# "Retake the Island" - Concluded!



## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*"Retake the Island" * 

The following is an oldie but goodie, a module played out during most of calendar year 2000. I recently came across the text copy of the party log and thought it might make for some good Story Hour reading. Enjoy! 


*Introduction and background: * 

This module takes place in the Kingdom of Phlooredah. Phlooredah is a small oval shaped continent, approximately 600 by 400 miles in size, which consists of nine autonomous Lordholdings. A ruler is elected from among the nine Lordholders to serve a 15-year term as the continent's King. The ruler’s authority is limited to maintaining a military to defend the continent, issuing a uniform currency, and resolving disputes between the Lordholders. 

The smallest Lordholdings is that of Jawlt, which is situated on the continent's southern coast of the continent. Lord Kindor, who is in his third 5-year term as the elected Lordholder, rules Jawlt. Kindor had been a soldier who served as the Captain of the Guard and Army Commander of his predecessor. Kindor is a handsome 44-year old unmarried human 9th level fighter of lawful neutral alignment. He is decisive, but also willing to listen to the advice of others. He has an appointed 8-person Jawlt Council, each with their own sphere of responsibility (Diplomacy, Security, Commerce, Religion, Military Strategy, Army Command, Navy Command, and Other Miscellaneous Duties). 

The Silver Moon Adventurers have been together for over 13 years. Their first mission in the summer of the year 1005 was finding the fabled Rod of the Seven Parts for the Thenossia Lordholder, the brother of King Matthan. This quest brought them to Jawlt where they fought and killed Kindor’s evil predecessor. Three years after that they joined forces with Lord Kindor and defeated a group of pirates and evil clerics on an unclaimed island sixty miles south of the Jawlt/Thenossia border. Following that victory the adventurers decided to keep the island as their new home, and at Kindor's invitation, Silver Moon Island officially became a new township within the Jawlt Lordholding. Three members of the adventuring team currently serve on the Jawlt Council. 


*Chapter One, "The Return of Narg", July 28th, 1018: * 

Narg, the half-elf fighter and also founding member and the unofficial leader of the Silver Moon Adventurers has spent the last two months away with his pooka friend Monty (A Pooka is a time-and-dimension traveling creature that takes the form of a giant animal that only one individual can see. Monty’s form is a giant emperor penguin). They enjoyed what for them was an eight-week tour of minor and major league baseball games on a planet known as Earth. Since Monty can time-hop, this particular tour focused on specific players, watching their careers from single-A ball throughout the majors. 

After watching around four hundred games Narg decided it was time to return home. Unbeknownst to Narg, Monty forgot exactly when they had left and returned Narg back to Silver Moon Island much later planned. He arrives back at his home (nicknamed "the swamp"). His two roommates, the gruff one-eyed human fighter named Furynick and elvan fighter sidekick Mojo did not find his absence at all out of the ordinary. But Narg then runs into his elvan girlfriend, the archer named Vallessa who had a very different opinion. She yells out “Where the hell have you been for the past two years!” Narg spends the next several hours trying to explain. 

*July 29, 1018:* 

The upcoming election to choose the King for the next fifteen-year term is scheduled to take place in the City of Cortang, on the western coast of the Kaloon Lordholding. Queen Jennifer, the estranged wife of King Matthan, discreetly contacts the Silver Moon’s senior spell caster and founding druid Serita to ask that her and some of her more powerful friends be present at the election. Jennifer anticipates trouble once King Matthan and his chief advisor, an evil priestess named Pamela, find out that they have lost two some of the Lordholding votes that they are counting on. Jennifer also says that she has a request to ask of them. 

Meanwhile, in the Eldamar Lordholding, the members of the former Eldamar Council are preparing to depart for the election. One Council member, Carson, approaches the gnome named Immy. He asks Immy to travel to Cortang, and be in the audience during the election “just in case”, as he is also anticipating potential trouble. Immy asks for more information, but it is not forthcoming. Immy is given one of the 300 highly prized audience tickets. 

*August 3rd, 1018: * 

The party of Serita, Narg, Mojo the dwarven thief Lannon and the human lawful good priest of Ukko Timothy get together to teleport to Cortang. Serita, Narg and Lannon all serve on the Jawlt Council, Mojo is Queen Jennifer’s secret lover, and Timothy is well respected by church officials who will also be present. 

Ki-Geloryn, the Jawlt Lordholding Council Member responsible to diplomacy, has been in the city for the past three weeks, helping negotiate the logistics of the election. He has reserved rooms for the five Silver Moon members at the Regal Carriage Inn, one of the fancier hotels in town. 

The party gets settled into their rooms, then decide to just hang out at the Inn. Sitting by the fireplace are an odd pair for such a fancy establishment, a burley male Dwarven fighter and his companion, a heavily armored female Human fighter. Lannon is pleased to see another dwarf, and joins him, with his friends in tow. Mojo introduces each of them. The dwarf then introduces himself (speaking with a British accent) as Kruk, and says that his companion is a swashbuckler named Adrianna. They have just arrived on the continent, and hearing that the major political event for the next fifteen years was about to take place, decided to hang around. Kruk buys a round of drinks for Lannon and his friends. Lannon orders the next round. Immy hangs out near the group, listening in on their conversations, without fully joining them. 

Ki-Geloryn arrives, and tells the party to just run a tab at the inn, that Kindor will be paying for it, to which they have no complaints (especially Kruk, since by treating to the first round, the group adds his ongoing tab to theirs). Ki enjoys a drink with the gang around the fireplace, and the party asks about the potential outcome for the election. Ki says that it appears that King Matthan will be reelected for another term as he now has the support of the Zalpar Lordholding, which along with his own four family-ruled Lordholdings of Kaloon, Cantage, Thenoissia, and Eldamar will give him a clear majority. 

Mojo suggest that they go kill Matthan to make things interesting. Narg suggests waiting six-months before killing him. Kruk is a little surprised at this public discussion of assassinating a regent. “He’s just joking,” interjects Lannon to Kruk. “No we’re not,” answers Mojo. 

Ki is able to get audience tickets for Kruk and Adrianna to attend. He says he will stop by each day to visit with the party, and that the ships with Lords Aldorn, and Kindor will arrive in the city the following day. Meanwhile, Timothy visits the Ukko cathedral in the city, where Isaiah had originally been invested, to inquire as to whether they would take him back. The gnome Immy also checks into the same hotel and soon finds himself intermixed with the party, taking advantage of the free bar tab. 

*August 4th, 1018: * 

The group spends most of the day just hanging around the inn and drinking on Kindor's expense account. They start to tell Kruk and Adrianna about the other members of the party, including "A drugged out druid who has accidentally killed close to forty horses." The party also describes all of the creatures they have living on the island, including four pegasi, a wyvern, a pond dragon, tasoli (monkey-type creatures), bullywug (humanoid frogs) and the mimic named Dave. "My god," says Adrianna, "What do you have, a zoo?" "My butler Hobbson asks the same thing every time he cleans our house" answers Narg. 

Once they are completely intoxicated, Mojo and Narg conclude that since the next King doesn't take office for six-months, they have that long to kill Matthan if he wins. "But what difference would that make," says Kruk, "Isn't he King now?" "Good point, let's go kill him now," says Mojo. Fortunately, they are too drunk to get up, or else they probably would. Mojo then comes up with a strategy involving Serita sleeping with Kindor. "What good would that do," says Narg. "Might make her more pleasant," answers Mojo. Lannon explains Mojo to Kruk, saying "he's taken a few too many blows to the head." Narg interjects "and most were self-inflicted." Mojo then comes up with a plan to trade Serita. 

Meanwhile, the gnome thief/illusionist Immy checks out the royal palace to see what information he can obtain about the next day’s election. He leaves behind a complicated spring-loaded, gear-operated trap with a cream pie attached. Immy tells the party of his scouting mission. He suggests that he should maybe sneak onto the Queen's ship. Serita yells at him "Do not do anything to Jennifer or I'll kill you!" "What does she think he is," says Lannon, "a helicopter?" in reference to a visit they once made to a 20th century world. "What's a helicopter?" asks Kruk. "A large metal bird that explodes upon contact with touching Serita," is Mojo's reply.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Two, “To Elect a King”, August 5th, 1018 1:00 P.M. * 

The group arrives at the Palace. The nine Lordholders are seated at a large wooded half-circle shaped table. Each Lordholder has two seats immediately behind him, with additional seats behind the Lordholdings of East, Jawlt, and Eldamar. Timothy, Mojo, Adrianna, Kruk, and Immy are among the three hundred audience members in attendance. Also in the room are a significant number of guards. Most guards have been specially hired for the meeting, and are magician rather than fighter types. The guards were recruited from off continent so as not to have allegiances to any of the leaders present. 

Jawlt is first, with Lord Kindor identifying himself as the Lordholder. Immediately seated behind him are Tenbar, the Jawlt Army leader, and Waller, the Navy leader. Behind them are six other seats, with the other Jawlt Council members: Narg, Serita, Lannon, Ki-Geloryn, Sir Phillip of Curigull, and and Kindor’s security chief and former thieves guild leader Melito. 

Second is the Aldorn Lordholding, with the elvan Lord Aldorn identifying himself. Seated behind him are his daughter Aldoria, and an unnamed male Elvan fighter in shiny armor. Beside him are the East Lordholding representatives, with Sir Geoffrey of Plantagenet speaking on behalf of the East Lordholding Confederation. Behind him are the representatives of the other fourteen kingdoms that comprise the confederation. 

Next is the Zalpar Lordholding, with the human female Beverly of the Mages Guild speaking for the three separate groups that comprise the Lordholding‘s leadership. Behind her are the leaders of the other two groups, Sir Ashton of the Scholar’s Guild and King Telbar of the New Rockhome Dwarves. It is obvious to all assembled that Telbar is not happy with the proceedings. 

King Mattan is fifth, at the spot at the center of the table, and represents the Cantage Lordholding. Behind him are his chief advisors, Lady Pamela and the monk Lady Darlene. Beside him is Lady Annette, representing the host Lordholding of Kaloon. She reads a speech reiterating that she is merely an appointed “King’s Regent” for Kaloon, granting Matthan full authority to cast the Lordholding’s vote. 

Seventh is the Thenoissia Lordholding. Queen Jennifer reads the exact same speech as Annette about being a the King’s Regent and granting Matthan the authority to represent them, but then adds “However, that is superceded by this document" (which is handed to her by her elf swordsman bodyguard seated behind her alongside Prince Matthew) "signed by King Matthan in the year 1015, granting the rule of Thenossia to his son, Prince Matthew. I hereby relinquish this chair to him.” 

With that she exchanges places with her five-year-old son Matthew. He takes the seat and says “I would speak on behalf of Thenossia, however this document (which is handed to him by the elf swordsman bodyguard) signed by King Matthan in the year 1013 grants full authority for all of my decisions to my mother and guardian, Queen Jennifer, until I reach the age of sixteen.” With that he and his mother exchange seats yet again. Lady Pamela is livid; apparently unaware of the first of these two mentioned documents, and that applied together they now legally give Jennifer the full leadership of the Thenossia Lordholding and its vote. 

The level of tension in the room rises considerably. Eldamar is next, and the Bishop from Eldamar City reciting the same speech as Annette, naming himself as the King’s Regent and granting voting authority to Matthan based on the documents singed by the Eldamar Council in 1012 _(DM’s Note: This Transpired in 1991's Module #50). _ 

The five-member Eldamar Council, seated behind the Bishop, then rises in unison, and produces a document, which disputes this. They read the passage where it specifically says that they relinquish authority for the Eldamar Lordholding to Matthan for his current term of office only and that it states that the Council does not give authorization to Matthan to cast their vote for the next King. The room erupts in chaos, and their document is checked. It is compared to the same document in Matthan’s possession, which is shown to be identical. A recess is called for one of Matthan’s advisors to teleport to the city of Pirna in order to retrieve the third and final copy of this document, locked within the King’s private vault. 

The third copy is obtained from the vault, and shown to be identical to the other two. The signatures of the documents are magically verified to be authentic, as is the authenticity of the King’s seal on these documents. Pamela angrily concludes that the originally prepared documents permanently giving Matthan authority over Eldamar must have been switch immediately prior to their signing in 1012. A magical scry to locate the scribe who originally prepared the documents fails to detect him. 

_(DM's Note: Obtaining original signatures on the three revised-worded documents was the initial clandestine assignment undertaken by the Silver Moon’s lower-level spin-off group, Da’Bears, conducted during a series of modules (# 69, 71, 72, & 74-78 ) played from 1993 to 1995 The replacement of the original document in Matthan’s vault with the revised one was accomplished by the higher-level Silver Moon party in Module #81“The Farnsberg Fair of 1016”.) _ 

The ninth Lordholder to speak is the unnamed monk who is leader of the Kralt Lordholder. Seated behind him are two other monks. He identifies himself by title rather than name, and asserts his authority to speak on behalf of his land. 

The ballot for the next King is then cast. The votes of Jawlt and Aldorn are cast for Kindor. Next is East, where the representative states “I am authorized on behalf of the East Lordholding to cast our vote for Lord Kindor on the first ballot.” Zalpar casts its vote for Matthan. King Matthan casts votes of both Cantage and Kaloon for himself. This leaves each with three votes, as all eyes turn towards Queen Jennifer, who surprises all assembled by opting to “pass at this point in time.” Eldamar also passes. 

All assembled know of the Kralt Lordholder’s distrust of both Matthan and Kindor, and expect him to cast the ballot for himself. The monk surprises everyone by casting his vote for the next King to Queen Jennifer. The room again erupts. Documentation from the Treaty of Arvandar-Terra from 912, which established the continent’s system of government, is consulted. Nowhere does it state that the leader must be of male gender, merely that the person be the Representative Leader of one of the Lordholdings. Jennifer is as shocked as anyone at this turn of events, and immediately casts Thenossia’s vote for herself. Eldamar does likewise, creating a three-way tie of three votes for each leader. A one-hour recess is called before resuming a second ballot. 

During the hour there is much discussion among the various assembled groups. The party notices how irate Lady Pamela has become, although it is unclear if the target of her anger is Kindor, Jennifer, Matthan, or some combination of all of them. Jennifer’s bodyguard approaches Serita, discreetly informing her that Jennifer will contact her later.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Three, “Visitors to the Island”, August 5th, 1018 2:00 P.M. * 

Meanwhile, back on Silver Moon Island, a small-to-medium sized merchant ship sails into the harbor. It is flying an off-continent flag, which Jacob, the ship’s captain of the ship Silver Moon recognizes as being that of the far-away Island Kingdom of Ostland _(the Silver Moon sailed through Ostland waters in November, 1017, in Module 92: “Visit to Volusia”). _ 

The merchant ship’s Captain introduces himself to Jacob, saying that he is Captain Lorne, of the merchant ship Grand Enigma. He states that they are sailing to Jawltorn, their previous stop being the Isle of Cleese, and that their maps indicated Silver Moon Island as being a possible overnight stop. He says that he has two separate groups of passengers, one group wanting to find a bar, the other group wanting to find a church. Jacob says that the island has both, and gives directions. 

A group of six leaves the ship for the nearby Ukko Church. Captain Lorne and the six members of his crew stay with the Grand Enigma. Another seven head off towards Jerry’s Tavern. Currently in the Tavern are six of the Silver Moon Adventurers. Those six are the female thief/illusionist Blip, male gnome fighter Freyland, middle-aged male gnome thief and tavern owner Jerry, male half-elf figher/thief Lono (who is also Mojo‘s obnoxious cousin), female human monk Luekia, and male half-elf ranger Mark. A group of seven adventurers walk in, getting everyone’s attention, as one is a half-ogre fighter. The other six are human, the group consisting of two fighters, two clerics, two magic-users, and a thief. All are male except for one of the magic-users. Jerry introduces himself, and welcomes the group to his tavern. 

The leader is a fighter in plate mail, with longsword and a light crossbow. He states that his name is Cronin, and then introduces the rest of the party. The half-ogre fighter is also armored in plate mail, with a very large two-handed sword, and is named Gorthe. The first cleric is armored in studded leather, with no visible weapons, and is introduced as Albert. The other cleric is named Kingsley, wears chain mail, and has a hammer on his belt. The thief is named Glenn, wears leather armor, with two sai knives on his belt. The female mage is named Adele; she wears bracers and robes, with a wand on her belt. The male mage is introduced as Parisi, and he is wearing bracers, robes, and a cloak. 

An intoxicated Lono walks over to them, and asks where they are from. Cronin says they are mercenaries from Ostland, an island Kingdom located 800 miles to the west. “Why are you so far from home?” asks Blip, to which Cronin explains that his Kingdom has been at war with their neighboring Kingdom of Vestland for the past fifty years, and how up until now there has always been plenty of side-work for mercenaries, but that the situation has changed during the past year. 

“Why is that?” asks Jerry. Cronin replies that Ostland is now close to winning the war, and can now support the war effort using their own troops rather than needing mercenaries. “Has this been the case for long?” Mark asks. “Not at all” Cronin answers “For most of the last half-century the war was but a minor preoccupation for both lands, with little impact on the daily lives of the populations of both Kingdoms. Four ago that changed, when new military leadership in Ostland began a series of major offensives.” (The first of these military offenses being in Module # 59 “Last Stand at Kenesaw Creek.”) 

Cronin continues his story, “By two years ago Ostland was close to winning. They had captured several cities and approximately half the land of Vestland. Vestland’s resolve was on the verge of breaking when Ostland managed to capture their most sacred artifact, a Chariot of Victory, where it was prophesied that Vestland would fall once the chariot was gone. Somehow, Vestland managed to recover this artifact before the main population knew of its loss, and their High Priest rode it to lead the Vestland army to victory in several battles. Ostland was forced to retreat from much of the land they had captured. This temporarily turned the tide in the favor of Vestland.” Both Blip and Luekia listen intently to this, giving no indication to Cronin that they were members of team who recovered the chariot (in Module 83: “Chariots of Water”). 

“Last year Ostland responded with a major counteroffensive. They doubled the size of their Navy by hiring on ships from other lands. This led to a massive sea battle, from which all but four ships of the Vestland Navy were destroyed.” [Editorial comment: The party declined an offer for the Silver Moon to serve as part of this Ostland Navy in November, 1017 in Module 92: “Visit to Volusia“. Since the group chose to skip this particular mission, which was planned as a twenty-game action module, it became a game-and-a-half long filler module instead.] 

“Ostland then began a full-scale land assault, again using troops from other lands. They won, with Ostland now is in possession of over 75% of Vestland’s territory. The remaining three Vestland cities still under Vestland rule are currently under siege, and are easily contained by the Ostland Army and Navy, so all foreign troops and mercenaries have been dismissed.” “Why don’t you just go get work from Vestland? They must have plenty of jobs for you now.” asks Jerry. “That would be treasonous,” answers Cronin, “we could never turn against our home land!” “Scruples,” mutters Lono, “its people like that who give mercenaries a bad name.” 

[Editorial Comment: Yes, the above paragraphs were are all shameless foreshadowing to a future module, where the Vestland military will yet again re-commission the playing characters as military officers to “pull their fat out of the fire”. Another future module possibility is a mission of diplomacy, where the Silver Moon will help to negotiate a final peace settlement to the war.] 

Cronin says how they are relieved to finally be off the boat, and purchases rooms for his party to stay the night. He says that they have shared a boat for the past two months with a group of the worst kind of salesmen, sellers of clerical items. Albert corrects him, telling him that the ocean voyage was only three weeks long, to which Cronin exclaims, “Well, it sure felt like two months!” Albert answers “You think you had it bad, it was me and Kingsley who they kept trying to sell to!” Glenn interjects that the salesmen weren’t bad at all, but that it was their Paladin bodyguard who he really wanted to throw overboard. 

Cronin inquires about work available for adventurers in the Jawlt capitol city of Jawltorn, and is told by the party present that most jobs go to them, but that they could probably find work elsewhere on the continent without too much of a problem. The entrance of one of the previously mentioned salesmen interrupts the conversation. The man announces that at seven that evening there will be a showing of clerical wares for sale at the Ukko church, and to spread the word to all other clerics on the island. The salesman and his entourage of two bodyguards then leave. 

A now tipsy Lono remembers that he was sent to bring Mark back to the city, and asks Mark to accompany him back. Mark asks why, to which Lono can no longer remember. Realizing that Lono is in no shape to climb a mountain by himself, Mark agrees to go with him. They ride to the mountain along with Yeah (the Tavern-keeper’s son, who brings the horses back to the tavern). Mark and Lono then spend the next hour climbing the mountain, followed by traveling through the mile-long eastern cave entrance to their home in what was the ancient City of Parthalis (this way is actually the longest but usually safest way to enter the city, especially in their present condition). 

Back in the Kaloon Lordholding, at the end of the short break, the party arrive back at the palace for the second ballot for the next King. A pair of magicians are discreetly watching them from a distance. Once the Silver Moon are all inside, and the doors to the palace are closed, one of the mages turns to the other and says, "OK, they're busy now. Return to your team and launch the attack." The second mage teleports away. 

Inside the palace, the second ballot is cast, with no change in result from the first ballot. A five-hour break is called. All assembled are told to reconvene at 9:00 PM in the evening for a third and final ballot. It is stated that if the third ballot again results in a tie the vote will be postponed until a later date, as the next leader does not assume office until the following January. The party return to the Regal Carriage Inn, except for Immy, who tries to obtain information from some of the other parties. Back at the inn, the group discusses possibilities of some type of alliance between Kindor and Jennifer. Unbeknownst to them, the other evil mage continues to watch through a window from across the street.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Four, “First Strike”, August 5th, 1018 2:30 P.M. * 

Back on Silver Moon Island in the mountaintop stone city once named Parthalis (the city from TSR Module I1: “Dwellers of the Forbidden City“), the female half-elf Magic-user/Cleric Cassie has spent the afternoon with her elvan archer boyfriend Aradyn. It is time for him to leave so they head to his pegasus that is tied up outside of the library. He says goodbye and flies off into the distance. 

Cassie waits until he has flown out of sight, and then re-enters the library. She then starts to hear a strange voice casting a spell which she successfully saves from and immediately exits the building. From outside of the building she goes to the window of the room where the sound came from, and sees a man in robes within the room. She casts a silence spell on him. He apparently also saves as he turns towards the window and smiles at her. 

She is immediately surrounded by eighteen mages. A quick glance reveals that multiple Mirror Image spells are in effect, and there appear to be only different mages actually surround her. She screams out “MAYNARD”, and then starts to cast a spell. Before completing the spell she finds herself contained with a Silence spell while two of the real mages cast more spells at her. She immediately uses the Belt of Shape Change, which has no verbal component to activate, to transform herself into a large rainbow-colored wyvern. 

In that form she then lashes out at the mages. But her head, tail, and right claw all miss striking the mages, hitting a Wall of Force instead. Her left claw, however, manages to grab one of the mages. As she tries to move the claw she discovers that there is only a three-foot round “window” in the invisible wall, in front of the “real” mages for them to cast spells through. Meanwhile, the other four mages all throw Magic Missiles into her, for considerable damage. 

Cassie yanks her left claw towards her, the grabbed mage’s head and feet striking the wall. She continues to quickly extend and retract her claw, using the Wall of Force against him. The other mages continue to throw more magic missiles into her, bringing her way down in points. 

The cavalry arrives, in the form of Maynard, her “pet” rainbow-colored wyvern. It attacks one of the mages, doing severe damage to the man with a bite. Two of the other mages break off their attack on Cassie and start to throw lightning bolts into Maynard. Both bolts strike Maynard full force, but one bolt also hits the mage Maynard is biting. The other mage casts a spell into Cassie, but she successfully saves from it. 

The elvan thief Dennismore is in the loft atop the fourth floor of the building where he lives with his friend and fellow thief Lono when he sees the two flashes of lightning 800 feet away. He runs to the window, now seeing two rainbow-colored wyverns fighting a group of mages over by the library. He grabs the metal fireman’s pole that they have installed in the building, quickly sliding down to the ground floor [and no, he hasn’t changed into either a Batman or Robin costume along the way, although the players keep wanting to add that option]. He rushes off in that direction, taking the most direct path that still keeps him clear of Serita’s house and the various animals that she houses there. 

The female elvan archer Vallessa has a home located directly across the street from the Library, so she also hears the distinct sound of the lightning bolt. She rushes over to the window and once she sees what is happening she turns and yells out the back window “MAGGIE” (the nickname of her own pegasus, full-name Magnificence, that is currently grazing behind her house). She then draws her longbow and aims out the front window. She fires a series of arrows into the mages, dispelling several of the remaining mirror image mages as well as striking a real one, preventing his next spell from getting off. 

Cassie has continued to bash the first guy she grabbed against the invisible wall and into a bloody pulp, while her other claw has managed to find another one of the invisible windows, forcing the female mage in front of it to back up to avoid being grabbed himself. Seeing that her pet Maynard is in trouble, she grabs the newfound window with her claw, and shape changes back into her normal self, drawing herself to and through the window in the process. This causes her to actually miss four of five Magic Missiles that had been cast at her wyvern form as that form vanishes from most of where it was. 

Vallessa keeps up her arrow assault, now hitting the female mage twice before as the woman manages to then retreat through the Library’s front door. Cassie has now exited through the invisible window, seeing five remaining mages (two real ones, and three mirror images). She is tired of playing games and lets loose with a twelve-hit-dice fireball from her Crown of Might, encompassing one of the mages and his two mirror images. Dennismore sees this, and activates his own Ring of Invisibility as he continues to run towards the Library. Vallessa climbs out her front window and onto the street as her pegasus lands before her. 

A few blocks down the same street, the human druid Alton (who was originally a hippie from Earth in the late 1960’s) and Furynick are each in their own adjacent homes when they hear the easily recognized explosive sound made by one of Cassie’s crown-produced fireballs. Alton rushes out his front door and hops behind the wheel of one of his two Jeeps. As he drives past the door of Furynick‘s home Fury rushes out the door and hops onto the moving vehicle. They race down the street and from a distance see one of the enemy mages attacking Maynard with a Magic Missile spell while another mage rushes for cover from Vallessa’s arrows. Maynard then finishes off the guy in his mouth, before falling to Magic Missiles cast the remaining mage. 

Cassie sees her pet fall and lets loose in anger with one of her own Fireballs. It hits the other still standing mage (and his mirror image) and kills him. The fallen mage hit the previous round has now stripped off his burning clothing, sees his only standing ally fall, and decides to “play dead”. A blue beam then shines out from a library window and strikes Cassie, knocking her unconscious. 

Vallessa lets loose another volley of arrows, targeted at the window. The jeep zooms past her, with Alton applying the brakes to stop immediately before where Maynard has fallen. Alton turns invisible, and heads to Cassie’s aid. Dennis starts to climb through the library window and into the room that the blue beam came from. Furynick draws his bow and also fires towards the window. 

Dennis now hears someone walking invisibly down the street in the direction of Furynick and Vallessa, but decides to continue into the room as there is still a mage standing by the window casting spells. Alton casts a healing spell onto Cassie. She has barely regained consciousness when a dagger then strikes her from above, knocking her out again. Vallessa sees a man on the roof that had thrown the dagger. She jumps atop Maggie and takes to the air, firing arrows down and into the man. He rushes to the back of the library towards a large skylight, being hit by several of Vallessa’s arrows in the process. He breaks the glass skylight and jumps down into the building, taking more arrows on the way down. 

Dennismore moves in behind the female mage and backstabs her for most of her hit points. She draws a dagger, and the two then trade attacks. He drops her, only to be interrupted then by the man who had fallen through the skylight. The man retreats out the back doorway. Dennismore turns invisible and follows. 

Alton picks up Cassie, to get her to cover, and is most of the way back towards the Jeep when he is struck by multiple Magic Missiles from inside the building. He gets Cassie behind the Jeep, as he is struck by another blue beam of light from a library window. Furynick continues to fire arrows back at the Library. Alton casts another cure onto Cassie. 

Once conscious, Cassie casts a Cure Serious Wounds spell onto herself. This turns out to be fortunate, as the invisible mage on the street lets loose a Fireball into the Jeep and the three heroes who are beside it. [The DM throws twelve six-sided dice for damage, and curses over the number of 1’s and 2’s that come up, the total damage being a mere thirty-four points]. The subsequent explosion knocks Cassie unconscious again, but she is not dead. Alton and Furynick are both still standing. While this is taking place, and Vallessa is distracted by the Fireball, the mostly-naked mage playing dead on the ground from Cassie’s first fireball casts Invisibility on himself, and exits with his remaining hit point. 

Vallessa fires down onto the mage now in the street who had cast the Fireball on the Jeep, but a Wall of Force now protects him. He rushes back to the building, and her next arrow deflects off revealing that the Wall extends all the way to the door. She lands and tries again, but the Wall is in front of him as well. She flies back up for aerial reconnaissance, not seeing anything in the city, but above the crater surrounding the city she spots a large group of hobgoblins gathered outside of the cave owned by their cloud giant guard Herculean. She flies back down to inform Alton and Furynick of this development. 

The Mage in the library joins up with both the man that had retreated from Dennismore and another man, a heavily armed fighter. The three start to exit the Library via a rear doorway. Dennismore waits until after the fighter and mage exit the room before backstabbing the other guy. This man sizes up Dennismore, saying “Ah, an elf” and changes weapons from the shortsword in his hand to a longsword. The fighter and mage hear this exchange behind them, and rush to a door on the opposite side of the library courtyard. The Mage pulls a wand from his belt that then sends a missile up into the air, which then explodes into a large orange-colored firework (although without the loud explosion that accompanies later fireworks). Vallessa, lets loose arrows from above into this fighter and mage, forcing their retreat. 

Meanwhile, Lono and Mark are almost through the cave tunnel, and are within 300 feet from the city entrance when they spot about eighty hobgoblins gathered in the cave just inside the cave entrance. Lono and Mark debate what to do next, Lono wanting Mark to attack, and Mark deciding that they should both go for help. The hobgoblin leader then points up, and orders his troops to charge into the city. Mark and Lono move up, seeing the monsters marching west down the main street. They sneak past the monsters, and quickly head up to Alton’s house, finding it empty and one of the Jeeps gone. They also find Furynick’s homeempty and the front door left open. They then spot something burning down by the library, and head in that direction. 

Cassie has healed herself, and then proceeds over to Maynard. She heals him enough so that he can fly, and tells him to “Go get Aradyn”. She is unaware that Aradyn has already turned around and is already flying back to the city, having seen the orange fireworks and then the long continuous cloud of smoke from the burning Jeep. Maynard takes to the skies. Once he has flown free of the crator he is then cut down by a Lightning Bolt cast by a mage at Herculean's cave. He falls near the mage, who then casts a Reduce spell on Maynard's unconscious body. 

Furynick has entered the library, and hears the sounds of Dennismore and the other villain fighting, and heads off in that direction. The man has Dennismore far outmatched, and is doing a number on the thief. This is compounded by the man’s slashes being especially painful, as though the man’s sword was coated with poison. Furynick busts into the room and attacks. 

Furynick and his opponent trade many blows, with Dennismore assisting him. The man eventually decides to retreat, and rushes out into the courtyard, only to then be cut down from Vallessa’s arrows. Furynick charges up to the man and finishes him off. Vallessa stays aloft as the others get together to plan what to do next, aware that at least two villains are still nearby. 

Vallessa decides to land her pegasus down the street at the Library, and check with the others. She lands in the room with the large skylight opening in the roof. Alton and Cassie had entered the library a few minutes earlier, and headed in the direction of the sounds of sword fighting. Furynick ended his fight with the now deceased enemy by the time Cassie and Alton arrive in the room, and Dennismore returned to the room for the mage who he had dropped unconscious on the floor, bringing his prisoner to join the rest of the party. Cassie is concerned about her familiar, the owl Deanna. They are still telepathically linked, but Deanna has not woken up, despite repeated telepathic messages sent by Cassie. 

The five characters within the library hear the sound of Vallessa's pegasus landing, and gather together in the skylight room, along with the unconscious prisoner. Simultaneously, Mark and Lono arrive at the still burning Jeep, seeing the signs of a multi-fireball battle outside of the library and the unfamiliar bodies of three mages. They look to the south, and notice that the hobgoblins have stopped at a city park some 300 feet away. The two head off in that direction, using the buildings as cover. 

The group inside the library discuss the situation. Vallessa decides to fly up to scout again. Once above the rooftops, she immediately spots the large contingent of hobgoblins in the park and flies back into the library to inform the others.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

Terry said:
			
		

> SM -
> 
> Love this. What level are we talking about for these PCs?
> 
> ...




Thanks Terry 

When I did this module the gaming group had been playing for 18 consecutive years and most players now had several different characters. This was the first module I ever attempted using ALL of the playing characters. In this module most players initially had just one character with each group, which made each combat segment far more manageable. And the plotline will become much clearer once the main villain addresses those at the election. 

At this point in time the characters introduced thus far (in order of their appearance in the module) were the following levels: 

Narg, male half-elf 8th level fighter 
Furynick, male human 6th level fighter 
Mojo, male elf 7th level fighter 
Vallessa, female elf 4th level archer/ranger 
Serita, female half-elf 9th level druid 
Immy, male gnome 8th level thief/illusionist 
Lannon, male dwarf 7th level thief 
Timothy, male human 7th level cleric 
Kruk, male dwarf 9th level fighter 
Adrianna, female human 9th level fighter 
Jacob, male human 5th level fighter 
Blip, female gnome 4th level thief/illusionist 
Freyland, male gnome 5th level fighter 
Jerry, male gnome 5th level thief 
Lono, male half-elf 3rd level fighter/thief 
Luekia, female human 4th level monk 
Mark, male half-elf 7th level ranger 
Cassie-Andra, female half-elf 8th level magic-user/cleric 
Aradyn, male elf 6th level archer/ranger 
Dennismore, male 6th level elf thief 
Alton, male human 7th level druid 
Jaime, female human 5th level fighter 
Beulla, female human 2nd level fighter 
Kharole, female elf 7th level magic-user 
Vincenzo, male human 7th level cleric 
Silas, male human 5th level fighter 
Fiona, female half-elf 5th level magic-user 
Isaiah, male human 7th level cleric


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Five, “Fallen Heroes”, August 5th, 1018 3:00 P.M. * 

Vallessa tells the others what she saw. Cassie decides that another crown-induced fireball is in order, and climbs up onto Maggie behind Vallessa. They fly up and over Vallessa’s house. Cassie spots half-a-dozen human adventurer-types mixed in with the hobgoblins, and centers the fireball on the apparent leader, a short stocky human fighter who is nearly as wide as he is tall. 

While all this is going on, Aradyn and his Pegasus are just rounding the top of the crater on his return when he sees Cassie’s fireball go off. The fireball drops two-dozen hobgoblins and three of the humans. Two of the humans fall, the leader and an apparent magic-user, are able to get back up. The leader points to the flying Pegasus, and orders the remaining hobgoblins to charge in that direction up the street. Vallessa sees Mark and Lono in the alley below, waiving at her, and points to an area immediately north of her house for them to meet her at. She lands Maggie, then exchanges her passenger of Cassie with Lono, who draws his bow. 

They take to the skies again, going high enough to be out of the range of most enemy spells, and start shooting down into the crowds. The leader is the only human that they can now see, and he becomes their main target. Aradyn flies in right below her, adding his bow to the air assault on the monsters. The human leader orders his troops off the main street, and they run through the back door of the nearest building, Vallessa’s house. Just as Vallessa and Lono begin to tell Aradyn what has happened, both of the pegasi and their riders are engulfed in a large fireball. 

Aradyn’s mount is hurt by the fireball, but not nearly as bad as Vallessa’s. Maggie has trouble remaining aloft with two riders, and begins a controlled descent back to the library. Lono is unconscious, and nearly dead, and Vallessa grabs hold of him to keep him from falling. They fly through the skylight opening and into the room, where Furynick and Dennismore are waiting. Lono is immediately given a healing potion to prevent him from dying. 

Aradyn looks around, spotting an enemy magic-user levitating about 100 feet away from him. The mage turns invisible, and Aradyn starts firing where he suspects the mage is. Another fireball then swallows up him and his mount. His Pegasus is very badly hurt, and they start to drop quickly to the library. They barely manage to get through the skylight opening and into the Library, hitting the floor hard. Aradyn lands in a tumbling roll to minimize the damage to him. The Pegasus Maggie immediately goes over to comfort Aradyn’s Pegasus, who is also her father. She establishes a “healing link” keep the older pegasus from loosing consciousness. She also attempts to telepathically contact her mother, Fiona’s Pegasus, but it is too many miles away for the signal to reach. 

The now conscious Lono tells the others that there is a strange group of adventurers staying down at the tavern, including a half-ogre, and he now suspects they may also be part of this attack. Alton casts a much-needed cure onto Aradyn’s Pegasus. Vallessa and Maggie take flight again to scout around, only to have Vallessa fall victim to a Hold Person from the now descending levitated mage, who had been watching the skylight for movement. Maggie manages to successfully land back with the others without dislodging her passenger. 

Outside of Vallessa’s home, both Mark and Cassie manage to save from another Hold Person spell, as a large group of hobgoblins break down the front door of Vallessa’s home, and charge towards them, weapons drawn. Mark draws his sword as the monsters close to twenty feet away, while Cassie looks the other direction, seeing an enemy cleric leaning out of one of the windows and casting a spell at them. Cassie saves from the spell, and lets loose with a Magic Missile of her own, hitting the cleric and having him retreat back into the building. 

The hobgoblins are now ten feet from Mark, and he moves in to meet them. Approximately fifteen have exited the building at this point. Cassie has time to draw a scroll, and targets the one currently emerging from the doorway with a Chain Lightning spell. This obliterates him, with the lightning then striking out behind him into the next dozen hobgoblins, dropping them all. The remaining dozen hobgoblins still within the building fail their morale, and run away in the opposite direction, ignoring the three non-hobgoblin leaders in the building who had ordered them out into the street. This still leaves Mark with about a dozen opponents charging down on him, but stops further reinforcements. 

Before Cassie can get off another spell, she gets struck in the back of her head by a throwing circle with a razor sharp edge. The circle is lodged and caught on the metal crown in her hair, so she chooses to leave it there. Meanwhile, Mark has thrown a few sweeping blows into his opponents, dropping three of them. Those inside the library hear the renewed sounds of battle outside, and all but Lono exit by the most expedient route, the nearest window. The barely conscious Lono opts to stay behind with the two wounded pegasi. Aradyn and Vallessa move into position to fire arrows, Dennismore heads towards the building across the street, Alton turns invisible, and Furynick charges forward to assist Mark. 

A mage who Vallessa had chased away from the initial assault on Cassie now appears around the corner of the library, and casts a hold on the group, catching Dennismore and Furynick. Inside the library, Lono spots another man sneaking around in the shadows of the next room. As Lono draws his bow to target the man he gets backstabbed into unconsciousness, as his foe was merely a decoy distraction for a higher-level thief to move into position. Both pegasi are then stabbed by this thief, using a poison that puts both animals into a state of suspended animation. 

Out on the street, Aradyn breaks Furynick out of the hold. Mark continues to cut down his foes, getting struck a few times in the process. A monk jumps down from the roof, striking Cassie with a karate chop as he lands. She grabs a poisoned dagger on her belt, stabbing him. The dagger is filled with Medusa Poison, which turns him into a stone statue. “Don’t ever mess with my hair,” she yells. She then gets struck in the back with a longsword, Cassie falls, as a woman says “He didn’t, I did." The woman starts to drag Cassie’s body away from Mark’s hobgoblin battle, turning her into the unsuspecting targets of both Aradyn and Vallessa who are now in line-of-sight, and anxious to protect Cassie. They quickly manage to convert the enemy woman from being a living fighter/thief to becoming a non-living pincushion for arrows. 

Back in the library, the lower-level thief turns invisible, and is ordered out of the library his superior. He is given the last dose of the suspended animation poison, and told to strike one of the party with it. Being a coward at heart, he chooses the already held Dennismore as the target. 

A wall of darkness now erupts in the middle of the street where Alton and Furynick are, which also cuts off the field of vision to where Mark and Cassie are for both archers. Aradyn and Vallessa, searching for another target, managing to spot the mage who cast the Darkness, as he is standing atop the roof of Vallessa’s home. They also recognize him as the same mage who had fireballed them both in the air. He becomes their sole target, falling onto the rooftop after being hit by three arrows. Shielded by the Darkness, the enemy thief successfully stabs Dennismore with the poison, and turns invisible again before being seen. He returns towards the library. 

The enemy leader moves towards Mark, as Mark drops all but two of the remaining hobgoblins (who both start running away). The leader appears to be half-human, half-dwarf, and is carrying a large two-handed sword. He stares oddly at Mark, and says “Hmmm, a half-elvan fighter, I don’t suppose you would happen to be Narg?” Mark replies, “No,” and charges the man. An enemy dwarven fighter emerges from the building and moves in with his leader towards Mark. Another member of the enemy party, apparently a druid, also exits the building about fifteen feet back. 

Fury and Alton move forward out of the darkness. Aradyn moves around the darkness spell and Vallessa heads over towards Dennismore to break him out of the hold. After several unsuccessful attempts to break him out, she gives up, and heads back towards where the smoldering jeep is. Alton is now up to the Jeep, and seeing an enemy cleric moving forward along the wall of the building, casts a Heat Metal spell on him. It is successful but also causes Alton to now be visible. Aradyn also sees this cleric, and fires arrows into the man. 

Furynick decides to assist Mark, who is taking a beating at the hands of the two enemy fighters. The enemy cleric gets hit by more arrows from the two archers, and draws a wand from his belt. Vallessa pulls back behind the corner to the building to keep from being the wand's target, so he waves it towards Furynick and Alton, striking the two with a Cone of Cold. Aradyn now sees the magician who had retreated earlier peering out of a doorway across the street, and fires an arrow to force the man back inside. He continues to watch in this direction occasionally while still firing at the Cleric (i.e., like a pitcher monitoring the base runner while still focusing on the batter). 

The Cleric uses his wand again, this time to erect a large Wall of Ice starting at the corner of the building by the Jeep and extending out thirty feet into the street and forty feet high, to keep the two archers from firing at him. This does not deter Aradyn, who calculates the geometry for lobbing an arrow very high in the air, to then fall and still hit the cleric. He is successful with this. Meanwhile, the two enemy thieves decide to put into action the same strategy that worked on Lono, with the lower-level thief climbing up to the library roof to go distract Aradyn while the magically obscured higher-level thief heads around the front of the building to get into position for a backstab. 

Furynick takes on the dwarf fighter fighting Mark, leaving Mark to fight the powerful enemy leader. As they fight, the leader says “So you’re not Narg, but you are tough, and you dispatched the hobgoblins easily. That would mean a Ranger….would I perhaps be fighting Mark?” Mark does not respond. Meanwhile, on the roof of Vallessa's home, the fallen mage consumes a healing potion as he extracts the arrows from his body. 

As the cleric prepares to use the wand again Alton gets fed up, and draws his U.S. military issue handgun, firing four shots into the enemy. Two shots miss completely (one taking out a remaining hobgoblin), a third grazes the armor doing no damage, but the forth strike the man right in the center of the chest, dropping him. The cleric falls unconscious, and is mortally wounded at this point. Alton fires the remaining two bullets in the gun at the enemy druid. One bullet strikes the man’s shoulder, forcing him to retreat back into Vallessa’s home. The druid’s retreat makes the cleric’s death inevitable, as the druid was the only one who might have been able to save him from both the chest wound and the Heat Metal spell on the cleric’s armor which is just starting up at this point. 

Mark finally succumbs to the blows from his attacker, who now concentrates on Furynick. Aradyn spots the lower-level thief on the roof, and fires an arrow up at him. Aradyn does not hear the other thief move up behind him. The thief backstabs him for thirty points of damage, dropping him. The enemy magic user on the roof fires Magic Missiles into Alton, dropping him. Vallessa targets the mage on her roof, hitting him twice with arrows and dropping him. Vallessa then falls victim to Magic Missiles from the mage that Aradyn had been keeping at bay. Furynick is the last to fall, under the combined onslaught of the two enemy fighters.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Six, “School Assault,” August 5th, 1018 4:00 P.M. * 

The School along the west bank of the Lake, situated between the central mountain/volcano and the western shore of the ten-mile-diameter island. The School is comprised of four buildings. Set approximately 600 feet west of the Lake itself is the Main House, a 15 room 3-story structure; 200 feet south of that is the Classroom Building, an 8-room 2 story structure; 100 feet north is the Craft Building, a 4-room 1-story structure; 100 feet northwest of the main house is a large Barn, with the stables and corral behind it. 

As the female human fighter Jaime and her niece Janet (the 13-year-old daughter of Beulla and Phuddipeduzh) were preparing diner, Janet suddenly collapses onto the floor. Grabbing the nearest butcher knife, Jaime looks around, and hears someone speaking. She sees a strange woman dressed in splint mail casting a spell at her, and begins to let out a scream before being held. 

Jamie’s sister, the female human fighter Beulla and the female elf magic-user Kharole are in the craft building working on crafts with the six youngest children (human equivalent of two to six). Kharole’s elvan hearing picks up the beginning of Jaime’s scream. She tells Beulla to watch the children, and goes to investigate. She enters the main house and heads towards the kitchen. She then hears a spell being cast from the direction of the dining room, she spots the caster (a woman in robes) and immediately lets loose her own Magic Missile spell. The Magic Missile has a quicker casting time, and the woman is struck with four missiles before her own spell can get off. 

A strange man in loose cloth clothing then rushes up to Kharole from behind, and hits her with a karate chop. She draws her dagger and strikes him, as he hits her again. The woman casts another spell, which Kharole again successfully saves from. She then fails to save from the Hold Person cast on her from the armored woman at the kitchen door. 

When Kharole does not soon come back, Beulla heads out the door of the craft building, and is immediately backstabbed for all but 3 of her hit points. The man who hit her is then struck in the back by four of five daggers thrown by the small children in the room (Kharole has taught them well). He slams the door shut from the outside, as Beulla retaliates by tossing her dagger up into her attacker, a skinny man in dark leather clothing. She hears distant sounds of Jamie’s husband, the rather-plump human cleric Vincenzo, Kharole’s human fighter husband Silas-the-one-eyed, and six of the older children returning their horses to the corral following the children’s riding lesson, and runs in that direction. She gets struck again by the man’s sword, but manages to continue to run away with her one remaining hit point. 

The woman magician from the house now approaches the craft room, and casts a Sleep spell through the craft room window, dropping all but the youngest child (Silas and Kharole’s two-year old son Christopher). She and the man in leather begin moving the toddler and sleeping children to the back door of that building. 

Beulla runs to Silas and Vincenzo, quickly telling them what is happening. Silas yells “Heal her” to Vincenzo, and charges forward. Vincenzo tells the four oldest boys to stay with her, and instructs ten-year-old Silas Junior (human equivalent of eight) and ten-year-old Tanya (the tavern-keeper’s daughter) to get horses and ride to the wizardess Fiona’s house at the other end of the lake, as Fiona can use her pegasus to quickly get the rest of the party. Vinnie then casts some cures onto Beulla. 

As Silas approaches the buildings, the doors to the barn are thrown open by a large human fighter armed in Platemail and holding a large bastard sword. “Run from me coward,” the man calls to Silas. Silas turns, and answers “Come out of the barn and show yourself unless you are a coward yourself”. The man moves forward, bragging that he is “Donovan the Great”. The two start fighting. The female cleric in splint mail has now gone outside of the house, and cast a Hold on Silas, but he successfully saves (and does not hear her due to the noise from the duel). 

Meanwhile, Jaime and Vinnie’s eight-year old daughter Jentile had been in the barn getting milk for dinner when the villains first appeared (having teleported into the barn itself). She was able to keep from being seen by them by successfully hiding behind the cows, and now that the last of the six villains has left the barn, she moves to a safer spot up in the loft. 

Beulla, Vinnie, and the other four boys see Silas dueling with the armored fighter. Vincenzo leads them back to the craft building. Beulla warns him of the man who had attacked her. Vinnie and Beulla enter, telling the four boys to draw their daggers and go around back, two on each side of the building. Vinnie rushes through the building, finding the first three rooms empty, and then seeing the female mage in the fourth room by the back door. She casts a spell at Vinnie, but he saves, and casts a Silence back at her. He then moves back to get out of the area of effect of the silence, and Beulla charges forward. As she enters the room she spots the man in leather that had attacked her hiding behind the door, and retreats back to Vinnie. The mage then opens the back door of the building, and exits with two of the unconscious children. 

Outside, two of the boys, Vincenzo Junior and Henry Junior (the tavern-keeper’s son) see the mage leaving the building, and toss their daggers into her. Vincenzo Junior then gets struck down from above by a dagger, letting out a scream as he falls. Henry Junior tosses a dagger into the man he now sees on the roof, and gets hit by one in return for three of his four hit points. The other two boys (Jaime and Vincenzo’s quarter-elvan adopted boys, Oblong and Horatio) come around the other side of the building, and throw their daggers up at the man, who now retreats to the other side of the roof. Inside, Beulla and Vinnie heard his scream and now hear movement on the roof, so they rush back to the front door. The enemy mage casts a Sleep spell on the three boys, dropping them. 

The man on the roof rushes to the front side of the building just as Vinnie and Beulla come out of the front door, causing him to change his mind and rush back. They see Silas being dropped after a long duel with the Fighter, who then charges at them. Vinnie grabs Beulla and levitates up to the roof. The man on the roof climbs down from the roof on the backside of the building. They then spot the mage and man who had fought Beulla carrying the children off into the woods. Vinnie casts a hold, stopping both of these enemies. Vinnie then casts a Command on the fighter, stopping him in his tracks. Vinnie levitates himself and Beulla back down, and he heads towards the main house. 

Beulla goes to the back of the craft building, and ties up the two held villains. As she heads over to wake up the boys, the woman in splint mail comes out of hiding and casts a Hold Person on her, stopping Beulla. The woman then moves to the front of the building, and casts a Dispel Magic on the fighter, breaking him from Vincenzo’s spell. The fighter charges Vincenzo as the woman begins to cast a Silence at him. Before the silence spell can take effect he manages to get off a Sanctuary spell, and runs away. He grabs a horse, and rides off south around the lake. 

Meanwhile, on the north side of the lake Silas Junior and Tanya run into a large group of Bugbears. They try to sneak around them in the woods, but the superior smelling ability of the monsters detects their horses, and the monsters attack. The two children ride back to the road, and try to have the horses leap over the bugbears. Silas Junior is successful, riding past, but Tanya falls off of her mount and is captured. Silas Junior rides to the lake’s edge, and continues to ride East, as the three-dozen bugbears rush towards him from the woods and road. He is almost successful at getting past them, but the three bugbears furthest forward cut him off, and hit the horse with their weapons, killing it. 

Silas Junior dives into the lake, as the bugbears throw rocks at him, one hitting. He swims down to the bottom, not surfacing until he is out of rock throwing range for the creatures. He swims East, making a direct path across the lake to Fiona’s house, which is still two-miles away. The bugbears continue East along the shore watching him from a distance. 

A mile to the South, Vincenzo rides right into a large group of hobgoblins. They charge at him, and he rides down to the lake to get away. This proves to be a mistake, as another group of hobgoblins are at the lakeshore, trapping the cleric between the two groups. He surprises them by riding into to lake itself, and jumping into the water, fully armored. Falling into the lake as the hobgoblins start to organize on the shore, he casts a “Dispel Magic” on himself, transforming himself into a merman (an ability he acquired in the 1996 Module “Chariots of Water”), and he swims on the bottom away from shore, eventually spotting Silas Junior. 

Vinnie surfaces by him. Silas Junior points out the bugbears on the north side of the lake and Vinnie points out the hobgoblins on the south side, both groups of enemies now heading East on opposite sides of the lake. Vinnie tells the boy to “hang on tight”, and makes like a jet ski in a bee-line towards Fiona’s, getting there while both groups of running monsters are still one-half to three-quarters of a mile away. 

Vinnie cannot exit the water, as he does not have another Dispel Magic, so he has Silas Junior run up to tell Fiona what is happening. He quickly tells her, and she spots the distant groups of converging monsters, gathers up her key belongings, then the two head to her pegasus. They take off over the lake, doing a quick check at the school to confirm that it still under the control of the enemy, and then fly off towards the direction of the city on top of the mountain. Vincenzo retreats to his underwater church in the center of the lake to rest to pray for spells. 

From a crack between the barn-boards in the loft, Jentile sees four of the villains gathering up the unconscious bodies of the Silas, Beulla, and the four older boys. They are joined by a few bugbears carrying the unconscious body of Tanya. Jentile decides to go for help, but stops when three of the villains come back into the barn. She stays hidden behind the bails of hay. 

Fiona and Silas Junior fly towards the city. As they begin to descend into the crater they spot two large groupings of dead hobgoblins, evidence of multiple fireballs, and the burnt out Jeep. She sees no people, living or dead, and decides to fly back upward. They head off in the direction of the town.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Seven, “Tavern Battle”, August 5th, 1018 6:30 P.M. * 

Fiona and Silas Junior fly over the town, seeing noting out of the ordinary other than an unknown merchant ship being docked in the harbor. She lands at the tavern, and they enter. Inside is a table of unknown adventurers, comprised of two fighters, two clerics, two mages, and a thief; all are human except for a half-ogre fighter; all are male except for one of the mages. Luekia, Blip, and Freyland are sitting at another table. Guice is at the bar, and Jerry is behind the bar. Fiona has Silas Junior stay near a window to keep an eye on the pegasus, and she approaches the bar. 

Fiona discreetly informs both Jerry and Guice of what has transpired. Jerry approaches the table with Luekia, Blip and Freyland and discreetly notifies them. The halfling Blake enters the tavern, and goes to the bar as well. Jerry approaches the other table of adventurers, and asks them about their meal, and the male mage asks directions to the outhouse. The mage exits for the back door. Silas Junior heads outside via the front door to watch the Pegasus. Jerry returns to the bar, and sends one of the tavern employees to go get Isaiah. Guice decides to go get some of the ship’s crew. Jerry heads towards the kitchen, just as the mage returning from the outhouse opens up the door, and starts casting a spell. 

Jerry charges at the man, and Freyland flings a dagger that misses. The spell goes off before Jerry connects, resulting in a large Web extending from the bar to the two front doors, and encompassing all of the party except for Jerry. The other six enemy adventurers stand in unison. The female mage and one of the clerics begin casting spells. Guice becomes enthralled by her Color Spray spell. Blake and Fiona successfully save from a Hold Person. Jerry manages to knock the male mage out of the doorway, and onto the ground. Outside, Jerry starts pummeling him, to prevent any further spell usage. Fiona lets loose with a Magic Missile into the enemy leader. 

Freyland is the first to break free of the web, climbing under it and approaching the foes. Blip similarly manages to break free of the web, also traveling under it for cover. Luekia draws her nunchucks , and uses them to break the web holding her, then uses her Boots of Levitation to travel upward. The enemy thief tosses his two sai daggers at her. She manages to catch both of them, throwing one back into the enemy female mage. The thief disappears under the web. The lead enemy fighter casually draws his crossbow, targeting Luekia. 

Blake tries to break free, but is held fast by the web. The spell-casting cleric targets Luekia, who successfully saves. She tosses her nunchucks at him, preventing another spell from getting off (with the DM making an unintentional play-on-words about The Flying Nunchucks). The female mage yells to the group “Surrender or I’ll fireball the room.” “Good, that will get rid of the web,” is Freyland’s reply. Blip hits her with a Blindness spell, essentially taking her out of the action. Fiona then gets struck by a Hold Person from the cleric. 

Outside of the tavern Jerry manages to get the mage onto the ground, where the enemy mage spends the next three rounds trying to regain his footing with the annoying gnome attached to his shoulders, striking the man’s head and face with his fists. The players debate if this situation bears closer resemblance to a Three Stooges episode or a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Silas Junior notices what is going on inside the tavern, and throws a large rock through the front window, showering the half-ogre and the other enemy cleric with glass. This other "cleric", who has so-far thrown no spells now draws a shortsword. The half-ogre starts heading towards the door. Silas Junior climbs upon Fiona’s Pegasus, and coaxes her into flying them up onto the tavern roof. 

Blip catches the attention of the half-ogre, which tries to draw a two-handed sword, striking the ceiling in the process. Blip yells out “Hey Roger, appear” casting an Improved Phantasmal Force Spell, which creates an illusionary half-hill-giant fighter with sword. The half-ogre engages his newfound foe. The enemy leader gets one crossbow shot off at Luekia. She unsuccessfully tries to catch it, and gets hit for five points of damage. Freyland then engages the man in battle, the fighter drawing a longsword. They fight for multiple rounds, until Freyland assesses that he is no match for the guy, and retreats under a table and then beneath the web. The man with the shortsword, who had pretended to be a cleric, also disappears beneath the web. 

Jerry and the Mage continue their rather comical wrestling match. The mage charges into the wall, dislodging Jerry from his shoulder. The mage then tries to run back to the tavern door, but Jerry grabs his feet, dropping him again to the ground. Luekia breaks Fiona free of the hold, and helps her out of the web, then up onto and then behind the bar. She telepathically signals her pegasus to fly Silas Junior to the ship Silver Moon to get the crew. Luekia spots the thief beneath the hole in the web where Fiona had been, and tosses the other sai into him. The thief had moved over to Guice, striking him with the poison he had planned for Fiona, which paralyzes him. 

Blake finally breaks free of the web and climbs under it, only to run into the same thief and get struck by the poison, also becoming paralyzed. The thief then turns invisible. Blip has climbed up to the window, where he is still controlling the movement of the illusionary fighter. Freyland has emerged from the web at the opposite end of the room, and starts firing arrows into the enemy leader who has now targeted Blip with his crossbow. The arrows strike the man, who fires back at Freyland instead of Blip, missing him. 

From behind the bar, Fiona targets the female enemy mage, and both fighters, letting loose a lightning bolt into them and the far window. The half-ogre is barely scratched by it, although he continues to take much damage from the illusionary half-hill-giant. The bolt kills the female mage, and the other enemy is hurt. Luekia sees the door to the area behind the bar opening by itself, and tosses a dagger at the area where she assumes an invisible enemy is. Blip hops out the window, going to Jerry’s aid. Blip and Jerry both strike the mage until he is unconscious. 

Once Blip has exited the building, Freyland decides that departure sounds like a good idea, and heads towards the side door to the inn. Just as he turns, he sees the enemy with a shortsword directly behind him, the man having moved in for a backstab. The two exchange blows, both missing, and Freyland scoots out the door into the inn. He runs off at top speed, with the man behind him. Freyland exits out of the inn’s front door, and disappears into the woods to the north. The enemy pursues him for a while before eventually giving up, and heading back to the tavern. 

Meanwhile, Blip’s illusionary fighter disappears, leaving the half-ogre down over sixty hit points. Jerry and Blip decide to take the mage prisoner, and start dragging him away towards the forests northwest of the tavern. 

Fiona and Luekia are now the only party members within the room, and the two become the immediate target of both enemy fighters. Fiona hits the leader with a magic missile spell, which throws off his aim, and also reduces him to a mere five hit points. He orders the half-ogre to attack the women. The half-ogre starts breaking through the web as if it was not there. Fiona casts a Grease spell, which causes the half-ogre to trip and fall. They try to exit into the kitchen, only to have Fiona now be attacked by the invisible thief, reducing her to fewer than two hit points. Luekia does an “open hand” attack on the man, Kris rolling a natural “20”, which drops him unconscious. She then finishes him off. The two exit through the kitchen, and out of the tavern, using the nearest building to the south as cover. 

Just as Jerry and Blip are entering the woods as the half-ogre rushes out of the tavern, prompting the two gnomes to move quicker and out of sight. Their thieving skills are successful, and they evade being spotted by the enemy fighter. There is also a parameter battalion of hobgoblins and bugbears in the forests outside of town, which the two gnomes also manage to evade, continuing westward with their prisoner. Their destination is Freyland’s well concealed home, three miles away, dug into the hillside at the base of the Island’s mountain. Half a mile to the north, Freyland also evades capture by the hobgoblins and bugbears (harder to do without thieving abilities), with his destination also being his home. 

Fiona and Luekia head south, using the back of the other buildings in the town as cover. They witness that the enemies have overtaken the ship, with Silas Junior and Fiona’s Pegasus being captured. Fiona and Luekia disappear into the forests southwest of the town, with Luekia’s destination being a hidden shoreline cave, where the entrance can only reached underwater, although getting Fiona’s cat familiar to voluntarily go there could prove to be challenging. 


_The DM congratulates the group, stating that he is amazed that five of the seven playing characters actually managed to escape a scenario where the deck was so greatly stacked against them. He comments that the eight games played in the module, comprised of three nights of continent politics and then five nights of “flashback battles“, were all just the module’s set-up. He states that now the “real module” can begin. “Good, we can finally start winning,” one of the player’s states. The DM replies, “Hey, you managed to break even tonight.” _


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Eight, “Escapees and Elections”, August 5th, 1018 6:30 P.M. * 

Back on Silver Moon Island, in the town just south of the tavern, we turn our attention to Tubur, the only half-orc crewmember of the ship Silver Moon. Due to his having infravision he normally works the "night shift", so was sleeping when the town battle broke. He woke to the sounds of battle, armored up, and went to investigate. He soon saw that the remainder of the ship’s crew had fallen victim to either Sleep spells or superior firepower, with the town filled with Hobgoblins, Bugbears, and unfamiliar humans. Bugbears were carrying the unconscious bodies of the three ship’s carpenters and the navigator Smiddle to the northern part of the town, in the direction of the tavern. 

As Tubur was deciding his next move, he was then confronted by an enemy female mage, apparently high level, who mistook him for one of her allies. She asked why he wasn't with the rest of his team "At the Church". Tubur answers "They thought you might need help." "Well, you can just tell Etronne that we're doing just fine by ourselves," is her curt response, and she walks away. . Tubur decides not to press his luck, and exits while he still can. 

The commander of the night shift, the Silver Moon’s 3rd Mate, Lloyd, was also sleeping when the battle broke out. While going to investigate he was immediately confronted by a very large bugbear wielding a battleaxe. This left Lloyd at a distinct disadvantage, as all of his weapons were distance weapons, except for a shortsword. Deflecting the first two axe blows with his now dented-shield, Lloyd drew his sword. The next axe blow came close to shattering the shield, and the two jabs into the monster with the sword proved to be ineffective. 

Suddenly, the quasi-Rastafarian cleric Razou walked out of the woods (running late for the meeting with the clerical supply salesmen) and began to casually speak incoherently to both of them. This confused the Bugbear, who was unsure of which one to attack. Just then Tubur also came onto the scene. Lloyd and Tubur worked together and attacked, soon killing the enemy Bugbear. Razou then looked to Lloyd and Tubur, and asked, “Why you kill Bruce?” (thinking the dead bugbear is their bugbear crewmember). They quickly told him that they hadn’t, and those enemy monsters that had captured the crew had overrun the town. Lloyd took charge of the situation, leading the three away from the town. Razou was still confused about the situation, understanding that enemies had attacked, but still trying to figure out why that made them feel the need to kill Bruce. 

The trio of crewmembers soon run into Fiona and Luekia. After a brief information dump by both groups, the five decide to the northeast in the direction of Luekia’s cave. Meanwhile, Freyland has successfully evaded the many groups of hobgoblins in the woods, and makes his way back to his home. Shortly after his arrival, Jerry and Blip arrive with their human magic-user prisoner. They stash the unconscious prisoner inside, and spend the next half hour concealing the windows and door to the hillside cave home. They also work to hide their tracks. After settling inside the now concealed home, Freyland declares "They'll never find us now." He no sooner utters these words, when the door is pulled open from the outside. 

“It’s us" Luekia yells in, barely in time to avoid getting hit from multiple missiles from the three gnomes.” They join the others inside. Another information dump follows, with Razou again asking why Lloyd and Tubur killed Bruce. Tubur tries to explain that it was a different bugbear, but this information seems to confuse Razou even more. Finally Lloyd tells him “Look, it was the evil Anti-Bruce, from the negative plane of reality.” This Razou seems to understand. 

_One player continues to play the NPC Tubur with pronoun trouble, the character always referencing himself as "me" rather than "I". Another player comments that “I feel like I’m adventuring with the Cookie Monster.” This causes the first player to break out into a chorus of “B is for Broadsword, that’s good enough for me.” _ 

The group speculates about what has transpired. They conclude that the “big guns” may not be coming to there rescue, as they may have been simultaneously attacked. They start to plan what to do next. Freyland starts to speculate wildly, to which Tubur comments “Me think you have big imagination.” Jerry “You can’t use simple pronouns, but you can say the word imagination?” 

Tubur’s next suggestion is that they “All go to mainland and establish government in exile.” Jerry reminds everyone about the prisoner, and they discuss how he should be questioned. Fiona suggests that they play “good cop, bad cop”. Tubur adds “How about bad cop, badder cop.” Freyland suggests “How about bad cop, homicidal maniac cop.” They discover that the prisoner is still unconscious, and decide against wasting a cure spell to wake him. Razou uses up his remaining cures on the party’s wounded. Luekia says “I’m going to take Razou upstairs so he can get to bed.” “Going to tire him out?” Tubur comments, receiving a very dirty look in response. The party sets up watches, allowing the spellcasters (Blip, Fiona, and Razou) to get a full nights sleep. 

At 9:00 P.M., back in the Kaloon Lordholding, the assembled leaders of the nine Lordholdings meet to cast the third ballot for King. It begins as the other two ballots had gone, with both Jawlt and Aldorn voting for Kindor. The tension rises in the room as the East Lordholding changes their vote from the previous ballots, this time casting theirs for King Matthan. Zalpar, Cantage and Kaloon then cast votes for King Matthan as well. Jennifer reluctantly casts hers for Kindor, as does Eldamar, leaving Kralt to break the four-to-four tie. The Kralt Lordholder rises and makes a lengthy speech. 

“You people amaze me,” he begins. “The role of the King, as outlined in the treaty signed over a century ago, is to resolve disputes between the two Lordholdings. Has it occurred to anyone here that the underlying cause of all current disputes are because this man (pointing to Matthan) and this man (pointing to Kindor) do not get along with each other. This clash of personalities nearly brought the continent to war six-years ago. One cannot solely blame these men, as each was continuing the work of his immediate predecessor, Toronas and Kohlorahdooh respectively. In fact, all major disagreements on this continent between Lordholdings for the past forty years have the direct result of these two men and the two men who preceded them. 

So what do you do? Rather than electing somebody who could actually work with both of these men to resolve matters peacefully, you instead decided to elect one of these two as King for the next decade-and-a-half, knowing fully well that the result will be completely unacceptable to the other one. I came here today to propose choosing someone other than these two. I would have suggested either Lord Aldorn or myself. Me, you do not really know, so it is unlikely that I would have had your support. Lord Aldorn has previously served two successful terms as King, and even in his deteriorating health condition he would have been a better choice than either Matthan or Kindor. 

Imagine my surprise today, during the initial identification or Lordholders, when a new and decisive leader emerges. That Lady Jennifer was able to legally wrangle the leadership of her land from the King is commendable. I made a spontaneous decision then to choose her as the best alternative. During the intermission between the previous and current ballot I have had an opportunity to make further inquiries about her, and do you know what I have discovered? She is on good speaking terms with both Matthan and Kindor, and commands the respect of both men! Her Lordholding borders the lands ruled by both of these leaders, and she has been able to successfully resolve disputes along those borders through negotiation. Even though she is married to Matthan, her decisions are independent from his, the happenings today are proof to that fact. That she has just now cast her ballot towards Kindor demonstrates her willingness to work with him. Does all of this not show that she is amply qualified to assume the role? 

I once again cast my vote for Jennifer, which will again cause a tie, with no clear winner. Rather than postponing to a later date, where backroom deals and power plays can be negotiated, as obviously happened with East during the intermission, I would request that another vote be cast here and now. I implore you to support the best qualified Lordholder to lead this land.” 

Since a forth ballot has now been officially requested, a brief discussion follows. Lady Pamela and Matthan try to prevent this, but are overruled by the majority of the Lordholdings. A brief recess in called, during which there are heated discussions between the representatives of both the East and Zalpar Lordholdings. The assembly is called back to order. 

The forth ballot brings a clear majority for Jennifer, as Jawlt, Aldorn and East now change their votes to support Jennifer, which Thenossia, Eldamar, and Kralt concur with. Zalpar, Cantage, and Kaloon cast once again for Matthan. The proceedings are closed. The spectators all start to leave, except for Immy who turns invisible and attempts to approach the leaders, only to discover how just how thorough the security arrangements are, as he is stopped and redirected towards the door. Lady Pamela, Lady Darlene, Lady Annette and the Bishop storm out of the room together, followed shortly thereafter by Beverly of the Zalpar Mage’s Guild. 

The Silver Moon group returns to the Inn. Ki-Geloryn arrives, informing the party that the ships which brought Jennifer, Kindor, and Aldorn to the city will all be leaving a dawn, as they do not trust Pamela and her cronies, and will stay in this city no longer than necessary. He adds that Queen Jennifer would welcome a visit by both Serita and her associates on her ship, as she has a request to make of them. 

At 11:00 P.M. the group of Serita, Narg, Lannon, Mojo, Timothy, Kruk and Adrianna all head towards the ship Thenossia’s Pride, anchored in the harbor. They are rowed out to the ship, and join Lady Jennifer in a large and rather ornate dining room on board. With Jennifer are three of her six key bodyguards. Serita asks where Prince Matthew is, and is told that it is far past his bedtime, and that he is sleeping in his cabin, guarded by her other three trusted bodyguards. She inquires as to the identity of Kruk and Adrianna. A bodyguard uses a magic item to Detect Lies, as they explain they are originally from another world, and have no involvement with the current politics of this world. Jennifer tells them that she was also originally from a different world, having traveled to this land twelve years earlier (at the end of Module 4 “The Caves of Thibaultia”). 

She offers the finest of food and beverages to the party. “You had a request of us,” Serita states. “Yes,” answers Jennifer. “Lady Pamela has convinced Matthan that our son Matthew needs more of a formal education, and would like him educated at the school of her choosing.” To this, Narg and Mojo both add their own negative opinions. “How about the school of our choosing?" comments Serita. "That's what I was thinking" is Jennifer's answer. 

Jennifer states that she will send one of her bodyguard's, polymorphed into the form of her son, off to Pamela's school. She will then bring her son to live with his Godmother Serita, and be educated at the school on Silver Moon Island, at some point prior to her assuming the leadership of the continent. She says that she is impressed by the education that the Silver Moon is providing their next generation. She also adds that the prophesy once said to the Silver Moon by Ilma, the warrior maiden of Ukko, that "The next King of Phlooredah will come from among your party," is foreshadowing enough for her to want the Prince educated there. 

Jennifer does require those present to promise to not belittle or insult Matthan when Matthew is present, as she wishes her boy to grow up to respect his father, even if the boy's teachers do not. Narg and Mojo very reluctantly agree to this. Lannon asks "The kid isn't afraid of a lot of strange animals, is he?" "From what I've heard of the island, I sure hope not "answers Adrianna. 

"Of course, the strangest ones are members of the party," comments Lannon. "About the only thing we don't have on the island are drow elves and missionaries," answers Mojo (a rather ironic statement, given some of the enemies now on the Island). 

Kruk asks Jennifer how she came to be associated with the Silver Moon. "We started out actually as enemies, in fact he (pointing to Mojo) once killed me." Serita interjects "Hey, we all have off days." "Well, I hope that he continues to be such an inspirational fighter," Jennifer says, "and the rest of you as well, I'll need that." "What do you mean?" asks Narg. 

She answers "Have you forgotten, the continent-wide supported King's army was disbanded six years ago (The main purpose of Module 50 "Go Tell the Army They're Fired."). The continent ruler is now responsible for maintaining an army to use in resolving any disputes between the Lordholdings. Kindor and Matthan both have armies, I don't, so I'll give you three guesses who I'll be calling on during the next fifteen years whenever I need some extra muscle." The group lets out a collective “Oh boy” in response to this news. The group continue to socialize with Jennifer for another hour, before heading back to the Regal Carriage Inn.


----------



## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Nine, “Questioning the Prisoner”, August 6th, 1018, 5:00 A.M. * 

At dawn the party in Freyland's cave awaken for breakfast. The prisoner is also regaining consciousness. They decide to question him. Tubur decides for himself to assume Freyland’s suggested role of “homicidal maniac cop”. The man is kept blindfolded, with hands and feet tied, but the gag is removed. 

Tubur starts threatening the guy, saying that he will kill him for any lie or hesitation in answering questions. Blip starts by asking, “Which of us were you after.” “I can’t see who you are to know who “us” is unless you remove my blindfold.” the man states. “Wrong answer, me kill,” says Tubur. After a few more comments and a few more threats, the party eventually gets Tubur under control. 

The man identifies himself as Parisi, and the party is surprised to find the man to be very cooperative. He tells them that everything that had been said to them the previous day in Jerry’s Tavern is the truth, but only to a point. They were unemployed mercenaries from Ostland, who sailed three weeks to get to the island, with clerical salesmen and a paladin bodyguard on board the ship. He says that their true mission was to defeat those on the island, but that only his team leader knows the identity of those who hired him. 

He answers most questions asked of him, stating that there are apparently ten teams on the island, although he only knows the identities of the three teams of seven that were on board the ship. He says that the team posing as their merchant ship’s crew was assigned to attack the Silver Moon’s crew. The team posing as clerical salesmen was the attack team for the Church (which makes Razou glad that he was late in getting to the sales presentation). He says that the salesmen hired the Paladin as a bodyguard, with the evil party members wearing alignment-obscuring magic, in order to avoid suspicion once they arrived at the island. His team was assigned to wait in the tavern, and only attack once the alarm of the other attacks reached the tavern occupants. 

When asked about his own team Parisi is rather closed lipped, as he says one of the others was his partner, who he refuses to betray. He also indicates that this is less due to loyalty than for his own self-preservation, as his partner is a rather powerful assassin. He says that he and his partner had worked as a team for years, obtaining information for the Ostland military. To prove this he tells the party to check a secret compartment in his cloak. 

They find a list with the heading “Vestland Military – Reserve Members" He says that he and his partner obtained this listing prior to leaving Vestland, and that they used a Plate of Scrying the previous morning to ascertain which of these know enemies were present. Parisi says that they have intentionally not shared this information with any other members of their party, as their leader, Cronin, would have become furious if he knew Vestland troops were present, and would have executed any on the list on the spot in spite of his having orders to the contrary. 

The list has the ranks, names, and detection results of the fifteen Silver Moon members who had previously served in the Vestland military. Listed as “Off-Island” are Lieutenant Colonel Milo, Major Phraakeese, Captain Lios, Captain Marc Cornwall, Captain Prue, Lieutenant Dougar, and Lieutenant Jukart. Listed as “At Kaloon Election” are Lieutenant Colonel Narg, Major Mojo, and Captain Lannon. Listed as “On-Island” are Major Luekia, Major Mark, Major Vincenzo, and Captain Blip. Listed as “Detection Inconclusive” is Captain Serita. 

They ask Parisi further information about his team leader. Parisi says that sixteen years earlier Cronin had been a newly appointed officer in the Ostland military. He led his troops into a battle, during which he lost his arm. The military game him a medical discharge. Cronin borrowed a Ring of Regeneration, and spent the next six months growing back his lost arm, and then reapplied to the military. They would not take him back, because he had proven to be an extremely reckless a leader, Ostland valuing the safety of their troops above all else. Parisi adds “To put it mildly, they wouldn’t trust him to command two cadets to dig a latrine.” 

What Ostland did do was hire him as a mercenary and send him off on a suicide mission. This has been his role now for fifteen years, with him usually managing to complete the missions regardless of how dangerous they are, and always coming back alive. Parisi adds that Cronin is still extremely reckless, and usually looses at least half of his mercenary followers on every mission he undertakes. Parisi adds that of the six mercenaries on Cronin’s current team, the half-ogre Gorthe is the only one that Cronin has any long-standing loyalty to. Parisi tells the party that they can forget about using him as a hostage, as Cronin would have written him off the minute he was captured. 

Parisi then offers the party a deal. He says that he will give them cooperation, and even help them fight. He again reminds them that he refuses to betray his partner. He also says that he will not allow himself to be seen fighting against any member of the three teams who had accompanied him to the island, as they would be able to identify him and tell his partner. He says he has no objection to fighting any of the other seven teams or other monsters. His only other condition is that in one week they release him, and give him back two of his five magic items, the two being his Bracers of Defense for personal protection and a Feather Token which will create a boat for him to leave the island. He says that if they agree to this, he promises to never cross paths with them again. 

“Wait a minute,” says Freyland. “He is agreeing to change sides in mid-battle and fight against his allies. Are you sure he’s not already a member of the Silver Moon?” “No loyalty at all,” comments Luekia. “That’s better than a reference check,” says Blip. Parisi identifies his other magic items as being a Potion of Extra Healing, a +1 Ring of Protection and a one-shot Flare Wand to signal groups when a location is abandoned. The party agrees to most of his terms, saying that they will release him in two weeks, and give him back the two magic items then. 

The group checks a map of the island, realizing that the closest area to their current location is Milo’s cave. Since Milo is off island, and would have left elaborate traps to protect his home, they decide to go make a trail of tracks leading to the cave entrance. Jerry, Blip and Luekia head off on this mission. 

Back at the school, Vincenzo emerges from the water, casting a Dispel Magic to revert to human form. He begins to investigate the quiet and apparently deserted building, until he hears a female shriek behind him. He turns, and sees his eight-year-old daughter Jentile running towards him. The two embrace, and it is clear to him that she has had a difficult night. She tells him what has happened. 

They then follow the trail of monsters to the coastal home previously occupied by Silas and his family. Hiding in bushes along the shore, they observe the group who had attacked the school the previous evening bring Silas, Kharole, Jaime, and Buella into the building and set up hobgoblin and bugbear guards outside. The twelve children prisoners are still held captive, guarded in the wagon. Two ships then arrive and drop anchor in the small harbor by the building. One ship is an unknown merchant ship, the other is the Molly III, a ship that the Silver Moon had acquired a few years earlier, and kept anchored in a cove on a small island north of Silver Moon Island. Enemy adventurers, bugbears, and hobgoblins also man each of these ships. 

Nine Silver Moon crewmembers, each with a bugbear guard, are transferred to the Molly III. One other person also transferred is Silas Junior, who had last been seen by Vincenzo flying off with Fiona on her Pegasus. Several chests are loaded onto the other merchant ship, which then sails away back to the north. 

Next, the twelve children are marched and carried aboard the Molly III, where they climb down a ladder into the ship's hold. Three of the nine crewmembers are also led below, via the rear ladder from the Captain's quarters. As the Molly III prepares to set sail Vincenzo orders Jentile to return to the school, and hide until she sees an ally. He gathers together his magical items (his mace, a ring, scroll and boots of levitation), wrapping them up in a backpack along with rations, removes his armor, casts a "Dispel Magic" on himself which transforms himself into a Merman, tosses the pack and his shield onto his back, and swims after the Molly III. Jentile watches until her father and the ship are out of sight, sailing in a southwesterly direction, before heading back to the school. 

Back at Milo's cave, the three have created the false trail, and start heading back to Freyland’s home, running into a patrol of three enemy adventurers, a male cleric, male fighter, and female mage. 

The heroes hide, only to have the enemy mage look at some sort of tracking device in her hand, and point in the direction that the heroes are hiding. They split up a little, with her continuing to point towards Blip. Hearing other sounds in the woods, Blip casts a Detect Invisibility, and spots four invisible humans moving towards her. She warns Luekia and Jerry, who exit to the right while Blip heads off to the left. The mage signals her invisible troops to head after Blip. Blip extracts her compactable Broom of Flying, turns invisible, and flies off to the northeast, the enemy running on the ground behind her in the same direction. She spends the next half-hour making a wide turn, eventually winding up back at Freyland’s cave, where Luekia and Jerry had gotten to. 

They question Parisi, but he knows nothing of this group that they have encountered. They ask him about enemy strategy, but all he knows is of the city attack, saying that other strategic plans were only known to the team leaders. Tubur wants to kill Parisi for his lack of knowledge, but the rest of the party restrains him. Luekia suggests they act as commando, taking out the troops one-by-one. The group decides it is best for now to avoid fighting high-level enemy adventurers. The group quickly discusses the idea of using Blip as “bait” to catch those tracking her, but the idea is soon abandoned. 

They decide that since there are people nearly with a device that can somehow track Blip, they would be better off moving than staying put. The decision is reached to check out the school, seven miles to the west. Lloyd comments how the kids at the school would have been defenseless to the attack. Fiona says “at least one initially escaped that we know of”. Luekia adds “More may have, these kids have been trained in battle and survival tactics since the day they were born.” Tubur adds “Gee, maybe we should also think about training the adults.” Luekia suggests that their strategy should be to take out as many troops as possible in short guerilla raids. Jerry again suggests that since Blip can be tracked she could be used as bait to ambush that group. Both Blip and Freyland object to that strategy. 

The group then discusses what to do with Parisi. Tubur want to “cut off his feet so he can’t run away,” but it is pointed out that this would make it difficult for him to travel with them. “Well, then I can just cut off his head,” is Tubur's alternative suggestion.” They decide to keep his had tied, and the gag on, but remove the feet ties and blindfold. They also strip him of all spell components. He tells them what his remaining spells are , including the Hold Portals that he never got to cast on the Tavern doors, adding “Who ever expected a middle aged to elderly gnome to be such a pain in the butt.” Jerry answers “Hell, we have children on this island who are bigger pains.” After viewing the party he says “I gather that the half-orc is the bloodthirsty maniac with pronoun trouble.” The party then gag him and tie his hands. 

Back on the ship Molly III, the ship continues to sail southwesterly for the next few hours . Forced to help sail the ship, along the top deck, are the Silver Moon's First Mate Fritz, and crewmembers Richard, Gorski, Michael, Albert, and Lothar. The ship is piloted by a high-level enemy mage. Also on the top deck are six bugbear, one guarding each Silver Moon crew, as well as two enemy adventurers (initially a human cleric and a human fighter, with the fighter later being replaced by a half-orc fighter). 

Lothar is mute, and uses sign language to communicate, the language known by the rest of the crew and a few of the party members (including Vencenzo). This skill allows the six to communicate with each other without alerting the enemy. Vincenzo has caught up with the ship, and swims alongside of it, holding onto an external ladder. He manages to catch Lothar's attention. Lothar alerts the others to Vincenzo's presence, and relays a message back from Fritz asking Vincenzo "What are your orders?" Vincenzo tells them to wait, and continue to signal their observations. 

Meanwhile, below deck in the hold, a single enemy adventurer closely watches the thirteen children. Initially this guard was a gruff half-orc fighter, who threatened the children. After an hour of this "babysitting" the half-orc leaves, with an enemy human wearing leather armor taking his place a turn later. The kids put the turn that they were unguarded to good uses, with ten-year old Horatio (who Milo had been training) picking open the room's lock with a found nail, leading to a small room with a ladder up, a ladder down, and another door out. The other kids manage to search the hold during this turn, finding a long strip of leather and some more nails, which they begin to assemble into an improvised weapon (like a cat-o-nine-tails). 

Back on the Island, the group travel onward, avoiding the lake and buildings near it, eventually arriving at the school in a few hours. They are greeted by Jentile, Vincenzo and Jaime’s eight-year old daughter, who is thrilled to see other Silver Moon members. She tells them what had happened the previous afternoon, and how Vincenzo swam after the ship with the other children. She says that the group who attacked the school are now at the old Silas home by the coast, with Jaime, Silas, Kharole, and Beulla prisoners inside. She also shows them that she has Jaime’s sword that is very deadly to hobgoblins. “Should we leave a child with such a dangerous instrument?” Tubur asks. “Probably safer than giving it to an adult,” is Fiona’s answer. 

Jentile asks about the man who she does not recognize. They tell her he is one of the enemy. She runs over to him with the sword yelling “You attacked my family!”, then she stops and look at the others, asking “Can I kill him?” Tubur immediately answers “Yes". Jentile is stopped by Fiona, who says “If we had wanted him killed we would have done it already.” “But I did want him killed” is Tubur’s answer. “Hey kid, don’t be so bloodthirsty” Jerry says to Jentile, who answers “I’m sorry, it’s been a real bad day.” She gives Lloyd her mother’s other magical sword, a Longsword of Cancellation. 

Jerry and Blip scout out the Silas estate, returning to the party to tell them that it is heavily guarded by a large contingent of twenty-five hobgoblins and eighteen bugbears, plus an unknown number of foes inside the building. They decide that is would not be wise to attack such a large party at this point in time, and decide to wait at the school.


----------



## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Ten, “The Villain Revealed”, August 6th, 1018 1:00 P.M. * 

Back in the Kaloon Lordholding, Narg, Mojo, Lannon and Kruk finally make it downstairs for “breakfast”, joining Serita, Adrianna and Timothy, who are having what for them is “lunch”. Also dining at the Regal Carriage Inn are Immy dining by himself, three fighters over by the fireplace, a young couple oblivious to everyone else in the room, a Ukko cleric, a Paladin, and the bartender at the bar. 

They are soon joined by Ki-Geloryn, and have a pleasant discussion about the previous day’s events and its outcome. Ki says that Queen Jennifer, Lord Kindor, and Lord Aldorn have all left the city at dawn. He also adds that the three ships plan to all dock at the Thenossia Lordholding coastal City of Halla for further discussions among the three of them. Ki departs. 

All present suddenly feel an aura of tension and uneasiness around them. Timothy, the Paladin, and the Ukko cleric at the bar appear to be especially affected. Immy immediately turns invisible, and activates his Helmet of True Sight, taking in the room around him. Even though the room appears to have unchanged to the other occupants, the visor detects that all of the window shutters have actually been closed, and that brick walls have been erected in front of the door to the street, the door to the kitchen, and in front of the staircase to the second floor, essentially trapping all of the occupants in the room. 

A tall human, wearing black robes and a black hat appears before them (this is the mage who had been observing them). The man looks to be in his sixties and has a long white beard. He addresses the Silver Moon adventurers, “So, you thought that I would never track you down. Now you will learn that you cannot conspire against me, and steal my things”. None of the group has ever seen this man before, and do not appear to be overly concerned. Mojo yawns, and says to Narg “Did you put in a request for an over-the-top villain.” “Not this early in the day,” is Narg’s casual reply. Timothy has detected the evil aura of the man to actually be to the left of the projected image that the party sees. 

The man is put out at their casual indifference to him. Kruk interjects “I hate overly dramatic Magic-Users. So guys, who exactly is this guy?”. “Damned if I know,” answers Lannon. “Damned you will be!” the man yells. Kruk then asks him directly “So, are any of us supposed to know you?” The man responds “This does not concern you, this is a matter between me and them (pointing to the five Silver Moon members).” “Fine,” says Serita, “I’ll ask the question then, who are you?” 

“I am the one who you stole from!” the man yells. “And that answer is supposed to help?” states Mojo. “Look pal,” says Narg, “I think you have us mistaken for somebody else.” Flushed with anger, he declares “You deny that you’ve stolen from me! While she (pointing to Serita) sits there wearing MY RING.” Serita starts to wrack her brain to remember where her Ring of Teleportation originally came from. She eventually remembers that they found it inside a store on Alton’s home world, where the wizard Vaughn had hidden it (In Module 73 ”The K-Mart Kaper”). 

She says to the group, “I think he’s that mage who was worked with Vaughn” That she remembers Vaughn’s name, but not his, infuriates the man. He yells “You will regret making an enemy of the great Morgarth!" "OK, so now we know who he is," comments Narg. "Was that so hard?" Mojo says to the villain. The mage answers "You will pay for such insolence! I have taken from you all that you hold dear. Everything that you had is now mine.” “Huh?” asks Narg, “Would you mind clarifying that?” "My god," says Mojo, "He took our still." 

The villain roars “I have taken your precious island from you, and all of your family, friends, and followers.” Mojo yawns and comments “So what, there were too many people there anyway, you’ve probably done us all a favor.” Timothy is noticeably upset, and blurts out “What have you done with them?” The villain responds “I have taken them captive, where my personal guard now watch over them as prisoners. Their only hope is for you to save them” “How many people are on your island?” Kruk asks. “Too many,” replies Narg, “maybe we should look at this as an opportunity.” 

“And why exactly have you done this?” asks Serita. He responds “To teach you insignificant whelps a lesson. Your continued existence is due only to my patience. This will teach you that it is I who is in control of your lives, and not you. If you can somehow manage to defeat my ten clusters of guards, then they will live.” Mojo interjects “I’m still not feeling real motivated about this.” Lannon reminds him “Your cousin Lono is on the island.” “That makes me even less motivated,” replies Mojo. 

“Furthermore,” bellows the villain, “there is one other fact, which may motivate you to act. My senior Druid has informed me that your island is directly in the path that the worst hurricane to strike this continent in centuries. It will collide with your island in three to four days, and I can guarantee you that the weakest among your group will not survive. Imagine the fear facing children separated from their parents, familiars and other animals separated from their masters, when the worst ravages of the weather assail them!” 

“You say there are ten groups?” asks Lannon. “Yes,” states the villain. He continues, “Since there are five of you I have arranged for guards numbering five-hundred, broken into ten separate clusters.” “One-hundred to one odds, “ comments Mojo, “that seems about right.” 

Morgarth continues “It has taken me three years to reestablish my fortress on another continent, following the assault by you and your allies on my Zalparian home.” (During Module 66 “Assault on the Orc Lair”, although it was actually not the Silver Moon but an adventuring party led by the Cleric Dominic who were responsible for Morgarth’s forced exit). “Your later attempt to ally with my traitorous partner Vaughn, and steal my unique magic's from me, did not go unnoticed.” “Hey, we killed Vaughn for you!” says Narg (In game #500, the concluding game of Module #73, "The K-Mart Kaper”) “For me, I think not,” says the villain, “that merely shows the depths of your ability to betray your allies.” 

He continues “I have chosen this as a test of worthiness for my new sentries. They have strict orders not to plunder from your homes or from their prisoners until after all of you have been defeated. This will give them further incentive. I will tell you this, my most formidable sentinels are holding the three most powerful from your party. It will take the might of all of you, and any others that you might rescue, to attempt to free them, and still you will fail. Once my guards have finished with the five of you, I will address you again, and decide upon your true punishment for opposing me. Perhaps at that time you will be more humbled, and will grovel before me, as you should be doing now. I may then show you mercy, and execute you quickly, as gratitude for your assistance in training and testing my guardian forces, as well as arming and armoring them with the best of your magic's." "Thank goodness," comments Mojo, "I was afraid that you would just talk us to death instead." 

While all this is going on, invisible Immy with his helmet of true sight has detected the villain's actual location five feet to the left of his projected image. Immy invisibly moves in and successfully tosses a Necklace of Strangulation around him. The necklace constricts, which would be immediately fatal if not for the Stoneskin spell upon the man. The true villain remains invisible, but the projected image grasps at his throat, as it duplicates the actions of the real mage. This also works as a signal for the party to attack, although all of their attacks (except for Timothy’s, which misses) strike where the image rather than the real foe. Both the image and man disappear, instantly reappearing by the front door. All in the room also now see what Immy had known, that the window shutters are closed, and that brick walls cover the exits from the room. 

Morgarth bellows at Immy “You foolish creature. This matter did not concern you at all. Now you have made a powerful enemy of me, and once I get this annoying jewelry of yours removed, you too will suffer the consequences of your actions.” He then addresses the party “When you leave this room, do not attempt to go anywhere other than your island, or I will order the prisoners to be immediately executed. You will learn that you should not have ignored or underestimated me. You will fall beneath the forces that I have assembled.” He then teleports away. Narg tells Immy "Nice try with the necklace there." "Yeah, I was hoping it would shut him up," replies the gnome. 

After he has left Serita asks “Now what do we do.” Mojo says “Well, I’m still not really motivated, but maybe we should go to the island.” The group debates that the mage may have been lying to them, and that everyone on the island is fine, but decide that it is best to proceed as if they had been told the truth. 

The room itself is investigated, the walls in front of the doors being solid. At the window, a shutter is pried off, revealing the building to be surrounded by a Wall of Force. Beyond the wall they see activity taking place in the city, the tavern still being in Cortang, and conclude that the others present in the room will be safe remaining behind. Immy declares that since he is now on the mage’s enemy list he will be joining them. Kruk and Adrianna also volunteer to go with them. 

The group discusses who on the island would be deemed the three most powerful. They conclude that Cassie-Andra and the Cloud Giant Herculean are most-likely two of them. Identity of the third is debated. They rule out Milo, Ixnoxsis and Phraakeese, as those three are currently off-Island. Lannon says that a mage would be biased towards magic-users, so it is probably Fiona. Narg suggests Mark. Serita suggests the Pond Dragon Hokuru. Timothy suggests Isaiah. No firm conclusions are reached. 

Narg suggests the traditional strategy of “Get’em.” Serita says “I like blow-them-up better.” Kruk whispers to Lannon “Not experts on strategic tactical planning, are they?” 

Timothy produces a map of the ten-mile diameter island from inside of his backpack, and the party debates where to teleport to. A number of locations are discussed. They decide that it is better to choose a remote location, from which they can then scout out the more populated places. An abandoned cabin on the northwestern side of the island, once the home of the magic-user Crystull, is chosen as the group's destination. They take out the two bags of holding for the party to travel in, and Immy produces a third. All seven except for Serita climb into the bags. Serita changes into the form of a large white eagle, dons the ring of teleportation, grabs the two bags, and teleports away. 

Serita teleports into the area near Crystull’s cabin. The cabin has not been occupied for several years, and the area is somewhat overgrown. Crystull had cleared the timber within fifty feet of the building, but several small saplings and other plants have now grown up around it. The once-traveled road to the east is also overgrown, and barely visible. 

Serita flies around the area, spotting a pair of goblins on a wooden platform, eighty feet up a tree some 175 yards south of the cabin. She lands in the woods at a mid-point between the cabin and the tree, emptying the party from the bags of holding. While still in bird form, she draws a arrow in the dirt in the direction of the tree. Lannon and Immy head off in that direction. Serita flies on to the base of the specific tree, gesturing upward. Immy asks if there is a strategy. Lannon answers “Yes, fight, fight and then fight some more.” “Wouldn’t it be better to take them by surprise rather than fighting?” Immy comments. “Good point,” says Lannon, “OK, the new plan is violence, violence, and the some more violence.” 

Lannon and Immy scale the tree. They see two awake goblins on an upper platform, and two more goblins sleeping on a platform six feet below, with a wooden ladder connecting the two platforms. They sneak up to the lower platform, and dispatch the two sleeping goblins. Lannon uses his Boots of Spider Climbing to climb beneath the tree to come up on the first upper platform as Immy charges the closest awake goblin. Immy causes the goblin to loose his footing and fall to his death. Lannon attacks the other one, killing it. Lannon’s goblin is searched, revealing it to have a wand. Below, Kruk heads over to check out the goblin that fell. 

From this vantage point, they spot another platform in tree 175 yards to the northwest, with goblin-sized shapes on top of it. They realize that these lookout points form two-thirds of a triangle around the cabin, so they also look same distance northeast, see what might be a more concealed lookout post. They then panic as they spot Mojo and Narg approaching the building. Mojo and Narg’s approach is from the direction of this platform, and temporarily shielded by the building from the other two lookout points by the building itself, but Lannon and Immy fear that their fighter allies might decide to move around the cabin and be seen. 

Narg and Mojo check the door, finding it locked. Using their exceptional strength, they push on the door until the old lock gives way, which releases a gas trap, with a red gas floating upward. Mojo has the good judgment to shut the door, and the two run back to the party in the forest. 

Lannon and Immy do not notice any excessive movement from the other platform, and conclude that they must not have seen the brief plume of red smoke that escaped before the door was shut. They climb down and head northeast. Kruk sees them and follows, until they stop the noisy fighter, and send him back, with a message for the others to stay put, that there are goblin guards in the trees. 

Kruk does this. Never being one to take orders, Serita flies on to assist the two thieves, who are climbing the second tree. Using the same strategy as before, they take out the two sleeping, then fight the other two, both awake goblins falling the ground this time. In the third three, the sound and movement of one is the falling goblins is seen by a guard, but not in enough detail to tell what has happened. Their two sleeping goblins are woken up, and told to climb down and go investigate. 

Lannon and Immy find a dropped wand identical to the one from the other platform. They guess that it must be some form of signaling device. Serita, in bird form, lands on their platform, holding a bag of holding. Lannon and Immy point her in the direction of the suspected third platform, and climb into the bag. 

As she flies towards that particular tree, she sees two goblins now at the base of it. She lands very near them, and starts to dump the bag. The noise of the dwarf falling out of the bag attracts the attention of the pair of goblins. Lannon, while still half inside the sack, falls onto the ground to see two goblins above him, weapons drawn. He attacks, while still lying on the ground, as Serita dumps Immy from the bag, then flies upward. They soon eliminate their foes, and begin to climb the tree. 

Serita flies up towards the lower platform, seeing one goblin standing on it peering downward. She flies right into him, knocking him off. The falling goblin very narrowly misses hitting the climbing thieves. Unfortunately for the party, the goblin on the lower platform was waiting to hear back from the scouts sent below, with the one on the upper platform being the one holding the wand. After seeing his ally fall after being attacked by the large white eagle, he triggers the wand, sending a bright lime-green beam of light way up into the air, reaching an altitude of 4,000 feet before bursting into a lime-green and white firework, accompanied by a loud boom. This is the goblins final action, as Serita then knocks him from the platform. 

Three miles to the south, at the school, the flare is spotted by the other Silver Moon party. They ask Parisi if he knows what that is about. “Yes”, he answers, “Each of the ten teams has their own color-coded wands, which sends up a signal like that when a location is compromised and being abandoned.” He adds “Of course, our team was forbidden to use ours by Cronin, since that would also forfeit our winning the competition among the teams.” 

They asks if he knows what the different colors are and mean. Parisi says no, that only the team leaders know the colors of the other team, but that he does have knowledge of what this particular lime-green-and-white signal meant. He says that there are three designated “escape locations” on the island, for the adventuring teams to go to once they abandon a location. Each of these three locations is an abandoned building on the island. The thieves of the ten teams were briefed as to these locations, and the location of the hidden traps at these locations. Parisi’s partner received this briefing, and filled him in. 

The group calculates that the signal came from the home that previously belonged to Crystull. Parisi says that a small team of guards was left to watch over these areas, and signal if they were compromised. The party asks him the location of the other two “escape locations”. He says one is an abandoned cabin at the southeastern edge of the lake, which they conclude is Araby’s former home. He identifies the flare color for this location to be violet. The third is in a building in a rear corner of the city atop the island, with a fuchsia flare color. He also says that there is a fourth escape location too, but that this place and flare color are known only to the team leaders. 

The group speculate that the “Big Guns” must be involved, and decide to traverse the three miles through the woods to investigate. They set up a single-file marching order, carefully guarding Parisi. 

Back at Crystull’s cabin, the group discusses the ramifications of the signal flare having gone off. They decide that, rather than running away and putting themselves on the defensive, they will actually make preparations to lie in wait to ambush whoever comes to investigate the signal. 

Adrianna asks Kruk what he thinks of their new allies. He replies "A druid who thinks she's a giant white eagle, a crazed dwarf who climbs trees, and a gnome that drops goblins hundreds of feet out of trees…I guess I'd say they're about average."


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Eleven, “Taking the Ship”, August 6th, 1018 1:00 P.M. * 

Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, the Penguin has glued Batman and Robin onto a giant…ops, wrong story. Back on the ship Molly III, in the ship's hold, the human guard assigned to watch the kids is also fairly intolerant of children, and demands complete silence. An hour later he is replaced by another human. This human is much friendlier, which annoys thirteen-year-old Henry Junior even more. Henry demands "diapers, food, and bandages" which the man, who calls himself Craig, leaves to get. Young Horatio is sent back out the door, to the ladder down to the bilge deck, where is opens up the rear bilge doors (to both slow the ship and leave a trail of bilge water). The others use the time to complete the weapon, which is hidden before Craig returns. 

Back above deck, prisoner and crew member Fritz manages to adjust the bow sail in such a way that it flies loose, and scrapes along the ship. He and his ally Richard pull it up, telling their guards that it is ruined, and that they need to get it's replacement, from the bow storage locker. They check with the Mage, the only enemy aboard who appears to know anything about ships, who allows them to retrieve it. While in the compartment, Fritz pulls out the new sail, and opens it up, throwing the ends to Richard and their two bugbear guards. Shielded by the sail, Fritz opens the door to the weapons locker within the storage locker and grabs four daggers, which he stuffs into his boots and his belt under his shirt. 

They exit the room, and replace the sail, Fritz stashing the daggers on deck. They head back to the locker to put away the damaged sail, Fritz using the same technique to obtain four more daggers. During the next few hours he manages to distribute a dagger to each of his crew on deck so that all six are now armed (Fritz and Gorski each keeping two). Lothar signals Vincenzo that they are now all armed. After a while, two of the six bugbear guards are sent below. 

In the other cabin below, the Silver Moon crewmembers Bruce (the human), Jonathan and Toshiro had been placed in a rear windowless cabin, and had been told by a human enemy to "get some sleep, you'll be working on deck all night". An alert and well-armed bugbear guard was locked into the room with them. After six hours later this guard is now replaced by a bugbear that is far less attentive. Seeing this as an opportunity, the three launch an attack. Toshio uses the "waste bucket" provided to them, then flings it and its contents into the bugbear's face. The other two tackle the monster, grabbing his longsword as Toshiro throws a hammock cord around the monster's neck, and begins to garrote him. The three soon kill the guard, but find he has no key to unlock the door. 

They spend the next hour using the sword to quietly carve away the doorframe where the lock mechanism is mounted. They stop when a pair of bugbear approach, the bugbears entering the adjacent cabin to them, which they then hear the previously seen human say "get to sleep", and soon silence. 

The three crewmembers, Bruce (the human), Jonathan and Toshiro, eventually exit the room, going into the hallway and finding a ladder up, ladder down, and doors to both the adjacent room and ship's hold. 

They head down to the bilge deck, finding the two rear upper bilge doors open, and decide they could escape out them in an emergency. They then hear movement above, so remain quiet. They hear footsteps entering the hold, then leaving a few rounds later. Meanwhile, in the hold, a bugbear shows up and orders Craig topside. The bugbear is then locked into the room with the kids. The three escaped crewmembers head back up from the bilge deck, taking with them two of the four wooden bars holding open the aft bilge doors, to use as clubs. They decide to first check out the other aft cabin, finding three sleeping enemies, a human and two bugbears. 

Up on top of the ship, the Mage calls Craig over to take over with the ship's wheel. The mage then polymorphs himself into a seagull, and flies away. Vincenzo is signaled to this, and concurs with Fritz to launch an attack soon with the mage is well away and the odds are even (seven enemies to seven allies on the top deck). 

In the cabin below, Toshiro uses the commandeered longsword to stab into the sleeping human, as Jonathan and Bruce throw the other hammocks atop the faces of the two sleeping bugbears. Jonathan then notices a scimitar on the floor, beside the enemy human, and grabs for it. As he raises the weapon to attack, the room fills up with light from the scimitar, so Bruce shut the cabin door. 

Toshiro continues to stab into the now awake and very wounded human. The bugbear Bruce is attacking lashes out at him, knocking him back. Toshiro and Jonathan both slash into the human, killing him, but also leaving Jonathan vulnerable to an attack by the other bugbear, which knocks him unconscious. As Jonathan falls, he drops the magic scimitar, causing the light to go out. Toshiro tries to grab where he saw the scimitar fall, but is then attacked by one of the bugbears, knocking him unconscious. 

Bruce and one of the bugbears manage to grab the scimitar simultaneous. After a struggle, Bruce manages to hit the bugbear with it and get him to release the weapon. The room once again erupts in light, with Bruce now seeing himself alone against two bugbears. He opens the door to exit the room. He quickly throws open the hatchway to the bilge deck, as the first bugbear catches up to him. Bruce strikes this already wounded bugbear, dropping him, and continues down to the ladder to the bilge deck, slashing into the other bugbear and then closes the bilge door behind him, locking it. As this bugbear then heads topside, Bruce makes his way aft, and exits the ship via the bilge doors, managing to hold on to the rear of the ship along a thin railing. 

In the hold, alerted to the sounds of battle outside the door, the Bugbear guarding the kids approaches the door and bangs on it, asking what is going on. With his back to the children, thirteen-year olds Henry Junior and Janet attack him. Henry uses a bucket to attack, and Janet their improvised cat-of-nine-tails weapon. 

The bugbear turns, and draws his sword, slashing Henry across the chest. Henry falls back, very wounded. Janet completes three successful attacks with the cat-o-nine tales. Having inherited exceptional strength from both of her parents (Buella and Phuddipeduzh) these three successive attacks are enough to bring the bugbear down. The kids grab up his weapons, as Vincenzo Junior uses the bandages on Henry's wound. They soon find the other dead enemies and the unconscious bodies of Toshiro and Richard, who Vincenzo Junior starts to bind the wounds of. 

The wounded bugbear from below wakes the up three bugbears and an enemy adventurer sleeping in the captain's cabin, and continues out above deck. Those above deck had been waiting until the enemy mage had flow completely out of sight to launch their own attack, but take the appearance of the wounded bugbear calling an alert as the signal to begin their attack. This is due in part to this bugbear's screaming catching the attention of all of the enemies, who turn their backs to the party to hear what the bugbear is yelling about. 

Vincenzo casts a "Prayer" spell as Fritz tosses a dagger into the half-orc fighter near him. Gorski, Albert, and Lothar each charge into their own bugbear guards. Michael tackles the enemy cleric to prevent him from getting off a spell. Richard charges the half-orc fighter. 

As the enemies turn to retaliate, Vincenzo successfully casts a Hold Person spell on the half-orc fighter. Fritz and Richard move on to the Bugbear fighting Gorski, which is good as Gorski is nearly unconscious at this point. Gorski retreats once the reinforcements arrive. Albert has sprung a trap he laid out with ship's rope and rigging, catching his bugbear foe. The cleric manages to toss Michael off of him and overboard, Michael grabbing onto the ship's railing at the last minute. Albert throws his dagger into the Cleric to prevent a spell from getting off. Vincenzo has now climbed on board, and throws a Silence onto the enemy cleric. The cleric retreats into the captain's cabin, with both Albert and Michael following right behind him. 

Vincenzo's next Hold Person successfully takes out the enemy Craig, who is piloting the ship. Lothar manages to drop his foe, after first taking fifteen points of damage. He grabs the bugbear's sword, and finishes off both the bugbear that Albert had tangled up and the wounded one. By now, Richard and Fritz have eliminated the other two bugbears. 

Vincenzo pulls himself aboard and casts his last Dispel Magic to transform himself back into human form, then casts an Aid spell on himself. Shield and mace in hand, the now naked Chaotic Good cleric charges towards the Captain's cabin. 

Below, Janet has been holding back the doorway to above, while having the other children retreat to the rear cabin. She eventually lets go, dropping down and through the open door to the bilge deck, as an enemy bugbear climbs down the ladder after her. As the other two wait to go down the ladder, the enemy cleric charges into that room, and orders a bugbear to attack Albert and Michael behind him. The bugbear does as told, lashing out much damage into those behind him. The cleric heads below, followed by one of the bugbears, with Michael close behind. Vincenzo arrives and helps Albert drop his bugbear foe. Janet climbs back up from the bilge deck, on a ladder on the opposite side of the ship, rejoining the other children. 

Armed with their enemies' weapons, the children Janet, Oblong, Tanya and Silas Junior now charge at the bugbear and the cleric. Michael knocks the last bugbear heading down the ladder off, causing him to fall and lodge his shoulder into the doorway to the bilge deck. Michael drops on him, and stabs into the monster. The remaining bugbear strikes Silas Junior with a massive slash in the chest, dropping him. Vincenzo Junior rushes to him, and quickly concludes that his friend is dying. Picking his friend up, Vincenzo Junior walks towards the battle in the next room, catching his father's attention. Vincenzo breaks off from his attack on the cleric, leaving Tanya and Janet to continue the fight, and manages to cast a Cure Serious Wounds spell on the boy to keep him from being dead. 

Albert charges in to assist the two young girls, as Janet gets struck. The bugbear now takes on all three foes, as the cleric decides to retreat, and makes his way back up the ladder to the Captain's cabin, as the silence spell on him ends. The bugbear soon falls under the onslaught and Vincenzo charges back upstairs after the cleric, catching him and another enemy adventurer in the midst of a Plane Shift spell. Vinnie throws a Dispel Magic at them, but is not able to get it off into to stop the Plane Shift, and the two enemies disappear. 

The party spends the next ten minutes gathering themselves together. Vinnie casting his remaining Cures on Toshio and Michael. The bodies of the bugbears and dead enemy are stripped and tossed overboard. The two enemies who were held are stripped, tied up, and brought to the hold. Fritz turns the ship around. Vincenzo tells the kids that "You've earned your Silver Moon rings today." Gorski is sent below deck to close the bilge doors. Outside of the doors, Bruce the Human is still clinging onto the ship, and assumes that this hand closing the doors is the enemy, and prepares to strike him with the magical scimitar. 

Vincenzo Junior points out to his father all of the healing work that he did during the battles, to which Vinnie replies “Atsa my boy!” Junior reminds his father of the two prisoners the kids are watching down in the ship’s hold. Vincenzo and Michael head down below to question them. 
They speak to Craig, the human who had been nicer to the children, finding him to be rather elusive, and giving answers that appear to be lies. Vincenzo Junior cautions him “It is a bad thing to lie to my father, you end up having to stand in the corner for an hour.” Vincenzo informs the man that he actually faces consequences for lying that are worse than a time out.” 

When asked why they attack the island and kidnapped the children, Craig says that they were trying to actually protect the children by taking them out of the way so that they wouldn’t inadvertently get in the line of fire of other battles now taking place on the island. Vinnie sarcastically answers “Outta the way huh, like they weren’t hostages or anything?” Craig continues to give “I don’t know” as the answer to most questions, claiming that only his leader, a 15th level mage named Etronne, knows what is really going on. Craig does reveal that he and Etronne were the only two of the sixteen enemies on board with prior ship experience. The group decides to keep a rotating two-person guard on these prisoners. Vincenzo heads off to sleep in the Captain’s cabin. 

The party passes out the armor and magical weapons obtained from the prisoners, giving them to Vincenzo, Fritz, Michael and Lothar. Janet, Tanya and Alicia cook supper for everyone. The other kids assist the crew at watching out for the mage (which is actually too late, as the mage is already back on board, now hiding in the crow’s nest). Fritz steers the ship, and Gorski now takes a lookout up position in the crow’s nest (where Etronne immediately puts him to sleep, and then changes his own appearance to match that of Gorski).


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

Terry said:
			
		

> SM -
> 
> Still closely following this guy - I don't know how you kept everything straight! Multiple scenarios, dozens of PCs, even more NPCs! Sheesh!
> 
> ...




Thanks Terry. This was the most complex module that I ever attempted but it wasn't actually that hard to keep track of everybody since the players did most of the work for me. I'm a big fan of gnomes took, in fact both Jerry and Freyland are my own Playing Characters (which during these combat sequences I turned the charater sheets over to the players as NPC's).


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Twelve, “Scouting Around”, August 6th, 1018 2:00 P.M. * 

Back on the island, with the higher-level group, Narg, Lannon and Mojo circumnavigate the northern base of the mountain, they find yet another branch of tracks, as an older set of approximately one-hundred-fifty monster-sized footprints, most probably hobgoblins or orcs from the look of it but also larger ones that the party concludes were made by bugbears. 

Back at the cabin on the Island, the spell-casters Immy and Timothy, with Adrianna as their fighter guardian, build their own version of a duck blind, about 100 feet north of the building, from which to launch spells from. Serita opts to stay in bird-form, and scout from above to alert the party of any approaching foes. 

Serita lands, altering the group that a small army of eighty to one hundred bugbears is approaching from the east on the old road, apparently having seen the flare shot up a half-hour earlier. Kruk, Narg and Mojo find good hiding spaces near the trail a few hundred feet away from the building. Serita lands on a perch atop a tree to watch from, and Lannon also takes a treetop position. 

Once the invading troops can be heard from a distance Immy casts an illusion of a huge sleeping red dragon, its neck, body, and tail lying in a wide oval that nearly surrounds the building. As expected, the bugbears in the lead stop at the tree line’s edge, rather than approaching the beast. Immy then has the dragon awaken, and stand threatening towards the bugbears. It launches a breath attack, causing the group of monsters to retreat. Once the rear third of this force is between them, the attack is launched by Narg, Mojo, and Kruk. They cut down many foes, receiving assistance from the dragon who Immy has head away from the cabin along the trail. 

After a few dozen are cut down the others flee quicker from the site. Kruk uses his Boots of Leaping and Striding to cut down the few retreating straggles. Lannon also launches an attack at some in the rear, only to have this small group set upon him. Kruk comes to Lannon’s aide, cutting these monsters down, and deciding that they are “two hit” foes. Mojo, watching this, comments to Narg about “this new guy only needs tights and a cape with a big “S” on it to complete the package.” 

Immy pulls out a figurine in the shape of a fly, and uses it to magically create a giant fly, on which he can ride. He quickly flies past the party’s fighters, causing Narg and Mojo to do a doubletake. "Was he on a giant fly?" asked Mojo. Narg just shakes his head and says "This surprises you why?" Mojo just shrugs. Immy decides to heads aloft above the trees. The DM asks the player “so he zips up?” The player replies yes, to which the DM comments “OK, he zips up his fly.” After the collected groan from the players, Immy continues to directing his illusionary dragon to pursue the retreating mob of bugbears. 

Serita also flies off in that direction. Immy lands the dragon in the midst of a large group of retreating bugbears, and launches another breath attack, dropping eleven. A group of seven is the next largest coalition of foes, so a third breath weapon is used on that group. After this, the remaining bugbears scatter individually in every different direction. Immy and Serita spend the next half hour each taking out whichever ones they can find in the immediate vicinity. 

The party gets back together, eventually managing to get Serita and Immy to come back to them. The party also is getting impatient with Serita not being able to communicate verbally, until Immy pulls out an Amulet of ESP to read her thoughts and translate for the party. Immy makes some suggestions, until Mojo says "Listen Bug Boy, it's kinda hard to have a serious conversation with you while you're sitting on a giant fly." 

They decide to not go back to the building, but instead to track the path that this group of bugbears took. The easy-to-follow trail heads east towards the mountain in the center of the island. 

In the woods two miles north of the school and one mile south of the cabin, the other group of adventurers stop after Blip spots movement in the woods to the east of them. Blip and Luekia investigate. Blip quickly returns to the party, telling them that it is the same group of enemies who had tracked her that morning near Milo’s cave. Since the woods and foliage are very thick in this location, and most of the enemy are invisible, they decide that this is not the best location to make a stand. They opt to hurry back to the school. 

Meanwhile, the higher level Silver Moon party reaches a point where their trail of bugbear footprints merges with an older group of tracks of another hundred tracks, half bugbear size, half smaller. The older group of tracks originate from the same direction, and head off on a more southerly path towards the lake and school. After a brief debate, they decide to continue following to the source of both groups (which, much to the DM's dismay, also eliminates any possibility of the two groups joining together and exchanging information anytime soon). 

As the higher-level group circumnavigates the northern base of the mountain they find yet another branch of tracks, as an older set of approximately one-hundred-fifty man-sized tracks join up from the same point of origin, this set of tracks heads up the north side of the mountain towards the city. Serita communicates her distress of enemies at her home, and wishes to investigate. Narg suggests that they go investigate the city atop the mountain. "Like there's a good change that the villains went up there to steal your dirty socks," comments Mojo. "If they did that then they're already dead by now," quips Lannon. 

Serita is adamant that she wishes to check the status of her home. Immy suggests that he accompany her, as the two can quickly fly up, assess the situation, and fly back. The other six agree to this, saying that they will continue to track the monsters to their point of origin. Immy cloaks himself in an illusion of a giant white eagle, identical to the form Serita is now in. 

The lower-level group continues to quickly retreated the two miles back to the school, along the path through the woods that they had made just before. From the higher spots along this path they can tell that their pursuers are following them. 

At the top of the mountain Serita and Immy investigate the cave of the cloud giant Herculean. Serita is distressed that he is not around, and that there are dozens of humanoid tracks present. They descend into the city, spotting a line of hobgoblins along the parameter of the bullywug’s swamp, weapons drawn. The sixty adult bullywug are all congregated around the home of the pond dragon Hokuru in the center of the swamp. Serita approaches the bullywug, and is surprised at their defensive violent reaction to her, as they thrust spears in her direction. Since a visiting large white animal is the signal for being Serita in animal form, she is does not know why they reacted to her in such a manner. She and Immy then discover that Hokuru, the pond dragon, is gone. Since the Bullywug consider him to be their god, it is no wonder that they are agitated. 

They debate returning but decide to first check out the rest of the city. Narg’s player comments "Half an hour to check out a marsh with frog-men, and only now they decide to go to buildings and homes as an afterthought?" 

They see the burnt out jeep and evidence of the fireballs that were thrown near the library. Serita becomes angry at seeing that a fireball had struck the southern grove park near her home. She and Immy next check out her home. After seeing the panther and gorilla guardians, Immy decides to keep a distance. Serita ascertains that her home is undisturbed. The only other occupants seen in the city are more hobgoblins, patrolling in groups of two, three or four. Immy and Serita decide to fly back to their party. 

They other group arrives back at the school, with only around ten minutes before the enemy will arrive. They decide to set up what they can for defenses, choosing the second floor of the main house is the best location to defend from. Lloyd, Jentile, and Razou take up a position in corner room. Luekia and Freyland go to the next room. Blip goes to the third room. 

The final room is taken by Tubur, Fiona, Parisi and Jerry. Parisi is untied, and the given his spell components for a single Fireball spell, with Tubur beside him, sword drawn, in case Parisi does anything other than he is told. They wait for their enemy to arrive, as Jeremiah goes to set traps on the two staircases to the second floor. Luekia lays out a trail of flour to detect footprints of any foes approaching under the cover of invisibility.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Thirteen, “School and Ship Battles”, August 6th, 1018 3:00 P.M.* 

Those at the school only see two of the enemy, the Cleric and Fighter that Blip, Luekia, and Jerry had seen that morning. The two are approaching the craft building. At Fiona's order, Parisi begins the attack by fireballing the pair (and also hitting an invisible thief behind them). The cleric retreats to behind the craft building, as the fighter charges forward towards the main house, firing arrows up towards the second floor window. Lloyd and Jentile continue to fire their crossbows down at him, with minimal results as the man has superior protection. 

Jerry climbs down the wall on the opposite side of the house, and heads around the front of the building. The enemy fighter's aim is quite good, forcing the party to not dally at the windows. Blip and Freyland use their distance weapons as well. Several rounds later, the fighter is closer to the house, until Razou successfully hits him with a Hold Person spell. Jerry rushes around the building, charging at the held guy. 

Elsewhere, Fiona, Parisi, and Tubur continue to watch out the windows for more enemies, only to find one in the room with them. An aside: The DM informs Fiona’s player that an invisible enemy assassin has partially entered the room, sitting in the window itself. He is using a crossbow to exact an assassination. Furthermore, the man is using a Bolt of Slaying: Magic-Users. As there are actually TWO apparent Magic-Users in the room the player is allowed to make the roll to determine if the target is Fiona or Parisi. He makes the odd/even roll, the victim being Parisi. The DM rolls a successful "to hit", after which the player makes an unsuccessful Death Magic Saving throw, resulting in Parisi letting out a scream before falling dead mage on the floor. 

Tuber's immediate reaction is to hit the assassin with his sword. Fiona casts a Magic Missile, and the Assassin drops out of the window to the ground below. They check out Parisi, concluding that he is dead. Blip and Luekia, having heard the scream, arrive at the doorway to the room. Fiona does her version of the Dr. McCoy "He's dead Jim," line, informing them that the assassin is below. Blip bolts down the stairs, with Luekia and Freyland behind her. 

Jerry has reached the held man, and his first reactions are to disarm the man. He cuts the bowstring, and then cut the man's sword belt, dropping it to the ground. He then climbs up the man to get a target of the man's neck. The initial cut heals behind itself, causing Jerry to look for a magical healing device. He climbs down, and removes the man's ring, putting it on. He then tries again for the neck cut, with the same healing result. He starts searching the held man for a different magical item. Lloyd and Jentile continue to fire arrows at the craft building, to prevent the cleric from running to his partner's aid. The cleric attempts four consecutive "Hold Person" spells on Jerry to stop him, but Jerry manages to successfully save from all of them. 

Back in the room above, another invisible foe has successfully entered the room with Fiona and Tubur. The man stabs Fiona for minimal damage, only to get three successive major attacks by Tubur, backed by a Fiona Magic Missile, which reduces him to a messy heap on the floor. 

Blip has charged down stairs, and out of the house, only to be intercepted by the assassin that had killed Parasi. The two spar, until the female mage becomes visible, casting a spell upon Blip, from which she saves. The mage runs around building to then get away. Blip breaks off her fight with the assassin, heading after the mage once Luekia arrives, telling her to distract the man. Blip then charges around the building after the mage. 

The mage stops twenty feet away, turns, and tosses a six-missile Magic Missile spell into Blip, reducing her to a single hit point. Blip continues to pursue the foe, closing the distance between them, and tackling her before another spell can go off. The Mage screams out for assistance. Freyland finally makes it down the stairs and out of the building, moving onto the assassin fighting Luekia. This allows Luekia to go to Blips aid. 

Luekia rounds the bend just in time to see a man turn visible as he stabs his sword into Blip, knocking her to the ground. Fortunately for Blip, her Detect Invisibility spell was still running, so she caught the man's movement just prior to attack, negating his Backstab bonus. This therefore leaves her very wounded rather than dead. Luekia charges forward to attack. Freyland has now defeated the assassin and heads out to assist Luekia and Blip. At the sight of the mortally wounded Blip, Freyland becomes enraged, and charges forward full force. Tubur and Fiona also head downstairs at this point. 

The thief who had attacked Blip activates a magic item, creating large bat-like wings. The wings successfully create enough of a shield to protect the mage long enough for her to cast another Invisibility spell on her. Freyland slashes into the thief, as Luekia scoops up Blip and carries her back around the building. The thief attempts to fly away, until Freyland slashes his Sword of Sharpness though one of the magical wings, dropping the man to the ground. The grounded man is soon defeated by Freyland. 

The invisible mage attempts a spell on Freyland, who successfully saves. She moves back before he can attack her, and downs a potion she was holding in her hand. Freyland charges the woman, and to get in a successful attack before the Mage's Potion of Flying can get her out of weapons range. Luekia returns to help, seeing the mage fling around the building. Freyland fires arrows and Luekia throws darts at the mage, until another of her Invisibility spells kicks in. 

Meanwhile, Jerry starts cutting off the fighter's armor, soon seeing an amulet that was being worn beneath the chest plate. He climbs back up the man, and cuts loose the amulet. He then goes to cut the man's throat for a third time, but is surprised as the Hold Person finally wears off and the man moves. The fighter uses his exceptional strength to throw Jerry off of him. The man's cleric ally now rushes to his assistance, prompting Jerry to retreat back towards the main building. From the window above both Lloyd and Jenitile fire down into the two foes. The fighter grabs up his sword and armor, and runs back with the cleric to behind the craft building. Lloyd and Jentile are left to watch the craft building as Razou answers the cry of "Medic". 

Luekia has bound the wounds of the dying Blip. Jerry rushes over and puts the magical amulet around her, which seals up the wounds. Razou manages to get to her before she passes away, and casts some much needed cures. The group discusses that at least three foes are still around, and head back into the building. They bring both thief bodies with them up to the room above. Fiona notices that Parisi's belt is now missing. Seeing Parisi's body for the first time, Jerry asks "Did he turn on us?" "No, somebody got to him first," answers Fiona. 

They cast Detect Magic on all four bodies, stripping them on any magic, before dropping the bodies out the window. Once defenses have been set up again, Jerry and Luekia check out the craft building, finding their opponents to be long gone. The group decides to stay with the protection of the main house for the immediate future while they stock up on any needed supplies. 

Back near the Mountain, Serita and Immy rejoin their allies, who have continued up the path until they found another spot where tracks fork off. Here another hundred-and-fifty or so tracks branch off in the direction of the town and harbor. These tracks are also a mix of bugbear and man-sized. They fill the party in about what they saw. Immy translates for Serita, adding the comment after she tells of the burned out Jeep "What's a Jeep?" 

The group continues following the tracks back to the point of origin for the approximately five hundred creatures. This path continues northward for another mile, reaching a small clearing where it stops completely. They conclude that the monsters were somehow magically teleported to this location. The group debates where to got next. They decide to follow the tracks of the group to the town. 

Back on the ship Molly III, the sun has just set over the horizon, as the ship continues to sail back towards the island. The crewmember Gorski starts to waive his hands frantically while looking at the acting-captain, Fritz. Gorski is saying something, but nobody can hear the words, so Richard starts to climb the mast ladder to investigate. When Michael is about one-third of the way up, Gorski’s appearance changes to that of the mage Etronne, and a Lightning Bolt emanates from his finger tips, flying straight into both Fritz and the Ship’s wheel. Fritz saves successfully, so is injured rather than dead, and the wheel is reduced to kindling. The bolt bounces off of the deck rather than through it. Etronne drops back down into the crow’s nest. 

The DM asks for the crew’s reaction. A player suggests “We now can’t steer the ship from the bridge, so we’ll all go below to the Battle Bridge and separate the top deck from the ship.” The crew and a few of the kids fire arrows up towards the villain. A player recommends flaming arrows, but the other players point out that setting their only vessel on fire in the middle of the open seas is probably not the best idea. One arrow strikes Gorski, who is lying in the bottom of the crows. The arrow causes him to wake up just as Richard reaches the crow’s nest. “What happened?” asks Gorski. “That’s what happens when you fall asleep on guard duty” answers Richard. Richard helps Gorski climb down the mast to have the wound cared for by Vincenzo, who has been woken up. 

A seventy-five point fireball then explodes right in the middle of the main sail, catching both it and a great deal of the rigging on fire. The kids and crew all pitch in with a bucket brigade to extinguish the blaze. Vincenzo uses his Shoes of Levitation lift himself up to fight the fire. They soon manage to get it put out, but will need to replace the sail and much of the rigging. They decide to wait until morning to replace these, as the mage may still be around, and they do not want to put up their only replacement main sail for him to target again. The group concludes that the mage wasn’t actually trying to kill them, but to prevent them from making their way back to the island. They spend the next hour checking the ship for the mage, who appears to have left. They assign some of the children to assist the two crew guarding the prisoners. 

Without the wheel, Lothar has to pull on the ropes to the rudder to steer. They sail on for a few more hours, at a slower pace due to having only the use of only the secondary sails. At nightfall they estimate that they are still a few hours away from the island. With visibility poor, they decide not to sail at night, not wanting to either accidentally sail past the island, or run aground on rocks as they near the island. They drop the sea anchor, and most go to sleep for the night, keeping four awake on duty at all time, two above deck, and two crew and one child in the hold guarding the prisoners. 

Back on Silver Moon Island, the higher-level group has reached the town. The first building spotted is the Tavern, with a small contingent of twelve hobgoblins and seven bugbears guarding it from the outside. Mojo suggests burning the building to the ground until he is reminded that it is filled with both prisoners and alcohol. Narg and Mojo begin devising a plan to rescue the alcohol. 

The others check out the remainder of the town, finding the ships gone and the town deserted until the final building, the Ukko church, which has an even larger group of hobgoblin and bugbear guards around it than the tavern had. The group debates which structure to attack first. Mojo and Narg vote for the tavern, so they can get a drink afterwards. The others decide that their first assault should be at the Ukko church, since it appears to be the most heavily fortified from the outside, an indication that the more important captives are being held inside. "But the Tavern has better booze in it," is Mojo's complaint. 

Serita suggests burning the church to the ground, to which Timothy naturally objects. Narg points out that there are prisoners inside. Serita answers "Only the cleric Isaiah as far as we know, what's the problem." Mojo suggests burning it to the ground, but making sure that all of the prisoners get out. Timothy points out that this would leave Isaiah homeless, so he would have to go and live with them. "Good point," says Mojo, "let's make sure the prisoners don't escape the burning building." Timothy continues to try to convince them to not burn down his home. "Hey, don't blame us if it burns," says Mojo adding, "If you really did not want it burned to the ground you should have built it out of asbestos." 

Timothy reminds them that other party members live in or near the city, including Jerry and Freyland. "So what, we could kill a gnome to help with overall game balance," says Mojo. "But which one?" asks Narg. Mojo adds "Let's just kill all the gnomes and call it even." "Well, we could kill Freyland with an eyedropper of water," adds Mojo. Immy appears a bit confused and concerned by the discussion of random gnome killing. 

Eight miles to the west, the other group leaves the school and heads back to Freyland’s home, bypassing any areas that potentially have foes. They are successful in leaving before the next patrol group, led by some of the ones who got away, arrive back at the school.


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## Silver Moon (May 11, 2006)

*Chapter Fourteen, “Battle at the Church”, August 6th, 1018 4:30 P.M. * 

The group at the church decide to split into two teams. Immy and Serita take up position on the roof of the home of the crewmember Stephen, which is closest home to the church. They instruct the others to wait until after they initiate their spell assaults before attacking. The other six take up position behind the stable in back of the church. 

The attack starts with Immy casting his most powerful Phantasmal Force spell, creating a illusionary party that looks identical to those behind the stable (except that Immy makes the illusionary version of Mojo being a bit taller, at the real Mojo’s request). He also creates an illusionary group of six generic fighter-types with them, so as to have some to make illusionary casualties with. 

At the sight of the charging adventurers the leader of the bugbears and hobgoblins guarding the door sends out their ten hobgoblins to attack them. He also sends two bugbears around back to tell those guarding the rear doors. Serita, using a staff loaned to her by Immy, sends down a Flame Strike into the now moving Bugbears, dropping three of them. One manages to eventually stand back up and retreat around back of the building. Her next Flame Strike is on the hobgoblins, dropping several of them. The remaining hobgoblins close into striking range of the illusionary adventurers. 

Meanwhile, the others start to get impatient about waiting, especially when the first two bugbears reach the rear of the building and inform the leaders of the battle out front. This group, like the first sends their nine hobgoblin allies around front to deal with the threat. After a few minutes, Kruk and Lannon start making noise in order to draw away some of the bugbears at the rear of the building. Mojo tosses his hammer into a bugbear, which only makes him angry. Mojo tosses the hammer again, being spotted by the bugbears by the furthest church door, who don’t leave their post. Other bugbears within Mojo’s hammer range try to get some cover behind the shrubbery near the church. Mojo’s player makes his third consecutively rolled “20” to hit, at which point the DM threatens to confiscate that particular dice. 

Lannon suppresses a laugh after one bugbear says “Someone go check that out” and another responds “Damn, we should have kept one of the hobgoblins for that.” The group of five bugbears closest argue about who to send, until the wounded one from the first Flame Strike out front staggers around the building, and gets ordered to go check it out. He goes inside the stable, and winds up on the receiving end of Kruk’s hammer, flattening him. Kruk, Narg, and Lannon decide to climb into the stable’s rear window, avoiding the cow and its droppings, and move to the door that the bugbear had left open. 

Lannon turns invisible, and goes to check out the windows on the side of the church. Mojo continues to try to pick off whomever he can with his hammer. Timothy casts both Bless and Prayer spells, and then Narg and Kruk lead a charge out the stable door to the church rear door twenty-five feet away. Timothy and Adrianna are immediately behind them. 

Back in the front of the church Serita tosses down a few more Flame Strikes, dropping most of the remaining bugbears, and causing others to retreat behind the building. The illusionary party has managed to eliminate most of the hobgoblins, with Serita now Flame Striking the few remaining. She inadvertently ignites a tree, which the other players comment about, as she is a druid. Serita’s player answers, while looking at Alton’s player, “Well, at least it wasn’t a horse,” in reference to accidental animal deaths previously caused by that druid. The illusionary party then heads towards the main door, encountering resistance from a few bugbears, which soon fall. Serita and Immy fly down towards the door. 

Out back, a pitched battle has ensued between the party and the remaining dozen-or-so bugbears. Kruk and Narg dish out more than their share of damage, getting hit a few times each. Mojo takes out a few from the side. Adrianna and Timothy jump in whenever their front line starts to get double and triple teamed. 

Serita and Immy open the front door, with Serita casting first a Faerie Fire and then Heat Metal upon the three occupants of the room. Immy sends in the illusionary adventurers to fight, while he and Serita stay outside on either side of the door. The leader, a man in shiny plate mail armor with a magical broadsword, orders them to surrender, stating that they will be unsuccessful in freeing their allies. 

Lannon spots three people through the stained glass windows within the main sanctuary. He then checks out the windows to Timothy’s room in the back of the building, finding the shutters closed and windows barred from the inside. Using his knife he lifts the bar and opens the window. He sees six lizardmen and a bugbear lying on the floor, which he recognizes as members of the ship’s crew. He pokes his head in the room, and is then surprised by a hand on his forehead and a magic-user become visible while casting a spell and saying “Mouse”. 

Fortunately, Lannon’s resistance to magic kicks in, negating the Polymorph. Lannon jumps back, and climbs the wall, getting up onto the roof. Out back, the combined assault by the other five has brought down all but the three leader bugbears barring the door. Mojo, Narg, Kruk and Timothy take on the two chief assistants, leaving Adrianna alone to take on the leader. She does some damage, but takes a mighty blow as well. The others finish their opponents, and all simultaneously converge on the leader, all successfully hitting for a combined total of sixty-three points of damage, including a severed arm. After seeing their leader destroyed, the remaining bugbears at the other rear door decide to run away. 

The illusionary adventurers do some harm to their foes. The Heat Metal kicks in, causing the two in leather armor to drop their swords and retreat. The man in plate mail drops to the floor in extreme pain. He lays hands on self for immediate relief, but the spell continues into the next round to put him into unconsciousness. 

Timothy unlocks the door, which they open. Lannon rushes along the roof to give them a warning about the mage, but is too late as a Cone of Cold strikes Narg, Kruk, Adrianna and Timothy. Fortunately, they all save, each still taking twenty-eight points of damage. The mage turns invisible again before they can attack him. Kruk charges into the room, seeking where the mage had been, without success. 

The others enter the room. Mojo announces to the tied and bound crewmembers “Hi, we’re from the Silver Moon, and we’re here to rescue you.” They search unsuccessfully for the mage, who they conclude must have teleported away (actually, he exited the rear door, via a Haste Spell, after Kruk had entered but before the other four). 

Hearing sounds on the other side of the door, they open it to see the illusionary adventurers cornering the two in leather armor in the main church sanctuary, who attempt to fight back, while the man in plate mail begins to smolder on the floor. Kruk and Lannon head towards the door to Isaiah’s room. Lannon gets backstabbed by a thief, who looks identical to one of the men fighting the illusionary adventurers. "Great, our illusionary fighters are beating up their illusionary fighters," comments Mojo’s player. "Sounds like a whole lot of nothing," adds Lannon’s player. Kruk moves in to fight this man, which has a certain sense of irony as the identical counterpart of this man is simultaneously fighting the illusionary Kruk. Lannon notices that the two men in leather armor are actually speaking in the Bugbear language, and Lannon yells this information out to his party. 

At the front door, Serita gets backstabbed by a man who looks identical to the second man in the room. Her immediately reaction is to grab one of her poisoned darts, and stab him with it. He saves, but takes damage. Immy also tosses some darts into the guy. Serita is very angry about the backstab, and even angrier that he is still standing. Realizing that Immy’s Staff of Flame Strikes is still leaning against the wall beside her, she grabs it and calls a Flame Strike down onto the guy, dropping him. As the man was standing directly next to the building, the Flame Strike also manages to ignite the thatched roof of the church. 

The man fighting Kruk is soon defeated. Narg and Timothy charge at the other two men, who surrender as they are now surrounded. Lannon unlocks the door to Isaiah’s room. Inside the room are the dark-skinned human cleric Isaiah, the elf ranger Guice, and the elvan healer Draug Carak (D.C.). All three have been physically altered, as Isaiah now has pointed ears, and the two elves have darkened skin pigment. This makes the three of them appear to be drow elves. 

When trying to figure out why they were made to resemble drow, Timothy notices that the dead man in the now searing hot plate mail is wearing lawful good holy symbols. Timothy tells the party that he appears to have been a paladin. “A pretty dumb one,” is Lannon’s answer. Serita does not appear to feel at all guilty at taking out a paladin, but does feel the need to point out to the others that the roof is on fire. Narg gives Immy his Decanter of Endless Water, and Immy flies up above the roof to put the fire out. Guice, Isaiah, and D.C. all gesture to their tied hands and feet, making muffled noises from their gags. The group briefly debates whether they should continue to keep the gag on Isaiah. 

Serita asks Timothy to “use your Vuugy, Vuugy Color Thingy” (referring to his ability to detect evil auras) to confirm that the prisoners are all who they appear to be. The allies are all untied, and indicate that they have now gone thirty-six hours without sleep, as the villains would kick or hit them whenever they dozed off. Isaiah is rather quiet, to which Mojo suggest that “He has had no sleep and is silent. Maybe we should kick him every night.” Immy is introduced to everyone, to which Bruce the Bugbear comments “Oh, aren’t you just the cutest little man.” “What’s with him,” asks Immy? Mojo answers “He’s forty, not married, and loves musical theatre…figure it out.” 

The two bugbears in human form are taken prisoner. Mojo questions Guice about the enemy (which causes Tim to have to talk to himself). Bruce and the lizardmen crewmembers gather up larger-than-man-sized weapons and armor from the fallen bugbears. 

Immy has the fire over half out when he becomes the target for an enemy mage, who lobs a lightning bolt up into him. Immy’s Ring of Spell Absorption soaks up the damage. Immy scans the area, but does not see the man who threw it. Doing some quick math about spell range in his head, and concludes that the only place the spell could have been launched from was the crewmember Stephen’s home (ironic since that was also where he and Serita had launched their attack on the church). He flies back into the church to inform the others, asking if they want to fight a mage or retreat into the woods. 

He says he will go check out the building, and leaves, cloaked from detection. He casts an Improved Invisibility spell on himself, which allows several rounds of invisibility even after offensive attacks are launched. He checks out the building, finding it occupied by two mages and a thief, all invisible. The mages are positioned back from the two opened windows in view of the church, and the other doors and windows appear to be wizard locked. Immy casts a Confusion spell into the building, catching one mage and the thief. The thief becomes bewildered, and wanders into the corner. The mage is compelled to attack the other mage, and casts a Detect Magic to find him. The mage then throws a magic missile spell into him. The downed mage does not know what to think, as the Confusion then overtakes the one who saved before. While he is confused, Immy finishes off the hurt one with his own Wand of Magic Missiles. 

The now confused mage leaves the building, via the window, and is attacked by Immy. This has no effect due to a Stoneskin spell. The man becomes confused again, during which time Immy strips him of his weapons and magic. The mage regains coherency, but finds his things missing so is unable to do anything about it. He attacks Immy with his first, for no effect. The DM and Immy’s player have been playing this out in the other room, and now return as Serita would have now spotted the mage outside of the building and gone to assist. As they return the group tells Immy’s player “You are a DM hog.” They then accuse Immy of being “another Milo”, in reference to a former thief character who would tie-up the DM with long solo interludes.. 

Serita sees the mage grasping about, and sends a Flame Strike down onto him, hitting Immy in the process. Immy scoops up the mage’s things from the ground (half of them now slag), and moves out of the way before a second Flame Strike hits the mage. She then casts an Entangle on the area to hold the mage. Immy uses his Ring of Spell Negation to get out of the entangle. He heads back towards Serita, still invisible, and starts talking to her. He tells her there is still one inside the building, and that he will go get him. Serita charges up to the mage, and clubs him to death, despite Mojo’s playing pointing out that the man might have something useful to tell them 

Immy uses a Knock on the door to negate the Wizard Lock, opening it to the thief, who wanders out incoherently, still under the effects of the Confusion. Immy strips him of his possessions, and walks him around the building, letting him get caught in the entangle. The party advises Serita to not kill him. 

The group plans out their next move, and decide that they need to leave the area if they can. They conclude that since Herculean’s cave is deserted and big, it would probably be a good place to go to. They gather up the prisoners as Immy casts a Detect Magic on all of the bodies and stuff, pulling out whatever is magical. Guice and Isaiah are given the magical leather armor, with the smaller of the other items (potions, bracers, gauntlets, and jewelry) placed inside in a backpack and the larger items (a broadsword, a Longsword, and a rod) rolled up in a magical cloak, as the party decides that it is best to not just drop unidentified magic into a Bag of Holding (which is good for them, as one item was a Rod of Cancellation, which could have negated the Bag and all of its contents out of existence). 

The party climb into their three bags of holding, with Serita still having to make two trips with her teleportation ring to get all of them up to Herculean’s Cave due to the seven large crewmembers. The cave is confirmed to be empty, and the party sets up watches, sets guards over the prisoners, and makes sleeping arrangements. 

Timothy uses up his remaining cures, mostly on Narg, as Serita says he needs all that he the healing he can get because “With his get’em attitude he’s gonna take a lot of damage, he’s not subtle like me.” Immy casts his last Stoneskin Scroll onto Guice. An Identify is done on one of the two identical magical amulets, revealing them to be Amulet of Alignment Obscurement. This makes sense, as the assassins had been traveling with the Paladin. They try to determine what their next move will be. “Let’s see, we’ve just defeated a large group of bad guys, what do we do next?” asks Immy. “Lets go to Mickey Mouse Island” answers Isaiah (in reference to a small Island north of the main one whose shape resembles a Mickey Mouse face).


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## Silver Moon (May 12, 2006)

*Chapter Fifteen, “On the Ships Silver Moon and Molly III”, August 6th, 1018 8:00 P.M. * 

The other group arrives at and settles into the relative safety of Freyland’s home for a second night.  Razou casts his remaining cures before going to sleep.  The two groups are now only a mile-and-a-half apart, one group at the top of the mountain, the other at the base of the mountain.  

_The DM points out that, for the very first time since the module began, the ball is now entirely in the player’s court as to what to do next, and with whichever group they wish to play.   Mojo’s player suggests that they punish Narg’s player for missing this week’s game by playing the lower-level party next week, a group in which he doesn’t have a playing character, as he will be chomping at the bit to play Narg again._

Ten hours earlier on the ship Silver Moon, Captain Jacob had awakened .  Jacob and his crew fought bravely during the town battle on the evening of August 5th, but all fell to the onslaught.  When Jacob eventually awoke, he and two others of his crew, Bink and Humphry were lying in bunks on the lower crew deck of the ship which had put to sea.  Their hands and feet were tied and bound, and an armed bugbear could be seen guarding outside of the cabin door window. Bink said that he had regained consciousness two hours earlier, and that he found the cabin door to be locked.  Jacob yells questions to the bugbear guard, but the guard does not answer.  An hour later Humphry awakens.

The next ten hours had been slow and tedious for them as the ship sails on.   At long last the doors are finally opened.  Three armed bugbear guards entered the room, and drag the three sailors out to a dining table in room at the center of this ship level, where five places had been set out with cups, bowls and spoons.   Seated at the table was a human in black splint mail, with a fancy mace hanging from his belt.  He instructed the bugbear guards to untie the hands and feet, and asked the three crewmembers to sit down.  The bugbear guards each took up a position standing behind the crew.  The bugbear that had been guarding outside of the cabin then joined them at the table.

The man introduced himself as Stokkes, a cleric of Ptah (a lawful-neutral deity).  Food was served, comprised of a stew, bread, and wine.  The cleric and the bugbear seated at the table each helped themselves to the food, then passed it to the three crew.  Stokkes suggested that they eat hearty, as they would be serving the next sixteen consecutive hours topside, running the ship, so will need the energy.  

Jacob initially refused, until Stokkes informed him that he and his two friends were to relieve three other members of his crew, who have been working since dawn.  Jacob then pointed out that he and his two friends were in no shape to work due to their wounds.  Stokkes promised to cast a cure upon each before sending them up to duty.    During the dinner, Jacob tried to solicit more information from his captor, only finding out that they had set out on a long sea journey, and that nine members of the Silver Moon’s crew were aboard in order to sail the ship, each group of three assigned to rotating sixteen-hour shifts so that six on are duty every eight hour period.  

A short while later, 2nd Mate Hans and crewmembers Sammy and Reginon along with three other bugbear guards came below apparently exhausted.  All three crewmembers showed visible signs of battle damage, but not as bad as the three now being sent topside.  Hans gestured the “yellow alert” hand signal to Jacob, indicating a situation of high danger but temporarily not in crisis.

Stokkes instructed  Jacob’s trio to get above deck, and gestured for Hans’s trio to take their place at the dining table.  The bugbear guards all stayed behind their respective charges during this exchange.  As promised, before leaving Stokkes cast a cure on each of Jacob’s group.  Jacob stated that they each needed to be healed more if expected to work for sixteen hours.  Stokkes apologized, saying that he was now out of cures, so that was all he could do for them until the next evening.  The three, and their guards, then went above deck.   

From the stars above, Jacob determined that is was approximately 11:30 PM.   Also working on deck were the crewmembers Trent, Spike and Stephen, each guarded by a bugbear.   Another one up  on deck was an enemy half-elf fighter, wearing elvan chainmail and having a fancy sword in his belt.  He demanded complete silence.   The bugbear guards each stayed near the crew, but at enough of a distance to allow the crew to work freely.

Meanwhile, Back on the ship Molly III, shortly before midnight, the two crewmen on guard duty up  on the top deck see a flash of light from the back of the ship, and the entire ship then shakes.   Looking down from the rear of the ship, Richard sees that the bilge doors are again open.   Party members are woken up, and head for the bilge deck, to see that the ship is taking on water.   Swimming down, they find that one of the hull boards is cracked and pushed out a little.   Fritz tells Vincenzo that it is repairable, that this attack was probably just meant as a distraction.   A check of the hold finds the prisoners gone and the guards left there asleep.  

The crew spend the next few hours patching the hull board, as everyone else checks the ship for the enemies, finding them gone.  The repairs are not perfect, with water still seeping in, and a crewmember is assigned to man the bilge pump.  The rest of the night proves to be uneventful.  

August 7th, 1018, 5:00 A.M.

The Molly III sets sail at dawn, with the crew spending the first hour putting up the new rigging and sail.   The winds coming in from the southwest are so heavy this day that they cannot safely use all of the full main sail.   

At sunlight on the ship Silver Moon, the sun shines down through the now cloudy skies, and the half-elf guarding the top deck was relieved of duty by a human magic-user, who was far less of a disciplinarian.   During the next two hours, Jacob conversed with Trent.  Trent and the two crewmembers with him had been brought down by “sleep” spells during the town battle.  They were awakened at dawn the next morning as the ship prepared to sail, and informed that since they were uninjured they would work an initial twenty-four hour shift.  Consequently, they were all now exhausted, as were their three bugbear guards who had been with them the entire time.  Jacob considered mounting an attack, but concluded that the six were not in any shape yet for this.

Two hours later, Trent’s trio was sent below.  Ten minutes later Hans’s trio came topside to work.  Jacob and Hans had an opportunity to then compare notes.  Hans said that his trio had each been healed once by Stokkes when the ship set sail, but not since then.  Hans informed Jacob that in addition to the enemies already seen, there is also the enemy leader, a tall human druid, assisted by a pair of human adventurers.   Jacob and Hans conclude that there are a total of sixteen enemies on board, the six enemy adventurers and ten bugbears (with one bugbear guard assigned to each crewmember and the tenth to guarding the cabin where the sleeping crew were locked inside).

Hans also told him that the previous day the Druid had him and Sammy spend an hour cleaning up the ship’s hold, which was filled with the Silver Moon animal friends: all four Pegasi, the wyvern, the pond dragon, the talking pig, the owl, and Kharole's cat familiar.  The cat, owl, pig and pond dragon were caged, with the cage containing the pig and pond dragon having an area of silence around it.  The other creatures were shackled with iron chains, with magical ropes binding their wings.  These restraints kept the creatures from moving around, but did not appear to be hurting them.  The Druid also was giving a lot of attention to two of the Pegasi, who showed signs of having had been badly burned.   The wyvern appeared to also be injured, but the Druid was ignoring him.

Back on the island, the crew in Herculean’s the cave decide to question the prisoners.  Narg begins by interrogating one of the polymorphed bugbears.  It takes a while for him to realize that the guy cannot speak any common.  Lannon reminds him that the man is actually a bugbear.  “Why didn’t you tell me that before?” asks Narg.  “This was more fun to watch,” answers Lannon.  

Narg moves on to the real human.  The man is somewhat uncooperative.  When pressed, the man says  “Why should I tell you anything, you’re just going to kill me either way." Narg and his friends try to convince him otherwise, telling him that they will not .  The man answers “You expect me to believe that.  I saw you fry a lawful good Paladin just for working with us.  Why would I be safe?”  Serita answers “But you also kidnapped Isaiah, that’s considered close to sainthood.”   Narg interjects “Yeah, she has a point, you might get off for that.”   The man exclaims, “But he’s a Lawful Good cleric of Ukko.”  “And damned annoying,” Narg states. 

Narg manages to convince the guy to talk, the man telling them of his group and the other two parties that arrived by ship.  He says that most of the details are only known by the team leader.  He describes his team leader, the description matching the guy that Serita bludgeoned to death. The group then gets into a open debate about the prisoners.  Several players find this part of the game very frustrating, as he is giving them information that ties in with information known to their other group of playing characters, but not known by this group.  The DM suggests that it might be helpful for the two groups to actually join up sometime soon.  “You’re the DM, make it happen,” says Mojo’s player.

Serita does not help matters by saying, “let’s not kill them all right away,” the comments making the man fear for his life.  Adrianna questions whether they should feed any of the prisoners.   Narg points out that the man has been more cooperative than most of the party and crew.  Mojo raises the point that “I think that now, above all other things, what we actually need is a plan.”   

The group debates heading down below to the city, and scout it out from above.  They see the hobgoblin parameter of guards around the bullywug swamp, and a few small patrols of hobgoblins walking around the city.   Serita suggests a strategy of inciting the Bullywug to attack the hobgoblins.  Mojo comments “Is that what my life is reduced to, getting bullywugs excited?”  

Serita suggests scrying for other party members, but does not want to spend the two hours that the casting will take.  Immy produces a Crystal Ball.   He first tries for Mark, with Serita supplying him with a visual image via his ESP medallion.  This proves inconclusive.  They argue about who to try for next, deciding upon Fiona.   The image shows her studying spells from a magic book from inside of a cave.  On the wall behind her is a life preserver, so they conclude that she is at Freyland’s as he is a hydrophopic.  Lannon cannot figure out what she is doing down there, but since it is within a few miles, suggests that they head out.   

They decide to leave the prisoners in the cave, with the seven crewmembers and D.C. as guards.  Crewmembers Bruce the Bugbearis left in charge, to which he says “I’m the leader? Great, I’ll design my own uniform.”  D.C. confirms that he will keep the prisoners safe.   The group reminds Bruce that two of the men are actually bugbears.  Narg comments “Well, don’t remind me of that, I’m having a hard enough time not killing them as it is.”  The group debates whether to dispel the polymorph on them, but concludes that it will be a waste of a spell.  They head down the mountain to Freyland’s Cave.  

Back in the Kaloon Lordholding, Jawlt Ambassador Ki-Geloryn arrives at the Regal Carriage Inn to settle up the account for the Silver Moon’s tab.   He is told by the tavern-keeper what had transpired the previous afternoon, and how four of the Silver Moon members along with their three friends piled into the bag of holding, their female Druid transformed into a bird, put on a ring, grabbed the bags and teleported away.  After that, the barriers surrounding the inn had disappeared.  This had been  reported to the city watch, who took a brief statement from those present, and said that they would investigate the incident.

Ki-Geloryn follows up with the Cortang City Watch.   He is told that that their brief investigation concluded that the incident was just a “standard adventurer altercation”.  Ki-Geloryn is upset that he wasn’t notified.  The Captain of the Guard replies that “Stuff like that happens all the time.  It just seemed to be a vendetta between those guys and a mage that did not concern the city.  Nobody got hurt, and there was no real damage to the inn, so it was no big deal.  Besides, they are the Silver Moon Adventurers, they can handle it.”   

Ki returns to the Regal Carriage Inn and questions the other witnesses who were present, getting a fair amount of the story.   He then returns to his own lodgings, gathers his things, and using a teleportation device provided by his friend the Wizard Derieki, teleports straight to Kindor’s ship.  The ship  is now along the Thenossian coastline, a few hours away from docking at the city of Halla.   Ki fills in Kindor and fellow Jawlt Council members Melito, Tenbar, and Waller.  They decide to meet with Queen Jennifer and Lord Aldorn as soon as they arrive in Halla.

Back at Freyland’s Cave, the only activity taking place there is that Luekia and Jerry checked the traps that they had set, while Razou, Blip and Fiona study spells.   The DM inquires as to whether this group is planning to move on, as the two groups are nearly back together.  Mojo’s player adds “If anyone even suggests it I’ll kill them.   The group stays put, and soon hears a knocking on the door.  Mojo’s voice sounds out “We’re from the Silver Moon and we’re here to rescue you.”  Razou opens the door with a resounding “Yeah, Mahn”  The group enters, with Narg introducing Immy, Kruk and Adrianna to the others.   Both groups do an information dump. 

The cave is now very crowded, with Mojo blurting out “So, what are we going to do with nineteen Silver Mooners?”  “I don’t know,” says Fiona, “but in these tight quarters it really makes you gain a new appreciation for personal hygiene.”   The group decides to all head back up the mountain to Herculean’s more-spacious cave.  Serita asks “Can we kill any bad guys that we run into along the way?”  Narg replies “Sure”.  “Fine,” she states “then lets go back there through the city.”  The group passes on her suggestion, making it back to Herculean’s without incident.


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## Silver Moon (May 13, 2006)

*Chapter Sixteen, “Into the City“, August 7th, 1018, 9:00 A.M.*

Back on the ship Silver Moon, at mid-morning, the other enemy adventurers came out onto the top deck.   Once this occurred, the magic-user watching the crew became much stricter, making sure that none of the crewmembers spoke to each other.  Two of these enemies were a rugged fighter in scale mail with a longsword and axe, answering to the name Kyle and his female comrade, a stunning female fighter answering to the name Sonja, with a longsword, leather armor, shield, and a metal helmet hooked on her belt.  The two had apparently spent the night together in the Captain’s Quarters.   

They were soon joined by a tall human Druid with a long white beard, coming up from below deck, who answered to the name of Spring, wearing leather armor and having a scimitar slung through his belt.  The three of them spent the majority of the morning talking among themselves, and occasionally with the magic-user, who they called Bernard.  The enforced silence among the crew actually helped to allow Jacob to eavesdrop on their conversations, him making sure that he was always the crew member working closest to where the enemy leaders were.

Jacob deduced that Spring was officially the leader, but that Sonja was the one who made most of the actual decisions.    At one point they had a very heated debate about “what to do with the animals”.  Sonja said that the animals “need to all be killed before we leave”; Spring was strongly opposed to this.  Kyle noted that “we at least have to clip their wings, or else the prisoners or bugbears might be able to escape.”  Sonja made a comment about how she would “take care of all of the prisoners”, but Spring chided her “That is contrary to Morgy’s orders”.  No conclusion was reached, with Sonja saying, “We have a day to figure that out.”

Back on the ship Molly III, Silver Moon Island is finally spotted in the distant eastern horizon by late morning.  The ship is further west that Fritz had anticipated, and going against the current, so it will still take some time to reach shore.

Back on the Island, in the cave, the combined group continues to compare information and strategize.  As the only ship’s officer present, Lloyd takes charge of all eight non-human crew members, and sets up a rotating watch on the three prisoners.   The group figures out that the tracking-device that the enemy is using tracks items created by Morgarth that they obtained on Alton‘s world.   They survey those present, with items falling in this category being Blip’s broom, Fiona’s Belt, Serita’s ring, and a party-magic item within one of the bags of holding.  Lannon thinks that he may also have something but cannot remember what it is.

They decide to head down to the city below the cave to search for party members.  The crewmembers are left in the cave, along with the prisoners, plus the girl Jentile, and elvan healer D.C..  The other sixteen party members make their way around the mountainside and through the mile-long cave entrance that opens into the southeastern corner of the city.  As they near the end of the cave four hobgoblins are seen guarding the cave mouth.  The group debates what to do.  Narg says “For Pete’s sake, let’s just go get them, its only four hobgoblins.  Narg is reminded that they may have signal flare wands.  Immy scouts ahead, also spotting two more hobgoblin guards just inside the city, about twenty feet from the other four.

Immy exits the cave and into the city, sneaking past the four guards, planning to take out the other two.  Both Lannon and  Luekia move forward, into position by the closest two of the four.  Both Narg and Guice prepare to move up to join them.   Immy succeeds in backstabbing the first hobgoblin, but is seen by the second.  The bugbear moves to attack Immy, catching the attention of the other four hobgoblins.   Lannon and Luekia use this as a signal, and take out two of them, Lannon backstabbing one and Luekia knocking one unconscious via an open-hand attack.   Narg and Guice charge forward.

Lannon successfully hits one, with Guice finishing him off.  Luekia strikes the remaining one unconscious, with Narg then jabbing him to death.   Outside of the cave, Immy casts a Chromatic Orb to eliminate his remaining foe.  Narg and Immy drag the bodies into the cave.    Timothy and Jerry move forward, the other eight characters staying further back in the cave.   Jerry is put in charge of the unconscious prisoner, and told to act as the scout for the second group which Serita is named the team leader of, as the other seven make their way into the city.   Once the lawful-good characters, Luekia and Timothy, are out of sight Jerry takes care of the prisoner in his own way.

They carefully make their way to the center of the city, with Guice checking for tracks along the way.  A patrol of four hobgoblins is avoided.   They investigate Vallessa’s home, finding evidence of the battle that took place there.  For the first time in anybody's memory, Narg appears worried.  The group picks up a few supplies from her home, including one of Vallessa’s perfume decanters that Narg had filled with bourbon.  Guice comments that Vallessa probably uses it as perfume now to make herself more attractive to Narg.

A group of ten hobgoblins is seen heading towards the east side of the city, and Luekia is sent back to warn those in the cave mouth of this, suspecting them to be a changing of the guard there.  Instead, they turn out to be reinforcements to the bullywug swamp.  While waiting for Luekia to return they spend the time telling Immy about the magic item the Candle of Kobolds, and its many uses.  

Meanwhile, eight miles to the northwest, the ship Molly III has finally reaches the vicinity of Silver Moon Island.   The skies grow worse during this, with it appearing that a major storm is imminent.   The ship reaches the channel between Silver Moon Island and Mickey Mouse Island.  They decide to head towards the northern inlet of Silver Moon Island, but immediately change their mind upon emerging from the channel, when a small sailboat is spotted six miles away, rapidly heading into the inlet.   They immediately lower the sails, and turn the boat towards shore, hoping to avoid being seen by the sailboat.

Unbeknownst to those on the Molly III, the person on the sailboat is not an enemy, but rather a messenger sent to the island by Ki-Geloryn and the mage Derieki to inform them of what Kindor, Jennifer and Aldorn are doing to assist them.   The messenger, an unusual man named Kale, has expertise in small boat sailing.   As an anti-teleportation shield now surrounded the island Derieki had teleported Kale and his sailboat (specially designed for racing) to a point in the ocean far north of the island.   They recommended that he start looking for the Silver Moon in the city at the top of the mountain, saying that if he can’t find them there it would still give him a good vantage point of the entire island.

In the City, Luekia rejoins the others, and they check out Narg, Mojo & Furynick’s home, finding Mojo’s room to have been disturbed.   Narg’s room is also a disaster, but he says that is how he left it.  He also makes a note to himself to give his butler Hobbson a raise.  

They follow the hobgoblin tracks to Cassie’s home, and from there to the north end of the city.   The hide from another patrol of hobgoblins, and decide they need to scout from a higher elevation, heading to a two-story building.   Immy checks out the room, finding it already occupied by four goblins, across from the building that Phormosah previously occupied.   They also spot four other goblins atop another roof.  They conclude that it is a set-up similar to what they found at Crystull’s house, with Phormosah’s house being another of the ‘escape locations‘ that the lower-level group had been told of.  They decide to leave it and the goblins as they are.   

They deciding to stay with the idea of getting to higher ground to scope out the area, so choose to head to the highest point in the city, the four-story ziggurat-style building that Dennismore and Lono call home, located in the southwestern side of the city.   As they near it, they see a contingent of over a dozen hobgoblins guarding atop the first floor roof of the building, and conclude that this looks like it could be where their friends are being held captive.  They travel through the large building immediately to the north of it, getting to a series of windows across the street from their destination. They then begin to discuss how to get the party the fifty feet across the street without being seen.   Immy volunteers to invisibly scout out around the building.  The group decides to send Luekia instead, due to her quicker monk speed.

She takes the long way around, never actually approaching the building.  She also stops by Serita’s house, and uses her speak-with-animal ability to talk to one of the black panthers prowling within the gates of Serita’s yard.   She is told that the hobgoblins have been keeping themselves at a distance from the panthers.   The big cats recall four people being carried to the Ziggurat building.  After deriving a count of the number of hobgoblins atop the first floor roof of the Ziggurat, Luekia heads back to the others.  She gives them the visual description from the panthers of each, the group concluding that Aradyn, Dennismore, Furynick and Hobbson are the ones being held within the building.  

The group decides how to best assault the building.  Narg is surprisingly apprehensive about attacking, wanting to first inform Serita’s group what they have found.   Luekia is sent to relay a message to that group.  

Several miles north, assisted by a very strong breeze, Kale managed to reach the north side of the island within an hour, continuing to sail through the northern inlet and up the stream towards the mountain.  When the stream narrowed, he found some adequate foliage to hide the boat in, and continued on foot towards the mountain, half a mile away.   

Back in the channel between Silver Moon Island and Mickey Mouse Island, the party had beached the ship Molly III on the Silver Moon side.  They used the anchors to prevent the ship from being pulled back out to sea by the storm, and secure all of the sails.   Vincenzo then led the crew and children on a trek through the woods, their destination being the abandoned home that formerly belonged to the magic-user Crystull, located a little more than a mile from their current location.  Vincenzo felt that this might provide safe haven from the approaching storm for the children, as well as a possible base of operations.

In the City, Luekia travels over half the way back to the tunnel with the others when she spots another building in the southern part of the city that also has a large contingent of hobgoblin guards atop its roof.  Rather than continuing, she heads back to inform her own group near the ziggurat.    A lengthy debate follows, going over the merits of combining the forces to assault one building, or having the two teams strike both buildings simultaneously.   The eventually decided upon combining the forces, and send Luekia the long-way back to the cave entrance to get the other nine (Blip, Fiona, Freyland, Isaiah, Jerry, Kruk, Mojo, Razou, & Serita), and then carefully bring them back to the group’s present location

Back to the northwestern shore, Vincenzo's team has hiked through the overgrown virgin forests, which takes a while, with the building eventually in sight.  They send Horatio forward to investigate.  Milo’s young apprentice soon returns, to inform them that each of the two doors of the building are slightly open, and that there are a lot of fresh tracks near the building.  He reports also finding bodies of several bugbears on the trail east of the cabin, seeing more bugbear bodies further down the road.  They appear to have been dead at least a day, and he also complains that they “didn’t have anything good on them.”  The boy adds, “This is where Milo says to stop thieving and turn things over to the stupid fighters.”  Offended by the term Stupid, Richard comments “Milo told you that?”  Michael interjects “either that or he had lunch with Fiona  (knowing of her dislike of fighters).”

The fighters Fritz, Michael and Lothar approach, and listen through the doors.  They hear two distinct voices inside, speaking in Bugbear.    They then gather the others together, and leave the three weakest crewmembers; who collectively have a combined total of only seven hit points, with the kids (where a good argument could be made as to exactly who was guarding who at this point).   

The other six crewmembers, and Vincenzo, then storm the building, charging through both doors, weapons drawn.  The two bugbears immediately surrender, and are then tied, bound and gagged.
Vincenzo and Fritz decide to question the two bugbear prisoners.  They reveal that they have only been on the island a day, that they entered through a magical door.  There were to hike to this cabin to meet up with a group of humans who would then lead them.  Before reaching the cabin they saw a bright flash in the sky, and then were attacked.   

Fritz tries to determine how many bugbears were involved, but the bugbears’ counting ability is limited to the terms ‘some‘, ‘most’ and ‘lots‘.   They say that they ran away during the battle, and were the only two to later arrive at the cabin, although they know that some more did manage to get away.   The bugbears appear to be fearful of their captors, and make no aggressive moves.

Back at the ship Silver Moon, this was a particularly windy day, but the six crewmembers were capable of keeping the ship sailing without a problem.  What seemed odd was that Sonja did not appear to have any real course in mind, with her having the ship sailing primarily southwest, but occasionally turning in other directions also.  At noon, the half-elf fighter joined the other enemy adventurers, who called him Kimball.  He said that lunch was ready, and four of the enemy adventurers headed below deck.   Hans then told Jacob that on the previous day Bernard was relieved on deck by Stokkes at 1:00 PM, and that Stokkes kept the crew further apart while they worked.  Assuming the enemy would keep to this same pattern, Hans and Jacob decided it best to spend the next hour planning, as Bernard did not seem to care if they spoke to each other now that his leaders were gone.

They concluded that they needed to launch an attack within the next day in order to protect the animals, and that the best time for an attack would be during the 11:00 PM shift change.  At that point in time, most of the enemy adventurers would be off sleeping and Jacob’s team would also be fresh.  Assuming that the shift change would go as it went the previous day, there would then be a brief amount of time where both Hans and Jacob’s teams would be on the crew deck by the dining table, with their hands and feet untied.  Unfortunately, there would still be the seven bugbears to contend with, as well as the cleric Stokkes.  From what they had heard, Stokkes only had first and second level clerical spells, an indication that he was only at third or fourth level ability level, and therefore probably the weakest of the six main enemies.

Since Stokkes had promised to heal Jacob’s trio again this evening, they decided they would wait until immediately after he cast the third cure as the signal to launch the attack.  Who ever the final healing spell was cast on would then have the job of preventing Stokkes from throwing any more spells, while the other two members of Jacob’s team would have the task of attacking the bugbears guarding Hans’s team.  These guards would be just coming off sixteen hours on duty, so would be tired and less alert, and therefore be the best targets to potentially grab weapons from.  

The job of Hans’s team’s would be to delay the fresh bugbears guarding Jacob’s team from intervening.  Since each bugbear always stood behind the crewmember that they were each guarding, by having each trio attack each other’s guards, none of the crew would have turn around to launch an attack.  The groups would also have to deal with the bugbear cabin guard, but he would be initially preoccupied with eating his own dinner.  There was no point in planning what to do beyond that, as they concluded that even this plan had a slim chance of success, so it was best not to get ahead of themselves.  

Their time to plan then ended, as Stokkes came above deck, telling Bernard “you’re relieved, go eat.”   As expected, Stokkes made sure that none of the crew worked anywhere near each other.  The weather continued to get rough during the afternoon, with heavy winds that occasionally gusted to 60 miles-per-hour.   The other enemies spent very little time on deck that afternoon.  At around 2:30 PM, Hans and Sammy were called below by Spring to again clean up the hold.   They returned half and hour later, at which point Jacob’s trio were then sent back below to eat and sleep.   

As they entered the room, the half-elf fighter Kimball was waiting for them in the dining room.  He immediately sent Trent’s trio out of the room and above deck.   He then had the bugbears tie Jacob’s team’s waists and legs to their chairs while they ate.   After the quiet meal, Jacob’s trio had their hands and feet tightly tied by the fighter, and they were then dragged by the bugbears into the cabin to sleep.  Jacob informed his team of the plan, and then they went to sleep.

Above deck, Hans managed to untie a line to a sail so that the next gust of wind pulled it loose, requiring both of his other team members to assist him in catching and retying it.  During this, he managed to briefly inform them of the plan.   Crewmember Reginon commented that “It sounds rather suicidal, but what the hell, we have to do something.”   Hans was not able to get close enough to any of Trent’s trio to inform them of the plans, but this was less critical, as those three would still be above-deck when the attack was too be launched.


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## Sabriel (May 14, 2006)

Glad to see the crash hasn't dissuaded your story-posting. Really looking forward to how the next "Great (Boat) Escape" goes.


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## Silver Moon (May 14, 2006)

_Thanks Sabriel, the crash wasn't a problem as I've been simultaneously posting both here and over on the dragonsfoot.org board, so just had to copy the posts over from there. 

You'll have to wait another chapter or two of the next ship escape, this chapter is back with the high-level group up in the mountain top city.   When I ran this module I was actually surprised that the players decided to spend several game nights playing out escape attempts by the captured NPC's.  I had assumed they would just concentrate on the high-level characters and let them initaite rescue missions.    _ 


*Chapter Seventeen, “The Ziggurat Battle”, August 7th, 1018, 3:00 P.M.*

Back in the City, Luekia successfully leads the group at the tunnel entrance back, avoiding traveling where the hobgoblins atop these two buildings can see, as well as avoiding traveling patrols.  The combined group of sixteen characters then have another lengthy debate, this time on assault strategy.   At long last, over two hours after the initial group first reached this location, a plan is launched.  

Both Immy and Blip stay by the building, and throw up illusions east of the building to keep those at the building across town from being able to see what is really happening.   The others pile into the three bags of holding, which Luekia and Lannon each take.   While climbing into the bags Guice makes the comment “We’ve spent so much time in these bags we should fix them up inside.”  Timothy comments “Just don’t put in a window”.

By this time, Kale has reached the top of the mountain, discovering that the mountain is an extinct volcano, with a city within its crater a hundred yards below the rim.   From this lookout point by this rim, he observed a group of around 40 hobgoblins surrounding a marsh with dozens armed bullywug.  Elsewhere in the city, small patrols of hobgoblins wandered about.  He examined the different methods for entering the city.  On the crater rim, about 200 yards east of him were vines leading down to the city.  They looked to be sturdy, but traveling down them would clearly be seen by the hobgoblins below.    At the center opposite side of the crater rim he saw a huge tree, whose uppermost branches reach out to above the crater.   Also on the opposite end of the crater, in the eastern corner of the city, was a cave, but he had no way of knowing where on the mountain the entrance of this cave was located.

Lannon and Luekia invisibly approach the building from its west end, and scale each floor, keeping as far from the hobgoblin guards as possible.   The windows on the 3rd and 4th floors are shut, but from sounds heard it is apparent that there are people inside.   They reach the roof, seeing two hobgoblin lookouts lying on it.   Like the goblins in the other part of the city, these lookouts are both wearing clothing and are partially covered by blankets which are the exact same color as the roof, essentially camouflaging them from distant observation from above.  

The hobgoblins are looking eastward, towards the other building that Luekia had spotted.  In front of them are signal mirrors and flags.  Lannon and Luekia begin to approach the two, getting halfway across when Lannon stumbles, making noise loud enough to be heard.  They both stop, and wait before proceeding.  Lannon stumbles again, this time alerting the hobgoblin closest to Luekia.  The hobgoblin begins to react, until she knocks him unconscious.  Her doing this catches the attention of the other hobgoblin, so Lannon makes a diving leap towards him, sword extended.  Landing with a loud thud, Lannon slays the creature.  

Luekia and Lannon both now hear hurried movement in the room below, and realize that the element of surprise has been lost.   They each start to quickly emptying their bags of holding, the first three dumped out being Serita, Luekia and Timothy.   Luekia drops the bag in order to retrieve the flags and mirrors, before they accidentally fall to the hobgoblins below on the first floor roof, who are still unaware of what is transpiring above.  As others are dumped out, sounds from the room below cease.   Serita grabs the dropped bag, and begins to dump occupants as well.

By now, several fighters have emerged from the bags, with Kruk, Guice and Narg heading directly to the trapdoor leading to the fireman’s pole down.   They see nobody on the fourth floor, and slide down the pole to the 3rd floor, where an armed enemy fighter awaits them.   The enemy fighter engages Narg in battle, with Kruk moving up directly behind him.   Guice and Lannon also slide down to that level while Mojo decides to slide all the way down to the first floor, and Adrianna checks out the 4th floor.  

Narg and Kruk combined manage to bring down the fighter, without taking any hits in the process (and the DM curses his dice, which never exceeded an eight, out of ten attack rolls).  As the characters look around the rooms for the possible location of the prisoners.  The group still up on the roof now  notices lots of activity on the second floor of the distant building, in spite of the spell by the illusionists, which makes them think the enemy mage had teleported to that other location.  “Uh oh,” Timothy exclaims.

The cleric’s intuition proves to be correct as a massive fireball then explodes from within the 3rd floor of the Ziggurat.   The fire pours out of all 3rd story windows, and through a hole in the roof atop the 4th floor.  On the 3rd floor Guice, Kruk, Lannon and Narg are all caught directly within the seventy-two point blast (and thankfully all make their saves).  A few of the others take small amounts of damage from the ancillary burst of heat.  

The rest of the party start sliding down the pole.  Most go to the ground floor, where Mojo has declared to be temporarily safe.  Luekia and Freyland both decide to stop atop the second floor, and battle the many hobgoblins now coming into that floor from outside on the first floor roof.  Luekia drops three, and Freyland dishes out some damage on his own, before they decide to retreat.  At the first floor they regroup, and exit from the eastern door of the building.  They grab up their two illusionists and head east through the city.  Shortly thereafter, the hobgoblins start to exit the same building, the ones in front then being struck down by a Flame Strike from Serita’s staff.  This causes the other hobgoblins to pull back to within the building itself.   

Above, on the northern ridge of the crater, while Kale had been debating his next move, two things occurred.  In the opposite western end of the city, atop a tall ziggurat-style building, a massive fireball exploded from within the structure.  Fire pours out of all 3rd story windows, and through a hole in the roof atop the 4th floor.  He then notices movement atop that roof.  His eyes are then drawn to movement much closer to him, as what he assumes is an enemy orc lookout moves from a hiding point near the vines 200 yards away from him.  He immediately finds cover to avoid being seen.  This well-armed and well-armored orc then rushes to the mouth of a cave about 75 feet behind him.  

Within a few rounds, a group of thirteen humanoids exit this cave, this group being comprised mostly of monsters.  He sees that they are led by a well-armed and well-armored male human fighter and a male drow elf dressed in robes.   With them are six armed lizard men with shields and partial armor, a well-armed and well-armored bugbear, and the previously seen orc.  Four of the lizard men are wearing very full backpacks.  

These creatures appear to have three prisoners with them.  Two of the prisoners are barely clothed human males, with their mouths gagged, hands tied behind their backs, with ropes around their waists linked to the bugbear guard.  The other prisoner is a young human girl, around seven or eight years of age not restrained but closely guarded by the lizard men, the closest lizard man to her carrying a loaded crossbow.  She wears simple cloth clothing, and he is surprised to see that she has a sheathed longsword slung through her belt.  

Kale assumes that the orc/drow/lizard men group is enemies with silver moon prisoners. As such, he wishes to determine where they are going so that he can inform the Silver Moon when he meets up with them.   They start to head east, away from Kale, making a path around the crater and slightly down the mountain.    Kale follows the group at a distance, staying near the rim, in order to still see down into the city.   In the city below he sees around a dozen adventurers exit the ziggurat, and rush east through a main street of the city.  Shortly thereafter, hobgoblins start to exit the same building, the lead ones being struck down by a Flame Strike.  

Kale decides to continue to move clockwise along the rim of the crater, with the tree on the opposite side being his destination.  He also continues to keep an eye on the departing group of thirteen, continue clockwise downward along the mountain, with them eventually heading below the tree line and out of his visual range.  

In the city below, the group quickly covers the next quarter-mile distance through the city.  Immy casts an Improved Phantasmal Force spell, creating a group of illusionary adventurers who are the mirror images of the party.   He has this group charge the other line of hobgoblins exiting the other building.  A fierce battle breaks out between hobgoblins and the illusionary adventurers.  Meanwhile, the rest of the party uses this distraction to make their way around to the same destination, traveling behind other buildings and out of sight of the lookouts on the second floor of the building that they are heading to.

A fireball then envelops the illusionary group of adventurers.  It drops their hobgoblin attackers, and Immy has the adventurers appear to be hurt.  Wounded, they then engage another group of hobgoblins who now close on them, only to be hit by another fireball.  These hobgoblins also fall, and Immy has a few of the illusionary adventurers retreat, the majority still pressing onward.

While this is going on the hobgoblins by the marsh watching the bullywugs break off from guard duty, heading towards the melee.   The hobgoblins from the ziggurat have also regrouped, and are now charging down the main road towards the melee.

The real adventurers round the corner of the adjacent building, and storm their destination.   In the front are Adrianna, Krug, Mojo and Narg, who attack the three hobgoblins guarding the southwestern door of the building.  These four adventurers are then hit by another fireball, which they all save from, but still take thirty-seven points of damage.   Kruk sees the mage who cast the spell on the roof, and uses his boots of leaping and striding to get up there to attack the man.  He takes two leaps, landing atop the 2nd floor room, and runs to the wall that the Mage disappeared behind, only to discover that the man is literally gone, and not just invisible.

Immy ceases his spell of the illusionary adventurers, which will cause them to vanish after a few round.  He then casts a Confusion spell into the open second floor window, assuming this is where the enemy is (not realizing allies are also in that room).   He next casts up an illusion of a Red Dragon to make a strafing run at the hobgoblins moving in from the ziggurat, which causes them to disperse.  At this point the group illusion of adventurers fades out, just as an invisible enemy mage is watching them.  This alerts him to the fact that there is illusionary magic running, which he had originally suspected of the giant red dragon.  Immy has the dragon now turn, and starts to fly towards the other group of hobgoblins, coming from the direction of the marsh.  The enemy mage targets the dragon, striking it with a Dispel Magic just as it flies past, causing it to blink out of existence.  

Narg and  Kruk have now made their way into the building, finding a group of four hobgoblins on the other side of the door.   Meanwhile, Luekia and Lannon both scale the wall of the building, arriving on the roof to the attention of the hobgoblins atop it.  

Lannon and Luekia are rushed at by hobgoblin foes on the second floor roof.  Lannon drops him.  Luekia manages to toss her foe off of the roof, him landing directly beside Guice.   Guice yells to Narg “Leave the ones inside alone, it’s raining hobgoblins out here!”  He then adds  “It’s a good thing we’re wearing the spiked helmets we got at that German garage sale.”   

The next one that Luekia tosses off the roof barely misses Adrianna.   She tells Guice “You’re right, it is raining hobgoblins” which he answers with an “I told you so.”  She and Guice make sure both of these fallen hobgoblins do not get up, being watchful for more from above.  Inside the building, Kruk and Narg finish off their four foes, as Adrianna and Guice enter the building through the door.   They are then rushed by five hobgoblins that were guarding the other door at the opposite end of the room.   

Meanwhile, the “Confusion” spell has taken effect in the room where Immy had targeted it towards, with unintended results.   Immy had assumed the room to be filled with enemies.  It turns out that this is only partially true, as it contains three armed hobgoblins who are guarding the four tied and bound prisoners lying on the floor that the Mage had dumped after he teleported in from the Ziggurat.   Everyone in the room is affected by the spell except for one of the hobgoblins.

The confusion causes most to just act bewildered during the first round, except for Lono who feels compelled to attack one of the guards.  The guard is confused also, so does not react to Lono’s feeble kick at him.  During the next round, both confused hobgoblins are also compelled to attack.  One attacks Narg’s butler Hobbson, but misses.   Thankfully for the party, the other chooses to attack the hobgoblin not affected by the spell.   In the following round Hobbson is compelled to attack the hobgoblin that went after him, missing terribly.  The confused hobgoblin attacking his ally strikes again, killing the other one.   This hobgoblin and Hobbson are both then compelled to run away, and exit the room, the hobgoblin descending down the stairs, Hobbson crawling out of the room and hiding in a corner near the staircase.   At this point the other confused hobgoblin is compelled to attack Furynick, sticking him once and reducing him to a single hit point.

As the hobgoblin begins to swing his axe again into Furynick for what will probably be a fatal blow, Lannon arrives at the window and backstabs the monster.    Lannon and Luekia enter the room, seeing Furynick, Aradyn and Lono in their dazed and confused state.  The spell finally wears off.   The players then lecture Immy’s player to never again cast that spell somewhere unknown.  The DM comments that it could have easily proved fatal for all four of the prisoners, and probably would have if the dice roll came up for the first hobgoblin to attack his enemies rather than his partner.  They find Hobbson out in the hallway, as he comments about maybe looking for a new line of work.

In the room below, Kruk, Narg, Guice and Adrianna drop their five foes after a surprisingly long fight (real bad dice rolls from the players).   They then notice that the room is covered with straw that has been soaked in fuel for Alton’s vehicles.   Realizing the potential danger, they head up the staircase, finding the other six.    Adrianna, Lannon, Kruk, and Guice each assist a prisoner down the staircase and out of the building by the southwestern door.   Narg and Luekia quickly check the other rooms on the first floor, but choose not to open the oak door separating them from the next part of the building.  They remember back when they first checked out the city nine years earlier the middle section of this particular building had been set up without windows and with only a few well-made doors, so it was probably originally used as either a vault or prison.

The hobgoblins have now begun to approach the party from around the distant ends of the building.   The group decides that an archer-ranger would be a useful addition to keep these monsters at bay, so Timothy casts cures on the just-now-rescued Aradyn to bring him up in points.  Aradyn is then given the bow and extra arrows that had been obtained from Vallessa’s house.   The group of Aradyn, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lannon, and Serita take up position near the southwestern corner of the building, to hold back any foes from around the northern corner.  The group of Adrianna, Blip, Freyland, Guice, Kruk, Luekia, Mojo and Narg proceed eastward alongside the long 280-foot wall of the building.   Fiona, Razou and Timothy assist the very weak Furynick, Lono and Hobbson into the large building immediately west of where Aradyn and his group has taken up guard.

Out on the main street, a group of over a dozen hobgoblins decide to charge Aradyn and his four allies.    They barrel around the building, yelling and brandishing their weapons, still over forty feet away.    Immy is alone inside the northeastern corner of the next building, and sees this group rushing outside of the window, casting a Fear spell on them.    Meanwhile, Aradyn lets loose two arrows into the one who he assumes is the hobgoblin’s leader.   Both arrows hit, knocking the foe off his feet, landing very dead in the midst of the others charging, just as the Fear spell takes effect, encompassing all but one of the other hobgoblins (who fails morale).   Watching the hobgoblins all turn and flee, and unaware of Immy’s spell, Aradyn’s ego swells, and he comments “I’m baaaack”.   

To the east, the other group lets loose a few arrows to deter the few hobgoblins that poke their heads around the southeast corner of the building.   Blip notices movement at the canvas shade covering one of only two windows in that section of this building.  Blip alerts the others to this, and Luekia goes back through a window in the western part of the building, to head in this direction.  When the window shade moves again, Guice and Adrianna both let loose arrows into it, as Kruk uses his magic boots to leap into the room.   Narg and Mojo soon follow him.

The now wounded invisible person inside is tackled.   Luekia opens the oak door into the adjacent  section of the building, only to be struck by magic missiles, reducing her to a single hit point.  She quickly rushes through the doorway into the room where Kruk, Narg and Mojo now are, Narg using his Decanter of Endless water to soak the foe, the water outlining the body.   Once there, she gets out her sack of flour to cover the person, dumping it onto the wet invisible foe, making the outline even clearer.  Narg then draws his rope of climbing to bind the person, who they can now tell is female.  Guice catches enough of her hand movement to tell that she is holding a dagger, and strikes her into unconsciousness.    A darkness spell then appears covering the hallway outside of the room.

Recognizing that she is too weakened to proceed, Luekia has Guice and Freyland escort her to the building west for healing.   They debate what to do with the prisoner.  Kruk and Adrianna are then told to carry her to the building to the west, where Razou and Fiona can keep an eye on her.  They exit, Adrianna firing arrows at a small group of hobgoblins further east, dropping two and causing the others to retreat behind the building.  They soon reach the building to the west.  

Kale has watched the happenings in the city below.  While watching the illusionary dragon, he lost sight of the group of twice-fireballed adventurers, and assumes that they have entered a building, the dragon apparently an illusion to cover their retreat.  At this point, he sees that the rooftop battle is over with the adventurers exiting the building, carrying wounded.   Most of them retreat to a large building west of that, with a few remaining in the street to deter the other hobgoblins from getting closer.   A group of eight adventurers then head further down the stormed building, climbing through a window near the middle of the structure.

By now, Kale is nearing the tree, and begins to evaluate the best way to descend while still remaining hidden.   While he is doing this he sees a trio of characters, one apparently wounded, exit the building window they had climbed in and head to the building west of it.   Soon, another group also exits for the building west, this group having two adventurers carrying the body of a third.   A different pair of adventurers then head back to the window from the building west.   

Kale checks out several large branches overhanging the cliff.  He next sees a short person exits the window, flying on a broom quickly to the building west, and then returning to the window.  He also notices that the approximately fifty remaining hobgoblins have organized together, and are circling around to come in behind the building to the west where most of the adventurers are now inside.  Kale finds an overhanging limb to climb onto which will support his weight, and begins to make his way very carefully across it, the branch swaying heavily by the wind.


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## Silver Moon (May 17, 2006)

*Chapter Eighteen, “Barthrock’s Truce”, August 7th, 1018, 3:45 P.M.*

Below, realizing that only Blip, Mojo and Narg remain in the other building, Serita and Timothy decide to go assist them.  Narg, Mojo and Blip hear a male voice from elsewhere in the building yells out “Gina, answer us”.  Blip attempts to answer, but her voice is apparently too different from Gina’s to be believed.   The voice calls out again “Gina, are you all right.”  Serita and Timothy then join them.   Serita also tries to answer as Gina, but it is again not believe.  The five debate what to do next when the voice starts to inquire as to what happened to Gina.   Narg yells back that she is unavailable.   The voice asks about her status.  This is followed by a lengthy back and forth exchange, Narg giving as little information as possible.  The voice yells back “Hold your fire, I’m coming out.”

A short, stocky and very hairy fighter emerges from the darkness.  From his appearance, it is obvious that his racial make-up is half-human, half-dwarf.  He is wearing armor, with his only visible weapon being a two-handed sword strapped to his back.  He approaches them, holding open the palms of his hands to show that he isn’t carrying anything, and introduces himself as Barthrock. 

He asks again about the status of Gina, with Mojo and Narg both clarifying that she is neither conscious or present.  They are surprised when he answers “Good“.  He then says, “She was a spy, and not part of my team.  We can talk now.  I would like to propose a truce.”  “Why?” asks Serita.   “Because me and my team got a raw deal,” is Barthrock’s reply.  “This is the second time that that other team in the city has initiated trouble, and then dumped it in the lap of my team to clean up the mess.  I’ve already lost two members of my team, and would prefer not to lose any others.”

The five Silver Moon adventurers briefly discuss whether they can trust him.  Narg says, “Give us back our people who you are holding, then we can talk.”  The man refuses, saying that the hostages are the leverage that he needs.  Mojo says “What’s to keep us from trying to trade you for them.”  “You wouldn’t be that foolish” Barthrock replies.   Narg is insulted, saying, “You think we are foolish?”  Barthrock answers, “No I don’t.  Before coming over here to you I instructed my team to kill a hostage if I don’t return within a predetermined time.  I am assuming that you want no harm to come to them.”

“OK, tell us again why you are willing to betray your allies?” asks Narg.   “I never said anything about betraying allies,” answers Barthrock, “I said a truce.  You and the others can fight each other all you want, my team will just sit it out.”   “Oh, so you’ll wait until we’re weakened up by the others, and fight us at the end?” comments Mojo.   Narg start to yell “Why you no good” until Blip interjects “Wait, I think he means that he isn’t planning to fight us at all.”   “That’s what a truce is,” says Barthrock.  “So you’ll help us attack the other group in the city who screwed you guys over?” comments Mojo.   “Absolutely not,” says Barthrock.  “The deal is that we don’t fight you and we don’t fight them either.   I don’t want Morgarth coming after my team in the future for going against him.”

“Why did you get involved with him in the first place?” Serita asks.   He replies, “It sounded like a good deal at the time.  Ten teams of seven adventurers, plus support troops, the winning team getting to be Morgarth’s personal guard.  Good pay for minimal work.   

Most teams were just individuals thrown together, so an experienced and coordinated established team like mine stood a good chance of being the winner.   It is now apparent, however, that he is favoring the teams run by Mages, with teams run by fighters like myself being used as cannon fodder.  I don’t like being used, or having my party members sacrificed.”    

Narg angrily snaps at him “What did you expect.  You lie down with dogs, you’re going to get fleas.”   Barthrock is angered by this comment, and the tension between him and Narg rises to the point that violence between them is imminent.   Blip breaks some of the tension by asking  “Tell us about the spy Gina.”  

Barthrock replies “Another stupid move of Morgarth’s.  Taking down the initial groups on this island cost him several people, so he decided to redistribute people to make all of the teams even again, at six each.  I voiced that it was stupid to alter team dynamics with unproven people, and would keep just my group of only five, but had this Gina person added to my team anyway.  Like we really needed a 4th level Magic-User!  We figure she was just sent with us as a spy.  Do with her as you wish, we don’t care.”  

Mojo again interjects “If you won’t release the hostages to us, what assurance is there that we can trust you?”  “You want a show of trust?” he says, “Here’s a gift for you.  Take it, as it is the only one you’re getting from me.  Right now every hobgoblin still alive in this city, about four dozen or so of them, are making their way around behind these buildings to sneak up upon the building west of here where the rest of your group is currently hiding.” 

Barthrock then says, “Look, you mentioned the hostages.  I have to go back now, or else a hostage will be killed.”  “Take us with you to check on the status of the hostages” Serita insists.   “I’ll take ONE of you with me,” Barthrock answers.   “Fine,” says Narg in an angry and abrupt tone, as he steps forward to accompany the man.  Given Narg’s demeanor, the rest of the party remains absolutely quiet, nobody even daring to suggest that perhaps they should go instead.  

As soon as they both fighters walk into the darkness, Timothy exhales loudly and says “Oh boy.  Should Narg have been the one to go with him?”   Serita quietly states “They’re holding Vallessa,” This explanation is enough for everyone to justify Narg’s present attitude, and that he would not have allowed anybody else to go.  Blip points out that their allies in the other building need to be warned them about the hobgoblins, and flies over there on her broom.  She soon returns.  Inside of the building to the west, the party discusses strategies about how to quickly set up an ambush for the hobgoblins.

The enemy leader Barthrock takes Narg to a pair of thick oaken doors, which are guarded by a male dwarven fighter holding a broadsword.  Barthrock states a password to the dwarf, and the three then enter a thirty by forty foot windowless room together.    In each of the far corners of the room are two other adventurers, a male druid with a staff and scimitar, and a male human of oriental descent, wearing simple robes, with no visible weapons.  Lying on the eastern side of the room are dead bodies of two unknown people, one male one female.   The male has a large bullet-hole in his chest.   Lying on the eastern side of the room are Hobbson’s two assistants, Marcroft and Hardy.  Both are tied, bound and gagged, but also conscious.   Lying on the floor by the center of the southern wall are the unconscious bodies of Dennismore, Vallessa and Alton.  They have been stripped of their clothing, covered only by blankets, and are noticeable bruised.  

Upon seeing this, Narg immediately rushes over to Vallessa.   Both enemy guards in the corners of the room draw their weapons, but lower them again when signaled by Barthrock.  Silence fills the room as Narg examines Vallessa, assessing the extent of her injuries.  He sees several bruises, as well as burns and singed hair from apparent fireball damage.   When he eventually turns his head towards Barthrock, Narg’s face is a shade of crimson red, and with clenched fists and teeth he slowly but loudly states, “Who….did….this?”  

Barthrock cautiously says “Several people exchanged blows during the battle, your Druid there did this to my best friend” while gesturing to the body with the bullet wound.”  Narg answers, “The key difference is that he (gesturing to Alton) was protecting his home from invaders.”   A long silence follows.  Narg then states “So, which one of you did this to her?”  

Barthrock answers “A mage with my party, who is not in this room at the moment, was the one to finally drop her.  He then fell too, brought down by an arrow that she simultaneously shot at him prior to his spell hitting her.”  “When this is over I want a piece of him,” Narg states.

Another uncomfortable period of silence follows.  Barthrock eventually interrupts, saying “Look, we’re not getting anywhere here.  Let’s return to your friends and continue discussions.”  “Fine, but release them” says Narg, pointing to Marcroft and Hardy and adding, “They’re only civilians, not part of our adventuring group.”  Barthrock exchanges glances with his friends, then says, “I am open to discussion of that, let’s go back to the others.”  The two do so.  

Narg tells the other four the status of the hostages, and again demands that Marcroft and Hardy be returned.   Serita asks why the other hostages are still unconscious.  Barthrock answers that his team is using magic to keep them that way, to prevent the druid from shape changing and the other two from trying to escape, adding that the initial battle demonstrated how resourceful they were.”

Timothy says, “Tell us again why you’ve done this.”  Barthrock reiterates that his group is an experienced team of mercenaries, who thought this to be a deal with potential, but now realize that they have been taken advantage of.  He says that from the onset this assignment has been poorly executed by Morgarth, giving as an example that an entire team had been sent to take out the ranger Mark, who wasn’t even at his home at the time, being here in the city instead.    

He then says that he is sick of his group being used as a pawn by the other team run by the mages.  “How many mages?” asks Serita?  Barthrock tells them that an ad hoc group of mages had been quickly thrown together from members of the various teams in order to capture Cassie-Andra, and that several died in the attempt.  One member of that group was extremely injured and unable to return to the team he was supposed to lead on the attack of the school.   That particular team did fine without him, so he has since then stayed here in the city with the other city group, which is also led by another mage.   

The party informs Barthrock that they are aware of the building in the northeast corner of the city being observed by the goblins, designated as an escape location.   Barthrock smiles, and says “Then I don’t have to tell you where to go to find them.”  They ask about the tracking device, which Barthrock says is another sore point, as his team is forbidden to pillage until after all of the Silver Moon are defeated, yet a female mage with the tracking device was allowed to come into the city which her team and remove items from the buildings.  He adds that magic taken off of the hostages was also carried away for supposedly safekeeping.  They ask if this is the only tracking device.  He says as far as he knows that it is.

Barthrock asks   “Do we have the truce then?”   Narg answers, “Yes, provided you return to us the two civilians.”  “Agreed,” says Barthrock, and he calls over to his team to release them.   Marcroft and Hardy soon join them.   “Make sure you keep the others safe,” says Narg.   Barthrock answers “We will.  Only after this is completely over will I turn them over to whoever wins, which I suspect will probably be you.”  

He then adds, “There are five of you who Morgarth is actually afraid of, Cassie, Mark, and the three Jawlt Council members.”  Narg gestures to himself and Serita, saying, “We’re two of those.”   They ask where Mark and Cassie are, to which Barthrock says he does not know, that another Mage teleported away with them.  He also informs the party that , in addition to the hobgoblins and bugbears, the enemy also has with them twenty hairless giants, whose feet resemble those of elephants.

Barthrock’s concluding comment is “The truce is on, and you would be wise not to violate it.  My team really is the best of the ten.  We were the group who stopped Cassie after both mage groups had failed.  For that matter, we also brought down all of the other hostages from this city, including all three of your rangers.”  Barthrock leaves, and the party exits out the window.


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## Silver Moon (May 19, 2006)

*Chapter 19, “Ambushing the Hobgoblins”, August 7th, 1018, 4:15 P.M.*

Back in the building to the west, Aradyn, Fiona and Guice climb up to the roof, and cautiously head towards the center south wall of the structure, just as the hobgoblins round the southwestern wall of this building.   They lie in wait above an alcove, and wait until after all but the last dozen or so have past.   Jerry and Freyland wait inside a door of this alcove, alongside Isaiah and Razou who begin a Chant spell.   

The hobgoblin leader spots the seven climbing out of the window of the building to the East, and orders an attack.   As soon as the hobgoblins start to rush forward, Fiona lets loose a Sleep spell, with Guice and Aradyn firing point blank into others below.   Serita, Narg, Mojo and Timothy then charge at the group of Hobgoblins, as Blip flies her broom up to the roof of that structure.  Meanwhile, those on the roof of the other building continue to fire down, as Freyland and Jerry exit the building to attack the hobgoblins remaining in the rear of the group.  

Serita is the first to close ranks with the monsters in the front, followed by Narg, Mojo and Timothy who waste no time in cutting down the first line.  A group of hobgoblin archers break off, and begin firing point blank into these four.  Mojo pulls out his hammer, and begins picking off the hobgoblin archers one by one, the hammer returning to him after each throw.  Narg, Serita and Mojo show no mercy, bringing down all that they can reach.   The hobgoblins do very poorly with hitting back, with only one getting in a successful attack from behind, on Serita. Blip fires down from her roof, dropping several.  The hobgoblins in the middle see their allies fall from both the front and rear, and many attempt to flee, only to be cut down from the rooftop.  

One of the fleeing hobgoblins runs in the direction of the large tree, spotting Kale climbing down it.  This hobgoblin points directly at him and yells “There’s another one.” just as Aradyn’s arrow strikes this hobgoblin down.  Some hobgoblins retreat into the building, apparently unaware that several adventurers still remain within the structure, finding Adrianna and Kruk both more than willing to deal with them.   Another runs into an adjacent building, with Luekia chasing after him, chasing him through several rooms before cutting him down as well.   The last of the foes are taken down out on the street.

The party quickly gathers up some armor and weapons for those who need it, and heads back into the western building, gathering together their group.  A quick assessment shows that the only injury from the hobgoblins was the single blow on Serita.  They decide that the best place to retreat to is Serita’s house down the street, and all twenty-two exit from the front of this building, bringing with them the still unconscious prisoner Gina, and head west down the street.

Kale eventually reaches the base of the tree, to a point about 150 feet southwest of where the hobgoblin battle just took place.   He is relieved to finally be off of the tree, as the heavy wind blowing against the branches above the crater caused it to continuously sway during his entire descent. He does not see any hobgoblins, or any other movement.   The city is now extremely quiet, the only sound being that of the swift wind blowing above the crater.  He makes his way over to the building that the group was last in, heading through it to the front door.  

In Serita’s house, she quickly confers with the two large cats and large gorilla that she keeps as guards.  They confirm that no enemy has breeched the safety of the house.  This relieves her, until she checks the cellar for the Mimic Dave, finding him to be gone.  She heads back to the party, informing them that “Dave’s not here.”

It is decided that Blip will head back up to the cloud giant Herculean's cave where they left the crew, to drop off Lono, Hobbson, Hardy, Marcroft and the prisoner Gina.  Adrianna volunteers to accompany her as well.  The six get into two bags of holding, and Blip sails off with her broom, staying low between buildings.  She does not gain altitude until he is over the marsh, out of sight from a lot of the city.   She arrives at the cave, and finds it empty.  She chooses to head immediately back to Serita's house, again flying low between buildings to avoid detection.  Blip notices that their  Bullywug allies have now left the marsh, and are walking down the streets in small groups carrying weapons.

Kale continues to look and listen for signs of where the Silver Moon have gone.  He investigates a part of a grove that appeared to be fireballed, finding the damage to be a few days old.  In the corner of his eye he catches some very distant movement from the northern rim of the crater, something or someone dropping down quickly from the crater rim.   He concludes that he cannot get to that part of the city fast enough to still be able to spot whatever it was, and continues west through the city.  Suddenly, a three-foot tall person atop a broom comes flying out from the northeasterly part of the city at a very fast pace, coming around a building 250 feet north of him, and then turning south in his direction.  Kale recognizes the broom flyer from the earlier battle scenes as being with the Silver Moon 

Blip was almost back to Serita's house, having just passed behind Vallessa's house.  She turns left to fly diagonally across the main street to the alley immediately north of Cassie's home, just east of Serita's.   As she turns onto this main north-south street she spots a lone man looking directly at her from 250 south on this same street. He is a male, about six feet tall and is deeply tanned.  He is wearing what appears to be a fur hat, dyed with blue and green alternating stripes.  His leather armor is a shiny gray color. He has some sort of sword sheaved on his back along and a sheaf of javelins along side with an atlatl. A small shield is slung low on his back, and a net is slung through his belt. He also appears to have a small backpack, under the weapons.

Kale turns and starts to walk in Blip’s direction, waving at her and making a gesture for her to come to him.  Blip waves back at him (a "come on" kind of wave), but continue on her flight across the street, leaving a mark at the next intersection indicating that she then went north rather than south to Serita’s.

Blip flies over the wall of Serita’s house and enters, frantically telling the party that there are three things are going on: “First, there are now street gangs of bullywug looking for a fight.  Second, the cave is empty.  Third, some bozo with a weird fur hat is out on the street.”  Lono comments “A fur hat?  He must be a pimp.  I don’t need anybody to help me get chicks.”   Blip empties the others out of the Bags of Holding, them being surprised to be back at Serita’s house instead of the cave.   Serita suggests that she and Blip go deal with the Bullywug situation.  

Kale continues to look for the party in the directions he saw Blip go, but not finding anything.   He continues walking around the buildings on the western end of the city, looking for them.

Blip and Serita head out, avoiding the streets where Blip just saw the stranger.   They soon run into the Bullywug, who Serita convinces to return to the marsh.   They head back, Serita saying that the Bullywug are no longer an issue.  “Like they ever were,” says Narg.   Serita says, “They can be useful, you just need to learn their language.”  “Speak with frogs?  I think not,” is Narg’s response.  

Mojo gestures to the gorilla and asks, “What’s with the walking carpet?”   “He’s my valet,” she answers.  “Why don’t you get a man,” asks Narg.  “Until I can find a man who can actually control me I don’t need one,” answers Serita.   She then begins a conversation with her chicken, who speaks back to her in common.”  Lono says “Another one!” He then makes derogatory remarks about talking farm animals and  particularly Silas’s talking pig.

Meanwhile, approximately six miles to the northwest, Vincenzo decides to return to the school, where he had instructed his daughter Jentile to wait the previous morning.  He brings with him crewmembers Richard, Fritz, Michael and his wife’s niece Janet.   They investigate the school, finding evidence of a fight having taken place on the second floor of the main house, and on the ground outside of the building.  There is no evidence of Jentile.  

They find tracks and move on southwest a mile to the old Silas family home along the coast, finding is surrounded by approximately forty hobgoblins.   They discuss the merits of launching a rescue, the primary reason being to get Vinnie’s wife Jamie back to watch the children.  They decide that there are too many enemies for the five of them to take on, and return to the school.  At the school they load up with food and supplies, then trek back to Crystull’s house.  The kids prepare supper, and the group settles in, as it looks like the impending storm is about to begin.

Back up in the mountaintop city, the party discusses what to do next.   They conclude that they have four choices:  (1) Attack the enemy mages in the city who are at Phormosah’s old house  (2) Mount an assault at the Silas home where hostages are being kept (3) Try to find out what happened to the people left in the cave who are now missing (4) Mount an assault on the Tavern where more hostages are being kept.  After a lengthy debate they decide on doing all of the above, by splitting up the party.  Three teams will simultaneously work on the first three objectives, then meet up in the woods west of the Tavern for objective four.  They conclude that there is still enough daylight to accomplish all of this, although the sky is now filled with dark clouds.  [And the DM is very pleased that the players have decided to split up into teams with approximately one character per player in each.]

It is decided that the group of Aradyn, Blip, Furynick, Guice, Immy, Isaiah, Jerry, and Luekia will mount the assault on the Silas Estate.   All of these except Blip climb into two of the bags of holding, which Blop picks up and flies off on her broome.  Blip exits the city through the cave in the southwestern corner (avoided until now due to the cave’s underground lake as well as a rope bridge which tend to slow down movement but both of which the broom can easily fly across).  At approximately 5:15 PM Blip flies her broom out of the cave entrance on the Southwestern side of the mountain. 

Most of the others decide to assault the group of enemies in the city at Phormosah’s.  They discuss the best way to get there through the city undetected.  Mojo’s suggests Groucho glasses.  Serita asks him if he can tie his tongue in a knot.  He answers, “I can, but you’ll never know.” They evaluate the physical shape that everyone else is in.  Lono, at only one hit point, mouths off “We’re fine, the only one who got hurt by the hobgoblins was Serita.”  The group comments about how well they did in that battle overall, with Mojo (who previously lived on a 20th century world) adds “I haven’t seen that much carnage since my frat house went to two-for-one night at a fast food restaurant.”

It is decided that Hobbson, Marcroft and Tanner should stay at Serita’s house.   Serita adamantly refuses to let the prisoner Gina remain in her home while she isn’t there.   It is decided that Kruk and Adrianna will exit the city through the main cave to go look for clues as to the whereabouts of those left in the cave, and will bring the prisoner with them.  

Serita suggests that Lono go too, to which he comments, “Yeah, I can lead that group.”  She answers, “No, it’s because you’re too weak to be of any good to us and I won’t let you stay here.”  He snaps back “I’m fine.”  She yells back “You’re beat to Crap*!”  “At least I wasn’t hit by a hobgoblin” is his comeback.   “Shut the Heck * Up!” she retorts, and she slugs him.   Serita connects, knocking Lono unconscious, and concluding “That felt good.”  She tells Adrianna “He’s not staying here, take him too.”   Kruk and Adrianna leave, carrying Lono and Gina.   They head to the cave entrance at the southeastern edge of the city.

_*Denotes that a family friendly Euphemism has been employed._


So the remaining group of Fiona, Freyland, Lannon, Mojo, Narg, Razou, Serita and Timothy leave the house, heading north through the city.


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## Silver Moon (May 20, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty, “Against the Mage’s Team”, August 7th, 1018, 5:00 P.M.*

They reach the area of Phormosah’s house, and decide to first deal with the goblins that they had spotted on the roofs that morning.  They split into two groups, with Fiona, Freyland, Lannon and Timothy going to the building on the southwest corner and Mojo, Narg, Serita and Razou going to the one on the northeast corner.   

After an inordinately long period of time the four on the northeastern building eventually manage to get onto the roof and defeat their foes.  The DM comments about how it took them nearly an hour of play for some of the most powerful characters in the group to take care of four goblins who they had the element of surprise on.  “Are we maybe over-thinking this?” Mojo’s player asks.    

Those on the southeastern corner quickly deal with their foes (aka a Lannon special), and then head around clockwise towards the center building, going through a grove of trees to the northeast.  They see a group of trees not swaying to the wind, and investigate to discover an illusionary area.  Timothy throws a Dispel Magic to remove the illusion, revealing a tent and four more goblins.   They take out the two who are awake, Lannon slicing into one, Freyland using his “Freyblade” on the other, and then finish off the sleeping foes.  The four then move on to meet up with the others, after first stripping the goblins of their signal wands.

All eight then enter Phormosah’s house, traveling through several rooms before finding a room that they hear voices inside of.   They send a team of four to each of the two separate entrances into this room, and barge in together.   The voices stop immediately as the doors open, and nobody appears to be  in the room.  "Great we're at the Invisible Family reunion," says Mojo. Unfortunately, Fiona does not have a detect invisibility spell with her. The group cautiously enters, being careful that nobody invisible slips out a door at the same time.  Both doors are shut once the party is in the room, with Fiona and Freyland standing guard in front of each of the doors.  

The other six check around the room, swinging their weapons as they walk.  The wooden chairs at a table in the center of the room are checked to confirm that nobody invisible is currently sitting in them.  Timothy approaches a stone staircase in the northwestern corner of the room, which heads up to a second floor.   As he reaches the first step, he hears a noise about halfway up.   The six-foot-three cleric rapidly bounds up the stairs, three steps at a time, with his mace connecting with somebody on the tenth step.  He is then slashed by a short sword, the person holding it becoming visible.   She is a human in leather armor.  Lannon charges up after Timothy, who gets in two more hits, taking one in return.   Mojo lets sail his mace into her, just as both Timothy and Lannon’s weapons as well as a magic missile spell from Fiona all connect, the enemy slumping onto the stairs, extremely dead.

Timothy then hears sound on a higher step.  He again leaps upward, over the body of the fallen foe, and strikes into the next foe.  This person also hits back, becoming visible, and becomes a target for the hammer that has just returned to Mojo’s hand.   Both Timothy and Mojo hit, temporarily stunning the man.  Timothy’s next hit is enough to knock the enemy off of the staircase to the stone floor below.   Razou checks him out, finding the man to be very unconscious but not dead.   

Fiona is then pushed away from the door that she is standing beside.   A now visible woman in studded leather armor opens the door, but before she can exit the room, Serita uses her boots of speed to get right up to her.   The woman tries to push Serita, who ducks, and then comes back up clutching a dart that is filled with Medusa’s poison.  The dart is stabbed right into the woman’s neck.   The party watches as the woman turns into a stone statue. 

They continue to check the rest of the room for any more invisible foes.  They then spend time searching the rest of the building, finding no evidence of the two mages.   The unconscious prisoner is stripped and tied up.   The “statue” is stripped of its possessions, as is the other body. 

While this was going on, Kale continued to search the buildings, eventually spotting something that appears to be made of materials other than stone and wood.   In a grove of small trees to his north he spots a canvas tent. Traveling to it, he finds that the tent contains the bodies of four very recently killed goblins, all killed by bladed weapons, one body decapitated.   The tent faces to the southeast. 

Kale looks for tracks, which proves futile, as any left behind having been blown about by the heavy wind blowing down into the crater.  He decides to head to the top of a nearby building to scout around.   On the roof he finds another four recently killed goblins, and spots more dead goblins on the roof of another building.   He decides that the building located between these three groups of dead monsters should be where to check next.


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## Silver Moon (May 24, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-one, “Immy messes up“, August 7th, 1018, 5:30 P.M.*

Meanwhile, Adrianna and Kruk complete their mile long path through the cave, encountering nothing.  Lono begins to gain consciousness, Adrianna supporting him along the way. They reach the cave exit point at approximately 6:00 PM.   Making their way through the woods, they travel counter-clockwise up the mountain, heading back in the direction of the crater. At around 6:20 PM they hear the sounds of an approaching group.  Through the shadows of the trees, this distant group looks to be comprised of ten to twelve creatures, most of them larger than man-sized and carrying weapons.

Kruk has two healing potions left, and offers one to Lono.  Lono claims to not to need it, but tells Kruk he will take it anyway "just to make you happy".  Lono insists on taking point and checking out the critters.  Once he is barely out of Kruk’s sight, Lono downs the potion for nine points of healing, bringing him up to almost ten.   Scouting ahead, he sees that of the seven larger-than man-sized creatures with this group, six appear to be lizard men, and the other appears to be a bugbear.

Lono recognizes all of them and runs up and say hello to Bruce and the other crewmen. He then ask them why they left the cave, hearing their reply.  He then returns, and informs Kruk and Adrianna that the group ahead are their ship's crew members and followers who had been left in the cave.   They left the cave because the thief captured in the church escaped, someone apparently having snuck into the cave, cutting him free, and then leaving invisibly.  Since the safety of the cave was compromised, they decided to go find the rest of the Silver Moon Adventurers.   

Lono tells the combined group that they are now all going to go to the Silas house.  He makes Bruce his second in command and tells the Lizard men to guard the prisoners.  He also makes sure to remind Bruce the bugbears are polymorphed, but to act if as they are really bugbears in an attempt to terrorize them a bit.  They head off down the mountain in a westerly direction.

The players next get into a discussion about pastries, with Lono’s player feeling that cake is superior to pie, and Narg’s player feeling that pie is superior to cake.  This leads to a discussion as to why Serita’s player will allow Danish or strudel for breakfast, but not pie.  

Back in the game, Blip arrives at the Silas family home (having just missed Vincenzo’s team by an hour).  They evaluate the situation, trying to figure the best way to get inside of the building.  Since Aradyn speaks hobgoblin, and is already wearing hobgoblin armor and using hobgoblin-made weapons, Immy loans him his Hat of Disguise to make Aradyn appear to be a hobgoblin.  

Aradyn approaches the building, telling the hobgoblins by the door that he has just been assigned here, and asking for the leader.  He is told that the leader is at the other door, to which Aradyn  tells the hobgoblin “Why aren’t you leader?”  After more flattery to the guard, Aradyn says he has to check the prisoners, and is let inside.

In the first room are ten more hobgoblins, all but two asleep.   The following room has the four hostages and four enemy adventurers.  In the third and final room are two more enemy adventurers, a very tall awake hobgoblin, and two sleeping hobgoblins.   Aradyn returns to the party to tell them what they saw.   Blip, Immy and Isaiah discuss spells that could be used to get inside.   It is eventually decided that the Aradyn will return to distract the hobgoblins, while the group decides the best way to enter the building.

Aradyn returns, again flattering the hobgoblin at the first door, and finding out that the current group of hobgoblins at the building are comprised of two separate groups, pooled together from two teams of enemy adventurers, one of which left with the bugbears from both teams.  Using this information to play one group off of the other, he approaches the second door to tell the leader there that the other group called them cowards who cannot be trusted.  He says that that team plans to also run away at the first sign of trouble.   The hobgoblin brings Aradyn inside, to tell the big leader this.  The big leader then heads out the front door to lecture this group of hobgoblins.  Aradyn gets all of the hobgoblins in the front room to follow him out as well.

Aradyn heads back out the side door, telling this group to head around front to listen to their leader, which they do.   He then gets the two hobgoblins on the shed roof to climb down and go listen to the lecture by the big leader.  Aradyn then takes up a “sniper” position, lying on the shed roof, and preparing his bow.

The others in the woods see the hobgoblins exit the building, and now all congregating outside of the front door.  They decide upon several spells to get inside.   Using a combination of Wrath form, Invisibility and Silence spells, they get Immy into the building while the others are all in the bag of holding that he is carrying [The DM gets so confused by the layered effects of the three spells that he allows it, not realizing until the next day why this combination of spells should not have worked].    

Rather than going to the now empty front room to let all of the others out of the bag of holding, Immy instead enters the room with the hostages.  In this room there are now all six enemy adventurers, eating their dinner.    Immy moves to a point under the dining table, bringing the Silence spell with him, which immediately alerts the enemy, due to the Silence spell stopping all conversation.   

They all rise to their feet, the cleric making a path to the opposite corner of the room to get out of the spell’s area of effect.  Immy empties the first person out of the bag of holding, which turns out to be Guice.  Guice’s immediate reaction is to stand up, picking up the table, and using it to pin the nearby female magic user to the wall.  This action infuriates the now exposed Immy, whose yelling at Guice to stop is not heard due to the silence spell.   

The silence then ends, as do the invisibility and Wrath form, because the enemy Cleric manages to exit the silence and then casts a Dispel Magic spell cast on to that side of the room.  The spell also prevents Immy from being able to get anyone out of the bag of holding in this particular round.  Guice continues to push the magic user with the table, knocking her into the hot bricks by the fireplace.   He is then engaged in battle by a man declaring himself to be Donovan the Great, a massive red-haired bearded man with a two-handed sword.  He swings the sword into Guice, striking him.   

Immy uses his Wand of Magic Missiles to send missiles into the four enemies on the opposite side of the room.  He then tries to pull the next adventurer out of the bag of holding.  Guice swings the table around as a shield, deflecting Donovan’s next attack.   Furynick begins to fall out of the bag of holding.  Immy helps shake him loose.  Rather than attacking, the two men at the opposite end of the room move over to the hostages, and get beside them, standing upon ropes attached to each hostage to hold them down and prevent them from moving.  

Aradyn is unaware of what is going on inside of the building, and decides to initiate an attack as a signal for his friends in the woods.   He fires two arrows at the hobgoblin leader lecturing his troops.  The first shot goes wild, flying up into the trees, but the second shot hits its mark, striking the leader in the head.   The leader survives, and orders his troops to attack.   The hobgoblins all turn to attack, but are see no enemies, and also are not sure where the arrows came from.   Aradyn stays low on the shed roof so as not to be seen.   

Back inside, the enemy cleric gets a Hold Person spell off before Immy’s next attack, the spell stopping Guice in his tracks.    Immy sends two missiles into the cleric, then turns and sends two more into the female mage beside him, as Guice is no longer keeping her trapped.  

Donovan prepares to swing his sword onto Furynick.  Seeing this, Furynick rolls to the side, Donovan’s sword striking the floor.  Fury then thrusts his own sword up into the foe, striking him for maximum damage.  Fury now notices Guice is held.  Immy lets loose with a five magic missiles from the wand into the cleric.  The mage near Immy throws her own magic missile spell into him, with four missiles striking.

The hobgoblins outside continue to search for enemies.  One rushes towards the side door of the building to alert those inside.   Aradyn hops down from the shed room, and yells “wait for me” as this hobgoblin approaches the door.  Furynick has gotten to his feet, and shoves the table into Guice with enough force to break him out of the hold.  As Furynick continues to engage Donovan in battle, Guice picks of the bag of holding.  Rather than attacking or throwing a spell this round, the  cleric issues orders to her two allies standing beside her with the hostages.    

The monk along the side wall charges over towards Immy, who casts a Color Spray on him, knocking him unconscious.  As he does this, the mage places her hand on Immy and casts a Polymorph spell, which the gnome successfully saves from.   She then rushes for the door to the next room, with Immy following her.

As Guice dumps Isaiah out of the bag, the female cleric begins to cast another spell.  Each of her two allies hold their magical longsword down, directly above the necks of two of the hostages (Kharole and Jaime).  Guice continues to shake the bag of holding, as Blip, Jerry and Luekia are still inside of it.

The female mage makes her way into the side room, calling one of the three hobgoblin guards in this room to assist her.  One guard moves towards the doorway where Immy is now entering, and the other two hobgoblins who are at the door to the front room also move in Immy’s direction.   

Furynick’s character sheet is handed to Aradyn’s player, who makes the same observation that Mojo’s player made the previous week, that the listing under equipment for the armor’s “extra padding” actually looks like it says “extra pudding”, which they conclude would actually be more important to Furynick.

Isaiah, lying on the floor, quickly assesses the situation in the room to them being in deep excrement, and immediately casts a Prayer spell.   Guice tosses the Bag of Holding to Isaiah as it still contains Blip, Jerry and Luekia.  Isaiah manages to gets his spell off prior to the enemy female cleric’s Hold Person, but the bonus to saves of the Prayer are not enough to prevent Isaiah, Furynick and Guice from then all falling victim to the spell.

In the adjacent room, Immy throws a Color Spray spell into the hobgoblin and mage in front of him, dropping him, but she successfully saves.  The door out of the building now opens, revealing two hobgoblins.   Immy recognizes the second of these as being Aradyn, whose appearance had been changed by the Hat of Disguise.  The female magician rushes towards the door, instructing both hobgoblins to attack the gnome.   The one in the doorway charges forward, as Aradyn draws his bow.    

Aradyn’s first shot misses, striking the far wall.   The second shot hits his intended victim, the magic-user, who assumes that he just hit her by accident while firing at Immy.    She rushes out the door, telling Aradyn to again attack the little guy.   Back in the room, Immy see the three remaining hobgoblins moving towards him, and decides to head back through the doorway he came from into the other room.  Only then does he see the two male fighter/thief types with long swords have now moved away from the hostages, and are converging on the same doorway.   

The magic-user is now outside, moving in the direction of the front of the building, calling out to the large assemblage of hobgoblins there to get inside the building, where the enemies now are.   With her back to him, Aradyn lets loose two more arrows point blank into her, which causes her to drop to the ground.    Seeing over a dozen hobgoblins now charging at him, who witnessed his attack on the mage, Aradyn decides that he is now better off inside of the building.   He rushes through the door, shuts and locks it, and tells the three hobgoblins in the room that enemy adventurers are outside.  He calls two of the three over to guard the door.

Immy has now noticed that his three allies in this room are all held.  The big fighter named Donovan charges directly at him, swinging his two-handed sword.  Immy attempts a Chromatic Orb spell on the man, which fails.  He then attempts to cast Dispel Magic to free his allies, but is struck first by Donovan’s sword.   The Stoneskin spell on Immy prevents him from taking damage from the sword, but the force of the blow itself propels him to the side and into Guice, although still not hard enough to break the hold. Guice’s player curses his dice and asks to borrow somebody else’s instead. 

Aradyn lets fire two more arrows, one cutting down the third hobgoblin in the room, the second hitting one of the male fighter/thief types in the next room.    He then moves over towards the doorway to the next room, seeing Isaiah lying still on the floor.

Donovan is too close to Immy now to use his large sword, so drops it and grabs at the gnome with his hands.   Immy tries to squeeze between Guice and the wall to escape, hitting Guice in the process to break the hold, which again fails.   It takes Immy another round to get past Guice, hitting him again, but Guice remains held (and Guice’s player curses the dice).  During this time the other two fighters make their way around to the other side of Guice to try catching the gnome.  

Donovan pushes Guice out of the way, knocking him to the floor, in order to get to Immy.   The player once again fails to make Guice’s saving throw to break the hold, even with the +3 bonus for being knocked down.   Immy gets grabbed by one of the men in leather armor.   Immy lets loose into the man with a five-bolt magic missile from his wand, but is still held firm by the man.

Aradyn notices the Bag of Holding lying on the ground beside Isaiah and discretely picks it up.  The female cleric in the room moves over in his direction.    Aradyn tries to play the part of a stupid hobgoblin that has no idea what the bag is, while holding it upside down and shaking it.   The gnome thief Jerry falls out, landing right on top of the chests of the tie and bound female hostages Kharole and Jamie.  Guice’s player puts in a request that “the next time you dump me out of the bag of holding that’s where I want to land.”

The cleric grabs at the bag of holding, and orders Aradyn to give it to her.  He pulls back on it, saying, “Why, what is it?”   They continue the tug of war, Aradyn winning with his exceptional strength.   She moves towards him again, and he now uses the bow as a club to strike her.  Jamie’s player  comments to Aradyn’s “If he breaks Vallessa’s bow he’s going to be a dead man.”   Jerry sees that the cleric is distracted by Aradyn, and the other three enemies in room are struggling with Immy, so decides to use the time to cut the ropes binding the hostages.  

Aradyn runs into the next room with the bag, the cleric following him.    The two hobgoblins in this room have opened the outside door, where the female mage, now partially healed, is standing with several more hobgoblins.   “Uh Oh,” Aradyn say, as he charges towards the only other exit from this room, the door to the front room.

Immy lets loose another full five-charges from his now rather depleted Wand of Magic Missiles into the man holding him.  This reduces the man to a pair of hit points, causing him to release his grip on Immy.   Simultaneous to this, the door to the front room opens up, and several hobgoblins rush in.  Ignoring the monsters, Immy makes a break for the door, slipping past several hobgoblins, as the three fighters yell for the monsters to grab the gnome.

Jerry has managed to cut Kharole loose.  As she stands up to unlatch the shutters on the window behind her, Jerry starts to cut the bonds holding Jaime.    Kharole opens up the window, and Jerry gives her a boost up and out of it.   This catches the attention of one of the enemies on the opposite side of the room, who starts to rush over in that direction.

In the side room, Aradyn fights off the hobgoblins and makes his way towards the front room, barely making a saving throw from a spell thrown at him (where he would have failed except that this was the final round of Isaiah’s Prayer spell).  More hobgoblins are now entering the room from the side door.  The cleric and mage leave him for the hobgoblins to catch and head back into the room with the hostages.

Immy makes his way over to a window, climbing up to the sill and unlatching the shutter, as several hobgoblins grab at him.  One of the human enemies grabs his shirt just as Immy leaps out the window, managing to slip out of the man’s grasp.

Seeing that Immy and Aradyn have left the room, and that four human enemies are now converging on him and the hostages, Jerry decides it is time to go.  He scampers up to the windowsill and tells Jaime it is time to leave.   She is reluctant to leave her sister Beulah and friend Silas behind, but follows his advice.   The first of the enemy fighters reaches her, who she successfully slugs in the face, as Jerry pulls her up and out of the window.    Jerry, Kharole and Jaime then make a mad dash towards the woods.  Rather than following, the enemies shut and relock the window.

Immy gets away from the building towards the woods.   He casts a Confusion spell back through the window into the front room to distract the hobgoblins and human enemy within that room.  He then casts Improved Invisibility on himself, which gives him twelve-rounds of invisibility during which he can also take offensive actions.    

Aradyn makes his way through the front room, recognizing the effects of the Confusion spell from earlier in the afternoon, and makes his way around the incoherent hobgoblins and out of the front door.  Immy rushes over to him, saying, “It’s Immy, I’m invisible.”   Aradyn asks him “What has transpired?”  to which Immy answers  “I misinterpreted the plan.”


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## Silver Moon (May 27, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-two, “Kale’s Message“, August 7th, 1018, 6:00 P.M.*

Immy then tells informs Aradyn that he is going back inside.   Aradyn finds a safe spot in the woods, and releases Blip and Luekia from the bag of holding. Aradyn, Blip and Luekia spot distant movement in the woods, and go to investigate, running into Jerry, Kharole and Jaime.   Jerry briefly explains how he got them out the back window.  “Let’s get back to that window,” says Luekia, and she takes the lead.

Immy makes it into the front room, and casts an Improved Phantasmal Force, creating an illusionary group comprised of Narg, Mojo, and several burley fighter-types.    It takes a few rounds for Immy and his illusionary party to get around the confused hobgoblins and back to the door to the rear room.  Immy opens the door, to see that Guice, Isaiah and Furynick have been moved to the rear wall (and hit with another Hold Person spell) and placed alongside Beulah and Silas, and that four of the human enemies surround them.    Immy does not see the Mage, and starts to have his illusionary troops charge the room.    

Just as Immy starts to go through the doorway, the invisible mage lets loose with a Lightning Bolt into the illusionary party, which Immy barely manages to dodge out of the way of.   He has the illusionary party react as if they were hit, and has a few of the fighter types drop.   The bolt also takes out several hobgoblins, more in fact than the party had during this entire encounter.

The mage orders the party to stop or she will kill the hostages.   Immy tries his hand at brinkmanship, and has the illusionary Narg order the enemies to surrender instead.    “Take one more step and I kill hostages,” she answers.   By this point Luekia is at the back window, and hears this exchange.  Immy does not back off, having the illusionary Narg character press on.    The mage orders one of her men to kill a hostage, and one of her fighters begin to thrust his magical sword towards Isaiah.  The sword starts to cut into Isaiah’s neck before Immy finally realizes that she is not bluffing, and he then has his illusionary party back off.  

The Mage orders Narg and his group to lay down their weapons and leave, that this will be their only chance.   Immy finally has his illusionary party do as commanded.    The mage has twenty hobgoblins clear a path to let them out.   As they and Immy leave, the mage tells them that any further attacks on this building will result in an immediate execution of a hostage, without any further warnings.

The near-assassination on Isaiah had broken the hold on him, and the enemies permit him to cast Cure Serious Wounds on himself to stop the bleeding and partially heal the wound.    The enemies then tie and gag him to prevent him from being able to cast any more spells.   Guice and Furynick are also bound before the second Hold Person wears off.

Immy makes it out of the door as his Invisibility spell wears off.  He finds his way through the woods, and reunites with the others.    They question Immy as to what has taken place during the past half-hour.   He apologizes for misinterpreting the original plan.   The group assesses that Jaime and Kharole are currently in no shape to be of much help, even though Kharole is in favor of mounting a full frontal assault on the building.   “So we gained two, and lost three” is Blip’s summary.  “And we didn’t even get a first round draft pick,” Guice’s player mutters.

Jaime is very concerned about has happened to her children.    They relate to her that the children were taken away in a ship, but that Vincenzo was free, and followed after the ship in Merman form.  They also say that when they last saw her daughter Jentile, she was fine and with a lot of the rescued ship’s crew, and carrying Jaime’s magical sword (being careful to omit the fact that, as far as this team knows, that group is now missing).

Immy says, “All may not be lost, I have a plan.”  Luekia cuts him off, saying, “You plans have sucked.  You almost lost the entire party.”   The group discusses the situation, and they conclude that they should probably fly to the tavern to meet up with the high-level party.    The comment being “Maybe we should regroup somewhere safe, like the Kralt Lordholding.”

Immy volunteers to remain behind to watch this building.   The group shows some hesitation to this.  Immy emphasizes how the enemy may try to move the prisoners, and how he could still help to stop them.   Jerry interrupts him, saying “We’re not leaving you here Ryan, Mycroft or whatever you name is.”   Not getting Jerry’s reference to the two former party members best known for their incompetence, Immy starts to question why not.  

Jerry tells him “No offense but I do not know you or trust you.”   Jerry concludes that someone with thieving skills should stay behind, and that he is in the best shape currently, other than Blip who has to play taxi, so he should be the one to stay.    Immy casts Invisibility on Jerry, and the rest of the party get into the bags of holding.  Blip picks up the bags and flies off eastward on the broom, again staying low and between the trees.

Inside the building, Buella, Furynick Guice, Isaiah and Silas were moved away from the exterior walls of the building to the center of the room while still under the enemy’s second Hold spell.  The number of hobgoblin guards around them was increased and the other hobgoblins were assigned to peer out the windows, with a minimal number put into position in the now falling rain outside of the doors.  The enemies locked the door and stacked furniture in front of it.

The female magic-user, which the others called Valerie, told the fighter called Donovan “I’m going to go get Jo-Ann’s team.  You are in charge until I return.   Kill two of the hostages if you are attacked again.”   She then teleported away.  The enemy cleric, called Machelle, exhausted her cures healing himself, the monk and the two thieves.  Isaiah was then forced to use his own remaining cures on these enemies, upon the threat of the execution of Buella if he did not cooperate.

Back in the city, the group in Phormosah's house plans what to do next.  Kale enters the building through its front door, into a room with a long hallway and two interior doors.   Listening at one of the doors, he hears voices on the other side.  Peering through the keyhole, he sees adventurers who match Ki-Geloryn’s descriptions of Narg and Timothy.   The party has stripped all three of the dead and unconscious enemies of their possessions, and is discussing what to do next, when they hear a knock on the door and voice yell out  “Yo, Silver Moon Dudes!”    They open to the door, to see the odd-looking man that Blip had seen in the city two hours earlier, discovering that the blue and green striped fur hat that Blip described is actually the man’s hair.   His armor is a shiny gray, to which Mojo comments that “I’m not sure, but I think that he skinned a heating duct.”

Weapons drawn, they party lets the man enter the room.   He says “Like, I’ve been trying to catch up with you guys.”  He starts to explain that Derieki and Ki-Geloryn had sent him, but  mangles the pronunciation of both names, calling them Del Rickey and Key Grain, which takes the party a few minutes to figure out who he means.  The man introduces himself as Kale, and says that his father and Derieki had previously adventured together, and that Derieki sent him to give them a message. 

The game shifts back to the group back at Crystull's house, the DM describes it as being Vincenzo with a house full of thirteen children.   “Sounds like the sixth level of Hell” is Mojo’s player’s response.   It is decided that this group will stay put where they are for the night.

Moving on to the next group, Blip continues to fly in a roundabout manner, avoiding all buildings during her flight to the tavern.   The suggestion is made that while flying on her broom she should spell out the message in the sky “Surrender Morgarth”.  Blip’s player points out that she has nothing to use to write such a message, and it suggested that she take Razou with her, as he has lots of ways to create interesting smoke.  She stops in the woods near the tavern.  The other group does not appear to have arrived yet, which concerns Blip.  She lets out the majority of the party, leaving Immy alone inside of his own bag of holding.  

Lono's group continues on their path towards the Silas family home.   Along the way, Lono checks out Fiona’s house, finding it surrounded by bugbears.   They eventually arrive in the woods near the Silas home, at which point Jentile’s hobgoblin-detection sword starts to glow, causing Lono to exclaim “Dare’s hobgoblins in dem dare woods.”   Lono moves forward to scout out the building, hearing a voice say “Lono, it’s Jerry, I’m invisible.”  Jerry asks Lono who is with him, getting the answer “I have most of the Green Bay Packers, who do you think?”   Jerry asks what he has for spellcasters, to which Lono, after thinking of D.C.,  replies “about all I have is a Kheogten’s rocket launcher.”  The two exchange information, then Lono has Jerry accompany him back to the others.   

Jerry becomes concerned when he sees that they have three prisoners with them, fearful that the prisoners might make noise to alert the other enemies nearby.  Jerry is also concerned about Jentile, and says that they should get her back to her mother Jamie.  “But then she’ll want her sword back,” is Jentile’s comment.   

Jerry asks Lono “Have you figured out where we will spend the night?”  Lono answers “Gee Jerry, usually I like to be romanced a little before we get to that.”  Jerry slowly counts to ten, then says “I meant the group!  We now have thirty people, which is way too many people to fit into Freyland’s cave, where I’ve spent the past two nights.”  Jerry suggests that three of the lizardmen crewmembers stay to scout out the building, as the rapidly approaching rainstorm won’t effect them much, and that they can also quickly escape via the ocean if necessary.  The lizardman Haas is put in charge of this trio, due to his prior experience adventuring with the party.

Lono takes charge of the rest. It is decided that he will lead them to the school, where they can stock up on supplies, then move on to Crystull’s house, which Kruk confirms appeared to have been vacant when the party teleported in the previous day.   It is felt that this building is in an isolated enough location that the enemy won’t wander upon them, allowing the group to rest up for the night.  (Which the DM is happy to say will finally get all four groups together in one place, to hopefully help relieve the player confusion of “who knows what” that has been developing during the module).

Jerry volunteers to travel to the tavern to inform the others of the plan to go to Crystull’s once they finish there.    While still invisible, he approaches the small barn near the Silas estate, and quietly makes off with one of the party’s horses that the enemies had stolen, being careful to stay out of the line of sight of the hobgoblin guards back by the cabin.  

Back in the City, in Phormosah’s house, the high-level group is dealing with the odd man named Kale.  They ask about his odd-colored blue and green striped spiked hair.  “This is my doo,” he answers “like, this is the way it is done.”  Lannon comments that “You look like a rabid raccoon is on your head.”  “What’s a raccoon?” he asks.  A few more cracks are made at his expense, to which he says “Dudes, you’re mocking me.”  Narg comments “Get used to it.”   Fiona states that “Either Alton’s gonna love him or..”  “smoke him,” Mojo interjects.  Narg says to Kale “Let me offer a bit of advice, get a little less flashy.”   They ask Kale what his message was, and he relates the following (again, mispronouncing most names):

“This morning, in the Thenossian coastal city of Halla, Lord Kindor called a meeting with himself,  the Jawlt Lordhodling leader, the Thenossia Lordholding leader Queen Jennifer, the Aldorn Lordholding leader Lord Aldorn, Lord Aldorn’s magician daughter Aldoria, and four of the eight Jawlt Council members: Army Commander Tenbar, Navy Commander Waller, Security Chief Melito, and Diplomatic Liaison Ki-Geloryn.”  “Pretty much everybody except us,” Serita comments.

Kale continues: “Ki-Geloryn told them what he had discovered about Morgarth’s threats yesterday to the Silver Moon in the city of Cantage.  All eight present at the meeting agreed that they needed to help the Silver Moon.  Attempts were made first to magically view the Silver Moon party, and then to teleport to the island itself, which both proved to be unsuccessful.  They concluded that Morgarth had erected a magical barrier around the island.    After a short debate about strategies, a plan was put into action.  The news of the impending substantial hurricane ruled out sending troops directly to the island, as the ships would not be able to reach their destination prior to the storm.  

It was decided that Ki-Geloryn would teleport himself, Tenbar, and Waller on to the Jawlt Lordholding town of Gelorynth, where Ki is the ruler.  From there, Tenbar and Waller would each begin to mobilize the Jawlt Army and Jawlt Navy respectively, moving them to Gelorynth, the closest community in Jawlt to Silver Moon Island, sixty miles northeast of the island.  The Jawlt military would then set out for Silver Moon Island once the storm passed.   

Queen Jennifer had no formal military of her own, but anticipated being able to quickly muster together in Halla a contingent of 250 to 300 troops comprised of Halla city guards, retired soldiers and mercenaries.”  Mojo interjects “Plus a few old lovers and a cranky Boy Scout.”

Kale continues “Jennifer immediately commandeered four large merchant ships currently docked in the city.   Along with her own warship, Thenossia’s Pride, she planned to then sail these forces east to the Thenossia town of Grammel, sixty-five miles northwest of Silver Moon Island.  Once the storm passes, they also will set forth for Silver Moon Island.”

“Kindor realized that these reinforcements might arrive too late, so the other four at the meeting embarked upon a different mission.  It was decided that Aldoria would teleport herself, Aldorn, Kindor and Melito, to Modvicton, the capital city of the Zalpar Lordholding.  Lord Kindor and Lord Aldorn would then set up a meeting with the Zalparian leaders to apprise them of the return of the Zalpar Lordhodling’s long-time enemy Morgarth, and then work with the Zalpar Magicians Guild to try to ascertain his current whereabouts.   Aldoria and Melito would pursue a parallel strategy, attempting to find whatever current information they could about Morgarth through their own contacts within the city.”   “Great,” comments Narg, “I hope they find him.  I want to clean that guy’s clock once all of this is done.”

Kale goes on: “Ki-Geloryn teleported his trio to Gelorynth.  He made arrangements for temporary housing for the Jawlt military troops that would soon arrive.  He also realized that it was important to try to get a message to you dudes, the Silver Moon.   Working with the town’s resident Mage and long-time Silver Moon ally, Derieki, they discovered that the anti-magic shell extended out twelve miles beyond the island itself.  They were fearful that sending anything magical through the shell would either fail completely, or send out an alarm to Morgarth, so needed to come up with a non-magical means to quickly get word to the Silver Moon.”

“That’s when they got a hold of me” says Kale.  “Derieki and my dad had adventured together, and Derieki knew dad was an excellent sailor.  Dad wasn’t home when Deriki arrived so I volunteered to come instead.  He teleported my sailboat right outside of the barrier around six hours ago, and I sailed in and trekked up here.”   

Narg asks what else he saw.  He tells of the group of enemies who had the prisoners, describing them as a group of lizardmen and a bugbear with a few humanoids.  To this Serita interjects  “That was us you stupid idiot!”  Kale is taken aback by the insult.  Freyland apologies for her, telling Kale “You have to understand, she’s had a really bad day.”   “How can you tell if she’s having a bad day?” asks Mojo.   “On a good day, her anger is only directed away from the party,” answers Narg.  

Kale then goes on to describe his encounter with Blip, the “short Dude riding a broom.”  “That’s Blip, the teenage gnome,” is Mojo’s answer.  Freyland asks about the shiny gray armor Kale is wearing.  Kale explains that is was made from sharkskin, and that he is from a water-world (leading to comments disparaging all films that Kevin Costner has made during the past decade).  Freyland comments that “You’re entire world is made of water?  You’re from Hell?’  Narg says “let me introduce you to Freyland, our resident hydro-phobic.”   The group concludes that since Kale knows a lot about sailing that he might be useful as a member of the crew.  Kale goes on to describe how he is well known in his world’s boat-racing circuit, their major sporting event.  Razou comments  “Eh, Mahn, I like this guy.”  “You would!,” says Mojo.

Narg says “Let’s head down to the tavern.”  “You always say that,” comments Mojo.  “Hey, it works,” answers Narg.   “Can I go with you Dudes?,” Kale asks.   “Sure, once you sign a waiver,” says Mojo, adding “pay special attention to the Vincenzo clause.”  Fiona says to Kale “You realize that if you do stay, you have to sleep with the lizardmen.”  “Their heads are at least the same color,” comments Lannon.


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## Silver Moon (May 30, 2006)

_The following chapter is considered by my players to be the single most fun game night in our group’s twenty-four year history. _ 


*Chapter Twenty-three, “The Jeep Battle“, August 7th, 1018, 6:30 P.M*

The high level group concludes that they have too many people for the one bag of holding, and do not want Serita to have to use up three of the limited teleports from her ring to get them all there.   Mojo reminds them that one of Alton’s Jeeps is nearby, and that he knows how to drive it, having acquired that skill during his stay on the technologically advanced world of Carvel.  The group heads over to Alton’s house and gas up the vehicle.  Mojo gets in the driver’s seat as Narg and Serita cram into the passenger seat.   Timothy and Razou stand behind the two seats, holding onto the roll bar.  Freyland, Lannon and Fiona get into the back, and Kale stands atop the rear hitch behind it, demonstrating his “surfing” skills.    The tied and bound unconscious prisoner is lashed to the hood, and off they go.

They head through the mile-long cave at approximately forty miles per hour.  They discuss leaving the jeep by the mouth of the cave, and continuing on foot, but Mojo has other ideas.  He guns the engine just as they approach the cave exit.  Bouncing and bumping at a speed far exceeding any attempt at safety, the Jeep goes barreling down the side of the mountain, with Mojo only occasionally tapping the brakes to slow them down.  At one point during this, the prisoner regains consciousness, only to faint at the sight of his current predicament.   By the time they reach the base of the mountain most of the party are glad that it had been a while since they last ate, as it takes a few minutes for their stomachs to settle.  

Stopping only briefly, Mojo has the Jeep spin out in the dirt along the road.  He floors it for the ride the remaining four miles to town.   He discusses driving straight into the tavern at top speed, but the rest of the party strongly suggests stopping first to find the other team that was to meet them there.  “No way,” says Mojo, “we have the element of surprise, lets use it.”  Fiona points out that they don’t know exactly where the enemies are at the tavern, so the “bull in the china shop” approach might not be best.  Mojo makes no sign of slowing down.  Narg says to him “Mojo, come-on, what about the other group.”  “Let them get their own Jeep,” is Mojo’s reply.  

Eventually, Mojo reluctantly listens to the others, and slows down as they approach the tavern.  He stops the Jeep a few hundred yards away from the building, far enough off that the enemy guards did not hear the vehicle approach.   Blip and her group, being a lot closer, heard the distinctive sound of the Jeep’s engine and head over to investigate.   Those in the Jeep see Aradyn, Blip, Fiona, Jaime and Kharole approach them, and climb out of the vehicle.  Seeing Jaime and Kharole, but not five of the others who had gone with that team,  Narg asks “What did you do, make a trade?”  “And a bad one at that,” comments Mojo.  

“I’ll let him explain,” says Blip, as she finally empties Immy out of his bag of holding.   Immy starts to tell them all how he botched the plan.   “How could you screw up Get’Em?” is Mojo’s comment.   Immy summarizes what has happened, the party’s only relief being hearing that the others were captured rather than killed.   Blip points out that the enemy has threatened to kill the hostages at the first sign of another attack on the building.  It is also mentioned that Jerry is free, that he stayed behind to watch the building.   “Good,” says Narg, “It’s probably better that he not be here in case we decide that we have to burn down his tavern and inn.”  It is pointed out that neither Jamie or Kharole are in any shape for a fight, and should get some rest.  “Since when has Kharole ever needed to rest?” comments Mojo.    

Luekia and Lannon decide to go scout out the building, staying clear of the hobgoblin and bugbear guards at each of the exterior doors.   They make their way up to the tavern roof, and over to the second floor of the inn.   Once there, they climb through a window.  Lannon invisibly checks out the hallway, finding bugbear guards at the door by the staircase as well as the doors to the master suite at the end of the hall (four interconnected rooms).   

They head back outside the building, and unlatch the shutters to these four rooms, peeking inside to see both the hostages and enemy adventurers in these rooms.   They return to inform the others.  Luekia confirms the identity of four of them from the previous tavern battle, the fighter Cronin, the half-ogre Gorthe, the assassin Albert and cleric Kingsley.  The other fighter and the mage are not recognized, and it is assumed they were assigned here as replacements for the three killed or captured in the prior battle.

A horse approaches on the road, ridden by the still invisible Jerry.   He tells them of his encounter with Lono's team, and sending them off to Phormosah’s house.   They ask about any secret doors built in and around his tavern and inn.  He hesitates for only a minute and then tells them of three secret doors from his room in the back of the tavern.  They ask about tunnels or other ways to sneak in, with he says has never been important to have before, but he’ll make it his next priority construction job.    They decide to send Jerry inside to check out the inside of the tavern via his secret doors.    

Jerry returns to tell them that the interior of the tavern is filled with hobgoblins and bugbears, over a dozen of each, mostly asleep.  He adds that they appear to have been spending a lot of time drinking.   Narg comments, “speaking of that, did you bring back any?”  Jerry produces two bottles of 180-proof whisky.  Narg starts to consume one when Jerry comments “I actually brought them to use as Molotov-cocktails.”   They give some to Kale, who finds it a bit strong. 

The group debates the merits of rescuing the prisoners now, or waiting until later.   It is pointed out the it would be good to get back Blake, as “he is good at getting away with stuff and doesn’t get caught.”  “He’s like an anti-Ryan,” comments Mojo.  (The player doesn’t know whether to take this as a compliment or an insult, as both Blake and Ryan are his playing characters.)

The group decides to execute a three-prong assault on the Tavern.  A group comprised of those with thieving skills thieves: Blip, Immy, Jerry, Lannon and Luekia, will get into position outside of windows of the 2nd floor of the inn.  A second group: Aradyn, Narg, Mojo, Razou, Serita, and Timothy will create a distraction in the tavern, to hopefully draw some or all of the enemy adventurers away from the prisoners.   A third group: Freyland and Jaime, will serve as support troops for the distraction group, helping to initially clear the front door and then following-up  with wounded and stragglers.   Fiona, Kale and Kharole will stay behind at a rendezvous point to guard the prisoner, and protect any hostages rescued from the Tavern.

They discuss using the Jeep for the tavern assault, to which Narg tells Jerry “Let me put it this way, I’d start talking to door salesmen if I were you.”  They decide to construct some sort of wooden battering ram for the front of the Jeep, as Alton will be very upset if they break the vehicle, since he lost his other Jeep to a fireball two days earlier.  They also take the time to remove the glass windshield and mirrors, which will be nearly impossible to replace.  Mojo comments about this being the first time they ever entered a tavern violently, although that is often how they leave them.

Mojo gets behind the wheel.  Serita takes position next to him as a back-up driver in case Mojo winds up unconscious, since Alton has given her some rudimentary driving instruction [Editor’s note- doesn’t the combination of Druids and cars appear to be an inherent contradiction?].   Aradyn takes position in the passengers seat.  Narg stands right behind the seats, holding onto the Jeep’s rollbar.  The two clerics hunker down in the back.   Mojo decides to drive back away from the tavern an eighth of a mile, in order to have room to get up to a really good “ramming speed”.  

The thief group takes position.  Using his Slippers of Spider Climbing, Lannon invisibly positions himself outside a second floor window on the main street.  Immy activates his giant fly, and hovers outside of a window of the next room.   Standing on the tavern roof, Luekia and Jerry position outside of the third room and Blip outside of the forth room.    Below, both Freyland and Jaime take position at the edge of the woods, approximately eighty feet away from the rear double-doors to the tavern, which is guarded by a pair of bugbears.

Mojo floors the jeep, accelerating up to a speed of ninety-five miles an hour.  As they bump and rattle down the dirt road, Serita reminds him “The goals is to kill them, not us.”  “Don’t be such a worry-wart,” answers Mojo, “I know exactly what I’m doing.”  Narg rolls his eyes at that comment.  

As the Jeep begins to near the tavern, the two bugbears guarding the door hear it in the distance.  Jaime and Freyland use that as a signal, and begin to fire their distance weapons (slings and arrows) into the bugbears.    By the time the Jeep approaches the door, one bugbear is down, and the other is very wounded.   Both clerics time their Prayer spells to kick in just prior to the vehicle’s entry into the building.

Mojo decides to use the wounded bugbear in from of him as “padding”, catching him between the battering ram and door, as the Jeep goes smashing through.  Narg’s player begins throwing out lines from the “Blues Brothers” movie, from the scene where they drive through the shopping mall.

Ten feet from the door is a long table, five feet wide and thirty feet long, on which four bugbears and two hobgoblins are sleeping.  The jeep’s collision with it sends the table and its occupants flying back into the southeastern corner of the room, and onto another table of sleeping monsters.  Mojo then runs down a hobgoblin that was standing in the center of the room, and Narg jabs his Nargblade out just before the Jeep reaches a standing bugbear, letting its momentum create the slashing action.  Aradyn stands up and fires arrows into bugbears in the far corner, Serita helping to steady him.  In the rooms on the second floor of the inn, the enemy adventurers begin to exit the rooms to investigate the loud crashing sounds below.  

Mojo turns the Jeep towards another table, and then sharply turns the wheel, sending the Jeep into a spin, to stop before hitting the far wall.   This table is struck at a forty-mile-an-hour impact, with similar effect to the first table hit.  Mojo hits the brakes, as the Jeep comes to a stop after hitting a third table, knocking out the two table legs on that side, with the three hobgoblins on top of it sliding beneath the Jeep's tires.

Jerry and Luekia enter the first inn room vacated by the enemy adventurers, being careful to not be seen through the doorways by the other enemy adventurers in the two adjacent rooms.  They quickly but quietly begin moving four ship crewmembers into the bag of holding.   The only enemy now in the adjacent room with Blake and three of the tavern employees is the half-ogre, who had been sleeping.   He awakens, and starts to put on his armor.   Lannon deduces that it would be best to take out this opponent before he gets on his magical platemail, so moves in through the window for a backstab.

By now all remaining monsters in the tavern have awakened.  The first two enemy adventurers, a Fighter and Cleric, enter the tavern from the inn door in the northwest corner.  Mojo makes this his next destination, and floors the Jeep, finishing off the hobgoblins beneath the vehicle.  Between him and the corner of the room is a table with two bugbears, who do not have time to move before the Jeep strikes, sending one flying and the other beneath the wheels.  This gives the cleric time to move back through the doorway into the inn, but the fighter is hit full-force, and pinned between the Jeep’s battering ram, and a now splintered table in the corner.   

Upstairs, Lannon backstabs his foe for fifteen points, followed by a dagger thrust for another six.  This causes the half-ogre to turn around, rather angry.  As the fighter reaches for his two-handed sword, Lannon hops back out the window.  The half-ogre moves over to the window, to the doorway to the next room.  Luekia makes a hasty move to keep from being seen by the half-ogre, as Jerry jumps under the bed.  

The now stopped Jeep is near the bar, on top of which several armed hobgoblins are now standing.  Narg jumps onto the hood of the Jeep and then onto the bar, sword out, killing a hobgoblin while also clearing a space for himself to land.  Mojo notices that the wounded fighter in front of the Jeep is still alive, so backs up five feet, then floors it into the wall to finish him off (damaging one of the vehicle’s front fenders in the process, sorry Guy) .   Mojo scans the room, seeing that two tables of monsters still remain between him and the southeast front doors, so decides to head that way.

The room that Immy is outside of is finally vacated of enemies, so he enters and starts putting the four tavern employees into his bag of holding.   Blip also is now able to enter the room, although she can still spot the back of a bugbear in the main hallway, so cautiously enters and calls over for Luekia to help “bag” the remaining crew members.

Narg is having fun atop the bar, cutting down his opponents, as Jamie and Freyland enter the building.   Jaime starts to target monsters still standing, while Freyland checks out the crumpled bodies along the wall, making sure that they are all dead.  They watch as Mojo splinters the remaining tables, and several more foes, this time accelerating rather than braking as he hits the front door full force, just as the bugbear guards outside of the door on that side begin to enter the tavern to investigate what is going on inside.  One of these bugbears is run down, while the other gets caught onto the battering ram.  Mojo drives straight across the street and into a tree, sandwiching the bugbear in the process.  He then backs up, and accelerates towards the other pair of bugbears guarded doors in front of the building.

Upstairs, two bugbears spot Blip and Luekia rescuing the last ship’s crewmember, and charge into the room.  Blip and Luekia make a hasty retreat out the window, with one bugbear following.   Two rooms over, Lannon sneaks back into the room, and cuts the bonds on Blake, and them moves in for another backstab on the half-ogre, which is now nearly dressed.   Lannon hits, but then gets cornered by the enemy fighter.  Jerry comes to his rescue, moving into the room, and backstabbing the half-ogre.  Blake starts to cut loose the other prisoners.  A bugbear rushes in to help the half-ogre, and Lannon engages him in combat, leaving a hopelessly outmatched Jerry to fight the half-ogre by himself.

On the return trip into the tavern, Mojo hits one of the two bugbears that had been guarding the other doors.  The second bugbear becomes the target of arrows from both Aradyn and Jamie.  By now, Narg has eliminated all of the foes on the bar, and two other hobgoblins that had been behind the bar have surrendered.  Mojo notices one table of foes remains, twenty feet away behind him in the northeast corner of the building, so throws the Jeep into reverse and drives into it.   These three monsters, being hit at a slower speed than the others, are only wounded, so the Jeep’s occupants all exit the vehicle and deal with them.    Deciding that Jamie and Freyland can clean up the rest, Narg charges towards the stairs through the door into the inn, calling for the other five from the Jeep to follow.

Luekia and Blip make it back to the woods with their full bag of holding.  Immy arrives outside of the window where the battle is taking place, and Blake helps put two of the hostages into Immy’s bag, filling it.   Blake then climbs down from the window, and follows Immy to the rendezvous point.  Back in the room, the remaining hostage, the simple-minded tavern bouncer named ‘Yeah‘, goes to tavern owner Jerry’s assistance after Jerry yells for him to “Come save the boss!”  Seeing no other weapon at hand, Yeah picks up the bed frame, and hits the half-ogre with it.   The half-ogre swings at Yeah, as Jerry gives Yeah a “follow me” gesture, and then runs into the adjacent room, and hides.   

Narg starts to bound up the stairs towards the second floor of the inn, as the door opens and a bugbear charges down at him.  He hits with the Nargblade, which cuts off the creature's leg, causing it to tumble down the stairs.  Narg manages to dodge out of the way of the falling monster, but it knocks those behind him back down to the base of the stairs.  

Meanwhile, Lannon finally finishes with the bugbear he was fighting and rushes out that door of the room into the hallway, only to find himself looking at a corridor filled with four enemy adventurers: a fighter, mage, cleric and thief.   Fortunately for him, all four are looking away from him towards the staircase.  Lannon moves in for a backstab on the nearest one, the thief, but is seen before he can reach him.  

The mage moves to the top of the stairs, and hits Narg with multiple Magic Missiles.  This does not deter Narg, and he continues charging up the stairs, causing the Mage to move back, and the fighter Cronin, in full plate mail, to move into position blocking the doorway.  Narg and the fighter exchange blows, both connecting for much damage on the other.   Mojo throws his hammer, missing for a change, and a player comments “He’s loosing his touch when he’s not wielding a Jeep.”  Serita uses her boots of speed to hurry up the stairs, and casts a Warp Wood spell onto the floorboards beneath the fighter’s feet.  The board bends, causing Cronin to fall, as Serita casts a now-needed cure onto Narg.  

Back in the far room, Yeah hits the half-ogre again with the bed frame.  The ogre swings his sword, smashing the frame in two.  Yeah decides to follow Jerry’s advice, and rushes into the next room.  The rather angry half-ogre follows and becomes a sitting duck for a backstab by the hidden Jerry, hitting for twenty points.  The enemy is dazed, so Jerry uses the round to push Yeah out the window to the tavern roof to escape. Yeah jumps down, as Jerry rushes into the next room.  The half-ogre is confused as to which one to pursue, and calls out that they are both cowards.  Jerry yells back “You know it buddy, why don’t you go pick on somebody your own size.”  This enrages the fighter further, who charges after Jerry.  Jerry slams the door shut in the half-ogres face and locks it, then runs to towards the door to the hallway.  The half-ogre heads back to the room he was sleeping in, to finish gathering his things.

Lannon engages the thief in battle, only to have the enemy cleric also move in to reinforce him.  At the other end of the hall, the enemy fighter stands back up, with Narg bounding up to the top step yelling “You are not welcome on my island!”  Narg swings the Nargblade for a severing blow on the man’s leg, cutting it clean off.   The enemy leader Cronin falls, giving Serita a chance to bound up into the hallway, and cast a Faerie Fire on the other enemies.  Meanwhile, the enemy mage places his hand on Narg’s shoulder and casts a Polymorph Other spell, which Narg successfully saves from.   Mojo and Aradyn make their way to the top of the stairs.

The enemy cleric Kingsley decides the adventurers at the staircase are a greater threat than Lannon, and starts to move back in that direction.  Jerry enters the hallway, which distracts the enemy assassin Albert. Lannon breaks off his attack on the assassin, hitting the cleric instead to prevent a Hold Person spell from getting off.  Of course, turning your back on an assassin is not always the wisest course of action, and Lannon is successfully hits him for a significant number of hit points.  

In the suite of rooms nearby, the half-ogre quickly searches for any remaining hostages, discovering them to all be gone.  He then has to deal with the floor falling out from under him, as Immy, from outside of the window creates an illusion.   The Half-ogre grabs onto the windowsill to keep from falling to the first floor.  He ties to pull himself up further, and falls.   Only then does he discover that he is still on the second floor.  Immy flies off..

The fighter Cronin shows incredible fortitude, continuing to fight in spite of the severed limb, and mutters “I’ve had worse,” under his breath.   Narg ignores him, leaving him to Mojo, and charges at the mage ten feet away.   The mage gets off a Hold Person spell, which only manages to affect Aradyn.  Serita assists Mojo in finishing off the fighter, then she moves over to break Aradyn out of the hold.

Narg gets over to the mage, getting in two hits.  On the second attack, Narg’s player rolls a natural “20” which is a severing blow, which then rolls up to be a decapitation, thus ending the threat from the mage.  Timothy makes it to the top of the stairs, and casts a Hold Person on both the enemy cleric and assassin, neither of which make their saves.    

As Narg searches the mage, the rest of the group heads over to tie up the two held enemies.  With impeccable timing, the half-ogre fighter decides to head out into the now quiet hallway, and opens the door right next to where Jerry is standing, with the other six Silver Moon party members still fifteen to twenty feet away.   As the half-ogre begins to jab his massive sword into the gnome, Jerry’s immediate reaction is to yell out to the others “Whoever kills him first I’ll rip up your bar tab.”   

The enemy’s two-handed sword strikes downward, the blade missing Jerry’s face by millimeters, and pinning the gnome’s beard to the floor.  Just then, Mojo’s hammer and one of Aradyn’s arrows strike the half-ogre, followed by a dagger thrown by Lannon, a second arrow from Aradyn, and a hammer thrown by Timothy.   Not wanting to be left out, Serita rushes up to the fighter with her boots of speed, becoming the target of the half-ogre’s fists, which she effortlessly ducks under.   She then hits him with her scimitar, just as two more of Aradyn’s arrows, Mojo’s hammer, and Timothy’s staff find their target, dropping the enemy to the ground.   Serita, Mojo and Lannon each hit him one more time for good measure.

Aradyn pulls the sword up from the floor, freeing a very grateful Jerry, who declares the bar tabs for all of them to be negated.   Mojo comments “Good, since that will include all of the damage we just did to your tavern.”  “How much damage?” asks Jerry.  “You don’t want to know,” Timothy answers.


----------



## Silver Moon (Jun 3, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-four, “Escape Attempt“, August 7th, 1018, 7:45 P.M*

Narg has rolled up the mage’s head into a blanket, saying that he’s going to take it with him, which the others find to be a bit morbid.   Aradyn points out to Narg that the mage was the one who had attacked Vallessa during the City battle, which makes him doubly pleased.

A quick survey of the situation determines that all fourteen hostages are freed and four enemies from the tavern are captured (the cleric, assassin and two hobgoblins).  They also determine that around a half-dozen enemy hobgoblins and bugbears, which had been guarding outside of the exterior doors to the inn, have run away.  The group concludes that it is therefore not safe to linger here much longer.   Blip and Immy offer to take a group to safety in the bags of holding.   The eight tavern workers, five crewmembers, and the five prisoners are selected for the first trip.   They fly off on the broom and fly, their destination being Crystull’s cabin, ten miles to the west.  They depart just as the rain storm begins and the last light of day disappears.   

The others use the time to load up the Jeep with the magic stripped from the dead enemies as well as supplies from the bar.  Jerry wanders through the bar, shaking his head, and comments “Well, at least you didn’t set fire to it, like you did yesterday to Timothy’s church.”  Narg answers “That’s because we consider your bar to be a more holy place.”  

Mojo and Serita prepare to head off in the Jeep.  Freyland agrees to go with them, as his magical axe will be needed to cut down saplings that have grown on the trail to Crystull’s cabin during the six years since she left the island.  Once they have driven out of sight of the tavern, Mojo asks Serita to hand him a bottle from one of the cases of whisky that they loaded.   She becomes angry that they had packed it, feeling that it was not a necessary supply, and also says he shouldn’t drink and drive.  

“Who are you, my mother?” he answers.   Freyland tells him to wait until they reach their destination, adding “It’s raining.  I’m getting wet!  If I can make that sacrifice, you can wait an hour to have a drink.”  Every time they stop for Freyland to cut down a small tree blocking their path Serita complains about the killing of an innocent tree, making Freyland and Mojo question why they brought a druid with them.

Back at the tavern, Jaime cooks up a fine meal for the rest, who maintain a tight watch for any returning enemies.  Blip and Immy soon return, with Blip telling Jaime “Good news.  Your husband and all of your children are safe, and waiting for you at Crystull’s house.”   “Good, I’ll stay here,” she answers.  “Don’t you want to be with them?” asks Blip.  She answers “Not really, as long as I know they’re safe.  Personally, I’m now enjoying the peace and quiet.”   Looking out the kitchen doorway, into the tavern full of bugbear and hobgoblin bodies, Timothy comments “I don’t think that the term ‘peace’ really applies to this situation.”  The others manage to persuade her that their present location is not safe, and the rest of the adventurers climb into the bags of holding for the trip to Crystull’s house, arriving there by 10:00 P.M.

Even through Crystull lived in a rather large cabin, the party conclude that it is a bit small for a total of now seventy-five people, and decide that the ten prisoners can be moved outside.  The twenty ship’s crew members also move outside, with tarps from the inn brought in on the Jeep being set up for them to guard the prisoners from.  A rotation is also set up for party members to supplement the crew in  guarding these enemies.   The prisoners are stripped of all possessions, including their clothing.

The group surveys all of the magic items obtained, inquiring about being able to tell if any items are cursed.   Timothy says “I have an aura” to which Mojo quips “I been meaning to talk to you about that.”  Timothy goes on to say, that he can detect evil-aligned items, which none of these appear to be, but that the aura will not detect cursed items.  The group decides that the bracers from the high-level mages should be identified first.   Fiona determines that the bracers from the mage leader at the Church are armor class two.   Fiona and Kharole then head off to rest.  Jerry begins to interview everyone present about who they fought and when, taking many notes.

Meanwhile, it is now late in the evening on board the ship Silver Moon.  Hans saw the lanterns from within the Captain’s cabin come on.  At around 10:00 P.M. these lights were extinguished.   Approximately an hour later, Kimball informed the bugbears guarding Hans’s trio to “get them below and send up the replacements.”   The bugbears then did as they were told.   

The trio traveled down to the crew deck, standing as a group by the bottom of the ladder, as Jacob’s trio got ready to head topside.  Jacob reminded Stokkes that he had agreed to cast cures on them.  Humphry received the first cure, followed by Jacob, then lastly Bink.  Bink then grabbed at the magical mace on Stokkes belt, causing Stokkes to jump back and signaling the others to attack.   

By this point Humphry and the bugbear guarding him were already on the ladder up.  Humphry dived off of the ladder, knocking the bugbear behind Reginon to the floor.  Reginon rushed forward, hitting the next bugbear on the ladder and knocking him off of it.

Hans charged at Stokkes, catching him by surprise.   Jacob rushed over to attack the bugbear behind Sammy, grabbing the axe in the monster’s hand.  Sammy dived across the table into the bugbear behind Jacob.   The bugbear guard eating stood up, and charged after Hans.

Reginon spends a few rounds trying to fight his opponent, but the first level fighter is soon overpowered and falls.   Sammy has much better luck, managing to steal his opponent’s weapon and use it against him.   He then has to contend with two opponents, as the bugbear who defeated Reginon charges him as well, but Sammy is able to keep them both at bay with sweeping blows.

Hans manages to push Stokkes into the rear hallway, to position the cleric between him and the two bugbears coming to Stokkes assistance.   Bink continues to fight his bugbear guard without much success, eventually retreating under a table (the comment from the group being that it took longer than usual for a crewmember to be under the table, although it is usually as a result of alcohol rather than opponents).  Sammy strikes a fatal blow into one bugbear, but is also struck during the same round by the other bugbear.

Jacob and Humphry have more difficulty with their foes, Jacob managing to push the axe blade into the bugbear, but never able to get the monster to release his grip on the weapon.   Humphry gets hit, and has to retreat under the table to escape his foe, who turns to fight Jacob.

Hans manages to get the magical mace away from Stokkes, and then strikes its owner with it.  He then has to contend with a bugbear as the now wounded cleric retreats.  The bugbear hits Hans for all but one of his hit points, so Hans then decides to make for a hasty retreat, heading for the aft storage compartment, which has a ladder down to the bilge deck.    Bink continues to evade his opponent, decided to head up the rear ladder to the deck above.   As he opens the door at the top of the ladder, his bugbear opponent grabs his leg.

Humphry assists Jacob by tripping one of the bugbears, allowing Jacob to grab that monster’s sword, and use it on the other opponent.   Humphry dives onto the fallen monster, and jabs his thumbs into the creature's eyes.  The group concludes that Humphry must have had older sisters, as he fights dirty.   The bugbear stands up to get away from the annoying man.

Hans gets into the storage room, and it takes all of his strength to hold back the door from the two bugbears on the other side after him.   The player for Hans inquires about simultaneously opening the trap door down with his foot, while still holding the door.  The DM stays that it would be a real stretch, but he will allow it on a Dexterity roll of a one.   The player then rolls the one, so Hans is then able to jump through this now open door into the bilge water below.

Jacob is struck into unconsciousness, dropping his sword, which Humphry immediately grabs.  The bugbear attempts to lift the table to get at him, only to get the sword thrust up into him, fatally striking a delicate location.  The bugbear that defeated Jacob then charges at the table, with Humphry scampering across the floor to get away from him.   

Hans swims through the bilge water to the aft bilge doors on this deck, opening a door, as the two bugbears slosh through the water after him.  Hans manages to barely squeeze through the doors, which are too small for the bugbears to follow through.   He climbs onto the dinghy being towed behind the ship, and begins to untie it.  The bugbears yell out at him, and he makes an obscene gesture at them.  The bugbears head back up to the deck above.

Stokkes comes to assist the bugbear holding Bink, and Bink realizes that he cannot escape the grip of the bugbear that grabbed him.  Instead, he dives off of the ladder and to Stokkes, which provides enough of a distraction for Humphry to rush over to the ladder in the front of the room.
Humphry successfully climbs up, with both the bugbear that was after him and the one who was still fighting Sammy charging up after him.  Sammy rushes over to assist Bink.

Sammy and Bink both fight Stokkes, until Bink is struck by a bugbear and falls.  Sammy then gets a thrust into Stokkes that drops him, although not fatally.   Sammy trades blows for a few rounds with the remaining bugbear standing in the room, He spots the two who had pursued Hans returning, at which point he decides to head up the rear ladder to the deck above. 

Humphry reaches the deck above, and moves around the mast to the ladder on the opposite side, which leads to the hold.   He climbs up to the top of the ladder, finding the door to the hold locked.  He remains up here, partially shielded by the mast, as the two bugbears chasing after him reach this deck.  They do not see him, and head down the hallway to the rear of the ship, assuming he ran that direction.   This is unfortunate for Sammy, as he climbs onto this deck just as these bugbears are approaching him.   Now with five bugbears after him, Sammy runs for the stairs to the deck above.

Humphry uses the sword to pry open the hold door, and climbs in.   He tries to remove the ropes on the first pegasus, finding them unmovable.  He then starts try to free the pig and pond dragon from their cage.  Since this is in an area of silence, he fails to hear the druid Spring move up behind him.  Spring grabs Humphry, who slashes out with the longsword, hitting the druid.  Spring moves back, Humphry going after him, and out of the area of Silence.  

Spring asks, “What are doing?”   Humphry answers “I got lost.”  Spring demands “No, tell me the truth, what are you trying to do?”  Humphry then answers “Trying to free the animals.”  He is shocked when Spring answers “Good, then I’ll help you.”

Sammy reaches the weapon’s rack at the top of the staircase, noting that the magical weapons are all missing, but that it still contains a few non-magical swords and around a dozen pole arms.   He starts to grab the weapons and hurl them down the staircase.   A few strike the ascending bugbears, and the other weapons manage to create obstacles on the staircase.  Once the rack is emptied, Sammy rushes onward, having bought a few more rounds of freedom.

Spring states a command word releasing the bonds on the pegasi.  He also casts a spell and speaks directly to Timothy’s pegasus.  Humphry points to the rainbow colored wyvern, and says “what about him?”  Spring answers “That’s a dangerous monster.”   Humphry responds “Maynard? A monster, hell no, he’s domesticated.”  “Fine,” answers Spring, and he casts a spell to communicate with Maynard.  He then releases the ropes on the wyvern.   

At that point, the side door to the ship’s hold is kicked open by Sammy.  Sammy yells to Humphry “Bugbears after me” and then charges at Spring with the sword.  Humphry yells for him to stop, and Spring tells Sammy “Go help your friend, I’ll deal with the bugbears.”  

Spring steps out into the hallway, and tells the bugbears that the one who ran in the hold is stopped, but that the other has double backed to below deck, and to go find him.  The bugbears do as instructed.   Spring reenters the hold, and heads towards the opposite door.  Humphry asks about opening the cages, to which Spring answers “Leave them shut.  The wyvern can carry the cages, and the animals inside won’t fall out.  We don’t have much time, be ready to get the animals out when the hatch opens" He exits the room and heads up to the top deck.

Once on the top deck, Spring tells the half-elf fighter Kimball “There is an escape attempt on the crew deck below. Take these three bugbear and get below to stop it now!”  He gestures towards the prisoners, adding “I’ll watch them and wake up the others.  Hurry!”  Kimball and the three bugbears rush below deck.    

Spring approaches Silver Moon crewmembers Trent, Spike and Stephen, and says “We don’t have much time if you want to help get the animals off the ship. Go open the hatch.  If any of my allies stop you, the story is that you three caught me off guard and pushed me overboard.”  Spring then dives off of the ship and into the ocean.   Once out of sight, he transforms into a duck, and discreetly flies back up to a spot behind the front mast, where he transforms back into his human form still unseen by the Silver Moon crewmembers.  By this point, the three crew have thrown open the hatch cover. 

Spring pulls out a wand, and uses it on Stephen, dropping him unconscious. Maynard flies upward, out of the ship's hold, grasping onto the two cages with his claws.   A second beam from the wand drops Spike and a third drops Trent.   The pegasi begin to fly upward, with Humphry and Sammy on the backs of two of them.   Spring uses the wand again, with Humphry falling off the mount and onto the deck.   Sammy saves from the wand; forcing Spring to pull out a magical sling and sling bullet, which successfully knocks Sammy from the pegasi and dropping him twenty feet onto the top deck into a state of unconsciousness.

A short while later, Humphry, Spike, Stephen and Trent awaken, Spring having cast a dispel magic on them to negate the effects of the wand.   They are again tied and gagged, and alone with Spring in a cabin on the ship.   He tells them  “I agreed to help free the animals, not the people.   All nine of the creatures are safely gone.   I would advise you not to speak of my temporary cooperation with you to my allies, as mine is the only voice arguing against executing at least some of you for the attempted escape and the killing of two of the bugbears.”  He then adds that, by stopping them from leaving atop the mounts he has probably also saved their lives, as they had no prior experience with riding a pegasus, as well as the lack of saddles and barding on the creatures, so there was no way that they would have been able to stay on the creatures through the heavy wind and rains, and would have most-likely fallen into the ocean and drowned.   

Spring goes to the door, and lets in four bugbear who untie them, and lead the four back up to the top deck.   An angry Kimball supervises them, as they resume sailing the ship through the rather heavy storm.


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## Silver Moon (Jun 6, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-five, “Splitting Up“, August 8th, 1018*

Back at Crystull's cabin, Jaime and several of the children wake the party, having cooked up a fine breakfast for everyone.   During the meal Jerry passes out copies that he has made of this notes, detailing all enemy groups encountered [Mojo’s player complains that the handout isn’t in color-coordinated spreadsheet form, with cross-references and footnotes, to which the DM humbly apologies].   

Back at the Silas home, a fully healed Valerie returned accompanied by another group of enemies.  The female mage leader, apparently named Jo-Ann, had some sort of device in her hand that scanned the possessions taken from Guice and Isaiah.  “Nothing,” she said with a disappointed look on her face.  She then cast “Detect Magic” and confirmed that both of their suits of leather armor, and the sword Guice had used, were magical.  The armor was given to the two thieves from Valerie’s party, referred to as Pat and Litock, who quickly put them on.  The fighter Donovan took the magical longsword.   Donovan asked Jo-Ann “Any word from him?”  “Not since last night,” was her reply, adding, “I wish he’d let us know where they have gone to.”

The hobgoblins, and some bugbears, began to bring all of the group’s supplies outside.   The five hostages were then each picked up by a pair of bugbears and carried outside.    The other three were thrown into the back of Vincenzo and Jaime’s farm wagon.  Guice and Isaiah were then thrust inside of the rather ornate stagecoach, pulled by a team of four horses unfamiliar to the two of them.  Near each of these conveyances were large groups of both hobgoblins and bugbears.    

Seated in the coach was an armored cleric.   Isaiah and Guice both also noticed an indention in one of the other coach cushions, where an invisible person was apparently sitting.  Jo-Ann then entered the wagon.   The cleric complained about traveling without his magical mace.  Jo-Ann told him “Barry, it’s too risky to keep it inside here, which is also too small for you to effectively use it in.  Besides, Ken and the bugbears will guard the outside, and we have our spells if we are attacked.”   The coach then started moving.  Jo-Ann immediately fell into a very deep sleep.  

At Crystull's, Narg declares that “They’re all dead.  They’re on my turf!”  “Your turf?” asks Mojo, “Does that mean that they’re all dead drunk and under a barstool?”  Immy reminds the group that within the next hour he will be able to again use his Crystal Ball.  The group review Jerry’s notes to determine who to have him look for.  They deduce that the enemy ship Grand Enigma is most likely still near the island, as it would not have attempted to leave the anti-magic shell with all of the party’s stolen magic on board.   The enemies on board this ship had been closely seen by several of the ship’s crew, so Immy uses his Medallion of ESP to obtain images from the crew of these people.   

His first two attempts fail, but the third reveals to him an enemy, wearing simple clothing, sailing the ship through the rainstorm.  This man is being drenched with rain, but is acting completely indifferent to the weather.  Immy sees a body of land in the distance behind the ship, but is unable to describe this land formation well enough for the group to determine where this is.   Aradyn asks to borrows the Medallion of ESP to draw this image from Immy’s mind, as Aradyn has flown all around the island on his Pegasus and knows what the different landmasses look like from all angles.  He is easily able to identify the land that the ship is sailing away from as Northpoint Island, which is immediately northeast of Silver Moon Island.  It is noted that there is no safe place for a ship to dock anywhere near there on the main Island, so the group decides to wait to better determine where the ship is going.

Immy and Aradyn continue to monitor the image, as the group begins to plan out an attack.   Fifteen minutes later, they view the Grand Enigma sailing parallel to Silver Moon Island, and drop anchor.   They then watch as ten of the hairless hill giants with elephant feet and legs cross the top deck, and climb overboard.  Standing on rocks and in the water near the shore, these ten creatures form a line within arms length of each other, to cover the approximately 120 feet to shore.  They then pass overhand approximately two-dozen hobgoblins and bugbears to the shore, followed by six enemy adventurers.  

Immy and Aradyn describe the six enemy adventurers to the others, with them concluding that two are the high-level mages who had escaped from the battles in the city and that two more are the human and the half-orc fighter that were captured on the Molly III and later rescued by their mage team leader.   That mage is also viewed, but he does not leave the ship with the others.  The other two people off-loaded are not recognized, but are described as both wearing metal armor.  The ten giants also then travel to shore to join the others, and the Grand Enigma pulls up anchor to set sail again.

They continue to view the Grand Enigma, which appears to now be heading back towards Northpoint Island.  There is only one safe harbor on this island, with a single dock, so the group has a pretty good idea as to where the ship is heading.   The mage heads back below deck.  In addition to the man steering the ship, they only glimpse two other enemies on board, who both meet the crews descriptions of enemies from that ship.   

The party decides that, while there are fewer enemies on the ship, it would be best to either attack it while it is still at sea, not knowing what reinforcements may be waiting for them at the dock.  Since there is still a quarter-hour left on the Crystal Ball usage, Immy and Aradyn continue to monitor the situation as the remainder of the group plans the attack.    It is also pointed out that another group should go monitor the group of forty enemies that have just been off-loaded, to make sure that this particular cabin isn’t their destination.

Kale points out his seafaring experience, and suggests he might be of use.  Narg is annoyed at this newcomer interrupting his strategy session, and cuts him off, saying “You want something to do.  Fine, I have a job for you, we’re out of cocktail olives!”  Kale immediately responds “Dude, use a small onion.”  Narg hesitates for a second, and says “Hey, the kid’s right, that would work.”   Kale interjects “Dude, my dad is an ambassador and diplomat, cocktail parties is something I know.”  

Mojo suggests sinking the ship before it gets to the island.  Razou suggests waiting for it to arrive, and sinking the island.    The idea of sinking the ship by attacking it from below is debated, as Blip, Luekia and Vincenzo each have alternative aquatic forms, Serita could also transform into an aquatic creature, the group also has a Helm of Underwater Action, and they could also bring along the lizard man crewmembers.  Narg gives the whole group a rousing pep talk, about how they need to now pull together, work as a team, and go get the enemy.  

Immy and Aradyn continue to monitor the enemy ship Grand Enigma through the crystal ball, as the crewmember guards outside notice somebody approaching.   It is the lizardman Freth, one of the three left to watch the Silas Estate.    He tells the party that an hour after dawn a horse-drawn stagecoach arrived at the building accompanied by approximately fifty bugbears.  Mojo has a great difficulty comprehending Freth, due to his accent, and mistakenly thinks he is talking about the play “Stagecoach.”

Freth says they saw two enemy adventurers exit the coach and go into the building.  A short while later, the hobgoblins and bugbears looked to be preparing to leave the area, loading up both the stagecoach and the school’s wagon with supplies.   Mojo interrupts “Hold on, are you saying they’re putting on production of “Stagecoach” or “Paint your wagon”?”  “Will you shut up?” Serita asks. “Hey, how can I understand what he’s saying while he’s spitting,” comments Mojo, “There’s more viscous fluids flying around here than in a two-hour episode of ER”

Freth continues, stating that the five hostages were then taken from the building, two loaded onto the stage and the other three onto the wagon.   At that point, the lizardman leader Haas decided to send the strongest of his group, Freth, to go tell the party, and that the other two would follow the enemy after they leave.  Freth says it has taken him an hour to an hour-and-a-half to reach them, first swimming several miles in the ocean, then walking the last two miles overland.

The party discusses options, deciding to send a group out on the Jeep to intercept the stagecoach and wagon while they are still moving.   The group decides to also stick with the original plan of sending an assault team to the enemy ship while it is still at sea.  Another group will be sent out to  monitor, but not engage in battle, the forty enemies that had just been offloaded from the ship to the northeast end of the island.

The ship assault team is assembled, comprised of Blip, Luekia, Mojo, Narg, Vincenzo, plus the lizardman crewmembers Lars, Spudnick and Ssam.    The group decides to go with the aquatic assault plan, giving Narg the Breathe without Air Ioun Stone and Mojo the Helm of Underwater Action.  Both fighters leave their armor behind, wearing the two pairs of recently identified Bracers of Defense.   Narg uses his Decanter of Endless Water to fill up a Bag of Holding with water.

Narg suggests that once they take the ship, they should proceed on to the dock as if they are the people expected to be on it, to take anyone on shore by surprise.  Mojo says  “Ah, the old double sneak,” Narg interjecting “The switch-er-oo,” “The old McGuffin,” adds Mojo, “The Stature of Liberty Play,” Narg comments.  “Enough already!” Serita yells.

Immy casts a Dispel Magic on Blip, Luekia and Vincenzo, the trigger to turn them into their aquatic forms of a Selkie, Triton and Merman respectively.   Narg comments “Geesh, I don’t even know you people any more.”  “Next time don’t take two years off,” is Serita’s comment.   Luekia, Vincenzo and one of the lizardmen get into the water-loaded bag, and Narg, Mojo and two lizardmen get into the other.   Blip reverts to her once weekly Gnome identity while in Selkie form (Editor's Note: Yeah, I know, it gets confusing for me too), climbs onto the Broom of Flying, grabs the bags, and flies off to the northern coast.

Meanwhile, another group had been sent out to monitor, but not engage in battle, the forty enemies that had just been offloaded from the ship to the northeast end of the island.   Immy volunteers to transport this group inside of his bag of holding, as he can reach this area via his “Fly” figurine within the hour.    Jerry volunteers to accompany him.  Also selected for this group are three of the ship crewmembers: First Mate Fritz, Albert, and Bruce the Bugbear.   They leave immediately.

Meanwhile, a next group had decided to head off on the Jeep to intercept the stagecoach and wagon while they are still moving.   This group is comprised of Aradyn, Blake, Jaime, Lono, Razou, Serita and Timothy.  Serita gets behind the wheel, with Jaime and Lono joining her in the passenger seat.  Aradyn takes position standing behind the roll bar behind the Jeep’s roof.  As before during the tavern assault the night before, the clerics Razou and Timothy hunker down in the back, this time joined by the halfling Blake (who is reminded to be careful around Timothy, given an unfounded rumor of him having a fondness for little men). 

They travel East four miles towards the mountain, before turning onto the road South, traveling counterclockwise around the mountain.   The storm has intensified, with strong gusts of wind, making for rather treacherous driving conditions.  At several points Serita has to stop the Jeep for Aradyn to clear fallen branches and trees out of the way.   Lono starts to complain “Are we there yet?”  Razou then starts to complain too.  Serita yells for them to “shut up, or I’ll light you both on fire.”  They comply as they think she is serious, which she probably is. 

Meanwhile, on the northeastern coast, Immy arrives at his destination, and lets the others out of the bag of holding for some fresh air.  The enemy tracks continue southward, which is a relief that they are not heading west in the direction of Crystull’s cabin.   Thanks to the heavy footprints on wet ground from the elephant-footed hill giants, the tracks are easy to follow, and the other four resume their place in the bag of holdings as Immy continues on his Fly.


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## Silver Moon (Jun 8, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-six, “The Grand Enigma“, August 8th, 1018*

Blip continues to fly eastward.  After nearly an hour navigating through the storm she spots Northpoint Island in the distance, with the ship Grand Enigma sailing towards it, now about three-quarters of a mile from the dock.   The two-mast merchant ship measures 100 feet long, with a rounded shape to it, being nearly fifty feet wide at its greatest point.   There is a single aft-castle on its last twenty-five feet, with the man viewed through the crystal ball steering the ship from the top of this uppermost deck.

Blip comes in low, spotting a total of three people on the topside of the ship, the one steering on the uppermost deck, and two more below, handling the rigging, tacking the sails to take full advantage of the strong winds.   Staying low to the water, she gets a short distance ahead of the ship’s bow, to allow her party time to get oriented in the water before the hull reaches them.  She empties the party out of both bags of holding and into the ocean.    The group assembles alongside the port side of the ship, grabbing onto an external ladder.   Blip flies behind the ship, and hovers behind the man steering on the top deck.

Narg holds onto the ladder and hoists himself up, using the Wand of Exchange on the enemy crewmember nearest him.  This causes Narg to appear on deck, and the man to appear in the air beside the ladder.  As the man drops into the ocean, the lizardmen Lars and Spudnick both grab him, and drag him beneath the water towards the ocean floor.  The man manages to catch his breath before going under.

On deck, Narg moves back to hide behind the nearest mast before the other enemy nearby spots him.  He is unsuccessful at this, as the sail reacts to no longer being tacked on the port side, and the man to starboard glances to his left to find out why.   Mojo takes this as his cue, and lets loose the Hammer of Scull Crushing, striking the foe.   Simultaneously, Blip flies in for a backstab on the man steering the ship.

Vincenzo begins a Prayer spell as Luekia climbs the ladders up to where the ship’s wheel is located.  Narg is struck by Magic Missiles thrown by his opponent.  Mojo lets loose his hammer, striking the foe for eleven points and knocking him down onto the top deck.   Narg charges forth, with the man turning himself invisible once Narg is close to him.  Above, Blip is unsuccessful with the backstab, and the man moves away from the ship’s wheel to attack her.  Luekia lets fly three star shurkens, which pass between the foe and Blip.   Vincenzo motions Ssam to climb aboard and follow her.

Meanwhile, eighty feet back and forty feet below, the submerged enemy is doing remarkably well, managing to continue to hold his breath and thrust his magical sword into the two lizardmen.   Spudnick is reduced to a single hit point and is forced to retreat to the surface, leaving Lars alone to fight the man.

Mojo is not able to target his foe, since the man has turned invisible.  Narg however, was close enough to be able to now see where the rain is falling on the person, silhouetting the body (with player references to the Kevin Bacon film Hollow Man)  and successfully strikes the man.  This causes the foe to quickly crawl further from Narg on the deck, consuming a healing potion along the way.   Narg draws his Rope of Climbing, and uses it to attach a loop onto the foe’s ankle.  Narg then pulls the rope towards him.  Watching the end of the rope, Mojo is now able to target his next hammer throw.   

Above, Luekia’s next shuirkins also miss, enabling Blip to realize that the foe is wearing a Cloak of Displacement, which she communicates to Luekia, who rushes forward swinging her Bo-stick in the general vicinity of where Blip sees him.    He in turn lashes out, with rapid speed, and grabs the stick in mid-air.   The two continue what is obviously a monk-tug-of-war.    

Well behind the ship, Spudnick surfaces and swims towards the ship.  Below, Lars attempts to try to force the magical sword out of the man’s grip.  He is successful, but only after the enemy gets a very good thrust into him, reducing him to a pair of hit points.   The foe rapidly swims up towards the surface, as Lars dives after the now falling sword.

Narg and Mojo each strike their invisible foe, stopping him from moving.   They quickly start to search the body.  Mojo removes a ring, causing the body to become visible.   Mojo,  acting like a kid at Christmas time, puts his new bauble onto his finger and makes himself invisible.   Narg and Mojo head over towards the doors to the rear cabins on the deck, listening at them, but hearing nothing.  

Above, Blip comes to Luekia’s assistance, and casts a Blindness onto the monk she is fighting, preventing him from seeing.  She maneuvers him over to the edge of the boat, and throws him overboard.   Blip flies down to where she expects him to surface, but he does not come back up.  
The lizardman Ssam takes the ship’s wheel, and continues to sail towards the island.

Blip sees the enemy fighter surface, and swim towards the ship at a very rapid pace.  She yells out “Vinnie, incoming!”  Being in merman form, he quickly intercepts the man.   Vinnie grabs the man and swims downward.  This time, the man fails to get a good breathe before being pulled under, and begins to drown.  Vinnie keeps him under a while before resurfacing, dragging the body after him back to the ship, where both injured lizardmen are now on deck.  Looking at the body, Spudnick recognizes him as Lorne, the ship's captain.

Mojo opens the door to one cabin, seeing an armored fighter sitting inside and reading a book, totally unaware to what has transpired outside.  Mojo leaves the door open a crack.  They then wait until the wind and rain blow through the opening and catch the fighter’s attention, and he heads over to close the door.   Mojo lightly holds the knob outside of the door until the fighter’s hand pulls on the knob on the other side of the door.  Mojo then yanks the door open with his full strength, pulling the fighter out into the storm on the main deck, where both Narg and Mojo then attack him.  (This series of actions also proves to be both the best and luckiest player accomplishment of the game night, as any fighting inside of this cabin would have alerted the mage, currently resting in the cabin immediately below it.)

The enemy fighter proves to be quite formidable, slashing his broadsword into both Narg and Mojo in the first round.  They continue to exchange blows for several rounds, with the man taking over seventy points of damage before giving any real indication of being hurt.   Above, Luekia rushes over and starts to hit him from above.   The three eventually manage to drop him, but only after both Narg and Mojo have taken considerable damage.

Narg, Mojo and Luekia check out the other cabin beneath the aft-castle, finding a ladder down.  It leads to a room with two doors, one to the ship’s hold, the other to an adjacent cabin.   Narg opens the door to the adjacent cabin, staring straight at a mage.  The mage lets loose a Magic Missile spell, hitting Narg with eight missiles.  Narg and Mojo both charge into the room towards the mage.  The mage draws a wand and points it towards Narg, who makes his saving throw.  Luekia heads into the ship’s hold, heading towards another door into the room with the Mage.

Mojo closes on his opponent the, planning to strike the mage with the Sword of Cancellation.  The mage points the wand towards Mojo, and muttering something softly.   Mojo throws his sword just as he begins to transform into a swan.  The sword sails through the air, striking the mage for minimal damage, but the cancellation magic also negates all of his memorized spells.  Not letting the transformation into a large bird deter him, Mojo continues to charge the man, and takes a chomp at the man’s crotch [Editor’s note, feel free to insert you own comment here, as a few stated at game time are not deemed suitable for a family audience].

The swan is successful at keeping the mage from using another spell, but does not keep him from pointing the wand at Narg and softly saying what sounds like the word “Arm”.   Narg transforms into a female sheep [Again prompting some comments unsuitable for publication].    

Just then, Luekia opens the door into cabin. Still distracted by the Swan attached to him, the mage does not see her approach.   She hits his arm with a karate chop, causing him to drop the wand.   The Sheep picks up the wand, but is unable to get it to operate.   The mage is unsure of what to make of this martial-arts-using female Triton, and attempts to move back.  Luekia strikes the mage again, this time on the head, knocking him unconscious.    She immediately pulls out a rope and ties him up.  

Luekia then takes a good look at both Narg and Mojo in animal forms, deducing what has happened when she sees their armor and clothing piled on the floor, and uncharacteristically bursts out laughing  (in the eight years with the group, nobody has ever seen this character smile, let alone laugh).  This uncontrollable laughter continues, much to the annoyance of the sheep and swan.  Eventually, she calms down, and carries the sheep up the ladder to the top deck, followed by the tied up mage, the swan flying after her (and continuing to peck at the mage).   

Luekia drags the mage out onto the top deck, following by the two animals.  Blip gestures to the animals, and asks “What’s with the livestock?”   Luekia again breaks out into uncontrollable laughter, which takes some time to die down.  She then tells them that the sheep is Narg the swan is Mojo.   Vincenzo, Blip and both lizardmen, Lars and Spudnick, also break into laughter, again to the annoyance of the two polymorphed fighters.   The lizardman Lars comes over to Narg and asks “How are ewe, get it, ewe?”  Narg kicks at him.

All five adventurers gather together, and Vinnie casts a Dispel Magic on them, transforming them all back into their usual humanoid forms.  Both Narg and Mojo get dressed again and demand that all present be sworn to secrecy, and not tell anybody else about their animal transformations.  Vinnie says “You’re just lucky Jerry or Serita weren’t here to see it, you’d never hear the end of it.”  Blip asks “How are you feeling?”  Narg answers “Fine, other than this sudden craving for hay.”  A search of the ship finds no one on board, as well as none of their magic.


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## Silver Moon (Jun 10, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-seven, “Bowling for Bugbears“, August 8th, 1018*

While the group with the Jeep is traveling around the base of the mountain they encounter several places where the rain runoff is beginning to wash away the road.  Twice they have to navigate around mud and rocks that have washed into their path.  The stream by Blake’s home, usually less than a yard across, has swelled into a raging river, fifteen feet wide.   They are able to drive through it, with the water rising up to the doors and splashing into the vehicle.  

Blake comments about dreading the thought of eventually revisiting his nearby Hobbit hole, as he had built it alongside the stream to allow for easy water access.   “What you complain about,” says Razou, “A little water not hurt anybody.”  “It’s not a little water that I’m worried about,” answers Blake, as he watches a chair from his living room float by.

At the northern end of the island the tracks that Immy is following through the woods intersect a little over a mile later at the point where the hundreds of enemies had first arrived on the island via a Dimension door, that Immy and the “big guns” had tracked to two days earlier.   The tracks continue southward along the road to the tavern.   Knowing where this road leads, Immy takes the faster route above the trees, heading towards the tavern and town. 

Back at Northpoint Island, the ship is almost at the dock.  Most of the group hide, but docking proves to be uneventful, with nobody there to greet them.   They tie the ship up to the dock, and Blip heads off on her broom to scout out the island, with Mojo offering to loan her “his ring”.   She files off as the others secure the ship, and have the lizardmen set up guard positions.

The Jeep eventually reaches the fork in the road on the southeastern side of the mountain, where the road from the buildings west merges in.   Aradyn heads out and checks for tracks.  Lono comments how, with the now soft ground and very obvious ruts from the stagecoach and wagon that had recently come by, even a blind man could find these particular tracks.   Aradyn tells him to “Be quite, I’m working,” leaning down by the road as he studies the ground immediately in front of the Jeep.  Lono tries to hit the gas petal, Serita stopping him, and saying “Cut it out or I’ll pretend you are a helicopter.”  Aradyn concludes that both the stagecoach and wagon have recently passed by this point, to which Lono sarcastically states "No, you're kidding, good thing we pay you the big bucks."

Blip soon discovers that Northpoint Island itself is rather small, approximately one by two miles in size, and mostly covered with small trees and shrubs.  As the storm intensifies, she continues to look for anything unusual.  Near the highest hill on the island she finds a small cave entrance, covered by recently cut tree limbs.  She lands and makes her way through the improvised barrier and into the cave itself.   She walks through the cave, which is barely tall enough for her gnome size.   After about sixty feet, the cave opens up into a chamber, from which she hears voices in a language she does not understand.

Peering into the room she sees four creatures.  One is a fox, the other is a humanoid badger wearing clothing, and the other two are oriental humans in armor similar to that of the Silver Moon crewmember Toshiro Mitsubishi.   One human is definitely too tall to have entered through the cave.  Behind them, randomly strewn about, are the magic items taken from the other members of the party.  The two humans and badger-man continue to talk among themselves, with the fox appearing to comprehend what they are saying.   Fearing detection due to keen animal senses, Blip slowly and carefully makes her way back out of the cave, and flies back to the ship.

The Jeep group continues eastward around the base of the mountain, stopping three miles later at the next fork, where the tracks of the two enemy conveyances branch off into different directions.  The wagon and hobgoblin tracks continue east towards the town, while the stagecoach and bugbear tracks continue to the north on the road around the mountain.  They decide to head after the stage, which causes Lono to complain about wanting to go back to the tavern instead.  

Inside the Stagecoach, the previous two hours were uneventful for Guice and Isaiah, without any conversation from the enemies in the coach, the only sounds being from the rain and wind hitting the vehicle, which moved along the road at a rather slow pace.   The coach eventually stopped, and the cleric Barry shook the mage Jo-Ann, taking her a while to wake up.  The door to the coach then opened, with Valerie entering, her leather cloak being drenched with rain.    “Well?” Valerie impatiently asked Jo-Ann.  Jo-Ann answered  “All is going according to the plan.   The others have landed.  Proceed to the destination, and they will meet you there.   We’ll see you later this afternoon.”  Valerie then left, and the coach continued onward.  Jo-Ann again fell into a deep sleep.  

Half-an hour later she abruptly woke, yelling for Barry to “Stop the coach”.  He pounded on the roof, and it came to a stop.  The door opened a few minutes later, and the fighter from her team entered, drenched with rain.    With concern in her voice, she told the fighter “He needs our help. Some of the adversaries are with him. Quick, double time back to the first entrance.”  The fighter asked “What about the bugbears?”  She answers “Tell them to catch up as quick as they can.  Hurry.”   He leaves, and in a few rounds later the coach takes off again.  It then makes a 180-degree turn, traveling back a quarter mile, before making a sharp right turn.   It now continues at a much faster pace than before.  Jo-Ann remains awake this time.   

Shortly thereafter, the Jeep reaches another fork in the road a mile later, seeing stagecoach and bugbear tracks going in both directions.   Aradyn confirms that they first went northeast on the road to the tavern, then came back and headed north on the road around the mountain base.  He also confirms that the bugbear tracks north are now fresher than the stagecoach’s, and indication that the stage came past here separate from their support troops.  Serita guns the engine, in that direction, while also killing the lights.

Meanwhile, Immy and his team arrive at the tavern.   From a distance he sees smoke coming from chimneys of Jerry’s Tavern and Inn.  Immy also sees several hobgoblins and bugbears through the now door-less entranceways into the tavern, as well as light coming from rooms inside the adjacent inn.   He circumnavigates around the building from a distance, heading towards the nearest building to it, the home of the crewman Reginon.   Once inside, he lets the others out of the bag and they take up surveillance of the tavern and inn.

Approximately fifteen miles to the east, flying above the worst weather, and with a strong tail wind from the approaching hurricane, Sea Castle Fiona had made record time, and at approximately 9:00 A.M. reaches the magical barrier.  Upon striking the barrier, the carpet immediately stops working, and the Pegasus and ropes enlarge to their full size.    The owl Deanna grabs the carpet to keep it from falling into the sea, and Fiona struggles to climb up the ropes and onto the Pegasus.

Having never ridden a Pegasus before, Fiona has considerable difficulty for the first few minutes.  However with her telepathic echo to the animal, creating a form of empathy that allows her to anticipate its movement, plus her previous experience flying with the carpet as well as riding experience on horses, she is soon able to work out the mechanics of flying this type of mount.   They continue their northwestward trek, occasionally dropping below the storm clouds to get their bearings.  They descending upon Silver Moon Island and continue to circle around the island, staying low near the treetops to avoid being seen by the enemy, although with the reduced visibility from the storm, the probability of them actually being seen is minimal.

At Northpoint Island, Blip arrives back at the ship.  She tells the party about what she has seen, and they discuss strategies, the three alternatives being (1) to teleport in (via a one-time teleportation item of Blips) and fight them; (2) to smoke them out, or (3) to try talking to them.    The group, not knowing exactly what these creatures are, are somewhat cautious.  Luekia favors talking, but is overruled.    Rather than using the magical smoke jar, they decide to fire in one of the signal flares.  

They get into the bag of holding, and Blip flies them up to the point near the cave.  Blip suggests going in alone, as the cave is rather narrow.   Mojo answers “Hey, an hour ago I was a swan, I don’t mind crawling.”   Luekia and Mojo get into the Bag of Holding, with Narg and Blip making their way through the cave about half-way to a point where the flare can be sent into the chamber.   The flare is launched, exploding into red fireworks, some of which fly back down the cave and hit both Narg and Blip.   Narg then sees a Panda Bear charging directly at him through the cave, taking up most of the cave itself as it runs.  Narg grabs Blip, yelling “go”, with her teleporting them into the room. Unfortunately for them, the fireworks are still ricocheting off of the walls when they arrive, and some hit them.  All creatures have exited the chamber, them hearing the last of the creatures moving up the cave with the sound of banging metal.  A loud explosion then follows, deafening them.    

They recover quickly, and let Luekia, Vinnie and Mojo out of the Bags of Holding.  The group then begin to fill the bags with all of the stolen magic.   They decide that, with the enemy creatures still on this island, it is best to not leave the ship and the three-lizardman crewmembers behind.   They debate crawling out of the cave, but decide that wounded animals are not something to deal with, and instead use Kharole’s Helm of Teleportation to get back to the ship. 

The group reviews an island map, and decides to head for the inlet at the north-central point of the main island.   Luekia tells the others that her home is near there, that she knows the channel well.   “Fine, you can be the navigator,” The lizardman Ssam tells her.   Ssam begins to give all present instruction, asking Blip and Luekia to untie the ship from the dock and for Mojo and Narg to assist Lars and Spudnick with striking the sails.  The storm continues to intensify as the ship begins to leave the dock.  Vincenzo watches the unconscious magician prisoner.

Ssam speaks to the entire group.  He tells them that he is well aware that his usual role is that of their employee, and that he is not even an officer on the Silver Moon.  However, if they want him to be able to get this unfamiliar ship safely to harbor, given both the severity weather and the rocky coastline on this side of the island, they need to all understand that for the next hour or two hour he is their Captain and they are his crew, period.  Nobody disagrees, and the ship sets sail to the west.

Back with the Jeep, Aradyn is the first to spot a group of approximately fifty bugbears marching on the road ahead, and quickly tells the others.  “Do it just like my cousin Mojo taught you,” comments Lono as Serita accelerates, bringing the Jeep up to about sixty-five miles-per-hour by the time the reach the enemy.   With the heavy rains and winds, the bugbears do not hear anything until the Jeep is almost upon them, at which point she turns on the lights (on high-beam) while simultaneously hitting the horn.   The Jeep plows into the enemies like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins, for a perfect strike.

Several bugbears go flying in all directions, and many more fall beneath the vehicle.   A few get jammed between the right side of the Jeep and the two right hand tires and fender, stopping these tires from turning.  The caught wet bugbear bodies atop the wet muddy ground, while the two left tires are still spinning, cause the Jeep to slide to the right, ending up off the side of the road, where Serita brakes before hitting a tree. 

Before any of the other bugbears can react, Serita throws the Jeep into reverse, dislodging the bugbear bodies, then forward again.  She strikes the middle group of enemy bugbears while traveling diagonally across the road.  She runs down several more before going off the road on the other side, coming again to a stop.  

She floors it once more, pulling back on to the road into the bugbears at the front of the line.  Leaving the carnage behind in her wake, she proceeds down the road at high speed.  Aradyn looks back, estimating that she killed around a third of them and wounded another third. The ones that appear relatively unhurt chase after the Jeep, but are soon left well behind.   She again turns off the lights.


----------



## Silver Moon (Jun 16, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-eight, “The Stagecoach“, August 8th, 1018 * 

Less than a mile ahead, the stagecoach soon appears in the distance. The road is too narrow at this location for Serita to come alongside of the stage, so she slows to a speed keeping with it while they reevaluate their strategy. She is instructed to come up behind it, keeping a few feet back, as Aradyn, Blake and Lono climb out onto the hood of the Jeep. 

The plan is to get Blake over onto the roof of the stage, and for him to then tie a rope for the others to climb across. Aradyn picks up the halfling, and tosses him up onto the stagecoach. The stage proves to be too slippery for him to get a grip, and he slips off, falling between the stage and Jeep. Aradyn looks back, not seeing any dead halflings in their wake. Lono leans over, and sees that Blake has managed to grab onto the log fastened to the front of the Jeep as a battering ram. Lono tells Blake to climb up the log and reaches out his hand for the halfling to grab onto. 

Blake starts to climb the log, releasing one hand to grab at Lono’s, only to have his other hand slip, and he falls beneath the moving Jeep (Blake‘s player was rolling really poor this night). He hits the ground hard, but has the good judgment to immediately roll to the side, so that he is between the two rear tires of the passing Jeep rather than under one of them. He lies on his back in the mud as the Jeep continues past. 

Razou and Timothy notice the still halfling lying in the road, and tell Serita to stop, that Blake got run over. “I didn’t feel any bumps,” is Serita’s compassionless reply, as she continues onward behind the Stagecoach. Razou quietly asks Timothy “Should we make her stop?” Timothy, clearly displaying his exceptionally high wisdom, answers Razou with “When she’s in mood like she is today we don’t make her do anything.” 

“Shall we try again?” asks Aradyn. “Sure,” says Lono, as Aradyn signals for Serita to move forward. The Jeep almost bumping the stage, Aradyn hoists Lono up, Lono managing to grab onto the top edge of the stage and pull himself up. He then secures a rope, tossing the other end down to Aradyn, who ties it onto the Jeep. Aradyn then climbs across, Lono pulling him up on top. Jaime the unties that end of the rope, and Serita backs off a few yards, complaining that it’s hard to see around such a big vehicle. 

With the heavy rains falling down, the enemy fighter driving the stage does not notice the elf and half-elf moving up behind him on the top of the stage. Lono gets in a good backstab, and the fighter now turns and sees them. Aradyn then also attacks. The fighter attempts to fend them off while still controlling the vehicle on the narrow roadway. The fight on the roof continues, with Lono taking a slash. 

Serita sees a spot in the road ahead that is wider, and guns the Jeep as soon she reaches that point, heading up and alongside the side door of the coach. Jaime uses her sword to smash open the window on the coach’s door, as Timothy quickly hoist her up and tosses her through it. Once inside the coach, Jaime sees two rather surprised enemies, a mage and a cleric. Guice and Isaiah are tied and gagged within the coach. The mage tosses Magic Missiles into Jaime, who is not deterred. 

Timothy starts to climb through the window after Jaime. Jaime strikes the Mage with the Rod of Cancellation to negate her spells (which the mage manages to save from). Both Guice and Isaiah, despite their being restrained, try to disrupt both enemies from casting any more spells. An invisible enemy thief then strikes Jaime. Timothy finishes climbing in, and engages the enemy cleric in battle. 

Serita sees the road narrowing ahead, so accelerates to a point parallel the horses to force them off of the road. The group comments about “another Druid trying to kill horses”. She manages to force the horses to the side, with the coach following and abruptly crashing into a tree. Both Aradyn and Lono barely manage to stay on the vehicle. 

Inside of the coach, the impact with the tree causes both Isaiah and Jaime to fall to floor. Isaiah gestures to the gag and the ropes binding his hands. Jaime drops a dagger by him. She stands to reengage the enemy, as the thief again hits her. The mage casts another spell, which Jaime successfully saves from. Isaiah manages to cut his hands loose, and pulls off his gag. He then casts one of the spells he still had memorized, Silence, to prevent further spellcasting by the enemies. A player comments about the irony of Isaiah, of all people, engulfing the group including himself in silence. 

Outside, Serita backs the Jeep up and blocks the road, to prevent the stage from being able to get going again. The fighter on top stands and continues to engage both Aradyn and Lono in battle, with multiple attacks into them. Lono is now in rough shape, and Aradyn also has taken much damage, so they decide to "stop fighting him on his terms”. They knock the man off the stage roof to the ground below. This puts him right near Serita, who casts a “Heat Metal” on his armor and sword. 

Inside the stage, Isaiah begins to cut Guice loose, as the thief fights Jaime and the cleric fights Timothy. This gives the mage time to smash open the rear window of the coach and climb out. She starts to head towards the woods. Razou sees her, and also recognizes her as the mage who had used the tracking device to find them earlier. He quickly tells this to Serita. Serita jumps off of the Jeep and runs in the mage’s direction, ducking under a sword swing from the enemy fighter. The mage notices Serita moving in her direction, and discretely casts a Haste spell on herself, then charges into the woods. 

With Isaiah and Guice both now free, they assist Jaime and Timothy in trying to stop the other two enemies. Jaime hits the enemy cleric with the Rod of Cancellation to negate his remaining spells (which he also manages to successfully save from, although still cannot cast any due to the silence spell). 

Now hasted, the enemy mage charging into the woods plans to get far enough ahead of Serita to have the time needed to throw a Lightning Bolt back into her, however with her own Boots of Speed, Serita manages to keep pace. Back on the road, the enemy fighter realizes that his armor and sword are getting hot, tosses the sword into the woods behind him, and starts to strip off his armor 
. 
Inside of the coach, the enemy thief and cleric, now outnumbered, exchange signals with each other, then both surrender. The others in the coach begin stripping them of the their weapons and other possessions. In the woods, the mage tries her best to loose Serita, climbing and running by branches, bushes and fallen logs, but Serita manages to avoid tripping over them. Lono and Aradyn see the two women running further into the forest, and decide to chase after to assist Serita, jumping down from the top of the coach. By now the smoldering enemy fighter has stripped down to the cloth padding beneath his armor, and runs off into the woods behind him. Isaiah and Jaime tie up their two prisoners. 

Blake is continuing to head up the road to catch up with the party, and hears the sounds of the angry bugbears coming up from behind. He uses his Boots of Speed to increase his pace. He soon sees the stagecoach and Jeep stopped ahead. He also spots movement in the woods nearer him, with Serita chasing an unknown woman, so heads in that direction to intercept them. 

Blake attempts to trip the mage. She manages to avoid him, but this slows her down enough for Serita to grab her, and knock her partially to the ground. The woman jumps up, and slashes at Serita with a dagger. Serita draws her scimitar, and the two spend a few rounds dodging each other’s blows, with Serita connecting once. During this melee, they converse. Serita orders her to surrender, saying this is her only opportunity. 

The mage asks for terms, to which Serita says “unconditional”, which is echoed by Aradyn as he arrives to assist. The mage arrogantly refuses, saying "Not good enough" to which Serita says; “You just blew it.” The mage answers “No, you did. You just don’t realize it yet.” Aradyn assists Serita, soon joined by Blake and Lono, the combined group knocking the women unconscious. Serita begins to search the body, when Blake reminds them that the bugbears are almost to where they are. They pick up the mage and hurry back to the stagecoach. 

They use the Jeep to back the stage up to get it back on the road, just as the angry bugbears come into sight down the road. Aradyn and Jaime lay down covering fire of arrows to help deter the attackers, although their arrows mostly miss due to being deflected by the driving wind and rain. Timothy begins to drive the stagecoach, while Blake, Jaime and Razou ride inside of it, closely watching the three tied and gagged prisoners. Both the cleric and mage are hit again with the Rod of Cancellation (to which she again saves, although the cleric fails). Aradyn, Guice and Isaiah join Serita in the Jeep. The first of the bugbears reach the vehicles, just as the party starts down the road. A few bugbears attempt to climb onto the stage, but are easily knocked off by Timothy. 

The group continues to proceed counterclockwise around the mountain, leaving the group of angry bugbears well behind. Isaiah and Guice ask for an “information dump” about what has been happening with the rest of the Silver Moon. They then tell Aradyn and Serita about what has transpired during the sixteen hours since being captured the previous evening. The four of them then discussion about exactly who the “he” might be that both Donovan and Jo-Ann referred to. 

Back at the tavern, several hobgoblins and bugbears have been sent outside into the rain to guard the doors and doorways. Since he is wearing armor and holding weapons that match those of the enemy, Bruce the bugbear is sent out to “blend in and see what you can discover”. Fritz tells him to be careful, and to say as little as possible. “And don’t try to get a date,” adds Albert. Bruce avoids the other bugbears, heading to a door guarded by hobgoblins, which move aside to let him in. Once inside the first floor of the inn, a human fighter stops him, asking, “What were you doing out in the woods?” Bruce answers “Saw something moving in the woods, but was just an animal.” The man tells him to go join his friends in the tavern, Bruce heading in that direction. 

Once at the tavern, he sees that the elephant-footed giants have raided the beer storeroom, and all ten are now “chugging” kegs. The bugbears and hobgoblins gathered in the room are also consuming beverages. They pay no more attention to Bruce than they do the rain and wind blowing through the doorways. He picks up a small keg and several mugs, and heads outside to offer it to the others guarding the doors, which happily accept it. He then says, “Isn’t that a pig?” “Where” asks a bugbear guard. “Makes good eating. I’ll get it,” says Bruce and he rushes off into the woods waving his sword. Once out of sight, he doubles around to Reginon’s house to tell the others what he saw. Immy decides that he needs to get a message back to the rest of the party, but had not studied the spell that he needs for this. He says that he needs to rest for a few hours before he can study it, and not to wake him, heading into Reginon’s bedroom. 

The Jeep reaches the intersection of the road back to Crystull's cabin. Seeing other tire tracks on the road Lono blurts out “Oh my god, they have a Jeep too!” “Those are our tracks from a few hours ago you idiot” Serita exclaims. Once past the fork, they stop, and the group to spend the next twenty minutes covering up their track, to give the impression that they have continued south around the mountain along their previous tracks. They then head the remaining four miles back. Once back they turn the prisoners over to their crew guards. The group enters the cabin, and tells the others what has transpired. 

The Sea Castle Fiona continues to fly around the Island. Eventually, the pegasus is able to pick up the Silver Moon Fiona, and they fly in that direction. Fiona senses that her Pegasus in nearby. Several members of the group move outside, to see the animal come in for a landing, being ridden by…Fiona. The Silver Moon Fiona immediately recognizes her alternate-reality counterpart from the Sea Castle Adventurers. The others are a bit surprised to see both of them together. Sea Castle Fiona immediately passes to the party Cassie's owl familiar and Kharole's cat familiar. 

Fiona Sea Castle relates to the party how the ship Silver Moon was rescued by the Sea Castle Adventurers. She tells of her party leader and four of the other Sea Castle team being currently en route to the island with their crewmember Hans. "Which others?" asks Lannon. She says "Our leader, the magician Aurora, the Viking fighter Torvald, dwarf fighter Flashis, and our Razou.” "Great, just what we need, two Razou's" comments Lono, "Not that either of them will probably notice." 

She goes on to explain that when she struck the Anti-magic barrier, all eight of her magic items ceased working, and all spells were wiped from her memory. A very exhausted Fiona Sea Castle, having been up most of the night, first rescuing the ship Silver Moon and then getting to the island, is then given a bed to rest in. Before going to bed, one of her magic items regains its magical properties, her Ring of Feather Falling (a useful item to own when you have a Carpet of Flying). 

Meanwhile, back on the ship the Grand Enigma, the party is having a rough time sailing through the storm. A flare goes off in the distance over Northpoint Island, briefly lighting up the sky. Narg begins to now complain about having to take orders from the Lizardman. Luekia points out that Ssam is the most experienced of them at sailing a ship, and for Narg to just shut up.


----------



## Silver Moon (Jun 20, 2006)

*Chapter Twenty-nine, “Interrogations“, August 8th, 1018 * 

At Noon, back at Crystull’s, the group of Aradyn, Blake, Guice, Lono, & Serita decide to question the newly acquired prisoners. They start with the thief, who proves to be totally uncooperative, refusing to answer any of their questions even when sufficiently threatened. They return him to the guards. Next they question the mage Jo-Ann. She too proves to be uncooperative, although she is rather talkative. With total arrogance, she makes it clear to the party that she will tell them nothing useful, as she fully expects to be rescued in the near future. Even death threats fail to bring any change, as she is confident that even if killed Morgarth will resurrect her. 

They do find out from her that she is “one of the five”, the five being the leaders assigned to the five teams who were not at fixed and open locations on the island. The “five” are all past associates of Morgarth, and are expected to be the winners of the contest. She is also convinced that the party will do nothing until after their high-level allies return, with her informing them that they are “on the way back”. She is returned to the guards. 

The third prisoner, the cleric Barry, is seen by Timothy to be “less evil” than the others. Although he worships a lawful evil deity, his alignment is closer to lawful neutral, the alignment of his other two deities. He is very concerned that the parties not kill his team leader Jo-Ann, and is far more cooperative in the answering of questions. 

From him they find out that Jo-Ann’s team initially had the mission of first capturing Mark, however he was not at his home at the time of the assault. After that, they were to use the scanning device to obtain the fifteen magic items that had once belonged to Morgarth. When asked why they left the Silas family home, he says that Morgarth’s chief Druid predicted that it would be washed into the sea during the peak of the storm. 

They ask what his team’s destination was, to which he says that his team was scheduled to meet up in the afternoon with those offloaded on the northeastern part of the island. Both of the groups then, as well as the group holding Beulla, Furynick and Silas, would ride out the remainder of the storm in the two stone structures, the church and the observations tower, as it was determined that wooden structures might not survive the hurricane. 

They ask about the rescue that Jo-Ann is expecting, and he reminds them that their team’s fighter got away. “Oh sure, he’ll do a lot of good alone and naked in a storm” answers Lono. Barry is unable to answer many of the group’s questions, including the locations of Cassie, Mark or Morgarth, stating that that information is known only to the team leaders. 

The group debates whether to allow the man a blanket as a reward for his cooperation. Barry requests that they be held captive in the Stagecoach, which Guice becomes very suspicious of. 
Guice returns to the stage, and does a search for secret doors or cabinets. Finding none, he uses his sword to rip apart and pry open the seats. He finds nothing beneath the rear seat, then moves onto the front seat. His search is rewarded by a large cache of magic, hidden beneath the bench. This is comprised of a magical mace, potions, wands and Jo-Ann’s magic book. He calls his friends over to show them what he found. The cleric Barry is then informed of Guice’s find, which greatly diminishes the cleric’s enthusiasm and willingness to cooperate. 

Five miles to the East, the Grand Enigma is sailed into the northern inlet, and tied up to the shore not far from the cave where Luekia lives. Once the ship is secured, the party gets into the bags of holding, and Blip files them back to Crystull’s cabin. Blip empties the others out of the bags of holding, and the unconscious mage is placed under guard. Both groups exchange information about what has transpired, after which Narg and Mojo decide to again question the female mage and the thief. 

A discussion between Blake, Guice, Isaiah, Lannon, Mojo, Narg and Serita then follows regarding Guice and Isaiah’s suspicions regarding Immy. Fueled by the fact that they were recaptured after Immy had delivered them directly to the enemy the previous evening, this group runs through a list of other evidence that indicates that Immy may not be who he appears to be, and might actually be a spy working for Morgarth. Narg concludes that all of the evidence is circumstantial, but that the group should watch him carefully from now on. As he is currently away with Jerry and three of the crew, it is currently a moot point, but will have to be addressed after he returns. 

The group of Blip, the Silver Moon Fiona, Kruk, Lannon, Lono, Luekia, Narg, Mojo and Serita have the thief brought to them. Narg starts to question him, the response being him spitting at Narg’s face, and missing. Narg calmly tells him “I might suggest that you be a bit more cooperative, seeing as to how you can’t even hit me with saliva.” Serita wants to kill him, stating that “He is on my island, which is enough of a reason.” Lono fully concurs. Narg informs the man “You may want to listen, she’s not known for her patience.” They decide to bring him back, Serita yelling out “Don’t you dare touch any of my trees with him.” 

They pull out the female mage to question her. She continues to be uncooperative. They reveal to her that her hidden magic inside the stagecoach was found. “Maybe we can negotiate,” she now replies. Narg sarcastically exclaims “Yeah, right, with you naked and tied to a tree you don’t have much to negotiate with .” Lono mutters to Mojo “By that comment, I gather that Narg doesn’t have much of a sex life.” Fiona overhears that comment, and mutters “fighters” under her breath.” 

She comments about being willing to give them information, but first wanting assurances that they will return to her the gold wands. “Sorry Babe,” states Mojo “I’m having them turned into a lamp.” She mouths off to the party, stating that they will do as she says or she won’t tell them anything.” Narg comments, “Well, she’s sure got balls.” Mojo comments “She does? You must be looking at a different angle.” Serita tells Narg “I think you need a class in sex education.” Lannon adds “Well, he has been away for a few years.” Narg restates his comment “I meant she’s got chutzpah”. 

“Come on, let’s discuss this,” Narg says, moving the party away from her. They leave her tied to the tree, not putting the gag back over her mouth. She turns her face away from them and begins to softly speak an incantation, and then totally disappears. Luekia and Fiona rush over to where she was, confirming that she is gone and not just invisible. 

Fiona points out that a "Teleport" spell requires only a Verbal component, so that she could have still cast it naked and bound, if her spells had not been cancelled. After a very short discussion, the group realizes that she would have been aware that three of the enemies four designated "Escape Locations" would have been compromised, and would have probably gone to their fourth. Unbeknownst to the mage, the group knows this location to be Araby's cabin, and they quickly assemble a team to go there. 

The group of Kharole, Kruk, Lannon, Mojo, Narg, Serita and Timothy teleport to the woods near Araby’s house. The soon locate one of the observation platforms atop a tree near the house. Lannon climbs the tree and comes in behind the two waking goblins. He has never attempted a double-backstab before, but tries it now, succeeding in silently taking out both opponents. He locates the anticipated wand, this one violet in color, and then eliminates the two goblins sleeping on the lower platform. From the observation point he is able to spot the approximate location of the other two observation platforms, and concludes that they are close enough to each other that they will need to be hit simultaneously. 

He climbs back down and informs the others of this. Kharole volunteers to deal with one while Lannon takes the other. She uses her levitate spell to get up behind, and casts a Magic Missile spell, sending two missiles into each goblin, which is enough to kill them. Lannon sees the missiles, using this as a signal for another attempted double-backstab, which again succeeds. They both then deal with the sleeping goblins, and head back down with the wands. 

Lannon approaches the cabin, being able to pry open shutters to windows of three out of the four rooms to the building. One room is empty, another has an awake pair of hobgoblins. In the third room is the recently escaped Jo-Ann, now attired in a tunic. Also in the room with her is the thief who had escaped from the party in Herculean’s cave the previous day, now attired in leather armor. Lannon returns to tell the others, also warning of the fourth room, where he was not able to look inside. 

Narg and Mojo decide to head to the outside door that opens into he room with the hobgoblins. Kharole and Serita head to the other outside door, to the room with the two enemy adventurers. Timothy, Kruk and Lannon take up position outside of the windows to the room with unknown occupants. Kharole peers into the same window that Lannon had pried open, seeing the two enemies. She signals Serita to be ready, and casts a fireball into the room. The fireball explodes, catching both enemies. The fireball also blows out part of the wall into the next room (the empty room) as well as the front door and a section of exterior wall to the right of the doorway. Serita and Kharole both move over to this now much wider opening to peer inside. 

At the sound of the explosion, Narg kicks in his door and charges into the room, both hobgoblins moving into attack him. Mojo invisibly follows. Kruk smashes open the window to the other room with Timothy helping him quickly get inside, followed by Lannon. Inside the room is a lone Bugbear lying in a bed, now waking up to the sounds around him. Kruk takes the bugbear on, as Lannon heads across the room, over to the room with a door that opens into the room with the two enemy adventurers. 

Back in the hobgoblin room, one manages to strike Narg for eight points of damage. Narg retaliates by decapitating him. Mojo hits the other, severely wounding him. Narg leaves Mojo to finish off his foe, and heads into the next room. Once through this door, he can sees not only into this room, but also outside and into the adjacent room with the enemy adventurers, due to Kharole's fireball remodeling. By now Serita has rushed over the burning debris towards the enemy thief, who is attempting to stand up. Lannon is moving in towards the unmoving enemy mage. 

Before Serita can reach her foe, Kharole drops him with a Magic Missile spell. Serita and Lannon each finish off their foes. Kruk and Mojo have taken care of theirs. Narg glances at the fireball damage to the wall and doorway, and tells Kharole “You’ve been in semi-retirement for the past decade, but you still haven’t learned how to open a door!” She replies “My way is more efficient.” 

A section of the roof, with an undercoating of thatch, has caught fire from the fireball. Even though it probably will not have spread due to the heavy rain, the group decides it is best to fully extinguish it so as not to inadvertently signal the enemy as to what has happened. Narg is hoisted up to the roof, to use his Decanter of Endless water to douse the fire, which is soon put out. The others fill one Bag of Holding with the five bodies taken from the cabin. 

After a short discussion, they decide not to use any of the three remaining uses of Serita's Ring of Teleportation, as she can change shape to fly them back the three miles to Crystul's cabin. She opts to transform into a Pegasus, as Timothy can ride it, the others getting into the bag of holding. The flight is less than smooth, due to the heavy weather and Timothy riding without a regular saddle or barding. She almost looses him over the lake (to which Kris, Jon and Tim all simultaneously snap their fighters in disappoint about). They have to land a few more times for him to adjust the makeshift rope-and-blanket saddle arrangement that they set up for him, commenting that in the future they should maybe keep a saddle in the Bag of Holding "just in case."


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## Silver Moon (Jun 21, 2006)

*Chapter Thirty, “Cassie Awakens“, August 8th, 1018 * 

Back at the tavern, Jerry observes a large group of monsters approaching, comprised primarily of Bugbears. Bruce is once again sent out to blend in with the enemy, which he is able to do very easily, by merging with a group of wounded bugbears in the rear of the new group, assisting one of the more severely injured. This group heads into the tavern, where most begin drinking. A human fighter wearing ill-fitting bugbear armor leads this group. He orders the bugbears accompanying him to “have no more than two drinks, and eat some food with it.” He then supervises the movement of six of his most injured bugbears into the inn, where they are placed in beds in three of the first floor rooms. Bruce is then able to eavesdrop on a conversation between this new group’s leader and a mage leader of the group that was at the inn. 

Bruce lingers around, feigning concern about his injured comrade, and overhears that this new group encountered their enemies a few hours earlier, and that these enemies were riding a “magical metal dragon”. During their courageous battle with the dragon, half of the bugbears were killed or injured. This “dragon” then attacked the stagecoach, capturing it and all of its occupants except for the fighter. “How is it that you alone escaped, and without your armor?” the mage asks. The fighter replies “I was attacked by the dragon, which chewed up my armor, and tried to swallow me whole, but I fought it off with my sword”. 

The mage appears skeptical of the fighter’s story, but informs him that “My Orange Squad now includes members of both the Red and Turquoise Squads, and we would welcome the addition of a Gold Squad member too.” The fighter declines, saying that the Gold Squad is far from beaten, that his leader had a contingency plan in case of her capture, and that he will stay loyal to that group until he sees a gold flare in the sky. The fighter then criticizes the mage for allowing his troops to get drunk. The Mage says that they cannot move on the enemy until they know where they are hiding, and that morale was so low among his monsters that he needed to do something to lift their spirits before asking them to fight on in these ever-deteriorating weather conditions. 

Bruce is seen loitering about by a different man who yells at him “Hey you, what’sa matter, don’t like the dampness in the tavern. Get the hell back there, you wimp.” Bruce takes this as a cue to leave, and returns to the tavern. As before, he offers to deliver beverages to those guarding outside, taking a small keg out on his shoulder, which he uses to refill all of the mugs of the guards with. After this, he again disappears into the woods and returns to Reginon’s house. Bruce tells Jerry what he had heard, Jerry deciding that the enemies don’t appear to be going anywhere soon, so the information can wait until Immy wakes up. 

Finding the ever-increasing wind troublesome to navigate in, Timothy and Serita eventually complete their three-mile flight back to Crystull’s house. They land, Serita opting to remain in Pegasus form. Timothy enters the building and lets the others out of the bag of holding. They also unload the bodies from the second bag of holding, and strip the magical armor off of the thief. 

Meanwhile, on the southeastern coast of the island, the Viking longboat carrying the Sea Castle Adventurers and Silver Moon Second Mate Hans, comes to shore. They carry the boat into the woods and hide it beneath branches, then start to head north on foot towards the town. The Anti-magic barrier has wiped Aurora and Razou of their spells, as well as temporarily negating the magical properties of all magic items. Aurora suggests that the group keep a low profile until their magic items function again, although Billy Bob is quick to point out that his M-1 Rifle was unaffected by the barrier. “Fine, you cover the rest of us,” is Aurora’s reply. 

Elsewhere, after nearly three days of being unconscious, Cassie-Andra finally awakens. She is in an unusual location that is covered by a pink-and-blue colored fog, where she appears to be floating on air. She sees occasional flashes of light, and also what appears to be several floating geometric shapes of various size and color, with a texture that resembles stone. She has no possessions of any kind, and her body appears to be made of iridescent golden light. In addition to being unclothed, she also notices that she is currently bald. 

Near her, sitting on the edge of a light green oval shaped flat rock, are two men. Their bodies are also made of the same type of iridescent light, although with more a silvery hue. The men are also without any possessions. They bear a very strong resemble to each other, and look to be tall, healthy, muscular and robust humans in their early twenties. Both men have long flowing hair nearly down to their waists. One is clean-shaven, while the other has a neatly cropped beard and mustache. They gesture for Cassie to approach them, the one with the beard calling her by name. 

Cassie is suspicious of them, and very angry about what has transpired. She begins her conversation with them by rattling off a series of accusations and angry questions. They calmly answer her questions, and soon convince her that they mean her no harm, telling her that they are on a specific section of the astral plane. They also explain how the brightness of their forms is a reflection of alignment, and how evil thoughts and lying causes the hue to change, so that it is impossible to tell lies undetected. They explain her brighter hue than theirs being her good alignment and theirs being closer to neutral. They introduce themselves to her as Hendry and Rainville, and that they are twins. 

They explain how in their culture the father is the absolute ruler, and how it was their father who committed them to working with Morgarth, and this was not of their choosing. She asks where their father is now, to which Rainville, the one without the beard, replies “Dead. He was the first casualty in this confrontation.” She notices Hendry briefly flush with the color of negative emotions. His silvery hue returns, and he adds “You killed him. While in dragon form you grabbed him and crushed him against a wall of force. It took us a few days to get over our anger towards you for that, eventually coming to realize that you were merely defending your home, and that the fault of his death lied with another mage. That magician was the one who first blew our father’s ambush plan by altering you prematurely to their presence, and the same mage who later kept the wall of force up while father was being beaten into it.” 

They then relate to her their family history. They are from the Forrest Dawn Kingdom, a distant land, where the practice of primogeniture (land and power passing to the eldest male) is strictly practiced. They tell how their grandfather, Carter, is the leader of the land, which she would equate as the King. Carter had several sons, but only one daughter, Carlissa, who he regarded as his precious baby. When Carlissa was a teenager, thirty years earlier she fell in love with a young mage named Hendry. “So you are Hendry Junior?” Cassie asks the bearded one. “I was, but with our father’s death I am now just Hendry” is his reply. 

Rainville continues the tale “Grandfather had not yet arranged a marriage for his daughter, but was against her marrying this commoner. Rather than breaking her heart by forbidding the union, Grandfather decided to let Hendry break her heart instead, by requiring both Hendry and his father to relinquish their claim to primogeniture, with Hendry agreeing to become subservient to his bride and her family. Grandfather was certain that no man would ever agree to this, to essentially deny his manhood, so this would end any talk of marriage. Hendry, however, was so deeply in love that he would have agreed to anything to marry Carlissa, and Hendry’s father was pragmatic enough to realize that his son’s future would have more opportunity as a member of the royal family, so also agreed. The two soon married. 

Although Grandfather’s plan had backfired, he now became the absolute ruler over our father, beginning what to our father turned into three decades of utter hell. Hendry was appointed the title of Chief Mage and Ambassador, a role intended to keep him away from both the Kingdom and his bride. Our mother, however, had a mind of her own and insisted upon accompanying her husband on as many trips abroad as she could. Grandfather objected, but was never able to deny our mother anything she truly wanted, so eventually gave in. This was, however, curtailed when she became pregnant with our older sister, then later our older brother Carl, and then finally with us. For the next decade she again was confined to the kingdom to raise the children, and we saw very little of our father who was kept away on diplomatic missions. 

Grandfather became a surrogate father to our sister Carrie, training her to be a fighter like himself. Our brother Carl would also have become a fighter, were it not for his natural tendencies towards sneakiness. When we became teenagers and it came time for us to choose professions, Grandfather insisted that I too become a fighter.” Hendry interrupts “Yes, in spite of both of us showing an inherent disposition towards magic. Thankfully Grandfather did permit me to study magic, as he always hated me for being named after our father, and Grandfather recommended that I accompany my father on missions, where I suspect he hoped we might both perish.” 

Rainville continues “This plan of Grandfather’s also backfired. For with our mother having been trained as a Priestess, our family unit of six now had representation from all major classes, so was able to travel abroad as a self-contained adventuring team. This we did for eight years, up until last year when tragedy struck. While fighting a Demon on another plane our mother perished. Upon return to the Forest Dawn Kingdom, Grandfather tried to have her resurrected, but that proved to be unsuccessful. 

In a fit of rage, Grandfather blamed Hendry for her death, and permanently banished him from the kingdom and his family. Hendry then pointed out how, with the permanent death of his wife, his contractual agreement with Carter had ended. While as King Carter could indeed banish him from the Kingdom, Hendry had now become the head of his family, and decreed they would all leave with him. We left the Kingdom that day, never to return.” 

Hendry picks up the story from there “To my brother and me this past year has had many great opportunities. We were never happy in our Grandfather’s kingdom, and also never completely happy with the occupations chosen for us. During the past year I have begun to also learn the fighting occupation while my brother has begun to learn to use magic. Unfortunately, our father has been depressed and despondent over the loss of our mother. This has turned him into a bitter man, exacerbated by our sister who wishes to return to the Forest Dawn Kingdom. Our brother’s wife also misses her home, and continuously nags Carl about returning.” 

Cassie asks how they came to be associated with Morgarth. They state that, twenty years earlier, their father had been apprenticed once by the chaotic evil arch mage. While the two then parted company due to their different outlooks on life, the arch mage always kept in touch with his pupil after that. Morgarth recently initiated contact again with their father, taking advantage of their father’s current bitterness. Their father saw this current mission as an opportunity to enrich their family again, hoping to again provide his children with a lifestyle similar to that which they had become accustomed to in their Grandfather’s land. 

Rainville and Hendry point out how, with the death of their father, there is no clear line of succession. Normally, their older brother would take charge, however their sister has pointed out that she is the oldest, and since their family had been a Matriarchy, she should rule. Their sister Carrie wishes to leave the island now, and return to their homeland, bringing with them the body of their father. Both Rainville and Hendry strongly oppose this, as they not only do not wish to return there and also feel that Grandfather would not have Hendry’s body resurrected and would instead permanently destroy it. 

“Brother Carl is torn as to what to do, but has declared that they we an obligation to continue the mission to which father had committed the family to.” Cassie comments about how “he’s just thinking with his groin, and will do what his wife wants.” Rainville adds “Perhaps, although Carl’s wife Lisa is also at an impasse, in that she would like to follow Carrie’s suggestion, but does not want her husband to relinquish control of the family to his sister, wishing for him to be the new head.” “Which would, in effect, let her rule,” adds Hendry, “Whereas she is the least experienced one of our team, being only a fourth level monk, that would probably not be wise.” 

Rainville continues “The discussion, however, was a moot point until about an hour ago. With father’s death, Morgarth’s second in command, a powerful cleric named Roger, was put in charge of our group. It was only an hour ago that he departed on an errand. At that point we initiated a family discussion as to our next course of action. Hendry continues “We did get them to agree to allow us to bring you here for this conversation. We wanted to get to know you better, and find out what type of person you really were.” They then ask Cassie to tell them about herself, which she does for the next half-hour. 

Back at the Tavern, Immy wakes up. Jerry fills him in about the new enemies next door. Immy studies his Whispering Wind spell, and to send a message to the others, putting together a twelve-word message to Serita stating “Serita, at Reginon’s, almost one-hundred drunk enemies at tavern and staying, Immy. The message goes off in the breeze, traveling twelve miles west and hitting the ear of the Pegasus Serita. She transforms back into the half-elf form in order to relate the message to the others, beginning with “Immy is doing something weird” and then telling them the message content. Lono and Mojo are noticeably upset about the idea of the monsters drinking all of the booze at the tavern. They suggest sending Timothy to scout out the tavern, in Pegasus form via the Belt of Shape Change, but disregard this idea once they realize that in that form he would not be able to bugger any gnomes. 

They decide to talk again to the cleric Barry, who had previously been forthcoming with information. They choose to not tell him about them killing his magician friend, as he had been concerned before about her safety. They ask him again about the number of groups of enemies, and find out that initially there were 500, but that 92 were killed during the initial assault on the island on the fifth. Prior to Morgarth threatening the other group in the city of Cortange another 92 bugbears were sent as replacements (and were the first ones hit once the big guns arrived). Fiona complains “See, he cheated. He said 500 but he actually sent more.” “What’s this world coming to when you can’t trust the word of a chaotic evil villain” comments Kruk.


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## Silver Moon (Jun 25, 2006)

*Chapter Thirty-one, “Astral Conversations“, August 8th, 1018 * 

Narg continues to try to get information out of the cleric, asking about who his mage leader was in contact with while she was unconscious in the stagecoach. Mojo rants “Is this the same Narg? He talks instead of killing. I don’t know you any more!” The man relates that she, and the other apprentices of Morgarth have a way to communicate telepathically. The party agrees to reward Barry with a blanket and fewer restraints if he promises to not try to escape. He says he will not try to leave on his own, but if somebody comes to rescue him he will let them. The party agrees that that seems reasonable. 

The other members of the group decipher what was said, coming to the realization that the high level mage that they brought back from the ship Grand Enigma would also be one of the “five” apprentices of Morgarth. Lono suggests killing him. “But we need to get information first” says Narg. “That’s what a Speak with Dead spell is for,” answers Lono. The mage is still unconscious, so they ask Timothy to revive him. Timothy casts two successive Cure Light Wounds, after which the man remains unconscious. Fiona blurts out “He’s not unconscious from wounds, he’s in communication with Morgarth right now!” “I guess we may have to kill him,” says Narg. Not needing to hear that twice, Lono immediately does the task, ramming his sword through the mage’s heart. 

Back on the astral plane, Cassie’s conversation comes to an abrupt halt as a bright red wave of light sweeps over them, sending an unpleasant feeling of nausea through her system. “What was that?” asks Cassie. Hendry answers “Somebody’s body just perished on the prime material plane while they were mentally here.” “Who” asks Cassie. “Well, since the only other ones on this plane within the Anti-Magic shell are us and three of Morgarth’s top aides, it must have been one of them. Come with us, we need to investigate this further.” They each take one of her hands, and with a thought, rapidly move to a different area of the plane. They see a translucent man of maroon color, and stop near him. “That’s Roger,” says Hendry, “I’ll talk to him, you two wait here.” Hendry goes over and the two exchange words, Roger pointing towards Cassie and visually expressing some anger.” Roger then moves off away from them. 

Hendry returns. Rainville asks “One died as we through?” “Yes", says Hendry, "Actually, he was the second, another one died shortly before we came here, leaving only Roger. He is going now to retrieve the bodies of both of them to resurrect one or both.” “Why did he point to us?” asks Cassie. “He was upset that we had brought you here, but agreed once we explained why. He was also unaware that our father had taught us how to access this realm, so was surprised by our presence.” 

Cassie follows up the comment “You have not been completely forthcoming. Why did both Roger and your siblings agree to allow you to bring me here?” A long pause follows, and the two exchange glances. Hendry answers “Your familiar had been taken away on a ship by Morgarth’s chief Druid to prevent your party from using it to find you. Very recently, that familiar returned to the Island. By bringing you here, your mental state is now fully on this plane, so the familiar will not be able to mentally find your physical body.” 

Cassie is upset by this, and says “So, I am still fully your prisoner, in spite of what you’ve said.” Hendry answers “It was for both your self-preservation and ours. We are as trapped as you are, as Roger has erected barriers around where your body is that prevents all not of his alignment from entering and leaving.” “That was stupid of you to allow yourself to be trapped,” says Cassie. Rainville answers “We were unaware of his doing that until after the fact. To keep the familiar from finding you Carrie wanted you killed. We suggested this as an alternative.” 

Cassie asks about the one who was killed and what had happened to him. They explain that since he was one hundred percent on this plane when the body was killed it severed his anchor to the prime material plane, causing his form here to explode in all directions and dissipate throughout the plane. “So, that will happen to us if our bodies are killed?” she asks? “To you, yes,” answers Hendry, “my brother and I are not fully here, a part of our essence is still back there, so that our siblings can alert us to come back if necessary.” “And you’ll just leave me here?” she asks. The two men confer, and Hendry says “If we are called back I will stay here with you while Rainville goes.” 

Back at the Tavern, Immy and his crew are surprised to see a trio of creatures head up to the tavern from the southern part of the town. The trio are a woman on horseback, a heavily armored centaur, and a Balrog (Yes, I said a Balrog!). She leaves the horse outside of the tavern and the three head inside. Immy decides to once again send Bruce in for reconnaissance. 

Bruce the Bugbear again infiltrates the enemy’s compound, first viewing inside the tavern from outside of the open doorways. He then heads around and into the Inn. Immy notices that all of the enemy guards outside of the inn doors had moved slightly inside of the doorways. Bruce entered the inn, being let in by a pair of hobgoblins, then exited just a few rounds later. He headed into the woods, and made his way back to Reginon’s house. While Bruce was away Jerry suggested that he and Albert could go steal the horse, and use it to get back to Crystull’s house with a message. 

Much to their surprise, Bruce also brings back with him Haas, a lizardman crewmember that he had just now ran into in the woods. Haas had been observing the tavern as well, as he was one of the three lizardmen crew who had been left to observe the Silas family home the previous evening, and all day long had been following the group of bugbears marching from there who recently joined up at the tavern. Haas reports that several of the party had attacked this group of bugbears with a Jeep, and apparently also captured the Stagecoach that the monsters were supposed to help protect. Haas looks exhausted, so Jerry tells him to go rest. 

Bruce reports that the Balrog has taken command of the monsters within the tavern, and that the hobgoblins, bugbears and elephant-footed giants were all sitting and quietly, giving the Balrog their undivided attention, and that none of these monsters were eating or drinking. Bruce adds that he also saw the slashed body of a bugbear lying on the tavern floor, and fresh blood dripping from the Balrog’s sword, so he was not surprised by the current level of obedience from the monsters. 

Bruce goes on to say that he saw none of the enemy adventurers or the armored centaur in the tavern, he again made his way over to the inn, being let in by a pair of hobgoblin guards. Once inside, he heard the sounds of a heated argument from the second floor of the inn. Bruce tried to make his way upstairs, but was stopped by two bugbears guarding the bottom of the staircase, which ordered him to go back to the tavern. Bruce then quickly exited the inn, and headed back. 

Bruce thankfully has a nearly photographic memory and relates the smattering of conversation that he overheard. It consisted of a female voice yelling “I don’t give a damn about them. They’ve lost, that’s their tough luck.” A male voice responded to this with “They haven’t lost until their flares are seen. You missy, need to have more respect for your superiors. I’m ordering you to accompany us.” The woman yelled back “And who do you think you are to order me!” He screamed back “You insubordinate bitch. I’m your designated team leader, or have you forgotten that?” 

After a short pause, she answered “I have forgotten nothing! Any connection that you had to our team ended three days ago when you didn’t bother showing up, and left me to take charge. Since then, we’ve defeated the enemy TWICE, we still have our hostages and our team is fully intact, while you’ve had to scrape together the remnants of four teams to get a comparable force!” A different male voice interjects “I haven’t joined his team,” to which both of the previous voices yell in unison “Shut up!” 

The female voice continues: “I’m only here now because Roger thought that your new team needed me to tell you what was going on and to bring you these powerful allies from the White team, my own team is doing just fine. And my name is neither ‘Missy’ nor ‘Bitch’, you arrogant twit. My name is Valerie, and you’d best remember that, as I’m planning to win this contest.” The man starts to yell a reply, but in interrupted by the other male voice, who loudly says “Enough! This is getting us nowhere. Valerie, why don’t you tell us exactly what is going on?” At that point Bruce was then ordered back out of the Inn. 

Immy decides that they need to hear the rest of the conversation. He casts the Invisibility onto Jerry, telling him to steal the horse and “Get a message back to the others if I don’t return in an hour.” Immy then casts a Wrathform on himself, and floats over to the tavern. 

Back at Crystull’s house, they decide to go ahead with the Speak with Dead spell, Timothy calling it up with Isaiah’s magical mace. They first ask for the location of Cassie and Mark, being told that they are on Southpoint Island. This leads to a major “I told you so” from Mojo. He had suggested way back at the Regal Carriage Inn in the City of Cortange that they initially head there on the island, as it would be the point first hit by the hurricane and therefore a likely spot to be holding hostages. 

The next question asked is “What did you last say to Morgarth”. They are surprised by the answer, as the response indicates that their last conversation was two days earlier, prior to the barrier being erected. “That means they have not been communicating with him, but only with each other,” is Fiona’s conclusion. The final question from the spell asks for Morgarth’s current location, the answer being that he is “At his mountain top castle in a very distant land”. That answer does not help much, other than confirming that the arch mage has personally removed himself from the present situation, leaving it up to his lackeys. 

The group decide that an all-out assault on Southpoint Island is in order, assembling the high-powered assault team of Aradyn, Blake, the Silver Moon‘s Fiona, Guice, Kharole, Kruk, Lannon, Luekia, Mojo, Narg, Serita, Timothy and Vincenzo. Mojo suggests bringing both Fionas along. Lannon comments “Why, so you can get bitched out twice as much? They hate fighters.” Mojo mutters “There goes my twins fantasy”. It is pointed out that the Sea Castle Fiona is still without spells, so would be of little use. 

The group discusses modes of transportation, deciding upon Serita using the Belt of Shape Change to transform into a Storm Dragon (to blend in with the clouds, as a less visible target). Since she is using the belt rather than a natural transformation, she can shape her back into saddles for Aradyn, Fiona and Timothy to ride, as they are use to aerial travel due to being pegasus riders. Aradyn takes the front, Fiona the middle and Timothy the Back. The other nine pile into the two bags of holding, and Serita takes to the stormy sky. 

Back on the astral plane, Cassie initiates a discussion about what happens to those linked to the astral that die while they are mentally on the prime material plane. She is told that part of their essence remains on the astral plane, at the corresponding location to where they died. This essence would in effect be a shadow form, which would dissipate over time. She asks if, should they find that location corresponding to their father, if they would be able to communicate. They say that they might, however do not know exactly where that location is, due to having never been in the city on top of the mountain. As Cassie’s suggestion the three head off to a higher elevation in search of the astral shadow of Hendry Senior. 

At the tavern, Immy catches the end of the argument between the woman who rode up on the horse and the other enemy adventurers. A short debate ensures over whose “banner” to travel under. The woman points out that they would be foolish to travel under the senior mage’s Orange Squad, as that team was the first to lose. The Mage says that occurred during the initial assault, before the high-level Silver Moon party arrived, so it did not count. She answers “You honestly think loosing to a lesser group doesn’t count? Be serious.” 

This prompts an argument from the others. The male fighter points out that his team’s three gold wands are within the coach and are retrievable. The others point out that each pair of Turquoise and pair of Red squad members have their wands with them, so should use either or both of those as their team color. The fighter agrees to this “but only until I get the gold ones back.” The centaur acknowledges that he and the Balrog do not have any of their white wands, but don’t care about the contest, only pleasing their master. 

The fighter then asks the woman for the return of his hobgoblins. She says “You want them back, fine, I’ll send them up to you. You can keep my bugbears too. He thanks her, and says they will wait until the hobgoblins arrive to move out. She heads down stairs, and Immy quickly returns to Reginon’s house. He does a quick information dump, as they watch the woman get on the horse and ride back south. Immy considers attacking her now, but decides she is too close to the other enemies and he had been sent to observe not fight. An invisible Jerry and Albert head off on foot after her horse. Half an hour later, they see twenty hobgoblins arrive from the south. A short while later Albert returns. He says that the woman and her group are not far away, at the Ukko church, and that after the hobgoblins left Jerry was successful in stealing the horse and riding off to the west to spread the word. 

On the road, a half-mile west of the town, the Sea Castle Adventurers hear the sound of an approaching horse, so they quickly move off into the woods to avoid being seen. As the horse rapidly rides past, Hans tells Aurora that the rider is one of the Silver Moon. She yells out for him to stop, but due to the storm and the speed that he is traveling, he does not hear them, and is soon out of sight. 

“That was Jerry”, Hans tells the group. “The tavern owner,” Flashis exclaims. “A fine man” says Torvald. “Runs a good bar,” comments Billy Bob.” “Has good drinks,” comments Razou. Aurora declares, “We’ll never be able to catch up with Jerry, let’s keep heading towards the town.” 

She then looks at her companions and says, “Since arriving on this alternate reality we’ve visited this island on five different occasions! Have any of you four ever gone anywhere on this island other than the bar?” “Does walking on the road from the ship dock to the bar count?” asks Billy Bob. “NO” she yells back. Flashis states “See, this walk through these woods the past two hours has broadened our horizons.”


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## Silver Moon (Jun 28, 2006)

Chapter Thirty-two, “Beware the Jabberwock my Son“, August 8th, 1018, 3:00 P.M. 

In the skies, about a mile south of Araby’s cabin, the Storm Dragon Serita is startled by the sudden appearance of a Chimera darting out of the clouds towards her.   Aradyn lets loose a few arrows, one of them striking it.    The creature goes for an attack on one of Serita's wings, the chimera’s dragon head, lion head and goat head all missing, due to a sudden turn by Serita.  

Serita, Fiona and Timothy are then struck by a Flame Strike, with them turning to see a rather large human in black armor riding atop a black dragon.    They head for a direct assault, Fiona letting loose a Magic Missile into the enemy rider.   The two dragons swing by each other, both missing.  Serita rises back up into the clouds, obscuring them from the enemy.   They continue onward to the southeast, looking out in all directions, but no seeing the enemies again.  

Back at the Tavern, Immy and company watch as a group of over one hundred monster head off to the west, led by the flying Balrog.  They wait a while until the enemy has left, before heading over to see if anything, was left behind at the tavern.    They find nine enemies still at the tavern, the six wounded bugbears, one drunk bugbear who is barely conscious, and two unconscious drunk hobgoblins.   Fritz and Immy have no qualms about dispatching these monsters, and then investigate the rest of the tavern, finding nothing particular of use.  

Four miles to the southwest, Jerry is now rounding the southern rim of the mountain, being ever mindful that the survival of the children is dependent upon him reaching Crystull’s house prior to the army of monsters.   He is very grateful that the horse he is riding is the one owned by Jaime, as it has been trained to ride with small children on it, and has little difficulty is carrying the gnome who is unaccustomed to riding a full-sized horse.    

Meanwhile, seven miles south of Jerry’s current location, Serita continues to fly inside the clouds where Serita estimates them to be above Southpoint Island she descends.  They land at the only point on the island where Aradyn knows there to be a cave system, as this cave had been occupied by a group of evil bugbears when the group first occupied the island, which Aradyn and Mark had then eliminated.    

They land near the only known entrance to these caves, finding a series of tracks less than two hours old, left by the elephant-men and a dragon.    Half of the party stays by the cave mouth, as Aradyn, Guice, Kruk, Lannon, Mojo and Narg follow the tracks.  They continue on for half-a-mile, ending on a cliff near the ocean.   They conclude that the creatures must have left the island from this point, probably through a magical door.  They return to the cave.

Nine miles north, Jerry has now reached the intersection east of the mountain and the road to Crystul's house.  He is relieved that there are no tracks from the enemy army.   He lets the horse rest for a few minutes, and climbs a few hundred feet up the mountain, giving him a good vantage point to confirm that the enemy has not yet in sight, viewing a mile further up the road.  

Seeing nobody, he climbs back down, gets on the horse, and charges down the road at full gallop, soon seeing the tracks left behind by the Jeep and Stagecoach five hours earlier.  During this last three-mile stretch, he has to circumnavigate around four trees and multiple piles of branches that the increasing storm has caused to fall across the road since the time that the vehicles last came past. 

Back on Southpoint Island, Serita stays outside of the cave in dragon form.    Blake, Fiona and Mojo decide to stand guard near the cave entrance, as the other nine party members make their way into the caves.   The first two rooms encountered have bedding and food scraps apparently left behind by the elephant-footed giants.   A room is found with what appears to have been bedding for the chimera and dragon, with a small treasure pile of mostly worthless items.  

In the next hallway Guice is overwhelmed by pain, and moves back.  When he tries to move forward again, he finds his way blocked by an invisible barrier.   Timothy comes forward, and identifies via his ability to sense evil auras, that the next ten feed of hallway is covered with evil.   Others try breech the barrier as well, Aradyn and Vincenzo also being stopped and feeling great pain.  Kharole and Narg, however, are able to pass through.   Vinnie casts a Dispel Magic, which causes the barrier to blink out for a single round, during with he and Aradyn  pass through.  Lannon also is able to make it past the barrier, but Kruk and Timothy are stopped, each taking double-hit-point damage from the pain.    The five who are through decide to continue onward by themselves.  

August 8th 1018, 4:00 P.M.

At the next intersection, they head left, finding three rooms.  The first two rooms have hay in one and food stored in another.   The third is blocked by a door, which Lannon recognizes as an illusion.  He walks through, finding himself face-to-face with a minotaur.   Narg and Aradyn come to his assistance, and make short work of the monster.  A search for secret doors reveals none (even though the room had one) so they head back to go the other direction.   

This too is blocked by an illusionary door, which Narg walks through, to be faced with a creature of a type that he had not seen in twelve years, a Jabberwock.  This creature is smaller than the one he faced on Thibaultia, but still a formidable opponent.   Lannon and Narg both move in to attack it.  The creature reaches his front claw towards Lannon.   Lannon thrusts his sword through the palm of the creature’s hand, but is still grabbed up by it.    The creature moves the hand up towards his mouth, apparently intent on consuming Lannon’s head.   Kharole arrives, and casts a Web spell to pin the creature's arms, legs back and wings.   The monster falls back in an attempt to break out of the webbing.

Meanwhile, Narg strikes the creature’s torso with his Nargblade, almost getting caught in the web himself, as Aradyn fires arrows up into the creature (and Mojo’s player complains that Narg’s player is not letting anybody else play).  Lannon pulls out his oil of slipperiness, pouring it between him and the creatures hand, while squirming with all of his might.   This is successful, with Lannon dropping to the ground rather than being decapitated by the creature, which Lannon concludes has very bad breath.   The oil also helps keep Lannon from getting stuck in the web.   Aradyn, Kharole and Narg finish off the creature, as Vincenzo arrives.    They burn off the remaining web, and decapitate the monster.   They start to proceed down the hallway, encountering yet another invisible barrier.   

Back on the astral plane, Cassie, Rainville and Hendry have spent an hour and a half unsuccessfully looking for the essence of Hendry Senior, during which they also discuss what might happen next, with Cassie suggesting that perhaps she could mediate between her friends and the Hendry family.

Back at Crystull’s house, Jerry rides up and dismounts at the front door.  He blurts out that “An army of over a hundred monsters, including bugbears, hobgoblins, the elephant-footed giants, seven enemy adventurers, a centaur and a Balrog are marching HERE, and could arrive soon!”   A near panic starts to break out in the cabin.   Hydrophobic Freyland, who had been bordering on the edge of having a mental breakdown anyway due to the extremely wet weather as well as the stress from the current situation, finally cracks.   He starts to mutter (in the Dustin Hoffman “Rainman” voice) “Very bad.  Very bad.  Gotta get outta here.  Gotta get outta here.”  

Jerry tries to calm everyone down, saying that the monsters are now still at least two miles away, possibly more, but that the group needs to move out NOW!  The crew is alerted to get ready to move the prisoners.  Adrianna helps to secure the prisoners together, as the children and hirelings gather up supplies and the unidentified magic items.   The group debates leaving by Jeep, but conclude that since the only road it could go on is the one with the approaching monsters, it is best to just hide it behind the duck blind for now.

Fiona Sea Castle is abruptly woken up, Mojo asking her “Did you order a Balrog?”  “Not that I remember” is her reply.  She is informed that an army of over a hundred monsters is on the march, with their cabin as its destination.  She is told that they do not know how soon this group will arrive, but it could be any time now.    At this point Fiona has rested long enough to restudy her spells.   A check of her magic items reveals that some more have now regained their magical properties. Items still not functioning are her Bracers A.C. 4 and her +2 Ring of Protection.   She also brought a scroll, which still remains blank.  She realized there was high risk to bringing a scroll through the barrier, but given the incoming storm and the fact that one of the four spells on it was Control Weather, she felt it worth the risk.   The other three spells that were on the scroll were Monster Summoning I, Plant Growth, and Delayed Fireball Blast.

The group debates what to do with the prisoners.  Lono decides to take this matter into his own hands, and heads outside.  He orders the crew around the front of the cabin, in order to have privacy during which to kill the prisoners.   Isaiah figures out what is about to happen, and heads outside to prevent it.   Isaiah and Lono get into a very heated argument about what to do with the prisoners, Lono threatening "To kill you too!" 

The lawful good cleric eventually wins due to the intervention of other party members.  (Unbeknownst to Lono, Isaiah’s confrontation has also saved his life, as the enemy cleric had the building under observation, waiting for an opportunity to rescue the prisoners.  Any attempt by Lono to kill a prisoner would have made him an instant recipient of a Flame Strike spell.)

The party debates whether to travel south to the school or northeast to the ship Molly III.   A discussion follows as to the ability to sail the ship in this weather.   Lono suggests taking it to the city.  It is pointed out to him that sailing a ship up a mountain in not very feasible.  They talk about having the non-combatants, the children and tavern help, taking the ship across the channel to Mickey Mouse Island.  Several of the older children are insulted at being called “non-combatants” pointing out that they were the ones who retook the Molly III in the first place.  Lono mutters “This is like a filthy version of Space Camp.”  Since the group is unsure about where a safe location on Mickey Mouse Island would be (as well as the risk of re-igniting the ongoing debate of exactly how large this particular Island happens to be), they decide to head south to the school.

Back in the cave on Southpoint Island, Both Narg and Kharole make it through the second barrier, however Aradyn, Lannon and Vincenzo are unable to.  Vinnie even tries to toss the bag of holding through, with Lannon and Aradyn inside of it, without success, the bag stopping at the barrier as though it were a solid wall.  Narg and Kharole continue onward, when a pair of arrows fly out at them from a side wall.   Narg moves forward, causing a female archer to pull back.   Narg pursues, with Kharole behind him.  The woman continues to retreat behind the curved wall, throwing more arrows, until she moves out of sight.

Kharole activates her Ring of Invisibility and scouts ahead.  She sees the woman change weapons to a sword.  Meanwhile, Narg gets backstabbed for thirty-six points of damage.  He cries out and staggers slightly, while swinging the Nargblade around and into his opponent, a human in leather armor holding a longsword.   

Hearing the sounds of battle and Narg crying out, Aradyn, Lannon and Vincenzo briefly debate whether the sounds indicate that the two have either run into enemies or are having a sexual encounter.  “Knowing those two, it could be either one,” comment Lannon.  Aradyn points out that Kharole is intelligent enough to not cross Vallessa, so it must be the enemy.  Lannon hurries back to the previous intersection, yelling for those on the other side of the first barrier to get the others to come help.  Timothy hurries back with that message to those guarding the entranceway.

Back in the hallway, Narg and the man exchange a few more blows, one of Narg’s connecting.  The man calls out, and the woman then charges at Narg from the other direction.   Kharole lets loose a Magic Missile Spell into her, as Narg swings a sword back in her direction.   The woman again retreats, Kharole becoming invisible again, as she sees another woman join up with the fighter.
Kharole heads back down this side corridor to where Narg is while the two women head the other direction, this passageway linking up with the main passage where the man is fighting Narg.

Back at Crystull’s cabin, the first of three groups are sent out.  This group is comprised of the six adventurer prisoners, six of the ship’s crew, Isaiah and Adrianna.   They head south through the woods.  (The enemy cleric, watching this, goes to organize his troops.   He has his forces set up an ambush a quarter mile ahead of where this group is heading).    Jaime organizes together a group comprised of herself, her horse, Fiona's pegasus, all fourteen children, seven of the crew and the nine tavern and inn employees.   They start to head westward, to travel a short distance before heading south.  

Back on Southpoint Island, hearing Timothy’s emergency message, Serita turns back into her half-elvan form, and heads off with Blake, Fiona and Mojo.   The four of them, with Cassie’s owl, attempt to breach the first barrier, with  Blake, Fiona and Serita succeeding.  The owl and Mojo stay behind with Guice, Kruk and Timothy.  Kruk decides to tunnel his way past, and pulls a shovel out of his backpack to start digging (a rather futile gesture, but hit keeps him occupied).

Blake, Fiona and Serita quickly reach the Jabberwock room, and this same trio then successfully breaches the second barrier.   Hearing the sounds of battle ahead, Serita and Blake both go into high gear via their Boots of Speed, leaving Fiona behind.   At the intersection ahead, Narg gets in two good attacks on the man, causing him to stagger and nearly drop.  Just then, both enemy women move in to attack Narg.  The one in loose cloth clothing attacks him with a jo-stick, which Narg is able to dodge.  

She pulls back, to the wounded man leaning against the passageway wall, as the woman engages in battle with Narg.  The other two enemies quickly retreat down the passageway behind the fighter.    The woman proves to be a formidable opponent for Narg, and gets in one good blow to the two that she receives, the damage not effecting her much.   She then starts to withdraw down the hallway after her allies, parrying Narg’s attack as he presses onward, followed shortly thereafter by the invisible Kharole.  

At a four-way intersection the woman moves off to a side passageway, turning and running.  Narg runs after to catch up.   While this is going on, the first two enemies to retreat from the battle make their way through a secret doorway, into a room with the unconscious bodies of Hendry, Rainville and Cassie.   The woman heads over to the unconscious two men, grabs their hands and yells for them to “come back”.    

On the astral plane, Hendry senses this signal, and informs Cassie and his brother that they need to go back.  The three immediately move back to the location where they first were, and Rainville says “I now feel it too.  I’ll go, you stay with her as promised.”  He then vanishes, leaving Cassie with Hendry.   They immediately see a whirlwind of crimson dusk stir up, and surround them.  Cassie asks “What is happening?”  She is not comforted by his answer of “I don’t know”.

Rainville regains consciousness, seeing his sister-in-law Lisa beside him and a very wounded brother Carl standing against the wall, consuming a potion of extra healing.   Outside of this room, Carrie continues to run through a side bedchamber, kicking a bed into Narg’s way to slow him down.   She exits the room, into the central dining chamber.   He follows her to that room, seeing her disappear through a secret door in the far wall.    Carrie enters the room with her brothers and sister in law, telling them that “That half-elf fighter is right behind us.  What should we do?”  Rainville says “I think Hendry and I can salvage this.  Let me go back for him and the prisoner.”  Rainville then mentally exits.


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## Silver Moon (Jul 1, 2006)

Chapter Thirty-three, “Cassie’s Truce“, August 8th, 1018, 4:00 P.M. 

Outside in the dining room, Serita charges into the room, as Narg heads over towards the wall with  the secret door.  “About time somebody else got here,” says Narg.  "There’s a secret door here that they went through.”  Serita tells him to wait, that others are coming.   Blake next enters the room, followed by Kharole and Fiona.

Back on the astral plane, the crimson dust has enveloped Hendry, leaving Cassie alone.   Where it convalesces on his body it takes on an almost liquid appearance, and begins to cover over his arms and half of his head.  Hendry opens his mouth, and the crimson liquid flows in, preventing him from breathing.   

Rainville then reappears, seeing his brother in grave danger.  Rainville grabs Hendry’s hand, and the crimson immediately flows off of most of Hendry’s body, only to then flow back and begin to also flow over Rainville.   Cassie asks “What are you doing?”  Rainville answers “We’re trying to mentally force this away.”  “How can I help?” she asks, and Rainville thrusts his other hand towards her.  

She grasps it, as he tells her to “Mentally project it away from us.”   She does as he asks, telepathically hearing both Hendry and Rainville's thoughts.  The three of them give a focused blast of energy, with the synergised messsage of "Get Off".  The red creature immediately jumps off of them in multiple directions, then begins to reform into a whirlwind about fifteen feet away.

Hendry says “It’s Etronne, the mage that was killed.”  Rainville asks “How?  He should have dissipated across the astral plane…of course!  The anti-magic barrier kept him his essence contained. When it struck the barrier it bounced back and reformed.”  Hendry adds “And waited for  an opportunity to attack just one of us, hoping to overtake my mental form here, in order to then assume my physical form back on the prime material plane!”   

The crimson creature begins to start to move  back in towards them.   “We have to all go back,” says Rainville.  Hendry points towards Cassie, and says “Agreed, but then her allies will be able to find us.”  “They already have, let‘s go” is Rainville’s answer.   The two grasp Cassie’s hands, and the three mentally depart the plane.

Shortly thereafter, Narg opens up the secret door, to see a short hallway and darkened chamber beyond it.  A male voice yells out  “Stop.  We request mediation.”  Narg answers  “What?  We have nothing to talk about.”  The voice yells back  “We disagree.   We request mediation, and that Cassie-Andra be the mediator.”  

This request takes Narg and his four allies by surprise, Narg asks his allies “What should we do?”  Fiona answers “It’s probably just a trick.”   The voice from inside the room then yells “Hold on, I’m coming out.”  Blake is sent to invisibly wait outside of the passageway, as Fiona and Kharole position themselves in the corners of the room.   A handsome young man in his early twenties, wearing a bright red robe and expensive clothing exits from the corridor into the dining room.    

He introduces himself as Hendry, and says that will allow Cassie-Andra to act as a mediator for the two groups.   Narg orders him to go get her.   Hendry does this, carrying her unconscious body over to the dining table.   They notice that she is wearing only a cloth tunic, and is bald.  He explains that she has a potion in her system keeping her body unconscious, but that he has been in mental contact with her, and it was she who suggested mediation.   

Serita and Fiona are both suspicious about this actually being Cassie.   Fiona does a Detect Magic, which only shows her to be currently affected by Magic.   Hendry explains that this is due to the potion in her system, and says that a Neutralize Poison will be needed to negate it.   Serita reluctantly uses the spell, after which Fiona confirms the magical presence to be gone.    Cassie regains consciousness, and is helped off of the table.  

Cassie starts to explain who Hendry is.  Hendry requests to go get others in his party, to which they agree.   While he is gone they ask Cassie more questions, and she relays to them much of what Hendry and Rainville have told them.   She also warns them to be careful of the older sister, and not to trust her.    Hendry returns with his older sister and older brother.   He introduces them as Elaine and Carl.  Whereas Cassie had been told that the sister's name was Carrie, this leads to an angry outburst from Cassie about how she will not be lied to.  Hendry is confused, but then goes on to explain how Elaine is his sisters first name, but how he usually refers to her as Carrie, her middle name, which is what her Grandfather Carter always addressed her as.

The discussion after than gets tense, with the party demanding that Mark and Herculean also be brought out, with Elaine adamantly refusing.   Fiona suggests that one of them be brought in to confirm the safety of the others, to which Elaine agrees.  Fiona (with Blake following) heads into the room, finding Lisa and Rainville guarding an unconscious Mark.  Herculean is also unconscious, six inches tall, and contained in an energy cage.  The mimic Dave, in chair form, is in another energy cage.  Also in the room is the mangled body of these people’s father, Hendry Senior.   Fiona returns, and tells this to the others.  When she describes the body Narg asks “What happened to him?” Cassie answers “He touched my library.”

Meanwhile, the Sea Castle Adventurers arrive in the town.  They see that the church is surrounded by hobgoblins.   They circumnavigate around through the woods and up behind the home of the Silver Moon crewmember and navigator Smiddle, which is about one-hundred-fifty feet away from the church with a direct vantage point of the church from the southern windows.  They decide to use this building as their headquarters.   Both Aurora and Razou go to rest on Smiddle’s bed and couch respectively.   Torvald and Flashis watch the church, while Billy Bob and Hans discreetly sneak over to Han’s house for food and supplies.

Twelve miles to the west, in the forest, a quarter mile south of Crystull’s cabin, the chimera that had fought the other group now charges out of the forest towards crewmember Lloyd, who is leading the group of prisoners.    Simultaneous to this, ten elephant-footed giants rise up from their place of hiding eighty feet away, and start to charge toward the group.  

Several crew members yell “retreat”, and start to turn to run.    Adrianna, feeling tricked, turns towards the prisoners and fires an arrow into the back of the prisoner Gina.   The evil cleric Roger then hits Adrianna with a flame strike, hitting her for twelve points and frying her bow string.  The other five prisoners dive to the ground.  Isaiah organizes a rapid retreat, as the chimera moves to the end of the line of fallen prisoners, and stops, standing guard over them.   

The Southpoint island mediation session that Cassie is facilitating continues, including a lengthy side conversation about Narg’s unwashed socks and whether his possession of them constitutes a Chaotic Evil act.  Narg adds that one of the reasons he is anxious to get back to the city is so that he can put the socks outside for the hurricane to wash.   The comment about the weather leads to the group receiving information from the Hendry family that the storm's peak won't actually be for another thirty hours.

It soon becomes clear that the Hendry family does not necessarily want to either help or harm the party, the main thing they want is out of the caves they are now trapped in and then find a place to safely ride out the storm.   They agree to turn the prisoners over to the party, provided that all five of them and their father’s body are brought to a place of safety.  At that point they agree to send up a White flare, indicating that their team is out of the contest.  After much debate, the party agrees to these terms.  They then discuss how to get past the barriers, considering use of the Wand of Exchange.

Back at Crystul's cabin, the remaining adventurers (Blip, the Sea Castle Fiona, Freyland, Jerry, Kale Lono and Razou) decide to send the stagecoach down the road towards the approaching army, booby trapped to explode and filled with the enemy bodies.   Leaving the six monster prisoners tied to trees, they then head off south into the woods with the remaining five crew members.  

Within five minutes they meet up with the rapidly retreating first group that had headed off, hearing about the approaching monsters.   Freyland quickly exclaims “It’s not the Balrog…it better not be…I hope it isn’t”.  They conclude that they are in no shape to fight such a formidable collection of foes, especially with other enemies on the way, so head off west after their second group.    They find the trail of the second group a quarter mile west, and follow it as then turns to the south.

At Southpoint, the deal is explained to Rainville and Lisa, as Fiona and Kharole investigate the magic barriers holding Herculean and Dave.   Hendry says that he is unable to open them, although suspects that a Dispel Magic would do the trick.  But unfortunately that spell would also cause Herculean to enlarge to his full size, which would exceed the size of the room they are in.  

Further down the cave, it finally dawns upon Mojo that he is carrying the Sword of Cancellation, which can be used on the barriers!   A test of this shows that the barrier itself does not cancel out, but that the sword wielder is protected from the barrier’s effect while the sword is within it.   They send Timothy back to get Luekia, and head through the barriers one after another, sliding the sword back to the next person.   This gets the remaining eight characters, plus Cassie’s familiar through.  

This group makes their way towards the dining room, being surprised to find Narg and Serita sitting down at a table and talking to the enemy rather than fighting.   Mojo mutters to Lannon “What ever happened to the old Narg?”   Kharole, Narg and Serita introduce the others and explain the deal that was negotiated.

Hendry, glancing at all of the members of the Silver Moon now present, has a disturbed look on his face.   Cassie asks him “What is it”.  “You brought all of these people here,” he says.  “Right, we’re thorough” exclaims Mojo proudly.   “So,” asks Cassie.  Hendry replies “Then who did you leave with the prisoners and non-combatants?”  “Lots of other powerful team members,” Mojo assertively answers.  

Now suddenly worried, Cassie replies “Why do you ask?”  Hendry answers  “Because Roger left here with the Black Dragon, the Chimera and ten giants, to go there to rescue the prisoners, three hours ago!    This throws several members of the party into a panic, especially Vincenzo who realizes the immediate danger to his wife and children and that they may already be too late.   

They quickly organize everyone together, realizing that total number present now far exceeds the capacity of the two bags of holding.   They discuss leaving the Hendry family behind, which Elaine adamantly protests would violate the terms of their agreement, saying “If you leave us trapped here the prisoners have to stay too.”  

Cassie says “She’s right, that was our deal, and I personally don’t want to stay here a minute longer, so figure something else out.”   They conclude that with the high level cleric soon to return it is best not to leave anyone behind, with the possible exception of the mimic Dave.  

They decide to keep Herculean in small form, and Hendry uses his remaining Reduce spell to make their father’s body small and portable too.   They have everybody present dump all excess non-magical possessions, then plan how many at a maximum can fit into the two bags.   They conclude that they can get all but four inside provided that at least two of these four are the two large human clerics, Timothy and Vincenzo.   Serita very reluctantly agrees to let Timothy use her teleportation ring.  Vincenzo uses the belt of shape change to turn into a mouse, climbing into Timothy’s pocket.  

Serita assumes the form of a Faerie Dragon, landing on Timothy’s right shoulder, as the owl Deanna lands rides on his left shoulder.   Aradyn is to be carried on Timothy’s, bow extended, to deal with any immediate threats.  All of the others get into the two bags (setting a new capacity record).  They remind Timothy to get them out fast, as the air inside the bags will be used up in minutes with such a large group in each.  He then teleports to a spot near Crystul’s cabin, behind the duck blind.
They arrive beside the camouflaged Jeep.  Seeing and hearing nothing other than the sound of the rain, Aradyn exclaims “Oh no, we’re too late.”


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## Silver Moon (Jul 4, 2006)

Chapter Thirty-four, “The Balrogs are Coming!  The Balrogs are Coming!  Run and Hide!“, August 8th, 1018, 5:30 P.M. 

Serita flies towards the cabin, as everyone else is dumped out of the two bags of holding.  The others head towards the cabin as well, finding it empty.    Both Guice and Aradyn check the area for tracks, discovering tracks less than twenty minutes old of the elephant-footed giants, both approaching and then leaving the area.   Serita flies around the perimeter to confirm that none of the monsters are still nearby.    She sees something in the sky, slightly above the trees,  about three miles to the east, however due to the weather cannot make out what it might be.  

Blake investigates the Jeep, finding it to be in good condition.  Aradyn and Guice confirm that there does not appear to any indication of a struggle.   Shortly thereafter, they also find the tracks of the several people including children and a few horses traveling west.   They conclude that the party appeared to have left here before the monsters arrived.

Serita does reconnaissance again, to check on the location of the flying creature, which she assumes was the black dragon flying away.   Instead, she sees that the object is orange in color and is getting closer, but still over two miles away.   She lands and tells the party this.   Hendry says “I think I may know what it is.”   Guice yells out “We want to know”.  Hendry says “The cleric Roger has a Balrog for a bodyguard.”  Guice answers “I think I liked not knowing better.”  

Around two miles up the road to the east, the approaching army of monsters sees the stagecoach and horses ahead of them, having stopped as a result of a fallen tree across the road.  The fighter Kenneth, who had previously been the stagecoach driver, starts to move forward but is stopped by the lead mage who sends a thief to investigate instead.   

The booby traps are found and removed, and then the entire enemy party checks it out, finding it full of decapitated bodies.  "I think they left this here as a warning to us," the enemy mage leader comments.  Kenneth is particularly upset to find that the Gold team's hidden cache of magic has been found and removed.   They debate taking the horses, but since these are draft horses rather than riding horses they decide to leave them where they are.   The army continues west, more cautious now than before.

At the cabin two miles west, the group debates their next move.  Mojo adds “I vote that we fight whatever is not a Balrog.  I just want to say that now.”   “What’s a Balrog?” asks Jaime.   “A powerful fire-demon from hell,” is Narg’s answer.  “Sounds rather invigorating,” comments Kruk, prompting Lannon to hit him up the side of the head.   They suggest that Serita start up her “call lightning spell.

The members of the Hendry family confer among themselves.   Elaine demands that the Silver Moon comply with their part of the agreement, and find them a place of safety for the duration of the storm.  Narg angrily replies  “This was a place of safety up until the Balrog decided to show up.”   Fiona points out that the Hendrys still haven’t sent up their white flare to surrender yet, so for the party to be careful.   Narg suggests the flare wand be used now, to which Elaine answers “Not until you complete your side of the agreement".   Mojo blurts out “We could just kill them, and pry the wand from their cold dead fingers to use it.”   To say that this suggestion does not go over well with the Hendry family is an understatement.  Fiona tries to pass off Mojo’s comment as a fighter mouthing off, telling them to just ignore it.

The group resumes their discussion of what to do next, narrowing the choices down to stand and fight or run away.   Elaine again asks about being brought to a point of safety, to which the Bag of Holding is suggested.  Elaine says that her family refuses to be imprisoned inside of there.  Narg angrily states “Look Honey, I’m loosing my patience.  I suggest you get in the damned bag.”  She is about to slug him in response, but is restrained by her fighter brother Rainville, who whispers something in her ear that calms her down.

Aradyn has gone on ahead to scout out the road.   He returns fifteen minutes later, declaring that it is not just the Balrog coming, but with him is an army of over a hundred enemies, including ten of the giants, an armored centaur, hobgoblins, bugbears and many enemy adventurers, and that they are less than fifteen minutes away.   Mojo says “Let’s run away up the main road.”  It is pointed out to Mojo that that is where the enemy is coming from.  “Then can I hide in the Bag of Holding?” is his response.   “I think he’s got a point,” says Lannon, “Mark is our chief giant slayer and he is unconscious, Cassie is without spells, and several of the rest of us are in tough shape.”   

The group decides that retreating is the best option.  Since Serita has already begun her Call Lightning spell, they decide to leave her behind to cover their escape.  “Let’s see,” says Narg, “We all get to safety while leaving Serita to the Balrog.”  “A plan with no down side,” blurts Mojo.   The others all head west as Serita takes up a position on the building’s roof.  The Hendry family very reluctantly gets into the Bag of Holding, and only after Cassie agrees to go in there with them.

A little over a mile to the south, the first group who had escaped from the cabin reaches the main trail south.  On it, they see two sets of giant tracks one heading to the school and the other heading away from the school.   Jaime & Vincenzo's adopted son Oblong had been receiving some ranger training from Mark and Aradyn, and he successfully identifies the tracks heading south to the school to be the freshest and less than five minutes old.   The group concludes that heading in that direction may not be the best idea after all.   They decide that the closest place other than the school is Fiona’s house, which is about four miles away.   The group unanimously agrees to head there, especially since they have Fiona’s pegasus to help lead the way.

As the enemy comes into sight of the cabin, Serita brings down the first bolt of lightning into the Balrog, which does not appear to effect him much.    Since she is still in Faerie Dragon form she is rather small, so is able to fly over to a place of safety in the trees while continuing the spell.  The enemy approach cautiously, with Serita bringing down a second lightning bolt ten minutes later, again into the Balrog.   He acts slightly annoyed by it, but not really hurt.   She decided to pick another target for her next bolt.   

Ten minutes later, she sends the next lightning bolt into the Centaur, which appears to hurt it significantly.   Unfortunately, this time the Balrog is able to locate where the spell originated from, and heads directly towards her.  She tries to fly away, but is not successful as he uses his Power Word Stun ability to incapacitate her.    The Balrog picks up the stunned Faerie Dragon Serita, and brings her over to one of the high-level mages as a present.   As the mage starts to take her, the stun wears off, and she flies out of his hand.  She then uses her Ring of Teleportation to get the heck out of there.

Back at Serita’s home in the city atop the mountain, Narg’s butler Hobbson and his two assistants, Marcroft and Hardy are continuing with the cleaning and tidying of the house under the watchful guidance of Serita’s gorilla valet.   The white Faerie Dragon, wearing Serita’s ring, suddenly appears in the center of the room.  Not the slightest bit startled, Hobbson asks “Madame, shall I fetch your slippers.”  “Don’t bother,” she answers, “I’m off to bed.  Don’t wake me unless it’s an emergency,” as she flies off to her bedroom.  

Marcroft asks “What would she constitute as an emergency?”  Hobbson answers “Let’s see, something that is significant enough to justify waking up Serita when she wishes to sleep?   I can’t think of anything off hand.”   “What if this house gets attacked by the enemy?” asks Hardy.  Hobbson answers “Then we let the enemy wake her, so she’ll take it out on them rather than us.”

An hour later, the first group has traveled to the eastern edge of the lake, and is approaching the main road.   They reach the point where the trail crosses the stream.   The small bridge has long since washed way, and the normally five-foot wide stream has now been replaced by a thirty-foot wide raging river.   

Hydrophobic Freyland blurts out (in the Dustin Hoffman ‘Rainman‘ voice) “Not in the stream, definitely not in the stream.  Not in the stream.  Definitely not.”    The group notices some trees that have been knocked down by the storm, and find one wide enough to traverse the river.    Freyland chops the branches off the tree, then Adrianna, Kale, Jaime and Janet haul the log over.  With help from the horse and pegasus, they manage to get the log across and to get the group over one at a time, although this takes a while.

Once on the other side, the winds pick up to steady gusts of up to forty miles an hour, causing the group to get off of the road and more into the woods to shield them from the driving sheets of cold rain.    Traveling the final mile to Fiona’s house takes almost an hour.   They arrive just as the group with the “big guns” reach the river, which has widened even further but has not yet washed away the log bridge.  They cross, and continue onward, Fiona telling her allies “The others are heading for my house.”

As night approaches, the first group reaches Fiona’s cabin, with the other group arriving a half-hour later.   Cassie and the Hendry family are let out of the bag of holding, along with the still unconscious Mark.   The building itself is rather small, too small for a group of seventy, so the ship's crew and tavern employees settle into the stable and barn as the others set up in the house.  A few of the crew object to sharing the stable with the two mounts, until Fiona points out, referring to the pegasus, “It’s her home.  If you have a problem with sharing you can sleep in the woods.”

Given that they have now stopped, after several hours of hiking through thick forests during a major storm, they decide that “sleep" will be the main agenda item.  They can see lights on at the School, three miles away on the other end of the Lake, and conclude that this must be where the enemies are, so not to use any light sources at Fiona’s which could be seen by the enemy.  They decide that it is safe enough to get the wood stoves going in the house and stable, as the storm and the darkness will keep the smoke from being seen that far away.  Jerry and Blake volunteer to go do a quick reconnaissance of the school, borrowing the Rings of Invisibility from Kharole and Mojo.     

Jaime and Jentile cook up food for everybody inside the house and food is brought out to the barn for the tavern employees to cook up.  The party decides that there are enough non-spellcasters to take the night watches to allow all of the spellcasters to get a full night’s sleep.  When deciding on watches, Freyland blurts out "Definitely no watch's for me... too wet yeah too wet, gotta sleep and stay dry definitely stay dry and sleep."   They decide to allow him an “exemption for the mentally ill”.  The crew set up a watch rotation in the stable.  Not bothered as much by the in climate weather, the lizardmen are assigned paired watches outside along the perimeter.

Before going to bed the clerics exhaust their healing spells onto the various spellcasters as needed, and the Ring of Regeneration and Fiona’s Ioun Stone of Healing are given to those on watch duty, with instruction to pass them on with the watch changes.  The healer D.C. decides to join Lannon and Narg on the first watch, to get a “healing tea” cooked up on the stove for those who need it.  “Fine, just so you also keep the coffee flowing,” is Narg’s answer.  After a very tiring day, with them now in a warm dry building with a hot meal in their bellies, the children all fall right asleep.  The adults follow soon after, with the whole cabin quiet by 9:00 P.M.


----------



## Silver Moon (Jul 7, 2006)

Chapter Thirty-five, “The Hendry Family Escapes“, August 8th, 1018, 9:30 P.M. 

Back at Smiddle’s house, Aurora and Razou Sea Castle wake up. Approximately half of their magical items now appear to be functional, and the writing has reappeared in her Traveling Spell Book. Studying by candlelight in a closet (to keep the building dark) she memorizes an Invisibility spell. Since she does not have either of her team’s thieves with her, and since Hans is the one most familiar with the church building, she decides to send him to discretely scout out the church. She loans him her Bracers of Defense to replace his noisy armor, then casts the Invisibility spell on him, instructing him to be careful and take his time. She then instructs Billy Bob, Flashis and Torvald to get some sleep once Razou is finished praying for his spells. She then goes back to memorize more magic-user spells. 

At 11:00 P.M., Back at Fiona’s cabin Adrianna, Lono and Kale are woken up to take second watch, and those on first watch go to sleep. Blake and Jerry finally return, informing those on watch that the school buildings are occupied by the hundred or so enemies, as they saw bugbears, hobgoblins, giants, humans the centaur and a half-orc. They did not see the Balrog but also did not go out of their way looking for it. They reported that at least forty of the enemy were alert, awake and apparently expecting to be attacked during the night. The two get a quick bite to eat and then immediately fall asleep. 

August 9th, 1:00 A.M. 

Guice, Jaime and Kruk are woken up to take the third watch. They are told of the results of Blake and Jerry’s scouting mission. Those from second watch then go back to sleep. 

Back at Smiddle’s, Hans returns from the church, apologizing for taking so long, but explaining that he had to keep waiting by doorways until hobgoblin guards opened and closed doors to get in and out. He reports that there are ten hobgoblins guarding the front door and another six by each of the two back doors. Inside of the church, in the main sanctuary, are four more hobgoblin guards alert and guarding the room where four enemy adventurers, including both of their spellcasters, are sleeping on the church pews. She asks for detailed descriptions of these people, which he supplies. 

Hans continues, telling her that in one of the two rear rooms are another twelve hobgoblins, all sleeping. The other rear room, the one with the guards outside of the door, has three prisoners guarded by two enemy fighters, one awake and one asleep. He reports that their prisoners are three of the toughest members of the Silver Moon, Buella, Furynick and Silas, who should be strong enough to get out on their own once their bonds are cut. Aurora tells him that he did an excellent job scouting, and for him to get a few hours sleep. She says that they need to wait until everyone in their group is somewhat rested and for their last few magic items to become functional before mounting a rescue mission. 

Back at Fiona's, Hendry has waited patiently while pretending to be asleep. At the 3:00 A.M. shift change, those from third watch wake up Aradyn, Luekia and Mojo. While these Silver Moon characters briefly converse with each other Hendry softly casts his “Unseen Servant” spell. He then gives the servant an opened invisible vial, containing more of the same potion that had been used on Southpoint Island to keep their prisoners unconscious. The servant pours the contents of the vial into the beverages within Aradyn and Mojo's mugs. Hendry nudges his family awake. They then wait patiently for the next ten minutes waiting for Luekia to get herself something to drink, unaware that the stoic monk does nothing on guard duty except watch. Mojo falls asleep, followed shortly thereafter by Aradyn. Luekia soon notices this, forcing Hendry to shift to his back up plan. He casts a Otiluke's Resilient Sphere spell on her, which envelops her in a shimmering globe. She struggles inside of the sphere, but is unable to break it, with sound also not traveling out of the barrier. 

Whereas the sphere has only a seven minute duration the Hendry family quickly move it towards the door. Little Wisdonie, Jamie’s youngest, starts to stir but does not waken. Keeping the front door open as short a time as possible, they roll the sphere outside. Hendry casts a Haste spell on his brother Carl, who along with the monk Lisa, rapidly roll the sphere away from the building as far as they can before it dissolves. Avoiding being seen by the Lizardmen Lars and Spudnick, who are on guard duty outside, the other members of the Hendry family quickly join them. 

Weapons drawn and surrounding Luekia, they immediately tell her that they wish her no harm, but have no choice but to escape given that Mojo had threatened their lives. Luekia says "He is all talk, you would not have been harmed." Elaine answers "He seemed very serious to me, and the stakes are too high for us to take that risk. Come with us peacefully, and I promise that you will not be harmed. We will release you at the earliest opportunity." 

Luekia weighs all of her options, evaluating that with five-to-one odds she will is unlikely to defeat them in combat. She evaluates that their monk is probably at least as fast as her making escape unlikely. Yelling out from this distance, given the noise from the rain and strong winds, would also probably be futile. She therefore agrees to their terms and asks where they are planning to take her. They answer that there is a cabin a mile east that is one of their designated escape locations. Luekia accompanies them, choosing not inform them that Araby's cabin has already been breached by the party. During this journey she is surrounded, with the other monk walking directly beside her. 

Meanwhile, back at Smiddle’s house, the rest of the Sea Castle Adventurers are all woken up by Flashis. They have a quick breakfast, and review the assault plan in detail, as success will depend upon timing and watching for key signals. Their goal is to rescue all prisoners while taking little to no damage themselves. The fighters are reminded that killing the enemy is fine, but that is to be a secondary priority. Razou asks “What about damage to the church?” Aurora answers “Buildings can be replaced, people can’t. Besides, the storm will extinguish any small fires that might start.” Flashis whispers to Torvald “Mandize would object to damaging a Lawful Good church.” The Viking whispers back “Be quiet, he’s not here this time to limit our options.” 

At around 4:00 A.M., the Hendry family arrives at Araby's, quickly discovering the devastation from Kharole's earlier fireball as well a few of the dead goblins that the storm has knocked down from the treetop lofts. They find that the two rear rooms are still fairly dry, so Carl, Elaine and Lisa bring Luekia to one while Hendry and Rainville head into the other. 

Back at the Ukko church, the Sea Castle Adventurers initiate their attack, Aurora again uses her standard team strategy of paired teams with specific assignments. All three teams move into position. They then have to wait a painstaking half-hour until a hobgoblin guard change occurs for the team of Hans and Razou to invisibly enter the building. 

At Fiona's house, Cassie hears the voices of Hendry and Rainville in what appears to be a dream. She is back with them on the astral plane, although all three of their bodies are less solid than they were during her last encounter on this realm. "Cassie, we had to speak to you again," states Rainville. "Why" she asks, somewhat confused. Hendry speaks "We have gone. Our sister and brother felt that we could no longer trust your team, and feared for our safety." "Did you leave the wand?" Cassie asks. 

A brief pause follows. Rainville answers "No. Elaine feels that since your team failed to fulfill the second half of our bargain we were under no obligation to complete ours. Consider the fact that we freed all of our hostages as agreed and that you helped free us from being trapped in the caves to be sufficient." "But that was not the full agreement," says Cassie. 

Hendry speaks "Our agreement was tenuous at best. Members of both of our groups were reluctant, and untrusting of the others, regardless of how the three of us felt. As far as our sister and brother we concerned, the agreement ended the minute your fighter Mojo threatened to kill us, and to quote him ‘Take the wands from our cold, dead bodies‘." Cassie replies "Mojo was bluffing." They answer "We could not take that chance. Elaine and Carl both believed him, and others of your party appeared to be of the same frame of mind. You saw how Elaine and Narg almost came to blows. It is best that we left when we did." 

Rainville interjects "We do need to thank you for forcing us to go into your Bag of Holding. Apparently, when we were in there, the cleric Roger returned to the cave on Southpoint Island, and finding us gone, went looking for us. By being in another dimension, he was unable to find us." Hendry continues "Yes, thank you for agreeing to go into the bag with us. Until that point our sister would have been unwilling to, feeling that your friends would have just left us in the bag until the air ran out." "No," answers Cassie, thinking of a specific situation once with Milo "we only do that to our own party." 

Hendry continues "We ask that your party does not try to hunt us down. We wish to find a safe place to hide for the next two days until Morgarth comes to get us." "You feel that Morgarth will come for you?" Cassie asks. Hendry answers "Yes. Once the storm has passed, and the barrier comes down, he will come to designated locations to pick up whoever is waiting there. If we still have our wands, indicating that we have not lost, we should be able to convince him to help to resurrect our father. All that we ask is that you do not come after us. We were careful to do no permanent harm to those who were on watch when we escaped." 

Cassie asks "And who were they?" Hendry answers "The elvan archer, and the fighter Mojo. We exercised great restraint in doing no real harm to him, given his threats against us. Regrettably, we had to bring your female monk with us, but will release her as soon as we end this conversation with you. We are now at the cabin a mile to your east but we will leaving here shortly. 

We have more information for you as well. We have been in contact with Roger. When we returned to this plane he was partially here, still looking for us. Although we could not lie to him without his knowing it, we were careful of our words so as to not betray your current location. He asked what had happened. We told him of Etronne's attack on us on this plane. He was initially angry that I had not allowed the evil mage to take me over, saying that a fifteenth level mage was of far more use to him than a seventh. I reminded him that I, like all people, have a strong reflex towards self-preservation. Right now Roger has gone off on this plane to look for Etronne, which is why we felt it safe to contact you now, while they are both distracted." 

Rainville continues "We told him how Etronne attacked Hendry simultaneous to over a dozen of your team's top adventurers breaching the caves on Southpoint Island. Roger had seen the remains of the Minotaur and Jabberwock. We truthfully stated that the other three of our group engaged your team in battle, but how it was unrealistic to expect them to have won against such a great force. Thus, we implied that they had been defeated, without having to explain our agreement." 

Hendry continues "We went on to again truthfully explain how your team had us trapped in the Bag of Holding, but that we managed to escape after finally being let out. He asked where you were now. We said that your group traveled south from the cabin in the woods, with the planned destination of the school buildings on the west side of the lake. They then changed their minds once they found the giant tracks, and headed east from that point towards the mountain, with the city at its top. Based on that, he now thinks that that is where you have gone. Roger is afraid for his own safety, and has recalled the Balor Demon (the Balrog) to him at the cave on Southpoint Island. He apparently plans to stay there with his three bodyguards, the demon, dragon and chimera, until Morgarth returns." 

Rainville continues "All of his other troops will leave their present location early in the morning with the destination of the city. Roger has told us to wait for them here, to join their assault team. We will obviously be gone by then, to another location". 

Cassie starts to suggest a place, but Hendry interrupts "Thank you, but we have a place in mind. If Roger should find us again we will simply tell him the truth, to a point, that our location where we are now was found out by a monk in your party, forcing us to relocate. Be mindful, that the road this army will be traveling on takes them directly past your present location." "So we will have to leave," Cassie comments. "At least temporarily," Hendry answers. 

Hendry continues "Do us one favor. The mage leader of the army coming after you in the morning, clean his clock for us. It was he who ruined our father's initial attack plan, and who kept up the Wall of Force that you beat father into." "Sorry about that," answers Cassie. "We do not blame you," says Rainville, "we blame that mage. Please get revenge for us. 

Also, when talking to your party, please make them aware that we have told you all of this, and what we have kept your location from Roger. Perhaps that will keep them from hunting us down. Remind them that when we left your building we not only did no permanent harm to any of your group, but also that we did not take anything. Those backpacks filled with the magic items that you have obtained were stilling in plain sight for the taking, which our brother Carl clearly wished to, but we left them where they were. We even left you a present, the invisible vial that held the sleep potion in it. 

The tone of Hendry's voice changes "This is probably the last time we will ever speak. We will not be able to enter your thoughts once we are further apart. We would not have been able to do this now if you had been awake, or if you had been wearing that magical crown of yours." Cassie says "Well, you can always write. I would welcome either of you in my home." 

Hendry replies "Perhaps, but many of your party would be unlikely to ever allow us back." "Mojo, pay no attention to him," she answers. "I was thinking of the feisty Druid," answers Hendry. "Serita, she's just a bitch," comments Cassie. "But a possessive one," answers Rainville, "I am sure she would never allow us to return." "I truly wish that we had met under other circumstances," says Hendry, and he appears to be about to break into tears. The three say goodbye, and the three drift away from the astral plane. Back at Fiona's, Cassie still remains asleep.


----------



## Silver Moon (Jul 11, 2006)

Chapter Thirty-six, “I got my idiot, you get yours", August 9th, 1018, 5:00 A,M. 

At the Y-shaped Ukko church, another twenty minutes have passed before Hans is able to get to the rear door of the church, outside of the room where the prisoners are kept, while Razou makes his way over to a side window near the altar.  Razou quietly opens the window a crack, and then activates his Wand of Wonder to create a signal outside, to alert his team's next pair to take action.

The wand causes a flock of ten chickens to appear outside of church.   The noise from the birds immediately distract the outside guards, who look at the birds rather than towards the woods.   Billy Bob and Torvard charge out of the woods, and cover half of the distance to the church before they are seen by one of the guards.  At this point Billy Bob lets loose with his M-1 Rifle as Torvald lets out a loud Viking yell, waving his Bastard Sword in the air.   Inside, as the enemies wake up to the sound of gunfire, Razou centers a Silence Spell on female mage enemy leader. Hans continues to wait impatiently by the rear door.  Razou then starts to move across the church near the altar, towards the opposite wall.

While the enemies outside are now distracted from the east side of the church, Flashis and Aurora charge out from behind the nearest building to the west under Haste spells, to get to a side window as quickly as possible.   Inside the church, Razou casts a Hold Person, which stops two of the enemy adventurers, the cleric and a thief, as the four hobgoblin guards and the enemy monk charge toward him, weapons out.   The rear door opens, with one enemy exiting, as Hans slips in.  Razou was watching for this, and casts a Continual Light spell, blinding the enemy monk, as well as temporarily blinding the first two hobgoblins that are almost to him. This light spell is also the signal for Flashes and Aurora to start the next phase of the attack.

Outside, Torvald slashes into the few hobgoblins still standing, as Billy Bob lets loose a volley of bullets towards the hobgoblins by the rear door, cutting down two, and causing the other four to retreat around the corner.    Razou has now moved to a side window, and is attacked by two hobgoblins, one hitting.  Outside, Flashis uses his +4 Battleaxe to smash open this side window, as Aurora moves into position outside to cast spells through this opening.   

Knowing what is coming next, Razou dives straight out this window.  Flashis tries to catch him, unsuccessfully, with Razou taking five points of damage and dislocating his shoulder as he strikes the ground.  One hobgoblin also dives out the window after Razou, Flashis picks up his axe again to deal with the monster while also protecting Aurora. Once Razou has cleared the window Aurora casts the first in a series of three successive Fireballs into the building.   

Hans, still invisible and keeping his presence secret from the heavily armored fighter still in the room, uses a +3 Dagger of Sharpness loaned to him to cut Furynick’s bonds.   Hans then places his own magical scimitar into Furynick’s hand.   Not knowing or caring who his new “guardian angel” is, Furynick attacks the enemy fighter, as Hans cuts loose Beulla and Silas.  

Outside, both Torvald and Billy Bob move in the direction of the rear door, as Razou quickly makes his way towards the woods.  As soon as the four hobgoblins hiding behind the wall see Torvald and Billy Bob approaching they run away in the other direction.  Billy Bob raises his rife to fire, but Torvald stops him, saying “Save your ammunition, we may need it later.”  Torvald then kicks open the rear door of the church, the splintered door barely missing Hans.   

The held, blind and/or silenced enemies inside the main sanctuary are sitting ducks for Aurora’s three fireballs, each centered slightly differently so that each of the enemy adventurers will be  caught in at least two fireballs.  The fireballs explode for a combined total of one-hundred-twelve points of damage.  Aurora is thankful that the building is a stone structure, protecting her party outside from brunt of the fireball backlash, as all of the sanctuary windows are blown out, several wooden support beams collapse and most of the roof is blown to smithereens.  The rest of the roof starts to catch fire, as do many of the wooden furnishings inside.

Thankfully, the unarmored Furynick was previously captured by a Hold spell rather than being beaten unconscious, so still has enough hit points to survive the devastating first three attacks from the enemy fighter.  Outside the door, Torvald sees that Furynick is in trouble, and charges into the room to attack the opponent, while Hans hurries Buella and Silas out the door.  Torvald and the enemy both exchange double attacks in the next round, each with their respective bastard sword and each hitting once.  The enemy laughs, and yells out "Finally, a near-equal opponent for Donovan the Great."

The hobgoblins that had been sleeping in the other rear room rush out that door to escape the burning building, and run towards the woods.  Two of these see Aurora and Flashis, and break off to go attack them.   Flashis swings his axe into the first one.  The axe gets fully imbedded in the monster's chest, killing it.  This causes the other hobgoblin to reconsider.  As this hobgoblin starts to run towards the woods Flashis tosses a dagger into the creature's side, causing him to trip.  Before the hobgoblin can get up again Flashis is upon him, finishing the creature off with a shortsword.

It soon becomes obvious that both Torvald and Furynick are totally focused on their fight with Donovan, completely ignoring the burning and collapsing roof above them.  Hans has to hit Furynick to get his attention, becoming visible, and yells for Furynick to “Get out now.”  Furynick begrudgingly backs off, Hans pulling him out of the door.  Hans tells Billy Bob "I got my idiot, you get yours".  Billy Bob moves in and points his rifle, but his field of vision towards the enemy is completely blocked by Torvald.  

Billy Bob waits for an opening, then lets loose a three-bullet burst into the enemy fighter’s leg, causing him to fall to the ground.   Billy Bob then grabs Torvald’s shoulder, as says “We've gotta go. Leave him to the fire.”  “A more fitting punishment indeed,” answers the Viking, who follows him comrade out.   As they head towards the woods Torvald glances back at the raging inferno behind them, and asks Billy Bob  “What was that she told Razou about small fires?”   Billy Bob answers “Hey, he bought that line, didn’t he.  What did you expect from somebody named ‘Aurora’?”

Once Razou sees that all the hostages and their rescuers are free, he activates the signal wand that the enemy Druid Spring had given to them the previous day.    This creates a huge green firework display in the sky above them, ending with a loud explosion.   In addition to their now having fulfilled their obligation to the druid, this also signals Aurora and Flashis that the others have completed their mission, and to break off the attack.    Still hasted, the two start to head back towards the town to a pre-determined meeting place, with Flashis stopping briefly to grab up a burning chicken.  Aurora gives him an odd look as Flashis, still running at top speed, starts to rip the burning feather off.  The dwarf glances to her, and says “It's for breakfast, I love roasted chicken”.  

Immy and the four crewmembers with him are woken up by the sound of the explosion and a green fireworks display in the sky above the tavern.   He sends two of the crew to investigate, with them returning to say that the church is on fire, and that they saw a wagon with two people heading out on the peninsula towards the signal tower.   Immy heads out alone to investigate, finding the storm has extinguished most of the fire.  He makes his way through the debris, finding two bodies.  On one of the bodies he finds a violet-colored signal flare.   He then follows the wagon tracks for the four miles to the tower.

Four miles to the east, the green flare and subsequent explosion also wakes the party at Fiona's house.   Those who awake are surprised to see nobody awake on guard duty.  They soon discover Luekia and the Hendry family are gone, and that both Aradyn and Mojo are unconscious.   Fiona Sea Castle informs the group that the Green Flare is the one that her team leader Aurora had agreed to fire up for the druid Spring.  This therefore means that the Sea Castle Adventurers are safely on the island, and over in the direction of the town.


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## Silver Moon (Jul 14, 2006)

Chapter Thirty-seven, “Another Negotiation", August 9th, 1018, 6:00 A.M. 

The previously unconscious Mark is finally waking, the poison having worn off. Jaime says “I’m going to water and feed Mark.” “What is he? A pet?” comments Mojo. Jaime explains that since he has been unconscious for half-a-week, they need to get him functional again. 

Cassie wakes up and blurts out “The bad guys are coming.” “What do you mean?” asks Mojo. Fiona says “Cassie, you have to talk slower for the fighters to understand.” Cassie does an “information dump” regarding about her conversation on the astral plane with Hendry and Rainville. 

She tells the group that Aradyn and Mojo have the sleeping poison in their systems, and it will need neutralized, and that Luekia should be on her way back. She tells them that the monsters think they are in the city, and that is their destination. Narg suggests that the group mount a “last stand at Serita’s still.” The clerics neutralize the poison in Aradyn and Mojo’s system, which causes them to wake up. 

The storm has intensified, making travel more difficult for both friends and foes. Fiona notices that the lakefront, normally one-hundred feet away from the cabin is now only seventy feet away, as the lake itself is nearly ten-feet higher than usual, breaking the previous high-water mark by a couple of feet. She isn’t terribly worried, as she built her cabin on a hill, so it is still twenty feet above the water level. The group decides that, since the enemy are all leaving the school and traveling east on the road on the south of the lake, that the crew, the children and the other non-combatants could simultaneously travel west to the school on the north side of the lake, and stay there for the duration. 

Several of the children, especially Janet, are offended at being called non-combatants, and being sent home. Narg tries to tell her that “You’d change your mind once you see a Balrog.” She disagrees. Narg then tries to tell her that what is going to happen to the enemy “Won’t be pretty and is not a sight for children.” This again fails, Janet reminding him that the children both witnessed and participated in the violence on the Molly III, as well as seeing Vincenzo naked, which was also not a pretty sight. 

Next Narg tries to play to her ego, which also fails. Jerry suggests to Narg to “Quit while you’re behind. You can’t expect to get away with B.S.ing a teenager. Even when you tell them the truth they think you’re B.S.ing them. Let Jaime handle this.” To this Narg whole-heartedly agrees, concluding that he is not good with children, and reminding himself why he supported Vallessa’s decision two years earlier to send her teenage daughter Dani off to be with their spin-off group Da’Bears. 

Jaime convinces Janet that she is needed to protect the other children, and how the crew are all capable fighters too, but are going as well. Janet asks her aunt, in reference to the enemy “You’re going to kill all of them, aren’t you?” Jaime evades the question, other than personally promising to rescue Janet’s mother (and Jaime’s sister) Beulla. 

The group quickly looks through the piles of obtained magic, picking out the flares and a few other items needed, and sending the rest on with the group heading to the school. They decide to also send Adrianna, D.C. and Kale with this group, along with both of the mounts. They debate sending Freyland, him blurting out “Definitely gotta go, not stay here, gotta go gotta go.” They ask if he wants to accompany the kids, him responding “Not with the kids, not with the kids.” 

The group realizes that Serita has not rejoined their group yet, “Not that I really care,” adds Narg. They conclude that if anyone in the party is capable to taking care of themselves, it is Serita, so not to worry. Luekia returns, telling Aradyn and Mojo “I hope you realize now that coffee is bad for you.” “Only when it’s spiked with poison,” retorts Aradyn. 

Aradyn heads outside to scout on the road. He returns shortly, telling them that a group of approximately four-dozen enemies are coming down the road. Five of these are humans, and four of those five are former prisoners of theirs, the fifth being the fighter who escaped from the stagecoach battle. The others are all monsters, approximately half bugbears and half hobgoblins. 

The group argues about what to do about these, as Jerry heads out to watch the road. Lono mutters about how they wouldn't be in this situation if he had been allowed to deal with the prisoners as he saw fit. Jerry returns, saying that most of the enemies have stopped on the main road, at the end of the long driveway to Fiona’s house. Four enemies, two humans and two hobgoblins have continued east down the main road, and a pair of humans are now walking up the driveway towards the house. Lono bursts out an "I told you so," and turning to Isaiah, says "This is all your fault." 

They see the two approaching, recognizing them are the cooperative cleric prisoner Barry and the fighter who had escaped the stagecoach battle. The two are holding a while flag. Narg and a few others confront him outside, the two enemies asking if they could get out of the weather and go inside. Luekia opposes this, but Narg points out that “there are two of them and twenty-three of us, I think we can handle it.” This group of twenty-three characters is now comprised of Aradyn, Blake, Blip, Cassie, Fiona, Fiona Sea Castle, Freyland, Guice, Herculean, Isaiah, Jaime, Jerry, Kharole, Kruk, Lannon, Lono, Luekia, Mark, Mojo, Narg, Razou, Timothy & Vincenzo. 

They go inside. Barry introduces his ally as Kenneth, and says they want to talk. Freyland interrupts with “We can talk, definitely talk.” Barry goes on to say that “You have several things that we would like, and we have information that you would like, so perhaps we can work out an agreement.” Luekia totally opposes this, feeling that this is just a stalling tactic, while the other enemies get into position. 

Jerry points out that “They’re probably on the level. Back at the tavern both Bruce and Immy overheard considerable dissention between Kenneth and the other leaders. These guys are probably not working with them.” Barry and Kenneth go on to explain how indeed, they want nothing to do with the other enemies, that Kenneth and his troops only went with them the previous afternoon in order to rescue his two teammates. 

Timothy does an alignment detection on them, finding Kenneth to be Lawful Neutral, and Barry primarily Lawful Neutral, with an emanation of Lawful Evil from around one of his three holy symbols. Barry explains that he follows three deities, the two Lawful Neutral Egyptian deities Ptah (Greater god "Opener of the Ways") and Horus (Lesser god "The Avenger"), and out of an obligation, the Babylonian deity Druaga (Lesser god "Ruler of the devil world"). He says that his other two deities understand this obligation, and have not problem with this agreement. [Note- his co-operation with the party has been largely due to his following of his main deity, Horus, as he recognizes their current quest as one of vengeance.] 

The group asks what items they want. Barry answers “The head of our leader Jo-Ann, the three gold wands and the tracking device.” They explain that these items are needed for them to leave the island. “When you meet with Morgarth,” asks Cassie. “Correct, he is our only way off the Island,” answers Barry. Given the current hostilities, the group is obviously reluctant about giving them anything, until Barry says that they will not need the items until two mornings later, and could come up with a designated meeting place to give them the items then. “You would trust us to do that?” asks Narg. “We would trust his word” answers Barry, pointing to Isaiah (Isaiah's having kept Lono from killing this man has apparently made a favorable impression). 

Luekia is still totally opposed to any deal. Cassie adamantly refuses to give back the head, reminding the group of how many past dead enemies have returned to attack them. The party questions why these two really want her back, with Barry giving an unconvincing story about their past association with her and sense of obligation. Kenneth finally reveals that they need her head back in order to cast a Speak with Dead to find the place and time to meet Morgarth at, as she knows it and they don’t. This revelation seems to elevate a lot of the tension in the room, with the group saying that they will allow Barry to cast that spell now, for all of them to hear the answer, and then they will have a deal. Barry says that would be good, and that they have other valuable information about the other enemies. 

Luekia again objects, saying “we already know the other information they have. That Roger has returned to Southpoint Island with the Balrog, dragon and chimera, and that the enemy are at the school are heading east, and think we are at the city atop the mountain.” Barry and Kenneth are surprised at the party knowing all of this. 

Kenneth adds “That is all true. But we can also help you in other ways, as they have sent us on two hours ahead of them as scouts. Our team used this particular cabin as our headquarters for the three days up until yesterday morning, and know how we left it. When they reach the main road out front we could tell them that there was no evidence of you here, and then later find fictitious tracks up to the mountain, as I am the only one of either group with any tracking abilities.” 

Mojo presses “And why would you do this. You’re all working for Morgarth.” “We’ve never even met the man,” answers Barry, continuing with “You’ll also note that our team was always on a different mission than the rest. The other nine teams had a mission to defeat you. Our mission was only to obtain the fifteen of Morgarth’s magic items that your group had.” Fiona, remembering the attack on her and Parisi by this team at the school three days earlier, reminds them of that. 

“Our assassin was after the magic belt, that was the sole objective of that attack,” states Barry. Blip is still opposed to returning the Tracking Device to them, as it tracks her broom. She suggests “If we give it back, let’s break it first.” Barry answers “That won’t matter, as Morgarth has many more. We need it intact, and the wands, to show that we were not defeated.” 

Cassie suggests giving back two wands, but firing off the third prior to that. Barry adds “We obviously would want all three to declare us the winners, however I suppose we accurately could claim that you got one wand from Jo-Ann.” Guice comments “Does this mean if we have all of the wands we will be declared the winners?” 

The group agrees to the arrangement. The Speak with Dead spell is done, confirming that Morgarth will pick them up on the southern face of Southpoint Island at noon on the 11th . The group agrees to meet with the pair at a rendezvous point at the Ukko church for 8:00 AM on the 11th. The two agree to lead their team into a safe hiding place until then. The party asks where, to which they say “We told the other group that we would only scout for them until the road forks off to both the mountain and to the town. From there we would be going to the town as the church seems like the safest place to wait out the storm. I imagine that that is what we will do.” 

When asked about the other four who had continued east twenty minutes earlier, the party is told “That is the remainder of the Pink squad, the two humans and two hobgoblins that you had captured at the tavern a day-and-a-half ago. They consider this fight over, and are heading back to the town to find a safe building to hole up in during the storm. They walked with us this far, feeling it safer than traveling by themselves, but had no desire to wait out front of here in the rain for the next two hours, so they continued on.” 

The final information given out by these two is that the upcoming enemy group of seventy-five is comprised of the centaur from the White Squad, and the remnants of the Orange, Red and Turquoise Squadrons. The centaur has no wand, and an Orange wand was already used, so they are traveling under the combined banners of Red and Turquoise. If the party fires off wands of those colors, it should have a detrimental effect on that group’s morale. 

They also point out that the giants belong to a near-extinct race, and that Morgarth instructed them to follow the orders of only Roger and Etronne, neither of whom are currently with this group. Cassie suggests using their Belt of Shape Change to impersonate one of these enemies to redirect these monsters, but Barry points out that “The problem with that plan is that the giants have a very strong sense of smell. They would know you aren‘t who you appear to be.” 

The two leave, and head out front, as the party continues to plan when and where to attack these enemies, with Narg also staring to plan the attack on Southpoint Island two days hence. The group decides to wait until they reach whatever destination they decide on to enlarge and revive the Cloud Giant Herculean. Possible places discussed to attack this group are either from behind after they pass by this location, while they are climbing the mountain, while they are traveling through the mile-long cave tunnel to the city, or after they arrive in the city itself. No firm decision is reached, although the tunnel seems to appeal to the majority. 

Based upon the information given to them by both this pair and what was told to Cassie by Hendry and Rainville, it sounds like this group of seventy-five enemies is the only group now actively searching for them. They conclude that once this group is defeated, the only agenda items would be to rescue Beulla, Furynick and Silas (since they are unaware that the Sea Castle Adventurers have already done this) and then the big showdown on Southpoint Island two days later.


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## Silver Moon (Jul 23, 2006)

*Chapter Thirty-eight, “Tunnel Battle“ , August 9th, 1018, 8:00 A,M. *

Back at the peninsula by the harbor, Immy investigates the tower, hearing two male voices in the room at the top.  He decides to return to the tavern, the hike back taking him nearly two hours due to the weather.

At Fiona’s house, the group of Aradyn, Blake, Blip, Cassie, Fiona, Fiona Sea Castle, Freyland, Guice, Isaiah, Jaime, Jerry, Kharole, Kruk, Lannon, Lono, Luekia, Mark, Mojo, Narg, Razou, Timothy & Vincenzo decide to head to the cave tunnel to the city, to set up an ambush for the enemies.   They head off, traveling on foot to the cave entrance, and make their way to a central point in the tunnel.  

Luekia is given one of each of the blue, red, turquoise, and pink colored flares, and continues on towards the city.  Upon reaching the city she starts moving around the city, launching flares from different spots.   She sends up the four flares, included both the turquoise and red squadrons.  Unfortunately this does not occur until  after the enemies have already entered the cave, who therefore are unaware that their teams have now officially surrendered.   One positive consequence of this action, is that it gets Serita's attention, who flies out into the city to find out what is going on (still in Faerie Dragon form).  She soon runs into Luekia, and the two of them exchange information (which goes by really fast, as both characters belong to the same player so the DM does not require her to talk to herself).

The monsters begin moving through the cave in six groups of approximately ten-to-twelve per group; each group spaced about 100 feet apart from the next. The party waits until the first group has passed a cave where most of the thieves are hiding, and are between two caves with groups of primarily fighters before they let lose with a pair of fireballs into the first set of monsters.   

The fireballs drop all of the hobgoblins with this group, and the group's leader, the armored centaur, rides back to the next group of monsters, which is comprised of bugbears.  Again, a party fireball hits part of this group, dropping most of them.  The armored centaur survives, but is seriously wounded.  The only surviving bugbear, apparently this group's leader, starts to help the centaur back.   Blake moves forward with his Boots of Speed, and backstabs the centaur, killing him.   The bugbear starts to retreat, but Blake manages to drop him.  

Lannon then sees the next group of monsters, comprised of the elephant footed giants and the enemy female mage Gina, who all start to rush forward.   Lannon decides that taking them on alone probably is not the best strategy, and lets loose one of his lime green signal flares into them.  This has the desired effect, striking one giant in the center of his chest and dropping him, with the fireworks raining down upon all of the rest.  Lannon and Blake manage to dodge a few stray fireworks that make their way back to where he is standing.  The party moves forward, seeing that the group of giants is retreating, with two helping the severely wounded one along.

The monsters are soon out of sight.  Narg curses that the ambush did not work as expected, as the others are getting away.  It is pointed out that the party could still teleport, and meet them at the cave mouth.  "Great, hurry up" says Narg, as they fill the two bags of holding with those closest to him, comprised of primarily of fighters and mages of the party, namely Aradyn, Cassie, Fiona, Fiona Sea Castle, Freyland, Guice, Jaime, Jerry, Kharole, Kruk, Mark, Mojo, Narg, & Timothy.  They leave behind most of the clerics and thieves to "clean up", namely Blake, Blip, Isaiah, Lannon, Lono, Razou, & Vincenzo.   Luekia and Serita soon join the "clean up" crew. 

The forward group sets up by a turn in the cave about two hundred feet into the cave, and wait.  They do not have to wait long until the first group of retreating enemies arrive, consisting of bugbears.   Rather than attack at a distance, the party hides and wait for the enemy to reach them and engage in melee, which takes longer than anyone would have anticipated, but proves successful, without any party casualties.   As the last bugbears fall, the next enemy group, comprised of elephant-footed giants, reaches them.   The fighters again enter into melee, with only minor spell-caster support, as they are saving their main spells for the enemy adventurers.  

Aradyn and Mojo both discover the hard way that being kicked by elephant-style feet is not pleasant, as they are sent sailing back into the tunnel wall.  The others intensify their attacks, being careful to avoid being kicked or stepped on.  It takes a while, but the giants fall, and no more enemies are encountered.   The party realizes that they still have not engaged the enemy adventurers, or encountered the other group of giants that Lannon wounded with the flare, and that these enemies are sandwiched between the two groups.  They cautiously proceed forward through the caves.   

A third of a mile further back in the tunnel, the others are less-cautiously making their way towards through the caves, trying to catch up with the others, with Lono and Lannon making disparaging remarks about being left behind.  This makes them "sitting ducks" for a fifty-four-point fireball, which strikes and cuts down several of them, including Blip, Lannon, Isaiah, Lono and Razou.   

Most make their saves, with Lono reduced to the negatives, but soon brought back up by Vincenzo, who comments about having missed a fireball for a change.    Serita and Blip managed to keep the enemy mage at bay, with him retreating down a side passageway.   Vincenzo checks Razou, reporting the sad news to the party that he is dead.  

Meanwhile, outside on the mountain around a quarter mile to the east, a pair of enemies choose not to enter the cave with the others.  They instead had reach what they hope to be a place of safety to wait out the storm in, namely a cave entrance into the side of the mountain.   This cave turns out to be Lannon's home, and he had trapped it against intrusion prior to heading off to the Cantage Lordholding the previous week.   

The two enemy fighters make their way in, encountering traps at each doorway along the way.   By the time they reach the first large room, which is actually only his front hallway, they have each taken about twenty points of damage.  Although this room has doors going further into the building, the two evaluate that since they are now out of the direct path of storm and now in a room with chairs,  a fireplace and pile of dry firewood that this is as far as they are willing to go.

Back in the tunnel, the forward party reaches a group of fourteen bugbears.   They are armed with twelve-foot long spears, and use the narrow confines of the tunnel to their advantage by establishing tight formation projecting outward a wall of spears.  Rather than letting one of the spellcasters take care of this.  Narg further exhibits his low wisdom by mounting a charge, with several of his fighter comrades following right behind.    A rather lengthy battle follows, as the spear wall is not easily penetrated, and whenever a break in the wall appears it is quickly filled in by the bugbear behind.   Lannon’s player, a highland games participant, makes a comment "where did bugbears learn Scottish battle tactics?".  The DM replies "Some of them must have listened to your demo at the last highland games."  

Only about half of the bugbears have been defeated when the next group of enemies arrive, comprised of the wounded group of giants and two enemy adventurers.   The party spellcasters let loose multiple fireballs into the giants once they are in range, as Narg organizes his fighters into a screaming charge.  The first of the giants reach the remaining bugbears, who all move aside, willing to oblige in moving out of the way to the side wall to let the giants pass.  

The fighters engage the giants in hand-to-hand combat, supported by arrow fire from Aradyn and Jaime.   Mojo and Kruk discover that the giants make great targets for their hammers.  One enemy adventurer and the most wounded giants are brought down by the next fireball, a twelve-dice blast from Cassie's crown.   The forward human enemy, apparently a cleric, casts a hold person spell that freezes Timothy and Fiona Sea Castle, but the others soon break them free.    Narg reaches the cleric, and knocks him unconscious.   The six bugbears along the wall do not hesitate to surrender.

A quarter-of a mile away in the tunnel, the other group is ambushed by the other high-level enemy mage, who tosses a lightning bolt that strikes Lannon and Vincenzo, who both make their saves.  Lannon, Lono and Serita charge at him, running into a Wall of Force that had been thrown up by a wand held by the enemy low-level mage Gina (who, in spite of being only fourth level, is now engaging the party in battle for the third time).   Blake is the only member of the party trapped on the enemy side of the Wall of Force, as he had been invisibly scouting ahead.  He moves towards the Mage.

Having just seen two previously invisible enemies appear after casting magic at them, Blip decides to use her Detect Invisibility spell to check for more.    This move immediately earns her the "Most Valuable Player" award for the night, as the other invisible mage had made his way past Vincenzo, and was moving into position to throw another fourteen-dice fireball into the group comprised of Blip, Isaiah, Lannon, Lono, Luekia and Serita.  This would have probably killed at least three of them.    Blip lets loose missiles into this mage, striking him, and giving Vincenzo a general direction in which to cast a Dispel Magic spell.    The enemy mage has a Haste spell going, and is able to get out the range of Vincenzo's spell, and heads back down the side passageway he had come out from.   

While this is going on, Blake attempts to backstab the mage, and misses, becoming visible.   He manages to get invisible again, and apparently neither mage have Detect Invisibility with them, so don't know exactly where the halfling went to.  They move in close, using the wall of force to protect their backs.    

Blake moves in again to attack. Blake manages to strike the mage, becoming visible again.  Blip looks back over, and yells out a warning to Blake of an invisible swordsman who is about to attack him, the warning being enough for him to duck and miss the attack, Blake moves back.   The lead mage gathers his allies around, and the three then teleport away.   Blip cannot detect any more foes, so the party decides to set up guard by the passageway that the other mage had gone down until the others arrive, as the distant battle noises have ceased.

The others soon arrive, for a reunited party.   Narg and Mojo lead a group down this passageway after the mage.  They see him in the distance, and start to charge at him, becoming recipients to another massive fireball of his.   As this does not stop them, the mage panics and teleports away.

A debate ensues as to whether or not to resurrect Razou.  The group has significant concerns that, since his religion considers death final, he would be opposed to this, and might commit suicide if they did bring him back.   Lannon suggests that “We should just do it, he probably won’t know anyway.”  Narg interjects “Of course he won’t, he’s human, they’re dumb as bricks…” then noticing the looks angry looks he is getting from the humans around him, amends the comment to “I mean only the humans who are high on drugs, really, I did.”  Serita adds “Narg, your eight wisdom is showing again.”

They suggest maybe asking Razou Sea Castle what they should do about Razou.  Fiona Sea Castle expresses her desire for the party to not tell her Razou anything.  She goes on to explain how her Razou has a theory, that by them being present on the world it will bring about the death of their counterparts, as the same person cannot exist somewhere twice.  She points out that since their arrival both the Flashis and Milo of this world had each once died, and now Razou, so this would further support his theory, which she does not necessarily agree with.

The group heads through the tunnels towards the city.   The lake and marsh have overflowed their banks, with several inches of water now covering the eastern third of the city.  The group realizes that if the rising water hits Alton’s house, with its permanent electric lines to the planet’s core, the electricity would probably electrocute those in the city.  They head immediately to the southern building where Alton, Dennismore and Vallessa are being held.   

The group undertakes negotiations with the enemy leader Barthrock.  First they try to convince him to let all hostages go, referencing all of the flares that were sent up.  Barthrock points out that the White team's flare still has not gone up yet.   Narg and Serita tell him of defeating most of the White team in the cave on Southpoint Island.  "Most isn't all.  Until that while flare goes up, we still hold the hostages."  They then make an appeal for him to at least release Alton, by explaining the danger from the electricity at Alton’s home, which only he knows how to shut down.

After conferring with his colleagues, Barthrock agrees to a prisoner exchange, with Jerry agreeing to take Alton’s place.    Alton is carried out, and given a Neutralize Poison to bring him back to consciousness.   After being unconscious for four days, he is rather incoherent.   Narg says, “Let me talk to him, I speak hangover.”.   Cassie points out that Alton's problem is actually the exact opposite, as he has had no booze or drugs in his system in four days, and that spell would have negated any remaining effects from before.   His system is therefore "clean" for the first time in decades, which is throwing him off.  Fortunately, they know where a fridge full of cold beer is to soon solve this problem.

Once back at Alton’s home, and after he gets some food and beverage into him, they explain the situation.   He says he has actually never bothered to figure out where the electricity power source was but should be able to figure it out.   He boots up the computer, and begins to look for information about the power supply for his building.  [Editors Note: You can tell that we’re now in the “information age” when one of the main action points for the climax of an epic module involves medieval fantasy characters using a computer search engine to solve their problems.]

The search results in blueprints of his house, showing the power junction box located below a floorboard near the central support beam.  A quick search reveals the specific board, which has been nailed down.   Using their thieves' tools, Blake and Lannon soon have the nails out and remove the board.   Alton identifies four labeled power switches.   Two are labeled 110 and 220, and are in the “on” position.  He accurately concludes that the 110 powers the computer and small appliances, with the 220 powering the fridge.  He shuts them off, and then shuts down the main power switch circuit leading to the junction box. 

Cassie asks Alton about the other two switches that were in the “off” position.  He tells her that one is labeled “440”, probably to power some futuristic appliance of Vaughn, and that the final was labeled “816,000”, most likely for powering Vaughn’s space ship.  Alton advises the party to “Never touch that one.”


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## Silver Moon (Jul 30, 2006)

*Chapter Thirty-nine, “The Hurricane Arrives”,  August 9th, 1018*

The group debates what to do next, deciding again to split the party, and send a team to mount a rescue of Beulla, Furynick and Silas.  Narg points out that, with the power now off, the beer in the refrigerator will go bad, so he and several of his allies decide to consume them before that happens.

A sizeable group of unknown humanoids are seen emerging from the cave tunnel and heading into the city.   The party sets up an ambush, eventually counting twelve, including two larger than man-sized.  As this group gets closer, they are able to identify them as the combined group of Immy and his team of ships crew with the Sea Castle Adventurers and Second Mate Hans.    They quickly wave them over to join the party at Alton’s house, which is now becoming rather crowded, although most of the new people are more than happy to assist Narg in emptying the fridge.   

Serita and Cassie complain that it is getting too loud to think, so Narg leads the group with the beer next door to his house.  Those that remain strategize about what druidic, clerical and magic user spells would world to help reduce the severity of the incoming storm.  They conclude that they can do much to reduce the storms impact over a fair potion of the island, and designate themselves as the Weather Assault Team, the acronym being WAT, which leads to a “who’s on first” type routine with WAT being confused with the word "What". The WAT is comprised of Alton, Aurora, Blip, Cassie, Fiona, Isaiah, Serita and Vincenzo.

Narg, on the other hand, could care less about weather control and wants to lead an assault directly against the known enemies on Southpoint Island.   Several party members question the wisdom of splitting the party, as there will be time to lead such an assault following the storm.  None can argue, however, with Narg’s point that the enemies will not be expecting an attack during the height of the storm, so surprise would be on their side.   He also points out that it will probably be best to hit these powerful villains at a different time than the attack on Morgarth himself, which again people tend to agree with.

When discussing exactly how they will get to the Southpoint Island, Torvald points out that his Viking longboat is currently located on the southeastern tip of Silver Moon Island.  The group decides to use that, but opts to bring Flashis with them rather than Torvard from the SeaCastle team, due to his dwarven resistance to magic as well as taking less space in a bag of holding (if necessary)

It is decided that a second team, dubbed the Overland Assault Team (followed by a few puns about the acronym OAT) will go to hit the villains on Southpoint Island.     Fiona Sea Castle points out that her "Control Weather" spell will not cover the entire island, but should cover about a quarter of it.   The party decides for her to cast it in a triangular range, the two main corners being the city and school, with the third running as far to the south as possible to provide cover to the OAT.   They decide that since the height of the storm will be approximately 10:00 P.M., and since the Control Weather has a variable range of duration, for her to start it at 5:00 P.M.    

The OAT group decides to get a few hours rest, and set out so that they will be at the mountainside entrance to the tunnel by 5:00 PM when the Control Weather starts.  The WAT plans to be at the southwestern tip of the island at that point. The OAT is comprised of Aradyn, Blake, Flashis, Freyland, Guice, Jaime, Kharole, Kruk, Lannon, Lono, Luekia, Mark, Mojo & Narg.   

The WAT initially bring with them all three bags of holding, one with the group the other two full of metal (primarily the slagged jeep plus armor and weapon from the defeated hobgoblins). 
At 5:00 P.M.  Fiona Sea Castle casts the Control Weather scroll.   Back at the school, Vincenzo Junior has been praying to one of his deities, the Wind and Weather god, and takes full credit for the calming effect of the storm.    Blip uses the calmer, but still strong, winds to her advantage to quickly fly her broom to the southwest, and the other team heads down the storm-drenched mountainside.    Both groups make good time.  

Blip does well while within the control weather, but has to land about a mile off from their planned destination once beyond that, as the winds outside of the control weather send her too far westward, and she does not want to risk fighting the storm over the ocean.   She lets the others out of the bag of holding, and they walk the remaining mile, setting up near a now-submerged sandbar heading out on the southwestern-most tip of the island.  The clerics use Lower Water spells to make it out onto the sandbar, where they dump the metal contents of the bags.   Aurora then takes the bags of holding, and teleports to the Viking longboat, to await the arrival of the other group.

Meanwhile, with the WAT, the trek through the woods takes considerable time, with Mark leading the way, as the southern part of the island is near his cabin.   The closest he actually comes to his own cabin is about a half mile, avoiding what would have been an interesting confrontation, as that is where the Hendry family is currently riding out the storm.  Once outside of the control weather, the storm slows them down, although the strength of the storm is soon reduced due to the actions of the other team.  As they near the longboat, Flashis is able to direct them, where he is reunited with his team leader Aurora.  They conclude that the seas are far too rough here to attempt rowing the boat around the peninsula, and it is best to travel over-land the mile southwest through the woods towards the shore opposite Southpoint Island.

Fifteen miles to the west, the WAT lets loose with their planned combination of spells.    Vincenzo prays to his Wind and Weather deity to help, as the other clerics begin chants.  The druids cast Chill Metal spells on the metal pile, which is then enhanced to bring down the temperatures in the area via Control Temp spells (which use metal as the material component).  This has a dramatic effect on the storm, as hurricanes require warm air to sustain themselves. 

Next, the spellcasters break into their respective weather-related spells, including Precipitation, Gusts of Wind, Cloudburst, and Call Lightning in order to pull as much energy as possible out of the storm at this location with the diminished temperatures.   They continue this for the full length of their spell duration, each praying to their respective deities once the spells are exhausted.   Overall, the strategy is extremely successful, reducing the category-five storm to a category-three, resulting in substantially less devastation to the island.

It takes over an hour for the OAT to make their way through the forest, carrying the large boat, as the weather beats down upon them.    They reach the beach to the south, suddenly noticing that the waters between them and Southpoint Island are actually calm.  They look around, and realize that this inlet between them and Southpoint Island is currently in the eye of the storm.  They launch the boat and paddle as quickly as possible to get to the opposite shore while the waters are still calm.  The team lands on the northeastern shore of Southpoint island, pulling the longboat up onto a short plateau, and securely lashing it to the rocks.   

Seeing the end of the “eye” approaching, they quickly make their way to the caves, arriving just as the rest of the storm reaches them.   They quickly traverse the island to the place where the series of caves are.   They make their way through the caves, with Mojo finding a secret door that they had missed during their prior visit to these caves.   They make their way through, to an unknown corridor.  They figure out which direction to go, but are soon stopped by another evil barrier, which causes both Narg and Mojo to double over in pain.

Taking the Sword of Cancellation in hand, Blake moves forward to through the barrier and to the far door.  He successfully checks for traps, then opens the lock.  He then opens the door, which opens into a large oval-shaped chamber.  In the middle of the room is the Balrog, who stares directly at the halfling thief, as Blake immediately turns pale as a ghost from fear. 

The Balrog flies across the room, striking the doorway with his flaming sword.  Blake dodges the blade, and rushes back, as Mojo lets loose his hammer into the creature.  Jaime lets fly two magical arrows, and Kruk follows Mojo’s lead with the hammer action.  The creature then disappears….reappearing at the rear of the party, where he swipes his sword into the backs of Aradyn and Guice.   

Arrow in hand, Aradyn fires up into the demon, as the Balrog itself bursts into flame, hurting both Aradyn and Guice.  The Balrog then charges forward, swinging his sword into Lono and Fiona, who both successfully drop to the floor to avoid it.  He continues to charge forward, hurting the party with his flames or stepping on them, as they try to dodge out of the way.   

Jaime, Kruk and Mojo continue to use their missile weapons.  Narg charges forward, dodging an attack, and then hitting him full force.  The Balrog takes further sword slashes, missing Narg.   Lannon moves in for a backstab as Jaime’s arrows and Kruk and Mojo’s hammers again connect.   The creature lets out a yell as it dissipates.

The party makes their way through that room, Mojo finding a secret door.   He opens the door, directly into a room with three enemies, the same three who had teleported out of the cave tunnel together twelve hours earlier.   The high level mage is asleep, but the thief and low-level mage are awake.   Mojo lets fly his hammer into the woman, knocking her down, as both Blake and Narg charge into the room.

Blake heads towards the still-sleeping high-level mage.  Mojo tosses his hammer into the thief.  In the doorway, Kruk follows Mojo’s lead, his hammer also hitting the same thief for the killing blow.  Narg sees the female mage pull out the same Wand of Force that she had used in the caves, and tosses his sword at her.  Unfortunately, Narg is not Ixy, and the sword misses.  Blake also misses his attempted attack on the sleeping mage.

Mojo sends his hammer into her, killing her, but only after the Wall of Force has gone up (and preventing his hammer from returning).  Once again, this leaves Blake on the opposite side of a Wall of Force facing a mage by himself.   Narg and Mojo yell at Blake to use the Sword of Cancellation that he is still carrying on the Wall of Force.  Unfortunately for them, their yelling finally wakes the mage.   As Blake uses the sword to dispel the wall the mage casts a teleport spell and disappears.  The group evaluates that, in hindsight, they should have yelled for Blake the hit the mage with the sword rather than the wall.

The others all enter the room.  From there they find two exits, a short hallway leading to a door and a long hallway heading further into the caves.  A quick investigation of the long hallway finds that it links with the tunnels where the party had encountered the Hendry family the previous day.  Mojo goes to open the other door, getting stopped by another barrier that does much damage.  

Not to be deterred, Narg grabs the Sword of Cancellation out of Blake's hand, and marches through to the door.  Once there, he again demonstrates his low wisdom by mirroring Blake’s move at the prior barriers of sliding the sword back.  Unfortunately for him, this barrier has no open area at the end, extending all the way to the door, and thereby freezing Narg in place while also hitting him with extreme pain.   Muttering expletives under his breath, Mojo picks up the sword, marches through the barrier, and drags Narg out before the excruciating pain kills him.  Guice decides to head around the long way to rooms on the opposite side, hoping to find a secret door into the chamber.

Concluding that the door is probably locked, Blake again takes the sword and heads across, where he successfully unlocks it.   Having learned his lesson from the Balrog, he heads back to let somebody else open the door.   Once the mages are in place, Narg heads back, and does just this.  Seeing a room with two men in it.   One is the evil cleric Roger, who is sleeping on a bunk on the far wall.    The other is Etronne, the man that they had killed and destroyed the body of two days earlier, who looks up and begins to cast a spell.   “I hate it when they don’t stay dead,” says Narg, who moves to the side for Kharole’s fireball to launch.   

The fireball prevents Etronne from being able to cast his spell.   Those on the other end of the barrier simultaneous lob missiles into the mage, with Mojo hitting for seventeen points with his hammer, Kruk for ten points with his hammer, Aradyn for twenty-three with two arrows, and Fiona for seventeen from another Fireball.    This brings about an immediate reaction, as Etronne transforms into the large Black Dragon, taking up most of the room.

The dragon rears back to let loose a breath weapon.   Since his head is immediately in front of the door Narg charges forward, first hitting with the Nargblade in his right hand for significant damage into the monster’s throat and preventing him from spitting acid at the party.  Narg then following up with the Sword of Cancellation with his left hand, which causes minimal actual damage, but cancels out all twenty-two of Etronne’s remaining spells (many of which could have proven very lethal to the party).   

Having successfully prevented all major forms of attack from the creature, Narg again moves to the side, leaving an open target for his allies.   In addition to the attacks from the same four from the prior round, missile weapons are also shot by Blake, Flashis, Lannon, Lono and Jaime, as Blip, Aurora and Fiona launch spells.   A total of sixty-two points of damage are poured into the dragon this round, killing him.   Narg charges into the room, to see both Roger and the Chimera plane shift away.    

The party surveys the situation, concluding that Cassie will have a field day with the dragon body.   The group debates where to go from here.  Only after Narg calls for a cleric to help heal him does the group of fifteen realize that they did not bring a single cleric or druid with them.  Lacking a medic, they conclude that these caves are a safe enough place to wait out the worst of the weather until morning.    Guards are posted, as the majority of the party sleeps.


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## Silver Moon (Aug 3, 2006)

*Chapter Forty, “Wrap-up”, August 10, 1018, 5:00 A.M.*

The group in the Southpoint Cave is woken up, finding that the storm has greatly diminished.   It will continue to rain for the rest of this day, however the winds die down more with each passing hour.  At Southpoint Island, all except Lannon and Fiona SeaCastle get into the bags of holding, and they then fly back to the city on her Carpet of Flying.  The parties regroup, and discuss what has transpired.   The city itself survived with the only thing of significance being flooding in the eastern half of the city, with the several inches of rain now covering the roads and first floors of the buildings.  This water has begun to recede, assisted by more “Lower Water” spells by the clerics.

Those who can fly investigate the remainder of the Island to survey the damage left by the storm.  The non-combatants left at the school, and the school buildings themselves, made it through the storm relatively unscathed, the only real damage being to the basement of the main house which is now flooded with five feet of water.   

Houses belonging to Aradyn, Blip, Fiona and Mark also made it through the storm with minimal damage (a few broken windows and some sections of roofing that need to be replaced).  The oceanfront Silas family home is no more, having been washed over the cliff and into the sea.   Blake’s hobbit hole had been flooded out of existence, with mudslides from the mountain having filled it in.   The caves of Freyland and Milo also show water and mud damage.  Araby's cabin has also been flattened.

The town itself suffered the worst damage, with the homes of fifteen of the crew being completely flattened, eight more homes washed off of their foundations (two floating in the harbor), and the remaining ten homes heavily damaged.  The harbor has overflowed, with about eighteen inches of water now covering the streets of the town.  One of the two docks was destroyed.  The front third of the inn and the main room of the tavern had collapsed, but the kitchen, Jerry’s quarters, and back two-thirds of the inn appear to be relatively undamaged.  

Deciding they need to get Dennismore, Jerry and Vallessa back, the group manages to use Invisibility, Levitate and Illusion spells to simulate a while flare.   This convinces Barthrock that his team has won, and he agrees to release his three prisoners after the party agrees to let his team exit the mountain without being assaulted or followed.   Narg also requires his group to agree to never return to their Island again.  Taking the bodies of their two fallen comrades, the five members of his team depart through the main tunnel.

The group of Alton, Isaiah, Mojo, Narg and Serita lead an aerial assault on the observation tower, catching its occupants by surprise.   The find in the uppermost room three people they recognize as those who had first attacked the school, and then later held the hostages at the Silas family home.  Of these, the mage leader, Valerie, is still unconscious from the SeaCastle adventurer’s assault on the church.  Another in the room is the fighter Donovan, immobilized due to the bullet wounds to his leg,.  The third is the enemy monk.  Donovan mouths off to the group, which proves to be fatal as Serita is “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore”.  Before anyone can stop her, she decapitates him with her scimitar.   The monk immediately surrenders. 

At noon, six ships sail into the harbor from Thenossia, led by Queen Jennifer. She meets with the party, and offers the assistance of her forces as needed.   The party is appreciative, and has her troops help search the woods for any more enemies.   They find a group of a dozen hobgoblins a mile south of the church.  None of these hobgoblins survive the subsequent battle with these mercenaries.

Mid-afternoon, another six ships arrive, these being Jawlt Naval Ships, led by the Naval leader Waller.   Waller immediately meets with the party.  Once he establishes that every-thing is under control, Waller orders four of these six ships to set sail for Farnsburg, to assist with the cleanup there, as that was where the hurricane eventually made landfall.  (Note: the efforts of the “weather team” reduced the category-five storm to a category-three.  During the hundred mile-trek across the ocean to Farnsburg, it intensified back up to a category-four, but was still a far weaker storm than it would have been without their intervention.)  

Waller tells the party that prior to hitting the anti-magic barrier, a mage messenger teleported to his ship, informing him of the storm’s impact at Farnsburg.  The Jawlt army leader Tenbar decided to return with the mage to Farnsburg, and Waller redirected two of his eight ships to sail there as well.  

Since Farnsburg had had advanced notice that the storm was coming, the mages present at that town were able to cast Control Weather spells, to protect the large crowds of people who had gathered there for the annual Farnburg Fair, scheduled to begin that week.   There was no loss of life as a result, although the town itself was heavily damaged.   At Tenbar’s suggestion, the current year’s Fair has now been redesigned, so that rather than athletic competition, the eight-person teams will now compete to see who can do the most to “rebuild the town” during the next two weeks.

The two prisoners from the tower, as well as the human and six bugbears from the cave tunnel, are turned over to Waller.  He has them placed under guard in the brig of his flagship, the Jawlt Naval Ship Jawltorn.  He says that the two captured in the tower will be held accountable for the damage to the Ukko church, since their presence there was what prompted Aurora to fireball it, and that these enemies will make restitution.  Aurora is thrilled by this news, commenting to Torvald "I love it, I get to burn down a Lawful Good church, everybody knows I did it, and yet somebody else gets blamed.  We should do this more often."

Sailing on Waller’s other vessel, the Jawlt Naval Ship Celib-Itil, the party surveys the northern coast to check out the status of their other two ships.   They find the Grand Enigma has weathered the storm in its protected inlet (the group deciding to rename this ship the Shining Star).   The Molly III (soon to be renamed the Golden Sun) has also survived the storm.  However, the group is troubled to find that the Molly III has been very recently readied for sailing, with dozens of hobgoblin tracks around it.   They decide to follow these tracks.

The tracks lead south to Crystul’s cabin.   The party arrives, to find the forty-three members of the Gold Team, who they had negotiated with the previous morning.  The party angrily confronts the people about their intention to steal the group’s ship, feeling that such deception nullifies their truce.  

The leader, the cleric Barry, tactfully explains that the ship was only going to be borrowed to bring them to the outer island to meet Morgarth.   The group does not believe him, until after a “Detect Lie” spell confirms that these were indeed his intentions.   A “Know Alignment” spell reveals both Barry and Kenneth to be Lawful Neutral, but the thief, bugbears and hobgoblins to be evil.  The group discusses accompanying them to meet Morgarth, which Barry adamantly refuses, as it would be obvious he and his team were setting up Morgarth for an ambush.   Barry again reminds them of the truce negotiated the previous day, and argues that their planning to borrow but not harm the ship should not nullify it.

After a short debate, the group decides to turn the forty-one evil aligned creatures over to Waller and the Jawlt Military.  They reluctantly agree to Barry’s suggestion that he and Kenneth be allowed to just “walk away now” on their own, without the gold wands and tracking device, and take their chances about finding a way on their own to meet with Morgarth.   The two agree to never again take any offensive action against the party, and to take a neutral position if present when the party attacks Morgarth.  The two quickly disappear into the woods.  Luekia feels that letting them go is a mistake.

Aurora tells the Silver Moon party how much assistance their ship’s Second Mate Hans was with her group, and that he is always welcome to join them as a member of their party.   They thank her, but add that now that the group owns three ships, he is likely to be getting a promotion.   

All three Silver Moon mates (Fritz, Hans and Lloyd), after talking to the crew, bring up the suggestion that instead of the party continuing to pay them every month, in lieu of payment they would like to have one the merchant ships to hire out for cargo runs.   The group’s two principal business people, Luekia and Jerry, immediately begin to negotiate terms for this proposed arrangement, to be finalized after Jacob returns.  

August 11, 1018, 12:00 Noon

A group comprised primarily of the highest-level characters (Aradyn, Cassie, Furynick, Isaiah, Kharole, Lannon, Mark, Mojo, Narg, Serita, Timothy and Vincenzo) sets up an ambush at the known place on Southpoint Island, but Morgarth never arrives.   Two enemies that do arrive to be picked up by him are the human fighter Craig and half-orc fighter Martt (previously encountered on the Molly III, also the two that rode out the storm in Lannon's front hallway).  The group captures them, and turns them over to the Jawlt military, after first stripping them of all possessions.

Waller offers to keep his two Jawlt Naval Ships and their troops at the Island until the return of the group’s own warship, the Silver Moon.   He also volunteers a dozen of his most experienced sailors to accompany Aurora back to the Isle of Cleese, to assist Jacob and the seven crew-members with him to sail back the Silver Moon.   Waller also points out to the party that the Jawlt Naval ships Fransburg, Gelorynth, Georgetown and Jawltorn each use the coastal communities that they are named for as their home port, and offers the same for the Jawlt Naval Ship Celib-Itil, if the party so chooses.   

Using a combination of “reduce” spells and her group’s bag of holding, Aurora teleports away with the dozen Jawlt sailors.  “Twelve sailors for one female mage,” comments Jerry, “Who does she think she is…Kharole?”   The other five SeaCastle Adventurers decide to remain on the Island until Aurora returns, with Billy Bob, Flashis, Razou and Torvald offering to help Jerry with fixing the tavern.  Fiona SeaCastle offers to help her counterpart.  Mojo and Narg decide that they will wait outside of the destroyed tavern for Jerry to “Nail together three boards, consider the place open, and get us each a drink.”

Determining that the “threat” has now passed, Queen Jennifer releases the five ships that she had commandeered, letting them return to Thenossia (four to Halla, one to Grammel).   The mercenary troops who she hired are issued pay vouchers, and most choose to return on the ships to Thenossia, although after a generous offer and appeal from Jerry, eighty-two sign on for hire as construction workers to help rebuild the town.   Also departing with the Thenossian ships are the pair of Adrianna and Kruk, who decide that the coastal city of Halla sounds like an interesting place to visit.   

Jennifer decides to remain at the Island for at least a few more days with her personal warship, Thenossia’s Pride, anticipating that either Lord Kindor or Lord Aldorn will arrive soon with news as to what they found out in Zalpar.

One ship that does arrive this afternoon is a boat that Da’Bears (the Silver Moon’s lower-level spin off team) had chartered to take them to the annual Farnsburg Fair.   Dani had insisted upon the “detour” to Silver Moon Island, after hearing that a hurricane had hit it, wanting to check on the status of both her mother Vallessa and her friends at the school.   Dani, Bitsey and Troyan decide to stick around for a while with the Silver Moon. 

After concluding that those on the island are pretty much intact, and hearing that the Farnsburg Fair will soon begin, Opal Silversteel (who as a past “Mayor” is slated to be an “Honorary Judge” at the Fair) insists that her group head out to the competition.   With those remaining behind, they are short one spot for their eight-man team, so Kale volunteers to accompany them, having had past experience with athletic competitions.   Immy senses that he may have over-stayed his welcome with the Silver Moon, with several party members still suspecting that he is in league with Morgarth, so as a friend and past employer of Da’Bears (Module 97 “Immy and the Three Stooges”) he also chooses to head off with them on their boat.   



_*End of “Retake the Island”.   Readers comments are welcomed and appreciated!*_


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## rln (Aug 3, 2006)

Reading the narratives from the Silver Moon campaign is the best fun one could have on their own! I always get great ideas for my own group, which I hope you do not mind if I steal. I'd be delighted to read more about the Silver Moon adventurers' exploits.


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## Silver Moon (Oct 8, 2006)

Thanks Rin, I appreciate the kind words.   I'm bumping the "Chinese Take-out" Story Hour which immediately follows this one.   It was one of the best modules in our group's history and I hope you enjoy it.


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## Silver Moon (May 25, 2007)

Referenced elsewhere so am bumping the thread.


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