three ladder back chairs, one of them toppled over. A skeleton lies in the corner. A piece of parchment has been nailed to the eastern door. There is another door to the south. Everyone searches the room, finding nothing, while Shaedra goes over to the parchment. It has one word on it, Halaan. She tells the others. They listen at this door, check it and find it not trapped or locked.

Shaedra cautiously opens the door. Tapestries that depict a woman with golden silk pants and a silver cloak adorn the walls. She is shown with great riches and commoners bowing down before her feet. All of the tapestries are sagging and rotten, most of them with large rips and tears. Several skeletons lay on the floor, all with loincloths and clutching various weapons. In the center of this massacre lies a bone scroll tube.

The scroll tube is most likely what they have been looking for so Shaedra steps into the room. As soon as she crosses the threshold of the room, the six skeletons get up and surround her, with one even getting behind her into the room with everyone else. Battle is joined as Shaedra tries to repel the undead creatures to no avail. Pug and Daloren happen to be flanking the one skeleton that got past Shaedra into the room they are in and try to take it down, unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, this prevents Shaedra from backing out of the room, so she steps further into the room to allow more of the group to attack the skeletons. The skeletons are not having much luck hitting the group. Then Lulla calls upon the power of Boegoo causing all six skeletons to flee from her. Five run to one corner of the room to cower while the last goes to another corner. Pug enters the room, dropping his greataxe so he can pull out his mace, getting next to the large group of cowering skeletons. Rufio follows pug to the same group while Daloren goes to the lone one. Shaedra goes and picks up the scroll tube, then leaves the room to join Lulla.

Pug, Rufio and Daloren start to smash the skeletons. One by one they start to go down. After the first two are destroyed, Pug feels a whoosh of air behind him. He turns for a quick glance to find this club floating in the air trying to hit him. He ignores this temporarily and goes back to smashing skeletons. Rufio take another one out while Daloren is just having a tough time dealing enough damage to vanquish the one he is attacking.

Two more clubs are now dancing around the room and both Pug and Rufio are hit once. This is starting to get annoying so Pug takes out a fourth skeleton but Rufio can't seem to take out the last of the large group. Daloren is slowly beating his into dust. Now there are four clubs trying to hit Pug and Rufio. Both take some more damage and both Pug and Rufio start swinging wildly at the clubs. Despite their best efforts, nothing seems to happen. Daloren finally finishes destroying the skeleton he was attacking.

Now there are five clubs dancing about the room and no one seems to be able to hit them, but the clubs are still hitting Rufio and Pug. Rufio decides to get out of the area under attack by tumbling away. Shaedra and Lulla have been trying to figure out the scroll, realizing that they something that can read magic. Lulla tries to call upon Boegoo once again and lo and behold, the clubs fall to the floor. The others retreat from the room and close the door shut.

_(DM's note: the skeletons turned into poltergeists once they were destroyed. They picked up weapons from the floor to attack with. Everyone was rolling well enough to hit them, but since they were invisible, they had a 50% miss chance, which they made for every single attack)_

A short debate occurs which results in Shaedra, Lulla and Thalen heading back downstairs to riddle out the scroll, but Pug, Daloren and Rufio staying behind because they want to check out the other door leading from the room in the south wall. As the one group gets down to the seventh floor and the other is listening at the door, Lulla and Pug pick up the not too distant sound of drums........


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## wsclark (Feb 22, 2002)

*Session XVI – Eww, What's That Smell?*

*Snowfall 9th, 744 YND*

It is early afternoon when Lulla and Pug hear the sound of drums.

*10:00*

Lulla, Shaedra and Thalen head back up to the eighth floor to join Pug, Rufio and Daloren in the room adjacent to the one they found the scroll in. Shaedra lays on hands to mostly heal Rufio while Lulla takes care of the remainder of healing Rufio and the others.

*9:30*

A discussion ensues. What should the group do? After talking things over for a minute and a half, they decide to try and determine if they can find out where the drum noise is coming from, before heading downstairs to possibly prepare for trouble. Daloren and Rufio suggest shutting themselves into the throne room and letting the attackers come to them. Lulla somewhat agrees with this as she wants to get Marty to safety. Shaedra suggests that they utilize the balcony overlooking the great hall of the first floor as the best vantage point for controlling the flow of battle. Thalen chimes in suggesting that it would be better to have maneuvering room and to prepare things to be able to performing a fighting withdrawal, possibly leading the attackers after them up the lone set off stairs to the second level and eventually doubling back down from the fourth floor using the stairs in the west tower which are only accessible through a secret door. Pug agrees with Shaedra and Thalen. It's decided that they will use a fighting withdrawal defense after checking things out from the roof.

*8:00*

The entire group heads back into the stairwell and climbs up to the roof.

*3:00*

After spending 5 minutes looking out into the jungle and listening intently, they come to the conclusion that, although they do not see anything out of the ordinary, the drums are getting louder and the sound is coming from the south. The group heads back into the castle and follows the stairs down to the third floor.

*2:30*

Upon reaching the third floor, they cross the castle from north to south to get to the stairway in the south tower that leads down to the second floor and down they go. Daloren and Rufio briefly consider locking up the throne room so the attackers don't get the gold throne, but Daloren figures it will take him about 4 minutes to do so and feels that it is too long a time to do it.

*2:18*

The group reaches the second floor landing that also leads to the balcony that overlooks the great hall on the first floor. Since they have not explored any of this floor except for the west tower, which they didn't find a way out of to access this floor, they take a few moments to look around. A solid stone balcony with an ornate stone railing circles most of the great hall below. A few doors lead off on the east wall. There is a huge chandelier over the great hall that is held up by a rope which can be raised and lowered by a winch on the northern end of the east side balcony.

*2:00*

Lulla and Thalen start to go down to the first floor in order to get Marty who is in the east tower. The rest of the group heads over to a pair of adjacent doors in the east wall. On the northern of the two doors supported by a primitive looking spear is a skeleton, still held together by a few leather-like ligaments and muscles. It releases itself from the wall and spear to attack Shaedra and Pug who are in front of the southern door 5 feet away.

*1:54*

Lulla and Thalen head over to the door to the east tower room on the first floor. Upstairs, Pug drops his greataxe, pulls out his mace and with a mighty swing smashes the skeleton into tiny, tiny pieces.

*1:48*

Lulla and Thalen enter the east tower and get to Marty. Meanwhile, Daloren checks the southern door for traps, finding none.

*1:42*

On the first floor, Lulla gathers up Marty while Thalen heads over to the entrance doors to the castle to check them out. On the second floor, they open the door to find a single bed, teak wardrobe and a teak chest of draws.

*1:36*

Lulla leads Marty into the southern tower to bring him up stairs. Thalen checks the entrance door, hears nothing and moves to the center of the great hall. Upstairs, the group searches the bedroom, finding nothing.

*1:24*

Rufio heads to the northwest corner of the balcony around from the south tower to where a wall is blocking the way into the west tower. Shaedra, Pug and Daloren head to the door adjacent to the room they have just searched. Lulla starts leading Marty up the stairs in the south tower. Thalen begins brings chairs and wooden debris in the south tower and piles it around the bottom of the stairs.

*1:18*

Rufio decides to check the west wall for secret doors, finding none. Shaedra, Pug and Daloren listen at the door, hearing nothing. Lulla is continuing to lead Marty up the stairs. Thalen is still throwing debris into the south tower.

*1:12*

Rufio takes some time to analyze the vantage he has from the point he is at on the second floor overlooking the great hall. Shaedra, Pug and Daloren open the door they are at revealing a room just like the one they were just in. Lulla and Marty reach Shaedra, Pug and Daloren. Thalen begins to tear down the tapestries along the walls of the great hall and pile them up, stretching from the center of the room south to the southern tower and southeast to the castle entrance doors. Daloren searches the room while Shaedra and Pug head north. Pug stops at the winch realizing that if he lowers the chandelier, Thalen could light it giving them plenty of light to see by instead of using torches which would give away their positions. Shaedra continues on to the corridor that runs along the northern balcony, seeing another pair of adjacent doors.

*1:00*

Rufio decides to go to the stairwell in the southern tower and spread caltrops over the length of the stairs, from the bottom on the first floor to the top on the second floor. Lulla places Marty in the southern bedroom they first searched and joins up with Daloren after he finishes up with the second bedroom. Shaedra listens at the east door of the two adjacent ones in the north wall of the corridor, hears nothing and kicks the door in revealing a room that has been obviously ransacked, with a chest of drawers even toppled over, but shows no signs of habitation for years. Thick dust covers the bed, wardrobe, desk, chair and chest. She begins to search the room. Pug is lowering the chandelier to the first floor, while Thalen continues to pull the tapestries down and spreading them around.

*0:42*

Rufio has finished placing the caltrops all over the stairs in the southern tower and, for good and even better measure, starts pouring oil all over the stairs as well. Lulla and Daloren follow the balcony all the way around to the northwest corner where they start to prepare for the attack. They have a direct line of sight to the entrance doors on the first floor. Shaedra searches the long unused bedroom, finding nothing. While Pug waits, Thalen lights up the chandelier, finally giving a great deal of illumination to the great hall and allowing everyone to forget about using torches.

*0:24*

Rufio has finished preparing the southern tower's stairs with caltrops and oil and heads back to the southwestern corner of the balcony to prepare for an attack. Shaedra comes out of the bedroom and, since there is not much she can do to help with the preparations (paladins of The Speaker of the Word do not use ranged weapons) goes over to the door adjacent to the one she just entered. She listens, hears nothing, finds the door unlocked and opens it, only to find the door won't budge. Lulla prepares her light crossbow while Daloren pulls out his mighty composite shortbow. Both train their weapons on the front door, prepared to shoot the first thing that comes through them. Pug hauls the chandelier back up providing plenty of illumination for the entire area. Thalen goes back to moving the tapestries around and then starts spreading oil on the debris in the southern tower.

*0:06*

Upstairs, Lulla, Daloren and Rufio all wait for the inevitable. Shaedra tries to kick the door in and feels the sting of pins and needles go up her leg as the door doesn't move (she actually rolled a 20 on a strength check which still wouldn't open the door). Pug goes to another door behind him in the east wall and opens it, looking into a typical linen closet full of rotting linens. Thalen moves toward the entrance doors, spreading oil on the tapestries as he goes.

*0:00*

BOOM! There is a huge pounding on the entrance doors to the castle. Lulla, Daloren and Rufio are ready. Pug goes over to Shaedra and the two of them try to bash their way into the room, only ending up hurting their shoulders. Thalen heads toward the center of the great hall finishing spread oil on the tapestries and the huge broken table in the center of the room.

BOOM! There is another huge pounding on the entrance doors. Shaedra starts hacking her way into the room she's been trying to get into. Pug heads over to the winch and pulls out his great axe. Thalen goes to the door in the north wall of the great hall that leads into the kitchen. The others wait in anticipation.

BOOM! The pounding continues. Shaedra continues to hack at the door, it slowly giving way. Thalen pulls out his bow, prepared to shoot the first thing that comes through the entrance doors. The other wait.

BOOM! The doors comes crashing open and a human figure dressed in a loincloth steps into the great hall. THWANG! Daloren lets loose with a shot, sending an arrow in the native. TWONG! Lulla lets go with a bolt which goes way wide and sticks into the open door. THWANG! Thalen lets loose with another arrow which appears nicely in the native who falls to the ground. So much for surprise.

Daloren and Thalen both reload and wait while Lulla prepares to cast a spell. Rufio grabs his torch and heads to the top of the stairs in the southern tower. Another native enters the castle hearing a THWANG as Thalen plugs him with an arrow, pulls the door to the kitchen shut and starts to piton the door closed. Daloren rapidly follows suit with another THWANG and the native falls down in the entrance way with his fellow warrior. Shaedra continues to hack at the door and gets it open, seeing that every piece of furniture in the room has been piled up against the door. Teak wardrobe, chest of drawers, chest and even the big bed are all pushed up to form a barricade behind the door. In the far corner of the room lies a skeleton clad in the remains of fine clothing, s pear by his side, and a ring on one of his fingers. Then the hoards rush in.  Four natives head to the center of the room, two on either side of the huge, broken table. A group of three run into the castle heading into the southern tower. A group of six head to the door Thalen is behind. Another group of six head into the southern tower. Lulla casts the spell Spiritual Weapon and tries unsuccessfully to hit the lead native trying to go up the stairs in the southern tower. Still another group of six head to the door leading into the eastern tower where Marty use to be. Two more groups of six come into the castle, both groups heading to the southern tower. There are now 37 natives in the castle, 4 in the center of the great hall, 6 in front of the northern door to the kitchen where Thalen is, 6 in front of the eastern tower door where Marty was and 21 trying to head up the stairs in the southern tower. All of a sudden, the chandelier comes crashing down as Pug cuts the rope holding it with his greataxe. The tapestries and broken wooden furniture, covered in oil, burst into flames and there are now over a dozen and a half natives on fire. A group of three natives come into the castle, see the conflagration and start trying to roll the tapestries up to put the flames out. One of them suffers burns as he catches on fire. Another group of three natives come in and start helping roll the tapestries up.

Shaedra climbs over the furniture blocking the door, goes over to the skeleton and removes the ring. Daloren reloads and shoot one of the natives at the kitchen door directly below him. Rufio takes his torch and ignites the oil on the stairs adding more fire to the fuel. Lulla swings her Spiritual Weapon hitting the lead native. Thalen finishes with the door and pulls out his greatsword. Natives are now running al over the place, especially the ones on fire who head to various places in the great hall and southern tower where them attempt to put themselves out. Most don't succeed before dying. Several natives in the southern tower attempt to bull rush their way up the burning stairs. Several catch on fire and all but one are stung by the caltrops on the steps. The last one reaches Rufio who smashes him with sum Stunning Fists putting the native out of his misery. The natives burst into the eastern tower only to find it empty. The natives in front of the kitchen door break it down and start attacking Thalen who takes some minor damage. Pug takes out his new mighty composite longbow an kills one of the natives by the kitchen door. The six natives continue to roll up the tapestries, smothering the fire as they go. Another group of six natives enter the castle and rush over to the southern tower.

Shaedra retreats from the room and starts heading over to help out Rufio who has cried out for help, drawn his sianghams and killed a native at the top of the stairs. Lulla attacks another native at the bottom of the stairs with her Spiritual Weapon. Daloren reloads and shoots another native directly below him. Thalen returns the attack of the native with his greatsword, taking a native down and positions himself better in the room so he can no longer be flanked easily. Most of the burning natives are dead, but those that remain have managed to put themselves out. More natives rush up the burning stairs with one trying to bull rush Rufio who dispatches him easily, but there are two more at the top of the stairs facing him. Other continue to push into the kitchen with one hitting Thalen again who is now pretty well bruised up. The natives in the east tower exit it and head back into the great hall. Pug pulls out his greataxe, has the odd sensation that more than his greataxe came off his back and jumps over the balcony, executing a perfect landing on the first floor. Suddenly, red arrows start appearing in the backs of natives rolling up the tapestries and three of them drop dead. The other don't notice right away and push the tapestries close to the center of the room.

Shaedra reaches Rufio and with a mighty swing, cuts one of the natives in half, causing him to fall dead to the first floor. Rufio attacks the other and send him downstairs in the same condition. Lulla uses her final attack with her Spiritual Weapon on another native at the bottom of the southern tower, causing him to drop to the ground, dead. Daloren reloads once again and fires at the natives rolling up the tapestries, hit one but not bringing him down. Thalen takes a big swing with his great axe and kills another native. The natives in the great hall that are left start converging on Pug, almost completely surrounding him with one of them actually hitting Pug with his club, causing some very minor damage. More natives try to rush up the stairs, but the only one that reaches the top is cut down by a well place attack of opportunity by Shaedra. SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, Pug looks down to find a black cat trying to attack him. THWANG, THWANG, THWANG, more red arrows appear in the backs of the natives that were rolling up the tapestries and they are now all dead. Pug turns to one of his attackers, kills him and cleaves his way right through another.

Shaedra and Rufio ready themselves for any others that decide to come up the stairs. Lulla picks up her light crossbow and reloads. Daloren reloads and fires again, kill another native below him. Thalen kills another native in front of him. The last native in the southern tower decide to leaves and runs out the front door. The last native in front of Thalen decides to do the same, but is cut down by Thalen. The natives surrounding Pug attack again but it is the cat that bites him for some damage. One of these natives takes off out the front door. Pug attacks and cleaves through the two remaining ones. There are no more natives left inside the castle.

Cleanup starts while the cat continues to attack Pug. Pug kills it out of hand. The cat then appears in front of Pug again. This time, Pug bludgeons it into unconsciousness and stuffs it back into the sack. He then goes with Thalen to the front entrance doors and looks out seeing a different group of 10 natives who are cautiously approaching the castle. They also see the two escaped natives face down in front of the castle with red arrows sticking out of them.

The natives reach the two adventurers and Pug greets them and thanks them for their help. They respond in broken Reanaarian, that they were happy to help. Pug asks them why they did and why they are here. They tell him that the other natives are bad, evil, man eating humans who they have been warring with and losing to. They are looking for help to awaken their guardian and thought the adventurers could help. Would they being willing to help them?

The group decides to help the natives out, who they find out are called the Belsona and the evil ones that attacked are called the Hachita. They first do a couple of things in the castle. They take the sack holding the cat back to the throne room, throw it in and relock the doors to the room. Hopefully it will keep the cat in there. They also get Marty. After that the Belsona lead them to their village/city to the north of the castle to meet their chief.

They arrive in a part of the jungle, at what used to be the heart of the city of Belsona, entering a large area that has been restored to its former glory, it's a beautiful sight. Polished flagstones form a giant mosaic of a golden eagle in whose eye has been built a great reflecting pool. Belsona women use the pool for washing and many children play in the shallow pool during the day. The cool water in it is remarkably clean and pure. They are then brought before the chief and introduced. They ask how can they help. The chief leads them to a temple which they enter.

They open a door into a room where, standing before them is a 9-foot-tall bipedal creature. It takes a moment for them to realize that this is simply a great statue built of stone. Off runes, shaped like dancing men in different positions, are carved on the statue's chest. A circle is etched on the floor, arcane runes evident around the edges. In one corner of the room a small tent has been sent up. They hear a muttering coming from within. The chief directs them to help the man in the tent.

They go over to the tent and the man there looks up asking "Who are you?". They tell him that they have been asked by the chief to help him however they can. They also ask him what his name is and he tells them "Halaan. What are you doing in this jungle?" They almost leap for joy and tell Halaan that they came here looking for him. Halaan asks why and they relate the entire tale leading up to where they are now. Halaan is deeply distressed at the death of Arowain and tells them he must get back to Zoa immediately in order to make a countering Coin of Power. The only problem is the Belsona won't let them leave until they awaken their guardian. The group asks Halaan what information he has. He tells them that he has just finished translating the inscription but can't figure it out. He tells them that the inscription reads:

"It's sought by all but found by few; Sum of the law combined with truth; Often twisted and often missed; Fair when kept with disinterest."

Pug thinks for a couple of moments before saying, "It must be justice. I don't know what else it might be." Rufio agrees and goes to the circle, stands in it and says the word "Justice". Nothing happens. All are puzzled and discussion ensues about other possibilities. That is, until Rufio asks the chief how to say justice in their langauge. The chief tells Rufio that he doesn't understand the word he is using. Rufio and the others spend some time trying to described the word justice. The chief tells them that there might be two words that are close in meaning and heads to the circle. He says the first word and nothing happens. He says the second word, "Delakka", and still nothing happens. Then all hear a low rumble and the stone statue comes to life. The chief gets really excited, thanks everyone for awakening their guardian and tells them there will be a big feast in the honor.


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## Broccli_Head (Mar 10, 2002)

Just a friendly bump after catching up with the story. 

Maybe I missed it, but did the party free the imp?


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## DWARF (Mar 10, 2002)

Hey, good to see someone else running the coin trilogy!  I'm into a second session with it myself!

I don't have the time right now to get all caught up, but I have one question thus far.  The Paladin and Cleric thought it was okay to keep all the gold and jewels in the Baolo's Mausoleum?  My crew saw that as graverobbing!  They put all the bones back where they were, and put the valuables back as best they could and resealed the place.

Well, different campaigns, different ethics I suppose.


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## wsclark (Mar 11, 2002)

Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *Just a friendly bump after catching up with the story. *




Thanks for the bump Broccli_Head. I have another session to finish writing up that we played about 10 days ago. RL (Real Life) has intervened in my time between most of the family being sick, me trying to finish the electrical work in the basement so it can be finished before May and working with my son on his pinewood derby car for his race this Friday. I'll try to get the session up today or tomorrow.



			
				Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *Maybe I missed it, but did the party free the imp? *




Not up to this point in the story and not in the next session. The group still had a full day before their ship would leave, but after spending three full sessions in the castle, I felt it was time to move on. So, when the group wanted to go back to the castle the next day, the Belsona warned them that the Hachita would probably be around and offered to give them some escort. Good thing as there were about 75 Hachita cleaning up the mess from the day before. Therefore, back to Zoa they went. Pug was going to free the imp, but never got the chance to.


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## wsclark (Mar 11, 2002)

DWARF said:
			
		

> *Hey, good to see someone else running the coin trilogy!  I'm into a second session with it myself!*




Thanks! You should have lots of fun with it. Where's your story hour? If you don't have one, you should definitely start one. It certaintly helps you to remember things that went on. If you don't have the time, rotate having one of your players write up each session instead. We need more Kalamar adventures here as mine and Sayburrs get lonely.



			
				DWARF said:
			
		

> *I don't have the time right now to get all caught up, but I have one question thus far.  The Paladin and Cleric thought it was okay to keep all the gold and jewels in the Baolo's Mausoleum?  My crew saw that as graverobbing!  They put all the bones back where they were, and put the valuables back as best they could and resealed the place.
> 
> Well, different campaigns, different ethics I suppose. *




This is an interesting question. The two characters you are asking about are played by brand new players. The Paladin, Shaedra, is played by my wife and the Cleric, Lulla, is played by Daloren's girlfriend. Both of them firmly reside in the story camp as opposed to the hack-n-slash camp.

Lulla is a cleric of The Coddler whose clergy is mostly concerned with sleep and dreams. She is Chaotic Good and believed that the skeletons were evil. She saw no reason not to destroy them and take the contents for the group's troubles. She was doing a good deed. The player did well for her first couple of times playing and really is starting to develop the character more and more as time goes on. She really is enjoying the game, especially since she and her boyfriend have made every session we have had so far (they are the only ones to do so.) She is starting to bring some aspects of being a cleric of Boegoo into play, like constantly suggesting that the group rest so she can get a proper 8 hours of sleep each night. It grates on the group a little bit, which is how it should since this demand gets in the way of some activities. It's all kept in game and is providing a lot of depth and fun.

Shaedra, on the other hand, while feeling the same way about destroying the evil, didn't really care that the group took the valuables. She has an understanding that not all in the group will be following the exact same tenets as her and therefore can see that the group needed the reward for their part in the event. She has very little needs and is not concerned at all about money, except to provide her with the necessities for living and survival. She is there to perform good deeds against evil (such as the skeletons and the ghouls of the Dairoo family.) Her philosphy does not seem to fit the straight laced Paladin and some of the players can't seemed to see this yet, but she is definitely playing the part. For an example of this, see one of the session logs where she suggests and leads a bar-hopping night in Zoa so that she can gather some information.

Hope this helps some.


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## wsclark (Mar 11, 2002)

*Session I – Ah, Let's Go Shopping; WHAT Do We Have To GET?!?!?!*

*Snowfall 10th, 744 YND*

Ah, the morning after the feast, what a night it was. Those natives certaintly know how to have a good time in the middle of nowhere. Our heroes are all awake and despite Halaan's insistence that they head back to Zoa as quickly as possible, the group wants to continue to explore the remaining portions of the castle. Pug even wants to go back to free the imp as he feels obligated because the imp led them to sooo much treasure.

The Belsona warn the group that it is more than likely that the Hachita will be at the castle as that tribe has vastly more numbers than the Belsona. They also offer to provide an escort for the group to the bay shore line to meet up with their ship. The group agrees to the escort, but will swing by the castle on the way, just in case no one is there. Unfortunately, about 75 Hachita are at the castle, doing unimaginable things to their fallen comrades. Given the advantage the group had last time, which they don't have this time, they decide to go to the shore to catch their ship. There will be time in the future to come back here and claim the castle for their own, but who would want a castle in the middle of a jungle in the sweltering heat.

They board the Gryphon and set sail for Zoa.

*Snowfall 15th, 744 YND*

As the sun is setting, the Gryphon approaches the city of Zoa. The entire trip was uneventful, even for Marty the pony. Zoa looks the same as they left it almost 2 weeks before. As they depart the ship, they thank captain Haarckel for his service and Halaan starts to become quite frantic to get to Geolain's tower as soon as possible. The group leads him to the tower and after a brief conversation with Geolain, informs the group that he will need their services again and will contact them in a day or two. The group heads to the Crossed Cutlasses Inn, gets some rooms, some very nice hot baths, good food and lots of rest, not waking until well into the next day.

*Snowfall 16th, 744 YND*

After getting up in the early afternoon, our heroes convene to determine what to do with the treasure they have found. First order of business is to identify any magical items they now have. Geolain helped the night before with the potions:

 1 Potion of Cure Serious Wounds
 1 Potion of Fly
 1 Potion of Gaseous Form
 1 Potion of Invisibility
 1 Potion of Heroism
Daloren then proceeds to identify them remaining items.

 1 Small Shield of Fire Resistance
 1 Ring of Minor Elemental Resistance (Fire)
 1 Scroll of Divination
They decide to split the items up as follows:

 Daloren - Potion of Invisibility
 Lulla - Scroll of Divination, Small Shield of Fire Resistance
 Pug - Mighty Composite Longbow (+4)
 Rufio - Potion of Fly, Potion of Heroism
 Shaedra - Ring of Minor Elemental Resistance (Fire)
 Thalen - Potion of Gaseous Form, Potion of Cure Serious Wounds
They get a good meal for the evening to celebrate their success again and call it a day.

*Snowfall 17th, 744 YND*

All nicely refreshed, it is now time to sell the nice little trinkets they found in the castle. They spend the day going from place to place, trying to get the best price. By the end of the day, they have done quite well for themselves and now have between the six of them 21,000 GP!!!! There will be a lot of shopping to do in the coming days. That evening, they are contacted by Halaan and they meet with him and Geolain at Geolain's tower. Geolain has helped Halaan acquire a small forge in the Small Town District of Zoa and will help him in the research necessary on the Coin. Halaan will also start equipping his alchemist's lab in his new home and invites the group to stay at his home if they wish though he expects them to leave him alone while he works. Of course, they will need to double up in the bedrooms and the attic (which is oppressively hot but not dirty.)

The group agrees (free board) and go with Halaan to the new home which stands on a small piece of land on the north side of the Artisan's District. The vines are thick on the outer wall and weeds grow above knee-height around the foundation. All ceilings in the structure, except the attic, are eight feet high. Several shuttered windows festoon the small home The shutters open outward, each hinged on the side that faces out. Windows have seal skin curtains that can be pulled fully shut. They help Halaan move in and make themselves at home.

*Snowfall 18th, 744 YND*

For the next several days, the group goes on a shopping spree.

*Snowfall 25th, 744 YND*

After a week, Halaan asks to speak with the group him in the morning. After he hands each of them a goblet of watery wine, he takes a seat across the room and drains his own cup. He them looks bleary-eyed at them.

"I have acquired most of the ingredients I need for crafting a coin," he says, "save three: a diamond touched by death, one pint of devil's blood spilled by a coward, and blue dragon's breath. In my research on the coin," he continues, "I also learned of a likely location for the first ingredient - a diamond touched by death."

"Some fifty years ago, a manor house owned by the Hiereed family stood in the woods west of Zoa. It burned to the ground during a lightning storm, though I have read a conflicting account that the locals burned it.

The last of the Hiereed family to receive a proper burial, Adool, was buried with a large diamond - the size of a pigeon's egg if the legends are true - in the crypts below the manor. Through the house is long gone, I'm sure the crypts remain. I cannot continue my work until you bring me the diamond."

The group tells him that they will leave now to procure the diamond.

Traveling west along the road out of Zoa is relatively pleasant. Everyone is walking, except for Lulla who is riding Marty. Tall fields of grain, corn and other crops stretch out as far as the eye can see for some ten miles from the city. Small peasant huts with thatch roofs dot the plain and farmers can be seen working in the fields.

Ten miles from the city, the road runs just south of a dark forest. Twisted trees with thick, dark green leaves fill the woods. The woods are deathly still - not even the sound of insects pierces the silence.

Two miles further on, two tall pillars mark the entrance to the Hiereed Estate. Two pillars stand by the north side of the road. Both are cracked, crumbling with age and the top of the western one is completely sheered off. The statue that once stood on the other pillar is mostly broken and gone. All that remains are the lower part of some many-legged creature the likes of which you've yet to see. An overgrown trail leads further into the dark forest.

As they enter the woods, the silence overwhelms them. Everything seems muffled and distant as if cotton had been stuffed into their ears. Things look slightly out of focus and unclear. Even nearby trees look as if they stand behind a pane of thick wavy glass.

A mile from the road, the path opens up into a large clearing with several small, dark trees at the edges. A few crumbling, ruined stones stand on a solid rock foundation in the center of the clearing. The walls are sundered and many of them have completely fallen; a dark, unhealthy-looking moss clings to most of them. Black vines grip the fallen walls wherever the moss is thin.

They start searching the area, in general at first, then more closely. Thalen gets the feeling they are being watched by something malevolent but nothing out of the ordinary is seen. Occasionally, a large, dark squirrel dodges into the underbrush and disappears. Once, a large black snake slides under a stone. Searching for it reveals no sight of the crypt. Rufio disturbs a dark bird that looks like a crow except for the deformed break. It flies up and disappears into the forest, followed by the rest of the birds. After about an hour of searching, they find a stone trap door.

Using the crowbar that Pug carries, the group pries open the stone trap door. Foul air with a charnel stench issues forth as soon as they move the slab. Stone steps lead down into the darkness. Rufio takes out a sunrod, sets it glowing and throws it down the stairs. It clatters down the circular stairs resting about 20 feet below. After seeing that there is nothing down the stairs, Rufio urges the group to follow him down. As he starts for the stairs, the stench overcomes him. Rufio becomes violently ill, vomiting all over. The groups decides to wait for 15 minutes to let the stairway air itself out. Rufio is still not feeling all that well.

The steps are wet and slimy and a musty smell fills the staircase. A scratching can occasionally be heard from behind the stone walls. They start on their way down with Pug in the lead. As Pug reaches the sunrod, he can see that the stairs head down quite a bit more. He picks up the sunrod and promptly slips on the slime, falling down. A dozen dire rats rush out and attack the group.

There are two dire rats attacking each member of the group. They are surprisingly effective in their attacks, especially on Rufio and Pug. Pug takes a couple of bites while Rufio takes quite a few more, Lulla takes one as well. It isn't long before the group is finally able to dispatch them all. Rufio is actually hurt in a bad way. Lulla heals him up as best as she can with exhausting her spells and they decide to have themselves checked out when they get back to town, for it is sure that these rats carry some type of disease.

The steps descend 60 feet, ending in front of iron doors. The doors open away from the steps and a large lock on a chain seals them. A pentagram is inscribed on each door. After inspecting the door and finding the lock completely rusted, Pug gives the chain a whack or two to part it.

Beyond the doors lies a tomb some twenty feet wide and forty feet long. Shelves line the walls and even protrude into the room. Coffins and sarcophagi line every wall. On each, they can make out a small, greenish plaque on which is written the name of the occupant and the year he died in Reanaarian script. The dates all lie between 459 IR and 487 IR and about 20% of them are babies. A prodigious number of Hiereeds died in the 26 years they lived near Zoa.

They beginning searching the crypt, examining the coffins and sarcophagi for any information as to the whereabouts of Adool Hiereed. After failing to find a plaque with Adool's name on it, Daloren notices a faint trail through the dust on the floor (as if something had been dragged) leading from an open coffin in the back corner towards a large stone sarcophagus that lies on one of the nearby stone ledges. The sarcophagus has neither name nor ornamentation. The lid is extremely heavy.

Suspecting danger, Lulla and Rufio stand back towards the entrance while Thalen provides cover fire for Daloren, Pug and Shaedra as they combine their might to move the sarcophagi lid. As soon as a large enough opening is created for a hand to squeeze into the sarcophagus, a mottled green tentacle shoots out and attacks Pug, wounding him. A second tentacle emerges a moment later and effortlessly pushes the lid back to reveal the thing that was once Adool Hiereed. The thing that slithers from the coffin may have once been human but is now something altogether hideous. The mottled gray skin looks rotted in places and small tentacles thrust out from all over a body dressed in once-fine clothing, now torn and rotten. The tentacles grow most profusely where the mouth of the thing should be and from its armpits. Where it should have arms grow larger tentacles. It gibbers and babbles insanely and something glitters from beneath its left armpit.

Pug, Shaedra and Daloren all grab their weapons and attack the thing. It is proving difficult to hit, but Shaedra get a well placed blow the causes much damage. Before Daloren gets a chance to try and hit the thing, it hits him twice, once with each of its big tentacles and then succeeds in grappling Daloren. Thalen moves up swinging with his greatsword, hitting it. Meanwhile, Lulla and Rufio, who is quaffing his potion of heroism, prepare to join the fray when an opening presents itself. The thing then takes Daloren and throws him across the room against a wall where he falls down in a heap of hurt. Daloren is in great pain.

Shaedra swings at the creature again, landing another solid blow. The creature hits Pug again, but fails to get both tentacles around him to grab him. Thalen whacks the thing, hitting it well. Pug then swings his battle axe in a might arc and sunders the creature in half, killing it. Lulla goes over to heal Daloren while Rufio looks on in amazement, saying "I thought we were all going to buy it that time."

They grab the diamond from the creature and prepare for the trip back to Zoa.


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## Broccli_Head (Mar 13, 2002)

What kind of a creature has tentacles coming out of its armpits!?


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## wsclark (Mar 14, 2002)

Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *What kind of a creature has tentacles coming out of its armpits!? *




Officially? The Thing in the Crypt!

Here are the missing sentences to the description I provided in my log that are in the module: "While all other members of the family perished in the fire of 670 YND, Adool was the last to be given a proper burial. Of course, he was not dead but somehow had been transformed into a hideous monster."

You see, there is also some background on the Hiereed's as well:

Madness of the Hiereeds

The Hiereeds came to Zoa in 640 YND (459 IR) from the north but refused to divulge from exactly whence. They were quite rich and built a huge manor of wood and stone twelve miles west of the city, nestling it deep in the forest away from the main road.

Their patriarch was a wizard who practiced the blackest sort of magic, conducting strange rites and worshipping unknown gods in the manorhouse. Tales of nightmarish things sighted near the house and in the dark, twisted woods in which it lay began to fill the Zoan people with dread. Patrols from Zoa were sent several times into the woods to investigate the rumors and even went so far as to search the Hiereed manor, but nothing untoward was found.

In 664 YND (483 IR) a captain returned from his patrol in possession of a ragged burlap bag. The suspicious bag was taken to one of the Council of Twelve; and the old man reportedly went mad when he gazed within. The bag was immediately weighed down and dropped into the sea east of the city.

-----

The above is background information for the DM in a side bar of the module. Here is some information the PCs could have found out if they decided to gather some intelligence (pun intended) before setting out:

The strange activity in the Hiereed Woods (as the forest came to be known) continued until 670 YND (487 IR), at which time the Hiereeds held some kind of fabulous masque at the house. Though none of the nobles of Zoa attended, many ships from far away lands, some of them quite strange looking, docked in the bay. Highly decorated, elegant closed coaches went through the city on the way to Hiereed Woods all day. Disturbing looking and thoroughly unruly sailors frequented the taverns about the town. Very late on the evening of the masque, as the tales go, the manor was struck by lightning. Many Zoans whisper that it was not lightning that burned down the place but angry local people who had had enough of the madness and evil near their city. The place burned to the ground with all of the revelers within. Only the foundation survived.

-----

This information alone has lots of potential for further adventures. As for the thing in the crypt, I thought the PCs would have a tougher time with it. Here is the stat block:

The Thing in the Crypt: CR 8; Size M, (6 ft. tall), HD 8d8+16; hp 62; Init +4 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 17 (+4 Dex, +3 natural); Atk +5 melee (1d6+5/1d6+5, 2 tentacles); SA improved grab, withering touch; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +0; Str 20, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10.

Skills and Feats: Hide +6, Jump +6, Listen +4, Move Silently +6, Use Magic Device +6, Blind-Fight.

SA - Improved Grab (Ex.): If the thing grasps anyone with both tentacles, it grapples as a free attack without provoking an attack of opportunity. Once it has its victim, it throws them across the room at the end of the round, dealing an additional 1d6+5 points of damage unless they make a Reflex saving throw (DC 20) for half damage.

SA - Withering Touch (Su.): Once every 5 rounds, the touch of the things tentacles acts as a rod of withering (1d4 points of temporary Strength damage and 1d4 points of temporary Constitution damage). If it scores a critical hit, the damage is actually a permanently drained ability score. In either case, the victim negates the effect with a Fortitude check (DC 14).

Development. The things fears fire intensely and retreats from open flames. Otherwise, it fights to the death. It can leave the tomb though it does not like sunlight. If left alive, it follows the PCs trail after dark, tracking them incessantly wherever they go. It has gone quite mad in the long years since it was laid to rest.

------

Both Pug and Daloren made their saving throws verse the Withering Touch. Daloren, on the other hand, did get the brunt of the Improved Grab. But it was the three critical hits, two by Shaedra and one by Pug that did the thing in. I was hoping to have the thing follow them around for a while


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## Broccli_Head (Mar 14, 2002)

So it wasn't undead? That's pretty interesting.


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## Darklone (Mar 14, 2002)

*Thing in the crypt*

Yeah it's lovely. Nothing generic. 

As for the graverobbery in the Baolo mausoleum... Since those guys had been worshipping an evil deity ... I didn't mind robbing them. But in my games properly buried corpses cannot be animated. So if you find undeads in otherwise usual graves, they gotta have connections to some big baddies.

Hmm. Bill, are you sure about that +5 to hit with the tentacles? It's got that for his STR only and it's a 8HD monster.... And I think it hit lots better.


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## wsclark (Mar 14, 2002)

To be honest, I didn't double check the stats for the creature. In the long run it didn't matter because it got to attack in only two rounds and hit all the time, before it was wholesale slaughtered by Shaedra and Pug. At the time Pug gave it its death kneel, it had less than 20 hit points left. Pug got a critical with his greataxe, and was using power attack, transferring all of his +5 BAB to damage. His roll was suppose to be a 1d12+11 (+4 * 1.5 from Strength, +5 from power attack). Of course, this was times 3! The minimum damage roll would have been a 36. It was doomed from the beginning. The dire rats on the stairs leading to the crypt did more damage to the group than this thing did!


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## Darklone (Mar 14, 2002)

*Hmmm*

My group walked down the stairs without anyone falling. Lotsa luck. But then the rats fled up the stairs. That made my players wonder... (they hate dire rats). Since the halforc barbarian tried to shoot a bird upstairs and would have sworn he hit and the arrow went right through ... Well I tried to spook them a bit. Then the door didn't open far enough. Gnome went in. 

Players were split and tentacleman had a nice time.


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## Baron Von Mandrick (Aug 7, 2002)

*I need more*

Whta happened?  They found the diamond.  Please tell me where to read more.


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## wsclark (Aug 7, 2002)

*Re: I need more*



			
				Baron Von Mandrick said:
			
		

> *Whta happened?  They found the diamond.  Please tell me where to read more. *




Um, you will find it here, soon. Real life (meaning putting three rooms in my basement, my father passing away unexpectedly and a major project at work that I finished up a week ago) stopped me from writing up the continuing adventures. I have about a dozen sessions to catch up on. Now that I'm on vacation, I should have a chance to start posting the sessions. Just as a short update, they have finished the second coin and are now on their way to confront Daresh (but they have several obstacles in their path). Stay tuned.


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## Baron Von Mandrick (Aug 8, 2002)

*Thanks*

Thanks for the update on the updates.  Sorry to hear about your loss.  I know how that goes, I lost my mother and my aunt in under a month.  I didn't have time for almost anything.  

Good luck with all of your projects, and I can't wait to see the next updates.


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## wsclark (Aug 8, 2002)

*Re: Thanks*



			
				Baron Von Mandrick said:
			
		

> *Thanks for the update on the updates.  Sorry to hear about your loss.  I know how that goes, I lost my mother and my aunt in under a month.  I didn't have time for almost anything.
> 
> Good luck with all of your projects, and I can't wait to see the next updates. *




Thanks for the kind thoughts. It has been a rough time for us for quite a while. In addition to losing my father on Good Friday, we lost my wife's father right after Thanksgiving last year after a three year bought with esophageal cancer. Its been quite busy for us, especially since we live in NJ, my wifes Mom is in NY on Long Island and my Mom is in NC.

And my condolences on your loss as well. It does take a lot of time out of things. I'm working on some updates that I hope to start posting within the next week. Stay tuned.


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