# The Ghost Tower of Inverness (C2)



## Silver Moon (Sep 6, 2007)

Silver Moon: The Early Years - Module Index: 

*Module #1, "Search for the Rod of the Seven Parts", 41 games, 1982-1983*, (Chapters 1-6 & 8-22). 

*Module #2, "Lair of the Dwarves", 1 game, 1982*, (Chapter 7). 

*Module #3, "The Secret of Bone Hill", 4 games, 1983, (Chapters 23-27). 

Module #4, "The Battle of Grammel", 1 game, 1983, (Chapter 23). 

Module #5, "The Keep on the Borderlands", 3 games, 1983, Chapters 23-27). 


Module #6, "The Caves of Thibaultia", 15 games, 1983, (Chapters 28-35). 

Module #7, "The Illusionist's Study", 1 game, 1983 (Chapter 36) 

Module #8, "Chagmat, 6 games, 1983-1984 (Chapters 36-40 ) 

Module #9, "Miscellaneous Adventures", 4 games, 1984 (Chapter 41-42) 

Module #10, "Arena", 1 game, 1984 (unrelated - not logged) 

Module #11, "Slave Pits of the Undercity/Secret of the Slaver's Stockade/Clearwater", 15.5 games, 1984. (Chapters 43-52) 

Module #12, "The Keep on the Borderlands", 1.5 games, 1984 (Chapter 48.). 

Module #13, "Interlude at Gladshiem", 1 game, 1984 (Chapter 49). 

Module #14, "The Ghost Tower of Inverness", 6 games, 1984 (Chapters 53 -55). 

Module #15, "Lair of the Hobgoblins", 2 games, 1984 (Chapters 53-54). 

Module #16, "Oil Lords of Raylan", 9 games, 1984 (Chapters 56-58.). 

Module #17, "The Hidden Castle, 1 game, 1984 (unrelated - not logged). 

Module #18, "And Now for Something Completely Different", 2 games, 1984-1985 (Chapters 59 & 60). 

Module #19, "Life, the Squid, and Everything", 1 game, 1985 (Chapter 61). 

Module #20, "Against the Vampire", 14 games, 1985 (Chapters 61-66). 

Module #21, "Journey to Zalpar", 3 games, 1985 (Chapters 66-67). 

Module #22, "Strolling with Fred", 1 game, 1985 (Chapter 67). 

Module #23, "A Visit with Louella", 2 games, 1985 (Chapter 68.). * 




Thread Introduction
I've posted "Story Hours" for several of my Sunday night gaming group's modules played between the years 2000 and 2007 (currently on Module #141 in the character year 1021).  I occurred to me that I've never posted any earlier modules here, so decided to start a thread from the group's beginning.  Enjoy!  


*Module 1: "Search for the Rod of the Seven Parts" * 

_[DM’s Note #1: This was the initial adventure of a gaming group started in the summer of 1982. This was the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college, and one of my main purposes of the group was to keep in regular contact with friends of mine from high school.] _ 

Silver Moon Adventurers - Year One  
This adventure takes place on the Continent of Phlooredah. The government structure of Phlooredah is that of a confederacy comprised of nine autonomous lordholdings. Every fifteen years the lordholders assemble to elect a “King”, whose role is to resolve disputes between the lordholdings and to field an army (and navy) to deal with any external threats to the continent. 

*Chapter 1, "The Assignment"* 

In the spring of the year 1005 three half-elven travelers were returning to the Lordholding of Aldorn, after spending the winter in the woods of Kaloon. The first of these travelers was an attractive young woman named Serita. She was the daughter of a human druid and an elven ranger, and had just completed her initial druid training. The first of her companions was Hherrmyie, a young fighter also from Aldorn. He had accompanied her on her journey to Kaloon to see that no trouble came to her. As it turned out, they ran into an old drinking buddy of his, a charismatic but reckless fighter by the name of Narg, who proceeded to get the trio in all sorts of trouble. 

The three were returning to Aldorn by boat, and were stopped in the Thenossia Lordholding's capital city of Halla, the midpoint of the group's journey. While there, Narg and Hherrmyie initiated a bar brawl, resulting in a visit to the local jailhouse. Serita was able to bail them out, but it cost the remainder of their traveling money. Narg told his comrades not to worry, because he had overheard an elf in a bar talking about an aristocrat who was hiring people to act as a scouting party traveling eastward. Since they were heading east anyway they might as well get paid for it. They went off to apply. 

A human fighter named Denny, who was to be the leader of the scouting party, interviewed the three. It was obvious from his attire that he was a member of the Thenossian Army. In the same room were two other humans and three elves, which were not Thenossian soldiers. The humans were fully armored men, each well over six feet in height. The first was introduced as Timothy, a former banker, who had recently been invested as a Cleric of the YON Church. The second man introduced himself as Goodfellow. He said that he was to be inducted as a Paladin, the ceremony to take place in his own hometown of Grammel, the scouting party's destination. 

The first elf to introduce himself was the one that Narg had met in the bar. He was named Draug-Carak, but told the group to just call him "D.C." He was a healer. He introduced his two companions; a fighter named Adajia, and her magic-user sister, Kharole. Denny said that the group had been waiting for two other humans, a fighter and a monk, but since they had not yet arrived in Halla the group would have to leave without them. The group left the next morning, traveling a half-mile ahead of the aristocrat's main caravan. 

The group headed across the Thenossian Desert. They took a road that cut through the desert, instead of the more traveled coastal road some thirty miles to the south. The first four days were rather uneventful. On the fifth day the party was ambushed by five orcs. The orcs concentrated their attack on Denny, since he was obviously the group's leader (and the only party member higher than first level). 

All five orcs were soon killed, but Denny was also dead. Goodfellow went back to the main caravan for further instructions. He returned saying that the group was to continue on to Grammel. He told them that he also identified the identity of the aristocrat, was none other than Lord Toronas, the ruler of Thenossia. Timothy and D.C. both were awed by this information, but Narg and Hherrmyie just muttered something about how someone that rich should have paid them more. 

*May 20th, 1005:* 

The group continued onward. Expecting more orcs, the fighters with bows led the way. A camp of five ogres was seen in the distance. The archers let fly their arrows, killing the ogres before any could get close enough for hand-to-hand combat. The group took their gold, and moved onward. 

*May 21st, 1005: * 

By mid-afternoon the group reached the crossroads twenty miles northeast of Grammel. Goodfellow was surprised to find thirty guards there, instead of the usual five or six. After a brief chat with the crossroad guards, the group headed onto the southern road. The group stopped for the night twelve miles later. 

*May 22nd, 1005:* 

The night's sleep was interrupted by an attack from fourteen orcs. The party members on watch managed to kill six by the time the rest of the party awoke. The other eight orcs ran away. The group went back to sleep. An hour later the eight returned, only to be killed by the group. 

*May 23rd, 1005:* 

In the morning the group moved on to Grammel. Lord Toronas's chief treasurer paid the group for their work. Goodfellow invited the others to attend his knighthood ceremony, to be held in the YON church on the following day. All of the scouting party chooses to attend. The rest of the church was crowded with family and friends of Goodfellow. The YON Cleric of Grammel led the ceremony, and Toronas did the actual investment. During his speech Toronas alluded to a mission for good that Sir Goodfellow would soon undertake. Following the ceremony all scouting party members were asked to remain behind. 

Once alone, Lord Toronas announced that the "scouting party" had been a test of their abilities, for which they had passed. He explained how he needed to find comrades to accompany Sir Goodfellow on a very secretive mission. He said that if anyone had other plans for the next few months to leave now. None left, so he continued. Toronas explained how his younger brother Matthan, the Lordholder of the Cantage Lord-holding, had been elected King for a fifteen-year term starting in 1004. 

The King from the previous fifteen years, Lord Kohlorahdooh of the Kohlorahdooh Lordholding, would not acknowledge that he was no longer Phlooredah's ruler. He refused to relinquish the title, or to give Matthan the required tithe and troops for the King's army. While most of Kohlorhadooh’s King’s Army had left when his reign officially ended, his own troops remained, and he was now building up the size of his own army to oppose that of King Matthan. Normally this would not have been a major problem, since Matthan would have a much larger army, however the situation had changed because a powerful artifact had recently appeared within the Kohlorahdooh Lordholding, the fabled Rod of the Seven Parts. 

Toronas explained that the disassembled rod had randomly teleported its seven pieces throughout the Lordholding. Toronas currently had one piece, which had been found near the Thenossian/ Kohlorahdooh border. It was known that Lord Kohlorahdooh had at least one piece, and was searching for the others. Once two adjacent pieces were fastened together a power of the rod would manifest itself. When all seven pieces were together the full powers of the rod would appear, making it an incredibly destructive weapon. Toronas feared that if Kohlorahdooh managed to assemble the Rod it would give him enough strength to effectively challenge Matthan. The group's mission therefore was to find the other pieces of the Rod. 

Since the former King had turned his own Lordholding into a "Police State", with guards everywhere, it was essential that all of the people Toronas hired for this mission be relatively unknown, which was the rationale in hiring "new adventurers". "OK Dogbreath," said Narg, "What's in it for us." 

Momentary taken aback at the insult from the upstart half-elf fighter, Toronas soon regains his composure, and says that when they returned he would reward them substantially. Toronas then presents them with a magical shield, a map of the Lordholding, the piece of the rod (piece #2, which would lead the group to Piece #3 once they were within ten miles of it) and to each adventurer 1000 gold pieces to cover expenses. Goodfellow suggested that the group leave early the following morning, to which Narg suggested noon instead.


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## Silver Moon (Sep 9, 2007)

*Chapter 2, "The Jail Break", May 27th, 1005: * 

Sir Goodfellow sees the mounted men charging down at them and realizes that the group is heavily outnumbered. He orders his party not to fight, and attempts to talk the group's way out of the situation, but is not very successful. It turns out that the men are not soldiers as was originally through, but are instead bandits. They blindfold the group, and march them back to the camp, getting there after dark. 

The bandit camp is rather large, consisting of about twenty buildings, housing over 200 bandits. The largest stone building is the jailhouse. The party's weapons are taken away, but not their packs, as only the camp leader is allowed to search them, and he is currently asleep. The party members are each locked in a separate cell. There are eight other prisoners as well. 

As it gets towards late evening the party pretends to fall asleep, and the remaining guards head outside. Kharole gets out her magic book, studies her "magic missile" spell, and uses the spells to break some of the locks. She gives the fighters daggers from her pack, which they use to pick the locks. 

_[DM’s Note #2: Yes, I know that allowing them to keep their packs was unrealistic, but I hadn’t expected them to actually surrender to the bandits. Given that these were all 1st level characters I needed to allow them some means to escape from this situation, otherwise the module would have come to an abrupt halt before it ever really got started.] _ 

May 28th, 1005: 

The party is soon freed. The other eight prisoners also yell to be let out. They succeed in quickly getting four of them out, but are then interrupted by the guards, who heard the yelling. Narg, Goodfellow, and Hherrmyie manage to overpower some guards and steal their swords. Three of the other prisoners also help fight, but one winds up getting killed in the process. 

As the fighters cover their escape the others steal horses and ride off. The fighters then grab horses and leave. The only one who doesn't escape is Serita, who is busy looking for her dog Senenal. She finds the dog, but also finds herself surrounded by bandits. Just as the bandits move in on her Goodfellow charges back, killing three bandits, and grabbing both Serita and the dog. He rushes toward the small side wall of the camp and jumps over it, escaping into the night. The party killed a total of sixteen bandits. 

Before reaching the main road several traps are stumbled into, killing three of the horses, and wounding some of the party. Some noises are heard in the distance. Narg and Hherrmyie scout out ahead, and see another group of the bandits camped out beside the road. Since only one bandit is awake on guard duty Narg kills him, as Hherrmyie steals all of their horses. The party then rides off at full gallop. 

The three prisoners that the group helped free introduce themselves. All are human males from Gelorynth. One is a town guard named Silas; another, named Klaaze, is a castle guard for the town’s ruler Ki-Geloryn; the third is a coppersmith named Ardar. The group travels onward for most of the morning, stopping for a meal and nap around noon time. 

While the party is resting two travelers approach them. One is a human 4th level monk named Augustine, and his companion is a 3rd level female half-elven magic-user named Nimmy. They explain that they are strangers to this land, having recently been accidentally teleported there from another world by a powerful magician who was practicing a new spell. They ask if they can travel with the group, or at least buy some of the extra horses. The group happily accepts them (especially since Nimmy is wearing a Ring of Regeneration). 

_[DM’s Note #3: The bandit camp scenario made it clear that this novice group needed a little help to get this adventure off the ground. A friend of the DM from college and his fiancée offered to join, and bring with them a pair of characters that they had played in his other group. The DM though this would help, but also let them know that if they decided to stay with the group, to be fair to the other players they should also soon phase these characters out and introduce 1st level characters.] _ 

Adajia and D.C., who had become separated from the party three days earlier, arrive by boat at Gelorynth. Gelorynth is a farming and fishing community with a population of about 2,000. They are surprised to find that the others have not arrived yet. 

May 29th, 1005: 

The party moves further down the road, running into a crossroad guarded by eight of Lord Kohlorahdooh's soldiers. The soldiers ask for "traveling papers", which nobody has. Ardar tries to explain their escape from the bandit camp. The Sergeant says that he will have to take the group in for questioning. At that Narg, Hherrmyie attack, soon joined by Kharole and Timothy. Three of the soldiers are killed, the other five and immobilized and tied up. Klaaze, Silas and Ardar shocked at seeing their Lord's troops killed, and demand an explanation. Augustine and Nimmy also want to know exactly what is going on. 

Timothy and Narg give an abbreviated version of their mission. After a long discussion the five newcomers agree not to turn the party in, but Ardar says he wants nothing to do with them once the group reaches Gelorynth. Ardar tells the group that this crossroad is well past town, so they turn back along a more southern road. Meanwhile, Sir Goodfellow and Serita wander into Gelorynth, and join up with Adajia and D.C. 

By early afternoon the party rides into Gelorynth. Upon arriving at town Klaaze and Silas are told that "Ki-Geloryn has been looking for you." Since both men have been AWOL for several months now, and would be embarrassed to explain their capture by bandits, they choose to "hide out" with the party rather than report back to work at the castle. 

The group obtain lodgings at a six-room boarding house. The elves and half-elves decide that they have had enough work, and it is now time for play, so Adajia and D.C. anxiously check into one room, Kharole and Hherrmyie get another, and Narg and Serita get another. This goes well until the innkeeper is seen looking through peepholes at them. Narg does not kill the man, but make some very serious threats.


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## Silver Moon (Sep 16, 2007)

*Chapter 3, "The Fortress on the Hill", May 30th, 1005: * 

The group discreetly checks out the town until about noon when the surviving guards from the crossroad battle wander into town. These survivors head immediately for a fortress on a hill in the center of town, housing twenty of Lord Kohlorahdooh's troops. Goodfellow also notices that the rod piece is tugging toward the same fortress, indicating that the next piece of the rod is somewhere inside. 

The group plans for an assault. This is also interrupted, as the innkeeper is again caught spying on them again. He is hauled into the room. He swears that he won't turn them in, and explains that he is a 1st level illusionist, who craves adventure. As a safety precaution the party keeps him in the room under close guard. 

_[DM’s Note #4: All twelve months in the Aldornian calendar have thirty days. The calendar had been created by the elvan Lord Aldorn, the ruler of the elvan Lordholding bearing his name. Lord Aldorn also served as the continent’s second King.] _ 

June 1st, 1005 

As the fighters plan the attack, Nimmy and Augustine work on finding transportation for the group's getaway. With the help of her "charm person" spell they manage to buy a boat for a fraction of what it is worth. 

At approximately 11:00 A.M. the attack is initiated. Since Serita and Goodfellow were not at the crossroad battle, and therefore would not be recognized, they approach the fort. They tell the guards at the gate that they found some dead soldiers outside of the town. Several troops head inside to go get their captain. Serita gives a signal and Adajia, Hherrmyie, Klaaze, and Silas ride their horses up the hill at full gallop, charging the doorway. Augustine runs up the steep side of the hill, and climbs the building. The innkeeper, Vilicus, casts an illusion of a duststorm to provide cover for D.C., Kharole and Timothy to approach the fort unseen. 

The paladin, druid, and four fighters make their way into the front hallway of the fort, killing many guards. Other guards fire arrows out into the courtyard at the other party members, who have to take cover to keep from being hit. 

Augustine and Silas charge at a group of soldiers coming in from the barracks rooms, but are not very successful as the Captain of the troops enters the room and pulls a lever, causing ten trapdoors in the floor to open up beneath them. Augustine manages to jump away, but Silas falls down a pit, impaling his face on a bed of spikes. 

Narg and Hherrmyie attack the Captain, a 4th level fighter. The man manages to wound both half-elves, but also takes a fair amount of damage himself. A magic-user wearing army colors enters the room and hits both Narg and Hherrmyie with magic-missiles. This gives the captain time to retreat. 

Adajia and Hherrmyie manage to kill the last of the enemy archers, allowing the spellcasters to get in closer. The captain returns, holding a scepter, which he points at Narg and says "begone". Narg then vanishes, appearing on the northside of town. Goodfellow and Klaaze then attack the captain before he can do anymore damage, and take the scepter. While searching his body they also find the next piece of the rod. 

Kharole, Serita and Timothy use up the last of their offensive spells on the remaining soldiers, only to see ten more soldiers charge into the room. The enemy magic-user returns and starts to "summon animals" as a bear appears in the room. Timothy says, “We got what we were after,” and then orders a retreat. Sir Goodfellow pulls Silas's unconscious body out the pit, and the group heads for the door, taking several arrows from behind. 

They all head for the docks, except for Vilicus who had chickened out and Narg who is presumed dead by those who saw him vanish. They soon discover that the boat that Nimmy obtained is too small for all eleven of them. Fortunately another boat that has just arrived in town, and on it are the two people who Toronas had hired that had missed joining the party in Halla, who assist the party in commandeering the second boat. The two newcomers introduce themselves as Tao, a human monk, and Annie a human fighter. They are disappointed in having missed the first real battle. Both boats are quickly sailed away, as the surviving soldiers arrive at the beach. A total of thirteen soldiers were killed. 

Back in Gelorynth Narg meets up with Vilicus. and the two ride out of town. They head east, the direction that the two boats were heading. They soon run into a half-elven ranger named Mark, who is traveling toward Gelorynth. He says that he is from the Aldorn Lordholding, and was sent to look for the daughter of a ranger friend of his, who is late in returning home. "She wouldn't by any chance be named Serita?" asks Narg. "Why yes," replies Mark. "Then come with us," is the response. 

By evening the group stops the two boats along the beach, approximately five miles from the walls of the City of Jawltorn, the Lordholding’s Capital and home to Lord Kohlorahdooh. They are also being tugged to the next piece of the rod, apparently somewhere within the city. Klaaze is starting to find Serita's dog to be rather annoying, and buys a vial of poison from Annie to use to get rid of it. As he tries to get near the dog it growls at him, so Klaaze changes his mind. 

D.C. mixes up some healing ointments to help the wounded. Silas requires a great deal of healing. D.C. does what he can for him, but the right eye appears to be permanently blind. Rather than being bothered by this Silas considers the wound to be “a badge of honor.” The rest of the party debates weather they should put the two pieces of the Rod together. They decide not to. 

June 2nd , 1005: 

At dawn a ship is sighted in the distance. As it nears shore four rowboats are cast off from it. The party decides to pack up. As the rowboats get closer they are seen to contain orc pirates, about twelve per boat. The group abandons their own boats, and climb the sand dunes in retreat. The orcs land their boats, and charge after them yelling "I see elves to kill."


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## Silver Moon (Sep 19, 2007)

*Chapter 4, "The First Casualty", June 2nd , 1005:*

"This should do the trick" says Klaaze, as he pulls out the scepter. "Begone" he yells. This results in three orcs vanishing, only to appear twenty feet behind where they had been before. It also causes Klaaze to get a headache. He tries it again, this time teleporting all twenty-four orcs back 200 feet to the beach (similar to what happened to Narg) and doing three points of damage to himself. A third attempt causes the orcs to vanish completely as Klaaze becomes unconscious.

Based upon this the group concludes that the first time a person uses the scepter they get only a fraction of what they ask for, the second time about half, and the third time they get what is desired. Each time also causes increasing damage to the person using it. Whereas the third time causes Klaaze to become unconscious it is decided to limit its use to three times per person.

While the initial two dozen orcs are soon gone more start to come from the ship on additional boats, so the group decides to run away in the direction of the city wall. The orc pirates give chase, which lasts for several miles, before the orcs eventually give up and head back to the boats.

The group decides to avoid the well guarded city gates, and head for a distant and unguarded section of wall, where Augustine use a Rope of Climbing of his to get himself and his party over the wall. They start to mingle with the people in the city. Adajia and D.C. manage to wander off again. Silas and Hherrmyie go off to find mentors to start their apprenticeships for 2nd level.  Annie, Goodfellow, Kharole, Serita, Tao, Timothy, Klaaze, Nimmy and Augustine go off in search of the next piece of the Rod.

Meanwhile, about halfway to the city Narg, Mark and Vilicus are stopped by two guards. As Vilicus casts an illusion of an owlbear, Narg draws his sword and kills them. Mark is startled by this sudden violence against the Lordholding’s soldiers. They then give Mark a brief description of the party's mission.

Annie, Goodfellow, Kharole, Serita, Tao, Timothy, Klaaze, Nimmy and Augustine travel for several miles through the huge city, eventually arriving at its northwest corner, where several clothing shops were located.

After a fine lunch, and assorted purchases, the rod piece draws them to the wagon of a leather merchant. The wagon was large, and enclosed, with one side open for business. Inside the wagon are a merchant and his twelve-year-old son, Tommy. They had for sale just about every type of leather item and garment possible. On the rear wall, hanging inside of a leather candleholder the group sees the next piece of the rod.

Three customers are gathered around the wagon: an average looking common laborer; a good looking, casually dressed man whose clothing had the distinct smell of horses (a liveryman); and an older dandyish fighter, with fancy clothing over his armor, a full cloak, much jewelry, a fancy sword, and a feathered hat.

Kharole approached the wagon and asked about the candleholder. The man showed it to her, after removing the piece of the rod. Annie inquired about the rod, and was told that it was something his boy Tommy found, and that it was not for sale. "I'll give you 200 Gold Pieces for it." yells Klaaze. The man becomes suspicious and puts it away. Klaaze refuses to take no for an answer and grabs the merchant.

At that the fop intercedes, and tells Klaaze to leave the man alone. Klaaze draws his sword, as does the fop. The liveryman tries to break up the fight, but is stopped by Timothy. As everyone is busy watching the fight, and Kharole continues to flirt with the merchant, Tao and Augustine climb up onto the wagon and head toward where the rod had been set. Tommy calls to his dad, who turns, sees the monks, and grabs a whip from the wagon wall.

The boy starts to yell for help, only to get one of Kharole's daggers thrown into his neck, killing him. Serita sends her dog Senenal to fetch the rod. Nobody else notices this though, as they are busy watching the fight between Klaaze and the fop. The fop manages to get in two easy swings, dropping Klaaze down to a single hit point. Goodfellow then jumps into the fray, hitting the fop with his sword. The crowd begins making bets on the outcome of this skirmish, while others start to notice the merchant cracking a whip at the two monks. All four of the women in the party climb up onto the wagon.

It soon become obvious that Goodfellow has underestimated his foe, as the man laughs off two successful sword swipes by the paladin. The fop then skewers his opponent, Goodfellow's body crashing to the ground. By this time Tao is busy in hand-to-hand combat with the merchant, who misses him Tao, but manages to hit and knock out Kharole with a missed swing. Augustine climbs up to the front of the wagon, grabs the reigns to the horses, and starts the horses galloping off.

The fop yells "Ah, now I see, you're trying to steal this man's wagon," and jumps up onto it. Timothy picks up Goodfellow's body, and he and Klaaze chase off after the wagon on foot.

Inside of the wagon the fop soon knocks out Tao. The merchant attacks Annie. She retaliates and kills him, but then gets hit by the fop for her remaining hit points. This leaves this apparently high-level fighter alone against Serita and Nimmy, who use up every offensive spell in their combined repertoire trying to take him down. This has only marginal success, as he soon reaches them and Serita is knocked unconscious, falling off of the wagon. Her dog Senenal jumps out after her.

Now out of spells, Nimmy pulls out her Wand of Wonder, and casts it at the man. This results in grass and leaves starting to grow on his armor. Up in the front of the wagon, Augustine slow it down so that Timothy and Klaaze (with Goodfellow and Serita) can climb onto the wagon. Timothy gives Klaaze some healing, but this doesn't last long, as Klaaze charges the fop and is almost immediately knocked unconscious. Augustine picks up the wagon's pace, as two dozen city guards are now seen rushing after them.

As Timothy now goes solo against the fop, Nimmy casts her the Wand at the perusing troops. This proves to be very successful, as a Slow spell hits them. She then climbs up to the front of the wagon to relieve Augustine, so that he can go back to help Timothy, who is about to fall.

The upcoming city gate, manned by a large number of guards who have heard alarms sound, is now directly ahead of them. The gate has been shut and locked. As the wagon start to close in Nimmy again tries the Wand, with continued good luck, as it shoots off a Lightning Bolt which not only blows away the gate, but about half of the guards around it. As the wagon crashes out of the city Augustine gets in the killing blow against the fop.

The group rides at rapid speed on for several miles, running into Narg, Mark and Vilicus along the way. The group decides to stop for the night, pulling the wagon well out of sight from the road, and covering their tracks. Narg and Mark guard the group as the others rest.

June 3rd , 1005:

The group awakens early. Timothy's cures and Nimmy's ring manage to get everyone semi-functioning. The group tries to use the Scepter to resurrect Goodfellow, without success. Timothy performs a burial ceremony.

_[DM’s Note #5: This was a surprising turn of events, as the mission had been built around the character of Sir Goodfellow. Not only did he become the group’s first casualty, but he became seemingly lost for good due to a bad Resurrection Survival roll. Goodfellow’s Spirit would appear again in 1988 as the catalyst for Module #53 “To Resurrect the Heroes”, again in 2001 for Module #102 “Tiger by the Tail”. He will make his final appearance in the concluding module in the “Spirit of Goodfellow Trilogy”.]_


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## Silver Moon (Sep 26, 2007)

*Chapter 5, "The Bugbear Camp" June 3rd , 1005: * 

Kharole identifies the fop's sword to be a +4, which explains why he did so well against the group. Klaaze claims the magic sword. Tao takes the man's magical cloak, and his magic rings are given to Kharole and Nimmy. The group decides to continue Goodfellow's mission. Serita and Timothy decide to sneak back into the city, as they are ready for apprenticeships. The group looks at a map, and decides that they will rendezvous in the town of Curigull in a week, along with Hherrmyie and Silas. 

The party of Annie, Augustine, Kharole, Klaaze, Mark, Narg, Nimmy, Tao, and Vilicus head northward. By mid-afternoon they reach a long section of road surrounded by swamps. Augustine freaks out, and tells the party a tale of woe about how his parents were killed in a swamp. 
At his insistence they travel well into the night, until they have past the swamplands. 

June 4th , 1005: 

The party travels northward for most of the day. By mid-afternoon they reach a fork in the road. Unfortunately there are nine of Lord Kohlorahdooh's troops standing guard at the crossroad. The party does not even attempt to talk to them, initiating an attack instead. 

Each of the nine party members attacks a different guard. Nimmy and Kharole "magic missile" the two soldiers holding longbows, dropping them. Klaaze, Annie, Narg, and Mark go hand-to-hand against swordsmen, killing them within the first few rounds of battle. Augustine and Tao take on the Lieutenant and Sergeant of the troops, hoping to use their speed as an advantage. Vilicus casts an illusionary Orc at the remaining man, but the illusion is quickly dispelled, and the soldier attacks the illusionist. Nimmy comes to Vilicus's aid. 

Augustine has a difficult time against the Lieutenant, who slices into the monk with a very nasty attack. Tao does much better against his foe, knocking the Sergeant unconscious. Tao then turns on the Lieutenant to help the senior monk, who is about to drop. The Lieutenant makes a sweeping blow with his sword, nicking Augustine and slicing into Tao's chest. Both monks fall. 

The Lieutenant then gets hit from behind by a dagger from Annie. As he turns to face her Narg jumps in front of him. Narg gets two near perfect swings into the man before being hit for all of his hit points. At that point the others had finished with their opponents, and converge on the man, who doesn't last long. 

Without any cleric along the group has to wait to let the Ring of Regeneration heal Augustine and Narg. Tao is beyond healing, as he is quite dead. Kharole uses the Scepter of Wishes to try to resurrect him, and is successful. 

_[DM’s Note #6: The whole party was rather relieved that this worked, since after loosing Sir Goodfellow the player had decided to play the NPC Tao as his new character. After Tao became the group’s second casualty they began to think that this player was cursed.] _ 

Nimmy identifies the Lieutenant's sword to be a +4. Narg claims it, calling it "The Nargblade." The group decides to spend the night at the crossroad. Klaaze does not want to wait, so heads off to Curigull on his own. 

June 5th , 1005: 

The night is interrupted by the sound of approaching horses. The group almost attacks, but stops when Kharole recognizes one of the riders as her sister Adajia. With her are D.C., and a human fighter that they do not recognize. The fighter is then introduced, he is Alec, Klaaze's younger (and rather ugly) brother. 

Before heading off to Curigull, Augustine notices that part four of the rod is tugging northward. The group leaves the road, and follows the direction of the tug. As they walk northward they see a Black Pegasus flying in the distance, near the mountains. 

At midday they stumble upon five dead lions, the blood drained out of them. Around the lions are several dead fish. As the group is trying to figure this out, about 150 flying fish swarm towards them. Augustine grabs the Scepter and wishes the fish dead. 

The rod tug leads the group to a large lake. At one corner of the lake is a camp of bugbears. The tug is in that direction. The group spends several hours observing the monsters. Approximately twenty male bugbears are seen, with an equal number of women and children. The camp is comprised of three wooden buildings built into the side of a hill. In front of the buildings is a beach, with a large canoe. 

As the sun starts to set several of the bugbears go riding off in the canoe. Most of the others go into the buildings, leaving only three outside. Narg, Alec, and Adajia start the attack, pelting the bugbears with arrows. Vilicus, D.C., and Kharole climb from the hill onto the roofs of the buildings, and start to set them on fire. Augustine, Tao, Mark, Annie and Nimmy move up to the doors of the buildings to attack the bugbears as they move outside. 

As the fires spread in a matter of rounds, total chaos erupts, with bugbears fleeing the structures. Two-dozen bugbears are soon flushed out of the caves and killed and the buildings are burnt to the ground. Several of the party are wounded in this battle, and the parts sets up siege outside of the caves. D.C. begins working on making healing ointments for Kharole, Mark, Tao, Augustine, Vilicus Annie and Nimmy. 

The rod was not on any of the bugbears, apparently still somewhere in the caves along with a remaining ten bugbears, including the chief. Since Adajia, Alec and Narg are unhurt they decided to take on the remaining bugbears by themselves, and charge into the caves. 

In the first large room encountered is where the remaining bugbears were waiting. After several rounds the three fighters are forced to retreat, although they killed five more bugbears. 

Kharole finds a hidden entrance in the side of the hill. Narg, Augustine, and Tao headed into this new tunnel, winding up in the bugbears treasure room. Buried within a chest of coins is the next piece of the rod. Unfortunately the remaining bugbears hear them, and charge into the room. As Narg fights the bugbear chief Tao and Augustine find the rod piece and retreat. Narg is forced to withdraw, without getting to take very many of the bugbear's coins. 

The group has an argument about whether they should try to kill the remaining bugbears and take their treasure. D.C. and Augustine argue that the group is in no shape to fight again, and since they have the rod they should leave. The argument ends when the bugbears in the canoe are seen returning, and not even Narg wants to try to fight some fresh foes that will want revenge for the invasion of their home. The group makes a very fast retreat, heading off further to the north. 

Once well away from the bugbear camp the group argues about where to go next. Augustine and Narg want to head for Kommerken, the nearest town according to the map. Kharole insists on heading for Curigull, to rendezvous with those left in Kohlorahdooh City. No agreement is reached, so Kharole, D.C., Adajia and Vilicus head off east for Curigull, while Narg, Augustine, Nimmy, Tao, Alec, Mark and Annie continue to the north.


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## Silver Moon (Oct 2, 2007)

Chapter 6, "Aimless Wanderings", June 6th , 1005:

The main group, heading north, stops at an isolated village of human tribesmen (resembling Native Americans). They are made guests, and spend the day relaxing. The tribal shaman warns of impending evil and disaster.

Meanwhile, halfway to Curigull Klaaze wanders onto a bridge guarded by eight men. He is questioned by the leader, a Sergeant. He tells the leader that he is Klaaze, a Sergeant of Ki-Geloryn, from Gelorynth. The Sergeant says that he will have to wait a few days, and sends a private off to Gelorynth (on the only horse) to confirm Klaaze's story. The men are friendly and trusting of Klaaze. He spends several hours talking with them, playing cards, and joining them for supper. After the meal Klaaze pull out his +4 longsword and kills all seven. He then takes their money, and proceeds on to Curigull.

June 7th , 1005:

Adajia, Kharole, D.C., and Vilicus cross a bridge, and find the bodies of the soldiers. They conclude that "Klaaze has been here", and hide the bodies before anyone else stumbles upon them.

Silas, Hherrmyie, Timothy and Serita complete their apprentice-ships. The cleric and both fighters set off for Curigull. Serita decides to spend another week with the Druids, and says that she will meet them later.

Klaaze takes a wrong turn on the road, and heads off northwestward, away from Curigull.

The other seven are enjoying another relaxing day as guests of the tribesmen, up until an earthquake occurs that which levels the village and kill about a third of the villagers. They spend the rest of the day helping to rescue survivors of the quake.

June 8th , 1005:

The group leaves the tribal camp in the morning. By mid-day they are hiking around the mountains. Six Peryton (heads of deer, bodies of eagles) attack, and put up a hectic battle before being killed. By nightfall the group reaches the edge of the Thenossian desert.

June 9th ,1005:

Deciding that they missed Kommerken the group heads for the closest mountain, running into a group of dwarves who give them directions. The group backtracks, waits until nightfall to cross the desert, and then travels ten miles westward reaching the town by mid-night.

June 10th , 1005:

The group discovers that the rather isolated town of Kommerken (surrounded by desert to the north and west and mountains to the east and south) is not in the Kohlorahdooh Lordholding, but is actually in the Thenossia Lordholding. They also find out that the townspeople are very superstitious and consider all non-clerical spellcasters to be witches.

While in town Kharole casts an identify. One of the townspeople, an extremely attractive woman named Natasha, sees Kharole cast this spell and threatens to turn her in. Natasha's price for keeping secret is to be allowed to join the party. The group leaves Kommerken, traveling northeastward. They travel for twenty miles, finally head south, off of the road, when they realize that they are heading too far away from the Kohlorahdooh Lordholding.

_[DM’s Note #7: This was rather frustrating as I had assumed they would head southeast back into the Kohlorahdooh Lordholding. Only the Lordholding for the module had been mapped in detail. Since the party was now “off the map” I had to improvise for the rest of the night.]_

D.C., Adajia, Kharole and Vilicus find Klaaze's tracks, heading away from Curigull, and decide to follow them before he gets into any more trouble.

Klaaze runs into a sixth level fighter who agrees grant him an apprenticeship for third level in exchange for 2,000 gold pieces. Klaaze agrees to this, even through he only has about 50.

June 11th , 1005:

The party reaches a gap between two large mountains, and cross it. This brings them beside a mile-high wall made of Hematite. They travel east beside the wall for six miles, until they reach a road. At mid-day a griffin decides to attack them, but is warded off by Alec and Narg's arrows. The group travels on the road toward the Wall. The road ends in a doorway on the wall. As the group approaches several high-pitched voices tell them to "Go Away! Go Away!" About fifty Sprites start pelting tiny arrows at them, and the group runs away.

They head eastward, on a road going around the mountains. By evening they run into Kharole, Silas, D.C., and Vilicus, coming from the opposite direction on the same road.


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## Silver Moon (Oct 9, 2007)

*Chapter 7, "The Caves," June 12th , 1005: *

After five miles of traveling down the road they run into Timothy, Silas, Hherrmyie, and an unknown human fighter. Timothy says that they met the man near Curigull, and have traveled west with him to aid him on a rescue mission. The man introduces himself as Phuddipeduzh. He tells the party how barbaric killer rabbitmen recently raided the homes of people living outside the city walls of Curigull. His wife Beulla and infant daughter Janet, were among the dozens of people kidnapped by the monsters. 

Since the attack occurred outside of the city limits the Curigull City Lords would not give any assistance, nor would Lord Kohlorahdooh's troops stationed at Curigull. Phuddipeduzh, and six other fighters, had tracked them to their lair, a cave in a small mountain west of Curigull, and about three miles from where the party now was. His party had fought their way past human and dwarven guards, but were then attacked by the Rabbitmen. Due to his exceptional strength Phuddi alone managed to escape. 

The sixteen adventurers argued about whether they should assist in the rescue mission or continue on the quest for the rod. They decided to split up and do both. Adajia, Augustine, Kharole, Nimmy, Tao and Vilicus headed on to Curigull, for either apprenticeships or supplies. They arrive by nightfall. 

Alec, Annie, D.C., Hherrmyie, Mark, Narg, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Silas and Timothy head off for the mountain. The enter the cave entrance, fighting and killing five men and a female magic-user who are guarding it. 

They travel for several hours through winding corridors, finally running into a barracks of dwarven fighters. The dwarves are all sleeping, so the party quietly sneaks past them. The group stops in the dwarves' kitchen, and stock up on food. Narg eats some spoiled food, and gets very sick. They run into three dwarves on guard at the other end of the tunnel, and kill them before they can sound an alert. 

June 13th, 1005: 

The group continues on, stumbling onto the remains of the Phuddi's previous party. After fighting off the giant rats and fire beetles around the bodies, the group takes their magic, then Timothy performs a proper funeral. Phuddi comments that two thieves of that group are not among the bodies, and concludes that they must have been captured. 

_[DM’s Note #8: The above two paragraphs comprise the entirety of Module #2 “Lair of the Dwarves” by the player of Augustine and Natasha. Basically, I was getting burnt-out, so the player offered to give me a break by running a one-night interlude.] _


The group runs into a tunnel running on for several miles. After a few miles they stop to rest for the remainder of the day. 

The other six reach Curigull, a small city with a reputation for its craft guilds and magic-users. Very severe thunderstorms force them to find lodgings for the day. Not much else is accomplished. 

June 14th, 1005: 

The group sets off early, soon running into the two thieves that Phuddi had spoken of. One is a handsome human male named Brugatch'll. The other is a mischievous female gnome named Trimble Redwood. It is obvious that being lost in the tunnels together for a week has caused them to become rather irritable with each other. 

The twelve adventurers move on, soon being ambushed by ten rabbitmen. The rabbitmen are fierce fighters, moving at incredible speed. It takes several rounds for the party to kill five of them, the other five kidnapping Phuddipeduzh. The group reaches the inner caves. They find several unused rooms, and fight some insects and small mammals living there. A chasm is soon found, which takes some time to cross. They eventually reach a room with a ladder, climbing up and through a trap door leading into a storeroom filled with food. 

On the other side of the storeroom is a large hall, with dozens of rabbitmen as well as a tied and gagged Phuddipeduzh. The rabbitman leader taunts his prisoner, telling him that Phuddi's daughter Janet was the main course of the previous night's dinner. Phuddi becomes enraged, breaks the ropes holding him, and attacks the leader. The party takes this as their cue to attack. 

A massive battle then follows, after about three dozen rabbitmen are killed the group chooses to retreat. They pull back into an armory, and do some healing. They then realize that the only other exit to the room also leads back to the dining hall, so have to fight their way out. 

The next hour is filled with the group fighting their way from room to room, killing every rabbitman they see. After building up a body count of seventy-seven the group, now all barely conscious, finds their way through a secret door, leading into some rooms that appear to have been unoccupied for several years. The group stops to rest for the night. Natasha and Hherrmyie go off to a private room to fool around. After Hherrmyie is asleep Natasha steals all of his money and gems. Back in the main room Trimble steals Brugatch'll's money and thieving tools. 

Meanwhile, Klaaze finishes his apprenticeship period. When the other fighter demands payment Klaaze says "I have it right here, how would you like this very magical Longsword that improves your fighting ability by twenty percent (+4)." The man says "That seems fair." Klaaze then give it to him, blade first. 

Klaaze's magic sword and exceptional strength give him the advantage in the fight that then transpires, but his opponents superior level and higher hit points keep him going. Since both men have spent four days working together they both know what to expect from their opponent. After about fifteen round of battle both men are reduced to about three hit points. Klaaze gets lucky, and gets in the final blow. He then heads off in the direction of Curigull.


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## Silver Moon (Oct 14, 2007)

*Chapter 8, "The Killer Bunnies", June 15th, 1005: * 

Narg finds another secret door leading into a room full of treasure and rusty suits of dwarven-sized armor. The group splits up the loot. Trimble gets caught trying to pick Hherrmyie's pocket. Hherrmyie notices that his money is missing. Nobody will believe Trimble when she insists that she does not have it. Brugatch'll then notices that his thieving tools are missing, and orders Trimble to "Give them back." Trimble says that she doesn't have them either. A duel breaks out, with Brugatch'll hitting Trimble with his short-sword for half her remaining hit points. She throws three darts into him, and he falls to the floor dead. 

_[DM’s Note #9: This came as a total shock. By that, I don't mean that anyone was shocked that this player's character wound up dead (he had also played both Goodfellow and Tao) as we were used to that by now. What was shocking was that it was caused by another playing character. After this, Trimble was pretty much rejected by the party. This particular player was also not part of our old high school crowd, but rather the current tag-along girlfriend of one, and the two left the group about a month later.] _ 

The group leaves their hiding place, heading back into the main lair. Several more rabbitmen are fought. At one point the groups finds itself cornered in a room with rabbitmen coming from both directions. Alec, Mark, Silas and Narg attack the flank, and order the others to make a get-away. The party charges into the next room, which contains about twenty human prisoners shackled to the walls, and ten rabbitmen guards. 

The four fighters successfully fight off what appears to be an endless onslaught of rabbitmen. Young Alec gets hit by three at once, and falls dead. Back in the other room Phuddi tries to break his wife Beulla free. Natasha and Trimble work to undo the locks holding the other prisoners. Hherrmyie, Timothy, and Annie have their work cut out for them taking on the ten other rabbitman. 

D.C. yells "Damn It! I'm sick of being a useless healer, it's time that I tried being a fighter!" He picks up the sword from a fallen foe and attacks the nearest rabbitman, only to find out that he should have stuck with healing. The rabbitman successfully hits the elf four times, killing him. 

The three surviving fighters are pushed back into the room with the prisoners. The leader of the rabbitmen attacks Narg, cutting off the half-elf's right arm with a magic sword. Timothy hits Narg with a cure to keep him from blacking out, as the other fighter's converge on the critter. The rabbitman is killed, but about twenty more rabbitmen have entered the room as well. Timothy orders a retreat. 

The group, along with Phuddi's wife and four other freed prisoners, fight their way out from the room, having to leave the bodies of their comrades behind. With four casualties, and almost no remaining hit points, the group makes their way to the nearest exit from the caves. 

June 16th, 1005: 

The group travels through another cave, reaching the outside by dawn. They spend the morning walking to Curigull. Trimble refuses to enter the town, saying that she is wanted by the authorities (which comes as no surprise to anyone). Tao and Silas decide to remain outside as well to keep an eye on the gnome. 

The others go to the home of Phuddi's uncle, where they rest and rejoin the other's of their party. It is decided to spend the next several days here until the entire group has recovered. 

Narg takes to drinking heavily, feeling that a fighter without a right arm is rather useless. Even through he is given the Ring of Regeneration, it will take at least six months for the arm to grow back. Somewhere during the third consecutive keg, he is visited by his Pooka friend Monty. Monty says that he can take Narg to any Place or Time that he wants, for as long as he wants, and bring him back to the same place and time that they left. Narg says "Great", and off the two go. 

_[DM’s Note #10: Narg's player came up with the above plan to get Narg back to normal by the next game night. The DM said O.K., partially because Narg having a Pooka to pop him in and out would fit well for the next half-year, when the player would miss several games due to his college schedule. To be fair, however, the DM decided to make him work for it. Several players were told to each develop different scenarios that they could DM Narg through. The remaining two hours of the night were then spent on this.] _ 

Narg was first taken to a setting that resembled a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western (Silas's player as DM). Narg witnessed a mysterious stranger killing dozens of Mexicans with a shotgun. The man then noticed Narg, and started shooting at him. After taking a bullet in the shoulder Monty popped them both out..... 

......and into a luxury liner sailing on the ocean (Kharole's player as DM). Narg had the bullet removed by the ship's physician. He then spent the next few days walking around the deck and getting to know the other passengers. Just when he was starting to enjoy things the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat, and sunk. As it was almost beneath the waves Monty popped them both out...... 

......and onto a rocky plateau with a red-colored sky (Natasha & Augustus's player as DM). He was soon approached by three men, two humans and a tall elf, which seemed surprised to see him. "Spock, I thought you said this would was uninhabited," said one of the humans. "Indeed Captain," replied the elf, "I find this most peculiar. In spite of the ears he does not appear to be either Romulan or Vulcan." "Of course not," replied the fighter, "I'm Narg." 

They were then interrupted by a beeping noise, and the one called "Captain" spoke into a box on his belt. The four then disappeared, only to reappear on a platform within a room filled with men in red shirts. "What kind of Teleport Spell was that?" asked Narg. "To the Bridge," announced the Captain, "Security detail, bring this man along." The red-shirted men then surrounded Narg. Narg drew his sword. The tall elf moved in behind him, touched Narg's neck, and he fell unconscious. 

Narg woke up in a room filled with people. In front of him was a large screen, showing the night sky. In the center of the screen was a large white object unknown to Narg. On the bottom of the object was the painting of a large bird. "He's coming out of it," said the other human that Narg had seen on before, "and his readings are definitely not those of a Romulan." "Thanks Bones," said the Captain, "He may not be, but his friends out there definitely are. Alright mister, would you mind telling us what this is all about?" "Beat's me," said Narg, "But I could sure use a beer." 

Before anything else was said a red circle appeared in the middle of the thing on the screen. It quickly grew until it filled the whole screen, and the room shook, and people fell out of their chairs. Narg saw where his sword had been placed, and grabbed it, yelling "MONTY, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Narg then vanished...... 

......this time appearing in a castle, in a place that looked like the world he was used to (Klaaze's player as DM). He watched as a small-furry humanoid creature with a big nose and longsword walked to an entrance at the far wall. Narg witnessed as the creature engaged in a verbal argument with the man guarding the door. A fight followed, with the little guy insulting the big guard's King, Kingdom, and family. Totally enraged, the big guard got sloppy, and was gutted. 

The creature then moved to where Narg was standing. "So," the little guy said "Cerebus has fought the Globes of Fire, past through the mazes of might, and defeated the Guardian of the Palace. Only you stand in the way of me and my destination.” Narg stepped aside, gestured to the door, and said "Go right ahead, I won't stop you." The creature left. Narg then checked out the Castle, found the wine cellar, and got very drunk. 

He spent the next several days searching the castle. He finally left, only to see hundreds of bodies around the castle, apparently poisoned. Narg continued on for a few weeks, eventually being joined by Monty again. When Monty told him that this was not the same world as where his friends were Narg said "We'll let's get out of here then." As soon as they vanished Narg's mind told him he might regret that decision..... 

.....as turned out to be the case when he wound up in ancient Egypt (Hherrmyie's player as DM). In a matter of hours Narg wound up insulting some rather important people, and would up in a prison (having concealed the ring to keep from having it taken). He was left in the prison for four months, by which time his arm had grown back. This turned out to be unfortunate, as this made him physically fit enough to help build pyramids. After two weeks of this hard labor he and the other prisoners were given some strong refreshment. Once drunk, Monty reappeared. The two then paid a visit to the Pharaoh's treasure room to retrieve Narg's other possessions, and about ten pounds of the Pharaoh's gold and jewelry, and then off they were..... 

......reappearing in Curigull about an hour after Narg had first departed.


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## Silver Moon (Oct 22, 2007)

*Chapter 9, "Trouble in Curigull, June 16th, 1005: * 

Meanwhile, back in Curigull, Silas had gone to the larger of Lord Kohlorahdooh's two fortresses within the town. Once there, he asked to speak to the Captain. He was soon brought before a man named Bennett. Silas explained how he was a fighter, formerly of the Gelorynth Town Guard, who was now in ready for third level. 

Bennett agreed to apprentice Silas in exchange for most of the treasure that Silas had acquired from the rabbitmen. The Captain appointed his Lieutenant in charge for the next week, and traveled off into the woods with his new apprentice. 

This turned out to be good timing on Silas's part, because two hours after they left three soldiers arrived on horseback with an urgent message from Lord Kohlorahdooh. The Lordholder had now received reports of his troops being massacred in Gelorynth, Kohlorahdooh City, and at three crossroads. Since the bridge (June 5) was the site of the last attack, the Lord had concluded that the attackers were now at either Curigull or Nottingham, the towns in the northeast part of the Lordholding. The message said that additional troops were on their way to both towns. 

The message also named Klaaze and Silas as members of the group, as they were recognized in Gelorynth (and Klaaze had given his name at the bridge, where the one guard had been allowed to leave). Since the Lieutenant did not know where his Captain and Silas had gone he felt it best to wait until they returned, or until the additional troops arrived, before taking any action. He did tell his twenty-one men to be on alert. 

Unknown to the Lieutenant, one of his men was a member of the Thief and Assassins Guild of the Lordholding. The man, Mickey, went to report this to his Guildmaster. She then called a meeting of the Guild. The Guildmaster was an 8th level human thief named Ruth, who posed as the Librarian for Curigull's library. The other members were a 4th level dwarf assassin named Korthe, posing as a soldier for the Curigull Town Lords; a 3rd level dwarf thief named Imok, posing as a leather tanner; a 3rd level human assassin named Shilara, posing as a weapon crafter; a 1st level human thief named Eyvonne, posing as a Clerical Aide at the YON Church; a 1st level elf thief named Belegurth, posing as a carpenter; and the 1st level human thief Mickey. 

After Mickey relayed the message from Lord Kohlorahdooh, Ruth explained how the Senior Guildmaster in Kohlorahdooh City had contacted her as well. The Guild wanted to find out exactly what was going on, in order to either sell the information to Lord Kohlorahdooh, or to get personally involved, whichever was the most profitable. She told the six guild members to try to get close to any newcomers in town. If it appeared that any newcomers were part of Klaaze and Silas's team, then the Guild would then kidnap them, and torture them for information. 

After the meeting ended she spoke privately to Belegurth. She told him that two visitors to town, a thief and an assassin, has each sought her out for apprenticeships. She said that a plan was in the works to use them to get Belegurth accepted as a trusted member of their party, from which to get the full inside story, and for him to await further instructions. 

_[DM’s Note #11: The above subplot was actually develped by one of the players, who wanted to introduce a thief into the party who would actually be working against them. We both felt that the party had been bringing too much attention to themselves by now to not become the targets of either a local thieves’ guild or local militia.] _ 

*June 17th, 1005: * 

The group decided to stay in town for the next week. Phuddipeduzh, Mark, Annie, Timothy, and Natasha all went off to start their apprenticeships for their next level. Beulla and Adajia were both grieving over their lost loved ones (Janet and D.C., respectively). Augustine and Hherrmyie were doing their best to try to console them when Klaaze arrived in town. After a brief debate as to "Who's going to tell him," Hherrmyie was drafted into telling him about Alec. 

Hherrmyie spent about fifteen minutes avoiding the issue when Augustine finally got impatient and told him "Klaaze, your brother Alec is dead." Klaaze gasped, and exclaimed "ALEC...dead........DID HE LEAVE ME ANYTHING?" "Well, no." answered Hherrmyie. "Figures," said Klaaze, and off he went to a bar. 

Meanwhile, Vilicus was off looking for some "action" of the female variety. He found that luck was with him for a change, since his first pick-up line worked like a charm. He was invited back to the home of an attractive weapon crafter named Shilara. During dinner he started shooting his mouth off about his recent adventures. She then drugged his drink, and carted her unconscious prisoner over to the Thief and Assassins Guild. 

*June 18th, 1005: * 

Nimmy and Kharole both finish their apprenticeships. Kharole had undergone her apprenticeship from a 6th level female human magician named Aurora. Aurora had studied under the Sage of the Mountains, and claimed to have knowledge about artifacts. Because of this Kharole brought her back to help the party find out about the Rod. 

Augustine, Nimmy, Hherrmyie, Beulla, Klaaze and Kharole showed Aurora the three rod pieces. She told them the history of the rod: that it was first created by the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, for use in the great battle of Pesh between Chaos and Good. She said that whenever the fully assembled rod's prime powers is used there is a 5% chance that it will disassemble and teleport way, which is apparently how it wound up in the lordholding in the first place. What she did not tell them was that she had found the first piece of the Rod, which had led her to Kharole and Augustine when they first arrived in town. She was very disturbed that this inexperienced group was considering toying around with such a powerful artifact. She was equally disturbed that they were planning to give it Toronas, a self-centered monarch, rather then a magician or sage who would use it responsibly. 

Aurora said that putting the individual pieces together would only cause minor powers, the specific ones she did not know. Augustine put the four pieces together. Two differences were immediately apparent- his vision was now improved (ultravision), and his had would not release the rod, being fastened to it. Aurora did not expect that to happen, and suggested that they pay a visit to the Sage to try to get it off. 

*June 19th, 1005: * 

It rains all day long, so everybody spends the day indoors. Kharole goes off to buy a mule or pony to help carry the group's packs up the mountains. She comes back with a camel instead, because "I've always wanted to own a camel." Her sister Adajia decides that she has spent enough time mourning her last boyfriend, and goes off to find a new one. She meets a handsome fighter in a bar, a soldier by the name of Mickey. 

Vilicus is interrogated by Ruth and Shilara. He decides that his big mouth had already gotten him into enough trouble, so he refuses to talk. 

Silas finishes his apprenticeship period. On the way back to town they run into twenty-five other soldiers marching toward Curigull. As soon as the other Captain begins explaining to Bennett why they are there, Silas realizes that he has overstayed his welcome, and quietly sneaks off into the woods.


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## Silver Moon (Nov 2, 2007)

*Chapter 10, "Off to See The Sage", June 20th, 1005: * 

Mark finishes his apprenticeship, and joins Augustine, Hherrmyie, Klaaze, Nimmy, Kharole, and Aurora as they head off to see the Sage. Aurora is recognized by the guards at the gate, and lets the group pass by. They tell Tao that they will be back in a few days, and to wait around until the others finish their apprenticeships. 

As they head off down the road a large egg-shaped object off in the distance. Aurora says not to disturb it, as it is a Fuzzy nest. Klaaze goes over and disturbs it, and it begins to hatch. A large blue blob hatches out. As it's fur dries (and it is almost all fur) it enlarges to about eight-foot in diameter, with two eyes, two antennae, and two huge feet. Klaaze is the first thing that it sees, and it thinks that he is its mother, an idea that Klaaze seems to enjoy. He gives it the name "Buzz", and it joins them on their hike. 

_[DM’s Note #12: The above silly encounter resulted from the DM finding one of those little desk trinkets that was popular back in 1982. It looked like a miniature tribble with a pair of felt feet and two stick-on eyes. I threw it in just for laughs, figuring it would provide an interesting role playing opportunity for one of the female characters to have some maternal instincts, and didn’t anticipate for one of the macho fighters to adopt it.] _ 

In town, Adajia wakes up around noon. Instead of being in Mickey's house, she finds herself tied and gagged in a room beside Vilicus. When Ruth questions her she also decides not to talk. 

Getting nowhere with her two prisoners Ruth decides to start dealing with her two apprentices. The thief Natasha reveals false information to her instructor Imok. The assassin Annie also gives misinformation to her instructor Korthe. Ruth detects the lies, and decides to teach the two a lesson. For their final test each is sent into the City Lord's castle to steal something. Inside the castle, Korthe makes arrangements for them both to get caught. Natasha fall right into the trap, but Annie does not since she does not go where she is supposed to. Rather than steal what the guild instructed her to, Annie heads off to the City Lords' bedchambers, to try to assassinate Lord Kohlorahdooh's brother, Sir Phillip (Lord Toronas had hired her to do this). 

[_DM’s Note #13: Yet another subplot. Before the group had ever started one potential player had rolled up the Assassin Annie, who was to pretend to be a fighter and act as a spy and assassin for Lord Toronas. That player never showed up, but the character was still put into the mix. This was the first chance I had for her to go after one of her targets. _ 

Annie is unsuccessful in killing him, but does manage to wound him. She manages to escape from the castle, killing four guards in the process. Natasha is blamed for these deaths, and is thrown into the castle dungeon. Later that night the Thieves Guild kills and hides the bodies of ten of Bennett's men, to further complicate matters. 

June 21st, 1005: 

Shortly after breakfast Tao and Trimble are joined by Silas and Serita. She had been traveling to Curigull, and was seen by Silas, who warned her that extra troops were in the area. The four are soon joined by Timothy, who has finished his apprenticeship. They tell Timothy that the others will be back in a few days, so he decides to go back to the church until then. 

An hour later the four are approached by a cloaked elf (Belegurth), calling himself Leaflock. He says that they had better leave the area, and rather quickly, as the previous night's Town Patrol had disappeared and that all visitors were being questioned. Trimble scales the wall, and verifies his story. They thank the elf, and head off after the others. 

Back with the other group, after killing some giant frogs the main group starts to climb the mountains. They are later attacked by a pair of pink winged gorillas. The two gorillas are killed. The group next runs into a swarm of forty killer flying fish, who attack Kharole's camel. The party kills them all, but the camel also dies. 

The morning is then interrupted by an earthquake. During the quake the ground opens up and swallows Mark, Kharole, Nimmy, Hherrmyie, and Aurora, who manage to climb back up after only minimal damage. They also notice that the streams running down from the mountain have turned black. 

Elsewhere, the same thing occurs to the others, Tao and Silas falling into a thirty foot crevice that appears beneath them. They notice that the river has turned from blue to black, and decide to wait until they find a bridge to cross it. They head up the mountain in the direction of the Sage's home. 

[DM’s Note #14: The above paragraphs are a result of a god-war that is simultaneously taking place between Lawful Good and Lawful Evil deities. Before the module began certain pre-determined things would occur at specific times and places, regardless of where the characters were and what they would be doing. Sufficient clues were provided for the party to try to determine why these things were happening, but nobody ever bothered to find out.] 

In Curigull, Timothy undergoes his Priesthood ceremony, officially making him a 4th level cleric. After the ceremony he gets backstabbed by Eyvonne, and carted off to the Thief and Assassins Guild. Ruth finds him to be less talkative that Vilicus and Adajia. 

By evening the first group reaches the Sage's home. Aurora explains what they are doing. The Sage agrees to assist them, and gives them lodgings for the night. 

June 22nd, 1005: 

The Sage spends the day listening to the party's story. The other four arrive at the Sage's home. The Sage recognizes Silas's beer mug (found in the Rabbitman cave) to be magical, and shows him how to make it work. Those that had fallen into the ground the day before suddenly feel much better, and all "black" waters change back again. 

Phuddi and Beulla notice that the other's have all left town. They assume that the group was scared off by all of the extra soldiers running around town. Annie spends the day hiding out. 

June 23rd, 1005: 

The Sage spends the entire day researching about the Rod. 

June 24th, 1005: 

The Sage announces that he has found a way to get the Rod off of Augustine's hand. Augustine, Hherrmyie, Nimmy, Mark, Kharole, Trimble, Klaaze, Silas, Aurora and the Sage gather in the Sage's library. The Sage explains that it will remain attached to his hand until the rod is fully assembled, or until he dies. The Sage says that he will cast a "Feign Death" spell on Augustine, followed by a "Dispel Magic," which should cause the rod to fall off. 

He casts these spells, and the rod falls off. As soon as it falls to the floor Aurora decides that now is the time to get the Rod away from the group. She casts a ventriloquism spell outside the window, and yells for "Help" in Serita's voice. The Sage, Kharole, and Nimmy rush out of the room. Aurora then casts a "wizard lock" on the door to keep them out. 

Mark reaches for the rod, but she casts a "push" spell, rolling it to the opposite wall. Klaaze rushes over to it, so she casts a "levitate", bringing it up to the ceiling. Klaaze climbs onto a chair, and jumps up, grabbing it. It sticks to his hand, with the "levitate" causing him to hang from the ceiling. By this point Mark, Hherrmyie, and Silas have drawn their swords. Tao starts to try to knock down the locked door from the outside. 

Aurora realizes that her plan to grab the rod, turn invisible, and then run off, has gone sour. She tells them "Don't move, or I'll fireball you." This stops the three fighters, who are on the opposite side of the room. Silas notices that Trimble is only ten feet from Aurora, and yells "Jump her Trimble, you're too close for her to blast you." Trimble starts to rush forward. Aurora reaches for a dagger, during which the three fighters starts to rush across the room. As Aurora turns in their direction Trimble lets fly three darts, all of which hit. Silas dives at the magic-user, finishing her off with one sword swipe. The "levitate" ceases, and Klaaze falls to the ground. 

Tao breaks down the door, and the other's enter the room. The Sage is heartbroken by the death of his former pupil. He tells the group that she was of good alignment, and that her threat to Fireball them was only a bluff. As the Sage gets her body ready for burial the first piece of the Rod is found. He says that he will keep it. 

June 25th, 1005: 

The group sets up camp beside the Sage's home. They decide that it is best for them to leave him alone for the day, but they do not want to leave the mountain without the other piece of the Rod. 

June 26th, 1005: 

The Sage approaches the party in the morning. He says that, although they were justified in their actions, he would rather not have such brutal people in his home and asks them to leave. As they start to climb down the mountain, Augustine and Tao discuss way's to get the Rod piece back from him. Trimble takes the rod piece out of her pack, having gone in and stolen it the night before. Klaaze fastens it onto the rest of the Rod, but doesn't notice anything different.


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## Silver Moon (Nov 11, 2007)

*Chapter 11, "Escape from Curigull", June 26th, 1005:*

Back in Curigull, Belegurth finds Annie. He tells her how the Guild had tricked her and Natasha, and that Natasha is being held prisoner. The two of them sneak into the castle and free her.

June 27th, 1005:

The group of Augustine, Hherrmyie, Kharole, Klaaze, Mark, Nimmy, Serita, Silas, Tao, and Trimble continue southward. At the first bridge fifteen soldiers are encountered. Rather than fighting, Augustine goes up to the leader and starts telling him about how they have just come from the mountains, where they had been held captive by rabbitmen for the past month. The Lieutenant in charge had heard of the rabbitmen, and is inclined to believe their story, but decides to "accompany" them just in case. The twenty-five people continue south along the main road.

In Curigull: Natasha, Belegurth, and Annie meet with Phuddipeduzh and Beulla. Belegurth tells them how he once belonged to the local Thieves Guild, but quit a while ago. He has heard that it is now holding Timothy, Adajia, and Vilicus prisoner. He tells them how to sneak into the Guild headquarters, which is beneath the library. They are joined by Zakariah, a female half-elf fighter from Beulla's hometown, and by Narg, who had just returned from his trip through time..

The seven of them sneak into the library basement through a trapdoor tells them how to sneak into the Guild headquarters, which is beneath the library. They are joined by Zakariah, a female half-elf fighter from Beulla's hometown, and by Narg, who had just returned from his trip through time.

Belegurth entered the room with Narg, who was appeared to be tied and gagged. In the room were Ruth, Imok, Shilara, Mickey and Evyonne. Narg is shoved onto the floor beside Timothy, Vilicus and Adajia. While this is going on Natasha and Phuddi make their way through a trap door, and initiate the attack. Phuddi sliced into Imok from behind, as Natasha backstabbed Shiara, killing the assassin. Belegurth attacked Ruth (although they were only faking it, since she was in on this attack, as a way for Belegurth to gain the party’s trust). Narg attacked Mickey. Eyvonne charged out the door, only to be cut down by Zakariah. Beulla made her way into the room to untie the other three.

Natasha then picked up the magical scimitar that Shiara was using, and backstabbed Imok. Phuddi also hit Imok, and the dwarf fell dead. Narg finished off Mickey, then helped Zakariah with Eyvonne. As was prearranged, Belegurth let Ruth escape during the confusion. Her escape was short-lived, as Belegurth had also pre-arranged for Annie to be waiting for her. Annie backstabbed into Ruth for half of her hit points. Ruth threw a dagger into Annie, then successfully hid in the shadows until she could escape again.

One unwanted side effect to this battle was that it attracted the attention of the town guard. Since the four people killed were known as respected citizens, and two were soldiers, the group was immediately attacked. The ten characters made their way to the town gates, killing eight more soldiers in the process. Belegurth and Adajia break off from the main party. Narg is swept away again by his pooka Monty.

They travel quickly for several miles south, only to see a large group of mounted soldiers chasing after them. The group takes cover behind some rocks, and start to pelt arrows at them. The party manages to kill off four of them, but soon find themselves surrounded. A seige takes place, with the party slowly being reduced in hit points from the soldiers arrowfire.

An hour later the soldiers get reinforcements from a boat traveling down the river. These new soldiers are led by Lord Kalinin, a 7th level fighter who is one of Curigull's town lords. Kalinin's troops charge the group. Five of the soldiers are cut down, but the others manage to overpower the party and take them all prisoner. The seven are loaded onto the boat, and it continues to sail downriver towards the city of Jawltorn. Adajia and Belegurth had witnessed the party’s defeat from a distance, and follow the boat from alongside the river.

Meanwhile, the other party is being escourted along the main road, until they run into a thirty-man patrol from the city. The Lieutenant from the bridge explains Augustine's story to the patrol's Captain. The Captain asks from additional information, so Augustine goes into a flowing dialogue about the rabbitmen, and also about hearing rumors of Lord Toronas stationing an army in Kommerken. The Captain not only believes the story, but starts to write out some traveling papers so that they can get to Kohlorahdooh City with this information. A lieutenant under his command named Milner disagrees, and begins to quote regulations to his commanding officer, and is then told to shut up. The Captain then asks Augustine what their "town of origin" was, to list on the papers. Not knowing the names of any distant communities, Augustine turns to Klaaze and says "Klaaze, what town did you come from."

The Captain stops writing, recognizing the name as a wanted criminal, looks up, and yells "KLAAZE!" Realizing that he blew it, and that the group is now outnumbered four-to-one by armed and ready soldiers, Augustine grabs the Sceptre of Wishes and wishes his party teleported "far away". The ten vanish, appearing in the middle of thick forests.


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## Silver Moon (Nov 19, 2007)

*Chapter 12,"Battle on the River", June 28th, 1005:*

Serita recognizes the forests as being those to the north of Kohlorahdooh City. The group travels east, soon running into the river that flows south to the city. By mid-afternoon a large boat is seen coming down the river. The boat is recognized as one belonging to the Lords of Curigull rather than Lord Kohlorahdooh, so Augustine flags it down to ask for a ride. Once they are on board the group spots soldiers in addition to town guards, and the ten are forced to surrender. They are put below deck beside the other members of their party.

_[DM’s Note #16: This was an unexpected turn of events. I had the Sceptre teleport bring them to a point by the river so that they could mount a rescue of the group captured on the boat, and did not anticipate the group surrendering and then joining the others as prisoners. I was not sure how the only two free characters, Belegurth and Adajai would be able to rescue them. This was further complicated by the fact that the players for both of those characters were going to be absent from the next game. In a conversation with Belegurth's player, he pointed out that since his character was originally from this area, he would probably know the location of various monster types, who he could then manipulate into assisting.]_

Belegurth leads Adajai further ahead of the boat. They go to where he knows an underwater lair of Koalinths (aquatic hobgoblins) is. Since Koalinths do not like sunlight they normally would not attack a boat during the daytime without great provocation. The two elves swim down to the lair, killing the only Koalinth on guard duty. They then swim into the lair, and wake the chief by stealing his jewels. The elves swim back to the surface, just as the boat is coming around the bend in the river.

Some two dozen Koalinths then reach the surface of the water. Due to their poor vision during the day the two elves manage to get to a small island on the river, and hide there. The monsters attack the only thing they see, the boat, assuming that that is where the elves have gone.

As the Koalinths started to make their way downstairs Natasha pleaded to the three soldiers guarding the prisoners to "let us go and we'll help fight." One soldier is soon killed, and two more monsters make their way downstairs. The other two soldiers decide to take Nat up on her suggestion, and untie and arm them. Once freed, Natasha and Annie backstab the two soldiers Meanwhile Augustine charges the Koalinths. They begin to fight.

_[DM’s Note #17: I had decided that it would be dull for the players to just watch me play out the battle between the monsters and the soldiers, so I gave each of the players four Koalinths to play. Since nobody was concerned about these critters getting killed they played very offensive, quickly killing most of the soldiers and keeping Lord Kalinin very busy. Augustine's player happened to be playing the first group of Koalinths to make it below deck, and as they both "hit" Augustine. The player looked up and said "This isn't fair, I'm killing my own character!]_

The Koalinths are all killed by the party. They retrieve their own weapons, and make their way onto the topdeck. Kalinin is the only human still alive, and fifteen more of the aquatic monsters have surfaced as well.

Adajia and Belegurth begin to fire arrows at the creatures from the shore. Kalinin is grateful for the group's assistance. Once the monsters are all killed though, he foolishly orders the party to "drop your weapons, and go back down below." The group decides that nineteen of them are enough to take on one fairly wounded seventh level fighter, and attack him. Kalinin manages to avoid their first attacks, taking on Mark. Mark narrowly misses three swings of Kalinin's Vorpal Blade. Zakariah moves in from behind, Kalinin pivots toward her, and his "V" Blade connects, decapitating her.

_[DM’s Note #18: Since the beginning I had encouraged each player to have two characters, in order to alternate them for apprenticeships as well as have a back-up in case their primary character got killed. Kharole's player had been playing her exclusively, and very reluctantly rolled up the character Zakariah. When the fighter died in her second week the player was not at all upset about this turn of events, and returned to playing Kharole exclusively, using the excuse "I tried that, it didn't work" whenever asked to roll up another character again.]_

Mark connects, and Kalinin starts to stagger. While the fighting is going on nobody thinks to steer the boat, and it runs into some large rocks in the water, coming to a grinding halt. Everyone on the boat goes falling to the side. Kalinin falls into Phuddipeduzh's sword, and dies. He then falls over the side. Phuddi makes a desperate reach at the Vorpal Blade, grabbing the handle before it falls into the water. The boat is damaged beyond repair. The group all swims to shore.

They make a fire to dry out their clothes, and discuss what has transpired during the past few weeks. The group finds a scroll case floating in the water. Inside it is a note that Kalinin was delivering from Bennett to Kindor, the leader of Lord Kohlorahdooh's army. The note names Natasha, and tells of the attacks in Curigull. The party heads south. Belegurth and Adajia wander off from the main party, and neither of them are seen again.

_[DM’s Note #19: The girlfriend of one of the players had an argument with the DM this week during a pick-up game that she abruptly ended shortly after it began. She then decided that the two of them would no longer play with the group.   Thus, the characters of Adajia, Belegurth, Trimble and Silas departed from the story.]_

June 29th, 1005:

The group heads south for about fifteen miles. They encounter a pimp and two harlots, who try to interest the men in the party. The two monks manage to get all of the fighters to ignore them, and the group continues onward. They head west, toward the city.

Klaaze checks the Rod to see if it is leading them to the next piece. It does not indicate anything, so the group concludes that since they are now near the City, only the final piece will be there, so to look elsewhere. They then change direction, traveling directly east.

_[DM’s Note #20: This was rather unfortunate, as if they had continued west for two more miles the rod would have started tugging them toward the City. The DM even tossed out tons of hints that they might not want to change direction, to no avail. This led to them spending several games on various interludes and encounters totally unrelated to the main mission. It also gave their main opponent, Lord Kohlorahdooh, the opportunity to find and retrieve the 7th piece of the rod to go with the 6th piece that he already had. ]_

The group travels until they reach a road, then start to head north-eastward.


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## Silver Moon (Nov 25, 2007)

*Chapter 13, "They always come in threes", June 30th, 1005: * 

The group runs into about a dozen pilgrims, traveling in the same direction toward their temple. The group is invited to travel with them. Fifteen miles later the temple is spotted. It is recognized as the "Temple of the Black Sun," a cult of evil death worshipers. The group decides to decline the cultists' offer of hospitality. The cultists refuse to take no for an answer, and a fight follows. 

The group gets some unexpected help from two other adventurers, who fire arrows at the cultists from a distance. The group heads over in their direction. One of the arrows accidentally falls short, hitting Beulla and killing her. 

The two adventurers are a thief named Imon and a fighter named Kormac. They had been members of a party that had attacked the Temple two weeks earlier, and were accidentally left behind. They had stayed near the temple, hoping that their party would come back to get them. Kormac felt really bad about accidentally killing Phuddi's wife, so the two decide to head off and not bother the party any further. Timothy performs a burial service. 

_[DM’s Note #21: I had also been playing in another D&D group at time, where I had just finished as DM of a module set in the same Lordholding, titled “Temple of the Black Sun”. I had originally planned for a cross-over to occur between both gaming groups, but the timing didn’t work out quite right. So this group only got to meet the two characters that had been left behind at the end of the other module. One of them accidentally killing Beulla didn’t exactly help this cross-over. Once again, that player's 'Curse' had shown itself, as the NPC Beulla had been played by the same player as Goodfellow and Brugatch'll.] _ 

As the group heads east toward the next town they are attacked by nine half-orc fighters, who are soon killed. They then run into the group of fifteen soldiers who had met the party at the bridge two days earlier. The soldiers are soon killed, but the party also has one casualty in the battle, Annie. A note is found on her body, written in a language that none of them can read. Timothy performs a burial service. 

_[DM’s Note #22: Yes, the same player who had just lost 'Beulla' then switch to playing the NPC 'Annie', which soon led to her demise. A resurrected Assassin Annie would not occur until years later. She is currently among the group’s enemies.] _ 

The group then runs into the pimp and harlots from the previous day. Vilicus volunteers to lead them off the other direction so that they do not see the bodies of the soldiers. His noble gesture turns out to be a mistake, since they want more than just his money for services rendered.   He soon finds out that the three are really weretigers. He gets killed while trying to escape from them. Timothy performs a burial service. 

_[DM’s Note #23: An unexpected turn of events, loosing a playing character and two NPC’s during the same game night, and all in relatively minor encounters. None of the players gave any serious consideration to resurrecting these characters, not having an emotional attachment to any of the three. By the end of the night Timothy's player was getting tired of officiating at funerals. ] _ 

July 1st, 1005: 

Outside of the next town is a village know exclusively for its training of fighters. Mark, Klaaze, Phuddi and Hherrmyie decide to go off to apprentice there. The others move on to the town, a farming community named Nottingham. Trimble and Silas both wander off from the party. The group soon runs into a half-elven ranger named Lysdashi, who is interested in joining the group. 

_[DM’s Note #24: With the recent departure of two players, there was theoretically now space at the table for someone new (although going from a group of 12 to 10 was in my opinion still sufficiently large enough) . Kharole's player had begun dating someone new, and invited him to join. His ranger Lysdashi had an absurd amount of equipment, essentilly anything and everything that might ever be needed. As the rules stated that Rangers must have all of their worldly possessions with them this bacame a running joke about how he carried it all. I soon found a humorous lead miniature of an extremely overloaded adventurer, which became Lysdashi’s figure.] _ 

July 2nd, 1005: 

Natasha, Timothy, and Kharole find teachers within the town for their apprenticeships. To pay for her apprenticeship Natasha conducts business with the town's ruler. Serita also sells the man some treasure that she had obtained. 

July 3rd, 1005: 

A patrol of Kohlorahdooh's troops arrive in town. Those not apprenticing decide to make themselves scarce. 

July 4th, 1005: 

The fighters finish their apprenticeships and head to town. 

July 5th, 1005: 

Those in town finish their apprenticeships. Timothy announces that he will be staying at the YON church in this town, as the final part of the mission could involve attacking the land's ruler, which would be in violation of one of the tenets of his church. Augustine and Nimmy also announce that they will be leaving the group.


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## Silver Moon (Dec 11, 2007)

*Chapter 14, "Back on Track" July 6th, 1005: * 

The group of Hherrmyie, Kharole, Klaaze, Lysdashi, Mark, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Serita, and Tao decide to head back in the direction of Kohlorahdooh. 

_[DM’s Note #25: We were now approaching the "home stretch" of the module, at which point I required each of the ten players to select only one character apiece. They chose the above group (plus Narg).] _ 

The group meets up with another group of adventurers, the famed Zalparian Trio (human ranger Greyshade, human magic-user Oterel, and gnome cleric Dominic). The trio are on a quest to find some lost holy swords, and they have travelling papers which say to let them and their group pass freely to the city. The group figures that this will allow them to get past any troops. Narg reappears, and joins the group. 

Once out of town the group runs into the Sheriff and ten of his men. They accuse Natasha and Serita of stealing his money. Natasha and Serita say that he is lying, and that they sold him magical items in return for the money. The Zalparians seem annoyed by this, and are about to leave the party behind, when Serita and Natasha give in, and give back the money. Both also vow to later return to deal with the Sheriff. 

The group bypasses the Temple of the Black Sun. They are attacked by Griffons, which are quickly killed by the Zalparians before anyone else can react. 

July 7th, 1005: 

The group runs into another patrol of soldiers. The Zalparians do all of the talking, and their papers get everyone past without any difficulty. 

July 8th, 1005: 

The party heads toward the city, encountering some minor undead while going through a large cemetery. Dominic manages to ward off these creatures. 

The party reaches the City. The Zalparians go off on their own mission. The party finds lodgings in the outer part of the city, and starts to plan their next move. The Rod gives Klaaze a strong tug when he checks it, indicating that the next piece is in the city. 

July 9th, 1005: 

The party decides to split up to find out whatever information they can. Kharole makes friends with one of Lord Kohlorahdooh's off-duty guards to acquire information. Tao goes off to check out a monastery of his alignment. Tao also gets recognized by one of the guards who had been with the patrol that stopped the party on the 27th. He goes into hiding at the monastery. 

July 10th, 1005: 

Kharole gets taken on a tour of the city by the guard she had flirted with. Lysdashi tries to figure out a way to get the party over to the large inner island of the city, where Lord Kohlorahdooh's castle is, as all bridges leading to this island are heavily guarded. The group decides to use Narg's Pooka to get to that part of the City. This does not work, since Monty tells Narg that he is the only one who can see or travel with him. 

The group uses the Scepter of Wishes to get over to that part of the city. The exact wish only specified the "people" in the party. Serita then uses the Scepter to get her dog there as well. 

July 11th, 1005: 

The party heads to the Cathedral of Ukko, looking for Dominic. The High Priest, a man named Augusta, says that the Zalparians have already left the city. He also says that he remembers their ally Timothy, who had apprenticed in the city five weeks earlier. Augusta offers the group lodgings in the rooms below the Cathedral, which they decline. The group finds lodgings at a nice hotel. 

The group finds information about Lord Kohlorahdooh and his Castle. They get a map of part of the castle from an old elf that had helped to build it 150 years before. Narg vanishes. 

July 12th, 1005 

Shortly before noon the sky turns dark, and all people within the city of Good Alignment fall asleep for several hours. When they awaken many of them find their pockets have been picked. Nothing much happens this day. 

July 13th, 1005: 

The party found out more information about the Castle. In addition to a map of part of the castle, they found an illustration of it. The building is surrounded by two walls, 60 and 40 feet high. The second wall is surrounded by a moat, with only one bridge across it. The building itself is rectangular, 600 by 500 feet. Most of it is only a single story high. Atop the roof is a 400 by 300 foot grove of miniature maple trees. In the center of the roof is a tower, 80 by 100 feet, which is five additional stories high. 

The castle is said to have many lower levels to it. The group find out that it was currently guarded by three naval battalions and one army patrol. Except for the officers, the naval troops were all non-human races. Narg reappears, and helped the group plan their assault. 

Meanwhile, Tao has found out similar information about the Castle. The monks had knowledge of a group of rival monks, the lawful evil Brotherhood of Benjamin, whose monestery was in a tower at the northern tip of the inner city. The students and instructors for this group now reside within Lord Kohlorahdooh's castle. They tell Tao that twice a day these monks leave the castle to attend ceremonies at the tower. 

Tao waits near this tower until evening, when a group of the monks are returning to the castle. He ambushes one of the students, killing him, and exchanging clothes. The student's robes are black and gray, with a pouch containing six star-shurikens. Tao quickly rejoined the other monks, who assume he was just answering a ‘call of nature’. They enter the castle through the main gates, passing several hobgoblin, lizardmen, and kobold guards. 

Once inside the building Tao follows the monks through a large hallway and down several corridors. They passed a kitchen, with a side pantry. Tao breaks off from the others, and hides in the pantry behind some crates of dishes, pots, and utensils. He decided to rest there and wait until the castle residents were all asleep. 

_[DM’s Note #26: The above encounter was rather annoying for me, as I had assumed that the entire party would try to enter the castle disguised as these monks, rather than Tao going solo. This meant that from this point forward I was running two games until I could get them back together, a situation that I had hoped to avoid when I had each player pick only one playing character for the duration of the module.]_


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## Silver Moon (Dec 31, 2007)

*Chapter 15, "Assault on the Lordholder's Castle, July 13th, 1005:* 

The party of Hherrmyie, Kharole, Klaaze, Lysdashi, Mark, Narg, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, and Serita waited in their rooms until it was nearly mid-night, then set off in the direction of the castle. 

July 14th, 1005: 

Shortly after midnight they approach the first wall by an unguarded side, and wait until nobody is in sight. Natasha quickly scales the wall, dropping down a rope. Narg climbs up, and then helps to pull up the others. Lysdashi and Kharole are the last ones on the ground. Before they can climb up a city patrol approaches them. Nat quickly yanked up the rope so it wouldn't be see, as the patrol stops to question the two. 

Luck is with them, as the soldier who Kharole had gotten friendly with is among the patrol (randomly rolled, with only a one-in-three chance of this occuring). She says that she was looking for him, and explains that Lysdashi is her cousin, who would not let her walk around in the city at night unescorted. The guard says that he will be on duty for the whole night, but will meet her the next evening. Kharole and Lysdashi left, only to return once the patrol is out of sight. 

The two are pulled up to the top of the wall. The party climb down the rope, with Phuddi holding it from above. Two dogs attacked them, only to find out that Nargblades and canines don't mix. Serita’s dog Senenal is lowered down, to back as a "replacement" for the dead guard dogs. Phuddi decided to use his Ring of Feather Falling to get down. He dropped like a rock for fifty feet, then floats the last ten. 

They quickly moved on to the moat. Hherrmyie shoots an arrow to the top, and Kharole levitated herself, using the rope as a guide. She held the rope as the others climbed up, one at a time. Phuddi was the last to go, staking down the rope. When he was half-way up the stake came out, causing him to swing right into the wall, and drop into the moat. Being fully armored he sank, but kept ahold of the rope. The others yanked their drenched comrrade up to the top of the wall. 

Phuddi held the rope as the others climbed down. He falsely concludes that a Ring of Feather Falling would always slow him down ten feet from the bottom and jumps off of the forty-foot high wall. Since the Ring's magic doesn't actually start until after falling fifty feet Phuddi falls all the way down, hitting the bottom hard. Serita uses half of her cure spells to get him back up to fighting strength. Unfortunately, her spellcasting is heard by two lizardmen guards, who came to investigate. Mark, Hherrmyie, Narg and Lysdashi spot them with their infravision, and let loose an arrow barrage, turning the two into very dead pincushions. The group then head for the building, figuring that the dead guards will soon blow their cover anyway, so don’t hesitate to smash the door open. 

Klaaze busting the door down totally surprises the three kobolds guarding the lobby, who didn't last very long against him. The group heads down several hallways, not knowing where to go next. They find their way to the northeast corner of the castle, by two large dining rooms. They then pass through a storeroom, waking up Tao who was behind the crates. Since Tao naturally assumes the people walking through are guards he remains quiet until they leave the room. 

_[DM’s Note #27: I had a chance to get the party back together, only to have Tao's player chose to pass on it. Fortunately, their next move would give me with yet another opportunity to recombine the party, which with some prodding, the player finally did.] _ 

The group entered a kitchen, then walking into another room, which contained three occupied beds. The three sleeping men who up, asking "Who are you." Since they had just passed through a kitchen Natasha declared "We're the cooks!" "Oh yeah," said the first man, "Then who the hell are we!" "Er...nevermind," said Serita, "we must have gone to the wrong kitchen." The group quickly head back. 

Tao hears the sound of the guards, and decides to ambush one and steal his uniform. As the last one was exiting the room Tao jumped him from behind, throwing his robe over the man's head, and shoving a rag in his mouth to prevent him from screaming. The two exchanged punches, and the guard manages to pull the robe off from over his face, revealing himself to be Klaaze. Tao is surprised to see his friend. By this time the others had all wandered well ahead, so the two hurry to catch up. 

The group continues down several hallways, until they found a trap-door in the floor. The door reveals a corridor beneath them, which they choose to investigate. They closed the door behind them, and Tao and Klaaze walked right by it. The group headed down several bending hallways. 

Hherrmyie steps on a trap, and a eight-foot-square section of floor falls out. Narg grabbed him before he falls in, but Phuddipeduzh, who was in front of Hherrmyie, falls through it. He lands fifteen feet below, in an underground river. Lysdashi dives in after him, holding onto a rope that he had given Narg the other end of. The group manages to pull the two back up. While recovering from this it is noticed that Klaaze was missing. Narg tells the others to go on, that he will go find him "Before the idiot wakes up the whole damned castle." 

The group follows the hallway until it ended, where they find a trap door. They climb down, into a room filled with machinery and manned by two human engineers. The engineers are forced into explaining that the machines control the flow of water through the underground river. After being forced by the party to shut off the water the engineers are then tied and gagged. 

Heading back the way they came the party notice that the water level in the pit has already started to go down. They then run into the next shift of engineers on the way to the control room. The two men were killed, and thrown down into the river. The group heads back up, soon meeting up with Narg, Klaaze and Tao. They find a sealed off bedroom, that apparently had not been used in years. Since it getting toward sunrise the party decided to rest in this room.


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## Silver Moon (Jan 6, 2008)

*Chapter 16, "Checking out more of the Castle", July 14th, 1005:* 

Waking up seven hours later, they move out into the hall again. They move onto a long hallway, running 400 feet to the south wall. The hall is guarded by a human and six goblins, who are actively looking for the intruders. A fight follows, during which one of the goblins manages to escape. The fight lasted for several more rounds, as the man was a sixth level fighter. At the conclusion the party decides to "Get the hell out of here, fast!" 

They duck into a side room that contains a treasure chest, which Natasha unlocks and opens. It is filled with 10,000 copper pieces, a fancy bracelet, some gems and a feather token in the shape of a fan. They take all but the coins. They then go through a room with various weapons mounted to the walls, and Klaaze picked up some poisoned darts. 

Heading out of the room, they run into six goblins, including the one that had escaped before. As the party kills the first five, the same one as before runs off. Before the group can move on, the goblin returns with his human Captain and nine other goblins. The group pulls back into the weapon room. The Captain orders the party to surrender, telling them that the room they have now trapped themselves in has no other exits, so there is no escape. While he is saying this Mark and Serita check for secret doors. Mark finds one, and the party quietly exits into an unguarded corridor. 

They duck into a large room, 40 x 120 feet, with twenty-two marble columns running up to the ceiling, and many suits of armor on display. The group quickly head to a door at the opposite end of the room, moving into a trophy room. On the walls are hides of leopards and bears. Also mounted on the wall are the heads of a buffalo, dear, owlbear, lion, and a small brass dragon. In the center of the room is a stuffed unicorn. Over the door is a shelf with a stuffed peryton. The druid Serita became very angry at seeing all this, and declares "Kohlorahdooh is a dead man!" 

The next room has various weapontry mounted to the wall, primarily polearms. The room after it is an art gallery with marble statues, paintings, a life-sized wooden sculpture of King Kohlorahdooh, and a tapestry depicting a war between Grey Elves and Drow Elves. Narg has some difficulty resisting the urge to deface the statue. 

The next room is filled with shields and weapons. Phuddi finds a shield that is magical. A sword room is next to it. The only sword that seems to be magical zaps Hherrmyie for twelve hit-points when he touches it. The sword then speaks, saying "Sorry about that." It goes on to say that it is a Lawful Good sword, belonging to the Church of Ukko (a.k.a. Yon), and that anyone of a different alignment (like Hherrmyie) will get hurt if they touch him. The group realizes that this is one of the three swords that the Zalparians had been looking for. 

Being the only one of the correct alignment, Phuddi decides to carry the sword. It tells Phuddi that its name is Isaiah, and that several centuries it was a human priest. Hherrmyie makes a comment about the party being stuck with "a sword that won't shut up!" 

They move on to a room with piping, several vats of water, a waterwheel, and other machinery. The group correctly deduces that this room's purpose is to provide water from the underground river up to the rooftop grove of trees. 

They soon notice that they have now traveled to the southwest corner of the castle. They find the location on their map and decide to head toward the western lobby. The lobby is guarded by six goblins (one being the same goblin who escaped twice before). All are soon killed, but they manage to open the door and yell to troops out guarding the courtyard. Five lizardmen charge into the room, backed up by arrow-fire from their human leader. 

Kharole lets fly her final two magic-missile spells, hitting four lizardmen, but stopping none of them. The human's arrows hit both Mark and Hherrmyie. Phuddi, Klaaze, Lysdashi Narg and Serita each take on a lizardman. Tao climbs the wall, and waits by the doorway for the human to enter. Natasha climbs up a staircase in the back of the room, and tosses daggers down into the backs of the lizardmen. 

The human draws his sword as he enters the room, and takes on both Mark and Hherrmyie. His first two slashes connect. The man is then hit twice by Tao, who has dived down onto him. As the man crashes onto the floor Tao rolls back, giving the two half-elves the initiative. The man gets hit five times before he can get back on his feet, and by that time the others had finished with their opponents, and moved in on the man as well. The human dies as every player rolls a successful “to hit” with three swords, two daggers, two darts, two arrows and a star-shuriken hitting the man simultaneously. 

The group bars the door shut from the inside, and stacks all twelve bodies beside it. They then move on to a meeting room that is nearby, which their own map shows has a secret door. The secret door leads to a long walk-in closet, which nobody appears to have been inside for decades. The room is a bit cramped, but is large enough for the party to rest and recuperate. Narg is taken off by Monty again. 

[DM's Note #28: I found this aspect of the module totally amazing. My prior D&D group was famous for hit-and-run tactics, so I had expected the same here. I was flabbergasted that the group decided to take multiple 6-8 hour breaks while inside of the enemy's castle, with hundreds of troops actively searching for them! Even more amazing was that they picked this particular place to stop, as it was adjacent to the main meeting room of the enemy commanders.] 

While the party sleeps Tao listens at the door. In about an hour he overhears a meeting of the captains of all seven army and navy squadrons going on in the room outside. The leader, a man named Bly, starts by stating "..it is high time that you brought me into this fine mess of ours! How could you be so stupid as to allow a group of foolhardy thieves to penetrate our fine defenses. And you, Keynock, I'll have you before a full military court-marshal for negligence as soon as this mess is one and done with. Gads! How could you let them escape from an exit-less room." 

Keynock starts to reply, but is then hit by Bly, who yells "I didn't ask for any backtalk! You are officially demoted. Sol, you lead what is left of the Gold Squadron, and keep them on the rooftops and tower only. I'll be taking control of the main level with my own troops. Thomas, is there any indication that they have penetrated the lower levels?" "No sir, but my men are on full alert in case they do" the man replies. 

"Good," says Bly, "now you Simon, how many troops are you down?" "The bloody blokers sliced through seven of my finest lizardmen, and my second in command as well." is the answer. Bly tells him "OK, I'll get you replacements as soon as the Brown Squadron docks. Red and Blue Squadrons, keep patrolling the inner city, but have up to half of each Squadron nearby in case they are needed here. Mhane, how about you?" "Sir, you have nothing to fear. The King's safety will never be compromised as long as the Purple Squad exists, I swear it." he answers. "Let's hope so," Bly replies. 

Bly then states "Your report Saul". A new voice answers "I happen to think that the intruders have left. They entered the East Gate and obviously left by the West, since that was where they were last seen, and all troops there were killed. "But the bodies were stacked on the inside, how?" said the leader. "I don't know, but some sort of trick I suppose, to make us think that they were still here to cover their actual escape." is the answer. 

"Enough!" yells Bly "If they are still on this level my troops will flush them out. If they are elsewhere- FIND THEM, OR HEADS WILL ROLL..right Keynock? "Y..ya..yes sir." said the man meakly. "Good. You're dismissed." Bly replies. No futher voices are heard. 

When the party wakes up Tao relays to them the information that he heard. The party decides to avoid Bly and his troops, and to make their way directly to the lower levels. Using their map they head down two hallways for some 300 feet to a staircase heading downstairs at the northwest corner of the castle. They are startled by a sound, which turns out to be a clock striking midnight.


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## Silver Moon (Jan 8, 2008)

*Chapter 17, "Deeper into the castle of the enemy", July 15th, 1005, 12:00 A.M. * 

The group finds a staircase heading downstairs at the northwest corner of the castle. At the bottom of the staircase is a lounge, with six goblins on guard duty. Klaaze, Hherrmyie and Lysdashi last into them. Mark charges after two that attempt to escape, stopping one, but the other makes his way out of the door. 

Tao, Lysdashi and Hherrmyie lead the party down a hall after the one who escaped. They soon find themselves in an armory. They no sooner enter the room when they are attacked by a eight war dogs and three worg wolves, all ridden by goblins. Tao tricks the dogs into following him to the opposite wall, and then pulls down a rack of chainmail armor on top of them. 

Lysdashi and Hherrmyie hold off the other foes until the remainder of the party manage to get into the room. Kharole throws daggers into the goblins, killing them. This confuses the worgs, who then become easier targets for the fighters in the party as well as the thief Natasha. 

The group moves on into the next room, which is a kennel that apparently housed the canines. The next room is an unoccupied bedchamber, which appears to be where the goblins came from. Beyond that is a room with four sleeping goblins. As the party enters the room the goblins awake, and run in opposite directions to the two far doors of the room. The goblins get through the doors before the party can stop them. 

Klaaze tries to break down the door that three escaped through, but it is apparently barred from the other side. Lysdashi and Hherrmyie charge down the corridor that the other one ran down, and then find themselves under heavy arrow fire fired from a human at the other end of the hall. They ignore the arrows and charge until they reach the man, who soon falls. The goblin surrenders. 

Kharole casts a "Charm" on the goblin, getting information from him that the King's bedchambers are on the lowest level of the castle. He says that he can't lead them there, as he has never been there himself. "Fine" says Klaaze, who then slices the goblin in half with his sword. 

The group moves on to the other door, which Klaaze busts down. They move through an empty banquet hall. They find themselves in a large "K" shaped room. Two humans are seen nearby, and Tao recognizes their attire as that of the evil monks. They are quickly killed by Natasha and Tao. 

The group moves on to a four-way intersection, where they run into the remainder of the Orange Squadrom (18 kobolds and 2 humans). Mark, Lysdashi and Hherrmyie charge into the group of ten kobolds. Klaaze takes on the human leader, an 8th level fighter. Phuddipeduzh takes on the other human. Kharole and Serita fight of the other eight kobolds. 

Klaaze gets hit for half of his hit points. Natasha sneaks up behind the man, and backstabs him. She hurts him, but not severely. He pivots around, and gets two good slashes into her. While this is happening, Klaaze repositions himself, and gets in a perfect hit on the man's sword arm, crippling him. 

Tao manages to then distract Phuddi's foe, allowing Phuddi to finish him off. Phuddi and Kharole then concentrate on the leader of this group. The surviving six kobolds that Serita is fighting pull back and grab javelins. As they get ready to thrown them at her the three half-elf fighters finish with their own foes. Serita dodges all but one of the javelins, and gets ready for a second volley. This volley never comes, as the enemies are cut down by arrows fired from the fighters. 

The combined effort of the others brings down the Captain of the Orange Squadron. The groups decided to pull back, as they are physically in no shape for yet another fight. Back in the "K" shaped room they run into a pair of monks. Mark and Serita draw the attention of the monks, as Natasha and Tao managed to ambush them from behind. The group hides the bodies. 

They soon find the entrance to the monks' classroom. Tao concludes that since it is the middle of the night it might be safe to spend the next few hours in this place. They post two of their party on guard duty, wearing monks robes. 

The group rests in the room uninterrupted for three hours, until disturbed by a knock on the door. Tao answers the door, seeing a group of ten hobgoblins with a human leader. The leader says that he needs to search the room for intruders. Tao tells the human "My students need their rest. Do not interrupt us again with your minor security problems." The patrol moves on. 

Tao lets the others sleep for another hour, then wakes them. Serita and Kharole study and regain their spells. While this is happening, Hherrmyie and Mark scout ahead. They find a secret panel in the wall, which is slid to the side to reveal a staircase going down to the next level. 

The group head down the stairs, coming out at a large room with twelve hobgoblins and four gnoll, all attired in purple uniforms. The party takes them by surprise. Phuddi, Mark, Klaaze and Lysdashi each charge a gnoll. Hherrmyie fires his bow at the hobgoblins, six of which also draw bows and fire back. Nat and Serita both get hit by stray arrows as they enter the room. Tao and Kharole are stuck on the staircase. 

The group soon manages to kill four hobgoblins and a gnoll, but they take heavy damage themselves. Phuddipeduzh order the group to retreat out a door near the stairs. The group charges through the door, down a hallway, and into a large room. The room appears to be used for furniture storage. It is also exit-less.


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## Silver Moon (Jan 15, 2008)

*Chapter 18, "The Big Cheese", July 15th, 1005: * 

Tao convinces the group that staying too long in this room would be suicidal, as it will only give the enemy more time to regroup. Hherrmyie and Phuddipeduzh both grab some old mattresses, and use them as shields as they head back down the hallway into a barrage of arrows. 

Serita casts a "Warp Wood" on the bows of the enemy, giving the two fighters a free round to drop the mattresses and charge. They are followed by the remainder of the party and a major fight follows. The floor is soon littered by the bodies of six hobgoblins , two gnoll and a human. 

Another group of troops, mostly hobgoblin, then charge into the room. The human leader of the additional forces orders his men to "Not engage the enemy until ordered to." He then challenges Phuddipeduzh to a one-on-one duel to decide the fate of the group. Phuddi accepts. 

The duel lasts for several rounds, during which time the rest of the party all watch, while conspicuously positioning themselves near the enemy. As soon as Phuddipeduzh manages to "snicker-snack" with his V-blade the others lash into the troops. Several hobgoblins try to escape, only to be stopped by a Web cast by Kharole. The archers then shoot them down. One is kept alive, to lead the group to King Kohlorahdooh's bedchamber. 

Natasha detects the lock on the door as being trapped. Klaaze is too impatient to let her try to open it, and smashes the door open with his shoulder. The group charges into the room, waking up the former King. Kohlorahdooh does not appear overly worried. He pulls down a rope near his bed, and the group hears the sound of bells ringing in the distance. He announces that reinforcements are on the way. Mark and Lysdashi push furniture against the door to bar it shut. Phuddi moves in towards Kohlorahdooh. 

The Lord then rips off his nightgown, revealing himself to be fully armed and armored. He tells Phuddi that he has been expecting them. He says that he is a 12th level fighter, so it is best for the whole group to just surrender while they still have the chance. He then thanks them for bringing him the remainder of the Rod. Lysdashi makes some rather crude comments to that, indicating that the group has no intention of surrendering. 

Phuddi and Kohlorahdooh begin to fight. The cramped quarters of the room do not allow the others to get in very close. Kharole casts a Magic Missile onto him, but it appears to have no effect. Serita casts a Heat Metal onto his armor. Kohlorahdooh gets three very good slashes into Phuddi, greatly weakening him. 

Kohlorahdooh's next two slashes are at Klaaze and Hherrmyie, both hitting. Phuddi get a Cure Light Wounds from Serita, and then returns to the battle. Kohlorahdooh's armor starts to heat up. As Mark tries to get in closer, Kohlorahdooh's armor starts to streatch, then breaks off completely as the man transforms into a giant wererat. The rat lashes out two more sword swipes, cutting into both Hherrmyie and Mark. This also gives Phuddipeduzh time to move in from the side. 

Phuddi gets in a good swipe into the rat's side. Kohlorahdooh dives at him, and Phuddi jumps to the side. The rat bites into the closest person to him, Serita. Phuddi then swivels around, and lands a perfect hit (natural 20) with the vorpal blade into Kohlorahdooh's neck. THE GROUP ERUPTS IN AN EXTREMELY LOUD CHEER! The wererat's decapitated body reverts to human form 

Lysdashi and Tao barracade the door. Serita casts her remaining cures on Hherrmyie and herself. The others grab Kohlorahdooh's sword and ring. The Rod leads Klaaze to a hidden chamber housing the final two pieces of the Rod of the Seven Parts. 

[DM’s Note #29: For some reason the group is surprised that Kohlorahdooh managed to find and assemble the two pieces, especially since they managed to find four in the same time that he only found one. This was a pre-timed event (and they had taken too long) but also probably a good thing that he found these instead of them, as it was the putting together the sixth and seventh pieces that cuased the Lycanthropy.] 

The barracade at the door is broken down by a group of soldiers, being led by Bly, Kohlorahdooh's second-in-command, Bly. Lysdashi grabs the Sceptre of Wishes, and wishes the group away to a safe place. They all disappear.


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## Silver Moon (Jan 25, 2008)

*Chapter 19, "Sanctuary, Time Out, and the return of Narg" July 15th, 1005: * 

The group reappearing in the Cathedral of Ukko in the Jawltorn Inner City (about a mile northwest of the Lordholder's Castle), which is currently unoccupied. Serita grabs the Sceptre away from Lysdashi, and uses it to fetch her dog, who she had left back at the castle. Doing this causes her to collapse into unconsciousness. The others decide that she has the right idea, and each fall asleep on the church pews, since it is still dark outside. 

While the High Priest Augusta is setting up the Cathedral for morning services he stumbles upon the party. They take out the Holy Sword Isaiah, and ask for sanctuary. He is pleased that they have brought him of his religion’s greatest artifacts, and angered when hearing that Kohlorahdooh had been hiding it. Augusta leads them to his private chambers, rooms beneath the Cathedral, and tell them that they can stay there. The group sleeps for the rest of the day. 

July 16th, 1005: 

Augusta, and his Paladin neice Lady Jolene meet with the party. They tell them that the official word is that an assassination attempt was made at the King, and that he is wounded. Bly has assumed that the culprits have left the city. The navy has set sail for the Lordholding’s south border, and the army has marched off to the northern and eastern borders, to prevent the assassins from escaping. Fewer than a hundred soldiers have been left within the city. 

The group decides that since the military is searching the countryside it would probably be best to actually remain in the city for a few days. Since the military is also looking for a group they decide that they would be better off by spliting up. They decide to spend the next five days getting their apprenticeships for the next levels and just laying low. Klaaze connects the final two pieces to the Rod, and can finally release it from his grasp. They decide to not experiment with it, and leave it with Augusta to protect for the next several days. 

Natasha sets off to find a thief not affiliated with the Kohlorahdooh Thieves Guild. She finds a man named Curthalt, a con man posing as a silversmith. Tao heads over to the Monastery of Isaac again, where he apprentices under a man named Fineathel. Kharole receives training from a flashy magician named Ambermon, who is the leader of the Apparitionist's Guild. 

Phuddi, Klaaze and Hherrmyie head to the Fighter's guild, entering separately. Hherrmyie meets up with an expert swordsman by the name of Norburt. Klaaze is trained by a human woman named Goldenlac. Phuddi is apprenticed by a man named Hydel, the self-proclaimed "Hero of Havendwell". He trains Phuddi with the Longbow. At the end of the apprenticeship Hydel invites Phuddi to accompany him on a quest against some Fire Giants in the Northern Hills, to which Phuddi gracefully declines. 

Lysdashi and Mark travel together to the Ranger Knight's Hold, a small private club on the far side of town. Mark is apprenticed by a ranger named Hlmford, and Lysdashi is apprenticed by an elvan ranger named Biolwig-Greurnstein. 

Serita travels to the Druid camp north of the city, charming her way past the town guards. She is apprenticed by the camp leader, Glaukirk. While there she also talks to her druid friend, Arkelle, who is returning from a visit from the Copper Dragon. Since that is the language used in a letter from Toronas found on Annie's body, she has Arkelle translate. The note tells of the group's primary mission, and asks Annie to send periodic messages back to Toronas, telling of the group's progress. He also authorizes the "Assassin Annie" to kill anyone, in or out of the group, who interferes with the mission. It then gives her a list of twelve people for her to assassinate if the opportunities present themself. Serita gets a written translation of this to bring back with her. 

July 17th, 1005: 

Apprinceships continue. 

July 18th, 1005: 

The pooka Monty and Narg reappear in the Castle to the room where they left on the 14th. "That's funny," says Monty, "I could have sworn this was when we left them. Wait here, I'll go find them," and Monty disappears. Narg spends about an hour in the room, then goes off to look for the party on his own, being careful to avoid any guards. By evening Monty still hasn't returned. Narg sleeps in a closet inside of a large octagonal room filled with tropheys. 

July 19th, 1005: 

Narg gets up and starts to look around. He witnesses the arrival of two elvan magicians, one a very old male the other a middle-aged female, who teleport into the large octagonal room. The two are immediately attacked by two dozen orc and goblin guards, who are rapidly slain by magic missiles, an ice storm, and a lightning bolt from the female. Narg is impressed at how quickly and decisively the female elf did that. The male elf tells her, “That was not necessary.” She replies “I know, but they angered me by their attack on you Father.” 

A group of human guards arrive. The leader, an army Captain, recognizes the elves. Ignoring the bodies of the dead soliders, this Captain introduces himself as Kindor, the Captain of the Guard, and calmly states "This visit was unexpected Lord Aldorn." The older elf, apparently Lord Aldorn, ruler of the adjacent Lordholding, says " I am here to investigate why Kohlorahdooh Naval ships are docked off the coast of my Lordholding's town of Correllear.” 

The Captain tells of the assassination attempt four days earlier, on the 15th. "Great!" mutters Narg to himself, "In five days the group could have gone anywhere. When I get my hands of that stupid penguin I'll kill him!" 

Narg decides to make a bold move, and casually walks out into the room, joining the Captain and the two elvan magicians. He starts talking to the three of them, doing it in such a way that the soldier assume he came with the elves, and the elves think he came with the soldier, so nobody questions who he is. 

Kindor explains that the Naval leader Bly is currently returning to the city and expected back within the hour. He says that Bly is Kohlorahdooh's second-in-command and will answer all of Lord Aldorn's questions. The two elves and Narg are led to guest quarters elsewhere in the castle. Shortly after they are shown their quarters Monty returns to Narg, telling him "I found them," and pops Narg over to the Cathedral. 

_[DM’s Note #30: This brief interlude would later prove to become rather important, as it is Narg’s first meeting with both Kindor and Aldorn, both of who would become prominent NPC’s in future modules. It will be several years later until Kindor will finally realizes exactly who it was that he was speaking to this day, at which point he will be extremely impressed by the chutzpah that Narg during this time.] _ 

July 20th, 1005: 

Upon completion of each apprenticeship, each character heads back to the Cathedral to wait for the others. All of the characters are now 4th level, except Tao, Narg, and Lysdashi who are 3rd. By evening, all of the characters except for Tao are back from their apprenticeships. 

Augusta says that the milirary are still out at the border, and that the Kohlorahdooh Navy landed occupation forces in the Thenossian town of Grammel. Soldiers from Gelorynth have been called out to reinforce the troops at both the border and in Grammel. The group decides that if few troops are now actually at Gelorynth, then that is where they should go. They tell Augusta that they will leave in the morning.


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## Silver Moon (Feb 6, 2008)

*Chapter 20, "The Climax Battle, July 21st, 1005: * 

Augusta gives Klaaze back the assembled Rod of the Seven Parts. Jolene, Augusta, and the party head upstairs, and walk toward the exit of the Cathedral. When they are right in the center of the 500 foot long Y-shaped building they hear a voice call to them from the altar "Stop right where you are." The group turns around, to see Bly and another naval captain. 

Bly speaks to them again "Don't try anything funny. You are completely surrounded." At that sixteen archers rise up on each of the two side balconies and five stand up at the end balconies. Four gnoll soldiers then enter each of the two exit doors, and twenty-one hobgoblin and orc troops stand up at the end row of pews. "Don't draw any of your weapons," Bly orders the party. The nine party members respond by all drawing their weapons. 

_[DM’s Note #31: I had originally planned a big battle sequence in the castle as the climax of the module, however, between Kohlorahooh’s quick demise from the Vorpal Blade and then the group’s teleportation out once reinforcements arrived it did not happened. While sitting in church the following Sunday my mind wandered during the sermon, and I started looking around the vast room at the balconies and rows of pews, when this idea struck me for that night’s game. This particular game was a lot of fun for everyone, assisted by the fact that an aforementioned former player’s girlfriend was away on vacation, so he was free to join me that night to play all of the enemy troops.] _ 

The High Priest Augusta yells at Bly "How dare you threaten me and my guests while in a Cathedral of YON." Bly replies "I dare do anything I want you traitorous wimp," he then orders his soldiers to attack. The group gets pelted by volleys of arrows from the balconies. Both Kharole and Serita get hit, and loose the spells that they were attempting to cast. The whole group scatters for cover behind the pews. Those with bows start to return fire, hitting a few soldiers. 

Phuddi orders the group to ignore the archers, and concentrate on the two leaders. Augusta casts a Hold on Bly, but it is soon broken. A second hold on three of the archers proves to be successful. He then does a Stick to Snakes on the remaining archers in the right balcony, causing their bows to transform and attack them. Kharole casts a shield spell on herself, then moves out into the open. 

With the remaining archers concentrating on the cleric and magic-user, Narg, Jolene, Klaaze and Hherrmyie manage to move closer to the altar. They plug several arrows at the two naval leaders. Bly deflects many with his shield, but the other Captain soon has several arrows sticking into him. 

Kharole uses all of her Magic Missile spells on the men in the far balcony, killing them. This eliminates the arrow fire from all but one side balcony, who are then attacked by a "Summon Insects" spell that Serita had called. Natasha starts to climb up into this balcony. 

With the arrow fire from above now over, the hobgoblins and orcs charge down the aisles at the party. Lysdashi and Mark meet them, and soon teach them not to tackle with rangers. The gnoll guarding the door move in to attack. Meanwhile, Bly throws an orb at the party. It hits Jolene and explodes, knocking her to the group and turning several pews into splinters. Augusta looses his temper, and calls down a Flame Strike on the enemy leaders, after which only Bly is left alive. 

Serita casts a heal on Jolene. Bly moves in at the party, attacking both Narg and Hherrmyie simultaneously. He is very successful, getting about a four-to-one hit ratio on them. Phuddi starts to move in to assist, but is attacked by a magical net that pins both him and his vorpal blade to the floor. Natasha backstabs the men in the balcony. She runs into a problem with one, who turns out to be a 6th level fighter. Mark charges up the stairs to assist her. 

Lysdashi rushes back to help Phuddi, leaving Serita alone to fight the remaining gnoll soldiers. Klaaze fires his bow at them, killing all but two of the gnoll. Kharole uses up the last of her spells, taking out a few troops who had moved in closer. She then switches to daggers. Hherrmyie takes a nasty sword hit into his arm, and pulls back. "Hey Klaaze, how about helping us out," Hherrmyie yells. 

Klaaze turns and yells for Narg and Hherrmyie to "Hit the Deck". The two half-elves jump onto the floor. Bly looks up at Klaaze, who is thirty feet away from him. Bly draws a magic arrow to his bow. Before the arrow can fly, Klaaze points the Rod of the Seven Parts at the man and yells "DIE, YOU BASTARD." A blinding flash of light shoots out of the rod, hitting Bly, and turns every bone in his body into protoplasm. The Kohlorahdooh Naval Commander dies instantly. The Rod also causes a backlash explosion, hitting everyone within twenty feet of it (except Klaaze) for for ten to twenty points of damage. This kills Lysdashi. 

The last of the soldiers fall within a round or two. Augusta casts a Raise Dead on Lysdashi, bringing him back. Jolene and Phuddi go to guard the doors to keep people from entering. The group quickly searches the bodies. Two of the soldiers are found to be alive. The group questions them, and find out that it was a clerical aide from the Cathedral who had alerted Bly and his men as to the group's hiding place. Tao returns to the Cathedral, takes one look at the carnage, and states "It looks like I'm a bit late." 

Narg downs a tankard of beer. Monty hands him a refill and says "You look awful. See what happens when you get up in the morning. Let's get you back to bed." Before Narg can utter a reply the two of them vanish again.


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## Silver Moon (Feb 15, 2008)

*Chapter 21, "Exiting the Lordholding," July 21st, 1005: * 

Augusta urges the group to leave as quickly as possible. They put on choir robes, and exit the church. They head directly to the city gates, where they bribe the two men on duty to let them leave. They explain that they are pilgrims on a time-sensitive pilgrimage for their church. They get a short distance away and then ditch the robes and hike westward for several hours. 

They stop for lunch, meeting up with an actual group of Yon pilgrims on their way to an outdoor shirne, with a high holy day being the next day. Hherrmyie comments “Wow! You mean that bull we through around was actually legit?” During the lunch the group is attacked by nine wolves. The group kills four of them, and others run off. The pilgrims are very appreciative, and give the group extra food and water. 

By evening the group is nearing the town of Gelorynth. They decide to avoid it completely, and circumnavigate around the town, then proceed westward along the main road. At dusk they are attacked by a group of fifteen men from the bandit camp. This time the group fights back, which the bandits are not expecting. All of the bandits are soon killed. 

Klaaze and Hherrmyie try to talk the group into going and "kicking some more bandit butt." Kharole and Serita point out that the group is too close to finishing their mission to go off to an unnessary fight. The discussion is unresolved, and they group decides to stop for the night. 

July 22nd, 1005: 

Kharole and Serita take the first watch. Hherrmyie and Mark take the second watch. Hherrmyie manages to convince his half-elf friend that the group owes it to the bandits to go back and get them. Klaaze and Tao take the next watch. Klaaze also manages to sway his friend as to the merits of a return engagement. 

Klaaze goes to wake up Natasha and Phuddi for the final watch. Natasha says that she is already awake, and if they are really serious about the attack then they had better move now, as dawn would be the best time. Nat, Tao and Klaaze wake up Mark and Hherrmyie. The five head off, leaving Serita, Kharole, Lysdashi and Phuddi behind. 

_[DM’s Note #32: At the start of the next game the two who objected to attacking the bandits the prior week were among the four absent that week, so the others decided to go for it. It was a macho hack-and-slash night, as all three of the female players were not present.] _ 

They approach the eastern gate of the camp. Natasha and Tao take out the five men on guard duty. The group climbs over the wall, and head to the first building, which is an armory. They stock up on weapons, including some of their own which had been confiscated eight weeks earlier. 

They then hit the next building, the prison. They free the four remaining prisoners, a fop fighter named James, a harlot named Kara, dwarf fighter named Boz, and an assassin named Garth. They then hit a row of barracks, killing all sleeping occupants. The next building is the kitchen and dining room. The cooks are killed, and since no alarms have been sounded yet the group stops briefly for a warm breakfast. 

The five adventurers tell the rescued prisoners to wait there. Garth insists on coming along, and the group moves on to what appears to be the main building in the camp. Natasha, Garth and Tao climb the roof, and sneak over to the main doorway. They kill the guards outside, then knock on the door. The inside guards open the door, to be backstabbed by Nat and Garth from above. Hherrmyie, Mark and Klaaze then enter the building. The group enters a main room, housing a man who Klaaze recognizes from his previous imprisonment here as being the camp's second-in-command. 

A major battle follows, during which the man is slain. The battle also manages to wake up all other occupants in the buildings, so the group soon finds themselves surrounded. They split up, each one taking on a group of four to eight men. Natasha and Tao wind up using their climbing skills to retreat, and Garth is killed. Mark is able to take out eleven men singlehandedly. Klaaze is soon brought down to single-digit hit points. Hherrmyie and Mark finish with their foes and come to Klaaze's rescue. Hherrmyie asks Klaaze why he didn't use the Rod. Klaaze replies "Because I was saving it for him," and points to the bandit camp leader who has just entered the room. 

Klaaze once more utters his improvised command words "DIE, YOU BASTARD." The rest of the group attempt to dive for cover to avoid the Rod’s prime power backlash as the bolt of light shoots into the bandit leader, turning him into a pile of jelly. The backlash also kills twelve other bandits who were accompanying the leader. The remaining twenty men turn and run. 

The group chases them outside, then switches to bows and starts dropping them. Four bandits get to the horses and ride off. The group mount horses to follow them, but are soon lured by the bandits into traps which allow the bandits time to escape. The party ride back to the camp. 

They search the camp throughly, finding a magic sword, several potions, and about 19,000 gold pieces worth of jewelry, gems, and coinage. James and Kara take two of the horses and ride off. Boz decides to accompany the party. They take ten horses, and ride off to rejoin their party. 

_[DM’s Note #33: Up until this point there had been no dwarven playing characters. One of the players picked up the NPC Boz during the battle and enjoyed the character, so decided to keep him.] _ 

When they get back Phuddi, Lysdashi, Serita, and Kharole are very upset at the others going off without them. They are however, grateful that they now all have horses to ride. A few miles down the road the group is set upon by yet another group of bandits from this camp. Thirteen bandits are slain, with three riding off back to their camp. "Those three are in for one heck of a surprise when they get home," comments Hherrmyie. The group reaches the Thenossia Lordholding border by nightfall. 

_
Next: The Conclusion_


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## Silver Moon (Feb 24, 2008)

*Chapter 22, "The Conclusion", July 22nd, 1005: * 

The group find wanted posters at the border, reading: 

"10,000 Pieces of Gold Reward - The Noble Kinge of this rich and mightie land doeth seeketh eight grim criminals wanten for the slaying of..." The list goes on to mention some 185 men, along with the dates and locations of their deaths. It then mentions four "attempted slayings" including Kynge Kohlorahdooh and his brother Phillip. Upon reading the list Kharole comments that "there are some here that we had nothing to do with." Hherrmyie adds "Yeah, you're right. Only about 150 of these are ours. We ought to file a complaint." 

The poster then lists names and descriptions of the party, calling them "Klaaze, also known as Clarence and Kormac," "Silas," "Mojo," "Vilicus, also known as Augustine," "Tymothie," "Annie, formerly called Natashia," "Mellie, also known as Adajia," and "Dessy." "Boy, they sure screwed up on most of the names," comments Mark. The rest of poster says to report any sightings to SIMON, of the King's Green Battalion, at the manorhouse in the town of Grammel. 

_[DM's Note #34: While I never got to do a cross-over game between my two gaming groups, both teams had at least managed to simultaneously make themselves criminals within in the Lordholding, which accounts for the various names on the poster.] _ 

July 23rd, 1005: 

The group stops near Grammel. Tao, Phuddi and Hherrmyie sneak into the town, which is heavily patrolled by the occupation forces of Kohlorahdooh. Narg returns to the rest of the group. Tao and Phuddi find out that Lord Toronas is mounting an army to retake his town, but that the Kohlorahdooh forces are prepared for them. 

Tao and Phuddi are stopped trying to leave the town, and wind up killing seven soldiers, a human and six lizardmen, before getting away. Hherrmyie is also caught by a group of soldiers. He tells them that he is a Grammel fisherman who just returned from the sea that morning. They believe him, but instead of letting him go they conscript him into the Kohlorahdooh Navy. 

July 24th, 1005: 

Hherrmyie still hasn't returned by dawn, so the group decides to move on without him. Narg, Phuddi and Tao decide to scout out ahead. The group travels along the ocean road rather than the desert. 

At mid-morning the three scouts ride around a bend in the road, to find themselves ambushed by half of the crew of a Kohlorahdooh Navy ship docked alongside the road. The three start to attack the enemy, who have them greatly outnumbered, consisting of 13 hobgoblins, 13 gnoll, and 2 human leaders. 

After about ten rounds half of the enemy are slain, but Tao is unconscious and both Narg and Phuddi are down to single-digit hit points. The cavalry then arrives, with the others literally riding down the remaining enemy forces. Klaaze once again uses the Rod's prime power, killing the ship's captain. The backlash also kills two gnoll, 3 hobgoblins, and his own horse. 

The second human leader is then killed, and the remaining six gnoll and hobgoblins run back to their ship. The party starts to follow, until they see a group of twenty-one orcs and another human coming from the ship. The party rides off as quickly as their horses will carry them. 

After about an hour they see the ship following them in the water. The ship starts to overtake them, and the party starts to plan to battle them, although they are in no shape for another fight. Luck is with them, as the party rides right into the advance troops of Toronas's army. The ship turns around, and heads back to Grammel. 

The group tells the leader of the army troops, Colonel McFarley, that they are working for Toronas, and that they have to get to him as quickly as possible. McFarley says that Toronas said to be on the lookout for the party, and to help them in any way possible. The battalion turns around and heads back to Halla. 

July 25th, 1005: 

The group of Serita, Narg, Kharole, Klaaze, Mark, Tao, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Lysdashi, and Boz meet with Lord Toronas. They give him the Rod of the Seven Parts, and tell him what they know about it. He serves up a feast for them, and they give him the assorted details of the mission. He then pays them 2,000 gold pieces each. He leaves, telling them that he is off to battle for his town of Grammel. 

_[DM's Note #35: I will continue this Campaign Journal with the three short modules that comprise the rest of "Silver Moon: Year One" (including two from TSR).]_


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## Silver Moon (Mar 1, 2008)

_[DM's Note #35: The group next embarked on three modules with overlapping character time. Module #3 continued with the primary gaming group, and Hherrmyie's player took on the DM chores; Module #4 was a single-night pick-up game that Hherrmyie's player requested, which used the "Swords & Spells" miniatures rules by TSR and played by Hherrmyie and Serita's players; Module #5 was with a smaller sub-group of players and were played on nights other than the weekly game night with only three of the players.   The DM of that module was Natasha & Augustine's player, who had also been DM for Module #2.] _ 

*Chapter #23, "The Story Continues", July 26th , 1005: * 

As Lord Toronas and his army of 2,500 troops leaves at dawn, heading eastward, the adventuring group conducts business transactions in Halla. Tao goes off to start his next apprenticeship. The group is approached by a man who wishes to hire them to investigate a castle on the distant Lendore Island. He guarantees that they will find a minimum of 50,000 gold pieces in treasure, and that he will provide them sea transportation. 

Narg comments that "We could all use a vacation right about now, so a trip to a tropical island sounds about right." The group is given passage on the ship Coripius. While on the ship they meet two other adventurers: an old gnome thief named Jeremiah Q. Wildwander II, and a young human fighter named Phraakeese. 

July 27th, 1005: 

The Coripius sails westward. Back in Grammel, Hherrmyie, manages to convince the Kohlorahdooh troop leaders that he is skillful enough with a sword that he is promoted to Lieutenant. The army marches ten miles outside of town to face the approaching Thenossian Army. With the help of the Rod of the Seven Parts Toronas's troops win the 
battle, and the Kohlorahdooh troops are forced to retreat back to Grammel. Grammel is put under siege. 

July 28th, 1005: 

The ship Coripius is attacked by a ship of the Kohlorahdooh Navy. The party orders the crew below deck, and repells the first troops who attempt to board. Phraakeese and Jerry join in the attack. The enemy ship is forced to retreat after fifteen hobgoblin and orcan troops are killed, as well as their human leader. 

Back in Halla, Tao finishes his 4th level apprenticeship, and heads off alone to the north along the coastal road. 

July 29th, 1005: 

The Kohlorahdooh troops in Grammel have a major battle against Toronas's troops. The Thenossian troops are repelled. Before the battle is over it is interrupted by a third army, comprised of local Grammel citizens who had been conscripted by both sides. The leader of these rebels is Hherrmyie, going by the named Tibalt, who gets both Simon and Toronas to agree to let King Matthan settle the matter (upon the threat of having his Grammel troops throw in with whichever side didn't agree.) A cease fire is declared. 

August 3rd, 1005: 

The Coripius continues its uneventful trip westward. Tao arrives in the City of Cantage, the capital of the Kaloon Lordholding. He meets up with a dark-skinned cleric named Isaiah, who has just completed his initial apprenticeship. Isaiah explains that he is from a far off continent, and has come to Phlooredah to learn of the Yon sect of the Ukko religion. He tells of his desires to learn more of this land. Tao is fascinated by this talkative man, who tells much of the homelife of his own land. Tao invites him to accompany them on his travels. 

August 4th, 1005: 

Tao and Isaiah head eastward, into central Kaloon. They run into an elvan magician named Tolbyrne, who decides to join them in their travels. 

August 5th, 1005: 

King Matthan completes his investigation into the Kohlorahdooh/Thenossian matter. Is is upset with his brother for sending the group of mercenaries into the Kohlorahdooh Lordholding without first consulting him, and rules that Toronas cannot annex the Lordholding as he had wanted to. Lord Kohlorahdooh's death is now official. Matthan declares that the army commander now in charge, Kindor, can remain in charge until free elections can be held. The Lordholding's name is changed back to its original name of Jawlt. 

_[DM's Note #36: This concluded Module #4, which was a rather elaborate scenario using "Swords & Spells" miniatures rules by TSR, with tokens for the various squadrons of troops. The DM was rather surprised at the outcome, as he had anticipated that at least one side would have fought to the last man. The above scenario would also have major consequences in the future, as years later the adventuring party would change their allegiance from Toronas to Kindor. King Matthan and Lord Kindor will go on to become political rivals, and Matthan will come to regret the decisions that he made on this day.] _ 

August 6th, 1005: 

The trip of Tao, Tolbyrne and Isaiah arrive at a secluded town known simply as The Keep. They transact business, and inquire as to whether there is anything for adventurers to do. Since the town is adequately guarded by a well-trained militia they are told "No, but you may want to check with the town Castellan in the morning." 

August 7th, 1005: 

The trio meet with the Castellan, and are told of some merchants that have been attacked by hobgoblins. The group is also told the location of the hobgoblin lair. Isaiah is convinced that he can negotiate with the hobgoblins, and bring about peace to the region. He convinces Tolbyrne, but Tao is skeptical, and asks if there are any fighters who can accompany them "just in case." 

The Castellan sends along his Sergeant of the Guard, a strong an powerful one-eyed fighter by the name of Furynick. The four soon arrive at the hobgoblin caves. Isaiah tries to spark up a dialogue, but the hobgoblins decide to attack instead. While Isaiah tries to get everyone to stop Tao, Furynick and Tolbyrne kill about ten hobgoblins. Isaiah knocks two out, and the four retreat with their prisoners. 

Isaiah attempts to question the hobgoblins. They refuse to talk. While Isaiah and Furynick argue about the ethics of killing the prisoners, Tolbyrne and Tao do. The group decide to go back and attempt another dialogue in the morning. The evening is interrupted by an Ogre. Tao and Furynick manage to kill the ogre. They then search his lair nearby and find some treasure. 

August 8th, 1005: 

The four enter the hobgoblin lair. They head down several tunnels, then are ambushed by hobgoblins from two directions. The other three manage to convince Isaiah that "This is no time to talk. They have us where they want us, and won't believe anything we say." Isaiah goes along with this logic, and joins in the fight. After abut ten hobgoblins are killed they move on, taking one prisoner. 

The prisoner is questioned. He agrees to bring the adventurers to their leader to talk. He then leads them into another ambush. The eight hobgoblins in the second ambush are killed. Their host then leads them into a third ambush. Furynick looses his temper, and grinds the prisoner's head into a wall. The other three fright off their attackers. 

Some of the hobgoblins run away. The four follow them, arriving at the leader's lair. Tolbyrne casts a "Charm" on the leader, which causes him to tell his guards "Don't attack them yet, let's hear what they have to say." The four then negotiate a peace settlement, where the hobgoblins will no longer attack the road as long as a weekly shipment of supplies are left outside of their lair. The four then head back to town. 

August 9th, 1005: 

The four return to the hobgoblin cave, bringing with them the first weekly supply shipment. They return to town. The Castellan is very impressed at the success of their mission, and agrees to let Furynick accompany them on future missions around the keep."


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## Silver Moon (Mar 11, 2008)

*Chapter #24, "Arrival at Lendore Island", August 10th, 1005: * 

After a long and uneventful ocean voyage the ship Coripius arrives at their destination. Lendore Island is the largest island in the Spindrift Island Chain (at approximately 100 miles diameter). The ship docks at the City of Lendore, the Island’s largest community. There are many large ships I the harbor, as ship building is the chief occupation of the island. 

The group goes to Falco’s Tavern to relax. Three of the crewmen from the Coripius follow them. These men have decided to either kill or capture some of the party in order to then return them to King Kohlorahdooh for the reward money. They wait until Klaaze, Mark and Narg leave the bar in a rather intoxicated state to jump these three from behind. 

This proves to be a serious miscalculation, as even when drunk the three adventurers prove to be competent fighters. Both Klaaze and Mark manage to get their swords drawn, and slay their respective oppenents with a single blow. Narg also gets his sword out, but his first swing is wild, totally missing the opponent. At the sight of his two dead allies, and seeing that he is now outnumbered three-to-one, the man chooses to surrender. 

This then presents a problem of what to do with the prisoner. Narg agrees to not kill the man in return for a week of manual labor. The man readily agrees, and introduces himself as Jocko. Klaaze objects to letting the man live, but begins to reconsider after Narg has Jocko shine Klaaze’s shoes and then fetches him a beer. 

They rejoin the others and explain what has transpired. The group decides that it would probably be best to leave the city, as the other crewmembers from the Coripius will probably be seeking revenge for the deaths of their shipmates. They make a few inquiries about what there might be to do on this island, and are told of the ruins of an abandoned castle on the southern peninsula. The castle is said to be unguarded, and there are also rumors of treasue hidden somewhere near the building. 

They head south, stopping for nightfall at a camp with a group of ten dwarves. The dwarves invite them for supper, and tell them more about the geography of the island. They confirm the rumors about Restenford Castle, saying that they have searched the area for the long lost treasure themselves, but have never found it. They warn the group not to get too close to the Castle, as a “mad wizard” currently resides there. 

August 11th, 1005: 

The group continues to travel south alongside a river. The run into four field hands. These farm workers start to pick a fight with Klaaze. Klaaze punches the leader of these four, the exceptional strength hitting so hard that the man’s neck breaks, killing him. The group makes a very hasty exit, as far south as their feet will carry them. They leave the main road and find a safe place in the forested hills to spend the night. 

Meanwhile, back at The Keep, Tao and his three companions had left The Keep in search for more adventure. They run into a little girl named Goldilocks, who says that her parents were apprehended by a “furry giant with horns”. They take the girl back to The Keep, and find out moe information about the monster. They are told of a minotaur who lives in a cave near the hobgoblins lair. They decide to head out for there at dawn. 

August 12th, 1005: 

The four head to the cave where the minotaur is said to live. They first run into a group of giant fire beetles. Several bad jokes are made by the players, comparing this quartet of monsters to the musical group the Beatles. The adventureres and their oppoents put up quite a fight. After eight rounds of battle only two of he beetles have been killed, and all four adventurers each have less than half of their original hit points. Tolbryne then casts a sleep spell, which puts the final two to sleep and they are then killed. 

The four realize that they are no longer in any shape to take on a healthy minotaur (assuming that they ever were in the first place), so they decide to leave the cave. They start to leave, and then hear a woman scream. They reconsider leaving, and head back into the cave in he direction of the scream. Tao quitely scouts ahead, finding a room where the minotaur is torturing the parents of Goldilocks. Tolbyrne’s player comments “Serves them right for giving her such a stupid name.” 

Tao informs the others and the four bravely, but foolishly, decide to immediatley attack the minotaur. Furynick and Tao charge into the minotaur, who strikes back at them. Tao’s speed allow him to avoid the first swing of the minotaur’s axe, which then strikes Furynick’s shield with such force that the shield breaks in two. Meanwhile, both Isaiah and Tolbyrne untie and release Goldilock’s parents. 

Once the pair is freed the decide to all escape. The minotaur chases after them, and hurls a handaxe at the group. The axe strikes Goldlock’s father in the back, killing him. The woman becomes hysterical and distraught, and falls onto the man’s body. The four adventures are now down to an average of three hit points each, with the barely wounded and very angry minotaur charging down at them. Furynick and Isaiah both state that they refuse to leave the woman, and decide to stand their ground and fight the monster. Tolbyrne panics, and Tao comments “this is suicide.”


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## Silver Moon (Mar 27, 2008)

*Chapter #25, “The Minotaur and the Wizard”, August 12th, 1005, 10:00 A.M.: * 

Tolbyrne pulls back and then lobs his remaining offensive spell, a Magic Missile, into the minotaur. Tao realizes that fighting the creature is suicide, and thinks of an alternative. He heads down a side passage, gambling that it curves around to join up with another entrance that he saw to the minotaur’s main chamber. 

Before the monster is upon them Furynick tosses a dagger at the monster. It connects, but the creature is totally unfazed by it. Tao reaches the minotaur's chamber, heading straight for the treasure pile. He loudly clangs on a shield and throw some metal coins, the sound carrying down the hallway. The monster hears this noise, and immediately heads back to his lair to stop whoever is stealing his treasure. 

Tao hears the monster returning, and grabs up a staff and vial from the treasure pile before heading back down the side passageway. Tao meets back up with the others, and suggests a quick retreat. Furynick picks up the body of the fallen man and Isaiah coaxes the woman into leaving. 

They exit the caves a travel for a safe distance. They sample each of the vials of liquid that Tao found, concluding that they are potions of Gaseous Form, Healing and Giant Strength. Tolbyrne casts an Identify spell on the staff, revealing it to be a Staff of Healing. They have Isaiah use the staff to bring everyone back to maximum hit points. It is decided that it is best to attack the minotaur now, as he is currently wounded and will only be more difficult in the future. They tell the woman to wait for them. 

The group reenters the cave. The find a place with several side corridors and decide to set up an ambush. Tolbyrne is sent forward to act as bait to lure the minotaur out. This works, with Tolbyrne then consuming the potion of Gaseous Form and turning to vapor prior to the minotaur reaching him. Isaiah and Tao then come out from hiding from opposite directions, both yelling loudly at the monster. While it is confused and uncertain who to attack Furynick charges up from behind, and having previously consumed the Giant Strength potion, hits the minotaur full force. 

Furynick manages to get in three good attacks before the monster is able to hit him back. The other three then join into the fight, and the minotaur is soon slain. It has now gotten dark outside, and they decide that this lair would be a safe enough place to spend the night, because “any monster around here would stay away from the minotaur’s lair.” 

They retrieve the woman and the body of the man. Isaiah tries to calm the woman by assuring her that her daughter is alive and well back at The Keep. Furynick comments that he could do a better job of comforting the woman, and provide her with some company for the evening. Tao states that that would be totally inappropriate, as the woman’s husband has just been killed. Furynick replies “Right, she’s single.” Tolbyrne then interjects “And she has a kid.” Furynick says “Oh yeah, forgot about the kid. Never mind.” 

Back on Lendore Island, the party has spent the entire day hiking southward. The only encounter is an attack by a giant wasp which was killed by a Magic Missile spell from Kharole and arrows from Lysdashi. Narg comments that it is nice to “Not be hunted down by friends of someone Klaaze killed, for a change.” By evening they reach the hills. The night is interrupted by a pack of four wolves, which are scared away by the party. 

August 13th , 1005: 

Back at the minotaur’s lair, the party spends the morning searching around the cave and packing up any of the minotaur’s treasure that may be of value. Isaiah officiates at a burial service for Goldilocks father, and they then hike back. The only encounter along the way is when they run into a group of lizardmen. Isaiah bribes them with some of the treasure to let them pass. They reach The Keep by noon. 

Meanwhile, back on Lendore Island, the party has climbed Bone Hill, the highest point in the area. From there they see the ruins of Restenford Castle. Ignoring the warning given to them by the dwarves, the party decides to head directly into the castle. They enter the first tower, soon encountering a sleeping bugbear. Rather than killing it, Phraakeese decides “Narg has a servant, I should have one too.” The bugbear is awakened, and given a choice of working for Phraakeese or being slain chooses the first option. 

The bugbear convinces the party he knows the layout of the castle, and then leads them into a section of the building in a serious state of disrepair. The staircase in that section looks very fragile, and they insist that the bugbear go first. As the bugbear climbs upward the wooden stairs begin to creek. He is near the top when they collapse completely, the monster falling to its death. Phraakeese yells at him “Dying on the job! Well, just for that you don’t get a coffee break.” 

The group finds a sturdier staircase in another room, and while carefully avoiding some broken steps, climb up to the second story. They pass through a large dining hall, and then begin to check out the side rooms. They eventually come upon the wizard that they had been told about, who is working in his study. The man is very surprised to see unexpected visitors, and orders them to depart immediately or he will kill them. 

While the party discusses what to do the wizard successfully casts a Charm Person spell onto Natasha. He then persuades her to convince her companions to depart. The group soon leave, heading for the exit. The gnome thief Jerry (who is actually an assassin) manages to hide behind some furniture in the next room, and then climbs out the window. He doubles back, coming in through a window in the room where the wizard is. He then successfully assassinates. The party hears the wizard scream out a death cry as he falls, and head back to find out what happened. They see the dead man, with Jerry in the room near him holding a bloody sword. 

Narg, Klaaze and Lysdashi check out the body. The ranger is able to detect that poison had been used in the attack, and accuses Jerry of being an assassin. Jerry confesses that he is indeed an assassin, and that he goes by the name of Elaskah. He says that he was sent by Lord Toronas to spy on them. He tries to convince them that he will only feed whatever information back to Toronas that the party wishes for the Lordholder to know. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #37: I was rather upset about the above encounter, as I was playing the Jerry character. I had been the group’s DM for over a year, and this was my first opportunity to be a player. I planned to maintain the assassin-posing-as-a-thief role, and had informed the DM of what I was doing this time via private note cards. Rather than responding in kind, the DM narrated out the encounter, letting the entire table that the character was really an assassin.] _ 

While the fighters are discussing what to do with the gnome, Serita and Kharole are busy cleaning out all of the treasure that the wizard had stored in the room. When the rest of the party asks what they found the two women refuse to share, stating that they found it first. Jerry complains that since he single-handedly killed the wizard he deserves at least some of he treasure.” Kharole hands him a single potion. Serita refuses to give him anything, stating that being left out serves him right for keeping secrets from the party. Jerry experiments with the poison he was given, discovering that it simulates a Polymorph Self spell. 

The group continues to investigate the rest of the castle, finding some more treasure. Along the way Jerry manages to assassinate the sailor Jocko, making it look like an accident, otherwise he might inform Toronas of the double-cross once they get back to Halla. He later confesses to Klaaze that he had killed Narg’s servant, who Klaaze had previously wanted to have killed, in order to collect a small fee from the fighter as payment for the assassination. Klaaze offers to pay Jerry to then kill Serita’s dog, but the gnome refuses, stating that he likes animals. He does offer to kill the dog’s owner instead. Klaaze gives this some serious thought, then declines. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #38: The above encounter will have far reaching consequences in the future. The Jerry and Serita characters are still actively played in the campaign, some 20 years later, and continue to have an uneasy and distrustful relationship with each other (and despite the fact that their players are married to each other.)]_


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## Silver Moon (Apr 2, 2008)

*Chapter #26, “Finding the long lost treasure“, August 14th, 1005: * 

Back at The Keep, the group get several of their magic items identified, and then sell some of them. Tao uses some of the proceeds to hire out Furynick’s services from the Castillian for the next month. Both Tolbyrne and Isaiah begin their apprenticeships for second level. Tao and Furynick decide to spend the next few days visiting around The Keep in search of information that could lead to further adventure. 

At Lendore Island, the group decides to investigate tunnels in the hill beneath the castle, in hopes of finding the long lost treasure. They get about 100 feet into the first tunnel when they are attacked by a gelatinous cube. Klaaze attacks the creature, which soon causes it to explode. The party moves on, next running into a giant stone-sucking monster related to an umberhulk. The creature is fought and killed, but the encouter also leaves the party rather wounded. Narg, Lysdashi and Phraakeese are in the worst shape, and the party is reluctant to continue without some of their top fighters. 

Against their better judgement, the party pushes on. They soon run into a fire giant, which they unanimously conclude they are in no shape to take on. They start to reatreat, and Kharole tosses a Magic Missle spell into to as a distractions. The spell manages to make the creatue totally disolve, and the party quickly concludes it was only an illusion. 

Party split up into smaller groups to search for the illusionist. The ranger Mark manages to find the man’s tracks. He and Serita soon catch the man as he attempts to escape from the area. The start to question him, and he makes another break for the exit at once the party has slightly relaxed their guard. Kharole throws a Magic Missile to stop him, but turns out to prove fatal, with him falling dead near the exit. 

“He must have been guarding something,” Jerry states. They search the area for treasure, soon finding a secret doorway that is also trapped. Jerry has the party wait while he deactives the traps. Meanwhile, Kharole finds another secret door, and slides it aside. She enters a room, and the party attempts to follow. It only allows the females to enter, namely Kharole, Natasha, Serita and Klaaze’s pet Buzz. The women soon feel lethargic, and very mellow. They wander back out of the room, very disoriented but happy. 

The group decides this is too weird, and wander out of the ruins. Phuddipeduzh complains about not having gotten a chance to slay any evil creture. Shortly thereafter, the party is attacked by an angry billy goat, which Phuddi helps to defeat. “Satisfied now?” Kharole asks him. “It’s not the same as vanquishing evil,” Phuddi replies. 

August 15th, 1005: 

The group decides to give up on searching around the Castle, and decides to head west towards a town on the other side of the island. The day is rather uneventful. 

August 16th, 1005, 2:00 A.M.: 

The night is interruped by an attack by a werewolf. Klaaze and Kharole are the pair on guard duty during the attack. The monster dives towards Klaaze, but is hit by a Levitate spell by Kharole before he connects with the fighter. Once levitated, Klaaze draws his bow and begins to shoot a bunch of arrows into it. Kharole keeps levitating him, with the arrow stikes having the effect of propelling him away from the party. When the spell runs out the monster is at a height of over 100 feet, and pluments to the ground. Klaaze checks the body, confirming that it is very dead. The two are pleased with themselves that they managed to dispatch it without having to wake any of the other party members. 

At dawn the party head out to the nearby town of Restenford. The town is home to Baron Grellus, a seventh level fighter whose family has ruled this part of the island for centuries. The party spends the morning in the Restenford Tavern, where the fighters brag about killed the mad wizard of Restenford Castle. Word of this quickly reaches the Baron, who proceeds to the tavern to speak to them. 

He calls the party into a private room, and derives from them the details of their exploration of he castle as proof of their claims. Once convinced that they are telling the truth, he tells them that his family once lived in the castle. He says that he knows the approximate location of the hidden treasure, but that he had never personally been in the lower caverns, otherwise he would have retrieved it himself long ago. He says that he owns a Cloak of Teleportation, but has always been reluctant to use it, as there is a slight risk of a fatal teleportation error. 

Serita volunteers to go retrieve the treasure, in exchange for the party being given half of the treasure. The baron agrees to this. Both Jerry and Phraakeese state that they do not trust her, that she will try to keep it all for herself. A lengthy debate follows, where it is decided that half of the party’s treasure will be evenly distributed among the members present and the other half to be used jointly by the party. 

Serita takes the cloak and uses it to teleport back to tunnels near where the Baron had described he secret treasure room being located. She finds a secret door, and slides it aside. She then enters throught the narrow opening, finding herself within a room filled with gems. This collection includes almost a hundred huge diamonds, some the size of an apple. Deciding that these are the most valuable items in the room, she gathers up as many as she can carry into a bag, which is about half of them. She then teleports away. 

Rather than making her destination the room at the Restenford Tavern, she instead teleports back to the family home in the Aldorn Lordholding. She arrives in the study chambers of Louella, the senior druid who rules this area, who is also her mother. Louella is present, and started with the sudden and long overdue arrival of her daughter. Serita drops the bag at the woman’s feet, saying “I’m fine. Here, take these. Goodbye.” She then teleports back to the treasure room. 

She quickly gathers up the remaining large diamonds, and then teleports back to the Restenford Tavern. The party is divided up as discussed. The Baron thanks her for her efforts, stating that he know has definitive proof to the treasure’s location. Serita mentions that there are still more gems back in the treasure room, but the Baron refuses to let her teleport back there again, chiding her and stating that they have been rewarded very fairly for their efforts, but that any remaining treasure is the rightful property of his family. 

The Baron offers the party a ride back to Lendore City on a carriage drawn by a team of horses having magical horseshoes, that will get them back in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take them. The party realizes that is offer is being made primarily to keep them from heading back to the treasure, but they decide to accept, as they now have sufficient funds to purchase a ship to bring them back to Phlooredah.


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## Silver Moon (Apr 7, 2008)

*Chapter 27, “The Silver Moon”, August 16th, 1005: * 

The group leaves the town of Restenford, the carriage traveling at remarkable speeds over the roads. They reach Lendore City shortly before midnight and secure lodgings at an inn in the nicer section of the city in order to avoid any possible sailors from the Coripius. 

August 17th, 1005: 

The party heads out to the city’s ownly jeweler to see about selling the gems. The merchant agrees to give them a total of 80,000 gold pieces for the pooled share of the treasure. While the group is under the concensus that they are being cheated, and that the gems are actually work multiple times that amount, they agree to the sale since he is the only potential buyer in the city and they need money to buy a ship. They also decide to retain their own personal gem to sell to a more reputative buyer at a later date. 

They head down to the Laughlin and Whitehall Shipping Company, which is said to make the largest vessels on the island. Their eyes immediately fall upon a newly constructed three-masted vessel whose main body is 130 feet long, and is 60 feet at its widest point. Jerry and Natasha haggle with Mr. Laughlin over he price, with him agreeing to sell it to them for 43,000 for the ship iteself, and another 2,000 to have it fully supplied for a lenghty ocean voyage by the afternoon. 

Since they still lack one key ingredient, namely the crew to sail it, they decide to go recruit a crew. They set up shop in a local tavern, and at Jerry’s suggestion, have the word spread that they are paying twice-normal wages. Their primary requirement is that none of the people hired will have ever been to the continent of Phlooredah before, to ensure that they have no ties there with potential enemies. They also make it clear that they are hiring for a long-term assignment, and want crewmembers who won’t be leaving any family or close attachements behind. 

A crew of twenty-six male humans are soon recruited. They include an experienced ship’s captain named Tim G. Quirk, a pair of experienced mates named Fritz and Hans, a cook named Frenchie, a navigator named Smiddle, a trio of construction workers named Moe, Larry and Curly, and 18 able bodied seamen between the ages of 15 and 20, most of whom have never sailed any further than the Spindrift Island Chain. The party and crew have a nice lunch, then head down to the shore to their new ship. A few hours later the vessel sets sail for the city of Halla. 

_[Chronicle’s Note #39: The majority of the original crew hired that day remain with the party some 17 years of character time later. The party now has a fleet of ships, with most of the surviving original crew now being either a Captain or First Mate .  The “crew” have also always made for a nice pool to draw NPC’s from, and have been played in quite a few modules to the point that most have now gone up two or three experience levels.] _ 

August 25, 1014: 

Back at The Keep, the quartet have finished all potential adventuring in the area. Furynick decides to continue to work with the other three, and is granted a leave of absence by the Castillian. On the road back to the city of Cortang, they are ambushed by a group of 15 orcs. Isaiah manages to cast a Hold onto five of them. Tolbyrne uses a Magic Missile spell followed by a Burning Hands to kill a pair of them. Tao uses his martial arts to singlehandedly dispatch five of them. Furynick manages to slay the other three. Isiaah knows the five held onces into unconsciousness, and convinces his companions to leave them. 

They soon hear some screaming from across a nearby swamp. They circumnavigate the swamp, finding a baby green dragon terrorizing a human couple. Tolbyrne casts a Light spell into the dragon’s eyes, followed by Isaiah casting a Create Water above the dragon as a futher distraction. This allows time for Furynick to charge at the creature while Tao moves in to rescure the people. He pushes the female away to safety. 

Tolbyrne and Isaiah then move in to support Furynick’s combat against the dragon. The dragons sees what Tao is doing, and dives towards the monk and the other male human. The dragon lands atop the man, knocking him face down into the swamp. The four continue to fight the dragon until it is dead, but not until after the man the monster is atop of has drowned. Tolbyrne and Furynick are then given all of Isaiah’s Cure spells. 

The woman says that the man was her boyfriend, and that they live in a village nearby. The four accompany her there, carrying the man’s body. They spend the night in the village. 

August 28th, 1005: 

The quartet finally arrive in Cortang. Isaiah returns to the Cathedral, excited to tell the High Priest about his adventurers. Furynick decides to stay in the city with Tolbyrne. Tao spends the next week in the city with them, before heading south to Halla to rejoin his companions. 

September 8th, 1005: 

The ship arrives in Halla. Tao has now been back in the city for three days, and is glad to see their safe return. Each of the respective party members decides to head back to their own home towns and villages for the winter, but to regroup back in Halla in the spring. Mark, Kharole and Serita will return to the Aldorn Lordholding. Lysdashi and Klaaze will return to he Kaloon Lordholding, and Tao tells them to visit his newfound friends while they are there. Narg’s pooka decides to bring him to the planet Seagram VII. Phuddipeduzh returns to the Jawlt town of Curigull. Hherrmyie heads off in search of his father. Tao decide to explore the Thenossia Lordholding desert to the northeast. Boz, Jerry and Natasha say that they have no family or home to return to, and offer to stay with the ship to supervise futher modifications to it. 

Natasha and Jerry manage to obtain a three-year lease for the ship at one of the better piers in the city by bribing a high-ranking city official. Jerry returns to Lord Toronas and tells him the story that the party had “approved”, including a ficticious story about finding a magic item that is powerful enough to cause an artifact to malfunction. When asks, Jerry says he has been unable to steal the item since he does not know which member of the party currently has it. 

Before everyone departs, the entire group gathers in a tavern to toast their past and future adventures. After a long discussion as to what to name both the ship and their group they decide upon Celeb-Itil, which is the Elvish phrase for Silver Moon.


****Silver Moon Year One* concludes with this post**************


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## Silver Moon (Apr 13, 2008)

*Chapter 28, “Reunited”, March 23rd , 1006: * 

It is a calm spring day when Jerry and Phraakeese are sitting on the deck of the ship Moon when he is startled by the sudden appearance of a pair humans beside him. One is a tall mage in dark robes with a pointed hat and long staff. The other is attired as a monk, in robes with a simple rope belt and sandals on his feet. “Do not be alarmed, I am a friend,” the monk exclaims. Jerry looks towards Phraakeese, who replies “Don’t look at me, he’s not anyone that I know.” The monk says that he is named Augustine and that he has worked with their team mates before, and has need of them again. “Well, they’re not around, they all went home,” Jerry comments. “Very well,” the mage states, throwing his hands up into the air and begins an incantation. 

The next thing they know, the four of them appear near the riding stables of what looks to be a rather large country estate, with the ocean off to the distance to the west. An extremely well-dressed Klaaze has just come in from a ride, and comments “What the hell?” Augustine replies “Get your things, we have a new mission.” Klaaze heads off to a large manor house, handing his riding gear over to a servant. “He never told us his family was rich” Jerry comments. “With you around I wouldn’t have either,” Phraakeese replies. 

They then make two more trips, to Curigull to collect Phuddipeduzh, and to the Aldorn Lordholding to collect Mark and Serita. They then make one more trip, which ends at a barren location in the Thenossian desert, near a large pile of rocks where a human holding a bag of torches is waiting for them. “Would you mind telling us what is going on?” Serita exclaims. The mage finally introduces himself, stating that his name is Orman and that he is an Arch-Mage from the world known as Thibaultia. 

Augustine then explains that it was that world where he and Nimmy originally came from, having been originally brought to this world by the same Arch-Mage. He says that Nimmy has already returned to that world, and he needs to go there as well to avert a disaster. Unfortunately Orman can not longer transport between the two worlds due to a barrier erected by the Arch-Mage’s evil twin, an Arch-Mage named Namro. 

Orman explains that the only other way to reach the other world is through a mystical portal deep in the earth below where they are currently standing. Because of Namro’s barrier Orman himself cannot go, but Augustine has volunteered to. Unfortunately there are also many dangerous creatures living below, with each of the six levels being more dangerous than the one above it, and it is unlikely that Augustine would survive without assistance. The party agree to accompany Augustine on this task. 

[Chronicler’s Note #40: Augustine’s player was the DM for this particular module. For the past year he had been the primary DM of another D&D gaming group which used the world of Thibaultia as their campaign setting. It became obvious to the players a ton of back-story existed that they did not know yet, nobody asked any further questions since Augustine was coming along for the ride so we could always ask later.] 

Orman shows them where in the nearby rock cropping a secret door to the tunnels below is located. Orman introduces the man with the torches as Bryan, a who will serve as their torchbearer. then hands Klaaze a Bag of Holding, stating “You might need this.” The party enter, going down a long hallway that then spirals downward. 

The eventually reach what they conclude is the first level. They make their way through several chambers until they run into a group of six angry minotaurs who do not like visitors. A fight soon follows during which the party eventually manage to kill two of the minotaurs and wound one more before the minotaur leader calls a retreat. The party are all now fairly wounded, and the servant Bryan is lying dead, so they decide not to pursue the monsters. 

They continue down several more hallways, including an area where Mark recognizes a set of tracks as their own. They come to the conclusion that this level is all one big maze, and decide that they had better start mapping it. With the assistance of the map they soon figure out where a section is that they haven’t been to yet, and find a long stone staircase down at that location. 

The second level is reached. The party passes by four wooden statues followed by thirty skeletons. They soon reach a vast room with a total of forty skeletons standing up along all of the walls. There is also a large diamond the size of a softball sitting in the middle of the room on a pedestal. Despite the fact that this is clearly a trap, Klaaze insists on taking the diamond. Not surprisingly, once he touches the diamond all of the skeletons become animated and attack. The group identifies the skeleton who appears to be the leader, and concentrate their attack on it. It crumbles, and the other skeletons stop. 

The group is then ambushed by a group of ten zombies coming in from the entrance. The group quickly hurries down the hallway to get away from them. This leads to a vast chamber which is a large underground cemetery. It has hundreds of tomb stones and a large crypt. Jerry heads over to the tombstones while Klaaze goes to check out the crypt, both running into trouble. Jerry quickly hurries back to the group, with five ghouls chasing him. Klaaze runs into a vampire, who chases after him. Klaaze realizes that he cannot move fast enough to get away from it, so runs around to the side of the crypt that is within sight of the party. He then opens and jumps into the Bag of Holding, the bag falling to the ground. The party concentrate their attack on the vampire, miraculously managing to kill it. They then attack and defeat the ghouls. 

They soon coming to another large room filled with boulders. They find a section of the room filled with recently killed bodies, five being ogres and three being gnomes. They move on, and run into a group of a dozen gnomes, several of which are wounded. The gnomes confirm that they have just come from a fight with a group of ogres, and invite the party to join them for the evening. The gnomes say that they are looking for a group of adventurers lost in these caves, one of which is the son of their clan leader. 

Midway through the night a tall, dumb half-orc by the name of Eiowhah wanders into the camp. The gnomes start to attack, but stop once the half-orc speaks the name of the clan leader’s son. The half-orc says that he was part of the same multi-race adventuring team as that gnome, and became separated from them.


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## Silver Moon (Apr 27, 2008)

*Chapter 29, “Serious Player Clashes”, March 24th , 1006 (Day Two):* 

During the night Jerry talks to the other gnomes. He has decided that fighting vampires and ghouls is not what he signed on for, and he desires to leave. The gnomes agree to show him the location of a tunnel back to the surface. Jerry decides not to tell the party about his decision. Before leaving he also helps himself to a pair of potions from Serita’s backpack that she had gotten from the mad wizard at Restenford Castle which he considers to be rightfully his. 

The party awakens and are upset about finding Jerry gone. They are angry with the gnomes for helping him leave. Serita becomes enraged when she discovers that some of her potions are missing, and accuses the gnomes of being accomplices to the theft. To calm the party down one of the gnomes, a 1st level fighter named Freyland, volunteers to take Jerry’s place. The party agree to this, giving him the sack of torches, and declaring that he is to be the party’s new torchbearer. 

The party move on, soon coming to a room with around two dozen ogres. A fight follows, during which most of the ogres are slain. The two ogre leaders choose to flee, and the half-orc Eiowhah charges after them. They lead him into another room, which is home to a pair of trolls. The trolls attack the half-orc, giving the ogres a chance to escape. Eiowhah manages to get in two good attacks to each troll, for a total of fifteen hit points on each. The party hear the sounds of battle but decide to take their time getting there. They eventually enter the room, seeing that the half-orc is on his last legs. They watch as the trolls slay the half-orc, then enter into the battle themselves. The trolls are soon killed, then regenerate, and are killed again. The troll bodies are then burned. The party move on, eventually finding a place to stop for the night. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #41: A very frustrating encounter for me. I had started the module with my Jerry character only to be informed a week later by the DM that he did not like assassins or want them in his module, and to expect to become the next casualty. I didn’t want the character killed, so I arranged with the DM to pull him out instead and introduce the Eiowhah character as his replacement. When this happened the other players got upset about the change, and decided not to support the new character. After the half-orc’s death the DM announced he would not let me bring in another character and handed me the NPC torchbearer to play for the reminder of the module.] _ 

March 25th, 1006 (Day Three): 

The party awakens and Klaaze asks Kharole to identify a robe that he had taken from the vampire. She identifies it as a Robe of Useful Items, which can only be used by a magic user. She asks if she can keep it and he refuses. Serita decides to help convince him and attempts to cast a spell on him. Klaaze realizes what she is doing, and punches Serita in the face to stop the spell. Hherrmyie becomes enraged at this, pulling the Scepter of Wishes from his backpack, pointing it towards Klaaze, and wishing for him to be critically wounded. Both Klaaze and Hherrmyie then collapse. 

The party discovers that Hherrmyie had used the Scepter one time too many, the item killing him with this fourth usage of it. Serita uses her cure spells to heal Klaaze’s wounds. The group has a long debate about what to do with Hherrmyie, deciding to bring him back. They have no resurrection devices, but Kharole has a Reincarnation spell, so they use it. He comes back, but is reincarnated in the form of an orc. 

Hherrmyie’s player adamantly refuses to accept this, loudly declaring for the first time that Hherrmyie’s father was an ascended elvan hero, who would have never allow that to have ever happened. The now frustrated DM replies “Fine, your father materializes and transforms Hherrmyie back. Your father then plane shifts both of them away from the material plane. Hherrmyie is never seen again.” The player sits and pouts for the remainder of the game. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #42: A bit of background, Hherrmyie’s player was a few years younger than the other players in the group, being a friend who I knew from Boy Scouts that had also played D&D. During our first year he seemed to fit in fine with the others, but we began to have problems with him during the next year when he became infatuated with Serita’s player. The whole encounter above started because he was trying to impress her, and the situation then got out of hand.] _ 

The party moves on, finding a staircase down to the third level. The soon run into and defeat a large group of zombies. They next come upon a large sandy chamber housing a large stone pyramid. While investigating the outside of the pyramid a door is found and the party enter. They are then attacked by a large group of giant beetles that are soon killed. The group eventually find themselves in a room with a door that will not open. 

Using their combined strength, Phraakeese, Phuddipeduzh and Klaaze manage to pull it open. There is a vast pressure vacuum on the other side, which had been pulling the door shut. One opened, the vacuum pulls both Phuddi and Phraakeese inside, the door slamming shut again. The interior is actually another dimension, perhaps the elemental plane of air, where four semi-disembodied creatures holding some very solid weapons immediately attack Phrraakeese, killing him. 

Meanwhile, the others have managed to get the door open again, and use their backpacks to keep it propped open. Using a rope of anchor them, both Mark and Klaaze jump into the vacuum and help fight off the monsters while grabbing their friends. Klaaze loses his +2 magical broadsword in the process, but is comforted by the fact that it was only his secondary weapon. He also manages to grab onto a metal rod that one of the creatures was holding. Phuddi and Phraakeese are grabbed and the party the pull all of them out, shutting the door behind them. The rod is identified as being one of Resurrection, which nobody in the party can use as they did not bring a cleric. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #43: By this point there was already a lot of tension around the table, given that I was upset over loosing my new character, and the term “upset” doesn’t even come close to describe the body language radiating from Hherrmyie’s player. Add to this that there had been a growing consensus for the characters to quit the adventure and just go back the way they came. The party was still only on the third of six levels, and had been told that each level would be more difficult than the last. Several players already had complained about the module being too difficult for their character levels. _ 

_The DM’s decided to appease the growing unrest by giving them the resurrection device. His plan backfired, with one player now voicing that the group wanted to earn powerful magic, not have it just be given to them.  Another player then voiced that the DM was attempting to “bribe the group to stay in his deathtrap”.  Two players then voiced complaints about the battle in the vacuum, pointing out that the monsters had all targeted Phraakeese until he was dead while totally ignoring the character Phuddipeduzh, being played by the DM’s fiancé.  The DM took offense at having his impartiality questioned.  He angrily stated that he had randomly rolled who each creature would attack, and they all just came up against Phraakeese. _ 

_Before the conversation got even further out-of-hand I intervened and strongly suggested that we just stop and break for the night, even though we had over an hour of scheduled time left. Everyone concurred, and we all departed in silence, with most people walking away angry. A game had been scheduled for the following week, although I seriously wondered if the group would ever meet again.]_


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## Silver Moon (May 6, 2008)

_[Chronicler’s Note #44: I had spent the past week doing serious damage control, first convincing the DM to tone down the module and to be a bit less autocratic in his rulings. Next, I spoke to each player, passing on the DM’s agreement to this. With the exception of Hherrmyie’s player, everyone agreed to attend the following week’s game. The surprise appearance at the game of Narg’s player, who had been away at college, also helped to ease the tension.]_


*Chapter 30, “On the road again”, March 26th, 1006 (Day Four): * 

The party soon encounter a high-level cleric who resides on that same level. He brings the party back to his home, where he uses the Rod to resurrect Phraakeese. He invites the party to say with him while they fully recuperate. While they are there former party member Narg arrives, having been brought there by his Pooka. 

March 27th to 30th , 1006 (Days Five to Eight) 

The party stays with the cleric as his guests. He tells them that the staircase down to the fourth level is within the pyramid. 

April 1st, 1006 (Day Nine) 

Before departing the cleric’s home he offers them the services of his apprentice, a human cleric named Penzance, who would be able to use the Rod if needed. 

The group proceeds through the pyramid, encountering a number of ghosts and ghouls. Several players start to mutter about the module being “more of the same”, when they happen upon a baby brass dragon who lives in the pyramid, that leads them to the staircase to the next level. Augustine, Klaaze and Narg had all been injured battling the undead, so the group decides to rest on a staircase landing, not knowing what to expect next. 

April 2nd, 1006 (Day Ten) 

The first thing encountered on this level are a pair of mummies who attack Klaaze. Both Phraakeese and Phuddipeduzh help him defeats them, but all three then wind up with the fun disease of Mummy Rot. Both the NPC cleric and Serita attempt to heal them, finding that the rot does not go away. Proceeding onward, the party next run into a pair of large umberhulk-type creatures. Klaaze sneaks past them, finding a pile of treasure that includes a magical horn. He blows into the horn, and the ceiling collapses atop the creatures. The movement of the rubble pile indicates the creatures still live beneath it, but there is enough time for the party to get away before they are free. The group eventually stop to rest. 

April 3rd, 1006 (Day Eleven) 

The group proceed onward, soon finding a secret door in the wall. The door is opened to reveal a chest inside. Augustine checks the lock for traps, finding none, and they proceeds to pick the lock. A large scythe blade comes flying out from the wall, cutting both Klaaze and Phraakeese in two. The chest turns out to be empty. Penzance uses the Rod to successfully resurrect both of them, but despite this the bodies continue to have mummy rot. 

April 4th, 1006 (Day Twelve) 

The group proceeds onward. They come to a large, damp chamber separated by a high wall. The wall is scaled, with them finding a dark marsh on the other side. In the midst of the swamp is a wooden hut. Several reptilian creatures are seen throughout the swamp. 

The party suspects that the access point to the next level may be inside of the hut. Augustine uses a Polymorph Self potion to transform into a large bird, and flies a Bag of Holding containing Freyland and Kharole over to the hut. They find it is the home to a lonely old high-level cleric hermit. Kharole asks if he knows how to cure Mummy Rot, and he indicates that he does. They rest of the party are brought over to the cleric’s home via the Bag of Holding. 

The cleric then negotiates rather steep payment in exchange for his services, with the party having to give up several of their more powerful magical items. Klaaze gets rather upset at being asked to give up his primary weapon, a +4 Longsword. “It’s either give it up or let the rot kill you,” Mark comments. “Yeah, I’m thinking…” Klaaze replies. “Not much,” Narg quips. The cleric explains that he can only heal one person a day, so begins with Phuddipeduzh. He agrees to guard the party while they rest for the night. 

April 5th, 1006 (Day Thirteen): 

Klaaze eventually agrees to be cured in exchange for the sword. The player mutters about needing to now find the location of the Better Business Bureau within these caves. The party decides to spends the day with the cleric, allowing Serita and Penzance to make sure that the party is fully healed before moving on. 

April 6th, 1006 (Day Fourteen) 

Phraakeese is healed, and the party bids the cleric goodbye. The move on where the cleric has directed them to find the next staircase downward. The fifth level is reached. 

The road reaches a bridge overlooking a brook. A waterfall sparkling with lights of various colors is splashing across the bridge. The party hesitates to cross it. The torchbearer Freyland says “What are you waiting for? A little water never hurt anybody.” To prove this he bounds across the bridge and back again. The water that has splashed on him then begins to change the gnome, with him aging from the human equivalent of a teenager to being a decade older (about a century of a gnome’s lifetime). The gnome screams about this, and yells that he is dying. He is dried off, and the aging process seems to stop. Freyland mutters something about “never getting wet again.”


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2008)

*Chapter 31, “Leaving the Caves”, April 6th, 1006 (Day Fourteen)* 

The party reaches a chamber that appears to be some type of temple. The still frazzled torchbearer refuses the enter, so Klaaze charges forward to lead the party. They are attacked by a group of sixteen gargoyles. The party enters into the battle, with Phuddi’s Vorpal Blade and Narg’s Sword of Sharpness being the most effective against them. Four of the monsters are slain by the time that the temple’s cleric arrives and starts tossing spells at them. 

Between the gargoyles and the cleric the party start to find themselves on the loosing side of the battle. Augustine is killed, and Klaaze is reduced to but a few hit points. Kharole goes up to Klaaze and says “I might be able to use that robe to save us.” The fighter pulls it out of his pack, and she puts it on. She can now see various magical patches attached to it, each with their own power. She pulls off one marked “create pit”, attaches it to her magical throwing dagger, and tosses it at the ground beneath the enemy mage. A ten-foot deep pit opens below him, catching him by surprise. 

Once the cleric disappears from view the remaining gargoyles decide to fly away. The party all charge up to the pit, seeing the mage at the bottom attempting to stand up. Before the enemy can throw any spells Kharole tosses Magic Missiles into him, followed by a steady barrage of arrows the all of the party’s archers. This continues until the man is dead. The body is then searched, and the party's cleric uses the rod to resurrect Augustine. 

The staircase down to the final level is discovered nearby. Freyland leads the way, finding sections of the staircase to be trapped. The traps are sprung without harming the party, although the gnome looses his two best daggers. The bottom of the staircase is a large forested area, and the party decide to rest there before moving on. 

The night is interrupted by the arrival of a human ranger named Lone. He states that he has no home, spending his time searching for those in need. He had wandered into these caves through a tunnel that collapsed behind him, and has been looking for another way out. He agrees to accompany the party, but is unwilling to travel with them to another world. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #45: My best friend had just come home on leave from the United States Navy, and asked if he could play. The DM agreed, planning to give him the NPC cleric Penzance. However, following a two-week absence, Hherrmyie’s player surprisingly arrived at the game, so the DM decided to give him Penzance instead. The “Lone Ranger” character was quickly thrown together for my friend, a variation of a D&D character he had played in the service.] _ 

They move on, crossing through a room filled with sleeping alligators. They then find that the following room is occupied by an ancient red dragon, that is also sleeping. The party attempt to sneak through the room, but the sound of the clanging armor wakes the dragon. Augustine attempts to negotiate with it. Klaaze then intervenes, and insults the monster, which breathes a blast of fire onto the fighter. Not deterred by that, Klaaze continues to try to negotiate with the dragon. The dragon is somehow aware of the giant diamond that had been taken back on the second level, and asks for that as payment of passage. 

Klaaze denies that the party has the diamond, even though it is sitting within his own backpack. The discussions continue without much success. Finally, Phuddipeduzh says to Klaaze “This is pointless. Just give him the diamond Klaaze.” The dragon roars upward, and yells to Klaaze “You lied to me lowly human!”, and then blasts him with a second and more powerful blast of fire, that incinerates the fighter. The rest of the party find the slightly charred but still intact gem from Klaaze’s pack, and give it to the dragon. It allows them to leave, taking Klaaze’s body with them. 

The group moves on until they reach a safe location. The party then discuss resurrecting Klaaze. Everyone wishes to try to bring back their most powerful fighter except for the newly acquired cleric Penzance, who insists that he died foolishly, and should remain that way. Since Penzance is the only one who can actually use the Rod this creates quite a stand-off. The cleric is eventually coerced into complying, and Klaaze is brought back. 

The group eventually find the dimensional doorway that will take them to another world. They bid the Lone Ranger a fond farewell. Kharole and Klaaze volunteer to lead, and the party then all exit the cave through the portal. The journey is not instantaneous, with them appearing to be falling through a multi-hued tunnel of light. It takes a good quarter hour before they eventually land in a grassy hilltop on the world known as Thibaultia. 

Augustine gets his bearings. He notes that in the region they are in the season is now early autumn, the equivalent of mid-September. He tells them that the city of Specularum, their destination, a few days away to the west. He points towards a lake, instructing them that they need to follow a river that flows westward from it that leads to the city. He says that he must leave them for a short time, as there are protocols of his monastic order that must be observed now that he is back on his home world. He departs. The party travel westward for several miles, then stop for the night. 

Day Fifteen (April 7th, 1006 at home, September 13th on Thibaultia): 

The group reaches the lake and soon find a trail alongside the river. The day proves to be uneventful until dusk, when the party is attacked by a group of 28 creatures that looked similar but slightly different than lizardmen. A major battle follows. During the battle several of the party get bitten by the creatures. The monsters are soon defeated, and the party move on. The group soon decides to stop and rest for the night. 

Of all of those who had been bitten by the monsters, only Penzance failed to make his Save vs. Poison, and he now begins to feel disoriented. He suddenly decides that the adventurers are all his enemies and attacks them. The party grabs the cleric to prevent him from casting spells. Penzance pulls a magical dagger from it's sheathe on Mark’s belt and stabs it into Klaaze, doing only minor damage. The fighter backs up and the party surrounds the cleric, instructing him to calm down and drop the weapon. The cleric then plunges the dagger into his owns heart and falls dead at their feet. 

The party debates whether they should resurrect him. They conclude that both his usage of an edged weapon and behavior towards the party would have put him in violation of the dictates of his religion, and that even if brought back he would probably be stripped of his clerical abilities. They decide to bury him instead. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #46: The DM’s only instruction to the player was that the poison made his character feel dizzy. It was entirely the player’s idea to have the character attack the party and then kill himself. Given both this encounter and the prior refusal of Penzance to assist Klaaze, it was obvious that Hherrmyie’s player was still angry at the group and had no intention of being cooperative. 

After the game the player intentionally damaged the vehicle of the player who gave him a ride home.  Prior to the next game he was unanimously voted out of the group.]_


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## Silver Moon (May 24, 2008)

*Chapter 32, “Klaaze’s Sword”, Day Sixteen (April 8th, 1006 / September 14th local): * 

The party arrives at the city of Specularum. It is a large bustling city, with tens of thousands of residents. Freyland, Kharole and Phraakeese have earned enough experience for their next level, and seek out instructors. The rest of the party find lodings. 

Days Seventeen to Twenty-two (April 9th to 14th, 1006 / September 15th to 20th local): 

Apprenticeships continue. Serita decides that if they are just going to be staying around in the city she might as well make some money, and spends several days unsuccessfully looking for a job that make use of her druid skills. 

Day Twenty-three (April 15th, 1006 / September 21st local): 

Narg has been missing for the past week, and suddenly returns, having gone off on another excursion with his Pooka. The first thing he decides to do is get a drink, and joins Freyland at the nearest bar, known as The Sisters. Narg asks the owners of the establishment, a pair of elderly humans, “What do you recommend?” They say that the house specialty is a home-brewed whiskey of theirs, known simply as “The Recipie”. “Sounds good,” he states, ordering it up for him and his companion. 

They proceed to down three consecutive shots of the beverage, which has an exceedingly high alcoholic content. Narg regales Freyland with the details of his most recent trip, where he and his Pooka visited an advanced world and watched various games of a sport known as Hockey. Narg enthusiastically sings the praises of a player named Bobby Orr. Freyland doesn’t believe a word of this tale about a giant penguin taking the fighter to another world, and concludes that the half-elf just has a drinking problem. 

Freyland then makes the mistake to downing a fourth shot, and then collapses straight to the floor. The sisters tell Narg “Oh, that happens quite often.” The ladies then have their bouncer bring the unconscious gnome into the back room to sleep it off. 

Elsewhere in town, Klaaze has been looking for a new magical longsword to replace the one that he lost while in the caves. He finds a shop that has a +5 Sword of Sharpness for sale, and concludes that he has to have it. Unfortunately it also has a price tag of 30,000 gold pieces, which Klaaze does not have. The fighter sells his magical shield, his +1 longsword, and two magical daggers, which still leave him 12,000 short. Phuddi agrees to loan him half of that amount, which Klaaze instantly aceepts. Klaaze then asks him to sell some of his own possesions to get the remainder, but Phuddi refuses. 

Klaaze attempts to talk the merchant into selling it for less, but the man refuses, saying that he has another potential buyer for the full asking price. Klaaze and Phuddi walk around town looking for the others, spotting Narg at The Sisters. Klaaze immediateley hits Narg up for a loan of 6,000 gold pieces. “What do I look like? The Bank of Narg?” the half-elf replies. Klaaze asks where the others are, and Narg replies “I don’t know, except for Freyland, who is passed out in the back room.” “Freyland, That’s Great!” Klaaze yells, remembering that he had loaned the gnome a +3 Defender Shortword to use a few weeks earlier. 

Klaaze explains to the bar owners that the gnome’s sword belongs to him, and he wants it back. The women do not belive him, and refuse to allow the fighter to go take items off of an unconscious patron. One woman then says “Besides, we consider him to be a very special person. He now holds the record for drinking the most consecutive drinks of The Recipie the first time.” “What! He only had one more than me. Get me two more!” Narg yells out. Phuddi manages to talk Narg out of it, saying that they don’t need two unconscious fighters on their hands. 

The others in the party soon find them at the tavern. Klaaze is angry that nobody will sell their own possessions in order to get him 6,000 more in gold. Serita takes an interest in this highly-potent beverage, and offers the elderly ladies to work as a waitress in exchange for learning how to brew it. The final one to arrive is Phraakeese, who has just finished up his apprenticeship. Narg suggests that they start a bar fight, Pharaakeese refuses, which soon escilates in an argument between the that ends in a bar fight. Serita quickly breaks up the two, stating that it took her a week to find a job and she doesn’t want to lose it the first hour. 

Day Twenty-four (April 16th, 1006 / September 22nd local): 

Klaaze talks Kharole into attempting a Charm Person spell on the sword merchant to get him to lower his price. Narg joins them for a visit to the shop, only to find out that the sword has already been sold, the merchant reminding Klaaze “I told you I had another buyer.” “Not fair. I thought that was just a negotiating tactic,” the fighter replies. Kharole inquires as to who purchased the sword, and is told “The Prince of the City.” 

They decide to go and talk to this prince. She winds up using the Charm spell on the leader of the Palace Guard in order for them to gain admittance. They are soon in the presence of the Prince, an elegantly attired robust human fighter in his early twenties. They soon discover that it is just as well that she already used the Charm, as the Prince starts to flirt with Kharole even without the inducement. They exchange small talk until Klaaze interupts, stating “We’re here because I want that sword you bought. How much do you want for it?” 

The Prince says that he paid 30,000 gold for it, and will sell it for twice that amount. Narg exclaims “What! Where is your mask and your gun?” Not understanding the expression that Narg had picked up from his journeys, the Prince replies “What does that mean?” Kharole interjects “Oh, that is just a friendly greeting from where we come from.” “Oh,” the Prince answers, then repeating the phrase to Kharole. 

Glancing back at Klaaze and Narg, the Prince asks Kharole “Are you sure that either of them would even be capable of weilding such a sword?” “Your Mama!” Narg snaps back. “What was that?” the Prince asks. Kharole interjects “Just a term of endearment. I think he is sweet on you.” “He’s not my type,” the Prince replies, smiling back at Kharole. Deciding that this could lead to more trouble, and not trusting Klaaze or Narg to not say anything worse, she explains to the Prince how they need to be going. Klaaze manages to convince some of his friends to sell some of the large diamonds that they found on Lendore Island, but is still 16,000 gold shy of the new asking price. 

Day Twenty-five (April 17th, 1006 / September 23rd local): 

Freyland finally wakes up, and gives Klaaze back the magical shortsword. Klaaze manages to talk the sword merchant into paying the full 16,000 gold for it, and heads back to the royal palace. He is told that he Prince is not there, having left the city that morning with the Royal Army, in order to go fight a great monster that was terrorizing villages to the west. He gets angry when told that the Prince took the sword with him. 

The party convince Klaaze that he should just forget about the new sword, and that since Augustine could arrive at any time to get them, neither he or Freyland should be without a primary weapon. Klaaze goes to the sword merchant and buys back the shortsword and +1 longsword, loosing 800 gold pieces in the transaction.


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## Silver Moon (May 30, 2008)

*Chapter 33, “Leaving, What a good idea!”, Day Twenty-six (April 18th. 1006 / September 24th local)* 

The Royal Army returns to the city. The somber procession moves through the streets, with a carriage with a flag-draped casket housing the Prince’s body. The party decides to head over to the place, but because of the scene he made there the night before choose not to take Klaaze with them, or his known associates Kharole and Narg. The group of 
Freyland, Mark, Serita and Phuddipeduzh arrive at the palace and ask for an audience with the King, stating that they may be able to resurrect the Prince. 

The four are soon ushered into the great hall of the palace into the presence of the very distraught King. The King tells them in anquished cries about the Prince dying at the hands of the dreaded Jabberwock, stating “I warned him to be careful. I told him ‘Beware the Jabberwock my son’.” The players all groan in unison at the reference to the line from the Lewis Carrol poem. 

The group tell the King that they have a resurrection device, which can be used to bring back the Prince. They agree to have his cleric use the rod in exchange for them being given the Prince’s new sword. The King agrees to these terms, and the resurrection is successful. 

The King then hands them the sword, which is broken in two with its magical properies gone. “What is this?” Freyland exclaims. “That is how the Jabberwock left it” the King replies. Phuddipeduzh protests “You tricked us. We helped you bring back the Prince in good faith. You owe us something of equivalent value to the sword.” The King replies “Get out!” When the party do not immediately move the King orders his guards to arrest them. A fight follows, with twenty guards converging on the party. The Captain of the Guard and four of his men are killed. The party manages to escape from the royal palace, wounding several more guards in the process. 

They quickly find their fellow party members and retrieve their possessions from their lodgings. They regroup at The Sisters Tavern. The city itself is now in a state of panic, as the Jabberwock is seen approaching from the distance. Thousands of people are fleeing the city in panic. One of the tavern owners suggests to the players that this sounds like a good opportunity to become local heroes, that slaying the Jabberwock will surely put them back in the King’s good graces. 

They party head away privately to discuss it. Phuddi asks “What do you think?” “After the way that King just treated you, I say forget it,” Phraakeese exclaims. “Yeah,” Klaaze adds “The Jabberwock can have both him and his city for all I care.” Serita interjects “I agree. Who’s to say that anything would make the King grateful. We saved his son, and he treated us like crap.” So the entire group decides to take advantage of the fleeing populace, and they manage to sneak out of the city disguised as commoners. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #47: The DM clearly overplayed his hand with this one. He had been running this module for three-months, and a parallel module for six-months with his other group, anticipating a climax game with the combined gaming groups. His other group was delayed getting to Specularum, so he had been stalling for time during our previous two games. His plan this week was to give the party incentive to fight the Jabberwock, and use up another game night or two in the city, but the plan backfired on him with the party leaving the city instead.] _ 

Day Twenty-seven (April 19th, 1006 / September 25th local) 

The party joins up with a merchant wagon traveling north. The group soon discovers that these men are criminals who are wanted back in the city. The DM suggests that the party might want to consider taking these men into custody and returning them to the city. A player responds “Are you kidding? We’re now criminals wanted by the city too, we’ll fit right in with these guys.” The wagon continues north towards the mountain for the entire day. The DM tosses out several other meager excuses for the players to head back, none of which are consented to. 

The wagon stops for supper, during the meal it becomes known that one of the crimes the merchants are wanted for includes running a slavery and prostitution ring, and implies that they now wish to add both Kharole and Serita to their product line. Neither of the female players of these characters get overly upset by this, stating that they are more than capable of defending themselves against a pair of merchants, especially with the assistance of their friends. The merchants keep a distance from the party that evening. 

Day Twenty-eight (April 20th, 1006 / September 26th local): 

The party are now about 25 miles north of the city, travelling into the mountains. They see fires burning in a distant village, situated about 10 or so miles back towards the city. The DM suggests that they may want to head back to investigate, but it instead prompts the party to continue north at an even faster pace. They travel for another 10 miles, where they are now high up into the mountains are can see the city in the far distance. 

They decide to stop for lunch. A meal is cooked up, and Phuddipeduzh carries a plate of food over to the wagon for the merchants. “How does this look to you guys?” he asks. The merchants look in his direction, and then their jaws drop and all blood flows from their face. Phuddi hears a roaring sound, turning around to see a 40-foot tall Jabberwock standing before him.


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## Silver Moon (Jun 7, 2008)

*Chapter 34, "Jabberwocky", Day Twenty-eight (April 20th, 1006 / September 26th local): * 

Towering far above him, the golden hued monster dives toward the fighter. Phuddi charges back, the monster chasing after him at a far faster a pace than one would have imagined. The monsters hind legs and tail go crashing into the wagon, reducing it to splinters and the two merchants to pulp. The sound of the crash alerts the rest of the party, who had just sat down to eat a short distance away. 

The monster swipes its clawed hands at Phuddi, slashing holes into the fighter’s armor and knocking him around like a rag doll. Narg and Phraakeese charge to their friend’s assistance, only be treated like annoying insects, the monster batting them away with its hind legs while continuing to grab towards Phuddi. Kharole tosses a few Magic Missile spells into the beast, while Serita attempts a number of spells which appear to have no effect on the behemoth. 

Klaaze and Mark begin to fire arrows from their bows up towards the monsters head, as Freyland lobs sling bullets in that direction. The creature continues to focus its attention on Phuddi, who has now been reduced to a mere dozen hit points. Phuddi continues to take several swipes of his Vorpal Blade at the monster, which attempts to grab the sword. The monster’s right claw gets cut several times and skewered once by the blade, but none of this deters him. 

Kharole is the first to connect what they are all seeing, yelling out “The Sword! It wants Phuddi’s Sword.” “Of course,” Serita exclaims “A Vorpal Blade is the nemesis of the Jabberwock. It must have sensed the presence of its adversary.” Kharole finishes the through “Which is why it came to the city, and then that village we saw burning. It’s been following the sword!” At this point both Narg and Phraakeese have been trying to keep the monster from grabbing Phuddi by inserting themselves between the two. Both fighters have stabbed the creature several times, but have taken far worse than they dished out in its counterattacks, each now to below half of their hit points. “More Fight, Less Talk” Narg yells back at the women. 

The creature’s left claw then swings around, grabbing Phuddipeduzh and lifting him high into the air. Phuddi is helpless, his arms and the sword pinned to his side by the fingers on the creatures claw. It squeezes the fist holding the fighter to the point where Phuddi is on the verge of passing out. The Jabberwock then opens its mouth wide, bringing the fist up to its gaping jaw, to bite the fighter’s head off. 

Phraakeese jumps up onto the monster’s right knee and uses it as a springboard to bounce even higher. Holding his magical sword with both hands, Phraakeese buries it deep into the Jabberwock’s left shoulder, which causes the monster’s left arm to go limp, dropping Phuddi to the ground, becoming unconscious. The monster uses its right claw to bat Phraakeese away, sending him flying so twenty feet and landing in a unmoving heap. The monster balls its claws into a fist, and prepares to pound the life out of Phraakeese’s unmoving body. The Jabberwock suddenly yells out in pain, as a well-thrown pointed bullet from Freyland’s sling finds its way into one of the monster’s eyes. 

Narg alone stands before the wounded beast, although his greatest concern at this moment is not his own safety but that of his friends. To stop the monster from stepping on and crushing either Phraakeese or Phuddi the fighter decides to lure it away from them. Narg drops his own sword and grabs up the Vorpal blade, running away from his allies. The wounded beast pursues, and quickly catches up with the half-elf, grabbing him up with the right claw as he had done with Phuddi. There is however, one key difference, as Narg saw the shadow of the claw reaching towards him, and raised his arms and the sword up in order to keep them from being pinned. 

As the monster squeezes its fist and lift Narg high into the air the fighter moves his arms back, preparing to swing the sword with full force in the same way that a baseball player swings a bat. Narg waits until he sees the monster’s teeth before him, his own head just entering the monster’s mouth, and lets the sword fly. This allows a perfect swing of the Vorpal Blade directly into the monster’s neck. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #48: The player had just barely beaten the DM with an initiative roll. The DM informs the player that while he only needs a “12” or better to hit the creature, a “17” or better will be required for the Vorpal Blade to actually decapitate the monster. Otherwise, it will be Narg who will find himself decapitated this round. The table is totally silent as Narg’s player lets the dice roll. It lands as a “19” and the entire table erupts in a resounding cheer so loud that others in house of that week’s host come to see what the commotion is all about.] _ 

The sword cleanly slices through the neck of the creature, which falls backwards. The rest of the party arrive, and have to help pry the barely conscious Narg out from the death grip of the monster. Serita casts healing spells on Narg, Phraakeese and Phuddipeduzh. Narg decides to check to see if there is anything of value in the monster’s stomach, and slices it wide open. A magical net is found, along with the partially digested remains of what Narg hopes are cattle, but suspects otherwise. Meanwhile, the others search through the wreckage of the merchant’s wagon, finding a map with writing on it in a language they cannot understand. 

Narg decides to head down to the river to wash himself and the net off. The others decide that cleaning up sounds like a good idea, and follow. They arrive at the river, seeing an old human with assorted fishing equipment. He yells at the party “Are you the ones making all that ruckus up the hill! I came here to fish, and that roaring has scared all of the fish away!” Phraakeese exclaims “Hey, don’t blame us. It was the Jabberwock’s idea to come to your fishing hole, not ours.” “Jabberwock? The same one that attacked the city yesterday?” the man exclaims. “Yeah, we just killed it,” Narg states. “Sounds like a mighty big fish story to me, I’ll have to see it to believe it” the man replies. The man introduces himself as Old Man Hawkins, and starts to tell them some mighty big fish stories of his own. 

After Narg and company clean up they bring the man back with them to see the Jabberwock’s body. They also show him the map, and he is able to translate the writing. He tells them is a poem which reads: “In a Castle of Old, In a Casket of Gold, Is the Basin of Time, Without Reason or Rhyme, You Appear Where it’s told.” He says it refers to a mystical basin rumored to be able to transport people to other worlds. “How convenient” Phraakeese’s player interjects. 

He is very impressed at seeing the body of the Jabberwock, saying “It sure looks like the same one that attacked Specularum.” “Hold on, if you saw it there how did you get her so quickly?” Kharole asks. He says that he has a teleportation device, which he uses to get to his favorite fishing spots. He offers to use it to bring the party back to the city the next morning. He states “I’ll be a witness to the fact you killed it. That will make you heroes and the King will have to honor you.” 

_[Chronicler’s Note #49: The DM informs the players that his other group had reached the city of Specularum during their game the night before. It is now necessary for the Silver Moon Adventurers to return to the city, and for the two groups to meet each other and find out about what they need to do during each of the their games the following week, with the combined group climax game scheduled for two weeks later. The players decides to go along with that plan, as many are now anxious for this module to just be over and done with.]_


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## Silver Moon (Jun 12, 2008)

*Chapter 35, “The best laid plans of dungeon masters often go astray”, Day Twenty-Nine (August 22nd, 1006 / September 27th local):* 

The party awakens on the side of the mountain. Old Man Hawkins had gone back down to the river to fish, so the party cooks themselves up some breakfast. The peaceful morning is then interrupted by a bright flash of light, coming from the distant city of Specularum. The party looks up to see a cascade of smoke and ash traveling upward from the city. The rising plume is the width of the entire city, and eventually forms the shape of a giant mushroom. The party stands silently in awe, as the cloud begins to dissipate, leaving behind a crater surrounded by charred husks that were once buildings, with fire and smoke pillowing up from the outer environs of what had once been a great city. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #50: The DM tells the players about what transpired during his other group’s game the night before. The characters found out that their mission was to stop a megalomaniac time traveler who was threatening to detonate a nuclear bomb in the city._ _The players had then been told that another adventuring team would soon be joining them to help deal with this threat. The group decided not to wait, feeling that they alone had sufficient power to handle the situation. The DM stated that he warned them that without the combined resources of both teams there was a high probability of failure, but they choose to proceed on their own despite the warning. The end result was the explosion that the party had just witnessed.] _ 

Old Man Hawkins returns, and stares at the distant remains of what had once been his home. Klaaze is the first to speak, saying “Maybe we should find ourselves a nice tropical island to go to instead?” “I just want to go home,” Serita states. Hawkins says “You might still be able to. It’s hard to tell from this far away, but I think that part of the Royal Palace looks to still be standing. That was the “Castle of Old” from your poem. It is worth checking out. The party decides it can’t hurt to check. Hawkins teleports them to a safe location a good distance away from the city, and the party spend the rest of the day hiking towards it. They reach the outer edge of the blast zone by evening, and decide to wait until morning before entering the remains of the city. 

Day Thirty (August 23rd, 1006 / September 28th local): 

The party arrives in the city and cautiously make their way towards the castle. As they near the building it becomes obvious that it is the only structure in the entire city that is still partially intact. The enter the charred ruins, carefully making their way past debris and fallen walls. They enter the castle proper, finding that the upper floors of the manor house have collapsed into a pile of rubble. They check the still standing servants’ quarters, and soon discover a slightly ajar door leading to a staircase downward. 

The party descend downward, finding themselves in a series of well-traveled tunnels, which they conclude is how the servants traveled between the various buildings of the palace. They follow the tunnels to area beneath where the great hall of the palace stood, with Kharole discovering a secret door. It leads to another corridor, which spirals downward. They soon reach an intersection, which has a series of recently made tracks, that from the size Mark identifies as having been made by either elves, half-elves or small humans. 

A series of traps and secret doors are found along the way. The hallway eventually ends in a section of wall that has been covered by both magical webbing and darkness. The fighters uses their magical blades to cut through the webbing, and then charge through the darkness, entering through a doorway into to a large brightly lit chamber. Inside of the room are twenty margoyles and about forty human females. At the far end of the room the party sees the Basin of Time that had been mentioned in the poem. 

The leader of the women, attired as a wizard, points towards the party and says “More enemies of the Master have broken through. Attack.” Hearing that, the fighters all draw their weapons and charge into the room. Kharole tosses a fireball into the women. The fireball is quite powerful (almost at maximum) and with a lower ceiling than she is used too covers a much wider area of the room than she had planned on. It kills most of the women in the room, also catching Narg and Phuddipeduzh. The party notice that the leader and the two women beside her were unaffected by the fireball, apparerently surrounded by a magical protection sphere. 

The enemy leader tosses up a Wall of Fire between the party and a group of ten female archers. The women begin to fire arrows into the fighters, who cannot reach them for melee combat due to the flames. Another of the women leaders orders the margoyles to attack, and a fierce battle follows, during which one of the margoyles bites off one of Phraakeese’s thumbs. They party appears to be having success against the margoyles, but they keep getting picked off by the arrows from the enemy archers, many of which catch fire as they fly through the flames. 

The gnome Freyland tells Narg “Enough of this. Can you toss me through the flames fast enough that I won’t catch?” Narg grabs him and says “Fine, I’m the outfielder, they’re home plate.” Other than a slightly singed beard, the gnome sails through with minimal damage, hitting several of the archers and knocking them back. Narg comments “Okay, so it was bowling instead of baseball.” Freyland cuts into many of the archers, until succumbing to a Sleep spell cast by the enemy leader. The group of Mark, Klaaze, Phraakeese and Phuddipeduzh all draw their bows and begin to fire back into the female archers. 

The leader’s two bodyguards move forward to engage Narg and Serita in battle. Kharole has invisibly made her way around the room to the leader. She jabs her dagger into the leaders back, disrupting a spell. The leader moves aside, and begins to toss spells at Kharole. Elsewhere, an invisible female assassin had moved up behind Mark, and stabbed him into unconsciousness. However, before she can finish him off Klaaze, Phraakeese and Phuddi turn and fire their arrows into her. She turns invisible again and retreats. The three fighters then concentrate their arrow fire on one of the leader’s bodyguards, who appears to be a cleric, freeing up Serita to come and heal Mark. The cleric soon falls, and they then concentrate their arrow fire back on the remaining enemy archers. 

Narg continues to engage the enemy fighter in battle while Kharole goes one-on-one against the leader. By now both have already exhausted all of their high-level spells. Kharole uses both her Ring of Invisibility to evade, but the enemy has a Helm of Teleportation that she keeps using to move around and behind Kharole. Both strike each other with Magic Missile and Shocking Grasp spells. The enemy actually has more low level spells, but Kharole compensates by using up most of the patches from her Robe of Useful Items. They are soon both down to single digit hit points, when Kharole changes tactics, and instead of relying on spells tosses both of her magical daggers into the women. The enemy leader falls dead. Seeing this, the enemy fighter parries Narg’s next three blows while maneuvering over towards the wall, and then disappears into a secret door. Narg considers pursuing, but the party tell him not to leave, that it may be a trap. 

The bodies of the enemies are quickly searched, Kharole grabbing the helmet of the foe she was fighting. Kharole then investigates the basin, trying to figure out how to activate it. Klaaze dips his hands into the basin’s water, and they come out with webbed fingers. Freyland says “The poem stated ‘You appear where its told’. Why don’t we just ask it to take us to Orman?” “Sounds too simple,” Serita states, but they try it and the fountain begins to glow. Deciding that they have nothing to lose, the party all jump through. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #51: While the battle itself was fun, it would have worked far better if the players had had an idea who is was they were fighting. The DM then tells the group that the women were working for the megalomaniac, saying that the DM’s other gaming group had fought them earlier. He adds that the Megalomaniac was named Namro, and that he was the evil twin of the arch mage Orman who had sent them on this mission. This did not mean much to anyone since the party never met or fought him. Instead of just ending this fairly unsatisfying module at this point the DM then asked each player now roll a System Shock roll, with a modifier of –25%, to see how they managed their journey through the basin. Both Freyland and Serita failed their rolls. “Then they are both dead,” the DM stated, ending the module on that note.]_


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## Silver Moon (Jun 17, 2008)

*Chapter 36, “The Illusionist’s Study”, April 23rd, 1006: * 

The party appear in the middle a wooded forest. The party discovers that both Freyland and Serita perished during the journey. Orman is very surprised to see them. The party gives him a summary explanation of what happened. The Arch-mage offers to assist, but says that he can only teleport up three people. The party decides to have him bring Freyland and Serita’s bodies back to their ship in Halla, and Mark also decides to accompany him. Narg says “That’s fine. We’ll find something to do around here. By the way, where are we?” 

Orman says they are in the Kralt Lordholding, the northwestern most land on the continent, near the western end of it. He tells them that the town of Byr is approximately ten miles away. Phuddipeduzh says that he has heard of Byr before, as it is was where his late wife Beulla was originally from. They ask Orman why he is there, and he answers “I was going to see an illusionist who is conducting some experiments for me in this vacinity.” Orman teleports away with Mark and the bodies. 

Kharole, Klaaze, Narg, Phraakeese and Phuddipeduzh travel in the direction of Byr, and soon run into a friend of theirs from three weeks earlier, the Lone Ranger. He is accompanied by a young male halfling who is introduced as Blake. Lone tells the party that they two of them are on a scouting mission for a family in Byr, and are on their way back to Byr to apprise the family of their progress. The halfling Blake says he was originally from a halfling community in hills a few days to the north, and that he had hooked up with Lone because it was safer than traveling by himself. On the way to town the party is attacked by a group of giant beetles. The party has no difficulty dispatching them, but Narg gets sprayed by one of them, causing him to reek. 

They arrive in Byr, a small forest town, heading to its only inn, The Broken Web. Narg gets some water and soap to wash up. The party talks to a human healer named Jacques, who then heads off with Lone and Blake. Phraakeese heads off to find someone to train him for his next level, being told of a retired high-level fighter who lives in a cabin north of town. 

_[DM’s Note #52: The remainder of this chapter was played as Module #7, a month prior to the above. My Navy friend was home for a short visit and wanted to play D&D. The current DM, as well as Serita and Mark’s players, all planned to introduce new characters in my next module and Kharole’s player had yet another new boyfriend that she was anxious to have join the group. So I put together a short one-night game for the five of them to introduce the characters and also serve as a prelude to my next module.] _ 

Lone, Blake and Jacques decide that based on what they just found they may need some more help. The regional priest for this section of the Lordholding has just arrived in town, so they go to ask if he will join them. They soon meet with Vincenzo, a young but balding rather rotund human cleric of the Twin Gods (the Wind & Weather god Hoturu and the War god Huan-ti, both Chaotic Good). 

They then head over to local farmhouse of the Bernmitzolgawitz family to talk with the member of the family who had hired them, a young human named Ji-do Kwan, who had recently studied the monastic lifestyle (where he took on an oriental named from the monastery). Ji-do Kwan’s twin sister Jamie disappeared in the forests a week ago, and he hired Lone to look for her. Lone explains that he discovered what he thinks are her tracks, but there is evidence of a struggle with several people including a giant, so he decided to get reinforcements before proceeding. Ji-do Kwan also decides to accompany them. 

Lone leads the four humans and the halfling to where he found the tracks. Along the way Ji-do Kwan says that his sister is the third young woman from the town to disappear within the past two months. They soon find the tracks, which appear to be a day old. The Lone Ranger explains how the tracks of the woman appeared to have been running from the east when she ran into the other set of tracks, coming from the northwest. The other set consist of one set of giant-sized tracks and a group of five to eight man-sized humanoids. A struggle followed, after which all tracks head back to the northwest, and it appears that the woman was then being pulled by the giant. 

They follow this trail for about two hours, with it ending at the side of a hill. A pair of shut wooden double doors are at the mouth of the cave. The party spread out to look for another way in, soon discovering a shaft further up the hill. The shaft smells of smoke, and Blake also detects the smell of grease and cooked meat, so they conclude it is a chimney for the cave occupants. Vincenzo is clearly too large to go down the shaft, and both Jacques and Lone see the shaft as being too smooth and vertical for them to traverse. So Blake and Ji-do Kwan alone climb down. As they near the bottom the shaft gets hotter, indicating that there are still hot coals from a recent cooking fire at the bottom. Distant voices are also heard below. They climb back up, suggesting that they wait until later that evening, for both the coals to have died down as well as for the occupants to have fallen asleep. 

Several hours later Blake and Ji-do again climb down, finding themselves in a darkened chamber that serves as a kitchen and pantry. Two passageways branch off, which they follow through the cave complex, Blake guiding the human with his infravision. They find a large chamber with a giant and seven hobgoblins in it. All but one hobgoblin are sleeping, and the one that is awake does not see them, being busy sharpening a dagger. They quietly move on, finding a shut wooden door. Ji-do attempts to open it, but it appears latched on the other side. They conclude that the young woman may be in that room. 

The pair continue through the cave, soon finding the front doorway. They remove the bar holding it shut, and quickly find their three allies. They decide to shut the door, but to hide the bar, so that it cannot be quickly locked. They consider dealing with the latched door, but doing so could potentially put them in a crossfire between the monsters and whatever else might be behind the door, so decide to deal first with the room of monsters. 

The plan is to have Ji-do Kwan take out the one who is awake, and the party will then dispatch the others. Blake also sneaks into the room, hiding behind a large rock that the giant apparently uses as a chair. The plan falls apart as one of the hobgoblins wakes up just as Ji-do sneaks walks him and calls out an alarm. Lone and Vincenzo charges into the room to support him. Jacques stays in the doorway, protectively holding a dagger, told to keep the monsters from escaping. 

Lone quickly dispatches three of the hobgoblins and then goes to fight the giant. Vincenzo and Ji-do Kwan each fight a hobgoblin. A hobgoblin presents his back to Blake and is backstabbed. In the hallway, Jacques hears footsteps approaching, and retreats around the corner of the cave. He does not see anyone, but hears a pair of footsteps approaching, followed by the sounds of a spell being cast. Inside the room, the enemy are soon reduced to the giant and a lone hobgoblin. As Ji-do and the hobgoblin spar, Vincenzo casts a Spiritual Hammer spell to assist Lone against the giant. They are then shocked to see a section of the wall slide aside, and four more giants charge out to assist. Lone lets out an explicative as Ji-do finishes off the final hobgoblin. 

Blake decides to backstab one of the new giants, jumping him, only to sail right through the creature. Meanwhile, Jacques tosses his dagger in the direction where the spell came from. The dagger does not hit, but is enough to disrupt the man’s concentration long enough that the illusionary giants momentarily freeze in their tracks. “Huh,” Vincenzo states, with Blake then yelling out “They’re illusions.” Jacques yells out “The guy casting it is out here,” as he scoops up a handful of dirt and rubble and then tosses it in that direction. Enough dust falls on the invisible man for Vincenzo to make out an outline, and he casts a Hold Person. The illusionary giants disappear. The party then concentrate their attacks on the remaining giant, who soon falls. 

The illusionist is tied up and the rest of the caves are then searched, finding a secret laboratory but no evidence of Ji-do Kwan’s sister. The illusionist is questioned, and he says that all he is doing is conducting experiments, and that the giant and hobgoblins were his guards. He confirms that his servants had run into a hysterical girl in the woods the day before, and decided to bring her back to the cave. On the way back she screamed about escaping from humanoid spider-people that were going to sacrifice her. She then grabbed a sword from one of the hobgoblin’s and attacked them, cutting the giant’s hand. They decided to then just let this crazy woman run away, rather than attempt to stop her again. Ji-do Kwan tells the others that his sister has been trained in the use of a sword, having been taught by their older sister Beulla, who was also a fighter. They decide to bring the illusionist with them back to town to talk to Byr’s mayor and maybe face charges when the regional magistrate arrives.


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## Silver Moon (Jun 24, 2008)

*Chapter 37, “The New Team”, April 24th, 1006: * 

Deciding that they can use some more assistance to look for Ji-Do-Kwan’s sister, the five who had searched for her the previous day head over to the Broken Web Tavern to speak with the five Silver Moon Adventurers. Lone handles the introductions and Ji-Do Kwan then briefs them about looking for his sister. However, before they leave the tavern the sister arrives. 

The girl Jamie appears to be tired and covered in dirt, but in otherwise unharmed. She is still clinging onto the sword that she had stolen from the hobgoblin. She tells of having been kidnapped by man-sized humanoid spiders, who sought to sacrifice her to their spider god. She was one of three girls captured from the village thus far, but the only one who managed to successfully escape from the spider’s lair. 

Kharole asks “Would the others have now been sacrificed?” Jamie replies “No, they said they needed eight for the ceremony.” Narg says “Then our mission is clear, we must take all of the attractive young women from this village away from this place.” Kharole interjects “And let me guess, you’d bring them all to your place?” Narg answers “Yes, I’d be willing to protect them.” “Uh huh,” Kharole comments. 

Jamie says that she is willing to lead them back to where she escaped from, but first needs an opportunity to eat and rest. They decide to wait a day or two more, for when Phraakeese will also be available to join them. Lone heads out now to do some preliminary scouting in that area. The party members introduce themselves. Jamie recognizes Phuddipeduzh’s name, and says “You’re the fighter who married my sister Beulla!” Phuddi says that he is, and that he had hoped to have a chance to visit with her family while in Byr. He then points to Ji-do-Kwan and says “Wait a minute. Buella said her brother’s name was James.” “He changed it at the monastery” Jamie interjects. 

April 25th, 1006: 

Supplies are obtained for the mission. The party also transacts business with a local merchant who has a number of magic items available, although whether all of the items are what he claims they are is highly questionable. The one item that there is a great deal of in town is seed for planting, and the party buys 74 ten-pound bags of it to possibly use for trade. The seed is loaded into Vincenzo’s wagon. Lone returns having possibly found the monsters’ trail. Jamie agrees to head back with him to check, and Narg decides to join them, telling the party to catch up with them the next day. 

April 26th, 1006: 

Phraakeese returns from his apprencticeship, and is accompanied by an old friend of the party’s, Silas-the-one-eyed. Silas is happy to see Kharole, Klaaze and Phuddipeduzh again. They tell him about what the group has done for the past nine months, and he fills them in on his life, which consisted primarily of getting lost in the mountains and then the forests. He has spent the past several months with an old fighter named Gramps, who had given Phraakeese his apprenticeship. 

So the group of Blake, Jacques, Ji-do-Kwan, Kharole, Klaaze, Phraakeese, Phuddipeduzh, Silas and Vincenzo head out in the direction that Jamie, Lone and Narg had gone. Midway through the morning they run into a group of white furred bear-like humanoid monsters known as Quaggoths. Rather than attacking them as a group, the party splits up, resulting in them taking far more damage than they otherwise would have. Vincenzo and Jacques assist with healing. 

By mid-afternoon a heavy rain shower begins, and the party decides to stop and set up camp. During the evening, when Klaaze is on watch duty, a goat arrives in the camp. The goat is wearing a collar, and Klaaze comes up with the notion that it is an intelligent humanoid in goat form. Klaaze tells this to the goat, and recieves the telepathic command “I am, don’t give me away.” The problem arrises when Silas is woken up for his own watch duty, and he wants to kill and eat the goat. Klaaze eventually convinces him to leave it alone, saying that “It is probably somebody’s pet. And we may just be needing help from that same somebody. 

April 27th, 1006: 

The party starts up a fire to cook breakfast, which Silas still insists should consist of the goat. The smoke from the fire attracts Jamie and Narg who are nearby. Narg and Silas are happy to see each other again, especially after Narg agrees the goat should be eaten. They say that Lone has gone on further ahead. Kharole notices that Narg appears to be a bit more muscular and somewhat fatter. He explains that during the night his Pooka took him on a trip, which actually lasted a couple of months, and they ate and excercized well. Narg points to a mountain in the distance, saying “That is where Lone said the tracks lead to. 

_[DM's Note #53: This night was my "back to basics" approach following what the group had endured for the past four months. Several players were still bitter about how the prior module had gone, so it was nice to have the group dynamic change with the addition of Kharole's player's new boyfriend as well as the return of Silas's player after a year-long absence from the group. The module itself was a rather simple but well designed one from a recent issue of Dragon Magazine, which I then added to by developing the land around the town of Byr in a bit more detail.] _


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## Silver Moon (Jun 29, 2008)

*Chapter 38, "Little Boy Mountain", April 27, 1006 *

The tracks lead to a peak known as Little Boy Mountain. It is named that due to its shape, which from the southern end has a series of rock ledges that resemble a small boy seated on the ground with his arms locked around his knees. The single path up the mountain is rather treacherous, but the party manages the ascent. At one point the goat slips and falls from a cliff. Silas complains about loosing a solid meal. 

They pass a number of different caves along the trail upward, but the only recent tracks by any of these appear to have been made by animals. The trail winds back and forth. The party is then surprised, as rocks from the ledge above pummel them. They quickly hurry along to the bend in the trail, seeing that a group of around two-dozen hobgoblins had thrown the rocks. 

The party charge forward, and the hobgoblins round the next bend in the trail to the next ledge up. From there they continue to throw loose rocks down at their pursuers. The party soon reaches these enemies, and a fierce battle follows. When approximately half of the enemies have been slain the others break off their attack, and charge upward, with the Silver Moon Adventurers chasing after them. The hobgoblins charge into the next cave, and the Lone Ranger confirms that based upon the number of tracks by the entrance, this appears to be their lair. 

The party cautiously enters. The caves are silent, and a quick exploration reveals that the surviving hobgoblins have escaped out of a tunnel to the other side of the mountain. A small amount of treasure is found and pocketed. There is no indication of any non-hobgoblins having been inside of this particular cave, so the party decides to proceed upward. 

The next cave reached is more elaborate, having been apparently worked by people familiar with carving stone. The path leads to a large room that has been sculpted in the shape of a rough octagon, and leads deep into the mountain. The floor is fairly smooth, leaving few if any discernable tracks. The walls of the cave have been braced with timbers, and the ceiling is a full ten feet high. The party decides that this looks promising. 

There are three side passageways off from the room. Klaaze leads the group down the first one, and gets attacked by a giant spider. The Lone Ranger and Silas come to his aid, and soon dispatch the creature. They soon reach a dead end, with nothing other than a rusty old shield and some bones, which they conclude belonged to a prior victim of the spider. 

The second passageway is explored, with a secret door being discovered. The party spends an inordinate amount of time trying to determine how to get the door to open. Phraakeese decides to try using a chime found in the hobgoblin’s treasure pile, and ringing it does indeed cause the wall to shift. The door only stays open a short time, then shuts again. Phraakeese rings it again, and this time the party hurries through before it closes. 

Beyond the doorway is a stone staircase descending down and into the mountains. The staircase ends at a vast abyss, going down as far as the eye can see. The only way to traverse this chasm is a stone bridge. On the opposite side of the bridge is an elaborate set of double doors with a large depiction of a spider’s face etched on them. Carved on the wall surrounding the doors is an outline of the remainder of the spider. 

The party begins to cross the bridge. When they are about halfway across the doors open, and the surviving hobgoblins from the prior battle charge out and at them. A battle breaks out on the bridge, during which the party manages to toss about half of the hobgoblins off, dispatching the others with weapons and spells. The only party member to fall over the side is the monk Ji-do Kwan, who manages to grab a handhold and climb back up. 

A lone hobgoblin survives the battle. Kharole observed that this hobgoblin was not in the prior battle and did not appear to be with the others. Furthermore, he is carrying no weapons. The party engages him in conversation, and the very articulate hobgoblin actually manages to convince them to let him go. The creature crosses the bridge, and departs the way the party had come. 

The party enters the room that the hobgoblins had come out from. It is octagonal shape and approximately 40 feet in diameter. Four hanging glow lanterns light the room, and each wall is painted a different color, namely green, red, gold, black, orange, purple, yellow and blue. There are a number of cots in the room, which the party concludes was for the hobgoblin guards. A pair of doors is on one of the walls, and they are opened to reveal a long corridor. 

The two battles against the hobgoblins have left the party in pretty rough shape. They decide that, with the enemy’s guards all gone, it would probably be safe to stay and rest in this room. Watches are kept, as the remainder of the party lie down on the cots and fall asleep.


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## Silver Moon (Jul 8, 2008)

*Chapter 39, “The Chagmat and the Derro”, April 28th , 1006: *

The group awakens, eat, study and/or pray for spells, and then proceed down the long corridor. It ends in an eight-sized room with doors on five walls. Jamie says that it looks familiar, that she was taken through here when initially captured. Secret doors are found on the other three walls, and the party decides to head through one of them. Another long hallway is traveled down, leading to another octagonal room. Based upon the items in the room the party concludes that this was another room for the hobgoblin guards. A secret door is found, beyond which is a short corridor leading to the room where the party spent the night. 

The party heads through the doors from this new room to a large octagonal chamber. This room appears to be some type of pantry, with several cabinets housing dishes. There is a large crack in the wall, into which several giant ants scurry. The room has piles of empty sacks and containers, which party concludes once held food before the ants got into them. Another hallway is found, which continues for a while before turning at a 90-degree angle and continuing onward. There is also a long vertical shaft downward at this intersection. Jamie remembers being carried down a shaft, so the party decides to descend rather than continuing to check out this level. 

Blake and Ji-do Kwan have the best climbing skills, and they descend attached to ropes held by the party above. It continues downward for sixty feet before opening up into a system of caves. They scout out the immediate vicinity, seeing and hearing nothing. The rope is secured to the bottom, and Ji-Do Kwan climbs back up, informing the others it appears safe. The walls do not appear sold enough to safely spike the rope in, so Phuddipeduzh stays up top holding the rope as each member slides down. He then jumps down the shaft, with his Ring of Feather Falling activating before he hits the bottom. 

The party spends a few hours navigating through the various caves and tunnels. Jamie says that it was through similar caves to this that she had escaped, eventually finding an exit in the side of the mountain, but that she did not have a light source at the time so has no way of identifying if any of these were the exact tunnels she traveled through. They eventually reach a pair of massive double doors, each door being fifteen feet high and ten feet wide. Jamie’s face turns white as a sheet, and she whispers, “We’re here. The Chagmat Temple is on the other side of the doors. That is where I was held with the other girls” 

The party spends the next hour discussing strategy, before falling back upon the old plan of “Get’Em!” The fighters work together with the combined strengths to push one of the doors open, and charge into the massive chamber, which is a 130-foot diameter octagon with double doors on each side. The center of the room has a huge 20-foot diameter gold-painted octagon. The remainder of the room has stone tapered octagonal obelisks, each 10-foot in diameter at the bottom and five feet diameter at the top. Human females are chained to two of these. Also in the room are a dozen of the humanoid spiders known as the Chagmat. 

A massive and lengthy fight follows. Ten of the Chagmat are brown-colored fighters, the other two being white-colored clerics. The fighters are eventually killed, as is one of the clerics. A third cleric then appears, tossing Hold Person spells onto most of the party. He and the remaining cleric then escape out of the one the sets of double doors. The party pursues, but loose them an another vertical tunnel, which the Chagmat are able to quickly traverse. 

The two women are rescued, with them identifying themselves as Melina, an apprentice fighter, and 0-level woman named Stephanie. Jacques and Vincenzo help heal the women and remainder of the party to the best of their ability, and they head back out of the temple the way that they came. They are very cautious, knowing that the Chagmat clerics could be waiting to ambush them, but the only resistance if from a pair of hobgoblins who are now guarding the first room. 

The party exit and begin to cross the stone bridge. As they near the other side a new group of humanoid creatures charge at them from a side tunnel near the beginning of the bridge. “That tunnel wasn’t there when we entered” Kharole exclaims. These creatures are carrying axes and swords, and yell at the party in a language that nobody understands. They resemble dwarves, but with much larger eyes, pale skin, and all facial hair is completely white. 

There are only twelve of these creatures, but they turn out to be fierce and ferocious opponents. The rescued woman Melina is struck in the head with an axe and killed. The opponents do not back down, even after some of their number are slain. One is apparently a type of magic-user, and tosses a lightning bolt into Phuddipeduzh that nearly kills him, Vincenzo casting his final healing spell to save his companion. Narg slays her third enemy. 

It isn’t until after five of them are killed that one yells out the word “KREGGDA”, and the remaining seven then make a fighting retreat back to the tunnel. While all members of the party are still standing, most are down to single digit hit points, with no healing magic remaining, so they choose to not pursue. 

_[DM’s Note #54: I had also been DM for the “Chagmat” module the year before in my other gaming group, where Narg’s player was also a member.   He was originally not planning to be around during most this module, but was unexpectedly available.  Equally unexpected when I began was the return of Silas’s player, who had also participated in the module with the other gaming group.  I therefore decided to make some “modifications” to the dungeon, to surprise these two.  

My biggest change was the addition of the Derro just when the players expected the combat to have ended. The back-story was that these creatures resided deeper below in the mountain. Part of the Derro’s lair was at the bottom of the chasm, and one of their leaders had been killed the day before by a hobgoblin that had been thrown from the bridge. These Derro were sent up above seeking revenge. 

The Derro battle was particularly vicious because of the unexpected return that night of another former player, who had previously run the character Lysdashi.  He has missed the past few modules because of acting in local theater productions that rehearsed on our game night. 

Rather than giving him either or both of the relatively weak NPC’s to play, I instead offered to let him play on my side of the table.  He did a great job with the twelve Derro, although I think that he overdid it when he appeared to go out of his way to brutally kill the 1st level fighter Melina. Kharole’s player had just introduced Melina that night as a new playing character.  I’d like to think the death had nothing to do with the fact that these two players had previously dated, and she was now at the game with her new boyfriend.] _


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## Silver Moon (Jul 13, 2008)

*Chapter 40, “Back to Byr”, April 28th. 1006: *

The party climbs down the mountain, and make their way back to the campsite where Klaaze had left his pet Buzz. It is now starting to get dark, so the group decides to stay there for the night. 

April 29th, 1006: 

The party heads back in the direction of the town of Byr. While they are waiting for the boat to arrive to ferry them across the river they are approached by a human mage. He tells them that his name is Grammont, and that he has recently met them twice before. “That articulate hobgoblin?” Kharole inquires. “Yes, and also the mountain goat that the one-eyed fighter wanted to eat” he replies. Silas face turns red with embarrassment. “Why all the subrifuge?” Narg asks. Grammont replies “I needed to find out what type of people you were, to determine that you are truly observant and don’t take everything for what it appears to be.” 

“But why?” Phuddi asks. He answers, “I have a mission I need an adventuring team to undertake. It involves a secret slaving operation run by an evil church. I figured that people willing to risk their lives to free prisoners from evil humanoid spider clerics might also be interested in this assignment as well. Would this be something of interest to you?” The party indicates that it would. He replies “Very well. I will meet you in another month or two at the location described in this letter.” He hands Phuddi a rolled up piece of parchment, and then wanders away. 

As soon as he is out of sight they have Phuddi unroll the paper. The note is written in magical script, and Kharole does not currently have the spell to read it. “Ah, there will be time for that later, he said a month or two” Klaaze comments. 

The party continues to hike back to town, arriving in Byr by nightfall. Jamie and Ji-Do Kwan head over to Melina’s house to break the news of her death to her family. The others get lodgings for a few days at a boarding house in town. Blake and Vincenzo stay as guests at the Bernmitzolgawitz family. Phuddi is invited to, but declines, saying that it is probalby best for all not to dwell on the loss of his beloved Beulla. 

April 30th, 1006: 

The party transacts business for the day. Magic items that were found are identified. Silas brings Klaaze to meet his mentor and receive his apprenticeship for 6th level. Jamie and Ji-Do Kwan tell the party how Melina’s family did not take the new very well, and ask if there is anything that can be done. A discussion follows, during which the party acknowledges that Melina had been trained as a fighter, and fought bravely alongside the party against the Derro. Since the party still has a significant number of charges in their Rod of Resurrection back at the ship they decide to bring her body with them to attempt a resurrection. 

May 1st, 1006: 

The town holds is annual spring fair and feast to celebrate the completion of crop planting. The actual feast consists of a number of different poultry dishes. The party decides to join the the festivities, except for Vincenzo, who is busy preparing for the next days church service. 

One of the day’s contests is a “Turkey Chase”, which consists of young couples heading out into the woods to catch a number of semi-wild turkeys that are released. Jamie explains how this event is really just an excuse for young people who are attracted to each other to have some alone time on this day of fun. Several young women in the town approach the young men are visiting in town, with Narg, Phraakeese and Silas all asked to participate in the chase. They are gone for most of the day, and none of them manage t locate any of the turkeys. 

May 2nd, 1006: 

A heavy rain falls all night long, and it is still cold and blustery the following day when the whole town turns out for the worship service to the Twin Gods. This will be Vincenzo’s last act in the city before moving on to his next assignment, and he makes the service a memorable one. A large collection is taken up, which Vinnie will later turn over to his chruch. Once he is done the party packs up to move on with him. Jamie and Ji-do Kwan both decide to join them. 

May 3rd, 1006: 

The party travels northeast for the day, heading towards the closest seaport. The road runs parallel a river. They travel around twenty miles then start for the night. The night is interrupted by an attack by a group of 13 quaggoths, which run away once two are killed and several more are injured. 

May 4th, 1006: 

By mid-afternoon the party arrives at the woodland port town of Fairbanks Cove. Much to their surprise the ship Silver Moon is anchored in the cove, and they are told it has been there for three days. They find their friends in a nearby tavern. Along with Boz, Lysdashi, Mark, Natasha and Tao are their newly resurrected friends Freyland and Serita. Also with them are a dark-skinned human cleric named Isaish and an elvan mage named Tolbyrne, who Tao introduces as “Friends who accompanied me last year when the rest of you were away at Lendore Island.” 

Natasha says, “That Arch-Mage Orman told us where to meet you.” Freyland says that they need to stick around this town for a few more days, as he is currently in the middle of his apprenticeship for 4th level. Blake is also now ready for an apprenticeship, which Natasha agrees to provide to him. Jamie manages to convince Klaaze to apprentice her, but only after promising to give him a necklace that she had found in the Chagmat lair. The party finds lodgings in the town. The final thing done this day is having Vincenzo use the Rod to resurrect Melina.


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## Silver Moon (Jul 22, 2008)

*Chapter 41, “From Death to Dragons”, May 5th, 1006: *

The party remains in the town of Fairbanks Cove for several days while apprenticeships continue. 

May 9th, 1006: 

An alarm goes up in town, and the townspeople all begin to gather in the town square. The party asks what is happening and are told that death is coming to take one of the townsfolk. The party watches as a group of skeletons marches into the town followed by a person in a dark robe carrying a scythe. A black face with red eyes can be seen beneath the hood on the cloak. A second black-cloaked creature accompanies him. This creature then raises its scythe and points towards a middle-aged man who is standing in the audience. The man says good-bye to his family. Death’s assistant picks up bag containing an offering from the town’s people. The band of creatures departs from the town, with the man accompanying them. 

“And exactly what the hell was that?” Phuddipeduzh asks. The townsfolk explain that Death had come for the man, that it was his time. Isaiah comments, “That isn’t how death operates where I come from.” Lysdashi adds “I never heard of anyone paying death to take someone away.” The townsfolk say that is how it has been here for multiple generations. Silas tells Blake to go check it out, and he scampers off after the skeletal possession. He follows them for a few miles and they enter a cave. He returns to the town to tell the others. 

The group of Blake, Isaiah, Jamie, Lysdashi, Phuddi and Silas head out to the cave. They enter and Lysdashi finds the most recent set of tracks. They follow those down several winding corridors, and then run into a group of animated skeletons that have been left to guard against intruders. A battle follows, during which the skeletons are destroyed. 

The party carefully moves onward, finding a large chamber ahead. They see Death’s scythe and cloaks draped over a rock, and in the center of the room they see a pair of drow elves. The male is attired as a fighter, and the female is dressed as a cleric. The man from the town is lying dead on an altar, having just been sacrificed. “Drow” Lysdashi states in a tone of voice that communicates his antipathy towards that race. Phuddi comments, “That explains it. These two must have been tricking the superstitious townsfolk for centuries.” 

“Let’s get’em” Silas says. Lysdashi and Jamie charge the cleric while Silas and Phuddi charge the fighter. Black sneaks around behind, while Isaiah stays in reserve, throwing an occasional spell. Both foes are soon brought down. Silas, Phuddi and Isaiah head down a side corridor to investigate the Drow lair. Once they are gone the cleric attacks again, having only been feigning death. Another battle follows, where she is eventually defeated. The man is buried and the treasure found. 

The six head back to the ship. They decide not to tell the townsfolk anything, with Phuddi stating “The truth would just make them feel stupid. They will figure out soon enough that death now takes a less direct role in their lives.” 

May 10th to 14th, 1006: 

The party remains in Fairbanks Cove for several more days, during which Jamie receives an apprenticeship for her next level. The party finally sets sail for their homeport of Halla. 

May 18th, 1006: 

After the ship sails around the northwestern coast of the continent they are startled by the sudden appearance of a large red dragon flying out of the clouds and towards their ship. It blasts the masts with its breath, setting the sails on fire. It then flies away to the east. Several of the party members recognize the dragon as the exact same one that they faced in the lowest cave level two months earlier. It takes several hours to get the fire extinguished. A few makeshift sails are jury-rigged to provide some propulsion. 

May 22nd, 1006: 

After four days of struggling to make any headway the ship finally nears a populated community, the town of Hanna along the coast of the Kaloon Lordholding. Isaiah and Tolbyrne are familiar with the town, and state that there is a shipbuilding operation that could probably repair the ship. Klaaze is also familiar with the area, his family’s estate being about a day’s journey to the east. 

They pull into the harbor and make the arrangements for the repairs. They also discover that the people of this town are familiar with that particular red dragon, as its lair is known to be a few days journey to the north. Klaaze is determined to get revenge at the dragon that had previously killed him, especially with it living so close to his family’s holdings. 

May 23rd, 1006: 

The group consisting of Isaiah, Kharole, Klaaze, Lysdashi, Mark, Phuddi, Serita, Silas and Vincenzo head off to slay the dragon. 

May 24th, 1006: 

The party uses a strategy of sending in the fighters who can take the most damage to get the dragon to exhaust his breath weapons, with the rest of the party to then attack as a second wave. The fighters are sent in two groups, to force the dragon to split his attack. Isaiah and Vinnie each head with a group to provide healing, which proves to be a mistake as Isaiah gets caught in the same two breath attacks as Phuddi, almost killing him and melting the party’s Rod of Resurrection. Silas leads the other assault team and is nearly killed as well, taking a breath attack and a bite. Through teamwork the dragon is eventually defeated. 

May 25th, 1006: 

The party return to Hanna with the dragon’s treasure, most of which is used to pay for the new sails and rigging for the ship. They set sail for home. 

May 28th, 1006: 

The party arrives back in their homeport of Halla.


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## Silver Moon (Jul 31, 2008)

Chapter 42, “The Lost Ark”, June 7th, 1006: 

Natasha receives a threatening message from the Magician Gredstien, who had fought the party the following year in the town of Gelorynth. The message challenges the party to a duel. The group decides to ignore it, feeling “Why should we go looking for trouble.” 

Isaiah receives instructions from his church to accompany the Silver Moon Adventurers, and for him to keep an ongoing journal of their actions. He is not given any specific reason for this, other that a senior High Priest was seeking to have Timothy excommunicated from the church for violations of the Yon Church’s Articles of Faith (Yon is the local name for the lawful good deity Ukko). It is stated that Isaiah’s journal would be instrumental to a hearing about that. 

June 9th, 1006: 

Phuddipeduzh receives a premonition during a dream about a long-lost artifact of the Yon Church. He is told that if he is able to find this artifact he will become a Paladin of Yon. He convinces the party to set sail for the island that was shown to him in the dream. 

June 10th, 1006: 

By mid-afternoon the party reaches an island to the west of the continent. A group consisting of Blake, Isaiah, Kharole, Lysdashi, Melina, Narg, Phuddi, Serita, Silas, Vincenzo and the ship’s First Mate, Jacob head off from the ship. They head towards a cave leading deep into the volcano at the center of the island. A pair of gargoyles are encountered and fought. The next thing encountered is a group of angry rats that attack Isaiah and Silas. A rot grub lands of Narg and attempts to eat him. The evening is capped off by an attack by four Hellhounds, which take the combined efforts of the party to defeat. 

They decide not to stay there to rest, on the off chance that other Hellhounds might be around. Next they have to traverse a pit trap, which drops down 50 feet to a bed of spikes. They finally reach a room that they determine looks safe enough to stop at. 

June 11th, 1006: 

During the night both Phuddipeduzh and Isaiah dream about a wall in the dungeon that they passed the previous day. In the morning they convince the party to return to that spot. The party searches for secret doors, and eventually discovers that the entire wall it a secret door. The fighters work together to use their combined strengths to slide the wall to the side. A large chamber is behind the wall. 

In the center of the room on a raised platform is a large golden ark, which Isaiah recognizes as the Lost Ark of Prophets of the Yon Church. Phuddi and Isaiah move forward, approaching the three-step staircase up to the platform. As they step on the first step panels in the wall open and a squadron of armed skeletons charge in. Narg yells to the cleric and fighter “Keep going, we can handle them.” Climbing on the next step causes more wall panels to open, and out rush a squadron of zombies. 

Vincenzo holds out his holy symbol and manages to turn most of the undead, with the remaining party members defeating the others. Phuddi and Isaiah step on the next step, and from the panels where the skeletons had entered now come a group of ghouls. Vincenzo turns all but two, who the party attacks with magical weapons and spells. 

Phuddi tells Isaiah “On the count of three step onto the platform and head directly to the ark. You grab the handles on the right, I’ll get the ones on the left. No matter what happens, we lift it and get it out of this chamber as quickly as possible.” Isaiah agrees, and the plan is put into action. As they move towards the ark a Greater Devil materializes in the room. The entire party launch attacks against the devil as the two on the platform attempt to lift the ark, which will not budge. 

The devil ignores the remainder of the party, climbing up onto the platform to stop Phuddi and Isaiah. The two of them let go of the arc, and fight the devil. Silas charges up onto the platform, striking the devil in the back. Isaiah tosses a Light spell directly into the devil’s face, and the monster plane shifts away. Phuddi and Isaiah again grab the handles, and this time the ark lifts without any problem. They start to head towards the platform. Another Greater Devil, this one taller than the other, gates in before them, blocking their path. 

Serita exclaims “We can’t win! Defeating one just causes a stronger one to replace it!” 
Kharole answers “Yeah, but the other one had to first go back to Hell to get the other. What if we can defeat it, but still keep it here?” “How?” Serita asks. Kharole pulls out from her pack a scroll that she has carried for quite some time, with the 9th level Magic-user spell Imprisonment. She reads the scroll, causing the devil to be captured. 

Isaiah and Phuddi carry the ark down the stairs and in the direction of the opening in the wall. The other members of the party begin to exit the chamber when the Devil calls upon his god for assistance, and the Imprisonment is then dispelled. The devil throws a flaming sphere at the party, which dispels as it hits the air where the wall had been. “His power must only work within the chamber itself. Hurry,” Kharole yells. Silas is the furthest behind, and the devil is able to mesmerize him, with him freezing in place. 

Lysdashi draws his bow, telling Melina to do the same. She points towards the devil, and he says “No, fire at Silas instead.” “What!” she exclaims. He replies “It’s the only way to break him out of the hold. Trust me, he’ll thank us later.” She does as instructed, with Silas getting struck by arrows from each of his allies. It does break him from the Hold, and he charges towards the door. 

The devil waves his hand, and the wall slides back. Narg tosses his magical shield down to stop it, holding the doorway open. This opening is not wide enough for the ark, and Phuddi attempts to push the wall back, with no effect. “Damn, we’re going to have to defeat it,” he says. Phuddi draws his Vorpal Blade and charges at the devil. The blade slices cleanly through the devil’s torso, and he gates away as the body separates into two pieces. Narg exclaims “Hurry, before another one shows up.” Narg, Silas and Lysdashi are able to push the wall further open, as the rest of the party carries the arc through. 

Phuddi is almost to the door when another Greater Devil, this one even larger than the last, materializes into the room. “Jump” Kharole yells, and Phuddi dives through the doorway, the fighters pushing the wall shut behind him. The group quickly carries the ark away from that section of the dungeon, and out of the caves. They then bring it back to their ship, deciding to spend the night anchored in the harbor, and to leave at dawn. 

June 12th. 1006: 

The party awakens to discover that Phuddi’s charisma has now increased. The ship sets sail to return to Halla. 

June 14th, 1006: 

The ship arrives back at Halla. Serita goes to for an apprenticeship. Melina is given her apprenticeship for 2nd level by Narg. Phuddipeduzh begins his initial apprenticeship to now become a paladin. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #55: After I finishing the “Chagmat” module I announced that I needed for someone else to DM for a few weeks to allow me time to prep the TSR Slaver Series (A1 to A4), which I had played in my other D&D group, but hadn’t read any of yet. The DM of the Module #6 was the only volunteer, and I was reluctant to let him given how poorly received that module was, but nobody else was willing. I emphasized to him that I would only need a few weeks, and for him not to plan anything more than a few short filler games. 

His first night was interesting, with the drow encounter. The next night-and-a-half were challenging and fun, bring a sense of finality to the prior encounter with the red dragon. It was during the his next night-and-a-half that the group felt he overdid it again, building a killer scenario loosely based on the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for the sole purpose of highlighting and enhancing his fiancé’s playing character. I decided to take the DM chores back at that point, even though doing so left it for me to resolve the subplot that he had started regarding Timothy and his church.] _


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## Silver Moon (Aug 5, 2008)

*Chapter 43, “Timothy’s Quest & the Slaver Series Begins”, June 18th, 1006:* 

Isaiah informs the party that the High Priest Joshua wishes to have an audience with them at the Halla Cathedral of Yon on the following day. 

June 19th, 1006: 

The party head out to the Cathedral. The bring the Ark with them, but keep it by the Cathedral entrance covered by a blanket and guarded by members of their ship’s crew. The party goes forward for their audience with Joshua. The High Priest explains that Timothy is to be censured and anathematized for violations of the Yon Articles of Faith. The High Priest explains that the charges stem from Timothy’s actions with the Silver Moon Adventurers. 

Natasha says “Before you do that, we have something you might want to look at first.” The crewmembers bring forward the arc, and the blanket is removed. Joshua is very surprised by the sight of the holy artifact, and uses a Commune spell to confirm that the ark is authentic. While in communication with his deities he also inquires about the Silver Moon Adventurers and Timothy specifically. Based on the response Joshua declares Timothy innocent of three of the four charges against him. He says that the fourth is a violation against Law rather than Good, and that Timothy himself must cast an Atonement spell to determine his god's wishes. 

Timothy is handed a scroll with words of the spell upon it, and reads them. A bright flash follows, and a winged warrior maiden of Ukko appears before them. She says that her name is Ilma, and commands Timothy to step forward and kneel. He does so, and she lifts up the sword she is carrying, striking him gently. He vanishes. Ilma explains that Timothy has been chosen to go on a quest on another plane for his atonement. His essense is currently within the sword. During the next few weeks he will select two members of the Silver Moon party to accompany him, and which point he will begin his quest. Ilma then hands the sword to Jamie. 

Before departing she tells them that the mission they are currently embarking upon is of great importance to her and her deity. The slaving operation that they were first told about three weeks earlier is located in the Cantage Lordholding town of Clearwater. This is one of four communities in the area of the city of Dunn. Dunn is a theocracy ruled by the Dunn/Phlooredian Church, which claims to be a rather generic lawful neutral/lawful good religion. In reality, it is a front for the Lawful Evil Church of Loviatar, one of six deities of the pantheon known as the Church of the Black Sun. The slaving operation is one of the primary sources of income for the Church, and the elimination of it would be a major blow to Loviatar. 

June 20th, 1006: 

The party makes preparations for their journey. Klaaze throws a birthday party for his fuzzy Buzz. 

June 21st, 1006: 

The ship Silver Moon sets sail for the Cantage Lordholding. 

June 22nd, 1006: 

The day is slow as the winds come to a complete halt. Some of the party see this as a bad omen. A playful seal arrives on the ship, which Serita wishes to keep, but the ship's captain refuses to allow onboard. 

June 23rd, 1006: 

Another day without wind, with the ship dead in the water. Mark says that he picked up a "Feather Token" called Fan, and suggests that it be used. It is pointed out that a small fan would have no significant effect on propelling a large ship. Isaiah comments "Maybe not. If it is Loviatar who is keeping us held, then I pray to Ukko to bless this magic item to counter it. He does so, and the fan proves to be very effective at creating a great gust of wind to fill the ship's sails. The magic also does not cease after a short period of time, as is usually the case with feather tokens. 

June 24th, 1006: 

There is still no wind, but the feather token continues to function. A group of dolphins arrivie by the ship and are befriended by Serita, who says that "Some friendly eyes in the water can't hurt at this stage. Deciding that danger is ahead, the Captain insists on anchoring for the night. 

June 25th, 1006: 

The party awaken, to find the dolphins floating dead, with huge teeth bits in them. A huge Nonosaurus then surfaces and attacks the ship. Phuddipeduzh nearly perishes in the fight that follows. Two of the ship's crewmembers, Biz and George are eaten by the monster. Silas, Natasha and Boz are instrumental in the fight. The monster is eventually wounded enough that it submerges and swims away. A ship's ballista is also damaged in the attack. The superstitious Captain is hesitant to continue. 

June 26th, 1006: 

The crew rescues an old man, who is on a makeshift raft alongside a dead woman. He is brought onboard, saying that his ship was attacked by the Nonosaurus. He asks where they are sailing to, and they tell him. Phuddi then identifies the man as being evil. The man throws a lightning bolt into Phuddi. He had not seen Natasha behind him, and she gets a near fatal backstab into the man. The man dives overboard and into the ocean. He surfaces a few minutes later, riding on a Broom of Flying. He then becomes invisible. 

"What the hell was that all about?" Mark asks. The man then reappears at the rear of the boat, tossing a Fireball that kills the crewmembers Don and Dar, and seriously harming Vincenzo. The man threatens the party, revealing himself to be the magician Gredstein who had threatened them before in a letter. He leaves them another note, saying he will soon have his revenge, and flies away. 

_[DM's Note #56: A slow start to the slaver's series due largely to the amount of baggage inherited by the prior DM. Not only did I have to wrap up the Timothy sub-plot, but at the start of the game night I was handed information from him about Gredstein and his plots, to work into the storyline as well.] _


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## Silver Moon (Aug 14, 2008)

*Chapter 44, “Arrival at Clearwater,” June 27th, 1006: *

The party decides to head to the port city of Dunn in order to purchase supplies to repair the sails and rigging from the fireball damage. A pair of catapults guarding the harbor immediately shoots them at. “They must have heard that we were coming,” Klaaze comments. Several boats from the Cantage Lordholding Navy are launched. The head Captain, who introduces himself as the Baron of Foster, questions the party. He berates them for not flying the proper colors. After he makes his report an Abbott from the Dunn/Phlooredian Church sails out to the ship to issue and collect a 20 gold piece fine for the transgression. The party decides to skip buying any supplies here, get directions to Clearwater, and sails away. 

They reach the river that leads to the community of Clearwater. Some fishermen nearby question whether the ship will be able to navigate the river, as most craft that sail on it are considerably smaller than the party’s huge warship. “When we get to Clearwater would we be about to turn the ship around?” Captain Quirk asks. The fishermen reply “Sure, the city is along a large lake at the end of the river.” “I say we risk it,” the Captain replies. 

They sail downriver for ten miles, stopping for the night. A pair of riders is seen in the distance coming towards them. The riders turn out to be the Lone Ranger, and his elvan sidekick Tonto, who decide to accompany the party. 

June 28th, 1006: 

The ship sails downriver, destroying two wooden bridges that are in their path, as there was not adequate time to stop before reaching them. “Typical Silver Moon approach,” Kharole comments. The final mile prior to reaching the lake is a bit harrowing, with the ship scraping along the river bottom at several places. They reach the lake and sail into the harbor for the town of Clearwater by early afternoon. There arrival is noted by nearly the entire town, given that no ship as large as theirs has ever been there before. 

They drop anchor in the harbor and send a party ashore. A political leader named Alexander with the title of Zolif stops them, and orders them back to their ship until officially welcomed by a priest of the Dunn/Phlooredian Church. They do as instructed, and are soon joined by a gnome priest. He tells the party that the town and region are all part of a theocracy, and that the mention of any other religions is forbidden. He accepts a small donation for the church, and gives the party permission to depart as they choose. He also negotiates payment for a berth at one of the town’s docks, and the ship is then anchored there. 

The group of Kharole, Lysdashi, Mark and Natasha decide to check out the town. They get directions to the most expensive restaurant in town and head there for dinner. At the end of the meal both ladies and Mark excuse themselves, leaving Lysdashi with the 78 gold piece tab. After paying the bill he head off to find a brothel. Mark had headed back to the ship, but the two ladies decide to continue to check out the town on their own. They flirt with a pair of young human men in a bar. They soon discover that the men are brothers, whose mother has been anxious to get them wed. They girls end the conversations, and head back to the ship. 

Meanwhile, Phuddipeduzh and Vincenzo go shopping for shields, as both of their current shields display symbols of their own religions, which would not be welcomed here. The two find a less expensive place to dine. Silas finds himself the rowdiest bar in town, the Party House, and gets into a fight. The town bully decides to beat up Tonto, resulting in the Lone Ranger beating the guy up and taking the man’s broadsword. Other fighters in town then buy him drinks for giving the bully what he deserved. Kharole later identifies the sword as being a +4 

June 29th, 1006: 

The rest of the party decides to check out the town. Lone goes to the Blaine’s Swordsmith shop, trading in his newly acquired +4 longsword for a +3 broadsword that he is more proficient with. The party heads over to a church to speak with the gnome, but nobody appears to be present. An orc fighter is seen sleeping in a pew, and wakes and gets into a fight with Silas, with Silas soon killing the orc. “Great way to enter a house of worship,” Mark sarcastically comments. Some half-orcs enter the church, and question what happened. Seeing that the party outnumbers them, the half-orcs decide to leave. 

Kharole, Natasha and Lysdashi check out a gambling hall. Kharole then goes and visits with most of the magic-users in town. Many of the party members visit the town’s magic shop, with Kharole and Serita cashing in jewelry and gems for purchases. Phuddipeduzh loans money to both Kharole and Lysdashi for purchases, her getting a magic wand and him buying a +3 Frost Brand longsword (that Klaaze also wanted). Klaaze has a run-in with a female halberd maker, who bends his halberd as a demonstration of the weapon’s inferior workmanship. Klaaze punches her. 

The only ones who do any investigation about the slavers are the Lone Ranger and Tonto. First they discover a paladin named Hartmann, who is also in town to end the slaving operation. Lone discovers that a town leader named Viceroy Leonard is affiliated with the slavers. He decides to infiltrate the organization, offering his services as a guard. As a test of Lone’s fighting ability he is made to fight Leonard’s Captain of the Guard. Lone winds up accidentally killing the man, which eliminates his chances of being hired and almost eliminates his life as well, with him making a quick escape. 

Tonto maintains surveillance over the town’s secret poison maker, who is rumored to make poison for the slavers. Once Tonto confirms the slaving connection he gets Lone and Hartmann and Hartmann’s squire, and the four of them break into the underground alchemist’s house. The man throws a vial of acid in the face of Hartmann’s squire Phillip, and escapes. They later visit the town’s official alchemist, who is pleased to hear that his competitor is now out of business. Lone buys an invisibility potion from the man. 

Back on the ship, Natasha catches a thief in her cabin. She beats the man up, and locks him into the ship’s hold with the crewmember Al and Serita’s dog Seneal to watch him. When she returns with several party members Al is unconscious, the dog is cut up but still alive, and the thief is long gone. Mark actually has a run in with the man on the dock, but the thief escapes. 

Lysdashi and Boz return with Silas to the Party House tavern, and another fight breaks out this evening. The Assistant Captain of the Guard for that part of town breaks it up using a large number of army troops. Four arrests are made, namely the town blacksmith and the three party members. 

_[DM’s Note #57: The party continued to be rather slow in getting into the actual text of Module A1, with most players focusing on role playing town encounters instead. In fact, only Lone’s player showed any interest in the module itself. I did manage to tie in a few enemy NPC’s from the module, that would show up later, namely the half-orcs encountered at the church (which is where they went to get paid for their slaver duties), and the higher level thief who snuck onto the ship to find out who the party were and what they were up to.]_


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## Silver Moon (Aug 22, 2008)

*Chapter 45, “A pair of unplanned weddings and other silliness” June 30th, 1006:* 

The group spends the morning aboard the ship. The young men that Kharole and Natasha had flirted with on the evening of the 28th, Carlo and Algernon, arrive with flowers and presents. The presents include gold necklaces each with a large sapphire attached. Both women do not realize their acceptance of it constitutes their agreeing to marry the men. One other messenger arrives for Natasha, being a follow-up to her search for the local thieves’ guild. Kharole and Natasha investigate this, finding a few clues about the slaver’s activities. They also have an altercation with the mother of the two boys, who has begun making wedding plans. They tell her that they have no intention of marrying her sons. She informs them that they have no choice, having legally agreed to it, and that the wedding will be in four days on July 3rd. 

In the afternoon another member of the local clergy named Alexander comes to give them further instruction about the religious practices of the town, as the following day is the weekly day of Sabbath. On the subject of religion, Serita searches the town to find a ‘closet druid’ to apprentice her. She is successful, as the town’s main animal trainer is secretly a medium-level druid. The three party members in jail finally get word to the party about where they are, but by then the courts have closed for the day, so they will have to remain in jail until after the Sabbath to get bailed out. 

July 1st, 1006: 

The party safely decides to stay on the ship on Sabbath day, rather than risk violating restrictions and rules of the church. The cleric Jared comes out to the ship to make it appear that they are observing the required rituals, and answers questions for them about the slavers. He tells them of slave pits beneath the city, accessible only via the sewers. He also tells them of what appears to be an abandoned temple in the city, which is actually the local headquarters of the slavers. 

Jared is able to direct Vincenzo to another town resident, who is secretly a medium-level cleric of Vinnie’s church, so that he can begin an apprenticeship. The gnome also gives Natasha and Kharole advice about their “engagements”, stating that it is a legally binding obligation, and that the only way they could get out of it is to be already married to somebody else. 

July 2nd, 1006: 

Natasha convinces Phraakeese to agree to marry her. They appear before the magistrate of the town’s Payette District for the ceremony. While at the courthouse she also deals with bailing her three allies out of jail. 

Kharole tries to get herself married, but has difficulty finding a willing groom. First she attempted to rope her boyfriend Narg into it, but he wants nothing to do with the institution of marriage and goes into hiding (with help from his Pooka). Next she casts a Charm Person spell onto Klaaze, who then agreed. However, when the magistrate asked him to say the words “I do” he successfully made his spell saving throw, and blurted out “Hell NO!” and ran out of the courthouse. She then used her last Charm Person on Silas, who agreed, but then also made his save at the appropriate time, backing out rather than saying the words “I do.” 

July 3rd, 1006: 

Kharole manages to make Silas feel guilty about jilting her, and he reluctantly agrees to marry her. She quickly hurries him over to the courthouse for the ceremony prior to being forced to marry Algernon instead. The two women, and their new husbands, break the news to the two Mama’s boys. 

July 4th, 1006: 

Kharole and Natasha have to appear in court, as Carlo and Algernon’s mother filed “breach of promise” charges against them. She wishes to have their other marriages annulled, but the magistrate rules instead that the women just have to pay a small fine and return the two engagement necklaces. Silas, Boz and Lysdashi also have to appear in court this day regarding the bar brawl, and each have to pay a small fine for disturbing the peace. 

Meanwhile, the poison maker Marcel appears to be back in business, and receives another visit by Lone and Tonto. As soon as they enter the shop Marcel summons a group of six orcs hiding in the back room, who eject the two adventurers from the shop. 

Narg returns from hiding, accompanied by a very strange companion. The man is wearing a space suit and introduces himself as Ron Luther X5-0135. He says he is from a different universe, where he was fighting a villain named Vaughn W4-9387. During the course of the battle they accidentally blew the universe up. Ron was able to escape via the help of the pooka Monty, who brought him to Narg. 

July 5th, 1006: 

Vincenzo and Serita both return from their respective apprenticeships, which is one reason why the party had held off on dealing directly with the slavers until then. With information derived from Lone, Tonto and Natasha’s investigations as well as the cleric Jared, they decide upon a two-pronged attack. Narg says that he will lead one group to infiltrate the abandoned temple, while another group will attempt to attack where they suspect the orcs and ogres are headquartered. The slave pits are rumored to be accessible from both locations, so whichever group reaches there first will free the slaves. The outside group is told to wait several hours before beginning, otherwise any foes within the temple will be on a higher state of alert. Narg adds “Yeah, in a few hours we’ll probably have gotten into such big trouble and will need the second group to create a major distraction for us to get out of it.” 

_[DM’s Note #58: Yet another lengthy amount of role-playing, with minimal interest in the module itself. The return of Narg’s player finally helped to get the group back on track, as he had played most of the three other modules of the TSR Slaver’s series in his and my other gaming group, but he had missed almost all of A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, so was anxious to play it. Most players now had two active playing characters, which is why they decided to split the party into two groups. Narg’s concluding statement will also prove to be right on the money. Silas’s player decided to introduce another fighter as his 2nd character. He bought with him a lead miniature of a Gamma World spaceman simply as a joke, and was very surprised when I agreed to allow it.] _


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## Silver Moon (Sep 5, 2008)

*Chapter 46, “Into the Module (finally)”, July 6th, 1006: *

Before dawn an assault team of nine exit the boat and sneak over to the far side of the large said-to-be abandoned temple, where they won’t be seen from the town. Natasha sneaks forward to investigate, with Narg and Kharole accompanying her as back up. A zombie is seen guarding the door to the structure, and the monster is soon dispatched. They then signal for the other six members of their team to join them, namely Blake, Jamie, Phuddipeduzh, Silas, Vincenzo and an elvan ranger associate of the cleric Jared named Karroway. 

They enter the structure and travel down several corridors and through some rooms with collapsed roofs and floors. They eventually reach a dead end, and have to backtrack. As they near a cemetery/crypt section of the temple the group is attacked by a pair of ghasts and ten ghouls. Vincenzo fails to turn these undead, and the party all draw their magical weapons to attack them. Both gasts and two of the ghouls are destroyed, the remaining ghouls deciding to flee. During the course of the battle both Phuddipeduzh and Karroway became temporarily paralyzed, and it takes a while for them regain mobility. 

The group reaches a large room where the floor has collapsed, creating a large pit filled with garbage, spikes and broken glass. They very carefully make their way across the pit on a rickety board that has been secured at the end. They soon reach a room with junk and clutter, and attempt to make their way past. An object that had been assumed to be a pile of rags then lashes out at time with a series of tentacles. Kharole pulls a “mule” patch off of her magical cloak, and tosses it at the rag-monster. The creature attacks the animal, allowing time for the party to exit the room. 

They make their way into the next room, only to then be ambushed by orcs from two different directions. Narg and Phuddipeduzh charge the smaller group, telling the rest of the party to get the others. Unfortunately this causes the group to split up, as Narg and Phuddi kill some of them and chase after the others, while the battle with the other group moves out through a doorway into the temple’s stable. Another group of orcs then arrive to reinforce this group, with several characters complaining about their two best fighters having run off. Narg and Phuddi eventually rejoin the others, at which point the orcs have all been defeated, and the party is physically in pretty rough shape. 

The party moves on, investigating a large room with a collapsed roof. They are then ambushed again by undead, with a Wight charging at Phuddi. He counters, and with assistance from the halfling Blake, manages to vanquish the foe. They rest of the party are preoccupied with battling a group of ghouls, who appear to be the same ones who had escaped earlier. Natasha barley manages to avoid getting hit by one, and Silas is then attacked by a second Wight, who Vincenzo manages to turn. “This is a hell of a way to spend a honeymoon,” Silas comments. The party then discovers a staircase down, which they decide to use. 

They descend down, and reach a series of tunnels. They follow, with the ranger Karroway looking for tracks while the party maps out the tunnels. The most traveled route eventually ends with a ladder going upward, which they then climb. It ends in a room full of what appear to be human slaves being watched over by an ogre guard. The party head up, attacking the ogre and telling the slaves they are there to rescue them. Only then does the party discover it was a trap, and that these slaves are actually disguised half-orc slavers, tricking the party into relaxing their guard. 

Kharole tosses up a web spell to trap the enemies, but also catches Vincenzo in it. Narg and Natasha ascertain that one of the half-orcs is both the leader and a cleric/fighter, and target their attacks on him. The orc leader swings a magical sword that hits Narg in the leg, cutting through the main artery and smashing the bone. Narg collapses and screams out in pain. 

The sword that Jamie has been carrying, housing Timothy’s essence, leaps from her hand and stabs into Narg, with his body dematerializing. “What happened?” Silas yells. Phuddi answers “Timothy apparently decided to save Narg’s life by selecting him to go on his quest.” Unfortunately the commotion also caused enough of a distraction for the enemy leader to escape in the confusion. The remaining enemies are all slain, and the party decides to retreat back to the tunnels.


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## Silver Moon (Sep 11, 2008)

*Chapter 47, “The Second Wave”, July 6th, 1006: *

The second team adventurers has carefully made its way into the seedy part of town in small groups so as not to appear to be a mob. Lone, Phraakeese and Tao coordinate the movements of the group, keeping a series of buildings under surveillance. Several dozen orcs and half-orcs are seen inside of residences near the abandoned temple, and a few ogres are also glimpsed, confirming that this is the part of the city where several of the slavers have set up shop. 

The team is hesitant to take further action, not knowing what is happening to the other team. Phraakeese volunteers to head over to the temple and investigate. Fearing that he might get captured himself, he says, “If you don’t hear back from me in an hour start the attack.” 

Phraakeese exits that part of the city and carefully makes his way around outside of town and then back towards the temple from the woods, following the same path that the other team had planned. He very cautiously enters the temple, and begins a room-by-room search. He suddenly hears the sound of swords clashing a few rooms away, and proceeds in that direction. He then hears the sound of multiple armored footsteps coming from behind him, and quickly hides behind a pile of debris as three armored half-orc guards charge past him in the direction of the swordfight. Phraakeese draws his sword and follows. 

Two rooms away, the party is dealing with a half-dozen orcs who they encountered upon their return to the temple from the tunnels below. Phuddipeduzh was leading the team, and took the brunt of the attacks, with him now on the verge of collapsing as the other party members move up to fight the orcs. As the last of the orcs fall a trio of half-orc reinforcements charge into the fray. The party dispatches two, and the third turns and runs out of the room, and directly into Phraakeese, who dispatches the surprised enemy with two sword swipes. 

The party is surprised to see Phraakeese, and ask him about the second wave. He has lost track of the time, but figures it has been close to an hour, and says “They should be starting the attack any time now.” Moments later, sounds of explosions are heard coming from outside. 

Klaaze and Freyland had initiated the attack, with a frontal assault on one of the first building full of orcs, with Klaaze kicking in the door and charging in swinging his sword, with the gnome right behind him, swinging his battleaxe into any orcs that Klaaze failed to kill. Boz, Lysdashi and Tao charge the building with the ogres, tossing flaming bottles of oil inside resulting in some spectacular explosions that alert the others to start the attack. 

Serita and Melina both set fire to the roof of a corner building and then attack its occupants as they exit. Lone and Tonto have paired up with two of Hartmann’s associates who also wish to shut down the slaving operation, a paladin named Sir Marmaduke and an elvan fighter named Mojo, and the four of them take on a building in the other corner. Mark has been partnered with another of Hartmann’s friends, a female illusionist named Crystal, who are positioned to keep the foes from escaping back into town. Any foes that manage to slip past them are stopped by either the ship’s First Mate Jacob or the spaceman named Ron. 

The fifteen adventurers make an impressive force to be reckoned with, and by the end of the first ten rounds of battle over half of the orcs and orges have been slain, and all of the buildings that they had resided in are on fire. The remaining foes split into three groups. One group joins the ogre leader who charges the part, consuming a potion that makes him grow to the size of a Stone Giant, with the proportional increase in strength. A second group assembles around the orc leader. The third group retreats to the temple. 

The adventurers decide to concentrate their attacks on the oversized ogre, with him becoming the recipient of multiple arrows and spells. Ron is able to successfully fire his laser rifle into the monster’s brain, killing him, and he collapses. Without their leader, the foes around him are quickly defeated. Meanwhile, Serita manages to catch the orc leader within an insect swarm, which prompts him and his group to surrender. The group that ran back to the temple head to the nearest door, which is locked, and they bang on it to be let inside. 

Coincidentally, this door is to the same room that the adventuring team within the temple are currently standing in. They hear the pounding on the door, and then hear in orcish “Let us in! We’re going to get killed out here!” “What should we do?” Blake asks. Phuddi answers “I say we let them in,” signaling the others to get into position, while also directing Jamie, Karroway and Silas to head down the hallway to get to the stables. The doors are opened, and most of the orcs and ogres charge into the ambush and are immediately cut down. 

Six more still outside break off to the left and right, four heading towards the stables and two towards another room, which Natasha and Carole hurry to get to from inside of the temple. The ones who rush into the stable are ambushed by the other three, and it does not take the women long to track down and eliminate the final two, with Natasha taking a near fatal hit in the process. Those inside of the temple regroup inside of the stables. Kharole enters the stable without Natasha, but Phuddi is able to Detect Evil on her and reveals it to be a doppelganger. The monster is dispatched, and the real Kharole soon arrives with Natasha 

The outside group has now dispatched all of the enemies and decide to hurry back to the ship before the town’s authorities arrive to arrest them, with the townspeople currently preoccupied by the fires to see the battle debris beyond it. They bringing along the captured orc prisoners. Klaaze manages to snag a number of items from the fallen foes, tossing them into his Bag of Holding. They manage to safely make their way back to the ship, and then split up the treasure that had been found. 

Back in the stable, the party concludes that the loft is a safe enough place to rest. Both Natasha and Phuddipeduzh are in no shape to continue, and Phraakeese volunteers to take his wife and the paladin back to the ship. He says he will send back some of the others to bring their team back up to fighting strength. The trio are able to get out of the temple and away through the woods, making it back to the harbor and ship. 

Once back at the ship volunteers are asked for to go take Narg, Natasha and Phuddipeduzh’s place. Klaaze, Lone, Lysdashi, Mojo and Tonto all volunteer. Phraakeese gives them directions, and they make their way back, with the rangers Lone and Lysdashi leading the way. They eventually join up with the others, and Mojo is introduced to the rest of the party. He says he had originally worked with a team known as the Liebercrantz Adventurers, who had previously fought a similar slaving operation, and was investigating to see if these slavers were affiliated with them. The reinforcement group takes up guard positions while the remainder of the party rests. 

Back on the ship, the orc prisoners are questioned. One orc is cooperative, agreeing to help the party in exchange for his freedom and the sparing of his mate and son. He agrees to lead the party back to their lair, ten hours travel to the southwest. Looking at a map of the area, Tao, Isaiah and Tolbyrne recognize this lair is across the border in the Kaloon Lordholding, and is part of the Caves of Chaos, where they had adventured the previous autumn (Module #5). Tolbyrne remembered that area well, and agreed to accompany the group. Joining him and the orc are Crystal, Jacob, Mark, Melina, Ron Luther, Serita, and Sir Marmaduke. They travel throughout the night. 

_[DM’s Note #59: The reason for the side trip to the orc lair was that my grandmother had taken ill and I needed to travel to the Midwest to see her, not knowing how long I would be away. Natasha’s player had always been my back-up DM, but Natasha and Phuddi’s players were getting married in a few days and then going away on their honeymoon. So Narg’s player agreed to step in, and DM part of TSR’s Module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands until I returned. Each player kept their primary character in Clearwater, sending their secondary character off on the side mission. As I had planned to set Module A2 a ways off to the southwest this would also tie in well with that.] _


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## Silver Moon (Sep 26, 2008)

*Chapter 48, “The Party Falls”, July 6th, 1006: *

The group remains in the loft sleeping through the day. Enemies had gone into the stables a couple of times, but never climbed up to the loft. The party decides to wait until it is dark outside to move on again. They begin by heading back down into the tunnels, but then run into some humaoind insects who put up quite a fight. 

They travel back in the direction of the temple via a different route, finding a section that is blocked by a collapsed floor. It takes them far longer to get passed this area than they had expected, with it being nearly two hours later by the time they get everyone across. They move on, making their way back through the temple, climbing back up to a large courtyard. Based on the position of the moon above they determine that it is close to midnight. 

July 7th, 1006: 

They next come upon a room with six orcs and four half-orcs next to some type of odd mechanism. The party has no idea what the item is, but Khraole decides to eliminate it, tossing a Fireball onto it and the monsters. This destroys the device and eliminates all except for a pair of enemies, who Vincenzo and Klaaze make short work of. The drawback to her having thrown the spell is that the entire temple is now alerted to their presence. 

The party hastily moves onward, finding several places where doors and protculleses have been shut to keep them out. They hurry through a long statue filled corridor, and several statues fall over on top of Blake, Kharole and Tonto. At the far end of the room is a troll as well as a few orcs. These monsters run away, with the party in pursuit. The party charge into a huge temple chamber occupied by a large number of enemies. The door slams shut behind them, and the party realize too late that they have been herded into a trap. 

An assassin hiding near the entraceway stabs a poisoned weapon into Kharole, as the enemy cleric casts a Hold Person spell onto Karroway, Lysdashi and Klaaze. All four players then fail their respective saving throws. As Kharole collapes Jamie takes the Timothy Sword, and hurls it like a javelin at her. The sword stikes Kharole, and both she and the sword blink out of existance, Timothy now having the second companion on his quest, with the action also saving Kharole’s life. 

The remaining seven party members are too preoccupied with fighting their own opponents to be able to try to get the other three fighters free of the Hold spell, and the enemy takes advanatage of this by capturing and tying up the three caught in the spell. Blake, Lone and Tonto are the lowest level members of the party present, and all three soon fall under the overhwhelming force of their opponents, who then concentrate their attacks on Jamie, Mojo and Vincenzo, with Silas having disappeared. 

Silas had consumed an invisiblity potion and now reappears behind the enemy cleric,. He successfully strikes her, but he is then stuck down by her Slave Lord companion. At this point all three still standing party members have been separated from each other, with four to six enemies attacking each of them. As Mojo falls Vincenzo decides it is a hopeless situation, and uses his Boots of Levitation to get out of melee weapons range long enough to cast a Sanctuary spell on himself. He then exits the room, looking back at the door to see Jamie fall, and feeling eternally guilty for deserting his party. 

It is nearly 3:00 A.M. by the time he returns to the ship, and informs the remaining seven party members about what has happened. Tao tells him to calm down, pointing out that since the enemies are slavers they are unlikely to kill the party, and will probably sell them into slavery instead. Natasha head back to keep watch on the temple. Tao uses his Speak with Animals ability to send a bird west to relay what has happened to the other party, and instructs them to return to Clearwater. 

Meanwhile, the other group have reached the Caves of Chaos, where they managed to destroy the orc lair. They then moved on to an adjacent hobgoblin lair, wiping out that tribe as well. The caves are searched for treasure. The party exits the caves by mid-afternnoon, and set up a camp. The bird finds them a short while later, with Serita casting a Speak with Animals to translate the message. The party decides to head back towards the city to rescue their allies. 

Once the sun begins to set in Clearwater Natasha notices considerable movement from the temple, with a large convoy exiting the building and heading out on the southeastern road. She determines that a caravan consists of around three-dozen slavers, and that they are transporting around two-dozen slaves, including the ten captured party members. She hurries back to the ship, and Tao dispatches another bird to the second group, with the message “The slavers are heading your way. Find a good place to ambush them. We will be following.” All eight party members from the ship, naemly Boz, Freyland, Isaiah, Natasha, Phraakeese, Phuddipeduzh, Tao and Vincenzo, then head out in persuit of the slavers. 

[_DM’s Note #60: The lack of detail for the “Caves of Chaos” segment was due to my being away and nobody else taking notes. The temple climax battle in Module A1 went in a very unexpected direction, as that battle is one that the party is supposed to win. Fortunately for them, the characters were worth more to the slavers alive than dead. I then scheduled a mid-week pick-up game with Kharole, Narg and Timothy’s players to deal with Timothy’s quest prior to the next week’s game.

As there was potential for all 28 of the party’s characters to be present at the upcoming battle/rescue I decided to have the slaver caravan rendevoous with another group of slavers, taken directly from Module A2: Secret of the Slaver’s Stockade, in order to make it a more challenging game. I also decided at this point to skip Modules A3 and A4, since A3 ends with the party getting captured and A4 involves their escape, which struck me as being too repetitive of the current situation. Plus, I hadn’t anticiapted that Narg’s player would be around for the games, or that he would bring Mojo’s player into the group, both of whom had already played that pair of modules in our other gaming group.]_


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## Silver Moon (Oct 12, 2008)

*Chapter 49, “Interlude at Gladshiem”, July 7th, 1006: *

Kharole, Narg and Timothy appear on the plane of Gladshiem. Ilma, the warrior maiden of Ukko stands before them. All three appear to be fully healed of any wounds. Standing beside her is a human warrior who she introduces as Tiera. He explains that he is a ranger, and was the shield guardian (similar to a squire) for the great Lemminkainen (Deities and Demigods page #54). He gives them a short history of Lemminkainen’s accomplishments, and the events that led to the ascended hero’s demise. 

Ilma then explains how Lemminkainen did not ascended to be with Ukko as he should have, his spirit being hijacked by the Finnish deity Hissi. The Norse deities Magni and Modi, sons of Thor, have agreed to rescue him in exchange for assistance in the giant lands outside of Asgard. Tiera has pledged himself to this quest, and it is this same mission that Timothy and his two chosen companions must now undertake. Ilma explains how they are all now standing at the border of the plane of Gladshiem, which non-Asgardian deities and divine servants may not enter per a decree by Odin. She gives the quartet directions on how and where to proceed. 

They travel for several hours though the fields and hill of the plane of Gladshiem, until they find a mystical fountain that Ilma had directed them to. At that point three beings of light appear before them. These beings speak directly into the minds of the four adventurers, and explain that they represent the past, present and future. “Who do they think we are? Scrooge?” Narg comments. The first being speaks, and the fountain then shows them each images from their pasts. 

The being representing the present then explains why they are there. The mission that they are charged with is to assist the Durin Dwarves of the realm. These dwarves mine a mystical ore known as Mitheral, which is used to create the enchanted weapons used by the deities of this realm. The dwarves have recently been prevented from reaching their mine to obtain the ore by a pair of Fire Giants who have taken up residence at the mouth of the mine cave. The party’s mission is to defeat these giants. “Great!” Narg enthusiastically proclaims. The quartet chooses to rest for the night and proceed onward at dawn. 

July 8th, 1006: 

The four travel following the directions given to them by the dwarves. As they approach the caves the Fire Giants spell the intruders in their midst, and mount an attack. Using great coordination and teamwork, with Narg and Tiera fighting alongside each other and protecting each other’s backs, supported by spells from behind by both Timothy and Kharole, the two giants are soon slain. 

The heroes return to the dwarves and tell of their victory. The dwarves have a grand celebration in their honor, and present each of the heroes with a present made of Mitheral. The four then head back towards the fountain, befriending a pair of Brass Dragons along the way. 

They reach the fountain. The being representing the future offers to show each of them their futures. All except for Tiera decline, with him seeing a long rich life and family ahead of him. The being representing the present shows Tiera his home in the present, and says that his entering the fountain during this viewing will transport him there. He walks into the fountain, the water parting and encircling him without his getting wet, and the others then see him at the other location. 

The being asks the others where in the present they wish to travel. “Can you show us our friends?” Kharole asks. “I can”, the being replies. The image in the fountain depicts a large group caravan of over fifty orc, half-orc, troll and human slavers traveling along a roadway surrounded by hills, rocks and low trees. They recognize several of the bound slaves within caged wagons as allies of them. The being then shows them another group of their friends waiting to launch an ambush a short distance ahead, and a third group of their friends trailing the caravan from behind. 

The being asks, “Which of these groups do you want the fountain to focus upon for your journey back.” They discuss this, with Narg wanting to arrive in the midst of the slavers and Kharole favoring the ambush group ahead. Timothy suggests, “Why don’t we just continue to wait here, see when and where we are needed the most, and then go?” Kharole agrees with Timothy’s suggestion. Narg grumbles about having to wait until after the attack has begun, not wanting to miss out on any of the action, but acquiesces to the suggestion of the others. 

_[DM’s Note #61: The above was a very fun pick-up game that all four of us enjoyed. My source material for Asgard was the then current run of Marvel Comic’s Thor comic book, which the artist/writer Walt Simonson had based heavily upon Norse mythology.]_


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## Silver Moon (Oct 23, 2008)

*Chapter #50, “Shutting down the Slavers,” July 8th, 1006: *

Jacob, Mark, Melina, Serita, Sir Marmaduke and Tolbyrne wait as the slaver’s caravan approaches them, at a spot in the road with a thicker group of trees alongside it. Serita begins the attack by casting an Entangle spell upon the trees, having them grab the orcs and half-orcs in the lead. The fighters emerge from their hiding spots in pairs, with Sir Marmaduke and Jacob attacking the caravan wagon guards on the left while Mark and Melina strike the guards on the right. Tolbyrne fires off Magic Missile spells, with the target being the locks on the slave cages. 

As the fighters continue their assault Serita tosses Heat Metal spells onto the armor of the Slave Lord leaders. The four fighters have dropped the foes closest to the slave wagons, and rather than then charging any others, pull back together to a spot where some rocks and trees provide additional cover, and pick up the bows and arrows that they had placed their. The orcan slavers in the first line charging at them are then cut down by arrow fire. 

Each slave cage has a few guards inside it as well, who draw their weapons to keep their still-chained captives from considering an escape. Tolbyrne casts Sleep spells at the slave wagons to stop these guards. It is somewhat successful, with all but two guards in one of the cages falling asleep. The spells also cause most of the slaves to fall sleep as well. 

One slave who does not fall asleep is Klaaze, who is in the same cage as the two still awake guards. He uses his strength to break the manacles holding his legs to the floor of the cage. He is unable to break the chains binding his arms together, so decides instead to use the chain as a weapon. He swings the chains three times into the first slaver, the first causing the half-orc to drop his weapon, and the following two hits knocking the foe into unconsciousness. Seeing this, the remaining slaver attempts to flee, trying to unlock the gate to the cage. Klaaze changes up from behind, crossing his arms across each other to create a loop with the chain, which he then loops over the half-orcs head and around its neck. He then uses his exceptional strength to pull, killing the foe. 

Once the caravan had stopped, the group following it charged forward. Tao and Natasha are the first from this group to arrive at the caravan, and engage the slavers at the rear of the caravan in battle. A silence spell envelops the area surrounding the enemy cleric, who then charges forward to escape the spell’s area of effect. She and the other three Slave Lords fall back, and call the other slavers to surround and protect them. The party clerics Isaiah and Vincenzo work together to catch most of these guards in Hold Person spells. 

Up front, Serita moves into position to now catch both of the trolls in Entangle spells, as Jacob, Mark, Melina and Marmaduke drop their bows and charge the slave cages, to assist Klaaze in freeing the other slaves. The sleeping party members are woken up and unlocked from their shackles. Jamie, Lone, Lysdashi, Mojo, Silas and Tonto all arm themselves with swords taken from the fallen slavers, and join in the fighting against their former captors. 

Boz, Freyland, Phuddipeduzh and Phraakeese make a charge from the rear at the slave lords, cutting down any who are not held by the Hold Person spells. Phuddipeduzh gets lucky with his vorpal blade, taking out the top enemy cleric in his first swing, however the remaining three Slave Lords prove to be have more than sufficient ability to fight this quartet, with Boz and Freyland both quickly reduced to single digit hit points, at which point they pull back. Simultaneous to that, the Holds on the remaining guards wear off, with the now rather wounded Phuddipeduzh and Phaakeese finding them surrounded. 

Just then, Narg, Timothy and Kharole appear beside them, with Kharole tossing a Fireball a bit behind the Slave Lords, catching them within it but stopping just short of the five party members. Timothy tosses another Hold Person on the unheld guards, refreezing half of them, as Narg and Phraakeese both attack the remaining ones. 

The Slave Lord leader takes minimal damage from the Fireball, and charges towards the front of the caravan, only to be stopped by Sir Marmaduke and Tao who block his path. He turns around, to find that path of escape now blocked by Phuddipeduzh, who had followed him. A short battle follows, during which the two paladins and the monk defeat the slaver. 

Meanwhile, an assassin Slave Lord had also survived the Fireball and attempted to sneak away beneath the wagons, only to have been spotted by Natasha who cut him off both figuratively and literally. His assassin apprentice attempts to exact vengeance upon her for killing his master, but fails and winds up sharing his master’s fate (as Natasha’s player rolls up a pair of natural 20’s). 

The trolls have managed to get free of the Entangle, only to have Serita then Entangle them again. Before they can escape a second time Kharole throws a pair of fatal Fireballs onto them. The few slavers that remain are now greatly outnumbered and are soon defeated. 

_[DM’s Note #62: This was quite a game, with a record number of fourteen players in attendance, playing twenty-eight separate characters. This was the first game since Natasha and Phuddipeduzh’s players returned from their honeymoon; Mojo’s player continued to be a guest at the games; and the game was also last one during my Navy friend’s extended leave before shipping out to his next assignment. What I didn’t realize at the time was that for our gaming group it was also the end of an era, as a number of key players would soon be leaving the group.] _


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## Silver Moon (Oct 27, 2008)

*Chapter 51, “A trip back to the Slaver’s temple”, July 8th, 1006: *

Ilma, the warrior maiden of Ukko, appears before the party. She informs them that the group which they have defeated included all of the Slave Lords, and that the slaving operation has now been destroyed. She tells them that this will be a serious problem for the Church of Loviatar, as the operation was not only their primary funding operation but also the mechanism that the church used to rid itself of any people in their communities who caused them difficulties. She also hints that she has some prophetic visions of the future, and that great things are in store for the Silver Moon Adventurers. She then departs. 

The party search and strip the slavers. Party members without armor and weapons acquire what they can. Most of the magic and other possessions taken from the party members who had been captured are found, but some items are still missing. The freed slaves have no desire to return to Clearwater, so are given provisions, two caravan wagons, and mounts, and they proceed westward towards the Kaloon Lordholding coast. The party head back east towards Clearwater, stopping to rest for the night at sunset. 

July 9th, 1006: 

The group returns to the town of Clearwater, and is informed by the crew of the ship that the Magistrates of the town are looking for them. Several party members are now ready for apprenticeships, and they decide to make this the first order of business. Boz, Jamie, Kharole, Lysdashi, Melina, Phuddipeduzh and Tolbyrne all find people in the town to apprentice them. Narg takes on Mojo as his apprentice. Several members of the party receive a summons to appear in court the following day. 

July 10th, 1006: 

A day of great tension follows, with the party having to testify in court about what has transpired. It is discovered that the church leader Alexander had secretly been the one who had initiated the party’s arrival in town to deal with the slavers, and he is formally stripped of his rank and sentenced to leave town. With him taking responsibility for most of the party’s actions, the only major fine is levied against Serita, for destroying two buildings in town during the distraction attack. She is fined 1,000 gold pieces. 

Charges against the rest of the party are reduced to the charge of “littering”, to be tried in a lesser court the following day, as they had left a large number of slaver bodies behind in the street after the town battle. The Magistrate also banishes them from the town, ordering them to depart following the other trial. The wizard Racoba, who had begun to apprentice both Kharole and Tolbyrne, then countermands this order. He declares that the party will remain for another week, until he has completed the training of his students. It appears obvious that the Magistrate fears this man, who agrees to the week delay. The towns Bishop and Abbot are in attendance, and also reluctantly agree to this. Feeling a false sense of security, Natasha then fires off accusations about the Bishop and Abbot being involved with the slaving operations. The church leaders and Magistrate just ignore her. 

July 11th, 1006: 

The party appears in the Abbot’s court regarding the littering charge, and those who were seen during town battle are ordered to pay a fine of 100 gold pieces each. 

July 12th, 1006: 

Apprenticeships continue. There is some type of holiday in town, which the party decides it is best to avoid, so those not apprenticing remain on the ship for the day. 

July 13th, 1006: 

Most apprenticeship end. With the majority of the key party members now back with the group, they decide that it is time to reenter the Slaver’s Temple to look for their lost possessions. A group comprised of Blake, Klaaze, Melina, Mojo, Narg, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Serita and Vincenzo head over to the temple. They bring with them a slaver captured during the initial battle, who had been kept on the ship as a prisoner. 

Shortly after entering the building their prisoner guide attempts to escape, and is immediately killed by Klaaze. A trio of undead, a Wight and two ghouls, are then encountered and successfully turned by Vincenzo. The party decides that the temple is unoccupied, and split into smaller groups to look for their things more quickly. 

They eventually find a walled in area. Klaaze lifts up Narg to look over the wall, with Narg seeing the party’s possessions thrown about near piles of rubble and rocks. Klaaze is impatient to get his items back, and has Narg hoist him up and over the wall. Klaaze begins to grab the things, and tosses them back over the wall to Narg. Klaaze them get bitten by a creature in the back of his leg. He lets off a yell “OWW, something just bit me.” As Klaaze draws his sword and pivots around Narg climbs over the wall to assist him. 

It turns out that the creature is a basilisk, and lives in this area with its mate. Narg gets turned to stone by the creature, prompting Klaaze to decide to go get the others. He turns his head away from the creatures and drinks a Potion of Flying. He has never used this type of potion before, with comical results trying to fly in the confined spaces of the building. He does manage to get away from the basilisks and soon finds the other members of the party. He leads them back to the walled in area, and they manage to kill both of the basilisks. 

The party gathers up their things, and hosing the Narg statue, make their way back to the ship. Phuddipeduzh is now experienced enough for his next level, and heads off to begin an apprenticeship with the paladin Sir Marmaduke. 

July 14th, 1006: 

Melina and Mojo haul the Narg statue over to the home of the Wizard Racoba to see if he can be of assistance. The wizard gets very angry at their interrupting the training of his students, but does agree to help, provided that there are no further interruptions. Melina and Mojo leave. 

July 15th, 1006: 

Kharole and Tolbyrne complete their apprenticeships, after which Racoba transforms Narg back to flesh. The gnome priest Jared visits the party, suggesting that they depart before the 20th, which is when the Emperor (who rules this region) is scheduled to visit the town of Clearwater. They say that won’t be a problem, as Phuddi’s apprenticeship will end on the 18th, so they can depart at dawn on the 19th. 

_[DM’s Note #63: After returning from his honeymoon Natasha’s player was dismayed to find that Mojo’s player had joined the group, as the two of them had personalities that were not compatible. Natasha’s player then began a behind-the-scenes campaign to get the new player ousted from the group. His plan backfired, with him soon discovering that most of the group really liked the new player, and several did not like the shenanigans this player was initiating. So, in a classic case of “If I can’t have my way I’ll take my ball and go home” the player changed the game night for his other gaming group to the same night as ours. Thus, he, his wife, and his best friend (who played Lysdashi) all abruptly departed. He gave me all of his notes for the module he had been working on regarding the old enemies of the party seeking revenge, which I decided deal with the following week in order to wrap up that subplot.] _


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## Silver Moon (Nov 7, 2008)

*Chapter 52, “Showdown”, July 16th, 1006: *

A messenger arrives, having been hired by the Magician Gredstein. The wizard has sent a note to the Silver Moon Adventurers, requesting that no more than three of them meet him and two associates in a neutral setting to discuss a resolution to their conflict. The party sends back a note agreeing to this, and naming a restaurant in town for the meeting. 

The group of Kharole, Narg and Serita arrive at the restaurant. Kharole recognizes the Wizard from their assault on King Kohlorahdooh’s castle in Gelorynth a year ago. “I though we killed him?” Narg states. Seated alongside him are a pair of fighters, one male one female. The man they recognize as a Naval Commander of Kohlorahdooh’s. The woman is recognized as being an assassin who was one two women who had escaped in their final combat on the world of Thibaultia (Module #6). Serita says to her, “I though we left you on another planet?” The woman replies, “My companion and I saw how you used that fountain, and followed. We are now trapped on this world.” 

Gredstein introduces his companions as Captain Keynock and Lyla. He say, “My assocaites and I seek vengeance upon your group for the problems you have caused us.” “What exactly are you suggesting?” Narg. Gredstein replies, “A fair fight. I propose that we meet in two days for a combat. My group of seven against seven top members of your party.” Serita does not trust him, but the other two convince her to take him at his word, that if he breaks it and brings reinforcements they have more than enough reinforements of their own to pull in as well. A location is chosen for the fight, an clearning alongside a forested grove about an hour west of the town. 

Later that day Klaaze is approached by a man named Elroy. Klaaze recognzies the man as one of the leaders of the bandit camp near Gelorynth where he had once been a prisoner. Elroy is one of Gredstein’s companions, but is apprehensive about the upcoming battle, and attempts to convince Klaaze to leave town before the fight, even offering to pay them. Narg arrives on the scene and interrupts the conversation, telling Elroy “Let me discuss it with my team. I’ll let you know tomorrow.” 

July 17th, 1006: 

The party discuss what course of action to take. Several members of the party see this as a needless fight, and suggest that they just leave. Others disagree, saying that “We will probably have to fight these guys eventually. Best to do it now and get it over with, rather than having them take us by surprise at some point.” The consensus is to go along with the fight. Elroy is contacted and his offer is declined. 

July 18th, 1006: 

The group comprised of Kharole, Klaaze, Mark, Mojo, Narg, Serita and Vincenzo head off to the battle site. The seven foes arrive simultaneously. In addition to Gredstein, Keynock, Lyla and Elroy, the enemy team includes Lyla’s fighter companion Jenny, a female assassin named Ruth who had kidnapped several party members when they were in Curigull, and the humanoid spider cleric Byacluse, who they had fought at the Chagmat lair. Mojo is briefly filled in on who each of these foes is, and their abilities. 

The call to battle is sounded, and each adventurer matches up with a foe. Klaaze takes on Elroy. Kharole and Gredstein engage in a wizard’s battle. Vincenzo and Byacluse engage in a cleric’s battle. Mark takes on Ruth. Serita takes on the assassin Lyla. Narg takes on Captain Keynock. Mojo takes on Jenny. 

The enemies draw first blood, with their initial attacks being more powerful than the party had expected. The party however, has remarkable luck, as everyone hit by a poisoned blade sucessfully saves against the poison. The first enemy to fall is Elroy, being slain by Klaaze. Kharole is also successful against Gredstein, catching him in a web anchored by a nearby tree, and then pelting him with Magic Missiles. 

With two enemies down, the party then begins to double-team the remaining foes. Klaaze and Mark dispatch Ruth, while Kharole assists Narg against Keynock. Serita had lured Lyla closer to the woods, to catch her in an Entangle, but the assassin managed to escape it and waited in ambush for the druid to get closer. Vincenzo and Byacluse are close to a stalemate. The spider uses his faster speed and multiple appendages to fight, but Vincenzo is able to keep these at bay with strategic moves using his shoes of levitation. Meanwhile, Mojo is faring poorly against the fighter Jenny, who is much higher in level, and he soon finds himself at single digit hit points. 

Phuddipeduzh had been unable to join the group due to his apprenticeship, but on this particular day his paladin training was on subjects other than swordsmanship, so he had loaned his Vorpal Blade to Mojo for this battle. Up until this point his swings had been relatively unlucky, but attack this round into his now overconfident opponent rings true, decapitating his foe. 

Seeing that Mojo is now okay, Mark and Klaaze turn to assist Narg and Kharole, with Keynock soon falling under the combined might of the four of them. Serita has decided to wait for some of her allies to join her before proceeding deeper into the woods in search of the assassin. 

Byacluse sees that he is alone in the field, and casts a sanctuary spell on himself. He makes his way into the woods. He detects the presence of Lyla, and informs her that their allies have all been slain. The two of them decide to abandon the battle, and escape. The party bury the bodies of the five dead foes. 

July 19th, 1006: 

Phuddipeduzh’s appenticeship ends and the ship Silver Moon departs from the community of Clearwater, for an uneventful sail back to the city of Halla. 

July 23rd, 1006: 

The ship arrives in Halla. The party decides that the past four months of non-stop adventuring have been tyring, and it is time for a break. Those with homes elsewhere on the continent head back to them, with the others remaining in Halla and residing on the ship. The party agrees to get back together the following Spring. 

_[DM’s Note #64: This game night ended with another surprise announcement, as Klaaze’s player informed the group that he would be leaving. He stated his reason as the change in dynamics because of the other recent departures. While this still left us with a core group of nine, it was a radical change from the group of fifteen that we had had a few weeks earlier. Narg’s player was scheduled to DM next, and he suggested to the others that they should feel free to bring guests to the games.]_


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## Silver Moon (Nov 12, 2008)

*Chapter 53, “The Third Year Begins”, April 17th, 1007:* 

It is now spring of the following year, and during the hiatus the Silver Moon’s Ship Captain Tim G. Quirk has retired, with the First Mate Jacob has now been promoted to Captain, with crewmembers Fritz and Hans each moving up in rank to First and Second Mate. He hires an artillery expert named Lloyd who is appointed as the new Third Mate. A druid named Curtix is also hired to watch after the party’s mounts and other animals while they are onboard ship. 

The adventurers have begun to make their way back to the City of Halla. Klaaze surprises everyone with his return from the Kaloon Lordholding, as he had said that he would not be coming back. Natasha and Phraakeese returned, with her being very pregnant, and on this particular day she gives birth to a healthy baby boy who they named Terrence George. The party also receives a note from Phuddipeduzh stating that he would not be returning, as he discovered that the rabbitmen had lied about killing his daughter Janet, and that he was now living with the young girl in Curigull. Jamie shows everyone a tapestry that she has begun to make, depicting the group’s history. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #65: Kharole’s player had managed to convince Klaaze’s player to continue with the group. He attended only the first game of the module and we never saw him again after that. The two character child care situations had been derived by Natasha and Phuddi’s players to still keep their characters around but out of action, in the event that they might decide to later rejoin the group.] _

May 4th, 1007: 

A messenger arrives from the Isle of Clease, located approximately 150 miles to the south. The messenger introduces himself as Mr. Thompkins Gazelle, and says that he has a mission for them. The ship sets sail. 

May 7th, 1007: 

The winds and currents are in the party’s favor, and they make excellent time in reaching the Isle. They dock at the town of Palin, which has a large circular harbor along the eastern coast of the island. They are summoned before the town’s Duke, who says that he wishes for them to seek out a find a lost “soul gem”, said to be near an abandoned Castle at a northern section of the Island known as Inverness. 

May 8th, 1007: 

A group comprised of Isaiah, Klaaze, Mark and Mojo are sent off to the north towards Inverness, led by a guide named Cleophus. They travel all day, finding a place to sleep in the forests. During Klaaze’s watch he gets tired, and tells his pet Buzz to keep an eye on things instead. The large blue fuzzy does not comprehend, and fails to wake the party when a group of orcs and hobgoblins come upon them. The party wake up and fight the monsters. Most of the monsters are slain, but an orc and a hobgoblin are held and then taken captive by Isaiah. 

Meanwhile, back in the town of Palin, Crystal does some magical research around town, discovering that this Soul Gem is far more dangerous than the Duke had let on. She also finds out that the Sage of the Sea, who lives in the Jawlt Lordholding town of Georgetown, has more knowledge of the gem. A group comprised of Serita, Silas and Vincenzo decide to go find the others to give them this new information, while Tao chooses to remain behind in Palin. The rest of the party departs on the ship Silver Moon, sailing northeast to Georgetown. 

May 9th, 1007: 

The first group heading towards Inverness attempt to cross the Gillum River. A knight is black armor blocks their path. Klaaze fights the man, cutting off his limbs. The quadriplegic knight declares the battle a draw, and the party moves on. The arrive at the town of Chapman by nightfall, and seek lodgings. 

May 10th, 1007: 

The group seeks out the town’s Mayor, a man named Graham. They are surprised to find that Silas, Serita and Vincenzo are at the office, having been teleported there from Palin by a wizard known as Tim the Enchanter, who works for Graham. They get directions to the fabled Ghost Tower of Inverness, said to be about a days travel away. 

Meanwhile, the ship Silver Moon sails into the harbor of Georgetown, the only community on a small island off the Jawlt Lordholding’s southern coast. Crystal, Jamie, Melina and Timothy head out to check out the town. They get directions to the Sage’s Castle, a fortified building situated atop a hill behind the town. They are informed by the Sage’s valet that the older man has already gone to bed and to return the following day. 

Shortly before midnight a group of around a dozen hobgoblins sneak onto the dock with the Silver Moon and climb up onto the ship. The two crewmembers on duty, Brian and Terry, are taken by surprise and slain. The noise of the hobgoblins running across the top deck wakes those below, and Blake, Crystal, Jamie, Melina and Ron Luther X5-0135 charge up to fight them. The monsters are all defeated, and Melina picks up a magical sword from one of the foes. The sword turns out to be intelligent, yelling a string of insults and profanities at her, so she throws it overboard and into the harbor. 

May 11th, 1007: 

The party leaves the ship at dawn, asking around town about the hobgoblins. They are told that a large group of hobgoblins live on the opposite side of the Island, but that the creatures generally avoid getting near the town. The townsfolk have no idea why they attacked the ship, and suggest to the party that they ask the sage. 

They meet with the sage who tells them that the hobgoblins are led by a shaman, and they would not have come to town unless ordered to do so. Kharole says something insulting to the sage, and he has her thrown out of his home. He also gives them his knowledge of the soul gem, explaining how it gets its name by stripping the souls of those who attempt to get near it, randomly reaching out in different directions. The group spend the remainder of the day in town, getting supplies and finding out more information. Kharole does not come back to the ship, and several party members decide to spend the night in town looking for her. 

That night the ship is attacked again, this time by aquatic hobgoblins. As the party fight off the monsters Jacob has the ship set sail to make it harder for the monsters to get aboard. Ron Luther uses his get pack to fly out from the town to the ship to see why they are leaving. He helps use his laser rifle to shoot the last of the monsters. Jacob tells him to fly back to town, and let the others know that the ship will return in the morning to pick them up. 

_[Chronicler/DM’s Note #66: As many readers have already surmised, the DM of this main module was a big fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The side module at the town of Georgetown was one that I hastily put together as a simultaneous filler to cover two game nights that the primary DM unexpectedly could not attend.] _


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## Silver Moon (Nov 20, 2008)

*Chapter 54, “Entering the Ghost Tower of Inverness”, May 11th, 1007: *

The group travels all day towards the Inverness section of the Island. It is getting towards evening, and Klaaze, Serita and Silas (whose players are coincidentally absent from the game) vote to exercise caution and wait to approach the structure. Isaiah, Mark, Mojo and Vincenzo disagree, and the four set up camp a camp in the woods closer to the structure and watch it during the night. 

May 12th, 1007: 

The quartet nearest the castle approach, and begin descend from a staircase going deep underground near the northeast tower. A group of five gnoll are encountered, fought and defeated. Beyond that is a room with a checkerboard tiled floor with an odd stature. The next room is occupied by a pair of beholders, which are also fought and defeated. By now the quartet is in pretty rough shape, with both clerics nearly out of spells, so they decide to retreat. They exit the castle, and rejoin their other four companions. 

Back at Georgetown, Kharole is located and the party opts to no longer investigate the situation with the hobgobins. They pick up the party members in town, and the ship Silver Moon sets sail back towards the Isle of Clease. 

May 13th, 1007: 

The group decides to reenter the northeast tower, choosing to go up this time. A large room with a globe is soon found. The globe has the names of several creatures written on it, which Mojo begins to read aloud. The first two stated are Ape and Minotaur, upon which real creatures of those types appear and attack the party. The creatures are slain. The party then move on, encountering and defeating a blink dog, a displacer beast, and then umberhulk. The last proves to be too much for the group, and they decide to retreat. 

They regroup outside of the tower, where they run into a very peculiar human magic-user by the name of Egap. They have a very confusing conversation with Egap, after which they conclude that he is either mentally unbalanced or just speaks using a lot of jargon that the group cannot comprehend. Klaaze and Serita choose to wait outside while the others investigate the castle. 

The party heads back into the castle, now choosing to go up the southwest tower. A manticore is fought and defeated. The monster was guarding a secret door containing treasure, including some type of magical wand. Egap is given the wand to identify, but instead of casting a spell on it he tries to light and smoke it, so the party takes it back. 

A room filled with boulders is next found, but the large rocks turn out to be only illusionary. The room has an elaborate door in it, which the party cannot get open. Vincenzo notices that the door has four carved indentations on it, one of which appears to be the exact same size as the rod that they had found. The rod is placed in the door, but nothing happens. The group decides to head back to the room with the manticore to look for the other three rods. 

They are unable to find more, and exit the building. They join back up with Serita and Klaaze, who had spent the past several hours investigating around the outside of the building, where they found one of the other rods being sought. The party heads back into the woods to their camp, where Egap engages in some sort of strange ritual involving the consumption of various pills and beverages, after which he begins to converse with a variety of creatures that nobody else can see. 

May 14th, 1007: 

The group of Egap, Isaiah, Mark, Mojo, Silas and Vincenzo return to the southwest tower, and decide to head up. This leads to another section of the castle, which has many long and winding corridors. A large room occupied by a group of sixteen bugbears is encountered. The bugbears have not noticed them yet, so Silas enters the room while invisible. The monsters are able to smell him, and move in his direction. The remainder of the party charge in to assist him, and soon find that they are overwhelmed by the monsters. Egap throws some Pyrotechnics spells out through a crack in the wall, to signal Klaaze and Serita that they are in trouble. 

Meanwhile, the ship Silver Moon has arrived back in the town of Palin. The party discovers that Tao is no longer there, having moved on to the Ghost Tower with several local adventurers who he had recruited. Kharole decides to try catching up with them, getting visual cues to teleport on ahead to the town of Chapman, and setting out for the tower from there. 

Just as those in the room are on the verge of falling before the overwhelming number of bugbear foes a group of five allies charge into the room to assist them. Serita is among, the other being Tao and three new adventurers, a male dwarf, a male halfling and a female half-elf. With help from these reinforcements the bugbears are eventually defeated. Tao then makes introduction, the dwarf being a thief named Lannon, the halfling being a thief named Milo Burrows, and the half-elf being a magic-user named Fiona. A quick search of the room reveals a pile of treasure, including the third rod. The party exit the building, and Egap wanders off during the night. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #67: In the course of two months the group had gone from a record high of fifteen players to a core group of nine, and with summer vacations there had now been several games with only five or six people in attendance. To counter this, the players were now encouraged to bring guests. The first guest was a friend of Silas’s player. The player turned out to be almost as peculiar as the Egap character that he portrayed, and he was only with us for a single game. 

The following week Serita’s player returned after a month-long absence while acting in summer stock, and she brought with her three new friends who she had met while doing the theatre productions. These proved to be very good choices, as Milo’s player became a regular member of the group and was with us for the next fifteen years. Lannon’s player remains an active player in the group today, some twenty-two years later. Fiona’s player only stayed with us for about half-a-year, but the character is still actively played, as the player passed it on to her husband (Lannon’s player) when she departed.]_


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## Silver Moon (Dec 18, 2008)

*Chapter 55, “Finding the Soul Gem”, May 15th, 1007: *

While Klaaze continues to stay behind to guard the camp the rest of the party move on to the northeast tower. The fourth rod is located in a secret compartment inside of the chest of the statue in the checkerboard room. The group then head back to the southwest tower, and back to the room with the odd door. 

The four rods are placed inside of the door, and it opens. The party enters the next room, which has a funnel in the ceiling going up some fifty feet. Tao scales the funnel and drops down a rope. Using this rope and another rope of climbing, the party manage to climb up, finding themselves in a room that appears to be filled with fog. They cautiously proceed onward. 

They then hear noises behind them, and prepare for battle. A being enshrouded with magical light moves towards them, with a shadowy companion to either side of it. The party thankfully holds off on attacking this unknown trio, as Kharole emerges from the mist along with two new allies. One is another female elf magic-user named Anjuili, who had cast the magicial light spell around her. The other is a male human barbarian named Andrew. Kharole explains how she met the pair near the town of Chapman, and they knew the way to the Ghost Tower. 

The group move on, reaching a staircase. At the top of the stairs is a fire-filled room with a narrow pathway. Next they reach a large room filled with fire, with a spiral staircase up in the center of the room guarded by a large and angry fire giant. Smoke and fire are everywhere, with swift wind currents passing through the room. 

The party decide that the staircase must be their destination. Isaiah and Vincenzo take the lead, and draw the giant’s attention. While the giant is occupied Kharole, Mark and Silas approach it under the cover of invisibility. Serita and Andrew attempt to approach from another direction. Andrew steps over an area with strong air currents, and a gust of wind carries him up and through a hole in the ceiling. 

The sight of the flying barbarian has the effect of further distracting the giant, allowing the invisible trio to reach him and attack with full force, assisted by spells thrown by the two clerics and the druid. The giant soon falls. The spiral staircase then transforms into a solid stone pillar. 

Andrew is still on the level above, and he directs the rest of the party over to the same windy area where he was raised up. The others all float up, some for a rather comical effect. The next large room encountered has inverted gravity, with a ceiling filled with water and island in the center. The party manage to fall upward and down into the water, then swim to the island. 

The island proves to be empty, and the party becomes frustrated. Andrew, Anjuili and Kharole dive back into the water, looking below. Mojo and Silas then do the same. A door to a room is found at the bottom of the water. The party all dive below, as Andrew and Mojo pull on the door. The door opens, but the water does not flow down through it. 

The five swim through the door, finding themselves in the room containing the soul gem. The gem begins to randomly lash out with power surges at different parts of the room. The party is uncertain about what to do next, except for Mojo who decides to charge towards it. He reaches and grabs the gem, and the power surges stop. They exit the room and swim back to the others with the gem. 

Once everyone is gathered together back on the island in the center of the room both Bags of Holding are pulled out, and the party climb inside. Kharole then uses the Helm of Teleportation to bring them back to the town of Palin. The Duke is given the gem, and he rewards them with lots of money. The party prepares to sail back home, only remembering much later that Klaaze was still back waiting for them outside of the tower. Tao comments, “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.” Kharole disagrees, and insists that they wait another day for her to use the Helm of Teleportation to go back and get him. 

May 16th, 1007: 

Kharole leads a small group back to the tower to get Klaaze. They have to wait another day for the Helm to recharge to teleport back to the ship. 

May 17th, 1007: 

The party all reassemble back in Palin, and the ship Silver Moon sets sail for home. 

May 19th, 1007: 

The Silver Moon arrives back at the city of Halla. 

_[Chronicler’s Note #68: The two new characters at this week’s game were a married couple that were friends of Vincenzo’s player. They were a rather odd couple. She was very extroverted and seemed to enjoy role playing, although her magic-user seldom if ever cast any spells. Her husband was extremely introverted, and spent most of the games sitting quietly in the corner and eating his supper. They stayed with the group for the next four months, and then abruptly departed, the group not seeing them again until a party and game celebrating our 10th Year Anniversary. By the end of the module the group was back up to fourteen members, although the player of Phraakeese and Tao said he would not be around very often due to an intensive college schedule that semester.] _


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## Silver Moon (Dec 30, 2008)

*Chapter 56, “The Sea Battle”, May 20th, 1007: *

A large two-masted ship sails into Halla harbor. Three men from the ship come to visit Vincenzo, and he then leaves with them. The boat sails out into the harbor, and then disappears, as it the entire ship suddenly became invisible. 

May 21st to June 10th, 1007: 

Klaaze returns to his family home in the Kaloon Lordholding. Natasha and Phraakeese depart on a trip with their young son, not knowing when they will be back. Narg returns from more travels with his Pooka. Andrew, Anjuili, Lannon and Milo decide to officially join the group. Fiona opts not to at this point, but says that she will stay in touch. 

June 11th, 1007: 

The ship that Vinnie had left on returns to Halla. A man from that ship heads directly to the ship Silver Moon, introducing himself as Austin, an envoy from the East Lordholding land of Raylan. He says that he is from the town of Nos Nevets, where Vincenzo originally came from. Vinnie is back there now, having been given the title of Chief Prelate, which puts him in charge of the local army. Vincenzo sent the envoy to get the party, as he needs the group’s assistance in helping to obtain large deposits of oil from a neighboring island. They are given a Raylan flag to hoist once they near its territorial waters. 

June 12th, 1007: 

The party spends the day gathering supplies and preparing the ship to sail. Two new replacement crewmembers are added, namely the one-eyed fighter Furynick who Isaiah, Tao and Tolbyrne had previously adventured with (Back in Module #5), and a gnome fighter named Ixnoxsis from Freyland’s home village. A 4th level female fighter named Kara also joins the party for this mission. 

June 13th to 15th, 1007: 

The Silver Moon departs from Halla. The first two days of sailing prove to be rather uneventful. After rounding the southern coast of the continent, and then sailing northeast along the East Lordholding, a heavy fog rolls in and the temperature drops. 

June 16th, 1007: 

The ship continues on through the heavy fog. The Raylan flag is now flown. 

June 17th, 1007: 

The fog dissipates and the ship’s navigator Smiddle consults his charts and maps, confirming that they are nearing their destination. Another ship moves up swiftly from behind them. It is also flying a Raylan flag, and the party assumes it to be an escort. As the ship draws close a long tarp on the main deck drops down, revealing three loaded arbalests with crew. The spears within the arbalests are set on fire and launched, striking the masts of the ship Silver Moon. A magician about the other ship also summons up a water elemental. The enemy vessel lowers the Raylan flag, replacing it with a red flag with the emblem of a sharp-toothed fish. 

“What the hell has the fat padre gotten us into?” Narg exclaims, as the party and crew all get into positions. As the crewmembers attempt to put out the fires all party archers take up position on the aft and side railings, firing onto the attackers. The spell casters meanwhile concentrate of dispelling or defeating the water elemental. Arrows strike several of the crewmembers down from enemy archers, but the party clerics and druids manage to get to them quickly to avoid deaths. 

The spellcasters are successful in reducing the elemental to a ripple, and the fires on the masts are put out while the sails are still usable. Canvas patches are thrown up, which Kharole locks in place with Web spells, and the group’s magical Fan is put on high as Jacob puts the ship into as sharp a U-turn as the large craft can manage. 

As they near the enemy ship Kharole then lets loose into the other ship with a full volley of Fireballs, as the party archers then concentrate on the survivors of Kharole’s attacks. The enemy wizard teleports away as the Silver Moon pulls alongside and the crew attach grapples to the now defeated enemy craft. A handful of prisoners are taken captive, some treasure is quickly picked up along with the enemy’s flag, and the now burning craft is left adrift. The Silver Moon resumes its previous course, as they watch the other ship burn and then sink. Temporary repairs are made to the ship.


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## Silver Moon (Jan 17, 2009)

*Chapter 57, “Arrival at Nos Nevets, June 18th, 1007: *

Shortly after dawn the Silver Moon arrives at Nos Nevets harbor. They are welcomed ashore by a man named Edland, who says that he is the harbormaster. A man named Carmine, who says that he is Vincenzo’s Aide, then greets them. Carmine gives the party a tour of the town. In the process a very peculiar heavy-set older gentleman named Roland who has a stuffed lizard attached to his shoulder greets them. Roland then accompanies the group. 

They are eventually taken to Vincenzo’s Office. Vinnie thanks the party for coming, and then gestures to Roland saying, “I see that you’ve already met my father.” Narg gets right to the point and asks, “What seems to be the problem. Our ship was attacked on the way here.” They then show him the flag the other Vincenzo says, “The trouble started when we began to get oil from the Isle of Poisson, about a day’s sail East of here. The Island belongs to the land of Raylan, and our town was authorized to get the oil. Unbeknownst to us, the Island was also the home to a group of pirates, who have been fighting us.” Hearing the term ‘pirates’ causes Narg, Mojo and Milo to break into a chorus of “Arrrgh” and “Eye Matey” comments, while simulating hooked hands and peg legs. 

Interrupting her clowning allies, Serita asks Vinnie, “What exactly do you want us to do?” He replies, “Nothing just yet. We sent envoys to Raylan’s capital city of Oddessin to find out more about this pirate group and to get further instructions. We should wait until they return.” “Sounds good. Can we find a good bar to wait in?” Mojo asks. 

The party does manage to find a bar to hang out in. The evening is interrupted by an explosion and fire, which the town then works hard to extinguish. It turns out not to have been caused by an enemy attack, being an laboratory accident by the town’s alchemist, a man named Byron. 

June 19th, 1007: 

Trouble occurs in the General Store, caused by a pair of locals. Vincenzo concludes that these problems in town are a result of tension and fear because of the Pirates, and he has his Aide Carmine teleport to Oddessin to find out what is keeping the envoys. Carmine returns, stating that the envoys never arrived. Carmine was able to find out some information. The enemy turns out to be a known magic-user named Korsikino, who is the self-proclaimed ruler of Poisson and leader of the pirates. The visual description of this man matches the mage who the party had seen on board the enemy ship. 

The day is interrupted by the arrival of three small pirate ships in the harbor, which barrage the town with flaming spears propelled by arbalests. Nos Nevets archers under Vincenzo’s direction, assisted by the Silver Moon Adventurers, mount a counterattack and the ships sail off. 

A group of soldiers are sent to investigate down the road to the west, which the envoys had travelled on. The soon return, having found the bodies of the envoys not far from town. This sends Vincenzo into a fit of rage, as the leader of the envoys had been his mother. The party offers to do whatever it takes to help bring down these pirates. 

June 20th, 1007: 

Vincenzo holds a worship and memorial service at his Church of the Twin Gods, which the entire party decides to attend. Vincenzo casts blessings on the party for success in their mission. Shortly after the service the ship Silver Moon is readied for sailing, as the party has decided to go on the offense and sail directly to Poisson. Vincenzo gives Kharole a magical device that simulates a Locate Object spell and has been created to point to a ring that Korsikino is known to wear. 

About halfway to their destination another ship is seen in the distance. Rather than fighting, the group decides to try subterfuge. They take down their Raylan and Thenossia Lordholding flags, and raise the flag that they had taken from the other pirate ship. As the ships close on one another the Silver Moon makes no offensive act, and wave to the other ship as friends. 

Both ships anchor alongside each other and the captain of the other ship approaches. Anjuili successfully casts a Charm Person on him, and explains that they were hired by Korsikino as a new warship for the pirate fleet. The man not only believes them, but even has some of his own treasure transferred over to the Silver Moon for them to deliver to Korsikino. 

While this exchange is taking place Kharole and Silas investigate the other ship while invisible. The other vessel is crewed primarily by hobgoblins. Below deck they accidentally make some noise near the treasure room, which a group of hobgoblins guards hear. The still invisible Silas attempts to tell the superstitious hobgoblins that he is a god. They had heard two people, so Kharole tries to pass herself off as “the gods wife”. The hobgoblins become suspicious, so the two decide that they have overstayed their welcome. Silas gets into the Bag of Holding, taking some of the treasure with him, and Kharole then teleports them back to the ship Silver Moon. 

The Silver Moon sails onward and no other ships are encountered along the way. They approach the Isle of Poisson shortly after dusk, carefully sailing along the sheer cliffs on the unoccupied side of the island. They find a rocky inlet to anchor in and send a landing party ashore, the crew then rowing the landing boat back. The landing party consists of Andrew, Anjuili, Freyland, Kara, Kharole, Lannon, Milo, Mojo, Narg, Serita, Silas and Timothy. The ship Silver Moon then heads back out to sea. The party had instructed Jacob to sail to the very edge of visual distance from the cliffs, and that they will use signal mirrors to call it from he cliffs when they are ready to leave.


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