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I've been recording the (mis)adventurers of my D&D group on a blog. No idea if it will interest anyone here or not, but I thought I'd stick it up anyway. It was supposed to be a short summary but ended up being a lot longer than was intended.


We had our first online session of D&D tonight. It started with the party wandering into a somewhat run down and poor village, but with an unusually impressive temple and an inn. To my surprise, the party wanted to check out the temple first of all, and the alcohol later. If they had stuck to this plan the adventure would have been a lot shorter, but I'll explain more about that later.

The party consists of Cadmus, a human cleric of Lathander, the god of the Morning played by Kristi, Valeria a human rogue played by Tina and Zolis the Narcoleptic Wizard played by Anders. Zolis has a raven as a pet familiar which as it turns out enjoys meat that has been left hanging for a while.

Spending some time in the inn, they found the locals a very cliquey bunch, with only the barman (Sillas) being talkative. He alluded to something bad happening with the village, but didn't want to go into details, suggesting instead that they talk to the local priest, Father Morgan instead. Zolis was attempting to press him for more information when things suddenly got dramatic (DUH DUH DUH type music).

The door to the inn slammed open and a villager staggered in and told everyone that another person had been attacked outside the village. Led by Sillas a group of villagers headed out into the rain and dark and the party followed. On the edge of the village, a figure in a dark cloak stopped everyone, asked what had happened and asked Sillas to bring the party to see him afterward. Aways outside the village they found a dead body, torn up in some savage attack amid references to hellhounds and summoned demons. A stretcher was hurridly made and the remains returned to the village accompanied by the distant howling of wolves... or perhaps something more sinister.

Returning to the village, the body was taken inside the temple, while the party was escorted to see Father Morgan in his room at the back of the temple. Sillas was dismissed and sent back to the inn while Morgan told the group of an evil that had been plaguing the village and was the reason for its current state of decline by scaring off all the merchants who used to pass through it. The village had for decades suffered under the shadow of this warlock until a child went missing. Father Morgan had gathered up the village (except for Sillas who was out of town collecting supplies) and stormed the warlock's lair before killing him. They hadn't taken any of the treasures the warlock no doubt had stored, fearing it was cursed, but the old man's spirit had sought vengeance regardless, in the form of a pack of hellhounds that had been attacking the village ever since.

The party rested overnight, although I guess Zolis didn't get as much rest as everyone else (again, more about this later). In the morning Sillas had prepared a breakfast for the group before they headed out. The group talked about heading to the temple to investigate the cellars beneath it (which really, really would have cut the adventure short) on hearing the current temple was built on the ruins of at least two older temples (one to Torm, which fell into disrepair and one to Mystral destroyed when that got died) then rebuilt when the village was much wealthier and dedicated to no particular deity but available for anyone to worship at, However in order to make it to the farm and back during daylight hours the party decided to skip the temple and head to the warlock's lair, an old farm some 4 to 6 hours walk away. Father Morgan (who the party did not quite trust) came to see them off and give them his blessing.

The rains that had been falling for the past six weeks finally let up allowing the party to enjoy the day as much as is possible. Val spotted something shining at the roadside and guessed it was something gold. Turns out she was right. It was a ring. The ring was attached to a hand. The hand, however, wasn't attached to anything else and had been lying for several days. Cadmus retrieved the ring, getting slightly icky in the process (first bad smell picked up, several days dead person). Examining the ground nearby the only other thing anyone found was lots of dog leavings. No one decided to search through that, fortunately, or that would have been bad smell number two. Anyway, Cadmus retrieved the wedding ring and found an inscription on the inside. She kept it to hopefully return to the husband and gave the hand a roadside burial.

A little while later, with only a few seconds warning a pair of dogs leapt out of the undergrowth and attacked the party. Zolis figured it was only two dogs and him helping would give the party an unfair advantage. He attempted to make some hot dogs via burning hands and then figured that was cheating so after having a couple of chunks ripped out of his legs decided he would sit this one out and go for a sleep instead. Left to their own devices Val and Cadmus killed the animals and with some magical healing managed to wake up Zolis before he bled to death. Well, when I say Val and Cadmus killed the dogs Val mostly killed them (one with a fairly spectacular shot that went right down the dog's throat and out the out end while Cadmus swung her mace dangerously close to Zolis's head. Possibly to make sure he was really sleeping.

Examing the bodies, the dogs showed no particular signs of being demonic, unless you count demons normally look malnurished. The party started putting two and two together at this point. Val decided to pull her used crossbow bolts out of the corpses and reuse them (bad smell number 2).

Continuing on they could see a farm in the distance, where Anton the Warlock had lived. A drystone wall surrounded the farm, with the gate having been knocked down when the mob stormed it. Zolin sent his raven into fly around the farm and report anything interesting. It came back to tell him that there were two buildings and a human hanging from a tree. The bird was sent back in to get more details on the man. It was gone a suspiciously long time but eventually returned bringing its master back a present of an eyeball, having saved the tastiest morsal for him and dropped it in his hand. Zolis decided to let the bird eat the eyeball itself, but forgot to put it on the ground first so his hand got a bit messy when that burst (bad smell number 3). A familiar may be an intelligent animal but it is still an animal.

Eventually the party decided to enter the farm and check the body themselves. Obviously, it had been hanging there a while. If this was indeed Anton the Warlock, apparently he died disguised as a farmer. Thinking that leaving the body hanging was disrespectful, they cut it down. Made a bit of a mess and splashed a bit when it hit the ground though. Enter bad smell number four.

Next, the party decided to investigate the whitewashed farmhouse. The door had been kicked in and the room inside (a kitchen) bore signs of a struggle and the remains of a book which had been used to try and start a fire. Two doors led from the kitchen. The first one went into a well-furnished bedroom with an ornately carved wooden chest. On one wall was painted the holy symbol of Lathander, the very god that by sheer coincidence Cadmus follows (I'd actually thought Kristi had gone with Torm as her god when I wrote this part of the adventure) Val demonstrated her skill with a lock pick and quickly had it open. Although the chest was quite sizable (about a meter wide and half that deep) all it had in it was a carved wooden mask. While the ladies decided not to touch it with a barge pole Zolis decided to cast detect magic on it. He let out a scream and passed out. The women continued talking about how to handle the mask until they noticed him passed out beside them and decided to pour some cold water on him to wake him up.

On waking up, Zolis decided to stop messing around and before anyone could stop him, grabbed the mask and put it on. And promptly passed out as waves of magical energy overwhelmed his senses. Cadmus and Val watched as the mask sunk into his skin and vanished. They searched the room but found no other treasure unless you count the robe Cadmus decided to help herself to.

Shruggling their shoulders the women grabbed a foot each and dragging Zolis's limp body to the next room, which turned out to be an indoor outhouse. They decided not to search this, thus avoiding bad smell number five, at least for the moment.

Dragging Zolis again it was decided to check out the barn. As they approached they could see although the doors were shut a hole just about the right size for a dog to get through had been chewed out of the door. Val snuck in, unnoticed by even the dog's keen senses and spotted four fully grown dogs of a similar type to the ones they'd fought earlier, although with four pups. None of them looked especially demonic either. She slipped outside to share this information with Cadmus, and then just as silently went back inside to see if she could spot the missing girl. Alas there was no sign unless she was hiding inside the kennel, or the muscular and rather hairy arm one of the dogs was chewing on belonged to her, so Val moving like a shadow went back outside to talk to Cadmus again.

About this time ZoliS struggled back to the waking world and started to ask what was happening. The women berated him a little bit for putting on the mask and then all debated on how to deal with the dogs inside. I had expected the group to do what adventuring parties normally do and burn the thing to the ground (unless it's a sci-fi game, in which case you take off and nuke the site from orbit. Its the only way to be sure after all. Or its a Call of Cthulhu game. In which case you've all gone mad already, and you only get to burn things down if you happen to develop pyromania), but instead, the loud debating let the hungry animals inside know that there was food outside. The dogs could only squeeze out of the hole one at a time, which was lucky for the party and prevented them from from being overwhelmed.

The first dog out leaped at the closest target, which happened to be... Zolis. Going somewhat literally for the jugular Zolis apparently decided since he was able to sit out the last fight, he'd be fine to sit out this one too. Cadmus swung her heavy mace and almost managed to take Zolin's head off. Seriously, if she was using a bladed weapon Zolin would never need to shave again. She did, however, manage to get some healing to the prone Zolis who awoke to find two dogs fighting the rest of the party while standing over his body. He immediently pulled his dagger out and went for the soft unbellys of the dogs. And missed. Then he missed some more. When he did manage to get a hit in, it was fairly spectacular, gutting one of the dogs from throat to belly. He also found out there is one slight drawback to cutting an animal open while standing beneath it. Bad smell number five may have been delayed but you knew it was coming.

After the rest of the ravenous dogs had been disposed of the group limped low on health and healing into the barn. Despite a full search, they could find no sign of the girl. They did decide to take the puppies though.

Deciding on one last search before returning to the village (can you guess which room they decided to search?). Let's just say Cadmus got bad smell number seven all the way up to her elbow and leave it at that. They also went and searched the bedroom again. Looking in the wardrope Cadmus failed to find any treasure hidden beneath the bag of gold she lifted up.

The party washed themselves off as best they could using a bucket of water from the well, but let's face it, you need a lot more than just water to get rid of those smells.

Stumbling and feeling half dead the party took the long walk all the way back to the village. They had decided that Anton had been killed by a lynch mob rather than the fight that Father Morgan had told them about and had a few questions they wanted to ask him. Anton certainly did not appear to be the fearsome evil spellcaster he had been made out to be. The only possible things that might make him a bad guy would be the strange mask or if he had kidnapped the girl.

Still mostly dead and with little or no spells remaining the party marched immiediently to the temple to confront Father Morgan. Interupting his service the party demanded answers but happened to mention they'd brought the puppies back. At this Father Morgan changed from being caught on the back foot, to going into a rage and demanding the spawn of the devil dogs be destroyed right then and there. When the party refused he unleashed a spray of fire at them. Zolis bravely decided to shield the puppies by throwing himself in the way of the fire and taking plenty of damage in the process. Having contributed to the fight, he decided once again to sleep for the rest of it. Casting another spell, Morgan attempted to use it to weaken Val, but he was so enraged he was unable to land a blow on her before the spell dissipated. Meanwhile Kristi swung her heavy mace at the back of his head. A critical miss saw her mace fly out of her hands, smash through the church window and into Sillas's tavern next door, which did at least bring him running (unknown to the party). The next turn she pulled out her light crossbow, pulled the trigger and heard a couple of noises with sounds like TWANG! and SPITANG as the springs on her crossbow burst out of the draw mechanism (yup, second critical miss in a row. Garry, you might not be playing with us, but I feel you are here in spirit).

Father Morgan then played his last trump card. Spewing out more magic words in a frenzy, he attempted to put everyone in the church to sleep. Zolis, of course, had a head start here, but Val collapsed and decided to join him. Out of spells Morgan now turned around, drew his dagger and went to finish off the last person still standing. Cadmus. Out of weapons she quickly grabbed Zolis's light crossbow. It was of a somewhat unfamiliar design though and her first shot went wide, as did her second, all the while stepping back to avoid the wild dagger slashes from the maniacal priest.

Boy, this post is going on longer than I thought. Oooh, does this count as a tension break?

Eventually, a lucky strike from Morgan sunk into Cadmus's torso and she too decided a sleep would be nice on the floor. Just as she passed out, Sillas ran in and seeing the priest about to deliver the coup de grace, clubbed him on the back of the head knocking him just as unconscious as everyone else.

When the party awoke, they were alive (which is handy for them and me as this isn't supposed to be an undead campaign), but tied up. Everyone was back in the inn, and across the other side of the room was Father Morgan, also tied up, but also gagged and struggling violently to escape.

Sillas demanded to know why the party had marched in and attacked the most respected man in the village. When they tried to tell their story, Sillas demanded proof that Father Morgan had done anything wrong. The party suggested they check the cellars beneath the temple at which Morgan's struggles became even more violent. Sillas removed the temple keys from him and took the party (hands still tied up) along with a small escort to the temple. They unlocked the trap door and went down into the darkness. In the second room, they found the missing girl, who told them Morgan had kidnapped her and told her that he was going to blame Anton for her disappearance. Sillas released the young girl and took her back to her family, while the party explored the cellers finding many exciting papers, records of taxes paid, births, deaths and marriages and so on, but despite their best efforts, they could find no magical items in the house.

Returning to the inn the party decided they really, really needed to sleep. Sillas gave them rooms for free and said he'd speak to them in the morning. Until then, Father Morgan would be left tied up and for good measure locked in the fruit cellar until they could decide what to do with him.

In the morning the four had a conference. The party wanted Sillas to take the reins of leadership for the village. He'd shown himself to be a take-charge kind of guy a couple of times now, but he told them he wasn't sure he wanted to stay in a village where people had been so willing to lynch an innocent man. He was no judge to give Morgan a trial and no executioner to carry out a sentence. They have no jail in the village to imprison him and no lord was interested in claiming ownership over such a small and unprofitable village. Eventually, it was agreed to transport him to the nearest city (four days walk away). Sillas even agreed to drive them there in his wagon making the trip much faster.

And with that, the first session came to a close. Oh, and the grateful villagers had done their best to wash the group's clothes while they slept

The second session started off in the morning with the party waking up, still bearing many of the wounds from their previous adventure. Sillas suggested if they wanted to deliver their prisoner alive they should leave before anyone else in the village awoke. Dragging him out of the cellar, they loaded him onto Sillas's cart and then once Sillas had collected some pieces of paper they headed off for the bright lights of the nearest city. Sillas had never been more than half a days journey away from the village and was excited to be travelling a whole two days from the place he was born.

The road eastward out of the village was considerably rougher than the one they entered in, but the party bounced about on the cart, with Val (Tina) doing her best to count the bag of coins they had found in the dead hermits house. When the group stopped for lunch, the ungagged their prisoner to give him some water. On hearing some giggling from the woods, Val & Cadmus (Kristi) went to investigate, while Zolis (Anders) and Sillas stayed with the wagon. Unable to see where the laughing was coming from Val turned round to head back to the cart and was promptly hit in the back of the head by an acorn and more laughter. Looking around she couldn't couldn't find her assilant. On seeing the commotion, Zolis and Sallis decided to come over and investigate, while Val and Cadmus decided to return to the wagon to re-gag Father Morgan. Unluckily for the team Morgan had just enough time to memorize one spell before they got there. This would have consequences later.

Zolis now found himself the target of a hail of acorns. He responded by picking one up and throwing it back, but on rolling a natural 20 scored a direct, critical hit on one of the fairys tormenting the group and instantly made himself a target for their tricks. He went to walk away only to find his shoe laces were tied together. When he sat down with his back against a tree to untie them, the farie dumped a load of rain water right down his back. By now the other two had got back from the wagon and a short debate on wither or not to investigate the forest ended with the party deciding to beat a hasty retreat, leaving the fae as the victors of the Battle Of Muddy Road East.

Of course the fae's revenge was not quite over yet.

As evening faded into dusk, the party decided to make camp. Val volunteered for first watch while a meal was prepared. Zolis was violently sick after discovering the drink in his water skin had been transformed into horse urine. All his rations were now decayed and moldy. Luckily Cadmus's magic was able to save enough of his food to provide a rudimentry meal.

Of course the fae's revenge on Zolis still isn't quite over yet, but more of that in a future session...

Everyone settled down for a sleep, but Morgan was wriggling about in the cart trying to catch Val's attention. She ungaged him only for him to to demand food and water which she provided, feeding him and leaving his hands and feet tied (clever girl). Once he had finished however he declared he needed the toilet. Val untied his feet, he climbed down off the cart and walked to a tree, but with his hands still bound demanded she either untied his hands or she'd have to come over and hold it for him. Deciding that was above and beyond the call of duty she tied a rope around his neck and untied his hands (again clever, but...). This allowed Father Morgan to cast the one spell he was able to memorize earlier, Sleep. Val succumed to its effects and collapsed. However, even if this hadn't happened, Morgan did have a second escape plan where his pet familiar (that the party never knew about), a rat would have chewed through his ropes and allowed him to escape. It would have been pretty difficult for the party to deliver him to the city, but not impossible.

The next day, the weather wasn't quite as warm but was still a nice day as the party woke up to find Val passed out in the middle of the camp ground and all their food and water gone. Having no tracking skills the group decided it had no choice but continue on to Asbravn in the hopes of finding more out about the mysterious mask that had melded to Zolis's face.

They'd been travelling for a couple of hours when up ahead they came across a large group of men menacing a lone traveller. The party immediently jumped off the cart and Val snuck up behind the bandits, only to stand on a twig at the last second and alert the group to their presence. Immediently a wild melee broke out. Zolis had a short sword plunged into his gut and decided to sleep through the rest of the fight. Val decided to join him, but fell headfirst onto Zolis headbutting him between the legs. The traveller meanwhile was fighting three of the bandits at once, and although seriously wounded and near death by the end, managed to dispose of them while his pet dog (or possibly wolf) took out another bandit. The party managed to work its way through the rest until a lone crossbowman ontop of a nearby rise was left as the sole opponent. The two groups combined managed to take him down. The traveller introduced himself as Kano and thanked the party, and answered their questions although his answers were very short and offered no additional information. They got that he was a hunter heading east, before he mounted his steed and rode off along the road to Karlsberg. Meanwhile the party looted the bodies, loading rusty weapons and bloodied armour onto the cart. Checking the bandit's camp they found a warrior tied up. Freeing him he introduced himself as a fighter called Zagan who had been ambused by the bandits and tied up while they decided if they could ransom him or not. He offered to join the party.as thanks for rescuing him and they once again continued once Cadmus had healed up a few wounds.

Finally the city hove into view. The party started to pass many farmers and merchants on the way to town. They stopped a patrol of Red Cloaks (local militia) and told them about the bandits and the escaped prisoner and were asked to make a report to the watch house once they got to the city.

Something Sillas said to the group made them ask him about his intentions once they got to the city. He told them he had brought the deeds for his inn and was planning on selling it and learning how to use a sword before taking up the life of an adventurer.

Eventually the group reached the city gates and were a little surprised to be assessed for taxes (if they think this was bad, wait until they return from a dungeon laden down with gold and gems. Governments take a dim view of people causing havoc with the economy like that and like to tax it very heavily in my world). The arms and armour they were carrying in the cart got them assessed as arms dealers which I think came as quite some shock to the party.

When they finally got inside the party headed off to the nearest inn where Zolis proceeded to get really, really drunk while attempting to translate the partially burned book they found earlier. The rest of the group spend the afternoon making a report to the watch house, who took all the details and then filed everything in the bin. By the time they finished there, most places were closing so they headed back to the inn to find out what Zolis had discoverd. Unfortunately a very drunk Zolis wasn't terribly coherant and the group would have to wait for the next day to get any information from him at the earliest. They did however overhear rumours of problems with Goblins to the north and made a note of this to possibly investigate it in the future.

The next day started with a trip to the market carrying the weapons and armour looted off the bandits. The leatherworker they approached complained about the battle damage and blood stains on the leather, and offered them a low price, expecting them to haggle. When the party accepted the offer he quickly agreed with a smile. They got a better deal from an armourer where they managed to offload the weapons and shields they'd obtained, but still the lack of haggling left them poorer than they might have been otherwise.

Next followed a trip to the local temple to Lathander. The ranking priestess listened to their concerns and (after someone ran back to the inn to retrieve the book and Zolis) read through the burned book. Concerned by what she had learned she offered to let the party study the temple archives to see if they could find out anything about these masks. Or if the party would help clear the area around a monestary to the north of a Goblin problem she would have her acolytes do the research for the party. Since the party had been planning on heading that way anyway they readily agreed and signed on as caravan guards with a merchant heading that way the next day, on the one condition (after looking at Zolis), that the party turned up with clear and sober heads.

Everyone behaved themselves that night and were ready bright and early the next day for the next stage of their adventure.

I enjoyed reading that, Alex. You made it seem like a short story rather than a synopsis. Nicely done!

Our third session begain where the last one ended (oddly enough). Cadmus, Zolis and Val had earned enough experience to go up a level. Zagan however was lagging a bit behind. Anyway, on with the adventure!

The party met up with their new employer, a merchant by the name of Belash who had a habit of saying "hey" in every sentence and had an endless fund of stories of old adventures and misadventures in the mercantile world. Around lunch time he noticed that the weather looked like it was going to take a turn for the worse with a storm rolling in. Not long after that, an eagle eyed Cadmus (Kristi) spotted a lone figure observing them from a distance. Belash checked him out with his telescope (which is an unknown item to the party and indeed most of the rest of the world). Although the light was starting to fail, he could see it was a Goblin watching them.

Expecting an attack at any time, Belash ordered the caravan to make all best speed to the rest house in the hope of spending a safe and secure night. As the group were travelling through a narrow pass a small force of Goblins ambushed them. Although they were quickly disposed of, two more Goblins were watching the attack from the top of a nearby cliff and assessing the abilities of the group. Deeming them no more of a threat than any other caravan (i.e. no flashy fireball spells etc). the caravan was allowed to proceed into the main trap. DUH DUH DUH (que dramatic music). Zagan (Soren) did attempt to climb up the cliff to attack them, but the wet mud defied his climbing ability. Oh, and Zolis (Anders) managed to fall unconscious. Seriously, that guy should just walk around with a mattress strapped to his back for when he passes out.

Continuing on, the group could see their destination whenever the sky was lit up by lightning. It was less than half a mile to go. Val (Tina), glanced over her shoulder only to see a pack of Goblins mounted on Wargs coming up behind them. The animals started to panic and everyone tried to push at top speed for the safety promised by the walled Monestary. Goblins hidden at the side of the road fired arrows at the group (and accidently killed one of the mules), but the harried group made it to the imagined safety ahead and the doors were slammed behind them.

Exactly as the Goblin leaders had planned.

Once inside, they discovered Goblins had been herding caravans to the monestary for several days now and they were running low on supplies. Belash generously offered to sell some of his cargo of food at just a snip over cost to the other merchants in the compound. If the Goblin plan to was to starve them into submission, they had just given the defenders about a months worth of food.

Inside around 60 people were scattered around, with almost 2/3rds of them being guards or priests and the rest being unarmed civilians. The guards were manning the narrow window slots with bows and crossbows, although ammunition for them was perilously low. The group made themselves familiar with their temporary new home, but after a while an alarm bell was rung, and the shout went out that the Goblins were coming over the wall!

Looking out from one of the two towers, Val and Zolis could see that only a small part of the thousands strong horde that surrounded them was attacking. One of the defenders took an arrow in the eye and Zagan picked up the fallen mans crossbow to continue firing. The defenders laid down all the firepower they could and eventually broke the attack (each attack wave lasted a random number of turns), but the guards were left with only 2 or 3 shots each to fight off the next wave.

A second attack followed soon after, which left only the party with any ranged weapons. The rest of the combatents took up positions around the enterence to the main building and prepared to defend it with their lifes. Val and Zolis stayed up in a tower to sound the alarm and pepper the attacks with their crossbows. Unfortunately no one had carried out any maintenance on their crossbows and doubtless rusting from being out in the bad weather (i.e. they kept rolling critical fumbles) they found their weapons kept breaking. Especially Val's.

When the third wave came it was with a battering ram. Val and Zolis had climbed down a rope to collect a few precious arrows and bolts and had to quickly flee back up it when the attack came. It crashed through the outer gates, and made short work of the inner doors. Standing behind a barricade made of benches and whatever else could be found the defenders bravely stood their ground. Zagan stood in the middle of the doorway, his great sword hewing Goblins in twain all around him. The guards around him were pushed back a bit, but he stood like a rock with the tide swirling around him. Everyone was aided by Cadmus casting spells to help their morale. On the towers, Val and Zolis saw a group of pony sized giant spiders with Goblins riding on the back. Once deadly accurate crossbow fire had killed two of the riders the others decided to creep back behind the cover of the wall (although the party didn't know it they had just killed a couple of tribal leaders which would lead to the Goblins fighting each other later and cut down the number of waves of attackers they would have to face. The Goblins failed to break the line of defenders and ultimately had to retreat again.

Clerics moved through the defenders healing up wounds. Only a few minor injuries had been sustained, but the supply of healing was limited and the night was just beginning.

The next attack was a little different. The Goblin horde started chanting a name, Kazak. A seven foot tall mound of fur and muscle (a Bugbear), stepped up into the courtyard and roared a defiant challange to the defenders. Zagan accepted and a single combat begain.

Raising his greatsword high, he charged in and with a mighty swing almost cut Kazan's shield arm off. Left almost dead it looked like the champiin of the Goblin horde would be dead in seconds. His return strike was feeble and easily dodged. Overconfidence however was almost Zagan's downfall as he swung wildly and missed, not only did he miss but he lost his grip on his weapon and it sailed through the air. In return Kazak's morning star crashed into Zagan's chest leaving him as nearly dead as his opponent. Staggering to the side Zagan managed to pick up his weapon and dodge an attack that would have left him dead had it connected, Kazak's powerful swing had however left him open for a counter strike and this time Zagan did not miss, cutting the head off the Bugbear with the last of his strength. A howl of dispair came up from the Goblin host and a couple of cleric's helped Zagan back inside and healed him up. The defenders were heartened however by their champions victory and would fight the next wave with renewed vigour. Having been fighting for several hours though the party was feeling less energised, some suffering from fatigue.

More attacks followed, each one closer than the others to breaking the defenders and each time their was less and less healing to return people to fighting fitness available. Sheer exhaustian overtook fatigue leaving some barely able to walk. Zagan managed to get his greatsword stuck in the barricade and was forced back, unable to retrieve his weapon. He managed to pick a weapon up off a fallen defender but was much less effective with it. Having ran out of spells Cadmus went to the other tower to use his crossbow on the thronging horde below just as Val and Zolis ran out of ammunition. Realising the situation was dire and they might not last long, Zolis summoned his pet familiar the raven, wrote a message on a scrap of paper before tying it to its leg and sending the bird back to Asbravn to seek aid.

Out of ammunition, spells and healing it was now just a question of would the Goblins break before they overrun the defenders. With their numbers thinning out and unable to hold a stable line, Goblins started to break through the line. Civilians too slow to flee were cut down, but it was only a trickle of Goblins breaking through and they never managed to turn it into a flood. Near death, Zagan limped off to find Cadmus for any precious healing he might have available and to make a last stand in the tower, however at that point the Goblins morale finally broke. They turned and fled. Exhausted and unable to stay awake any longer (the group all failed fortitude checks), they fell into a fitful sleep.

They were awoken by excited shouts and screams. Groggily staggering to their feet and aware they could not survive another attack, they prepared to die, only to find out the Goblins had disappeared with the rising of the sun. Going out to investigate they could see piles of dead Goblins not only inside the walls, but outside too. Whatever force had bound them together had been unable to keep them together after the last attack and they had fell to fighting each other. A trail of bodies marked out where a fighting retreat had taken place.

It had been a long exhausting night, but the party had survived to face another day.

Overall, this was a less satisfying adventure to run that the other two, but the group had asked me to run an adventure on Tuesday night after Sunday's so I had limited time to prepare it. They did feel at times that the Goblin horde was going to overrun them, which is good, but overall the fight had went on a bit longer (75% of the session was them fighting off waves of Goblin attackers), but I didn't have quite as much time as I am used to to properly sort everything out. Next game is a week on Thursday and I just need to know if the party is going to continue to the north with their employer or decide to pursue the broken Goblins into the woods and try to take out the leaders or do something else entirely different.

May I also add my congratulations, and may you continue to post the adventures of your adventurers here at his website.

Glad people are enjoying it. I'd be tempted to ask if anyone here wanted to join in playing, but I suspect the time difference for most people would mean it wouldn't work. Currently sitting debating on the nature of the big bad, or even if there will be a big bad at all.

Love it! I've read part 1 so far (about to read the rest). Loved the two consecutive crit misses lol! Sounds exactly like one of my 2nd ed characters.

re: beginning of part 2: "the Battle Of Muddy Road East"

Bwhahahaha! Great stuff!

If you do consider additional players, please let me (us all) know.

Questions about potential players:

What software do you use to play online? Skype for voice? Rolld20 for the game/sheets?
What version of the game are you playing?
What is the player starting level? Class/race restrictions, etc.
What days do you normally schedule and what time zone/what times do you normally play?

I've been interested in finding an online D&D game to play, if schedules and time frames would work out. I have a few character concepts in mind (depending on which version of the game it is) that could work with this party make-up.

Let me know if this is a possibility. If only partial schedules can synch up, I wouldn't mind drifting in and out of the story (role playing explanation: she's got personal wizard business lol).

We play 3 / 3/.5 edition, as its the one I have the most books for. Its set in the Forgotten Realms. I do a little bit of house rules, just to avoid meta gaming too much. We play using the Roll d20 site and a program called Discord for voice comms. Normally we play Sunday nights from 17:00PM to around 21:30PM(ish) all GMT since the players are either based in the UK or Denmark. I do have room for a couple more players so I'd be happy to let you join in if you want. At the moment, you would start at 2nd level. Anything from the Players Handbook is acceptable, if you want something else though just run it past me first. I am generally pretty flexable on these things and I do have a mechanism that allows people who can't play every session to join in (you have a curse on you that causes you to fade in and out of existance).

Requests to play an epic level dragon are unlikely to get a yes though. Mindflayers are my favourite villains though, and I may look on them more favouribly. :P

At the moment we have a front rank fighter with a two handed weapon obsession, a narcaleptic wizard who wants to become an archmage, a cleric who wants to become a Divine Arcanist and a Rogue who wants to become a Shadowdancer with various good alignments (which I don't understand as all my own characters tend to have a Neutral Morally Flexible alignment).

If you do decide to join in, just register on the Roll d20 site if you haven't already and send me your email address so I can invite you to the game. If our times don't work out with your there are a lot of other D&D group looking for players on the Roll D20 site (mostly playing 5th edition). If you need any of the books, my friends do have a website where apparently you can download pretty much any D&D book, although I prefer having the paper versions myself.

There isn't a game this weekend as my half brother and sister are visiting, but we should be playing next on Sunday 13th.

Ah, reminds me of the kinda stories I found in 'Knights of the Dinner Table.'...without the rank absurdity. I miss that absurdity...

I messaged ya about playing :)

Looks like we have a 5th party member who will be joining on Sunday. Anyone who can guess who his in game character is before than can have some free Karma.

You have a D&D group with TWO females?  That's like two females more than most D&D groups I've been to have!

;)

A multi-class Bard/Barbarian Orc with a high charisma who's spent his skill points on  Specialized Weapons Proficiency: cat-tied-to-a-stick. 

Pretty sure it's that. 

Tonights adventure begain with the party staring out over a sea of dead Goblin bodies. Evidently the horde had fallen to infighting when the attacks were unsuccessful and not realising how close they were to breaking the defenders.

The party assisted with piling up the dead Goblins to be burned and collected up ammunition from the dead to restock their supplies, when Zolis got a message from his familiar. He was returning and bringing help. About half an hour later they saw a figure riding up to the Monastery with the raven on his shoulder. He looked strangely familiar. Sillas (now being played by Dave, a guy from Badmovies.org), having sold his father’s inn (with his permission) had invested in a suit of armour and some weapons then came looking for his friends. Asking if he could join them as a fellow adventurer he was welcomed back.

The group filled Sillas in on what had happened since they had parted, He then went out to look at the Goblin bodies and see if he could find out what direction the survivors fled in. All around him the defenders were piling up bodies and finishing off wounded Goblins (I was a little surprised that they didn't interrogate any of the Goblins).

While he was doing that, the rest of the group were approached by the First Dawnbringer. He thanked them profusely and gave them a bad full of items he hoped would be useful to the group. Some of them were magical, but he couldn't tell them what they did. The bag contained a pair of very expensive looking daggers with silver hilts, a thick leather belt embossed with dwarvish runes, 3 potions of Cure Light Wounds, Ring, Gem, Clear Marble, 1 Thunderstone and 5 Shriek Rocks. The group asked if they could have a letter from the Dawnbringer confirming that they had helped defeat the Goblins, something he was only too glad to provide. Not only that but the letter could be shown at any temple to Lathander and it requested that the local priesthood provide any assistance they could to the bearer. Before anyone could stop him Zolis dived in the bag grabbed the ring and put it on. Val pulled the bag away from him before he could experiment any further.

The rest of the day was spent piling up more bodies while the slain defenders were given a more proper funeral.

The next day the party sent off, following the direction the Goblins had came from. Although Sillas had training as a tracker a blind man could have followed the trail the Goblins had left. A trail of bodies marked where at least one tribe of Goblins had conducted a fighting retreat. The woods grew more silent and the trees more twisted the deeper the party went into the woods.

Eventually the party came to a sudden halt. The trees ended around the edge of a wide bowl shaped depression. Although no trees grew within the pit there was a vast forest of Goblin tents. The stink coming from it was overpowering, but there was no sign of anything living other than a swarm of insects. Working their way down the muddy edge into the pit the group started to explore. Dead bodies of various races littered the area. Picking their way through the mess, the party found a cave. As the party discussed the best way to enter unnoticed, Zolis wandered off and walked inside. A guard Goblin screached and ran off raising the alarm as the wizard entered. The rest of the group ran in and tried to kill the Goblin but he escaped into the darkness. Various noises echoed through the caves, but the party were unable to tell where they were coming from.

Zolis cast light on a crossbow bolt to provide some illumination and they ventured into the darkness. The floor slopped down steeply. As they moved in they could sort out the noises. From one direction they could hear chanting, while from another yelling. The group moved towards the yelling and in the dark stumbled onto a barricade manned by Goblins. Charging into battle Sillas found himself up against the biggest of the Goblins. A powerful blow that would have felled any normal Goblin merely seemed to get him very angry and he set about Sillas with his battleaxe.

Cadmus made a stand beside Sillas while Val ran off into the dark swiping wildly trying to hit a Goblin in the hope one was out there, but didn't find anything until Zolis moved in closer and the light revealed another couple of the green skinned creatures.

She was surprised though when a Goblin ran up beside her and started fighting the other Goblins. She repaid him by sinking her dagger into his back. He turned around and in broken common said "No, no fight kill others".

With their strange ally the group managed to take down the Goblins. In fact Zolis was finding it so easy, he decided to fire his crossbow at a giant spider on a web some distance behind the barricade. Convinced that spiders hated light, Zolis fired the bolt with the light spell on it straight at the spider. It sunk deep into one of its eyes. In return the spider leapt from its web, sunk its fangs deep into Zolis's chest and pumped him full of venom. Feeling that his work here was done Zolis decided to sleep for the rest of the fight. It helped that since the parties only light source was now buried deep in the head of a spider that it went all dark. Luckily Cadmus had a Light spell available Cadmus cast a healing spell to wake him back up, then splatted the spiders head open with a mighty blow from her mace, which since she'd spent the rest of the fight missing anything she swung it at. The last of the Goblins were finished off, and the last survivor, the one who had been helping them pointed to his chest and said “Gromag… no fight no kill. Help Gromag find Tarash and you can take Goblin treasure.” The party hastily agreed and Sillas helped himself to the battleaxe the Goblin had been using against him as a trophy.

The party examined the "treasure" heap the Goblins had amassed which consisted mostly of food that had went off, rich silks that had mouldered in the damp cave, a 20 foot tall painting that Goblins had… improved. They did find a chest filled with silver coins, one that was too heavy for anyone to lift, although the whole team working together could lift it with some difficulty. Sorting through the assorted boxes, crates and wagons looted off the merchants they had raided the group found a serviceable wagon. Increasingly though Gromag was getting more and more agitated “Help find Tarash now, treasure later.” Following the sound of the chanting the group found another group of Goblins led by some sort of female Goblin spell caster. Gromag ran up and embraced her, then turned round and told the party “Tarash found, go now take treasure.” Finding things somewhat easier than expected the party went back to the treasure room. Had they went a little bit further into Tarash’s room they would have seen an altar to the Goblins dark god with a pile of sacrificed human bodies lying behind it, but returning for the treasure they managed to drag a wagon to the cave mouth. Getting it out the cave proved a bit of a challenge but with some ropes and Sillas’s horse they managed to get it up the slope and out of the cave. The next challenge was getting the wagon up the very muddy edge of the depression. A few hours of pulling crates to pieces and making a wooden track for the wagon to go up solved this issue. By this time it was starting to get dark. The party moved into the woods far enough to get away from the smell of the Goblin encampment.

Unfortunately they had left the leaders (Gromag and Tarash) of the Goblin horde alive. While they had extracted a promise from them not to attack any more merchants that quite frankly was a worthless concession on the part of the green skins. Even as the party was retrieving the Goblin treasure they were regaining control over the survivors, especially since the party had killed the opposition for them. The party also missed a rift to a demonic plane. So I have another possible group of recurring villains that might return in the future. The area will certainly suffer from Goblin attacks again in the future and perhaps they will go looking for other allies to help them.

Anyway, the party set a watch, Sillas taking the first. It passed quietly enough and then Val took over. After a couple of hours her keen ears picked up the sound of someone walking towards them. A figure carrying a lantern walked into the camp. It was a tall man with a well groomed goatee and dressed in a smart dark tunic and trousers with knee high leather boots. Val awoke Sillas and the man invited the party to play cards with him to pass the time. They turned him down and he simply shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way. Val and Sillas were convinced he was some sort of devil and had they played and lost, they’d have lost their souls too.

They will never know the truth (evil chuckle).

Eventually the party made it back to the road and the Monastery. Welcomed as heroes the were given rooms to rest in and were a bit surprised when a feast was laid on for them where they were feted. In the middle of the feast the group announced they were donating 10% of their haul of treasure to the Monastery, and managed to change the remaining silver to gold to make it much easier for them to carry. Zolis drank until he passed out, Cadmus got friendly with a serving maid and disappeared. Sillas after years of working in a tavern decided to stick to water, but Val had a few. Exhausted from the days labours and well fed, the party slept well. The next day, everyone woke up refreshed and happy.

Except for Zolis. That man really can’t handle his alcohol. He had a raging hangover and was throwing up everywhere.

The group headed back down the road towards Asbravn to collect their reward. Every bump and rut in the road felt like an earthquake to Zolis. The only thing that distracted them on the trip was a lone figure striding along the road. As he got closer they could see it was in very fancy looking clothes, but when they got even closer they could see the figure was a skeleton wearing velvet clothes and a tri-corner hat with a large feather on the top. Zolis jumped off the moving wagon, fell over and threw up again. The skeleton kept on walking. Zolis tried getting in front of it, and it just stepped around him and kept going. Cadmus slept through most of this and by the time he was woken up the cart was some distance from the figure. Eventually Zolis got bored of trying to get its attention and returned to the cart.

(Quick note, the skeleton comes from a previous game where the GM lovingly crafted a recurring villain to menace the party. In our first encounter he had Hold Person cast on him and then got this throat cut. In order to hide the crime the party wizard who liked to dabble in a bit of abracadaver animated the body and told him to go for a walk. Now whenever I am running a game of D&D he gets a cameo as he still wanders, damned to eternally walk the earth).

The journey continued with the group discussing modifications they could make to the cart (think in terms of a medieval Mad Max) and all went well until the party reached the town and were assessed for taxes again. This time, carrying a stock of magical items the party found themselves facing a demand for 107 gold. While most of the party was willing to pay (somewhat reluctantly it has to be said), but Zolis flew into a rage at the thought of paying out so much money for items when he didn’t know what they did. The party tried sneaking a couple of people in leaving the cart outside, but the assessor had been so incensed by Zolis earlier that he was keeping an eye out for them and ordered the town guards not to let them in without paying the full price. Eventually Zolis had to give in, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth and the party got inside. Out of all the enemies the group had encountered so far and the number of times Zolis had been near death it is somewhat strange that his sworn enemy is a taxman.

After quite some delay finally the party got inside and headed to the Temple of Lathander. Dawnbringer Valeria welcomed them warmly and having already heard from the Monastery of the parties endevours she gratefully rewarded the party. However on the information about the Mask she could provide little. Nothing in the Temple’s archives had related directly to it, however they did get a reference to another tome, the Book of Skelos (I am a REH fan) which the clergy of Lathander had a copy of, but in a temple in another city (Teziir) about a weeks travel by horse.

Zolis then wanted to learn some new spells so he could identify the magic items they had collected. Unfortunately he was told this would mean dealing with the Red Wizards of Thay who have an enclave in the city and had uncut the other wizards prices, driving them out of business.

And with that, we ended the session for the night.

This session was slightly more disorganised that usual. I'd been out all day and Kristi was super tired and had to go sleep so I was making dinner and entertaining our guests at the same time, but I think everyone had fun anyway. Just about to calculate XP's but I think some of the party will have hit third level. Mind you, I was surprised when the XP's for the battle at the Monastery didn't level up the survivors. Although I had two weeks to write the adventure I wasn't 100% on what the party was going to do so I had to write a couple of possible different scenarios.

Still can't believe they missed the demonic rift.

Demonic rifts and hellmouths rarely leap right out at you, I've noticed.

Great write-up. Had no idea we were close to any rifts lol. The wizard's antics were hilarious. He gets knocked out by various monsters, but what really sets him off is that darned tax collector!

Had a great time playing; looking forward to the next one! Hopefully the two others will be able to join us.

Just wait until you finish the campaign and the ending goes all Scooby Doo....

Anders also has a bit of an advantage there. He rolled a fairly low wisdom score and has been playing it pretty well by doing quite a few foolish things. Its why he is slightly ahead of the party XP wise, which is going to be fun since technically the most powerful member of the group is an bumbling idiot.

So, a few adventure sessions in how does things stand for the party.

Personnel wise they have all the bases covered. The have the classic pain bearer, spell caster, healer and thief set up and an additional melee specialist which means they are flexable enough to handle most challanges. Group weaknesses are a lack of stealth. Although they do have a rogue in the group most of the group is in the heaviest armour they can afford and would struggle to sneak past a sleeping deaf man. Who had just died. Another weak area is going to be social situations. The group has been through several big fights. Armour is rent and torn in places, bloodstained and not repaired. Should they find themselves dealing with nobles and so on, that is going to make a big impression. They also have a generally good alignment so inter-party conflicts that way haven't been an issue so far, but can also limit the groups options on how to deal with situations. They did manage to avoid a major moral quandry in the last session. Had they fully explored the caves in the last session where they'd have came across the Goblin women and children. They could have killed them all, ensuring the area would have been safe from Goblin raids for several generations, but that would have effectively been slaughtering creatures unable to fight back.

We have a couple of people possibly considering taking the last group spot. Will be interesting to see if that ends up reinforcing one of the existing roles in the party or adding something new (druid, bard, paladin etc) and how that effects group dynamics. Although no group leader has yet emerged, Zolis and Val have formed a core group and their actions generally tend towards being cautious. Other than Zolis just trying on any magic items he finds without knowing what they do. The group has also done a little bit of adding two plus two and making five, it will be interesting to see where those assumptions take them (I may even run with those and change the game a little to fit them in depending on how things go). Some friends will turn out to be enemies, and even then things won't be quite that straight forward.

The group is approaching a major plot point where they will find out a lot of what is going on (if all goes to plan I think they will hit this in two to three sessions time. After that adding new party members will become slightly more awkward, but that is by the by), but not everything.

Part Five of the Tale Of The Band Of The Hand.

As tonights adventure started with the whole group present (Zolis (Anders), Zagan (Soren), Cadmus (Kristi), Val (Tina) and Sillas (Dave) had returned to Asbravn, picked up a reward from the Temple of Lathander and were looking for a way to pick up an Identify spell so Zolis could learn it and find out what the magical items they had received actually did. Finding they had no other choice the group decided they'd head off to a compound ran by the Red Wizards of Thay (Thay is a land ran by a cult of wizards that is sort of viewed by the rest of the free world the same way the west viewed the Soviet Union during the cold war) that sold magical items. Going inside a white walled area they saw several buildings. A couple of serious looking guards in outlandish clothes directed them to one of the buildings. Inside a friendly looking bald man dressed in red introduced himself as Gervan of Thay. He had the scroll the party wished to buy and at a price that was a bit lower than they expected. The group tried bartering and were told that if they could find the same scroll cheaper elsewhere he would refund the difference. A little bit surprised at the friendly welcome from what they had heard of Thay the party paid up without further arguement.

They decided to find an inn that was on the moderately high price range, and found a place called "The Rumpled Bedsheets". Inside was expensively decorated and the party splashed out for individual rooms for three nights. Zolis sequestered himself in his room to study the scroll (which would take 24 hours) and then write it into his spell book (if he managed to learn it from the scroll then he'd need another 24 hours to inscribe the spell into his book. These timings become important later). Some of the party went to pick up mundane supplies while Val went to find a map and Sillas decided to pick up an extra horse and a couple of mules to pull the wagon as well as some repairs to the wagon and a cover for it. He paid over twice the asking price for the work on the wagon.

Val found a building called "The Most Glorious and Worshipful Guild of Cartographers and Calligraphers". Heading inside she got some funny looks at her travel stained clothing. The clerk was definately being all snooty to her and despite being a hobbit, managing to look down his nose at her. Initially Val asked for a large map and he said two gold and starting pulling out a large sheet of parchment ( but not so large carrying it would have been a problem), but she changed her mind and only wanted a map to Teziir. She also then started asking what the cities were like on the way to Teziir, getting an exasperated "I make and sell maps, not travel guides" from him. He pulled out a sheet of paper, drew an L shape and maked some cities on it and sent her on her way wanting her out of his (the party wearing blood stained and torn clothing is not going to make them fans in high places). On the way back she bumped into Kano. He told her he'd been looking for them since he got to Karlston and found they'd already picked up something he'd been sent there to collect. They could either meet him just before sundown the next night and hand it over, or he would track them, find them and take it. He then walked backwards into the shadows and disappeared, despite Val running straight in after him. She returned to the inn, but didn't tell the others of her encounter.

Cadmus in the meanwhile was sorting out stuff in his room when he got a knock on his door. Opening it he saw an attractive young lady standing there wearing clothing that would be described using words like 'diaphonous' and 'revealing', perhaps even 'skimpy'. She asked him if he required any... extra services. With a smile he invited her in and was then occupied for the rest of the night.

Zolis also had a knock on the door and found a similar woman standing there. She got an answer of "NO!" and a door slammed in her face and he went back to studying his spell. Zagan was downstairs playing at cards and losing when a young lady sat on his lap, started nibbling on his ear and told him "You know what they say sweetheart, unlucky at cards, lucky at love. How'd you like to come upstairs with me and get lucky?" so they both disappeared up into his room.

Apparantly the name of the inn wasn't a clue as to what kind of establishment they had rented rooms in. I mean I thought "The Rumpled Bedsheets" was subtle but still obvious.

Anyway, Sillas returned from buying livestock and Val returned from her travels in time to see Zagan disappearing upstairs with company. Val got a tap on the shoulder and turned around to see a well muscled man wearing nothing but leather underpants standing there. She declined his services, much to his disappointment so he asked Sillas if he was interested instead only to be turned down again. A dusky woman then moved in on Sillas and after turning her down the pair decided to retire to their room rather than stay downstairs and continue to attract attention.

The night passed with much knocking on walls and apparantly some sort of prayer meetings going on in a couple of rooms. Certainly there was many cries of "OH GODS OH GODS OH GODS" going on. I had already decided not to roleplay out those details of these encounters, so that is as much detail as anyone gets on what happened inside the rooms. Just use your imaginations. Well ok, if you really want details they all played cards. Happy Families and all the shouts were because everyone found it really exciting and the banging was caused by people slamming there hands down on the table.

The next day found Sillas collecting his cart along with Zagan. The pair of them were trying to set it all up when an old man (he looks on the wrong side of 90) came over and started berating them on not setting up the tack and harness correctly. He kept shouting abuse at the group until they offered him a job looking after the animals for them, although after they'd offered him the job at one gold per 10 days (they could have bartered him down to 10 silver but offering him one gold made him a very happy old man) they decided that was something they should discuss with the rest of the group. The party also decided to see if they could get a job on a travelling caravan going to Teziir to make a little extra money en route. Alas, the harvest having been collected the previous week and most of it having been sold on, the seasonal merchants had already moved on. They did find one pudgy merchant who was looking for a group to take a chest to one of the cities on the way to Teziir. He was willing to pay 50 gold up front and 100 gold of confirmation of delivery. It was decided to discuss this with the rest of the group too and get back to them (frankly this was easy money).

Back at the inn, Sillas mentioned he'd bumped into the man they had encountered when initially travelling to Asbravn just before he found the party, and he said to tell them he'd find them. Val then mentioned he'd encountered him yesterday and he wanted to meet them that evening. The group decided to hire the old man as a driver and that they should try and bargain for more money from the merchant (Ebenezeer) and they would need more time before starting the job. They returned to speak to him, but the parties demands were too much and it ended in an arguement and no job.

Leaving Zolis to continue studying his new spell the rest of the group set off to the commons. It was dusk when they got there and Kano was waiting alone (well other than with his pet wolf dog). He demanded the group hand over the mask. They protested claiming the didn't have it and Kano insisting they did and had better hand it over or else. Val was sneaking in the shadows and coming up behind him while checking that Kano was indeed on his own. Warnings that he didn't seem intimidated by the group despite being heavily outnumbered went unheaded and eventually despite Kano's honourable nature, he could see he wasn't going to get anywhere by just talking to the group. He drew his rapier and dagger and combat begain. The fighters in the group went first, Zagan hitting a solid blow with his greatsword, but not one that took Kano out of the fight. A lunge from Sillas went wide, then Kano responded. His blades flashed in the half light leaving a couple of deep scars on Zagan's face, moving past his defence so easily he might as well have been sleeping. Val managed to inflict a couple of light scratches on him with a sneak attack that went badly wrong.  Very quickly realising they were seriously outmatched the group stood back and decided to parlay some more. Kano kept his weapons drawn, but in a defensive posture. He guessed correctly that Zolis had the mask while the others had came to speak to him and told them to bring it to him tomorrow morning, or he would come and take it.

The party asked what would happen in the theorectical situation that someone was wearing the mask and was unable to remove it. They didn't like the answer they got. Kano knew of two ways to remove the mask. One was to kill the wearer in which case the mask would fall off the wearer. The second option was to flay the skin off the wearers face and make a new mask from the flesh. He made it quite clear to the group that he could quite easily enforce either option, but would give them the choice.

Limping back to the inn in somewhat lower spirits than they set out they had a late night discussion with Zolis. He did not fancy either option one or two. Everyone discussed what to do the next day. Cadmus favoured going to her temple to ask aid or speaking to the Red Wizards, even if they could remove the mask, giving it to them in return. My jaw dropped in amazement at that one. Zolis however was deadset against involving the Red Wizards. Various other plans were discussed including running away, or trying to set a trap for Kano. Some wanted to flee that night, but Zolis needed until noon the next day to finish inscribing his spell.

Eventually it was decided to let Zolis finish his spell which would mean they would be over the time limit for Kano and then run. The party reasoned that while Kano had something that enabled him to track the rough location of the mask, he couldn't tell who had it (he guessed Zolis simply because he wasn't there). Everyone then retired back to their rooms to get some sleep. It was agreed they would all sleep alone this time. As Val returned to her room she noticed her door was ajar. Sneaking up and peering it in she saw the man who had tried to pick her up the night before lying naked on his bed, his oiled muscled gleaming in the candlelight. With a smile she slipped inside her room, locked the door and cut scene to morning.

More games of Happy Familes then.

In the morning Val came downstairs positively glowing. The group was breakfasting. One of the bar staff politely informed the group that someone was standing at the door insisting he was an employee of theirs and wanted to speak to them. Remembering the driver Sillas went to tell him they would be heading off in a couple of hours. Zolis came down stairs looking a bit haggered but having finished inscribing the spell into his spellbook.

Val accompanied by Sillas and Zagan headed off to the temple to see what aid they could get there. Valeria told them she was willing to do whatever she could, but she didn't command any soldiers. She was reluctant to risk a fight inside the temple but would do it for the party. She was able to provide a few extra healing potions for the party, but was unable to advise them on ways to sneak unnoticed out of the city. Afterall, the God of the Morning Light does not skulk around in the shadows. They rejoined the rest of the party back at the inn and everyone decided to leave the city immedietely.

The old man (Bran) they had hired, carrying a small barrel under one arm and something looking like a trumpet on a wooden stick grumbled at the change of plans, but had the wagon and mules and horses ready very quickly. Everyone climbed onto the wagon and it careered off with an unexpected turn of speed that left the party holding on for dear life and many pedestrians diving out the way. Their driver cackled and sang the fantasy equivilent of Highway To Hell.

With that the session drew to an end.

Oh, the group told their driver to get out of town fast. But although they had decided to travel north based on a vague feeling Zolis had they didn't actually tell him where to drive too. Well the old man is addicted to speed, so where ever they are going they are going to get there fast. Think I'll roll a dice for the direction they will discover they are travelling in. 1-2 North, 3-4 West and 5-6 south.

Decided to put a footer on the game. So far I've written 67 pages. I am wondering if the party is now going to encounter 12 of those pages or go off and do something entirely different.

Part Five and a half of The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand

Expecting the party to travel north and following Zolis's ultimatum last week I prepared lots of stuff for them heading north. However when the group found themselves travelling south and then east towards Teziir it was decided just to keep going in that direction then explore north afterwards. Luckily I did have some stuff prepared for that journey, although most of it was concentrating on their destination rather than the journey. They did come across a couple of prepared encounters which didn't go exactly as expected, but these things never do.

You join us tonight as the party started off heading southwards thanks to a random dice roll and being spotted by Kano. He started to chase after the group. Sillas and Zagan were both on horses while everyone else sat on the cart. Sillas tried to speak to Kano, but was answered by a crossbow bolt flying off in entirely the wrong direction. As Kano cursed his faulty crossbow (obviously crossbows are shoddily made around these parts as they constantly break or misfire) the party sped off and escaped. Leaving the city gates the group realised they had told Bran to drive fast, but not where too.

Cadmus tied himself into the front seat beside Bran while Val and Zolis held on for dear life being thrown about the back of the cart as Bran coaxed unheard of levels of speed out of his mules. Zolis's plans to examine the magical items they had found went out the window and pleading with the driver to slow down were only met with cackles and hoots of laughter followed by coughing fits from the old man. He didn't stop until lunchtime. A very sore and bruised Zolis wanted to fire him when the pair had an arguement, but the Bran pointed out since they hadn't actually paid him his first wage yet that he would refuse to be fired. Cadmus intervened and asked for him just to drive slowly. The cart started up again with a slow clip, clop, clip, clop as Bran obstinately went as slow as the mules could while still moving forward. Bran also introduced the group to his Dwarven Firestick (which looks like a trumpet on a stick), pointed it at the Zolis and asked if he wanted to see whose magic was better. Zolis didn't seem to realise the cantankerous old man was effectively challanging him to a duel (which as you'll see later was just as well for Zolis). Eventually though Bran got bored with the slow pace and his speed demon side kicked in again.

There were however no more complaints about speed that day.

The party reached the first city on their route, the merchant city of Iriaebor late at night, just as the guards were closing up. Some clever doubletalk from Val convinced the guards that they should let them all in and the group would return in the morning to pay taxes. Bribes I had expected, possibly threats. But to get in by promising to come back in the morning and pay taxes was again something unexpected. What was even more unexpected was in the morning when the rogue actually did return to the gate to pay the due taxes (although they decided not to take their magical items to be assessed and taxed). She was met with amazed faces when she told the guards her story, and when she repeated it to the tax assessor at the city gates, he told her that the two guards who let her in would most certainly be out of a job when they came back for their next shift.

No good deed goes unpunished after all.

Staying the night in an inn, the group found it was much quieter inside than most inn's in the town. As it turned out the reason for this was this was the place where off duty town watchmen came to drank and they would get very upset if anything happened that put them back on duty. Gratefully the party spend a quiet night.

The next day was a bit more eventful. Zolis sent his raven out scouting and it reported they were being followed by Kano. Suddenly Zolis wanted Bran to drive much faster. "Young buggers, first they ask you to go fast and they complain when you go fast. Then they want you to go slow and they complain when you go slow. Daft buggers. Now they wants me to go fast. I should give them all a taste o' me magic and see if that shuts them up. Buggers!" They didn't get to go fast for long as a lone knight was blocking the road and challanging any fighting men who passed to single honourable combat. Sillas said he had no interest in such a fight but Zagan reluctantly accepted. Terms were agreed as to be to first blood, on foot. Zagan accepted a blade from the knight who in his turn used a long sword and shield. The pair clashed, both feinting and lunging at each other. Eventually when Zagan left himself open after taking a mighty swing the knight got passed his guard and sunk the tip of his blade into Zagan's shoulder winning the fight. He offered to heal up Zagan's wound, but he said he could deal with it himself. With a salute to and from the knight the party continued on their way across the bridge.

With no one looking out behind them the group was surpised when Kano rode up behind them. Alerted by the group to the threat, Bran said "Bugger it, bandit. I can take care of the little turd!", shoved the reins into a surprised Cadmus's hands and climbed to the back of the wagon. Kneeling down he took careful aim and when Kano was reaching out to grab onto the wagon Bran pulled the trigger on his blunderbuss creating a fifteen foot wide cone of high velocity small metal objects. Kano's very expensive warhorse took the brunt of the blast, while in accordance with the laws of momentum Bran went flying the opposite direction, crashing into the front of the wagon. Kano's horse fell down and rolled over but momentum still continued to apply and Kano went bouncing along the road without his mount. The group could have fled on here, but decided to finish Kano off since he was lying on the ground not moving. By the time they had slowed down and turned around however he had recovered his wits and climb somewhat shakily to his feet, then drew his rapier and dagger.

Sillas and Zagan tried to ride him down from horseback, but Zagan found it hard to control his steed with his knees and swing his two handed sword at the same time. Kano took advantage of this and ran over slashing Zagan deeply with both his weapons, forcing Zagan to retreat over to the wagon in the hope of getting some healing. Sillas just using a long sword had no trouble controlling his animal and charged at Zagan thrusting his blade at him in passing while Kano slashed back. Both men drew blood. Val attempted to fire her crossbow at Kano, but the poor quality of crossbows in this region told once again and the bolt snapped in twain snarling up the firing mechanism. It would take a bit of time to clear it and fire again. Zolis cast a spell to help make Zagan harder to hit in combat while Cadmus healed the worst of his wounds. Val then tossed Zagan a healing potion and suitably healed up he climbed off his mount and prepared to fight on foot.

Sillas tried a second ride by attack, but Kano was ready for him and stepped right beside the charging mount and stabbed up, deeply into Sillas's chest, however his rapier was caught on the steeds reins and whipped out his hand landing some ten feet away. Cadmus and Zoils continued their largely ineffectual hail of crossbow bolts, while Val managed to clear the jam on her weapon as Kano retrieved his weapon then charged towards the group on the back of the cart. Meanwhile Bran was frantically attempting to prepare his weapon to fire again. He hadn't ever met anything before that had needed shot at twice. Zolis intoned some ancient arcane words and a gout of fire burst forth from his hands towards Kano, scorching him a little, but was answered by being skewered by Kano. Barely alive the wizard staggered backwards, tripping up over his backpack and falling on his butt. Val swapped her crossbow for her dagger and snuck around Kano's side but was unable to find a chink in his armour. Other than Zolis everyone else closed in for melee while the wizard summoned a creature to defend him.

Now here was where I had a bit of a dilema. Zolis's player had to drop out earlier due to not feeling well so I was controlling him and I had to decide what creature Zolis would summon. Reading the list of things he could call on to help him. My eye was immediently drawn to Fiendish Squid. Based on his previous actions summoning such a creature in a land locked environment seemed entirely logical. However I did notice a small note after the spell saying such a creature could only be summoned in an aquatic environment, so he called on a large fiendish monsterous scorpion instead placing it between him and his would be assassin.

At this point I also forgot that Kano was going to take a powerful healing potion he had hidden, and he reopened a whole bunch of wounds on Zagan instead. Surrounded by enemies and missing his faithful wolfhound Kano wasn't able to block every thrust at him, his dagger was broken parrying a blow from Zagan's greatsword and enough damage was getting through his armour to leave some telling wounds. Finally, his leg grasped and being crushed by the demonic scorpion and with a cry of pain Kano collapsed to the ground either dead or unconscious. Val quickly looted him and they carefully checked a wooden box he had on him believing this was how he was able to find the group. Opening it after checking it for traps they found inside was a needle pointing southward. Zolis confirmed the item was indeed magical in some way, but that he would need more time and concentration to tell exactly how it worked. The group stripped him of everything, quickly buried the body beneath some stones, loaded his equipment onto the back of the wagon then fled the scene.

No one actually thought to check though and see if Kano was actually dead or merely unconscious.

Priapurl was the next city they passed through. The walls and many buildings inside seemed to be under construction and the only inns available were in large marque style tents. The group stayed in one overnight and left in the morning. Bran mentioned the city had been raised two years back when an Orcish horde had came up from the south. It had taken an alliance of several local cities and troops from Cormyr to put an end to the invasion and it would only be a matter of time before another one came along. He also mentioned that in his youth Bran had been an adventurer until he took an arrow in his knee and was forced to stop.

The next days journey was similarly uneventful and the party reached Eversult and spent another quiet night in an inn. I don't know kids today... when I was adventuring it was all night carousing, bar fights and waking up in strange prisons where the only way to gain your freedom was to go on some quest. Or while you were in the inn a man would stagger in and collapse, a note pinned to his back with a dagger which would start a quest (I had one character where this happened so often he'd put a mattress on the floor just behind the door and be waiting with a first aid kit to deal with it).

As Kristi and Anders were feeling ill and Dave had to go deal with some family stuff it was decided to call the game here. Hopefully next week the group will reach Teziir where much of the plot could be potentially revealled and many mysterious goings on... go on.

If there's one thing that can ruin an adventure, it is a shoddily-made crossbow. Kano really was not having a good day.

I am trying to decide if Kano is going to reappear or if its time for his replacements to appear. Even if he is dead, he may still have a big influence on someone in the group...

Alex, you have any idea, by chance, how much D&D first edition books are selling for these days? (DM Guide, Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, Fiend Folio.) Apparently these are first edition re-printed circa 1983 with updated covers but all the contents are unchanged from the original covers. They're in good shape. Are they worth anything significant, you think?

I have no idea on what price they would go for, although I will do some research for you. If you or a friend has them I would expect them to go for a fairly hefty amount. I know of roleplaying books from the early to mid 80's going for around £180-£200 which unless the currancy exhange rates have changed a lot since I checked a few months ago would be $225-$250. I'd expect 1st ed D&D to be more than that. Give me half an hour and I'll get back to you with what I can find. I didn't start playing D&D until later editions so I am not sure on the really old stuff.

Check out the following link for a rough guide.

https://www.amazon.com/first-edition-dungeons-dragons-Books/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Afirst%20edition%20dungeons%20and%20dragons (https://www.amazon.com/first-edition-dungeons-dragons-Books/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Afirst%20edition%20dungeons%20and%20dragons)

Not quite as high as I'd thought though.

With Dave busy and Anders feeling ill it was down to Val (Tina), Cadmus (Kristi) and Zagan (Soren) to explore Teziir and discover what was happening with the Mask.

The party travelled through the country side, their speed demon ancient driver at the helm. In contrast to their previous journeys this one went peacefully, including a night spent camping in the woods. Cadmus was able to heal up the rest of Zagan's injuries and restore him to full health. The next day they reached Teziir and were pleasantly surprised to find no tax collectors waiting to take money off them (the city taxes merchants based on profits, not the value of what they transport through the city here). Immediently finding a tavern to set up a temporary base in, the party decided to avoid the local branch of 'The Rumpled Bedding' which as it turns out is a chain of brothels across the region and instead went to a place called 'The Longhouse'. Well named for its size, the Longhouse was converted to an inn from two warehouses. It is frequented by moderately wealthy merchants and lesser nobility, but gold speaks its own language and when the party were offered the choice between the common room, a standard room or one of the exclusive theme rooms, each one of which were promised to make the occupant feel like they were transported to a different and unique far off land, they decided to splash out some money and go for the theme rooms.

As it turned out, each of the theme rooms had a different style of carpet in them, although since this is the first time anyone in the group has actually encountered a carpet, it was still impressive.

Plans were made and despite the best attempts of the party to intervene, Zolis hit the alcohol early and hard. When he was persuaded to go up stairs he stopped at the bar for a midnight snack (and by snack I mean drink) to take up with him.

In the morning the group split up (oh, if only I was running a horror themed game). Cadmus went to the local temple of Lathander, Zagan wanted to go looking for a shop he could sell the Ioun Stone they'd found and Val wanted to sound out the local thieves guild for some extra training. Zolis was staying in his room to sleep off his hangover and do some identifying of magical items.

Zagan found a shop called 'Mervins Magnificent Magical Merchandise', and going inside found the proprieter to be an ancient old man who was rather excitable when confronted with magical items. After some haggling they settled on a price. Haggling would feature a lot this game, sometimes going the parties way, and sometimes not so much. This time they got a pretty reasonable price for the item, but Zagan had to wait an hour or so while the old man checked the item was what he claimed it to be.

Cadmus meanwhile, took his letter of introduction to the temple of Lathander and found to his surprise a rather grim and dark looking edifice rather than the white temples he is used to for his god. One of the clerics explained to him the local rock was a dark granite and most buildings were made of it. The enterence was also rather dark and foreboding, but on entering the main hall, he found it was fully lit through a magnificent stained glass window and painted a soft yellow, the colour of morning sunshine. Showing the letter to one of the clerics, Cadmus was taken through the temple to the back, where once more everything was made from dark gray stone. They went upstairs several flights of stairs before reaching the rooms of the local First Dawnbringer (not sure if I have mentioned this or not, but as Kristi's god Lathander is the god of the Morning and his priests are referred to as Dawnbringers. I decided that the local head of each temple would be known as the First Dawnbringer). This it turned out was a very cantankerous old man who first accused Cadmus of being an assassin sent by (as he called them), "those buggers downstairs", who ever always out to poison him. Remaining polite he showed his letter of introduction to the old man (who he learned was called First Dawnbringer Maleon). He read it and with much "Hrumpf"ing was told in no uncertain terms that just because some young pup thought she could command the entire resources of Lathander just because she wrote a letter didn't mean it was going to happen. Cadmus told him the reason why he had to consult the Book of Skelos. Maleon told him that he'd speak to the one who guarded the book, but it wasn't something decent people should have any truck with and in 30 years its keeper hadn't once agreed to let anyone see it so he (Cadmus) was just wasting his time and more importantly that of Maleons. After explaining to Maleon why they needed to consult the book (basically everything that happened in the first episode), Maleon told Cadmus he'd pass it on to the keeper. He was then told to bugger off, and warned not to drink the water in the temple as the young buggers downstairs poisoned it to try kill him off so they could get his job. He was told to return the next morning for his answer. Which would be no.

When Cadmus spoke to Maleon, this started a timeline of events ticking off in the background. The consequences of this will affect the party in the future, although they won't know this. I just thought I'd y'know give you some behind the scenes info.

While all this was going on Valeria wandered around town until she started seeing symbols carved into stone buildings that she recognised as thieves signs. Eventually she found one that marked it as a reliable shop to fence stolen goods to. She sold the masterwork daggers the group had been gifted from the Monastery following the battle with the goblins, but found the shopkeeper had an interesting way of haggling. He offered 65 gold each for the daggers. When she tried to haggle him up he then offered 64 gold, then 63 and told her he'd keep going downwards the more she tried. Prying for some additional information she was able to get the location of one of the local thieves guilds safehouses, although she had to pay well for the information.

Finding her way deep into the slum like docks area by the river she found an unassuming building with many dock workers loading goods onto barges. She noticed several however were watching her carefully and doing very little work. She knocked on the door and was able to talk her way inside. Walking in she had a bright light shining in her face, but could see the outline of several people, one of whom demanded to know why she was there and more importantly how she had found out to come here.

She well and truely dropped the fence in it. He is going to find himself hanging upside down in the docks nailed to a wooden post and waiting for the tide to come in and drown him before the sun rises on the next day.

Anyway, Val said she wanted to join the local guild and get some training. They said they'd think about it and she should return the next day. She didn't notice she was being followed all the way home though.

Cadmus managed to track down Zagan just as the old man was finishing his incantations. The pair of them headed back to the inn, where they met up with Sillas, and Val. Zolis was still up in his room. Sillas had been checking up on him regularly and mostly Zolis had been throwing up, but he had been at work identifying the magical items they had collected. He was only able to investigate three items each day before he ran out of spells however, so it would take him a couple of days to get through everything.

The group decided to go up and visit Zolis. When they knocked on his door he yelled (as quietly as possible given his fragile state) that he wanted to be left alone. When the group persisted he finally opened the door up and after being nagged a lot by a very persistant Zagan he admitted he had researched some of the items they had found. The gem performed a variety of functions all based on it emitting light in various ways. It could be used as a lantern or an offensive weapon, with different uses draining different levels of power from it (three different words of command would power the gem, Illuminate, Potato and Kitten). The leather belt was a Belt of Dwarven Strength, which would make the wearer stronger. It also had some other property, but other than it was from the transmutation school Zolis had not been able to find out exactly what it did and finally the ring that Zolis had put on would increase the wearers ability to climb.

Zagan decided to try on the belt. Immediently his muscles started to swell up, but also his hair started to grow long, and the armour he was wearing was suddenly feeling very cramped in the chest area. His course features became softer and more femanine while when he asked what was going on, he found his voice had increased in pitch somewhat.

Pulling off his very restrictive armour, he now found (s)he possessed a fairly large pair of breasts. Looking down her trousers Zagan found while he had gained something upstairs, he was now missing something down below. Having to reroll his charisma Zagan found he was now a very attractive woman. Not quite super model material, but still pretty hot looking.

Ah, the joys of cursed items. Especially ones that switch your gender.

Standing in the corridor half naked, Zagan paniced for a few moments and tried to remove the belt, only to find it wouldn't budge before thinking "Actually, this isn't so bad. This has definite possibilites here." The rest of the party was trying to find ways of getting the belt off while Zagan protested "Hey, wait a sec. I am not so sure I want this belt removed." He was immediately carted off back off to Mervins Magnificent Magical Merchandise. Well ok, they got downstairs before the shocked reactions of the other customers reminded Zagan she was topless, and being female this was not a socially acceptable thing. She ran back upstairs to her room, got dressed and then went to the shop.

Being wolf whistled at all the way the group made it to Mervins. The party told the old man they needed the belt on Zagan (or Zagena as the others started to refering to her as), but not why. If they had it might have changed to old mans reply. They kept telling him to examine Zagan's belt so his eyes would drop down. Then Zagan/Zagena would say, no eyes slightly higher, then when she realised what he'd now be staring at told her to look at the belt. This cycled through a couple of times, the old mans eyes going up and down Zagan's form until someone started asking him for a price. Mervin offered to take Zagan through his back room and examine the problem a bit more closely. She went through and enquired what it would cost. When she was told either a couple of hundred gold or 45 minutes of her time upstairs. Zagan briefly contemplated flashing her breasts at him (which would have meant a Fortitude for the old guy not to suddenly have a heart attack and die), before deciding to run out of the shop insisting the others follow her and he was happy to live with being a woman for the moment.

(Men playing women in my games do get a slightly harder time from male non player characters, just to give them an idea of how difficult life can be for women sometimes. Plus its funny to hear men try and deal with these situations).

Zagan decided to spend some of the cash the group had managed to earn and found himself a new Great Sword, its cross hilt inlaid with ebony, while the two foot long ivory hilt seemed made for his grasp. Everyone then headed back to the Longhouse for some food, although on the way Cadmus did pick up and attractive red dress for Zagan. I figure Zagan wearing it would pretty much look like Tracy Helfer in the remake of Battlestar Galactica.

Zolis finally surfaced coming down and heading straight to the bar for more alcohol. He joined the rest with a tray filled with drinks The others decided to try and stop him getting drunk and knocked his alcohol over, but Zolis tried to drink the spillage anyway. Since Zolis wasn't aware of what had happened to Zagan, when she tried to persuade him to go up stairs back to him room Zolis misunderstood somewhat. He agreed and headed up to his room picking up two bottles of wine on the way.

Sighing, Val followed after a few seconds and knocked on Zolis's door. Assuming it was the attractive lady in the red dress he told her to enter, Val did only to be shocked when she saw the wizard with an already half empty bottle of wine dancing around drunkenly. Giving up, she left the room and shortly after the others found him passed out on his bed.

The rest of the night passed pretty much peacefully, although the party was starting to worry that the Mask was affecting Zolis's behaviour. Zagan promised to keep the noise down and in the morning the group decided it was ready to face the day. Val went back to her underground contacts while Zagan decided to accompany Cadmus to the temple of Lathander. A very hungover Zolis would again be watched over by poor Sillas.

In the lair of the local thieves guild, Val was told if she wanted to join them she'd need to prove her worth. A merchant by the name of Xzavros who lived in a hideously pink coloured mansion had recently purchased a ruby of unusual size and splendor. If she could retrieve the gem from him she would be allowed into the guild. She took a stroll past his house casually checking it out and looking around the local area. Some of the large houses had guards standing outside (including the one belonging to Xzavros), however the equally large house facing onto the back of her target appaered to have no visable security beyond a locked iron gate. She decided however that she would complete this job on her own, not believing the rest of the group would be willing to engage in thievery.

Cadmus and Zagan entered the temple and found Maleon waiting for them. He seemed rather put out that whoever guarded the Book of Skelos had agreed to see them once he had heard of the masks. Taking them deep underground below the temple he explained they kept old books and documents down here to preserve them, as well as other more esoteric items. They were also warned not to wander off and the area had many magical wards and other protections and anyone exploring might find the meaning of the phrase "curiosity killed the cat". Of course this was peppered with many "Bugger it"s and so on.

Several heavy doors were unlocked and Maleon explained that the locks had to all be done in a certain order or the corridor would explode and collapse as he led them down a dank corridor, barely lit by the flicker from a torch carried by Zagan.

Their guide unlocked a final dark oak door, reinforced with iron studs and offered the group one last chance to stop being silly buggers and go upstairs. Nervously, they decided to continue. He warned them not to take anything from the occupant, not to give him anything and not to touch anything he had touched.

After being told again they were daft buggers, he pulled open the door with a loud creak. As the door opened, the dark corridor was flooded with a soft golden light spilling out from the room. A gentle and cultured voice called out inviting them to enter.

Whatever the pair had been expecting, this wasn't it.

Entering the room, they found a well furnished room, comfortable chairs around a table with a bowl filled with fruit. A man dressed in long yellow silken robes (if you are thinking the king in yellow here, don't. Its not something Lovecraftian) that covered his body other than his hands and face. White gloves however covered his hands and his face was hidden behind a smooth ivory mask marked only by two slits for his eyes. He sat down opposite the party, telling Maleon to sit on a stool over by the door and then lowered his voice to prevent the old priest from overhearing them. He politely enquired about what it was the group wanted to know about. Cadmus recited the story of how they had found the Mask (basically the events of episode one, and mentioned about the bounty hunter who had been chasing them). He agreed that Cadmus could attempt to read the book, but his companion would have to leave the room and await them outside. He also revealled that he had previously been a companion of the man they found hung at the farmhouse. Thirty years before they had been fellow adventurers. With a warning that the book was not like other books and would test anyone trying to read it first. Indeed, just as someone would read it, the book would read the person.

Cadmus approached the book and opened its heavy beaten iron cover.

The world swam before his eyes and faded. Cadmus found himself... floating isn't quite the word but somehow existing in a realm of nothingness. Not even darkness. A dry voice from everywhere and nowhere spoke to her, while it felt like something was probing roughly through his thoughts. If he wanted to read them the voice said, he would have to prove he was strong enough to face the challanges he would face ahead. It would test him with his memories. Possibly something that had happened in his past, or future. The voice from the book told Cadmus it did not understand this thing called time. Suddenly daylight flooded the room and Cadmus found himself staring up at a clear sky while lying on some wet grass. And in a tremendous amount of pain. Looking down he had a large hole in his belly and plenty of blood was running out of it. All around him lay men dead and dying. In the distance an army of undead let by a cowled figure was approaching, killing all those who were just wounded. Cadmus could feel he had enough power for one last healing spell and as he was about to heal himself he heard a wail of pain. A young boy was crawling towards him, his legs horribly mangled.

Cadmus could either heal himself and escape the advancing skeletons or heal the boy.

As he tried to decide which course of action to take, all the while the undead were getting closer and closer.

Finally with the undead just about to reach them he filled himself with divine power and healed his own wound just as the nearest skeleton reached the young boy and plunged its sword into his back. The hooded figure uncovered his face, and just as Cadmus recognised the man controlling the army of undead his vision swam again.

The world returned to nothingness and a voice told him he had proven he had the strength to do what was needed and could read the book.
Had he healed the young boy, he'd have failed the test and had to sit two others. Of course this would also potentially given him some clues as to what would happen in some future encounters, but for the moment he is going to have to be content with a warning about an army of undead...

He was back in the chamber with the man in yellow and Maleon. The strange characters on the book moved and changed forming words that answered Cadmus's questions. It told him that the Masks were made from fragments of a long dead god, and when one put on a Mask he or she could absorb a portion of that gods power. Put enough Masks on and you become a god.

Of course being an ancient tome, it told that story a long more longwindedly. But what you got is the highlights. Besides, only Cadmus knows the full details of what he saw in his test and what he read in that damned book.

After he had finished reading he was reunited with Zagan and the pair left the temple. Maleon was much quieter afterwards than he had before. The group silently went back up the oppresive stairs to the main hall and then out into the sunlight beyond.

Why do these things take so long to write out? I need a scribe to take notes for me. In fact if someone is going to take notes for me, they might as well just type out everything for me.

Everyone headed back to the inn once more. Zolis remained holed up in his room, and was only seen to hand over the items he had identified during the day, then return to hiding. The rapier was a magical item which would improve the wielders chances of hitting his target and increase the damage they did. While no one was watching, Val quietly picked this item up without saying anything to anyone. Kano's mail shirt also proved to be magical increasing the protection given to the wearer which the party debated about and decided to give to Zagan. The final item they group had looked at was the box Kano had used. It allowed the user once per week to track the closest Mask. An additional enchantment on it also allowed the creater to always know where said item was located should they wish to know. A quick discussion decided that this item was then useless to the group as it would always point to Zolis.

I guess no one ever thought that if Zolis gets drunk and wanders off, or gets kidnapped it would be a handy way to help track him down.

The next day much time passed while spending some more gold and upgrading weapons to newer shinier versions (masterwork items generally), then dropping the box off at the temple of Lathander and asking them if they would give it to the man in yellow. Maleon totally refused reminding the party that he had told them they could not give him anything, take anything from him or touch anything he had touched. Although the group tried their best to persuade him otherwise the old man would not budge on this. He did say he could have the box stored underground with various other things best kept out of the publics knowledge. Eventually the group reluctantly agreed to this as a second best option.

After this, everyone headed back towards the Longhouse. The sun was starting to go down by now and long shadows were being cast over the streets. A couple of crashed wagons and a very large crowd of bystanders stood around this watching the drivers shout and argue with each other. Val took the opportunity to lighten someone of their coin purse before the group turned down a narrow alleyway to get to the next street down. At one point the alleyway widened up into a large square with one other exit from it.

Looking around Val noticed there were a lot of figures hiding in the shadows around this square. One man stepped out to block the way on. He told the group they were attracting a lot of interest with where they were going and who they were seeing. Important people in the city wanted to know what they were doing and they could either be friends and tell him what they were up to, or they could not be friends and they'd find out what the group were up to in less pleasant ways.

Zagan flexed his (sorry, her) muscles and stepped up to the stranger. Putting on his most intimidating voice he suggested the man get out his way before something very unpleasant happened to him. Cowed by this woman with a huge sword the thug backed down and backed off. At speed.

I can't believe the group managed to dodge a fight with some basic thugs. Oh well, it just means should they come up against this gang again later on they will have more people to fight later.

With that we ended the adventure for the night.

I think tonights adventure was much more fun than the previous one to run. Not only with a drunken wizard causing havock or Zagan and his belt, but just in general. Last week I had to improvise a lot of what happened and I always feel the game suffers then compared to one where I have enough time to write everything in advance and I know pretty much what the group is going to do. This is the first session so far where no combat has taken place (although I did prepare for up to three combat situations depending on how things went).

The group is showing a definite bias towards not sharing information with each other which has surprised me in several sessions so far. It may even have caused them to miss a few things. Nothing major so far, but it will be interesting to see how this develops.

Y'know, dude, you should seriously turn these records of each session into a book. They'd adapt well.  :thumbup:

I was sitting today thinking about bad guys to put up against the party since they have earned themselves a more powerful recurring villian. Or perhaps a group of them. Anyway, in my experience there is one creature like no other for spreading fear and paranoia in a party. It has to be used very carefully as they can easily destroy a campaign.

Lets see how that goes then, although it will be a while before they encounter it.

So tonight Tina got her first solo adventure as she snuck off out of the tavern while everyone else was sleeping.

Sticking to the back streets and shadows Val made her way to the merchants district. The sky was a half moon but free from clouds meaning there were plenty of shadows for her to flit through. At this hour of night almost everyone was asleep and only a few houses had guards standing outside. The one she was after fortunately wasn't one of them. As she entered the street she walked a little more casually so as not to attract undue attention, then with a quick look around to make sure no one was watching her, she nimbly climbed up the 10 foot high rough stone wall that surrounded the pink house, carefully avoiding the broken glass shards embedded in the top of the wall.

A quick look around showed no guards patrolling the grounds and the pink house itself was in darkness. Either side of the curving path leading to the house was a well tended small forest with many attractive plants. Were it daytime she'd have seen they were also pink. Doubtless if trees came in pink, they to would have been that shade.

Val crept quietly through the garden, sticking to the cover of the trees, but something out there was quieter than her. Something had picked up her scent as was following her.

Suddenly she found herself barged to the ground as something big jumped on her without making a sound. Her vision was filled with sharp teeth and claws as some animal larger than her ripped at her chest with one sharply taloned paw. She managed to avoid its slavering jaws and further slashes from its claws, shoved herself backwards and managed to stagger to her feet, whipping out the rapier she had taken off Kano. She could now see what was attacking her, some sort of enormous cat, tawny coloured with a dark mane of hair like nothing she had ever seen before. As the beast lunged at her, she as much by luck as skill managed to slash it across its face, piercing one eye and leaving it blind on that side. Enraged it lashed out again with its paw, but Val nimbly stepped back. She was able to fend off the beast, stepping backwards and using trees for cover while it tried biting and clawing at her. Each time her rapier flicked out it managed to open another cut on it, slowly weakening the it from loss of blood. Eventually seeing her opening she thrust forward as its head tried to clamp its fierce jaws in her arm. The tip of the rapier sunk into its body just at the base of the neck and found its mighty heart. With a piteous mewling cry the animal fell dead.

Worried that someone might have heard the death cry and bleeding heavily from the creatures initial onslaught, she staggered through the undergrowth and quickly dashed across the open ground between garden and house. She snuck to a side wall and peered in through a window. As what moonlight there was shone on the front of the house she couldn't see much of the benighted interior, but what she could make out convinced her it was safe to try and get in here. A little bit of work with her thieves tools and she soon had a window open. Obviously Xzavros felt his day time guards and night time pet were security enough to stop anyone getting in. Anyone that is, except Val.

She silently slipped in through the opened window and then slid inside. A quick flash of light from the magic gem the adventurers were given for helping to defend the monastery showed she was in a dining room. The remains of the last meal were still sitting on the table. Many fine portraits were hung on the walls, all of a rather portly, balding chap with a walrus 'tache. She could also see two doors leading from the dining room. Choosing the closest she carefully opened the door (with her light now off) and peaked outside. On the other side of the corridor she could see another door, but the light was too poor to see anything else other than guess she was in a hallway.

Checking the opposite door and losing the last of her light she found herself in a room that appeared to contain desks and books, although since she didn't want to risk using her light too much she couldn't tell what if anything was written on them. She made her way out of that room, back into the dark hallway and found another door.

This time she found herself in the main hallway. A grand staircase swept upwards to the upper floor and enough light entered the room for Val to get a rough idea of the layout of the room, if not any details. She felt her way along the wall, touching a number of portraits and busts in alcoves before reaching the back wall, just missing a door in the shadows under the staircase. Working her way to the other side of the room and almost tripping up over some small tables she eventually managed to locate a door lying open on the far side of the room, however it led into another corridor with no natural light. Her fingertips touching the wall to her right Val used all skills she had learned in her hard life as a thief to make no noise in the dark. Her questing fingertips found another space and peaking in she could see a figure lying on a bed. Carefully closing the door she then snuck along the passageway until she found a dead end and had to work her way back, she found another opening roughly opposite where she had found the door. Heading up that way and searching in the dark revealled only a couple of what seemed to be small bedrooms, possibly servants quarters and then cunningly avoided falling over another staircase, less grand than the one in the hallway.

If Val had ever heard of a ninja she'd know exactly how to describe just how quietly she went upstairs. Her luck started running a little thin though when she kicked something soft and yielding on the floor. It made no sound however. Kneeling down and using her hands to explore she found what she had kicked was a body and round about the neck was rather wet. Sniffing her finger tips she caught the coppery smell of blood and quickly wiped it off on the clothes of the body. Taking her gem out again she illuminated the room, revealing four bodies lying on the floor, all dressed in rather rough clothing. Each bore a single wound, but one that in each case would be instantly fatal. The one she had tripped over had a large hole through his neck, another was almost cleft in two diagonally from his shoulder to his hip. Deciding not to inspect the other bodies she moved onto the next door, but before going through doused her shining gem light.

This took her out onto the balcony above the main hall. Just along the corridor from her was a set of double doors, one lying open. The other wall nearest her had two doors on it, and the furthest away door had but one, all closed. Moving carefully from shadow to shadow and making less noise than the creaking of the house she chose the examine the double doors first. Other than being able to make out a four poster bed, she could see little inside, but she slipped in anyway. Moving to her right and feeling along the wall she found wardrobes and drawers with what felt like clothing. In one of the drawers she found a heavy keyring with a dozen or so keys on it which she slipped into her pouch. Val then continued working her way by fingertips around the room until she felt some heavy velvet. Pulling it to one side she found a window behind it and let a little more light into the room.

This wasn't all together great as the first thing she saw was a naked dead girl lying on the bed, her throat neatly sliced open.

About this point she began to think something was up.

Eventually she came to yet another doorway, but this time it was locked. Again her handy thieves tools came into play and quickly had the door unlocked. Hearing a noise like footsteps behind her Val rolled to the side, and whipped her blade out, but could see nothing. Had it been someone creeping up behind her in the shadows or just her nerves?

After patiently waiting for several minutes she decided to continue with her job. Entering another dark room she decided it would be safe to use her magic gem again and lit up the room. In the centre appeared to be her prize. A ruby the size of her first sat on top of a marble plinth. Around the edges of the room sat several chests. Had she found Xzavros's treasure room?

First of all she carefully examined the plinth the gem sat in. Her thieves senses were tingling, but she could find no evidence of a trap. Something was niggling at her that something about the situation was wrong though. She unlocked one of the wooden chests in the room, but found only paper contracts of old business dealings. Deciding to explore the house further and come back to the gem later she left the 'treasure room'. The other rooms on the top floor were then examined, but appeared to be empty guest bedrooms.

Feeling confident enough to leave the gem shining to light her way, Val returned to the room with the dead servants and went down the way she had came, then seeing another staircase leading down into the cellar she went down into the bowels of the house.

Her light showed her a large room, filled with old furniture. Should she need it, there would be plenty of places to hide. A sliver of light shone through from another room and she just couldn't not investigate when she heard low moans of pain along with a grinding sound, like metal on stone. The door itself was designed to be invisible when closed, fitting perfectly into the stonework. Looking through she could see two men. One was tall and broad, wearing plate armour painted black. He was holding a two handed sword, the tip of which was buried deep in the guts on a man on the floor, barely recognizable as the man in the paintings upstairs. She could hear him say to the man on the floor “Well, I think I have inflicted the amount of pain paid for and required. Let's end this now."He picks up something black and oval shaped, smashes it over the man's head and then sticks the jagged edges in the man's throat. He clasps the hilt of his great sword, still stuck in the corpse and holds it in both hands.

Then his voice dropped to a whisper, but her keen roguish senses could still make out him say “I am truly sorry for the torment you have endured this night, but I am even more sorry that what you are about to endure will make it seem like a pleasant memory. There will be no rest for you on the other side of death.”

A brilliant bluish white light surrounded the corpse, then was slowly drawn up the blade and absorbed by it. The man in black pulled his sword out of the now dead Xzavros, and strode over to a hole in the wall were a crude tunnel led into the darkness.

Val waited until she was sure the armoured man was gone and then entered the room. Xzavros was long past any help she could give, but as she entered she noticed this room was filled with gold coins. She had been so transfixed by what was happening she failed to notice. Apparently this was his real treasure room, and there on a much simpler stone plinth than the one upstairs was sitting another first sized ruby. Examining it incredibly carefully she couldn't find any traps on this one, nor did she get a bad feeling from it, so she took a chance and placed it in a pouch. Feeling a little emboldened when nothing untoward happened she then happily started scooping up handfuls of gold until she could carry no more.

If curiosity killed the cat, then Val's could take out an entire pride of lions. She just had to follow the armoured man through the tunnel. It was rough and looked very recent. The floor was uneven with chunks of stone everywhere, so she decided to keep her light on. Unfortunately when she reached the end of the corridor, the man in black moved out from around the corridor. She had time to notice that he is quite a handsome man, in a dark and sinister way and in a cultured voice he said “Who is this? Some thief has caught an assassin in her claws. Ware ye little thief. I have killed whom I was paid to kill and have no more interest in more death tonight, but if you insist I will send you to the next world and quickly. And I would hate to kill anyone I didn't need to, especially one as pretty as you.”

Deciding discretion was the better part of valour Val simply agreed with him and went back down the tunnel, then as quickly as she could while still remaining hidden made her way back to the tavern to slip into her bed, cuddled up tight around her newfound wealth.

After all, every woman wants to sleep with money.

Got some messages about the game. Unfortunately Clockworkcanary is going to have to drop out as our game time is conflicting with other stuff. If in the future his schedule frees up though he would be welcome to come back.

 Tina has decided that Val, rather than going to bed with the gold now wants to go back to the house and help herself to more gold (yes ER, not only does she want to sleep with money, she wants to sleep with lots of money).

Part Seven Of The Ballad Of The Band Of The Icky Hand: Caught Red Handed. And Again.

OK, last week we left off with Val getting back to the tavern and deciding that she wanted to return to the merchants house to get more of his gold. However she realised that someone stronger than her was needed to carry more money. Deciding that Zagan was the most likely to be morally flexable on this she woke him up and told him that she knew where there was a whole lot of money belonging to someone what no longer needed it.

Without asking too many more details Zagan gladly agreed, pulling on his armour and grabbing his sword before emptying his backpack on the floor (his choice of equipment would have consequences later) Val similarly dressed as lightly as possible to carry more dead mans gold. The pair of them headed out into the late night / early morning back to the pink house. Having found the keys to the house, Val unlocked the gates, but crucially left the gates open. This would also have consequences later.

The pair of them descended down into the cellar and the secret treasure room, gleefully filling every pocket and backpack with handfulls of gold, completely unconcerned with the body lying on the floor or the large hole through his guts. Just the kind of wound that would be made by a great sword, just like Zagan was wearing. Alas during the time this took a patrol of city watchmen noticed the open gate and front door of the house and entered to investigate. The party continually failed to hear the footsteps of men wearing mail armour (random historical note, there is no such thing as chain mail armour, it was just called mail armour) until they entered the room and pointing crossbows at the group demanded they lay down their weapons and surrender.

Deciding that charging a bunch of men with loaded crossbows pointed at them was not the most sensible thing, nor would be trying to flee down the tunnel to the sewer (which is a shame as I had prepared a scenario where they would end up having to save a bunch of homeless people living in the sewer from a giant albino alligator) and surrendered. They were stripped of their weapons, gold and equipment, then were marched off the to local gaol.

In the early morning the rest of the party awoke and went down for breakfast. When they went to investigate they found their rooms unlocked and unoccupied. In Val's room a large heap on gold lay on her bed with a fist sized ruby in the middle of it all. In Zagan's room there were no clues to his location. His weapons and armour were gone, and his gear emptied out over his bed. Somewhat worried the party headed out into the morning. Most people were still abed, but some were posting up news of the dreadful murder of the cities leading philanthropist and his household. A reward of 5,000 gold had been posted for the capture of his killers, but two people believed to be the guilty party had already been arrested.

The rest of the party got a sinking feeling about now concerning the identity of the accused. They figured they should pay for another couple of nights staying in the tavern.

Val and Zagan had found themselves together in a 10 foot by 15 foot dungeon, locked behind a heavy wooden door. A barred window provided some light. Calling on a the local jailer she tried to bribe him to take a message to her friends. Looking at her, he said he'd do it, but it would take more than gold (rolled a dice randomly here for what he wanted, it could have been gold, a bed time story read to him while Val called herself Uncle Arthur or a couple of other things, but it came up with sex). He took her into another empty cell for some privacy where she suddenly turned on him and clubbed him into unconsciousness. Taking his keys and Zagan, the pair of them snuck down the corridor. From one room they could hear some other jailers gambling. Opposite from there they found the armoury where their stuff had been placed after being confiscated. As quietly as possible they pilled other suits and armour and what ever else they could find in front of the jailers room to trap them inside and give themselves a bit of an alarm if any of them tried to leave the room.

After exploring the gaol further eventually they found the way out, with only a single guard manning a desk between them and freedom. Val started to sneak up behind him, but his keen ears warned him. He spun around at the same point as Cadmus and Zolis entered looking for their missing companions. Surprised and surrounded Val was quickly able to disable him leaving another guard senseless on the floor. Picking up some hats and cloaks to hide themselves on the way home, they headed back to the Longhouse Tavern to explain what had happened the previous night.

As they headed up to their chambers a young urchin brought a letter addressed to Val and Zagan on very expensive looking paper. Inside was an invite for each of them to a grand ball the next night. Attached was a note and a letter of credit for the women to get themselves suitable dresses and such accoutrements for their outfits as they deemed appropriate. However it also had a warning not to abuse the gift and buy other stuff.

In keeping with their plan after the prison escape to keep a low profile the women immediately went out dress shopping.

If I remember correctly Val ended up with a black lace ensemble with knee high patent leather boots and a matching onyx, diamond and platinum necklace (when I suggested something else I was immediately subjected to a torrent of abuse from Kristi about what kind of gems go with what fabrics and colours). Zagan ended up with something in purple with amethyst and gold. Oh and high heeled boots.

Zagan attempted to pay the head choreographer of a rather upmarket theatre to come and give her and Val some dancing lessons. While he couldn't meet his price, one of the actors turned out to be much more amenable

Next time women go shopping in my game, I am going to let Kristi GM it.

Seriously women, wearing matching outfits DOES NOT give you a bonus to your armour class.

I also really offended them by suggesting clothes shopping for two women could possibly be carried out in 90 minutes. That would be the part though where this is a fantasy game.

Val then rode off on one of the horses to hand in her prize to the local criminal mob. I tried dropping subtle hints to suggest that perhaps going to a thieves guild with a 5,000 gold bounty on her head might not be the best idea, but they went unnoticed. Sure enough as soon as she handed the gem over, she was ambushed and knocked out. She would wake up later in the same cell she was in the previous day, but this time she was stripped naked and manacled up so she was stuck in a fetal position. Despite her best attempts she was unable to get out of her chains. Obviously with one successful escape already the city watch were taking no chances. From her cell, she could here some muffled noises from the corridor outside, then in front of her eyes, the shadows by the door to her cell seemed to gather into one spot and form a solid shape...

Lets leave that for a second and go find out what the rest of the party was doing (ooooh, tension and suspense!).

Since Cadmus had been seen around town with two people who were now wanted fugitives in the city he asked Zolis to go check on the city gates and scope out how easy it would be to slip outside and escape. Alas the city it turns out was in lockdown thanks to the murder of its wealthiest citizen and the escape of his suspected killers. He reported this back to the rest of the group, including poor Sillas who had been doing little other than guarding the money Val had stolen on her first trip to the Pink House. He returned to the Longhouse Tavern and the group began to discuss how to get out the city, and what was taking Val so long?

And speaking of Val...

The shadows coalesced into the shape of a tall thin woman. She whispered through the bars of her cell door "It's her, she is in here. Open the damn door."
As the bar on the outside of the door was removed, the women set to work unlocking the manacles. She then picked the lock of the door where a man stood. They introduced themselves as Aileen and Merric the Talespinner. Val's gear was retrieved and she quickly dressed. Moving over to an outside wall, deep in shadows Aileen grasped the other two and suddenly Val found herself standing on the other side of the wall. They hurriedly escorted her back to the tavern, but didn't really tell her why they had rescued her, just telling her to keep a low profile and they would arrange to get her out the city in a couple of days.

The next day both Val and Zagan spent learning how to waltz under the direction of their rather ebullient actor instructor, then again all in the name of keeping a low profile they decided to attend the largest, grandest ball of the social season.

At the appointed time a very nice looking black coach pulled by six white horses pulled up in front of the inn. Two footmen appeared from the rear of the coach, one holding the door open, the other kneeling down to act as a human footstool for the ladies to step up into the carriage on.

Remember that one of those costumes involved high heeled boots?

I hear some men pay for things like that. Never understood that one myself.

Anyway, with a muffled grunt of pain from the footman they entered the carriage and went off to the ball.

They were driven through the city for ten or fifteen minutes before reaching their destination. Stepping out of the carriage (again on the backs of a footman) they were met by their mysterious host, Sir Geldan. He was a young man, apparently in his early 20s, handsome and powerfully built. He had long dark hair, held back by a silver band with a blue gem in the centre of it. He wore a black outfit, of a silk tunic, velvet trousers and thigh high black leather boots.

Val immediately recognized him as the man who had killed Xzavros.

He extended his arms and invited the women to take an arm each, and then escorted them into a magnificent white palace as the sounds of an orchestra drifted out into the night air. A servant announced them as they entered. Sir Geldan and Zagan took to the dance floor (and found that Geldan had some wandering hands), while Val helped herself to some free food and drink. The food was quite exquisite and she found herself tucking into the very moreish food.

Zagan found Geldan to be a wonderful dancer, although she was unable to quite match his talents and accidentally bumped into another dancer. He immediately turned around and slapped Zagan only for Geldan to push him away and demand a duel for the slight to his guest. Later on that night, another man was to arose Geldan's ire when he accused Val of eating like a pig and similarly being challenged to a duel.

He then apologized to the ladies for the impoliteness of others and sincerely hoped it would not spoil their night. They spent the rest of the night dancing, drinking and engaging in enjoyable conversation. As the end of the night approached he escorted them out to the back lawn where the duel was to take place.

Sir Geldan invited his opponents to select their weapons first, or flee and be known as a coward. The man who had insulted Val decided to take the chance to escape, while the other man still running on anger selected the foil. Geldan then took the epee. The pair took their positions and then the duel began. Geldan quickly took the upper hand opening up numerous wounds on his opponent. Although he took some hits in return, Geldan quickly cut the man to ribbons and left him dead and bleeding on the floor.

Having avenged the honour of his guests, Geldan then offered to take the women back to their lodgings. Or if they wished they could return to his quarters to tend to his wounds and experience a night he promised would be like none other they had ever experienced.

I was somewhat surprised when both Val and Zagan decided to accept. I had been expecting them to say no thank you, and thank him for a wonderful night.

Anyway, the three of them went to his bed chambers and we skipped to the next morning.

Really, there is way too much sex in this game. I need to get them all out in the middle of nowhere adventuring.

The next day they all breakfasted together and Geldan offered to take them back to their rooms. As they left his home however they spotted a Drow reclining catlike on the wall around his house. "Tut tut Sir Geldan, playing with your food again? Why bother when you know you will have to kill them soon."

With a heavy sigh, he introduced the female Drow as Lady Elthaian and replied "I simply sought to give them one night to remember. There is no harm in that."
With a cruel laugh she rolled backwards and dropped out of sight behind the wall. Both ladies turned round questioningly staring at Sir Geldan. He explained to them that he was a somewhat unwilling member of a team of assassins called The Dark Reflection. He was the most junior member of the group and even he was much more powerful than the party. He told them he knew someone was looking to hire them to kill the group but the contract had not yet been finalized. He offered to kill them quickly and painlessly here and now, and warned them that once the contract was accepted their fate would be much worse. Not only would they be killed, but their souls would also be denied entry to the afterlife instead being condemned to eternal torment.

Unsurprisingly his offer was turned down. They all thanked each other for a special night and parted as friends.

A good session told with novel-esque vividness. You're a fine DM. I think all D&D characters should ask themselves,  WWCD: "What Would Conan Do?" If my D&D-revering friend Rob lived in Scotland he'd never want to leave your house. You'd have to throw him into the street, probably repeatedly.

And now after 9 1/2 hours at work, which included a freak accident and driving someone to the ER, I get to go home.

Robert E Howard is actually a pretty big influence on my games (and also why wenches are always available in between adventures I guess). Conan was very much my introduction to the fantasy genre. I also love Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber and was quite amused by the attempts of one games master I used to play with who attempted to pass off two of the wizards from those stories as his own creation for his game.

Even though scheduling prevents me from playing lately, I am loving the updates on my fellow adventurers! Ah the trouble they get into without Sillas! (although they'd probably get into similar trouble had he been present anyway lol).

Great stuff. I'm hoping to be able to join in on one of the upcoming games. I will keep you posted with some advanced notice on that.

For the moment Sillas is still with the group, earning about 75% of the XPs the rest of the party gets. There is a point in the future where if you can't make it back that I'll have him drop out, but he can always make guest appearances after that.

So I've been writing an upcoming episode where I am looking to throw a bit of a turn into horror. I want to get an atmosphere of claustraphobia going amongst the group and then hit them with a monster fight. So the situation is, the group for various reasons is underground in a large sewer (big enough to paddle a canoe down) and going deeper. What I have written so far is:

"Be careful of putting your hand near the surface. Believe it or not some creatures actually live down here in this filth. You can't use any naked flames down here, and magic is weaker here than on the surface. Spells may be less powerful than usual or might not work at all."

Make sure you get what order the party is sitting in the boat. It won't matter, but they will wonder why you've asked. With Merrick checking behind the boat regularly, people in the back might get nervous.

'As you start paddling, you can see sometimes the light from the gem grows dimmer as you travel. Occasionally it blinks out completely, or flashes off and on giving you an unsettling strobe effect. Combined with the smell from the flow of effluent your stomach is heaving. Merrick is kneeling at the front of the boat, occasionally looking behind you and says "The sewers join into a cave system beneath the city. I've not been able to fully explore it, but I have found several ways out of the city before.'

At this point have the party make some Spot and Listen checks. There is nothing to see or hear, but it will make them wonder what they aren't seeing and help get them in the right frame of mind. Repeat this occasionally, but not too often.

'After a while the gray brick work gives way to natural brown stone. The roof of the cave is less than a foot over your head, and sometimes you have to duck to avoid hitting a low part of the roof. The unsteady light from Merrick's gem throws crazy shadows on the cave walls when it is lit and when everything goes dark you are all forced to duck into the canoe or risk braining yourself on some rocky outcrop. The caves slowly lead downwards into the bowels of the earth and you can't help thinking of all the people walking around you above and the layer of rock between you and them, or what would happen should it collapse. The air down here feels very cold and if you didn't have to paddle you'd be huddling close for warmth. The canoe keeps bumping off objects in the water. It could be rocks or you don't want to know what could be floating beside you.

Or perhaps its the creatures Merrick mentioned living down here.

Merrick keeps glancing behind the boat and has a slightly nervous air about him.'

If anyone asks why he will reply "I am not sure, but I think something is following us." Follow this up with more Spot and Listen checks. The party will hear all sorts of strange echos in a cave, let their imaginations make of that what they will. "I also have to confess we appear to have drifted into a part of the caves I am not familiar with. I am afraid we are slightly lost."

Give the players a chance to speak up, come up with plans and so on.

'You paddle through narrow caves and giant caverns. You have no idea how long you've been travelling for down here, far from the sunlight. The light still flickers as if struggling against the enveloping darkness, sometimes it fails and you are plunged into complete darkness.'

Merrick will not allow anyone to light a non magical light. If they do, throw a methane explosion into the mix. 3d6 damage (Reflex save for half) should discourage them from this course of action. The inconsistant light is going to be handy shortly.

'You are constantly aware of the thousands of tons of rock over your head. Should it give way, you would all be crushed flat with no hope of rescue and no chance of anyone ever finding your broken bodies. Once more the light dims and dies, just as you enter a wider cavern where the water flows faster through. You feel the boat picking up speed and the occasional flash of light shows the cave walls rushing past at a dizzying speed. The stench from the sewer has faded somewhat as the sewer mixes with fresh water off the mountains. Merrick calls out "Keep the paddles out the water and your hands inside the boat!"'

Anyone not pulling their paddle in will find it get smashed by a passing rocky outcrop. Anyone with their hand outside the boat can have that hit. Give them d6 damage and a +2 penalty to anything involving using that arm for the next day or two.

You must be passing through another dead magic area, the light is still completely gone. You have no idea how large or small the tunnel is, and thoughts of plunging over an unseen waterfall keep playing in your head.

Well maybe not Zolis's head. Who the hell knows what is going on in his mind?

Suddenly you find yourself flying through the air as the boat hits something in the dark. You are catapulted out of your seat and find yourself thrown into the ice cold water. Luckily it is only a couple of feet deep and you soon hit the bottom. Splashing and struggling, you all make it back to the surface, coughing and spluttering as you try to spit out the water and take a deep breath at the same time.

A shockingly loud scream rends the darkness. You cannot tell who is making it. It starts off as a shout of pain, but increases in pitch and intensity like nothing you have ever heard before, and then breaks into a liquid gurgling. Just as that second the gem flashes for a second briefly illuminating the area.

For a moment your brain struggles to make sense of what it is seeing. It looks like Merrick is lying on some large triangular pink bed, then just as it goes dark, you realise it is actually a massive reptillian jaw studded with stubby but wickedly pointed teeth. As the light blinks out you see the upper jaw coming down, half Merricks body inside the large triangular mouth, half outside. He seems to be stuck, impailed on the teeth beneath him. His left arm has been torn off at the shoulder while he feebly stabs with his dagger in his right. As the light flashes on and off you see a kalidoscope of images as the creature bites down on him, shakes its head from side to side as if trying to tear the body to pieces. When its head hits the side of the passage you can feel the walls tremble with the force of the impact. With a final bite and shake his body is ripped in twain, half falling into the bloodied water, the other half down this giant creatures gullet.'

Anyway, if anyone has some good suggestions for how to build the tension a bit more feel free to mention them. Just remember that every couple of minutes the players have to get a chance to give some input, so I can't do a Stephen King novel length of a build up to the scene.

And I guess at the end of this scene the party might still have their paddles, but they are otherwise currently up s**t creek without a boat.

Actually, that's pretty good, man.

Part Eight Of The Ballad Of The Band Of The Icky Hand: Its Time To Split.

Something very bad happened to one of the characters tonight. I am now in deep trouble. Read on to find out more...

The group all met up in the tavern following their previous nights adventures. They took a table together to swap stories and Val went up to buy a round. On the way back however, she bumped into another patron and a fight broke out. The man who had ale spilled down him turned out to be a surprisingly competent unarmed fighter and pummelled Val into unconsciousness. Another man joined in and a general melee exploded in the bar. Innocent people were running about trying to get away from the fight. Few of the group were equipped for combat, and most of them figured out that using weapons or spells would be a bad idea in a bar fight.

Hell, even Zolis figured out that using big flashy spells would be a bad idea.

Anyway, Val was beaten into unconsciousness in rapid order. Cadmus decided to drop a Sonic Bang spell right in the middle of the fight. This would potentially hit all the combatants including her own allies. Oh, and a lot of normal people. Normal people tend to be squishy and not have a lot of hit points and rapidly died from the sonic damage. As this happened someone else stabbed one of the patrons in the neck with a dagger. They fell to the ground dead.

Now, this was the bit that was supposed to happen. Someone had hired some thugs to start a fight and then kill a bystander and have some false witnesses point the figure at the party.

The thought that the party would actually go kill some innocent people anyway hadn't really occurred to me. Even though this is something that players do regularly. I certainly didn't expect Kristi to be the one who did it. When I pointed out to her she'd killed innocent people her characters reaction was to shrug his shoulders and offer to kill the unconscious Val to prevent them having to carry her body around. When she finally went to cast a healing spell on Val. He reached deep to summon the holy power and... nothing happened. Lathander had withdrawn his favour from him. At this point Cadmus started regretting the deaths. This isn't the bad thing I mentioned at the start. I am in waaaaaaaaay more trouble than that.

They heard a shout the city watch were on their way and fled out into the city, bearing in mind some of the party has a rather significant bounty on their heads. The group then headed for the Temple of Lathander to seek refuge there and speak to the First Dawnbringer. Most of the party decided to wait in the main hall of the temple while Cadmus went upstairs. The door to the First Dawnbringers room was lying slightly ajar. She knocked on it, but go not answer. She peaked around the door and saw Maleon lying on the floor, a goblet of water spilled on the floor beside him.

Well he did say someone was trying to poison him.

In a panic Cadmus ran back downstairs and asked the rest of the party to come upstairs. Everyone but Val on seeing Cadmus's shocked face went upstairs and they asked some acolytes to accompany them. Everyone was shocked to see the old man dead on the floor and again the watch was summoned. The group was planning on hanging around to make sure the watch knew they weren't responsible. Then it occured to them that having a cleric who had just lost his godly powers and was somehow involved in the murder of the leading cleric of that god in the city would not look good. Plus that half the group was wanted already for murder, robbery, escaping prison and so on. At that point they decided to flee in the confusion. This also isn't the bad thing.

Everyone ran and hid in a quiet area of the city. Zolis was able to summon an extra dimensional space for the party to hide in for a few hours and make some plans. It was decided that Val would sneak back to the Longhouse Tavern, and retreive their gear. The rest of the party was to lurk in a nearby quiet alleyway until she returned.

Val, her hair dyed from the previous adventure and hiding in her hooded cloak snuck her way through the city back to the tavern and saw Bran hanging about outside. He told her that the watch had arrested everyone still inside and closed the inn while they investigated the killings. She returned to the group with Bran and the cart (the group also figured out that they had lost the horse Val rode to her meeting with the thieves guild.

The group still wanted to some how meet up with the people who had promised to get them out the city, but wanted to remain hidden. This caused some confusion and debate within the group until Cadmus pointed out if the inn was closed for business they could all hole up there and meet the mysterious pair later.

To be continued (I need to go to bed and will write more tomorrow).

So Val returned to the group Bran and cart in tow. The cart was too wide to get down the alley way and so Bran waited with it while the group debated which plan of action to follow.

Their endless debating was however cut short when they heard shouting at the end of the street. The watch was now conducting a house to house search and it would not take a genius to figure out who they were looking for. Bran turned the cart around and the party jumped on the back and fled the area. Avoiding patrols of guards they made it back to the Longhouse and hid around the back in the stables. Val climbed up to the stable roof, jimmied open a window and slipped inside. The rest of the group then followed her up and closed the window behind them. They gathered up their gear and lowered most of it down to the waiting cart and then sat down to await rescue. Or capture once the watch got around to rechecking this area.

Val was elected to go check the downstairs and make sure no members of staff we still around. From the top of the stairs she could see a flickering light, but not its source so tentatively she crept down the wooden staircase to the main room of the inn. Sitting at a table were the pair who had rescued her from gaol (the second time). The man was dressed somewhat outlandishly with a shiny waistcoat, bright green trousers and deep purple leather boots and a scarlet cloak, while the woman was dressed in drab grey clothing and kept her hair in front of her face. When she looked in Val’s direction her eyes didn't seem to actually look at her instead staring at the ground at her feet.

The pair stood up and moved over to join Val. Meanwhile the rest of the party still hiding in one of the inn's upper rooms. A loud crack sounded against the room window, then a second. Glancing out Zagan could see Bran waving his arms and throwing stones at the window to attract their attention.

It then took a ten minute debate for the group to decide to open a window and find out why Bran was being so animated. He shouted up that the city watch had blocked off all the streets leading away from the inn and were advancing towards it. The party had neatly walked into a trap! Cursing the parties inability to follow the simple instruction to keep their heads down, Merrick told Aileen to take anyone who escape via the roof with her while the rest would have to take a chance of the sewers.

Aileen climbed out the open window immediately, followed by Val who was the only one who could realistically take that route. The rest of the party is either somewhat athletic (Zolis) or clad in heavy armour (Zagan and Cadmus). The pair got onto the roof, but were spotted by some of the watchmen and came under a hail of crossbow fire. Most of the bolts ricochet off the wall, but a couple of lucky shots caused minor injuries to Val. She followed Aileen as she leapt from building to building over narrow streets and alleyways while down below a couple of squads of watchmen tried to shoot them down. They'd made jumps over several narrow alleyways, but when it came to making it over a wide street Val managed to get about half way but crashed hard down on the cobblestones. Bruised and bleeding but with nothing broken she managed to climb back up a drain pipe. Aileen was waiting in the nook between a tall chimney stack and a the sloping room they were on and covered the pair of them with her cloak. The pair hid while their pursuers caught up with them then spread out in different directions trying to find them. Eventually ten or fiveteen minutes later they moved off again, confident they had done all they could to give the slower members of the group a chance to escape. At a slightly more cautious pace the duo made their day to a house that was only a few feet from the top of the city wall. Grabbing Val by the hand Aileen used her abilities to teleport the pair a few feet and onto the wall rather than risk Val falling and taking more damage. (Aileen is a Tiefling which is someone who is half human half demon. They are not always evil although most are, but they do have a connection to the darkness. She is also a Shadow Dancer and able to teleport short distances from shadow to shadow).

And back to the rest of the team...

Merrick took the party down into the cellar and motioned everyone to be very quiet. They could hear the door to the inn being kicked open and many heavy feet running in above their heads. Motioning everyone to be as quiet as possible Merrick got Zagan to help with lifting a heavy manhole cover off the ground. The team dropped down the hole, although the rest of the team got a soft landing when Cadmus messed up his drop and ended up face planting into a stream of fresh sewage. Merrick came through last dragging the grill back into place as quietly as possible. It wouldn't stop the guards from figuring out how they had escaped but it might mean it took them longer to work it out.

With little idea where they were heading they had to follow Merrick trying not to breath in the smell from the sewer. Or the smell from Cadmus who was going to require a bath before meeting polite company.

As it turned out later, this would not be an issue. But this still wasn't what got me into trouble with Kristi. Yup, something worse than going head first into sewage awaited.

Merrick warned the group that magic would be weak down here and that lighting any flames could result in an explosion. They climbed into a canoe he had got down here earlier for the group to escape in. Any guards following them would never be able to catch them on foot.

A scary boat ride then followed where sometimes the light failed completely leaving them in Stygian darkness. If you want more details just read the post above. Right down to the point where they crashed into something in the dark and Merrick was bitten in twain by a giant albino crocodile. Or possibly alligator. Certainly one of them.

Cadmus and Zagan ran forward to fight the beast, although Zagan had trouble swinging his huge two handed sword in tight quarters, Zolis decided to run away and observe the fight from a distance while Sillas picked himself up out of the water.

Here is where it all went wrong though and I got into trouble.

The beast lunged forward and caught Cadmus, his upper half completely inside its jaws while his legs kicked and struggled. It bit down hard and shook its head from side to side. Cadmus’s top half slid down its throat, while the legs spraying blood everywhere fell to the ground.

(In game terms the alligator had scored a critical hit which means its damage was doubled. It caused 32 damage in total which was more than enough to take Cadmus from fully healthy to very dead at -14 hit points).

I got a very unimpressed look from the other side of the table. Me then interrupting the game to say I was in trouble because my wife was a bag of raging hormones at the moment did not help the situation as much as I might have hoped. In fact if anything Kristi seemed more upset by this than by Cadmus dying. *shrugs* Women, who can understand them? Anyway, back to the game. I'll buy her something pink and sparkly and all will be well.

And I will be surprised if ER didn't face palm when she read that last paragraph. :P

Still hungry the beast lunged at Sillas and fixated on him, determined to make him its next meal. Both Sillas and Zagan had inflicted several telling blows on their adversary, but it was still in the fight. It feinted an attack at Zagan and when Sillas ran in to try help protect him with his shield the jaws suddenly snapped back at their real target. Grabbing Sillas by his shield arm it damn near ripped his arm entirely out of his socket. Sillas collapsed from shock and loss of blood. Disaster then struck when Zagan lost his sword, getting it stuck in the ‘gators thick hide. Zolis watching the fight from a distance decided he had to risk something and cast scorching ray at it. While normally this would send a deadly streak of fire to engulf its target, instead there was a bit more of a coughing splurt as the weak magical field here turned the fireball into a few sparks which did some damage, but didn't kill the creature (actually it took it down to having just 1 hit point left). However something else also happened. Having forgotten or ignored Merrick’s warning about naked flames the cave was suddenly filled with a fiery blast as the methane in the air ignited. Zagan was able to dive under water and avoid the worst of the damage and Sillas was already under the water’s surface thanks to his heavy armour dragging him down, but both Zolis and the Alligator took the full blast. Zolis was somewhat scorched by this, but the fireball was enough to finish off the mighty Alligator.

Cutting the creature open they retrieved as much of their friends (read they looted the bodies) as they could. None of them however had the power to bring them back from the dead, nor could they bury them by digging into the hard rock, so the bodies were left lying there. Although I guess both Merrick and Cadmus do get to rest in pieces (too soon?). Sillas was pulled up from under the water and given one of the few remaining healing potions, which was enough to save his arm and bring him back to consciousness.

The boat was found and inspected. Although slightly bashed and dented it was still seaworthy, so they group dragged it over the dead ‘gator. To the rear of it seemed to be the beast lair. Multiple carcasses lay around the room and after digging through them (seriously this party loves to smell like dead things) they found a clutch of half a dozen eggs which they decided to take with them.

Putting two and two together the group figured out that this meant somewhere out there was another one of these creatures, it was time to get the hell out of there. Of course they might have a p**sed off mama alligator following them when she returns and finds her mate dead and her kids stolen.

 
Ever watched Taken? Now imagine that with a 30 foot long Alligator in the role of Liam Neeson. That’s a film I want to see!

 
Continuing along in the boat, lighter by two people the party travelled for several more hours until they reached a point where it could take them no further. The water dropped through a hole in the cave perhaps a foot across. One side of the cave did however have a steeply sloping upwards passage. They’d have to go up it crawling due to the steep angle, but it was either that or drop down the hole into the unknown.

Well unknown to them. I knew damn fine well it was a mile and a half drop down to a large underground sea filled with monsters. If they’d went down that way Val would have been looking for an entirely new group to adventure with.

Anyway, after an exhausting climb they finally started to see a pinprick of light up ahead. It took many more hours of climbing that left them fatigued before finally they crawled out of the dark, dank earth and into the sweet embrace of sunlight. To the north-west they could see a many miles distant which they guessed would be Teziir. Running to the east of that was the road that hopefully Val and Aileen would be waiting to meet them on. And if possible Bran since all the party treasure was loaded onto the wagon.

Oh no! Cadmus!!!!!

Exciting read!

So, after eight sessions and our first casualty how do things stand?

Well, the group still isn't sharing information. Indeed Cadmus dying means the rest of the group will get no advance warning that at some point in the future Father Morgan is going to be coming after them with a horde of the undead at his command. Kristi is liking playing a cleric and is going to roll a new one. She is looking at what god to follow this time. Perhaps she'll try an evil god.

Val has met a Shadow Dancer and has a couple of days to walk to the next city so she has a chance to ask about becoming one herself. Zolis is about to get a chance to learn about the prestige class he wants to follow. Since he didn't buy the book the Red Wizard tried to sell him that would have got him on the path to being an archmage. I figured he can pretty much sell his soul next time.

Need the party to decide what they are doing next though. I figure they will all be heading to Eversult and should meet up there and then after that we shall have to see.

Yup, your favourite neighbourhood healing machine is now out of order. Permanently.

It'd be a good time for his previously unknown identical twin brother Sumdac to make an appearance. You know, like Laura Palmer's cousin, or etc.

Gave Zolis a short solo session tonight. After climbing out of the tunnel he was exhausted. A rude camp was set up and he collapsed into the arms of sleep and started to dream...

You lie down, your exhausted body demanding rest and sink into a dream. In that dream you see the world. Armies match, dragons and other monsters attack towns and cities. Nations rise and fall. And all through it innocents suffer and die needlessly. You see yourself standing in the middle of it, growing more and more powerful amidst the chaos and using your power to bring peace and stability to all. All manner of evil creatures flee your approach or are burned to cinders at a snap of your fingers. As you travel solving the world’s problems and disasters one by one people come to respect and love you and yes even come to worship you.

The more powerful you become the wider your influence grows. Kings and Emperors seek you out to ask your advice at first, but on meeting you and hearing your wisdom and intellect they grovel at your feet and beg you to take their crowns. Eventually you approach the power of the gods themselves, perhaps one day you can supass even them and challenge Lord Ao himself and put the universe to rights. With the power of magic at your control anything is possible.

A faint voice speaks to you as if from ages past, barely hearable “This is your future, your destiny. If you decide to take it. If you but have the strength of mind and will to take what is yours. I am but once piece of the broken god, seek out others and take their power. Become what you were born to be!"

Zolis started asking questions like who are you? And where am I?

I am part of you now, I am you and I am in your head, I know your innermost secrets and desires. I can put you on the path to what you seek most of all if you wish. No cost… no hidden soul to sell. My voice speaks to you, tells you to go north and seek other shards of my power, claim them for your own and become all powerful.

Although he had some doubts, Zolis's interest had definitely been pricked. He asked if his friends wouldn't object and perhaps try to stop him and was told that the last one to attempt to gain this power for himself had been betrayed by his friends who had ripped his soul into pieces to stop him. But Zolis could be more careful, he could succeed where others had failed.

He accepted the voices offer of power and slept the rest of the night peacefully. When he awoke he felt refreshed and the aches and pains of the night before had disappeared.

In his arms he was holding a large leather bound book. It did not appear to be bound in human flesh, inked in blood or any of the other things you would associate with evil tomes. He sent out his magical senses to probe the book and found while it had been handled by creatures with magical abilities, it was not inherantly magical itself. Studying the pages, he found it was all about the theory and practise of magic, although much more in depth than anything he had hitharo came across. Imagine Issac Newton finding a book on Quantum Physics. He decided to hide this from the rest of the party and study it in private.

I have made a little bit of a mistake. Normally when I write an adventure it is only a week or so in advance, but I have the next few sessions in mind and where to go with them. Thing is when I wrote the group splitting I liked the idea of one group going over the roofs while another went through the sewer.

Trouble is that I never thought about how to get them back together. I could just have "Yeah, you walk along the road and see your friends", but that would be a bit dissatisfying for me and no doubt the group too.

I could just leave it to the players. They will either do something thats total genius or absolutely idiotic. Players tend not to be capable of doing anything in between.

Hmm, reminds me of the time an ex sent an email to me calling me an idiot. Only she managed to spell it idot. Or maybe she meant to call me an idot, who knows? Assuming it was a spelling mistake though, if you are going to call someone an idiot you really should spell it correctly. Or at least use a spell checker. Had a conversation with a female friend. We ended up comparing who had, had the most partners from the most different countries.

Anyway, I am wandering off topic there. I have come up with a place for the group to meet up, but that relies on them doing more or less what I expect them to do. Any GM has to be able to think on his feet and adopt whatever situation he has created to fit in with what the party actually do.

Plus I need to write Kristi's new character in. Glad I am not doing an adventure set down in the underdark or something. Adding new people there is a bit more problematic.

Ok, so tonights adventure is partially written. I know what the situation is going to be. How the party finds each other and how they interact with everything... well that I am a little more unsure of. Be interesting to see how it goes. Wish me luck.

Part Nine Of The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand

Seriously I thought the group would have came up with their own name by now.

So Zolis, Sillas and Zagan rested at the mouth of the cave they'd just escaped from. It was late afternoon and just setting up a rude camp seemed like a major task, but they managed it and fell into a deep sleep. Zolis had the dream mentioned above and made his pact with the strange voice in his head. The others rested and regained some much needed hit points. The next day they set off on the full days march required to bring them to the road between Teziir and Eversult. Leaving no guard, the group could have ended up as a random snack for any passing creature, but got lucky and everyone got to wake up alive (in this game you can actually wake up dead. Go TEAM NECROMANCER!).

Val and Aileen in the meanwhile trudged along the road on foot, wondering if Bran would be able to get out the city or not and hoping he'd pick them up in the wagon tomorrow. They decided to sleep some distance from the road where no passers by could see them. Not that many people ride in the dark, but you just never know. They too rested for the night.

In the morning the rogues continued walking along. A could of dust on the road behind them did indeed turn out to be Bran. The city had been unsealed and he'd gotten out.

Of course since no one asked him why the gates had been unlocked he didn't bother to tell them about the dispatch riders carrying wanted posters featuring descriptions of the group travelling in all directions. Or about the increased bounty on their heads.

The others could see a village in the distance, its white painted wooden pallisade shining brightly in the morning sun and decided to head for it. This would take them until some time in the afternoon. The circled around it from a distance and approached it from the main road (which was about a thirty minute walk from the outside of the village). The wall around the village was roughly circular and they saw gates on the southern and eastern sides (they didn't however go around the entire wall, just around half). About half a mile away they could see people working in a field, but they were too far away to make out any details. Zagan rapped on the door with the pomel of his greatsword, and a few seconds later a unshaven and rather dirty looking mans head popped over the top of the parapet and asked them what they wanted. After they said they just wanted to rest up for the night. The gate was dragged open and they found themselves being watched very closely by half a dozen men in armour all pointing an assortment of missile weapons in their vague direction. They were given directions to the inn, which was named "The Slaughtered Goat" (I was hoping someone would make a connection there and expect a werewolf, but no such luck. I oculd have called it The Slaughtered Lamb, but I thought that would be too obvious). The men all bore the same device on their armour and shields, a spear tip with a white circle and a scrawled 'Z'. Zolis recognised what this meant, but decided to wait before telling anyone else. The inn stood on the north side of a sideways T junction. The road they walked in went east - west and stopped at the junction, while the other road ran from the north to the south. The inn was at the corner on the north side and the group wandered in. It was a single story building. Inside 5 unkempt looking men sat drinking at a table. A harrassed looking woman in her fourties along with a young teenage girl which the group assumed to be her daughter stood behind the bar serving drinks.

Taking a table as far away from the men as possible, Zagan went up to ask about rooms for the night as well as food and drinks. Unfortunately there were no rooms at the inn, but for a couple of coppers she'd let them either sleep on the floor in the inn or they could sleep out in the barn. She would also throw in some hot food and cold drinks.

And that is all for the moment, I'll write up the rest of the adventure tomorrow.

The three in the inn talked quietly. Zolis explained that the device painted on their shields was an old sign used by a group called the Zhentarim who are a group seeking to spread the tyranny of the evil god Bane (pretty much the patron god of fascism), although some do follow the Cyric the god of lies. Over the past few years they have been expanding across the region as merchants, often using underhanded techniques to dominate the trade of an area, backed by their military might. The southern coast is not their usual territory so this could be part of an attempt to expand their influence or perhaps just a renegade band. The group definitely got the impression that something wasn't quite right in the village. The civilians seemed very uneasy and when they'd walked through the village they had saw only women. It was agreed that Zolis would go outside and send a note with his raven to find the others and warn them about the village.

Extra information was then passed on when Zagan said that he thought Val would be smarter than to bring the cart inside the town. This cost him a fine in XP's for metagaming, it also cost Tina some XPs for acting on that information, but her wasn't as large as Zagans. Bit of a shame as otherwise it was a night of good roleplaying.

About while this was going on the others travelling along the road at the only speed Bran understands had also arrived at the southern gate. They got about the same level of welcome as the others had at the eastern gate, but without the crowd of soldiers pointing bows and crossbows at them. They left Aileen and Bran with the wagon outside (which I figured would actually attract more attention than bringing it inside, and if the party spend a night in the village it would be sure to be investigated).



Val entered the room and saw her companions sitting in the corner. Stories were exchanged and the news of Cadmus and Merrick's deaths were shared, although no one thought to go and let Aileen know about that. Zolis's raven returned to him before he even got back to the inn having dropped off his message to Val while she was at the front gate.

Once Zolis rejoined the group talk soon very quietly turned to forming some sort of insurrection against the guards that seemed to be in control of the town. While they were talking a rather short young woman wearing very light armour and festooned with weapons. Looking around she could see the guards and the party. Deciding the party looked the more companionable types she decided to ask if she could join them (this is Kristi's new character).

Zagan decided to try and pump the barmaid for information and took a note asking her if the people in the village were in some kind of trouble or danger and slipped this to her unnoticed by the soldiers while he went up and asked about a bath. She took the note, tucked it in her apron and led her to the bath house. And when I say house, I mean a large tin bath out in the back courtyard which was then filled with hot water from a wood burning stove. Zagan stripped off and had the first bath of the campaign (I must go through this and work out how many days have passed in game time at some point. Its going to be important when the next big event kicks off in a later session).

The newcomer introduced herself as Colesta, who luckily happened to be a wandering follower of the goddess of magic Mystra. As the group were chatting, the men in the corner decided to make a move on the ladies in the group. Afterall the only man they had to protect them looked like he weighed maybe 60 pounds if he was soaking wet. The largest of the group sauntered cockily over and asked why such a little woman had so many big weapons. Colesta did not respond well to his advances, especially when he smiled and revealed the few teeth he had remains were broken and brown stained. He grabbed Colesta, attempting to force a kiss on her. Val threw a dagger at the mans head, but in such a way that the hilt would hit him rather than the blade.

Slightly stunned, the man staggered backwards, his friends though pulled him back and prevented a fight breaking out... for the moment. His forehead was bruised and bleeding where he'd been hit. He continued to stare daggers at them for the rest of the night though. Eventually another five guards joined them and a few farmers came in from the fields. The men seemed tired and half starved. Few had more than a drink or two before going home. During the night the barmaid managed to slip the note back to Zagan. Reading it back at the table it simply said "Come find me once everyone has left."

Once it got dark Val slipped out the door, but not unnoticed. The bruised man and two of his friends got up to follow her outside. Val unaware of this had slipped into the shadows and was heading off towards the southern gate. The men staggered outside, cursing when they couldn't see her around. Zolis and co had observed this however and were ready to run outside if a fight started.

I am not convinced they planned on helping out. I suspect they just wanted to watch.

The men were staggering around when a deep voice roared at them asking what the hell they were doing. They sheepishly muttered something and went back into the bar followed by whoever had been shouting. This turned out to be a giant of a man, he looked like a slap of muscle with extra muscles on top. A much thinner man accompanied him, he had a touch of the elvish around his ears. The pair stayed at the bar drinking separately from the men.

Val in the meantime reached the southern wall, avoiding the patrol wandering around the streets. Silently climbing over the wall and out of the village she could see the cart just outside the village. Bran had pulled a tarp over the back of it making a cover. Peaking underneath she could see Bran and Aileen sleeping under the cover. Knocking on the wooden side of the cart she woke them up.

Startled by the rapping Aileen jumped up with a start, her eyes flashed a mix of sickly green and black flames for a few seconds, she opened her mouth and hissed, revealing several rows of needle sharp teeth. Realising she wasn't in danger she quickly composed herself, covering her face once more with her face and turned away from Val.

Bran, not having seen this and being his usual pleasant self grunted at Val wanting to know what she wanted. Recovering from her shock Val asked Bran to move the wagon out of sight of the village and be careful. Something was up inside and there might be fighting.

Back in the inn it was getting late. Most of the men had either staggered off or collapsed drunkenly on the floor. The group went out to the stable to wait for a bit, make sure the inn was empty and they could talk to the barmaid. Val made it back to the group during this time, plans were made and she was sent to investigate the inn. She carefully checked the interior from the outside and then went silently into the inn. Some unconscious men lay about the inn, but most had staggered off to wherever they spent their nights. He made his way to the back where he guessed the innkeepers had their own rooms and softly knocked on the door. The barmaid opened it and asked him in. She explained that raiders had started attacking the farmers in the fields and they'd hired some mercenaries to help protect them. So far the raiders hadn't returned and their supposed protectors had taken over the village instead. All the men were forced to work in the fields except for the town mayor who was being kept a prisoner in his own house. She was sure the villagers would stand and fight against the men if someone could lead them, although they'd been given very little food and worked from dawn til dusk in the fields. Zagan promised to sort out something and help liberate them. She also got some supplies to feed the men and give them a bit more strength for the upcoming battle.

Hopefully the party won't decide to then just take the village for themselves and use it as the base to build an empire from.  I mean its normally what my characters do. I mean I've played characters who have cut someones throat rather than pay for a new pair of shoes and whose idea of testing for traps is to push someone else into a room (actually, that was pretty funny).

Anyway, Val dragged sacks of food back to the stable and the more plans were made. The group decided to drag the food out to the wagon, overpower the guards in the fields and then lead the villagers in an uprising.

I was a little surprised they didn't just decide to cut the throats of the drunk men in the inn, take out the security patrol and then go from house to house looking for where the rest were sleeping. Or is it just me that thinks that way?

Sneaking back down to the cart the group was surprised to see no sign of the night guards they'd been told about.

Actually it was a good job Val had told Bran to move further away from the village as the guards had abandoned their post to go see if it held treasure. Although Aileen might have given them a nasty shock. And well, Bran and his boom stick is also quite capable of making a bloody mess.

Eventually they got the food to the cart, then went back to the stable to get some sleep.

The next morning they made a show of leaving the village and heading along the road. Some of the fields ran parallel to the road, maybe fifty feet from the road itself. As they passed the closest guard they opened up with a hail of missile fire and left him dead in the dirt before he even knew he was under attack. There were five guards widely spread out and the party quickly overcame them in a ranged battle. Colesta showed her worth by frying one guy with Magic Missiles while Zolis called a giant bombadier beatle that sprayed enough acid at a guy to melt him and the rest died charging towards the group, or trying to return fire. The fields were too far away from the village for anyone to hear what was happening and no one patrolled the walls anyway, the occupiers not believing a bunch of half starved farmers would be any threat.

They did have plans of sneaking around and taking them out ninja style but the lack of anything other than flat terrain stymied them here, so it ended up a surprise attack and frontal assault.

Although many of the people they had rescued wanted to immediately storm the village, they were persuaded to wait until nightfall when they would all be expected to return anyway, the gates would be opened and they could all run in. The men were to look like they were working in the fields and their strongest men were to don the armour and weapons of the dead guards. Well except for the melted guy. No one wanted to dip into that gooey mess. In the meantime the party cooked up something for the group and took food around the men.

As night started to fall everyone marched back to the village, with a determined purpose that had not been present previously. As they were going through the gates however the guards realised the people in armour were not their companions and battle was quickly joined. As the sounds of battle roused the other mercanaries who ran into battle, one group attacking the villagers in close combat on the main street, and the second group firing a mixture of bows and crossbows at long range. The rebels quickly overran those in melee by sheer weight of numbers killing the minions, however when their leader (Fial) came charging out of the mayors house and started laying into the rebels, cutting down half a dozen with a single wide stroke of his two handed battleaxe, then charging further into them to kill even more. The party had deliberately decided to hang back and let the villagers run into battle. This was going to cost the lifes of a lot of them.

Engaging in another ranged battle with the second group Zagan & Zolis were wearing them down slowly, while the return fire was pretty ineffective. Neither group wanted to charge over the dead group between them though to get to close quarters while being peppered by the other side. Val and Colesta headed down the street to help out the villagers belately. Colesta summoned a mighty giant eagle and sent it to attack the raging barbarian while Val tried to work her way around behind him. Some of the villagers tried to fight back against this whirlwind of razor edged death and even managed some wounds, but he cut them down in return. The townsfolk while certainly not cowards were also not trained for this sort of fight and started to waver and then run.

Kristi at this point told me that if her character died she would burst into tears. She is a cross classed Cleric / Wizard. Clerics can wear heavy armour and have a decent amount of hit points to survive combat. Wizards can't wear heavy armour and have all the hit points of a squished cricket. She has a lot of spells available to her from those two classes but can't wear armour or her Wizard spells have a chance of not working. All this is relevant to what happens next.

Colesta ends up in melee combat going toe to toe with the barbarian along with her giant eagle and Val running up behind him to stab him in the kidneys. He was strong enough to kill Colesta with a single blow. He raised his axe up and brought it down cutting deep into Colesta's side. Blood stained her tunic, and she was near death.

But as any viewer of The Princess Bride knows there is a difference between mostly dead and all dead and Colesta was only mostly dead. The villagers and the Giant Eagle actually took quite a toll from Fial, although his enraged brain did not realise just how close to dying he was, or maybe he just didn't care. The final blow came when Colesta with her last ounce of strength caught him on the side of his head with her mace. His skull caved in and as his brain dribbled out the hole where the side of his head used to be he finally collapsed to the ground dead.

Zagan managed to work his way around behind the remaining defenders dispatching them with a mixture of bow fire and hand to hand combat. One of them fled, getting an arrow in the back as he ran out the gates, but not a fatal blow.

No one could see any sign of Fial's elven eared friend however, but it looked as the village was free!

And at that point since it was pretty late on we decided to call it a night.

I swear these things take longer to write every week.

Trying to write up the next weeks adventure. Biggest issue I currently have is that I really have no idea what the party is going to do next. They could stay in the village and start a bit of empire building from here (I rate this as the unlikeliest option though as they are a days travel away from a city that has a HUGE bounty posted on the group. This is going to lead to regular visits from bounty hunters and perhaps even some sort of large scale military attack).

They might try and find the Masks that either are back in Karlston or were found by Kano and are whereever he left them, or equally Zolis might persuade everyone to go north and follow the voice in his head telling him to go north. This actually kicks off a major event in the game world and would be good.

This is the options I hope are the ones the party are going to go with.

Of course there are lots of wildcard options. They are near the coast and might decide to take a ship somewhere new where its not quite as hot for them (I do have plans for them spending some time on a boat, but I've not written that up yet). They have made an enemy of one criminal organisation and have interfered with the plans of a much larger group as well as who ever else is after the Mask's.

Alex, you might like this guy's site. (Shame he hasn't updated it in five years----hints of a Go Fund Me scandal shutting him down---but the posts he put up for several years before then make great reading.)

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-07-19T11:18:00-04:00&max-results=10&start=90&by-date=false (http://grognardia.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-07-19T11:18:00-04:00&max-results=10&start=90&by-date=false)

Thanks ER, had a quick look at it and will check it out some more when I get back home next week.

Not been able to play for a couple of weeks due to people not being available and alas I won't be able to do a game this weekend as I am off to go see Alice Cooper in Glasgow, but things are ongoing. I have been toying with something for a while and wondering wither to put it in the game or not.

You see each time my players have sex I've been rolling a percentile die and after the threesome with Sir Gelden and one of the group is now pregnant. Or they will be if I decide to throw this into the game. It certainly would add a few more complications to the game and teach the players something about the dangers of unprotected sex lol.

The funniest part of it for me is that it is Zagan (i.e. the one who used to be a man) who came up with the bad dice roll.

They should count themselves lucky though. I haven't thrown in STD's to the game.

Not yet anyway.

I hadn't gotten done chuckling at this:


You see each time my players have sex I've been rolling a percentile die and after the threesome with Sir Gelden and one of the group is now pregnant.


When I saw this, and really lost it:

They should count themselves lucky though. I haven't thrown in STD's to the game.

Glad I can bring a smile and a laugh to your day. :)

The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand Part Ten

After a long break we finally started to get back to the game. Zagan's girlfriend just had a baby and he has had to drop out the game, which is a shame as mentioned earlier something major is about to happen to Zagan.

The party was standing with the surviving villagers in the middle of piles of the dead. Villagers were crying and wailing for their dead friends and family, while others were trying to bind the wounds of those who had survived the battle. The party sort of bumbled about expecting people who were mourning the dead to tell them what to do. Eventually they figured they could strip the dead merc's of their gear and take their bodies out to burn.

The villagers started either taking their dead away to prepare for burial, or wander into the inn to just be with friends. While Val went out the village to retrieve Aileen and Bran to transport the bodies outside Zolis decided to have a look at the horses in the back of the stables. Four were there, but he couldn't see if any of them belonged to the dead mercenaries so we went inside the inn to ask about them. People sat about silently drinking. The innkeeper and his wife were silently handing out free drinks to the survivors.

An old man made his way over to the group and said although he had no reward they could give them he could tell them a tale that might interest them...

*Ahem*

"I can't offer you a reward for what you've done fur us but I huv summit that mibbies be o' interest to you. When I was a young man I lived in a village that was on the border twixt Sembia and Cormyr. Now both claimed the land we were on an the local lord grew rich taxing trade between both countries, but for as long as the castle had stood his line had been careful never to favour one country over the other. Not until the young lord took over. Now this lad, who had barely started shaving took a fancy to the King of Cormyr's youngest daughter and had his heart set on marrying her. The King seeing that this would once and for all put the area under his domain was all for and packed his lass over to be betrothed to the boy. Once the pair were old enough they'd be joined and sure enough the matter would be settled. But the lords of Sembia didnae take kindly to this match and raised an army to take the castle before the pair were wed. The laid seige to the castle. The King of Cormyr wissnae gonnae taek that though and he raised up his army to ride to the rescue. So three armies stood there, the castle defenders, the King of Cormyr and a whole bunch of mercanaries hired by Sembia, all facin' off again each other. The Cormyrian armies arrived and set up their camp and their battle lines ready to fight the next morning, but that night strange noises were heard inside the castle and many screams. Both armies outside the walls sent riders to each other and a truce was organised. The could get no answer at the castle gates, so men climbed the walls and opened them from inside. Everyone in the castle had been kilt in the night. The men swore the place was accursed and although the King blamed the Sembian's and wanted to attack, his advisors wore him down until both armies agreed to retreat, the King to his grief and the mercenaries... well they were going to be paid either way and would just as soon not die for the coin.

   Soon after everyone left my village afeared of whatever had killed everyone in the castle and from that day to this the castle has remained empty. Now maybe a smart bunch of adventurers not afraid of hard work and danger could take that castle, clear whitever demon decided to call it home out and claim the place for their own. I can give you a map to it if you wish? The men who were looking fir a bunch o' people earlier... I am guessing their business was wae yersels and I'll guess further that their will be others look fur ye soon enough. Fastest way oot o' hear wid be tae tak a boot fae mibbies one o' the fishing villages or if you've a mind tae risk it a ship fae a port and travel north, or you could always make the trip from here to there on the road. Taek you a lot longer that way and no doubt be a lot more dangerous, but ah guess you mibbies hae reasons to taek the lang way round."

(Oh, the spelling there is deliberate, that's me doing an accent).

The party were of course interested and decided to get a map to where this castle was. At this point I was quite releaved as this was the option I was hoping the party would go for. I'd written some stuff for the other options but this and its consequences were what I was trying to guide the group towards. Anywoo, back to the adventure.

They told him he help himself to any of the mounts outside as the all belonged to the invaders. Eventually Val returned and the group set about clearing away the last of the bodies (after stripping them of weapons, armour and gold) and piled them onto the cart. They bodies were hauled a few miles out into the woods and a crude pyre was built up to burn the bodies on. By the time they got back to the inn it was past midnight. They ate a bowl of hot stew each and heading upstairs to a free bed each in the inn.

The group collapsed into an exhausted and troubled sleep.

In the morning Colesta was the first to wake up. Unhappily to one of the village urchins shaking her awake and telling her she had to come downstairs right away and that it was really really important and she should come down right now because it was super really important. Getting wearily out of bed she trundled downstairs to be met by a large crowd of villagers. Apparently a group of men on horseback had ridden to the village looking for a some fugitives who more or less matched the parties description. They had claimed not to have seen them and the men rode off westwards. The villagers although grateful to the party were worried about further troubles decending on their heads and keen to see their saviours move on before the riders decided to return, or others come looking for them.

The party were also keen to move on before having to explain themselves to a large group of soldiers (well the group assumed they were soldiers, but actually it was a posse of bounty hunters). They debating trying for Westgate, somehow skipping Teziir and taking ship from there, but eventually decided to go in the other direction to another coastal port (Pros) and see if they could sail north from there to the capital of Cormyr, Suzail. Val decided to take the village up on the offer of one of the mounts from the stable, but alas lacking any skill in riding such a beast she was left very sore and aching from the ride.

As they were leaving the village they saw one of the posse had left a poster nailed to the gate.

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE CITIZENS OF TEZIIR.

Led by a warrior who goes by the name Zagan. She is tall, exceptionally well muscled with red hair and green eyes, and carries a two handed sword titled "Goblin Cleaver".
A man masquerading as a holy man of Lathander and goes by the name of Cadmus. He is over six feet tall and stockily built with silver hair. Keeps himself clean shaven. Believed to be in his 50s.
Valarie Carmino, a notorious thief from Waterdeep's foulest cess pits. Also has red hair and green eyes, but is much slimmer than Zagan. Aged approximately 20.
Sillas of Karlston. The shortest of the group, Sillas is another warrior. Brown hair and eyes, also in his early 20s.
Bran the Brutal. A former pit fighter who retired and became a coach driver, Bran is over 60 winters, around 5 feet tall and is easily recognised by his constant smoking pipe and strange magical trumpet like weapon.

A known associate of the group, a wizard by the name of Zolis is also wanted for questioning in conjunction with the below crimes.

In addition the group are well known throughout several cities for grand sexual deviency and tipping whores poorly!

Crimes include Murder Of A Leading Citizen Of The City, Murder of Multiple Citizens of the city, Espiscopicide, Robbery, Unlicensed Slave Trading, Inciting Riot In A Tavern, Breaking and Entering, Escaping Prison, Assault Of A Prison Guard.

Bounties are as follows

Zagan - 2000 gold
Val - 3500 gold
Cadmus - 4000 gold
Sillas - 500 gold
Bran - 500 gold
Zolis - 500 gold. For information leading to the capture of any of the above, half the reward.



(Just as a note, I had a hard time finding out what the proper term would be for the murder of a high ranking priest. I wonder if all my google searches have just lit up some anti-terrorist police mans alerts like a xmas tree on acid?)

Zolis ripped the poster off the gate and tucked it inside his robe. Boy, wouldn't it be fun if a paladin type was to join the group and find that...

The cart was forced to leave the road and go cross country to find their way to Pros giving them an even more bumpy ride than usual. After a few hours they could see Pros, a dirty looking port with a pall of smoke hanging over it and a strong stink of fish on the wind. Entering the port the group split up. Val went with Bran to find a few chests to secure their valuables and locks to go on them. The party is hauling around a significant amount of gold and are starting to worry that something might happen to it.

Oh, if only they knew what is about to hit them. I am almost dancing with glee at the thought of next weeks adventure and what they end up facing.

Meanwhile Colesta and Zolis headed down to the docklands to find a ship.

Did you know that the term Wharf comes from WareHouse At River Front?

Zolis being in the group however they were diverted into a bar to try and get information. The place they walked into (called The Salty Seaman) had a thick smoke from all the patrons puffing away on pipes. Coughing and spluttering from the cloud they ordered a couple of drinks and tried to get information from the barman, only to be told he served drinks and wasn't an information broker who could tell them what ships were sailing where. They could try asking some ships crews though and they might have a better idea where they were heading. Zolis couldn't take the atmosphere in the bar and had to step outside for some (slightly) fresher air, even if it did smell of fish. Colesta finished her drink and followed. Enquires on a nearby vessel that had cargo being loaded on it and went by the name of 'The Penguin' (was supposed to be 'The Puffin', but I forgot and could only remember it was a bird beginning with 'P'), and they were introduced to Captain Dale Malvian, a bluff hearty fellow with a big bushy beard and a massive cutlass. He was heading to Cormyr, although not to the port they wanted and since he hadn't managed to fill his cargo hold could take the group, their mounts and even their wagon, but the last would cost plenty extra. After some bargaining it was decided to cart and mules would be sold off in the port and a new one bought when they got to their destination (a place called Marsember). The Penguin was due to sail on the morning tide and the captain was happy to let the group sleep on board ship rather than have to wait for them if they were late and miss the tide.

Since no one wanted to drink from The Salty Seaman (at this point the group realised the name of the inn and I got disapproving looks from Kristi), they headed in to a slightly more upmarket place, where people at least spit into a spitoon than on the floor. They had a meal before heading back to the ship and dividing up the three cabins alloted to them between them.

The next few days passed uneventfully although Zagan, Zolis Val and Cadmus all suffered from seasickness initially. While most of them managed to get their sea legs after a few days poor Zagan just couldn't stop feeling ill and throwing up every day. Aileen would disappear for hours at a time with Val (Val is learning how to be a shadow dancer and first she has to learn some ususal dance steps that is somewhat different from the courtly dancing she did with Sir Geldon. Either the vertical or horizontal kinds, bearing in mind she did both) and Zolis busied himself reading the book he found after his strange dream. It contained ways of using magic he had never considered before, new ways of making The Weave bend to his will and for someone like him was a real page turner.

Several days passed on board the ship, they saw dolphins riding the bow waves and the occasional other ship, only one of which passed close. Captain Malvian and his opposite shouted news at each other as they passed. The mood on the ship got decidedly more somber as word passed around the crew.

War had finally came. Thay had regularly invaded its northern and western neighbours over the centuaries, but had always fell to infighting and failed to conquer their more organised foes. This time they had allied with their southern neighbour, Mulhorand and combined the two armies had all but annihilated the armies of Aglarond. Thesk was preparing its borders for an expected assault and Cormyr was calling other countries to join it in a grand alliance to stand against the aggressors. Even the thought that the ships cargo of arms and armour would now fetch a higher price failed to raise the spirits of captain or crew.

Later that day as the sun was going down the lookout in the crows nest spotted another ship on the horizon and shouted to the captain. He looked at the vessel through a spy glass and immiediently shouted a warning to the crew, it was the Red Raven. A notorious pirate ship which only attacked during the hours of darkness and left few survivors. Malvian shouted orders to the crew who sprung into action to coax every ounce of speed from their ship, but as the sun finally went down they could see the ominous red sailed ship was closing fast.

In the darkness the crew listened intently trying to hear the sound of the other ship over the creaking of their own. Hours passed and in hushed whispers the party found out that if they could avoid the Raven until daylight they'd be fine but should it take them at night... well would be a hard fight to get free. It was said that the captain of the Raven was a man known as Bludreich (pronounced Blood-rik) could smell another ship and track it uneeringly in the dark.

Still time passed with no sign of the enemy vessel.

Somewhere between twelve bells and the next watch however a cry went up "Ship, fifty feet off the port bow!"

Before anyone could do anything the Raven crashed into the Penguin, causing it to list heavily. The group managed to stay on their feet as grappling hooks were thrown to The Penguins railing holding it fast to the side of the Red Raven. With savage war cries the pirates boarded their victim and everyone hefted their weapons preparing for fight.

And there we need to leave it for next week. Since I wasn't sure which route the group would take I had been trying to cover three different possiblities and didn't get as much written as I would have liked, but I didn't want to write tons of stuff that wouldn't get used.

Oh, if anyone wants an idea of what the place all this is taking place in looks like, this is a pretty decent map of Faerun. https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/3/7/1/highres_19705457.jpeg

"In addition the group are well known throughout several cities for grand sexual deviancy and tipping whores poorly!"

Bwhahahahaa!

The tipping whores poorly part was a last minute add on. For some reason it just seemed the right thing to say.

Anders called in sick for this weeks game, so I thought I'd do a bit on the bad guys. Since this is the first such post I thought I'd start with the first villain the group faced. Father Morgan.

Introducing the bad guys. Father Morgan.


Initially designed as a one shot bad guy who wasn't supposed to survive the first adventure, his motivation was simple jealousy. He believed the old hermit was more powerful than him and wanted to be the village's big fish. The party assumed he had some connection to the Mask's (incorrectly, he just happened to have his plot going on at the same time. Sometimes when players make this kind of connection though you can work it into the game and it adds a lot of depth to the game world) and tried to take him in for trial despite no official law claiming jurisdiction over the area. Alas being a spell caster he had access to a familiar which was able to chew his bonds and help him escape. He was however unable to go back to his home village and as the group was heading to the next town he fled into the woods. What he found there, or rather what found him... well that is something the party might discover in the future.

Father Morgan is tall and thin with a scholarly air about him and deep intense eyes. Normally he dresses in somber looking clothing to give himself an air of seriousness. He has a carefully cultivated goatee (a sure sign of a bad guy) and is highly intelligent although a little unstable. He normally carefully plans out what to do in advance, however due to his inexperience in these matters he tends not to plan for the consequences afterwards and can panic about what to do once his initial scheme is completed. He wasn't quite evil enough to actually kill someone himself, although has had no problem getting others to do the dirty work for him. As long as he is getting his own way he is very urbane and polite. Should anyone appear more knowledgeable about something than him it immediately arouses his jealous side and he will take anything they do that meets with other peoples approval as a personal affront.

The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand. Part Eleven

The massive Blood Raven crashed into the side of the merchant vessel Penguin. Grappling hooks flew over the side securing their prey and a horde of vagabond pirates came charging over the side, dropping onto the deck of of the smaller ship. The crew met the invaders and made a stand against the greater numbers of the pirates. Captain Malvian bellowed orders and encouragement to his crew as they managed to hold the line and even push back the invaders. Spells flew from Zolis and Colesta while Val climbed up the mast and started throwing thunder stones, shrieking stones and deadly beams from the brilliant gem they found previously.

For a while this held them back.

Then a second wave appeared from inside the Blood Raven. Much better dressed than the first wave of attackers, but carrying no weapons and wearing no armour they walked on board the belaboured Penguin. Then suddenly half the sailors turned against their companions. Sillas was someone surprised when Zolis ran over and started trying to knife him. One of the newcomers shouted to the remaining defenders to surrender and join the crew or die. He stood out from the others by being the only one to carry a weapon.

Seeing a chance to turn the tide, Val dropped down behind him and thrust her magical rapier into him. Or at least she tried to, but the weapon seemed to do very little damage. No blood ran out the small wound she did manage to cause. Colesta fired her crossbow and got a direct hit on his chest, but somehow the bolt ricocheted off him instead of sinking into his flesh. The crew who fought on similarly found their weapons did little or no damage to these... people. Captain Malvian swore that he'd never surrender and charged the man, swinging his massive two handed cutlass. His blow took the man on his shoulder and cut into it, but no where near as much as anyone would have expected. In reply the pirate dropped his barbed trident, and swung a backhand at the captain knocking him to the floor. Then he bodily picked him up over his head and threw the captain against the main mast. The captain fell to the group stunned, and looking as if the very life had been sucked from him.

The dispirited sailors started throwing down their weapons, no one could see any new tricks to try and reluctantly they put their hands up and were taken prisoner. Everyone except Malvian. A couple of pirates dragged him to his feet and nailed his hands to the mast while others went below deck. Everyone else was tied up and made to kneel on the deck of the Blood Raven. Its cargo was transfered over to the pirate ship, and the grappling hooks holding the ships together were cut. The lanterns on the Penguin seemed to get closer and closer to the water as the ship, holed beneath the surface slowly sank, Captain Malvian's mornful cries bearing witness to its sinking.

"First law of the sea." said the trident pirate "Captain always goes down with his ship."

Val managed to wriggle free of her bonds. One of the pirates was untying the prisoners. Val leapt at him and tried to get his dagger off him. She failed and got some painful cuts for her efforts. Other pirates seeing this happening ran over and beat her into unconsciousness. When she awoke she was tied and chained to the mast. In the meantime everyone else had been released. She had missed the better dressed pirates disappearing down into the hold and then some loud roaring noise came from below and the entire ship started shuddering and shaking. It also then settled deeper in the water. A wiry gnome wearing glasses that made his eyes look massive came up stairs and watched over the crew during the day. Val was untied on the condition she agreed to behave and Colesta carried out some healing on her. The day continued and the party didn't really ask any questions of the crew (which rather surprised me, the gnome was there to supply all sorts of background information).

As night fell once more the (for want of a better term we shall call them) officers came back up on deck. The pirate with the trident (who the party were assuming is Captain Bludreich) asked if everyone was ready to join the crew. Anyone who didn't want to would simply be... dropped off. No one changed their minds. To welcome the newcomers to the crew a barrel of rum was rolled up onto deck. From somewhere instrucments were found and a lively jig was soon playing. Zagan's seasickness kicked in once more and she was throwing up over the side.

The 'captain' noticed this and went over to her. After looking at her for a few moments he announced "You will be put ashore the next time we are near the coast. Got no room for a pregnant woman on this ship and killing ye would be pointless. After all, who can we plunder and steal from if we kill the young ones before they grow up?"

Zagan collapsed in shock. Zolis thought of the night he got very drunk and (as so be believes anyway) had sex with Zagan and collapsed in shock too. Everyone else felt a bit in shock too and helped themselves to large mugs of rum until they passed out drunk on deck.

I then informed the party that every time they'd had sex I'd been rolling for pregnancy. Several of them are now worried about past misdeeds.

The next few days passed as the party adjusted to their new surroundings. Every morning before first light the roaring from below decks would sound and the ship would settle deeper in the water, while when the sun sank the roaring would sound again and the ship would rise up and then speed off much faster than the doomed Penguin ever sailed.

One of the days Val spoke with the gnome who watched the ship during the day. She enquired about the noise and was taken below and shown lots of machinary which he explained in great detail to her about how it operated. However it all meant nothing to her and sounded like magic.

It became clear that the ship was sailing closer to land. They picked up rumours of why, but nothing concrete. Val and Colesta tried making plans with Zolis, however he seemed quite happy with his new life, and indeed warned the gnome that his companions were trouble makers. While passing the gnome one day he hissed to Val "Beware, your friend is one of theirs now!" and walked on saying no more on the matter.

Eventually after a few nights of cruising closer to land, the crew were gathered up. Everyone was told they would be raiding a coastal settlement. One half was going to be dropped off a days march away and would go across land and hit the town from behind. The shore party was to set a few buildings on fire and the flames would be a sign for the Raven to come in and trap the townsfolk in a pincer movement. Oh, and the shore party would have to make their way through a swamp infested with lizard men with a taste for flesh. Anyone who tried to desert would have to deal with them alone.

The shore party was selected (which included the party), and ordered into one of the ships two long boats, then lowered into the water and lowered to the shore.

Since on Sunday I was in no mood to run a game (a bit of a mixture of a rare hangover and not being able to decide what to do about Aaron), I called that night's game off. So instead here is another villain.

Introducing the bad guys. Kano.

Kano Carmino. Initially designed to be a recurring character who would sometimes help and sometimes hinder the party until a big reveal to happen later in the campaign, Kano (as do all recurring characters), was killed off earlier than I had hoped. A highly skilled bounty hunter, his biggest weakness was his sense of honour. Rather than being a deadly fighter, Kano was a ranger who had a number of skills and abilities to help him track, although he is no slouch when it comes to a fight either.

Alas poor Kano didn't manage to fulfil his planned role as sometime enemy, sometime ally of the group after he got a face full of buckshot and then attacked by the entire party. He was buried in a shallow grave at a road side (which was more than poor Cadmus got when he died). Wither he is actually dead, or was just unconscious is something the party don't know and equally they haven't yet discovered what connection he has to the group...

So after the 11th session how does the party stand?

Well Zolis is in thrall to the pirates, while Val and Colesta are trying to come up with some plan to escape. I am not sure exactly how long the party is going to be with the pirates, although I do have an end scenario in mind. Maybe they'll decide they like the idea of a pirate's life and take the adventure in a different direction, although certainly still one where the war launched by Thay and Mulhorand will still interfere a lot with the parties plans.

I am assuming that the group is going to try and escape the ship and get to the abandoned castle they were told of and were heading to before the pirates got in the way. They will then claim the castle for themselves and use it as a base for searching out more Masks. It will be interesting to see how much I get wrong though, although I have to say so far I've got most things right. It's just some of the things the players do while they go on whatever path I had hoped they'd go along that sometimes take me by surprise. I have plans for an old school dungeon bash. If the party ends up in the Underdark however all bets are off as to where they end up.

Soren (Zagan) hasn't heard yet that I retired his character by making him pregnant. I'd love to see his face when he finds that one out. I wonder if the remaining women in the party will start being a bit more cautious now, or indeed the men?

The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand. Part Twelve.

Seriously, when are they going to get themselves their own name?

Anyway, the shore party landed on what passed for a beach, but was really more like slightly more solid water as they were dropped off in a swamp. One of the pirates, an ogre like creature that was apparently human called Clogg. He ordered Val to take four people and scout ahead. Val chose Colesta, Aileen and Zolis as her scouting party. I had expected them to take Sillas as well, but Val decided to run light and not take the full foursome. Trudging on through the muddy ground, it was slow going and everyone felt miserable as their boots filled with icy cold marsh water.

Aileen could hear some strange clicking sounds from uphead. Val pulled out her magical gem and lit up the area and then decided this was a bad idea and shut the light off. Just enough time to ruin everyone's night vision and give them flashing lights. Their visability would be reduced for the upcoming night fight thanks to that one. As the light flashed they attracted the attention of a hunting party of lizardmen. Unsure of what they had distrubed but hearing disturbing roars and cries from up ahead, they stood back to back weapons drawn. Zolis huddled in the cover of a nearby bush.

Their opponents alas could see perfectly well in the dark and came on in a wave of scaly fangs and claws.

Ok, this was supposed to be a nice easy fight. None of the creatures were tough enough to be a serious challange to the party. However any adventuring group always has a legendary ability to mess up anything. Put in a reoccuring bad guy and they'll snuff him the first time they meet him.

Val managed to get a shot off with her crossbow before they were on the party and she switched to her rapier. A mixture of claws and stone axes lashed out at her, leaving her battered and bloody, but conscious... if barely. A giant lizardman some eight to ten feet tall jumped out of the bushes to attack Zolis as he raised a magical barrier to protect himself (mage armour) but failed to gut him on its spear. Aileen disappeared into the shadows preparing to use her hit and run attacks on the attackers from behind.

The onrushing wave of reptilian creatures continued unabated. Colesta and Val were both surrounded, preventing them from using their most powerful magics and forcing them to switch to close combat. Val's rapier flashed in the moonlight leaving gory wounds leaking thick green blood, but some sort of lizard hound sank its teeth into her knee and ripped out a chunk of flesh, it's venomous teeth leaving an infected wound which would drain her strength and vitality.

I started worrying at this point that they might not survive this simple encounter.

Zolis was being beat back and attempted to run away to put some space between him and his opponents. They tore some holes in his exposed back, but he got to where he needed to be. Summoning his mightiest arcane powers he fired off a lightning bolt that danced from lizardman to lizardman frying several where they stood. Unfortunately the giant creature he was fighting just got p**sed off and thrust it's spear deep into his side and lifted him into the air before throwing him off to one side leaving him no chance to celebrate his kills. At least he no longer falls unconscious after every hit though.

It did however take out most of the creatures behind Val and Colesta allowing them to concentrate just fighting the foes before them. The rest of the shore party was drawing close and could hear the sounds of the desperate combat in the darkness, and came running to help.

Ok, so the group have done nothing to make friends or learn anyones name on board the ship so the run was more of a slow jog, but still it was faster than a walk. Many actions (or indeed as in this case, inactions) have consequences in my game the players are never aware of.

Val managed to split the head of the lizard hound in twain, and Colesta managed to brain a few with her heavy mace, but the long march through the night and the wounds they were receiving were taking their toil. In her tiredness she dropped her mace, the heavy iron weapon sinking into the swamp. Rather than try and find it she simply switched to her morning star and continued hunting the remaining lizardmen. The head of the lizardmen seeing his warriors falling in droves and with the pirates about to join in the melee decided to bravely go and gather reinforcements.

Aileen had been fighting a small group on them on her own off in the dark, and finished them off in time to return to help with the last of the primordial nightmares clawing at Colesta and Val. Colesta then ran up behind the giant that was ready to kill Zolis and brained it, the spiked ball of her weapon crushing even the thick skull of the lizard creature. Zolis may have appreciated this more had no not had to leap out of the way of the falling giant!

With the greater body of pirates arriving the few remaining lizardmen were mopped up (not counting of course the lone survivor who fled off into the night). Clogg grunted at them to get moving again, not caring about their wounds or the threat of further ambush.

Eventually the sun arose and it brought with it a horde of stinging insects to plague the shore party. For everyone they swatted another ten seemed to take it's place. Every breath in was filled with the risk of crunchy extra protein. One of the pirates made the mistake of treading on a poisonous snake. It would however be the last mistake he ever made.

And I'll write the rest of this tomorrow as my bed is calling.

Onward through the noxious swamp they went. For some reason the party was feeling a bit nervous about alligators. Go figure on that one...

Eventually tired, cold and wet they arrived at the foot of a hill, and the end of a rough road leading around it. Carefully cresting the mound, the raiders could see the path led to a bridge over a river mouth, and on the other side a good sized town, all unsuspecting and ready for invasion. Clogg set a couple of men to watch from the hill over the town and warn them if anyone was coming this way. It was a fair bet though that not too many people would generally choose to explore the swamp often. Zolis got his head down to go for a sleep while Val sought out Colesta in private to try and figure out some kind of plan to warn the town, however with another roughly sixty pirates close by and the bridge being watched, not to mention that Zolis had apparently decided the pirates were his best friends they couldn't see a way to sneak into the town.

Good job they didn't have a shadowdancer accompanying them who could simply stealth over if asked. Oh wait, Aileen is a shadowdancer and is even training Val to be one.

As the sun came down Clogg gathered everyone around and explained his complicated attack plan. The group was split up into... a single group, which was told to charge across the bridge, set fire to a couple of buildings and round up the towns people as they panic and run. The Blood Raven would then come in and finish entrapping everyone.

Unable to see a way out of this that didn't end up with them facing off at odds of over ten to one the Band charged with the rest into the town, although Val was careful to hang around at the back. This wasn't for any altruistic reason, she just wanted to slip off and loot some houses while everyone else was rounding up the civilians. She merrily ran from house to house ramsacking them while the inhabitants were herded to the docks.

As the raiders ran into the town it torches were thrown onto thatched roofs, igniting the signal fires to call the Blood Raven in. As everyone was gathered in the dock, the ship swooped in like some giant dark bird. Some of the crew on board the ship jumped down from the ship to the dock, almost seeing to float down to the ground. They ran over whooping and hollering, looking to further terrify the captives. Others got down more gracefully. The first mate yelled to the shore party that they had two hours to loot the town and then the ship would be leaving. Zolis, quite happy just to carry out the orders of the pirates without reward sat down on a box on the dock.

Here is where things got interesting...

Colesta decided to try and remove what ever mind control the pirates had over Zolis. First she cast Detect Magic on him to find out what kind of control they had over him and then she used a Dispel Magic. Imminently the fog cleared from Zolis's mind and he realised he'd been dominated by their captors. Secondly the Mask fell off his face. Anders decided to roll a wisdom check to decide what Zolis would do about this. With his Wisdom modifier he ended up with a score of -1... He climbed up on the box he was standing on, spread his arms wide and swan dived so he'd face plant straight on top of the Mask, reattaching it to himself.

And then I accidentally mentioned that the officers on board the Blood Raven were Vampire Pirates, or Vampirates for short. Tina and Anders didn't notice this initially, but Kristi blurted out "What do you mean the pirates are vampires?" and the secret was out. Damn, damn, damn. I had planned on stringing this out for a few weeks and having the party slowly uncover the secrets of the Blood Raven. Instead no, I had to let it slip out. Bugger!

While this was going on Val was still merrily looting the town, but everywhere she went someone else had already cleared out (she rolled really low for her ill-gotten gains).

The trio discussed slipping away into the night and wondered if they could be tracked, but were unwilling to leave without their gold back on the ship. Zolis went back aboard to grab his treasure chest, but found once he got on ship he wasn't going to be allowed to leave again.


The towns folk were split up into groups. The women and children were put in one, the young men another and older men in a third. The first mate shouted that they were to take two out of every three of the young men on the ship. The rest were herded into the town's wooden town hall, while the Vampirates stood around it holding lit torches. The doors were barricaded to prevent everyone leaving, and the party feeling helpless watched as the Vampirates laughed and got back on board the ship.

If they wipe out a town, completely that is one less town to raid in the future.

The Blood Raven set sail as the fires the raiders had set died down and headed off into the darkness, having taken on more crew.

Since this virus I have is still killing my back and making me grumpy I decided not to run a game tonight. I'd only end up killing off the party tonight, so instead here is another profile, this time of an organisation rather than an individual villain.

Introducing the bad guys. The Dark Reflection.

Some of the deadliest assassins in all Faerun, the Dark Reflection are what you call on when you don't just want someone dead, you want to make it very clear that this person upset the kind of other people who can afford to pay for the kind of things to be done to you that these people can and will do to you.

Each member of the Reflection represents one of the darker gods and brings a very individual set of skills to the group. The group has only encountered one member, Sir Geldan. He actually the weakest of the Reflection, although this is a very relative term. A weak Reflection is still someone to be feared.

The gods the Reflection represent are Bane (the god of tyranny), Lolth (demon queen of the Dark Elfs), Malar (the beastlord), Mask (the god of thieves), Talona (the mother of plagues), Cyric (the prince of lies) & Shar (the lady of the Shadow weave).

Sir Gelden is the representative of Bane and the newest member of the Reflection. He became the standard bearer of Bane after protecting a noble woman from the attention of the previous Banite and fell victim to the curse of the Dark Reflection. He found himself forced by powers beyond his control into becoming the replacement. His first mission was to kill the very woman he had previously protected. He has tried escaping his role, but eventually Bane's will overcomes his own and he returns to his... duty.

The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand. Part Thirteen.

The ship sailed off into the night, many of its newest crew members in tears and wailing. The party went back onto the ship and went below decks to the second level down, where the lower ranking crew sleeps. They got in their hammocks and although there was the usual night of partying up on deck they managed to fall asleep. In the morning the roaring noise from below decks woke them up as the ship once more began to settle deeper in the water.

Colesta and Zolis decided to compare spell books and learn from each others while Val spoke again to Riggle, asking him for lessons on how the ship operates. Riggle's instantly delved deep into a long (3 hour) talk about the properties of hydrodynamics of which Val understood absolutely nothing.

Together they started trying to come up with some plan to take over the ship, or escape from it. They started putting pieces together but had no real idea of the whole thing. They asked questions, but having made no effort previously to ingratiate themselves with the crew previously found themselves shunned somewhat. When any of them saw Colesta coming close, they would suddenly stop chatting and just eye her suspiciously.

Rather than try and break down that reserve the group decided to try and talk to Riggle again. They managed to find out that the Blood Raven was actually designed and built by him (or at least he paid for it), and somehow it had been taken off him, although he did not want to talk about how. He warned them not to go up against "Those Below", as they were too powerful to defeat.

Time passed on board, a week or two and still minding their own business on board (I had expected the party to start planning some sort of mutiny). The ship had failed to find any prey for a while, when one day a sail was spotted on the horizon. The course and speed was noted in case the officers decided to chase it at night. Then another, and another appeared until an entire fleet was heading in the direction of The Blood Raven. Then coming down from the north another set of sails was spotted. The two fleets seemed to be heading to the same place. Were they looking for each other or the Raven? (This is actually more to do with the Thay/Mulhorand alliance and it's expansionist wars).

Riggle ordered the ship to make sail, although sitting heavy in the water during the day it was much slower than the sleek beast it became at night time. He ran downstairs, ordering Colesta to keep it on a steady heading. Val went with him to see if she could help. He started up the mechanical dragon that propelled the ship, but it whined with a high pitch rather than the deep throated roar they were used to hearing. While still sluggish the ship picked up speed. Riggle was running around like a tiny demon, twirling valves and pulling levers while yelling instructions to Val on how to assist. The temperature below decks steadily increased, metal parts started to glow red from overheating while parts spun and wailed in protest at their treatment.

Agonisingly slowly the ship crawled out of the way of the approaching fleet, thickly oily black smoke pouring from the engines. Eventually however it managed to pull out of the way. In the distance flashes could be seen as night fell and the fleet's engaged.

On the third deck under (the first deck carries cargo, the second deck supplies and where the ordinary crew sleeps, third deck is the machinery. None of the party has been any further into the bowels of the ship than this) Riggles fought to prevent his precious engine exploding. Both him and Val had burns from hot steam and the conditions they were working under. The engines were shut down and would have to go into drydock under sail for repairs.

As the crew awoke, the door to the captain's room opened. Something that had not happened while the party had been on the ship before. The group was finally to meet the scourge of the Dragonmere, Captain Bludreich himself. Or as it turned out, not quite himself.

"A small, lithe woman is standing there. All she is wearing is a thin gauze wrap around her hips. Her eyes immediately grab your attention. They are the most vivid, electric blue you have ever seen. Her long dark eyelashes frame her eyes perfectly. Her hair is a glossy midnight black and hangs loosely down to her waist. Like the other pirates her skin is pale, although in her case it is an almost alabaster whiteness. Her breasts are small and pert and every movements she makes seems very graceful and flawless.

She smiles a very shy and girlish smile, her teeth a brilliant white against her ruby red lips and skips childishly onto the deck."

Herself is more accurate.

She made her way over to Riggle and demanded to know why her ship was broken. In a stammering voice, Riggle explained the events of the day and that he couldn't make full repairs while at sea. The party couldn't hear what was said next, but then Bludreich swayed her way across the deck, picked a sailor at random and ran a perfectly manicured nail down the line of his jaw, before turning around and walking back to her cabin, the entranced sailor following her.

For four days the ship sailed on, still low in the water. Riggle was asked where they were heading and he replied in his high pitched voice "The only place we can safely make port. The Pirate Isles and the town of Gautorot. Colesta and Zolis spent some time swapping spells from their respective spell books while Val attempted to learn about engineering.

When land came in to sight it was hardly inspiring, a clutch of rude settlements climbing up a hillside, covered with a dirty smoke. As the ship got closer they could see the wooden buildings looked like they were made from the salvaged remains of ships. Young boys in rags caught the ropes thrown from the ship and tied it up. Everyone was told they had 30 days shore leave while the ship was repaired. Anyone who didn't return on time would be hunted down and made an example of. Oh, and anyone wanting to go ashore would be getting branded to prevent them being press ganged by another ship's captain. Oh, and anyone staying on board would also be getting branded just to be on the safe side.

The trio went ashore, first receiving a brand on the wrist in the shape of a "B" made to look somewhat like a bat. The buildings were all poorly built and the streets were wide enough only for someone to walk single file. Refuse littered the streets, the stench of rotting garbage battling with the smell of fish. Staying together they headed in to the depths of the town. Most of the buildings seemed to be rickity houses or bars but wandering the back streets they came across a place called "Old Marlone's Collectibles". The group wanted to sell the weapons and armour they'd collected, but the shop keeper, Marlone was only interested in magical items. Marlone looked ancient, incredibly thin with a scrawny beard to match his build. If he was a day less than 90 it would have been a surprise. He did however direct them to a competitor who specialised in non magical items. They followed his directions and found themselves in what might have been the town square. On the northern side sat the largest building they had seen so far on the island. It might have been the town hall, or it could have been a church, or just the island's richest resident. On one of the other sides sat a row of shops, mostly selling fish or other produce from the sea. One however was the one they were looking for are bore the simple title "Getwrictch".

Entering the shop, the group could hardly see. Very little light got inside, and no artificial light illuminated the inside. Stacks of merchandise blocked any line of sight for any distance into the shop, but wandering around a little the group found the shopkeeper. Almost as old looking as Marlone, but with a much more startling appearance. Both his eyes at some point had been ripped from his head leaving two empty, scarred sockets that still wept slow tears of blood down his face. Occasionally he'd wipe them away with a stained handkerchief. Inquiring as to what the party wanted, the told him about the weapons and armour they wanted to sell. He agreed to look at them, so the party trundled back down the hill to the dock and retrieved their goods from the ship, much the same as the longer term serving sailors had done.

Oh, if only the party had been chatting with their ship mates, they could have learned so much more.

They struggled to get back to the shop, carrying a heavy load and getting lost in the maze of streets but made it to their destination at the end. Much bargaining was then engaged in and a price agreed. Zolis noticed that the shop seemed have a wizards laboratory in it, abet buried under miscellaneous bric-a-brac. He started looking at what he had in his shop and started trying to put something together. The blind man roared in anger demanding to know what Zolis thought he was doing. Eventually the two discussed terms and came to an agreement for the use of his facilities. He said goodbye to the women who headed back to Marlone's to see what magic items they could buy.

Ok, that's what they tried to tell me, but really women shopping... I knew damn fine well they were looking for new shoes. Preferably pink and sparkley ones.

Val found a number of curious items that could aid her more nefarious skills including Alchemists Fire, Smokesticks and so on. He also persuaded her to buy some finger blades that while useless in combat could be helpful in slitting someone's pockets. She also made a deal that they'd look at a discount when she had finished her list of everything she wanted to buy. Val meanwhile was looking for some magic potions. They had left most of their gold back at the ship and returned to collect it, then came back. Marlone had decided to throw a Love Elixir in as part of the deal instead of a discount and the ladies had spent half their total gold.

Disappointed in the lack of pink and sparkling footwear (as an aside, while some creatures have visual acuity based on movement, I have come to believe woman's eyesight is entirely based around the colour pink and their ability to spot it)they then headed to a tavern. Having noticed one called "The Captain's Rest" back in the town square they headed to it, only to find the place employed a pair of Ogre's as bouncers and entrance was reserved only for ships captains. Rebuffed, they headed into town and ended up in a less reputable place called "Jake's Missing Peg Leg". Inside smelled of sweat and stale beer. Two men in a ring were engaged in a fist fight, cheered on by the crowd or booed depending on who they'd gambled on (I have a whole side plot planned out to become the bare knuckle fighting champion of the island, but with the group lacking a front rank fighter this is unlikely to used). They ordered some food and drink before heading back to the ship for the night.

Anders is ill once again so no game tonight. Running low on villains to talk about, but I do have at least one left.

Introducing the bad guys girls Captain Angelique Bludreich

Angelique is possibly the most physically attractive woman on the planet. Growing up she learned how to use her looks to get what she wanted, something that she got a lot better at as her innate magical powers started to bloom. She has very pale, almost alabaster skin, jet back hair and electric blue eyes. She does not engage in combat unless given no other choice, preferring to use her mind control powers, both magical and otherwise. She became a vampire when she entranced one and it fell in love with her. An unintended consequence of this is that the Vampire decided she had to live forever and gave her his twisted, but eternal life. As payment she had him impailed on the top of the ships mast after taking control of The Blood Raven and let him greet the sun light.

Angelique, although moderately powerful in melee combat is much more powerful as a caster and arch manipulator. She should be used accordingly, behind waves of faceless minions, and if they are defeated she would claim to have been forced to do what she has done by the First Mate, Gibbons. Her substantial mind affecting powers would also come into play.

Angelique is a very childish and immature person. She will be petulant when she doesn't get her way and stamp her foot. If she flies into a full on rage, she is likely to use her powers to make others attack whoever has offended her. As a Sea Vampire she has power over some creatures of the deep rather than the wolves and bats that her landbound contempories have. One of these, she considered a pet and calls Precious. However it grew bigger and got beyond her ability to control. She want's him back and every so often decides to send the ship after Precious in a bid to regain control over it. This normally leads to heavy losses amongst the crew and is very much dreaded by them.

Ideally Angelique should not end up as a recurring villain, but we shall see how the adventure goes.

The Tale Of The Band Of The Hand. Part Fourteen.

The group continued their enforced stay in the pirate isles. Zolis wanted to go into town and go shopping. He got himself a magical bag that you could pull an animal out of, although he you don't know what kind of animal you get until you first pull one out and a scroll with a spell of Invisibility on it.

Val tried speaking to Riggle while he was fixing the engines. She did find out from him that the officers were some sort of blood drinking creatures and the party has automatically assumed this means vampires. I may have to look for another kind of undead that drinks blood just to mess with them. Since finding out that all the food on the island is fish based, Colesta decided to start up her own business and use her holy magic to make bacon rolls and sell them (one of her spells summons magical meals).

She (Val) also tried exploring around town, going into the large building at the town square. She found a room with three doors leading from it, each bearing a different sigil. One was three blots of lightning, another of clashing waves and the third a purple triangle with three drops of blood on it. Having no idea what each of these meant she decided not to go through any of the doors and returned to the ship to quiz Colesta about it.

Zolis and Val decided to try and get information on vampires, but after spending the day searching through shops they had to concede defeat. Val also tried her hand at gambling, winning at dice, but losing at darts. While the other two were making money, Zolis decided to spend a couple of days making some scrolls.

The time the group is spending on the island is meant to give them a chance to make any items they wish, look for magical items and so on. I am thinking that this part of the adventure however is over and it is time from the next game to return to the high seas once more.

(https://i.imgur.com/7MXyNxw.jpg)

So how are things going in the campaign?

Well the whole pirate thing has been a bit of a bust. The idea here was to let the players take a bit more of a lead and make their own adventures. They haven't engaged with any of the crew, either the oppressed humans or their vampiric overlords. The stay on the island was supposed to give them time to do whatever they wanted, although various subplots were available including getting involved in bare knuckle fighting, an assassination plot between the three clerics of evil religions on the island, or even possibly escaping the pirates with the help of the one person on the island who doesn't have an evil alignment, all of which have been adroitly dodged by the party. Kind of feels like I have to drag the by the nose and present adventure hooks on a plate to them, so I am going to bring this part of the story to an early close and bring on Precious earlier than I had intended.

You try these things, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't and then you move on.

Coming up the party potentially has the chance to get their own castle and land in a disputed border area between two countries. I wonder if they will take any notice of this opportunity. And in the background they still have the mystery of the Masks and the expanding war with the Thay/Mulhorand alliance against the free world.

Y'know, I was playing MTG with my kid yesterday, and I wondered how your campaign was coming.
She always plays straight blue and yet doesn't counter anything, just stacks in lots and lots of flyers. That's why the gods of green mana gave us spiders with reach. Oh, me, I'm bragging about beating a nine year old.

Heh. I should play you with my white deck. It has nothing in it but healers, spells that heal me, and spells that absorb damage. Players have turned the table over in frustration against that deck heh heh heh. Oh, it also has a single damage causing artifact in it that allows me to win called the Armageddon Clock. First turn it is played it causes one point of damage to everyone, second two points of damage, third three and so on.

Just because it is a deck that uses the powers of good, doesn't mean to say it aint downright nasty.

Oh and tonight the party should find out some enemies they may have forgotten about have not forgotten about them, that what they are more immediately up against is much more powerful than they thought and they didn't actually have a clue what it is they are up against (in an entirely seperate plotline to the first) and that neither of these problems is going to be an immediate concern when faced with what else they are about to come up against.

Time to bring on Precious.

White is my favorite and best color, for sure. I love its interconnectedness and how it builds. I also love how bad the angels are. An angel versus demon matchup usually goes to the angels, I find, often simply because while white unites well and grows stronger, black exacts its price against its user, even requiring ongoing sacrifices and lost life to maintain some of the great demons.

There is a curse to Magic, though. You want a great deck, so you acquire tough cards, but when you play them, the game often becomes less fun. Those cards that say you cannot lose a duel and your opponent cannot win...? Why even print those? Or like Krakens' Eye and the other four life gainers. Why, you know?

It is nice to play my daughter and my cousin, though, in friendly little duels.

A lot of those cards are banned in tournament play which to me says yup you are making them and you know they are broken which is one of the reasons  I tend to play with my older cards then buying new ones a lot.

Holy crap, the party actually did stuff on the island tonight, thus extending their stay there by another session.

The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand. Part Fifteen.

The party were all on board the Blood Raven as I prepared to hit the fast forward button and take them three weeks into the future.

Then Colesta (Kristi), decided actually she'd like to go visit the three temples to the various if not evil gods then certainly ill-tempered ones. She visited the door marked with the symbol of Umberlee, the b***h queen of the sea and asked if she knew anything about The Blood Raven. Eventually when the party figured out that she expected tribute they discovered that alone amongst the ships that anchored at the island, The Blood Raven did not pay tribute to Umberlee and it's captain had never visited the temple. Indeed no one from that ship had ever came to pay the respect owed, or their tithes and that sooner or later they were bound to feel the wrath of her tempremantal goddess, who would sink their ship and take the souls of everyone who sailed on it as tribute instead. Other than offering to intercede with Umberlee on their behalf (on payment of a suitable stipend of course) she was not able to provide much in the way of useful information, so the tiny priestess (she is a hobbit) of Umberlee said goodbye to the party.

Figuring they did not need to make any extra enemies they decided to pay up.

Next was the temple to Talos, the lord of storms and destruction. Whereas Umberlee's temple was decorated with pictures and gifts donated to the temple, the Stormhouse was a wreck, with broken items lying everywhere. Zolis (Anders) started to tidy this place up until it was pointed out that as this was a temple to the lord of destruction that he was actually on the verge of committing a very large blasphemous act. His priest was a powefully build Dwarf, although somewhat unclean and sporting a black eye (due to his habit of competing in bare knuckle boxing). Much as before other than telling them The Blood Raven was not a ship that paid due homage to the gods, he could give them little in the way of information. He did however offer to pay them to kill the priestess of Umberlee who tended to take a lot of the trade he would otherwise get from curing sailors of various diseases away from him.

He was politely given a "We'll call you back on that one" and the group made their exit.

Some debate was engaged in before they decided to enter the lair of Talona, the mother of plagues and poisons. Whereas the other gods are certainly not nice, Talona is downright evil. But after much talking in they did go eventually. Inside they were greeted by an old woman with very sallow almost green skin. Zolis once more attempted to offend a deity by telling a priestess of the plague goddess that she did not look well.

They got no more (useful) information from her than from the other clerics (beyond that The Blood Raven had been pirating for at least 50 years), although she did offer to bring a host of plagues down on their shipmates and kill the rest of the crew if they would kill the other two clerics who kept healing the sailors of the diseases Talona had blessed them with.

Yet again they decided to retreat the hell out of there.

Next they went to Getwritch the eyeless to ask if he knew anything about the ship or could help them escape? He offered to scry on the ship for a small fortune (3,500 gold), as it would involve a risk to himself. Deciding to see how their financies would fare first the group said they'd get back to him.

And they have now let four of the most evil and most mercenary people on the island know that they are looking for a way to harm the crew of The Blood Raven, or at the very least escape from it. There is no way that could ever come back and bite them on the ass.

The party are still unsure about Riggles. Is he loyal to the captain, does he not care or could he be a potential ally? Generally they seem to lean towards him not caring as long as he has his ship. This is acutally a little bit unfair to the little gnome as he has tried to advice them several times against poor courses of action.

So everyone returned to the ship to discuss things and wither or not they should take any of the priests up on their offers. Zolis decided it would be a great idea to march into the the hall of Talos and let off a lightning bolt spell. After all, he is the god of storms and destruction so he would appreciate that right? (Actually he would have and doing that is a part of a major ritual that followers of Talos are supposed to engage in, seeing how much damage they can inflict on a town or city), but Val (Tina) disagreed, so when Zolis turned to leave the ship, she cracked him over the head with the hilt of her rapier. This surprise attack damn near put Zolis unconscious right away, but not quite. He turned around and to his surprise saw who had attacked him. Calling on his arcane powers he covered Val in a slippery grease type substance. She couldn't keep her footing and fell to the ground but managed to flick a knife, attempting to hit Zolis with the handle, but failing and having the pointy end sticking out of his shoulder. Colesta attempted to cast a spell that would befuddle Zolis's wits (such as they are. The man in some ways is a genius and has the raw power of the universe at his command, but he just lacks any man logic, or as Kristi calls it, common sense), but he easily shrugged its effects off.

After much shouting at each other, things between the party were somewhat calmed down and Colesta healed up the damage Zolis had taken. They decided to use Zolis's ability to create a safe extra dimensional space to talk. A new plan was concocted. Colesta was to get Riggles off the ship, somewhere private and try to find out more about what was really going on and what the officers really are.

Colesta went to speak to the little gnome while the others swung past Old Marlone's shop. The gnomish engineer was busy at work but agreed to go for a meal with them the next day if she would just give him peace and quiet to get on with his work without any further interruption.

The next morning the party were summoned up on deck by a rather worried looking sailor by the name of Erik. He was a heavy set man with a big bushy beard and many tattoos. He said they should come up stairs and see something. On the deck were some ornately carved wooden boxes, each with a scroll bearing one of the parties names each, including Zagan and Cadmus, but not Colesta.

Zolis cast Detect Magic but could pick up nothing from the boxes. Val checked them from traps and again could find no trace of one, so she carefully opened her box. Inside was a perfectly polished single piece of black obsidian in the shape of a hand mirror.

Zolis (who else?), lifted the mirror from his box and saw himself reflected in it. For a second the reflection changed and he saw a strange gray skinned face staring back at him. It had black eyes and no ears that he could see, then it faded back to his own reflection.

After some discussion it was decided to go speak to Getwritch and see if he could tell them more about these mirrors, although Colesta would have to be back in time for her 'date' with Riggle, although the rest of the party decided to meet up with her for that. First of Colesta headed off to the ship to colllect Riggle, while the other two went to speak with Getwritch they handed over the money for him to investigate the items magical properties (please note the group are quite capable of casting the same spell that they paid for him to cast). He did enquire if they had decided on having him scry on the ship for them or not, but they tried to deflect the conversation and he did not pursue it. He told them he'd need an hour or so to work on the item.

Leaving the shop and heading to the dock, the met Colesta and Riggle heading the other way. They returned to the town square and Riggle took them inside the establishment they had previously been ejected from. The ogre bouncers allowed him entry no questions asked which somewhat confused the party. When they asked how he could get in here, he shrugged his narrow shoulders and said the captain doesn't care to come ashore here. I guess I am her representative. He explained this place as well as having the best food on the island also doubled as a brothel and they should ignore the noises from elsewhere. Ordering a private room, they all ordered a meal that did not involve fish, the only food seemingly served anywhere else on the island. Zolis hit on the idea of creating a magical baf that would supply the owner with unlimited ham sandwiches. If he ever actually creates one of them I suspect he'll open the equivilent of a fantasy world chain of McDonalds.

Interogating the poor gnome, Riggles eventually cracked and finally gave them answers. And by the end of it the party felt they were way deeper in trouble than they had previously realised. First though they asked what the people running the ship were. Riggle sighed and told his sad story.

"Many years ago I came up with the plans for a ship powered by a steam engine. It was to use hydrodynamic screws to power the propellors and allow it to achieve speeds unmatched by any normal ship (which the party translated as "It is all done by magic". I had started constructing the ship and invested every spare coin I had in the project. Alas at this crucal stage my backers dropped out and instead a young noble woman offered to step in and fund my project. Especially when she heard the special wood I was having imported to make the ship out of. You see normal wood simply wouldn't be strong enough to take the forces I have to compensate for. I tried many different materials until I hit on a solution quite unintentionally. Yes yes yes. No one would ever think of using such a source normally. You see, the only wood I could to make the hull out of was that of the Arborealius Mobilus Tree.

What you might call Tree Ents.

But where to get enough of such? She promised that if I gave her a year, she would return with enough material to complete my ship and more. And yes, indeed she did. I was so consumed by my project I didn't even stop to think where she would have gotten such large amounts from or how."


"They used their own blood on the Ent's, turning them into some abominations, before cutting them down. They sent me the wooden remains. I didn't know it was still alive! As I cut each piece to shape it could feel the pain. Every saw cut, every nail I put into the wood it was alive and could feel it. The ship hates me to its very core for doing that to it! However something happened to the vampires too. They became bound to the ship. They can leave it for a short time, but they have to return to it every night to sleep. This is why you cannot kill them, they are bound to the ship and the ship to them. You can't kill one unless the other is dead. And that is why I keep telling you to be quiet on the ship. It is alive still and can hear you. And what it hears it can tell them. If you damage the ship it can heal itself, even the metal parts. Sure, I can fix it quicker but even if I wasn't here the ship would still operate."

The group asked some questions about trying to destroy the ship and it's unholy crew but Riggle kept on telling them "She is too powerful." No one asked him to clarify if he was talking about the captain or the ship... He did mention that the ship was quite capable of going beneath the waves and surfacing again, although any crew members who couldn't breathe water would be having a real bad day. Eventually however the dinner ended and the group returned to Getwritch's for the results of his probing on the obsidian mirror. They got exactly the same information from him as when they cast Identify themselves, that it was a sort of business card from an assassins guild that would show the person a glimpse of their assigned killer and then just be an inert non magical mirror.

Having received this information the party returned to the ship wondering what to do next?

Love reading the on-goings of this D&D party! Good stuff! (tell everyone I say "hi!" by the way).


Magic: TG: It's been a year since I played, but I have about three decks I've been working on:

White: lots of angels, a few immortals, resurrections, and a couple hundred-handed hydras.

Green: my newest still-in-process deck. I have one immortal in it somewhere.

Black: my necro deck. Almost everything drains life from a target and gives it to me; most monsters have deathtouch. I have a couple of cards that double my swamps and a couple others that do direct damage based on said number of swamps (double mana).

I'm decent against my other casual playing fans but suck against anyone who plays a lot lol.

Hey nice to see you and if you ever get the time to play again you know you are welcome. Sillas is still sort of hanging around.

Well at least unlike Zagan he isn't pregnant with a highly paid assassins baby when the assassin has been hired to kill him.

So this thread has had over 4000 views? Who the hell is reading it that much?

You people are really strange, just so you know. :P

I do think you write well and describe your campaign in a way that makes it interesting.

Wish I had the time/energy to keep playing with you all; the story is a fun read and it's interesting to see where they end up/what they (the party) decide to do.

Just thought I should mention, playing in your game gave me inspiration for my family D&D game.

As I had mentioned before, I felt bad playing in a game, while at the same time, wasn't playing with my 15 year old nephew (who's been begging me to DM for a long time), which is why I had to take a break from playing your game and I started DMing for him (roll20) online (I felt kinda guilty playing with others and not playing with him).

I let him play a Human Pally and an Elven Wizard while I ran an NPC Human cleric. Within just a couple short games, his Dad showed interest (never played before) so I set him up a Half Elf Barbarian. Then two more people showed interest (a couple) so I'm allowing them to play a gnome rogue and a Halfling ranger. My wife mentioned she may get in on the game sometime later (she's way more busy than I am); not sure what she'd play yet.

So we've played just a few games and they're having a good time. The newbie Barbarian is totally getting into character (I was surprised how much). He tanks it up just like he's supposed to and always does the threat-assessment in combat. Nephew didn't expect to like the wizard, but I think he's discovering his artillery potential and the utility of his non-combat spells.

Since I had recently thought about the Forgotten Realms locale in your game, it got me thinking about the neighboring regions, so I set their location in the Kingdom of Cormyr (north to northeast of where your game started out), more specifically in the city of Marsember (near Suzail), working for the Crown and Purple Dragon army. Each of them are from a different nearby village, sent to quest for the crown. Their first big boss is going to be a Young Green Dragon, but they'll be fighting her lackies for awhile before they engage her. I plan to make it a part of a larger Tiamat/Spawn of Tiamat cult thing.

So far they've fought mostly orcs, minor undead, dark priests, necromancers, an enervated (smaller) dino, an undead gorilla, a wraith, bandits, a giant croc, and the biggest so far, a seven-headed hydra. Several have been wounded and KO'd at various times, but no one has died yet.

Their next session, they have to find/apprehend another dark priest and bring him in alive for trial at Suzail (where I'm going to have some crazy stuff happen, if they can bring him in). The priest betrayed his temple, stole an artifact, and delivered it to the Green Dragon's henchmen. During the trial, I think I'm going to have the Green Dragon attack and kill him, then fly off and burn a few villages in anger (some of the player character's home villages!). Gotta provide some motivation, right? heh

Glad you are running your own game and enjoying it. The next place the party is going to be heading (I hope) is going to have them right on the border between Sembia and Cormyr with potentially a big part to play in the war against Thay / Mulhorand. I am going to have to come up with a name for that. They could potentially be lording it over their own castle and city depending on how they play it.

Or y'know they could just like miss all my hints and end up penniless.

And the last session is now fully updated.

Not going to be able to do a game for a couple of weeks as Tina and Anders aren't available this weekend and I have my mum visiting next weekend.

And oh gosh, the baby should be arriving soon after that.

Are we ready for an awfully big adventure?

With the due date coming up soon I am thinking we'll be on a break for a while. Hopefully we'll be able to pick up the campaign after that. Once they get off the ship I am planning a scenario that anyone who has read James Herbert's 'The Dark' will be familiarish with. If the party manages not to mess everything up they can get their own base, should they wish it.

The man sat in the dark barroom. In a fighting pit, two men struggled in a test of brute strength against each other but he ignored them his brooding thoughts drifting back to the quest that had consumed his life so far and led him to a dead end on this tiny, corrupt island. He nursed his drink and considered his options. Since he didn't seem to have any this did not take long.

Then a stunningly attractive woman walked in to the room. Every sway of her hips drew stares from every red blooded man in the house. She fixed her eyes on the man sitting alone, took the gear of an experienced fighting man and asked him to join her crew. Her pheromones washed over the lone man and without understanding why he accepted. After all what else did he have to do? She then stood up and asked who else would join her crew. The men who knew who this femme fatalle was suddenly found other things to look at, but a few fools worse for drink stood up and cheered, instantly falling under the woman's spell.

She left the inn, walking out into the moonlight followed by her new crew and eager to be on her way before the fools realised the spell they were under.

The new shipmates, entranced walked on board her ship, not ever noticing they were stepping onto the most dreaded ship to terroise these seas, The Blood Raven.

The party watched as the latest recruits walked on to the ship. Almost imminently the order was given to set sail. The group did notice that one of the new recruits was somewhat better equipped than his fellows. Deciding to engage him in conversation, Colesta (quickly followed by Val) decided to engage him in conversation. They learned his name was Dammas and realising he was under Angelique's domination they dispelled her control. A mist seemed to leave his eyes, but before he could leave the ship, the ropes were cast off and The Blood Raven sailed off into the night.

A few days later, during breakfast the party noticed something was up with the sailors. They seemed tense and gathered in small groups. Trying to find out what was happening various party members wandered around the ship, but the groups would close up and stop talking when anyone got into hearing range.

It was decided that the group would keep their weapons handy. Just before lunch as twelve bells was about to be rung, the sailors made their move. About two thirds of the crew turned on the rest, disarming them and rounding them up, except for Riggle who was tied to the ships mast. The party were surrounded by sailors all pointing weapons at them who demanded to know "With us or against us?" The mutineers were led by Erik, who may be the only other crew member the group actually ever managed to learn the name of.

This lead to quite some philosophical debate within the group. Initially most of them were for joining the rebels, but Colesta remembering Riggles warnings from before and persuaded the group to remain... for want of a better word loyal. They were disarmed and joined Riggle tied to the mast. The mutineers then tried to break into the captains cabin, but couldn't make as much as a dent in the door regardless of what they tried... asking nicely, improvised battering ran or even trying to set the door on fire. Nothing worked. They tried to get below decks and found they couldn't get lower than the crew rooms beneath the cargo hold. Frustrated and angry they took it out on Riggle, demanding that he tell them how to get to the officers. Unable or unwilling to answer, Riggle took a beating. He kept saying that if they surrendered it wasn't took late. Once "She" awoke though there would be no more chances. In return he received more punches.

Since they couldn't get to the officers the mutineers planned on ambushing the officers as they came up on deck. They made barricades and aimed their weapons as the sun went down.

No one appeared however. As it got dark as it had every night the engines started up, but instead of the ship rising higher, the ship started to sink beneath the waves. Desperate men tried bailing out the ship as water started to run over the decks. When it got ankle deep the men started to beg Riggle to rescue them. He told them he could save the ship, but at this point all he could do was pray for them. Only hearing the "save" part, they cut him loose. The gnome struggled through the now knee deep on a human, never mind the poor gnome almost drowning struggling through it, but he made it to the stairs and up to the wheel and the ships controls. The ship rose slowly back up through the water, which poured in numerous cascades off the vessel. The loyal crew was released from below decks (at least those who hadn't drowned), and the mutineers surrendered.

   The cabin door to the captains rooms swings open and Angelique steps out onto the deck totally nude. Her stunning form reflects the moonlight giving her an almost ethereal glow and she starts a graceful dance on the wet deck. Moving with a speed an agility you have never before seen the match of, even from Aileen. She is breath taking and captivating. Every eye on the ship is focused solely on her as she completes her elaborate dance. “So, some naughty men thought they could take my ship off me? Silly, silly men. Oh well, some of you I can help me hunt precious, and get to not die tonight. But in return for this boon, I want to know which of you naughty men was the leader? Hmm, was it you?”

   She points a perfect finger at one of the kneeling sailors who trembles in fear and shakes his head. Beyond a slight frown, she seems flawless and perfect. A goddess that no mere mortal man should ever have thought to challenge.

   One man, a heavy set sailor with a bushy beard stands up, his head hanging down and his knuckles bloodied from beating Riggle earlier. It is the same one who told you of the arrival of the strange boxes with the mirrors, Erik “It was me. None other should share my punishment.”

   In a voice sweeter than honey she says “Oh I wouldn't dream of it. Your men are going to be very useful to me later. She commands (and points to the party) Seize him and hold him for me” and heads back into her cabin. When she comes out she is holding a coiled length of a silvery wire which she hands to (whoever isn't holding the sailor). “Strip him and then bind him tightly all over with this.”

   If the party show any reluctance Angelique will warn them in a voice like the purring of a kitten that “I am already very cross about having to deal with some men who have chosen to defy me. Do you really want to see how annoyed I can get with more people refusing to do what I say?” and stamp her foot on the deck.

   Once Erik is bound all over with the thin silvery wire, he is hoisted into the air. The thin wires cut into his flesh causing drops of blood to fall on the deck. Angelique watches this, her angelic features marred by the fiendish smile on her face. He grunts in pain, but refuses to cry out.

   “Don’t worry my sweet. I have no need of your pain. ‘Tis your laughter I wish to hear” she shouts up as she stands beneath him.

   With that she stands chanting in an arcane tongue (Tasha’s Hideous Laughter) and as she finishes the man’s body is suddenly wracked with fits of laughter. His body twists and spasms as peel's of laughter come from his chest. Each time his body moves the wires cut deeper and within seconds Angelique is dancing beneath him in a rain of blood. She opens her mouth to swallow it as she rubs and smears the vital fluids over her body.

   Fortunately for the man hanging, he does not last long as the wires bite deep enough to send gout's of flesh dropping to the deck along with the blood pouring from his body.

   Angelique now looks like something demonic, covered in blood from head to toe. She giggles girlishly and commands Riggle to prepare a bath for her. As she leaves Gibbons intones in his deep voice "And so perish all who would defy Captain Bludreich.”

Part two to follow tomorrow.

The deck was swept clean by the sailors and eventually Erik's mutilated body was lowered and thrown unceremoniously to the tender care of the briney deeps. The party retired to as private as place as you can find on a living ship to discuss obliquely recent events.

Over the next few days, the party noticed it was now the officers turn to be terse. The crew was much smaller than it had been at any point while the party had been on board. They certainly did not seem as if they had anything to fear from them. Afterall, having seem the results of one mutiny they were unlikely to see a second attempt any time soon. The party could not quite figure out what was wrong. The ship spent the next three days and nights heading north east.

Of course at any point during this time the party was free to go speak to Riggle and they'd have found out exactly what was going on. It took them three days to figure that one out. They got told that "The giant squids come here to mate. The whales come here to hunt the squids and Precious comes here to hunt the whales."

When they asked what Precious actually was they got a simple answer, "Big."

Then Riggle sighed and explained a bit more. Precious was a pet of Captain Bludreich's that had gotten too powerful for her to control, but every so often she would go out and try to recapture him. It normally ends up with a lot of dead crewmen and a damaged ship. Just do your best not to get eaten.

The prisoners were brought up from below and Capt Bludreich appeared on the deck dressed for the first time in the parties experience in sensible (although still very stylish) clothes. Mr Gibbons rammed a harpoon through three of the prisoners at the same time. The bodies then had ropes tied to their feet and were thrown overboard to put a trail of blood in the water, while the lookouts kept an eye of for any signs of a pod of whales. Eventually one was sighted and Riggle steered the vessel alongside them, the dead bodies still trailing along behind them. Other mutineers were killed and tied to the prow of the longboats like some obscene figurehead.

One of the whales breached the surface. At first it looked like the gentle giant had leapt out of the water, then they saw the much larger creature with its teeth sunk into the whales belly. It was a shark, but much much larger than any shark the party had ever seen before. The bodies plunged back into the water soaking those watching on deck. Gibbons ordered the longboats into the water, pointidly handing a harpoon to each of the party. They too climbed into one of the boats.

At this point anyone making any approrpriate shark movie quotes was secretly going to get extra experience points. Alas the closest I got was Kristi saying "I am having Moby Dick flashbacks".

The three boats closed in on the shark as the Blood Raven sought to herd the monsterous creature back to the longboats. With its toothy maw open the lead boat started throwing their harpoons. Several managed to penetrate Precious's hide, forcing the shark to drag the boat along behind her. Angelique hoped to wear Precious down and bring her back under her control. Precious however had other plans. She dived under the first boat, then lunged upwards crushing her tormentor to so much matchwood as the steel trap like jaws closed dooming the crew on board to a short but terrifying death.

Shocked, but with few other options the other two boats rowed forward to attack Precious next. The shark turned to seek the open sea and escape (I was rolling on a chart to see what actions Precious took). Again the Blood Raven took up a position alongside the shark (which was slightly larger than the ship itself). Both the ship and the shark tried sideswiping each other, with the armoured hull of the Raven coming off mostly undamaged. Riggle applied full power to the engines and surged ahead, then dropped an anchor and spun the wheel as hard as he could putting the Blood Raven directly in the path of the charging Meglodon. At full speed Precious's weight crashed into the side of the of the ship. Even the reinforced hull could not take that damage and the side of the ship caved in. The Blood Raven was holed on the waterline and the sheer force of the crash caused it to list over heavily. From the boat they could see poor Riggle holding on for dear life to the ships wheel while the rest of the crew were catapulted over the side and into the water.

To be concluded.

The crew on the longboat was ordered to row behind the stricken ship and see if Riggle could be resuced. He was hanging onto his ship, over the stern. He managed to drop down onto the rudder then slide down into the water and then make it to the boat. Several of the officers were swimming towards the boat, although they couldn't see Angelique. They decided to get the hell out of there and set a course to the north hoping to sight land before too long.

With Colesta making holy food for everyone, they kept on rowing for four more days until land was sighted. To the north east and west seperate strips of land could be seen.

Perhaps for a few moments the fate of continents hungs in the balance. Who knows? The party decided the north west shore looked the more inviting. As they closed with the shore they could see a few cities, picked one to aim close too and beached the boat perhaps an hours walk from the city proper. They headed towards its gates and found a company of spearmen at the gate. Once they found out they didn't have to pay taxes everyone decided to go inside. Enquiries were made and they discovered they were in the land of Impultir, somewhere much closer to the front lines with Thay than they wanted to be.

The party made their way to an inn, and using their depleted funds secured a room for the night.

So assuming we get to start the game back up where do things go next.

Well the general consensus amongst st the players is that they want to head back to their original destination in the west, where they were heading before they got press ganged. Which is handy as the stuff I have worked out in advance all happens there, and I'd hate to go to all the bother of changing the location.

They have the free will to go anywhere they want in the world. It's just where ever they do go the same stuff will happen. The glorious illusion that is free will.

When they get there, they are going to find a city under a dark prophesy, a castle with a sad tale behind it, potentially some evil allies, and of course there is always the Masks calling to them. Oh, and the combined armies of Thay and Mulhorand will be at their heels.

And lets not forget about the cult of assassins on their trail...

Thinking about doing a rule where any time anyone wants to take a healing potion they need to have an alcoholic drink in real life.

Should be having a game this weekend. Looking forward to getting back into it. :)

Part Seventeen Of The Ballad Of The Band Of The Icky Hand.

Tonights adventure was actually taken from the first proper set of RPG rules I ever bought (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).

Well our adventure tonight started with the party going to sleep after hanging up their sea water soaked clothes. I had them all make listen checks which everyone failed except for Zolis, he awoke to the sound of someone stealthily creeping through his room. First he asked who was there, and was answered with a surprised yelp, although he could see nothing in his benighted roon. To pierce the darkness he cast a Light spell and saw a dark clad figure heading towards his window. Leaping out of bed he charged the figure grappling with him while yelling for help. Dammas slept soundly through this, but Val and Colesta both were rudely awakened by the rucus. They gathered up their weapons and ran to find out what was happening. The thief managed to break free of Zolis's hold, but the wizard called on his control of the primal forces of magic and sent a gout of flame to engulf him. Screaming as his clothes caught fire he fell to the floor. Zolis threw his bedding over the figure to put out the flames as he surrendered rather than face his wrath.


He was dragged out into the hallway as Val and Colesta arrived. The thief begged for his life and the party decided to search him. Strangely enough he had exactly the same money as Val and Colesta used to have combined. Val also found a piece of paper with a fig leaf motif on it and a list of dates with words beside them. The innkeeper came up the stairs to find out what all the noise was. He said he'd take the man downstairs and call the watch. He suggested the party went back to their rooms while he dealt with the matter further while Colesta healed the man up a bit then the party decided to chat a bit. Zolis took this advice but the other two went downstairs after getting dressed. By this time the watch were ready to leave with their prisoner. Val told the watch they'd discovered the man with their money, as the innkeeper sadly shook his head. "Oh, if he had stolen goods then we will have to take it into custody as evidence for his trial!"

They then found out that they'd have to wait for his trial before they could get their money back. A receipt was written and stamped, but the party had the sinking feeling they'd never see the money again. They handed over 500 gold, managing to keep the rest as the watchmen left while big smiles on their faces.

After they had left the innkeeper said "I told you to stay upstairs. The watch around here is barely any better than the criminals. If ye find yeselfs short of money now, go to the town square. There is a big old oak tree there. People needing jobs done often advertise there."

The group really does not have a good track record when it comes to dealing with law enforcement. You'd think they'd have learned by now, especially given they are wanted criminals. They might have been missing from the world for a few months while they were on The Blood Raven, but with that kind of bounty on their heads attracting attention isn't something they want to go doing.

They went back up the stairs feeling slightly disheartened and finacially lighter than when they came down. It took them all a while to get back to sleep, and this time thye made sure they locked their windows.

In the morning the party had a discussion. Val and Zolis argued for immediently continuing west, while Colesta thought they should at least check out the tree to see if they could replenish their funds a bit. Eventually Colesta won out and the group decided to take a look. A number of jobs were pinned to the tree, most of them for mercenary companies hiring, or people trying to find each other. One however wanted professional fighters to undertake something legal but with some danger.

Danger afterall is their middle name.

Asking around they found the way to the house mentioned in the advertisement. It was a large well appointed place and they were led into see a Councillor Oldenhaller. He wanted some men to go retrieve an item he had purchased that was being brought into the cuty for him by one of the local gangs, the Schatzenheimer's. They had failed to deliver and he wanted them to go into an area known as a den of thieves, the Asylum where the Schatzenheimer's made their lair along with a number of other gangs. He wasn't sure exactly what the item looked like, but it was sure to have some magical powers. The group may have to be persuasive to find out exactly what it was though. The item was also said to be cursed, but he was willing to provide an enchanted box that would protect the bearers from any malign influences for 6 hours. He'd have a man guide them to the enterance to the Asylum starting at darkfall. They were offered 500 gold each and managed to persuade Oldenhaller to give them 100 gold up front, however they were also told they would have to remain at his house as he wasn't going to give away money to a bunch of strangers and let them wander off. As they wanted to pick up some clean clothes, it was agreed the group would return in an hour and receive their advance then.

When they got back, they were led down to the kitchen and fed well and remained in the mansion until it was time for them to go to work.

To be continued.

Guided by one of Oldenhellar's servants led the party through the city deeps, over the bridge through the centre and into the less desirable parts of the region. Shadows lengthened as the night fell, covering the streets in a cloak of darkness.

He took them down an abandoned alleyway, and pulled open a worm eaten hatch, with stone steps leading down into the stygian under city. "Continue along this passageway", he hissed. "You'll come to a door, beyond it is The Asylum."

He gave them a password to get through the first door and then disappeared into the night.

Colesta and Zolis debated which one of them should provide some magical illumination as they set off for their next adventure, eventually reaching the aforementioned door. A sign on it read "Obey the laws of Asylum. Knock and wait."

Val felt a little suspicious and searched the area, discovering that right in front of the door was a pit trap.

Right under her feet as it happened.

She guessed that the trap was in some way connected to the door handle, so the party decided to try knocking on the door. After about twenty minutes they felt a bit awkward about still waiting for an answer and decided to try the handle.

It was a round knob, with two ways to turn it. With a fifty fifty chance of getting it right Val found herself plunging down 12 feet into a hole as the trap opened beneath her.

Quite why she didn't try using her trap disarming skills I do not know.

After rescuing her from the pit the group eventually managed to get the door open and entered the den of thieves.

I am not laughing though. Once in a game where me, Garry and a guy called Pete were playing we spent an entire session just trying to cross over a pit in a corridor. It all went badly wrong.

Anyway, the first room they entered was a scene of destruction. A smashed table and several broken chairs lay strewn around, not to mention many blood stains. Their were no signs of any combatents though. From a slot in one wall protruded an iron lever which Val worked out disarmed the pit trap outside. The room itself was of a rough construction. Stone walls hacked out of the living earth with no finesse or polish. The only light the group could see was their own. One door led southwards out of the room and with weapons drawn the party ventured further inside.

To be continued.

Following the southward corridor the next room they found themselves in was even more a scene of destruction than the previous one. Half a dozen bodies lay dead on the floor from stab or crossbow bolt wounds. Two of the bodies bore a fig leaf pendant, much like the image on the scrap of paper taken from the thief. The other four bodies each had a card laid on top of them bearing the words 'Congratulations, you have just met the Valantina Anti-Personnel Crew'. The thought that there might have been a falling out amongst thieves began to occur to the group. This room was quite considerably larger than the previous one.

Oddly enough no one searched the bodies or room for valuables. True, there were none of find as the survivors had taken everything of value, but still it is unusual behaviour for adventurers not to look around. A door was set in the southern wall, while another exit in the west wall was covered by a hanging curtain. Checking the southern path first off all. It took them via a short corridor to a room with a richly dressed corpse, missing an arm and with three weeping sores on his face.

Zolis scanned for traces of anything magical in the area but other than picking up that something powerful had been there recently he could get no more information. With no other exits from this room however the party headed back to the curtained exit. This led to another large room that held more wrecked furniture and dead bodies. Yet another archway let south to what appeared to be a storeroom and more dead bodies... and one not quite dead man who loosed off his crossbow at what he thought were his enemies coming to finish the job. Between his wounds, the bad lighting and the clutter in the room the shot went wild. The party managed to reassure him they were not in fact Valintina thugs and healed him up. They heard that the boss of the Schatzemheimers had gotten a hold of some fancy cursed item and the Valantina's fearing it had attacked, wiping out the Schatzenheimers.

To be continued.

Ok, so I have lost count of the number of times I have written out the rest of the adventure and then something goes wrong and I've loast everything I've done.

So here is a shortened summary cos I am f**ked off writting all this over and over again.

Party finds Valantina's gang and uses password to infiltrate through their territory. The boss of the Valantina's has been assassinated and they follow a trail of blood into a secret passage where they battle a horde of rats, and although badly wounded manage to break through the rat invasion and flee into some old mines.

There, they discover the body of the assassin along with the Valantina's bosses head and the artifact they were trying to find.

It turns out to be a mask made from a gold like material. Zolis tries to destroy it, but succeeds only in destroying the box they were given to put it in. He then tries putting the mask on and it falls off him telling him he is not powerful enough to wear it.

And that is where the session ended.

The campaign should be kicking off again on Sunday. After the party finishes off the current adventure it takes them onto a new chapter where horror steps much more to the fore for a bit. Darkness is rising and hero will fall, but which one?

This all comes from an adventure I've wanted to run for several years since I read it in a magazine, although I have expanded it a bit and I am very much looking forward to it.

Part Eighteen Of The Ballad Of The Band Of The Icky Hand.

The night started with the party standing beside a mine cart, with a dead body in it and a horde of rats advancing on them. They decided to dump the body out of the cart, climb in and head off down the rails. It started off down the rails, gathering speed as the tunnel sloped downwards. The rails led around a corner and into a large cavern. The party had no time to take in the view though as a set if buffers were rapidly coming up. Some leapt clear, others braced themselves but other than a few minor brusies they escaped unharmed.

Picking themselves up the party noticed to the north there was a bunch of men hiding behind an improvised barricade, while to the south a couple of figures in robes stood guard over a narrow exit. Colesta identified the symbols the men had on their robes as belonging to Talona, the goddess of poison and disease. They figured the men to the north were a safer bet to talk to. Although the nervous looking men refused to let them in the barricade, but a deal was struck that they would help the party fight their way through the attackers.

Although the party had to attack first.

Dammas immediently charged off towards the cultists (Garry couldn't make the game and my rule is, if I play your character then I treat you as if your intellect score is 5). He came under fire from a couple of heavy crossbows, taking some damage, but his rapier slashed through the throat of the first man leaving a mirthless red smile just below his mouth and he fell dead to the ground. Return fire from the party took out the second guard, but the rest of their allies had been alerted by the sounds of combat. Three more cultists came running up. Dammas was the only person who could fight them up close and personal. As he downed one of his opponents he yelled back to the group "Dur... I fink we are in trubble!"

Colesta came running over to see what was wrong. She could see an albino figure standing in the distance. Before him stood an odd looking creature. Around six feet tall, it stood like a man but no man had talons on his hands like this... thing, nor a mouth full of jagged teeth that took up half its head. Colesta's years of religious instructions kicked in and she immediently identified the creature as a demon. In the scale of such creatures it was no more than a foot soldier specialised in assassination in the armies of the Abyssal planes, but it would be a challange for the entire party to take out. The albino figure ordered the demon (a Babeu) to kill the party and made to run away.

As they looked on the creature simply vanished from sight, reappearing behind Zolis with the intent of taking him out before he could use his magic against it. Colesta feeling that summoning such creatures was an affront to the gods immediently set off in pursuit of the fleeing mage. The rest of the party finished off the rest of the cultists and turned their attention to the demon. Dammas, his rapier flashing in the firelight managed to get nearly ripped in twain when he was caught by both its powerful claws. Staggering under its assault, he managed to stay on his feet barely, but he was hurting badly and not likely to survive much more of the monsters attention.

Val and Zolis did there best, but found their attacks were simply shrugged off by the creature with no effect. Dammas sank his blade into the thick neck of the monster, gagging on the smell of decay eminating from it, but the wound simply healed up as soon as he withdrew his blade. Then he noticed something else. His previously shining blade was now pitted and corroded. Some foul substance coating the beast was destroying his rapier! He pulled out his dagger, hoping to send the creature back to the Abyss before it destroyed his weapons. A second blow from his rapier proved that this would be easier said than done as the blade snapped leaving him with a useless hilt. He had more luck with his dagger managing to score a telling blow somewhere more vital, but the dagger two begain to suffer from whatever noxious substance covered this demon. Val drew her magical rapier and tried attacking from behind but she could not land a blow on it. Soon Dammas's other weapon was ruined, leaving him weaponless. Not thinking to grab something from a defeated opponent he shouted "This creature is beyond our blades, we must flee!" and ran down the narrow passage to where Colesta having caught the albino was battling with spells and weapons against each other. Behind them was the sea and a couple of rowboats.

Back at the Babeu, Zolis summoned Burning Hands. The creature was wreathed in fire and a mocking voice like needles in his brain sounded in his head "Fire? I was born in this!" The gangsters finally came out from behind the barricades and joined in the battle, unleashing a hail of deadly heavy crossbow bolts which would have been death to any normal creature. The bolts simply bounced off the creature, or the injuries instantly healed up. Val was getting worried by the constant stream of "Oh crap!"'s coming from Zolis and decided to follow Dammas's example making a run for the sea. Using her acrobatic skills she dodged out of the way of the swinging claws, leaving the gangsters and the demon to settle things together.

Still battling the albino, Colesta was close to being sick at his appearance. All manner of insects crawlled over him, seemingly welcome to find homes on his body. He summoned the power of chaos at his command, sending a bubble of pure chaos up around him which should have tore Colesta to pieces, but she managed to resist somehow and although weakened was far from dead. Screaming with rage the albino swung his staff at her, hitting her a solid blow across her head. Colesta shook the stars swimming across her vision and swung her mace, breaking some of the albinos ribs. Dammas started pushing one of the boats into the water screaming at everyone to run. Val ran over and tried to stab the albino, but missed and instead gave Colesta a nasty gash. Her second blow was more accurately aimed though and together Val, Colesta and Zolis managed to beat him down leaving him dead and bleeding on the shingle. As the demon finished tearing appart the crossbowmen the party escaped in the row boat, and made their way back to the city.

Of course they left a whole bunch of magic items behind, but what are you going to do?

So I've managed to get plenty of stuff, leading into a published adventure I've wanted to run for a long time and another visit into horror terrortory  :twirl: for the party. I've also came up with a reasonable way to get them magic items. Some of these items are tailored towards the group, some not so much. I added a bunch of randomly generated magic items for the group too that are useful... for varying interpratations of useful anyway.

Mind you the party did row off, leaving an artifact level item behind in the last adventure so who knows what they will do with this stuff.

Part Nineteen Of The Ballad Of The Band Of The Icky Hand.

So we left our erstwhile heroes rowing a boat out of what was basically a giant sewer pipe and back into the dockyard of Hlammach. Climbing onto one of the jetties and heading into the city, they attracted many a curious glance at their burned and bloodied appearance. They returned to their roach motel to collect Aileen and Sillas. Bran was however missing.

It was decided to relocate to a somewhat more upmarket inn and discuss their options. The sun was rising and the party still hadn't decided wither or not to deliver their cargo to the councillor. Finding a slightly more upmarket place to crash they slept all through the rest of the day and long into the night. The following morning found them heading out into the street, a well dressed rider on horseback came up to them demanding to know if they were the companions of Cadmus. Explaining to them that they were, but Cadmus was now dead he told them that they'd have to do and dumped two large saddle bags on the ground, handed over a letter and rode off claiming his job was done and he was glad to be rid of it.

Zolis read the letter while Val snuck a peak in one of the bags. It was from Aleric (the cleric back in Teziir who was living beneath the temple of Lathander). It said he was worried he had sent them on this mission underprepared and had made them a collection of magic items to assist them. Figuring they should investigate this further in private the group retired to a secluded area of the inn they had just left.

One slight problem was that Aleric had sent gifts for everyone who had been in the party when he had met them.

For Zolis there was a wand of magic missiles and a ring of protection. Val got a light crossbow that could overcome damage resistance in good creatures, a cloak and boots of elvenkind, and a suit of leather shadow armour and Sillas got a magical longsword, shield and suit of plate armour.

A greatsword and a suit of armour were included for the long absent Zagan, while for Cadmus there was a heavy mace that would cause additional lightning damage to anyone hit by it, a ring of evasion (allowing the wearer to dodge things like fireballs) and a wand of cure light wounds. Colesta could make use of her predecessor gear, but no one could get much use out of the stuff for Zagan. It also turned out the bags the items came in were magical (bags of holding).

It was eventually decided to flee the city (although it was suggested handing their cash advance back to the councillor) and the group left the inn. Outside was sitting Bran on a magnificent black coach, only marred by having had some coats of arms ripped off the doors. Smiling and cradling his Boomstick, Bran told them to get in as it might be a good idea to be somewhere not here quickly. The subject of where to go next was raised and the possibility of heading back to Teziir.

At which point the more long term members of the party started staring into their drinks and blushing. The matter of the 20,000 gold piece bounty on their heads was mentioned. The party admitted to theft, prison escapes and explained that the murder parts were a misunderstanding. They were all confused by the slave trading accusation and neglected to mention the whole "Poorly tipping whores" part.

The group got a couple of streets away when they realised Aileen wasn't in the coach with them. Bran was told to turn around and head back to the inn, much to his incredulity. The party left a message for Aileen should she return with the barmaid and then fled the city.

The group headed into the countryside, examining the coach while Bran drove at breakneck speed all through the day and night. He sped straight past a coaching inn which surprised those inside. They tried yelling at Bran to stop, but he evidently couldn't hear them over the noise of the coach. Val ended up climbing out the window and onto the front seat. Bran appeared to have falled asleep while driving, however when she lightly tapped him on the shoulder his body tipped over to the side and fell off the coach before being ran over by the back wheels. Struggling with the reins, Bran managed to bring the coach to a halt. Zolis got out the coach, saw the body behind them and ran over to see if he was still alive. He was unmoving and not breathing, his legs were twisted around 360 degrees and his body only held in one piece by the skin, his bones having been crushed.

Nevertheless, Zolis tried pouring a healing potion down his throat.

Yeah, maybe a Raise Dead spell might have been a better idea. The fluid spilled out of his mouth. Colesta confirmed he was dead using her medical skills and had been for several hours. Lacking any digging tools the group found stones to make a grave for the old man. Afterwards they headed back to the inn they'd passed but it was locked up and secured for the night so everyone returned to the carriage for the night.

To be continued...

Bran was a character designed only to have a quick cameo. I had decided it was time for him to reach his original fate, and have a heart attack while driving the wagon at high speed. However, I also thought he was a fun character and when he ended up having an argument with Zolis, I decided to keep him around a little bit longer. However, on a whim I decided it was now time for the Grim Reaper to catch up with him. Aileen's disappearance... well that is something different entirely and is going to come back to haunt the players in the future in a way that is guaranteed to bring paranoia and madness amongst any party members, but that is for the future. If you want a clue about this then all I will say is through a mirror darkly.

Having forgotten about his curse from the faries from waaaay back, Zolis prepared to make camp in the forest for the night, blissfully oblivious of the bird poop running down the back of his robe.

Just wait until he goes to have breakfast...

The group despite having only the most rudimentary animal management skills managed to get the steeds harnessed up. On the second try they even got the mounts facing the right way. On the second attempt.

It was midday before everything was organised enough for them to head off again. The group came up with a plan to get to the next port, take a ship to a port near Teziir and then find a way to sneak into the city to get back to Aleric.

This would have derailed everything I had written out for the party based on what they'd said they wanted to do previously, so I decided to bring the next encounter forward a bit, and if the players went with that then all was fine, and if not... well I'd just have to write a load of new stuff).

After some travelling the coach was pulled to a halt. Up ahead they could see a Dwarf merchant caravan under attack from a bunch of men in black armour, their shields bearing the crest of Bane and the Zhentarim (Bane is the god of Tyranny and the Zhentarim are an organisation that follow him. They are seeking to control trade throughout northern Faerun. The group has tangled with them before when they liberated a nameless township from the control of Zhentish mercs) They leapt out of their carriage and ran to assist. The Dwarfs would have easily won the day if it had not been for the presence of a spell caster whose fireballs were taking a heavy toll on the defenders. The group decided to aid the Dwarfs, most of whom were wearing a uniform of heavy banded mail armour, but were led by an individual wearing what looked like plate armour but carved from stone. He was duelling a man wielding a pair of unusual looking daggers, almost L shaped with the sharp edge of the blade on the inside of the curve. A strange black fire burned along his blade and he was able to unearingly strike at weak points in the heavily armoured Dwarf leaving him nearly dead, but the defenders mighty war axe wrought a bloody harvest and left him dead and in multiple pieces. Zolis attempted to engage the rival wizard, but found he had cast some spell around him that blocked his spells. However seeing his bodyguard fall the mage decided discression was the better part of valour and casting a spell decided to fly away.

This meant he had to move outside of his protective zone and with a grin Zolis sent a lightning bolt straight to the flying wizard, frying him. The man fell to the ground a crispy corpse. Seeing both their leader and second in command dead the remaining men fled to the forests. A hail of crossbow bolts from the Dwarves felled a few more of them but others managed to escape. Many of the defenders were heavily wounded and they decided not to pursue them.

Colesta set to helping heal the most badly wounded, while the Dwarf in stone armour came over in introduced himself as Thorin. He thanked the group for their assistance and warned them that the Zhents would not take kindly to one of their platoons being destroyed and would no doubt seek revenge. Having lost many of his guards, he offered the group a share of the caravans profits in return for them joining them and helping ensure the merchants arrived safely.

The group were offered a 3% share in the caravan as payment, and attempted to negotiate with the lead merchant, a fat Dwarf called Bombur and after some intense haggling ended up signing on with a 3% share in the caravan each.

At this point the group realised the Dwarfs were all named after the ones from The Hobbit and got a random bonus of 371 xps.
Both sides took to looting the dead bodies, Thorin making sure he got the items from the sergeant (who was a member of a prestige class called a Black Flame Zealot), in order to sell his magic items to provide compensation for the families of the dead guards. Zolis headed straight for the deceased wizard leaving him pretty much a naked body lying on the ground. The weapons and armour were looted from the dead Zhentarim, while the Dwarves took care of their dead and the caravan headed onwards.

The group spent the next four days travelling with the caravan peacefully enough, Zolis and Colesta busing themselves identifying all the magic items they had collected, when during a stop for food they came under a sudden attack. Only Val was watching out and saw an orange fireball hurtling towards them. Before she could cry out a warning it had landed in the middle of them. A Zhentarim Sky mage mounted on an evil looking Manticore was flying high above and firing down on them. The party and Dwarves returned fire effectively enough to drive him off, but they knew now that the Zhents were out for their blood!

As the Manticore bore its wounded rider off, we drew a close to the nights adventures.

Part 19 all finished and updated.

Part Twenty Of The Ballad Of The Band Of The Hand.

So as the manticore bore its wounded or dead rider off beyond the treetops, beyond the range of the deadly crossbows. Everyone would keep a sharper eye skywards from now on. Injuries were tended to and the group continued on its path through the forest westward for a couple of days, eventually turning north towards the Earthfast Mountains ignoring the ports to the south. As the party had no wish to travel by ship any time soon this was something of a relief to them.

Colesta and Zolis compared their spell books with each other as well as the one Zolis had taken off the wizard they'd killed when first encountering the Dwarfs. Colesta's mastery of both divine and arcane magic was now approaching a new height of mastery and she had learned how to balance such powers equally. Although she couldn't match Zolis's pure arcane might, she would be a lot more versatile.

To be continued.

The caravan travelled through the high mountain pass. The air chilled considerably as they climbed higher and higher despite it being high summer the group were soon regretting not bringing warmer clothes. Four more days of cold travelling saw them through the pass though and heading down onto the plain known simply as 'The Vast'. Running along the foot of the mountains ran the Fire River and the best place to cross it was a outpost, a small city called Dragon Falls. As they entered Thorin warned the group that this would be the last time they'd see any civilisation for some weeks and they should enjoy it. The caravan wouldn't be leaving until late the next afternoon to allow everyone to rest after the fights they'd had on the way here.

As per usual the party looked for a mid range inn to spend the night in. Entering a dark and smokey building, they for a few seconds attracted the attention of all those inside. Everyone seemed to be drinking some viscous black liquid from small glasses. Val went up to get some ales for the group only to be told in a thick accent that the inn served only some drink called 'Coal Tar'. She paid for some rooms, food and drinks and returned to the others.

To be continued.

Zolis being the resident semi alcoholic for the group decided to try the tiniest sip of the Coal Tar. It tasted surprisingly sweet andf light with perhaps a hint of aniseed, but when he swallowed he discovered it was incredibly potent and burned like he'd swallowed a fireball. Coughing and spluttering, he attracted much laughter and cheering from the crowd.

Hesitantly the others tried their drinks, but had no problem swallowing theres. Determined not to be outdone by the rest of the group Zolis then decided to down the remainder of his drink in one fell swoop. He would not wake up again until the next day.

The rest of the gang spent the night in discussion and relaxation before heading to their rooms. In the morning the group split up going shopping. Zolis had decided he needed to go buy a pair of daggers and the rest bought supplies for the trip. Late that afternoon they met up with the caravan and continued the journey northwards out of the city.

A week was spent travelling north across The Vast before re-entering the Earthspur Mountains. Several times the party spotted cities on the horizon, but the Dwarves warned them those cities were not to be entered lightly and were governed by corrupt powers. The caravan again climbed up into the moutains although not as high as before. Once through the mountains they turned westwards through the forests that marked the eastern end of Cormanthor. The caravan wound a narrow trail between the woods and the Flooded Forest until the reached a wide river where a primitive ferry provided transport over the river. It was however only large enough for a single caravan to be transported over at a time.

Part way through the crossing a bunch of creatures, strange humanoids, but with scales and gills attacked the ferry. While the party and dwarfs engaged them, another two fish men emerged and started cutting the rope that was used to pull the ferry over the river. If they managed to slice through the rope the ferry would be swept away and lost.

A combination of missile and magical firepower drove the strange creatures off, dead or fleeing the battle.

The rest of the of crossing went off without further incident and they headed further into the abandoned Elven kingdom of Cormanthor.

The Tale Of The Band Of The Icky Hand, Part 21.

The caravan under the able leadership of Thorin quickly recovered from the attack and continued winding its way south east. They had left the regular road behind and were now travelling over bumpy and uneven ground. Even the expensive suspension on the groups coach provided very little relief from the bumps and jolts. Thorin informed them that they'd be stopping overnight in a nearby hamlet, but they'd have to set a good pace to get there before nightfall. As the light began to fail they were approaching a pleasent enough looking village nestled in the trees. Other than half a dozen children playing a game in the shadows between two buildings the place seemed empty. They stopped outside the inn, wondering at the unusual stillness. Zolis and Colesta walked over to the children. They stopped playing an chanted a rhyme.


The children stared at the pair and with a shock Colesta saw that they had jet black eyes. No iris, nor white. Feeling somewhat creeped out by this Thorin decided to move on rather than camp here after all. The group hung back with both Zolis and Colesta casting Detect Magic. They could tell some sort of magical aura was there but not of any kind of magic they were familiar with. Colesta tried to dispel it, but the children merely ran out with a sinister laugh and disappeared behind a house.

The Dwarves had left the village and the party had to ride quickly to catch up with them. They did not travel too far, a few miles out of the village before they had to stop and make camp. Thorin however could see a campfire on a nearby hillside. With everything that had happened recently Thorin 'voluntold' the party to go investigate. A cold rain had started to drizzle down, and no one had eaten for hours. Nevertheless, they obediently set off through the dark woods. Initially the group thought to travel without light, but the forest was thick and the roots twisted. If they were to make any progress at all without collecting many bruises they would need some source of light. Regretfully Val took out the Gem of Brightness to illuminate their way.

After close on two hours of threading their way through the damp woods they were close to the camp fire. Faintly they could hear talking although not enough to make out what was being said, nor what language they were speaking. Val it was agreed would sneak ahead while the others waited for her. She crept quietly forward until she could hear better. Although Val spoke fluent elvish and could identify some of the words, the dialect was strange and not all the words were familiar to her. She decided to creep forward, but having left the gem behind could not see and tripped on something unseen. She fell to the group with a whoosh as the air was forced from her lungs. From ahead she heard questioning voices shout and quickly tried to hoot like an owl. However still trying to get air back into her lungs she noise she made was more akin to a coughing giraffe than an owl. A pair of shoes appeared in her vision and looking up she could see what looked like an elf, with dark skin and white, almost silvery hair. In heavily accented common she offered to help Val up and invited her to warm herself by their fire.

To be continued...

Val somewhat shamefacedly stood up and accepted the invite, calling to the others to join them. She was introduced to the group. There were three of the dark skinned elves, one female and two males and they appeared to be cooking some large forest creature they'd caught. The group were invited to partake of the meal. Given they'd went over eight hours at this point without food, it was a welcome offer. When the female offered them a drink from a bottle this was also gratefully accepted. All the group took a swig from the bottle, although none of the elves took a drink from it.

Colesta collapsed to the ground, her stomach in agony. Zolis and Val leapt to their feet demanding to know what they had given them. The dark elves merely laughed evily. The female cast a spell on herself, while the two males drew their weapons (one was an archer, the other carried a scimitar). Zolis called on the arcane might at his command and called a magical fire down on the woman, incinerating her despite her wards and protections. The swordsman hacked at Zolis trying to end him before he could repeat this feat while seeing their leader so easily killed, the archer called down a magical darkness (an innate ability of the Drow, or Dark Elf's). Colesta was prepared for this and dispelled the darkness, leaving two very surprised Drow blinking in the (comparative) light. The scimitar welding Elf cut Zolis badly across the chest, but in return came under a magical attack from Colesta. A second globe of darkness was called down and although Zolis tried to dispel it, his counterspell simply wasn't powerful enough. Stumbling around a little Colesta and Val managed to bump into each other, but found their way out of the darkness together. Zolis also managed to stumble out of it, but on the opposite side of the dark. He asked his pet raven (bet you had forgotten about the raven) to track down the fleeing Drow, but it was more interested in the possibility of feeding on some eyeballs.

The party debated on how long the darkness would last and the possibility of waiting for it to disappear so they could loot the dead Elf's body, but in the end they were not sure how long it would last (20 minutes. Me, I'd have went back in and searched through the darkness for the body, she had some neat magical items on her) and decided to return to the caravan. Colesta had been seriously damaged by the poison and had to be helped all the way back. In the morning she would be able to pray for spells that would repair the damage but for now she was badly weakened.

The Dwarfs were somewhat incredulous when the party told them the tale. They found it hard to believe anyone would be foolish enough to accept the hospitality of the Drow and that the party were lucky to have only been poisoned. Fearing more Drow may be in the woods the guard force was doubled for the night.

The next day was quiet, although on guard that night Zolis could hear the sounds of merrymaking coming from the nearby woods. He decided not to investigate (which all things considered is a good thing, however he did miss out what I thought was a nice little section where he could p**s off the King of the Fae. He will make a cameo appearance later, but it won't have quite the same effect as it would have had otherwise).

To be continued...

Although I am working a short published adventure into the campaign, the encounters the party has been undergoing are mostly my own design to give it all a bigger build up.

The caravan continued, with Colesta recovering from the effects of the Drow poison assisted by her divine spell casting ability. The Dwarves had been muttering amongst each other quite a lot. Eventually Val decided to talk to Thorin and find out what was happening. He told them that with everything that had been happening the decision had been made to take to the ancient Underhighway, a network of tunnels that in ancient times linked the Dwarf kingdoms, but had fallen in many places to fell creatures. However, given the strange things they'd seen recently and the fact that at least one Zhentarim Skymage was hunting them that it may be the safer option. It took another few days travelling to get to the closest enterance to the Underhighway. A massive carved tunnel perhaps 80 feet wide. Light disappeared as the caravans entered the tunnel. The party had to supply their own light sources since the Dwarves could quite happily see in the dark. These tunnels were no ordinary underground caves, instead they were hand carved with perfection by thousands of years of Dwarves. Thorin explained that this particular branch had been used to trade with Cormanthor in ages past.

A couple of days passed travelling undergound, or at least what the group figured was a few days. Then on the third or fourth day, the caravan was called to a halt as suddenly a great chanting noise came from up ahead. The wagons were drawn into a laager and weapons were prepared as whatever was making all the noise deep underground got closer and closer to the travellers.

To be continued...

A hastily prepared fire illuminated the circle made by the wagons, but cast precious little light beyond that. Before the humans could see anything the Dwarves were firing at targets in the darkness, grimly reloading their crossbows and firing as quickly as they could. Then all too soon the party got to see exactly what they were facing.

A sea of Goblins had come pouring down the corridor towards them. For Val and Zolis this brought back painful memories of the defence of the temple of Lathander, but they were much more powerful than they had been back then... It seemed many lifetimes ago even though it was just a few short months (the party had been adventuring for approximately 4 months now).

The Dwarfs and the group tore into the Green tide, reaping a bloody harvest through the small but vicious creatures. Thorin stood like an unyielding oak in a storm beating them back. His armour was all but impenetrable to their weapons, but in return his axe was splitting Goblins in twain with every stroke. Then a creature, much larger than the Goblins strode forth, crushing some of its smaller companions beneath its feet. It was an ugly looking beast, green skinning with a long, narrow nose that hung below its chin. Even stooped over at it was the creature was at least ten feet tall. It charged with a loping gait into the fight, a buffet from one hand almost knocking one of the caravans on its side.

Much to my chagrin, no one in the party called out "They have a cave troll!" The geek is weak with my gamers. So far the only reference they have gotten was the Dwarf names being from The Hobbit.

Colesta summoned a glowing magical representation of her Goddess's favoured weapon (she thought this was a mace, but is actually a shuriken) and sent this to attack the massive creature. The glowing disc buried itself deep in the Troll's shoulder, but its unnatural healing ability started repairing the wound almost immediently. Lightning poured from Zolis's fingers, which was added to by Colesta sending a burst of flame towards the creature. It charged deep into the Dwarvish ranks, enraged by the pain, grabbed poor Balin in its claws, lifted him high in the air and ripped his body in two, sending a bloody shower raining over everyone. The Dwarves stood shocked by the sudden demise of their companion, but the party managed to bring the creature crashing down to the ground. Panic already glittering in the black eyes of the Goblins (again something unusual, the Goblins the party encountered previously all had red eyes), the loss of their champion sent them into a full rout. The Dwarves gave chase, hacking more of the scummy creatures. The ground reverberated with the fall of the Troll, but it didn't seem to stop. The party barely had time to wonder what was happening before another monstrosity burst forth in a pile of rubble from the ground. Not as tall as the Troll, but much, much wider the newcomer resembled some strange and unholy cross between a beetle and a man. It stared inscrutably at Zolis, and he found himself unable to break its strange compelling gaze. Rational thought fled from his mind and he started to drool and gibber.

No difference there then.

Val fired her crossbow at the giant insect (actually a creature called an Umber Hulk) to no effect. Colesta was wishing she had picked a different set of spells for the day, but sent some Magic Missiles and Scorching Rays to damage the behemoth. Seeing the wagons under attack, Thorin came screaming back. His great axe rose high into the air and hacked into the thigh of the Umber Hulk and kept going until one of its thick back legs was completely severed. With an insectile screech it fell to the ground, thick black ichor running from the gaping wound. A second blow split its head ending the threat from the beast. The Goblins had long fled and the survivors were left to survey the damage.

Thus ended the nights session.

A little bit behind the curtain on this whole fight. The waves of Goblins were designed to be disposable and get the party to use their area of effect weapons to eliminate large numbers of them. Then the Troll would come along, take their big gun spells that remained then leave them facing the Umber Hulk as a pretty damn difficult fight for them, although one they should still win. Unfortunately, Thorin scored a critical hit, which with his particular weapon meant it suffered triple damage and pretty much one shotted it. This was a little disappointing but stuff like this happens. I have in my own time as a player upset more than one DM by taking out what he had planned on being a recurring big bad guy on the first encounter and you have to learn to adapt and improvise on these occasions.

The Ballad Of The Band Of The Icky Hand. Part The Twenty Second.[/u]

The group stood victorious but in shock at the death of Balin. The Dwarves tended to their fallen comrade, putting his body back together as best they could, wrapping the pieces in a blanket to keep him together. Temporary repairs were made to the wagons were required. Zolis, unnoticed by the rest of the group wandered into the tunnel the Umber Hulk had dug and explored it for 10 minutes or so before returning to the group.

Just as well really. Another five minutes of walking and he’d have wandered into an entire nest of hostile Umber Hulks. This would not have gone well for him.

 In silence the caravan proceeded onwards. They spent another two days travelling underground with very few words spoken the whole time, although Thorin did ask Colesta if she could do anything to preserve the corpse. Nodding, she explained that she could cast a spell on the body that would help although it would have to be recast every few days. Eventually the group could see a pinprick of daylight in the distance as the floor began to slope upwards. This gradually got larger as they closed in on the exit. The first breath of fresh air on the wind was very welcome when everyone emerged blinking into the daylight.

Kili told the others they were close to the border with Sembia. Asking how far they still had to go, Val was informed that they still had to travel the length of Sembia to the border with Cormyr to reach their final destination. A large stone bridge, guarded by men in the colours of Sembia stood watch over their northern border. The Dwarves were clearly happy to be out of Elvish lands, even if it was only into human ones instead. Bombor sorted out their crossing with the guards, paying whatever fees were required and they travelled onwards the heartlands of Sembia. The nation of Sembia as a whole is regarded with a degree of suspicion by its neighbours. It is not an overly evil or expansionist country, however they are viewed as being a nation with a love of wealth and one to carefully read the small print on any business dealings with. A common saying is to count your fingers after shaking hands with a Sembian.

Late in the afternoon they reached a remote trading post. A small wooden fort with a 20-foot-high watchtower and inside an inn and a small general store. Another caravan with mules loaded up with silks was already there. Val headed into the inn, while Zolis, Thorin and Colesta strode into the store. It was not well equipped for adventurers having a small collection of weapons but did buy and sell furs, supply provisions and whatnot. Colesta was able to buy a pouch of spell components, but Zolis was unable to replenish his dwindling supply of spell components as they only had the one pouch (and the price was about 50% higher than they would have been charged elsewhere, although Colesta did manage to bargain him down a little). Thorin spoke to the store man (SIlil) to pay the fees for staying the night while the others went to join Val in the inn.

Meanwhile Val was trying to rent rooms for the group in the inn only to be told there was no such service. The fort provided some security from roving wild beasts and bandits but its facilities were basic and they were expected to spend the night camping in its courtyard. Val was finding talking with the barman (Kiri) frustrating as pretty much all he could offer was a small choice of alcohol. Being Sembians, they were expecting bribes before being more forthcoming. Many of the guards from the other caravan were in the crude inn drinking and thinking that she could start gambling. She went to the store, picked up a deck of cards and returned to the inn. However, having no skill at gambling, Val was forced to cheat when she persuaded a bunch of men to play cards for (comparatively) high stakes (10 silver pieces each, a lot of money for a caravan guard). The guards were seasoned card players, although only casual ones and while she lost some hands she did manage to clear them out of their hard-earned pay. Eventually the men quit playing and headed to bed. The night seemed to be winding down and everyone decided to rest up for tomorrow, especially when Thorin came in and mentioned that when he had told the store man about the eventful journey they had went through, he had been told he could only rest here for the night and would have to be moving on in the morning.

Zolis and Colesta headed straight for bed and their much needed eight hours of sleep (required if you want to be able to learn spells), while Val sat up for a while musing over her wins. So, engrossed in thinking about this was she that she failed to spot or hear the stealthy movements of others around her. Slowly the “guards” from the other caravan were infiltrating the Dwarven campsite, short swords at the ready. It came as something of a shock to her when she heard a shout of pain and turned around to see that somehow a man had snuck up behind her, ready to strike her dead but had somehow managed to slip and stab himself quite deeply. She yelled a cry of alarm waking up everyone. Well not quite everyone. Zolis evidently had a flashback to his days of sleeping through every fight and decided not to wake up for this one.

One of the bandits had snuck up beside him and with the sharp edge of his cruel blade, slit the wizards throat from ear to ear. He gurgled, choking on his own blood and unable to breath. Horrified, Val could only watch as the life fled from his body. She also noticed that the black mask he had worn for months reappeared and fell onto the ground. The Dwarves were enraged at being awoken by such treachery and soon hacked the bandits down. Silil and Kiri came running out to see what the noise was. Shocked that their establishment would be attacked Silil demanded the Dwarfs leave as soon as it was light. Clearly, they were jinxed and brought bad luck with them. Thorin was more preoccupied with the injuries taken by the group and gave his condolences to Val on the loss of her friends. Slightly perplexed she said, “But only Zolis is dead, what do you mean friends?” He directed her around the corner of one of the carriages where Dammas lay, murdered in the same manner as Zolis.

No one else had spotted the mask lying beside Zolis. Val and Colesta split his gear and that of Dammas between them and then prepared their bodies in the same manner as Balin. Colesta would be casting Gentle Repose a lot on this journey.

When light finally came the caravan moved on with all the enthusiasm of a funeral cortege which increasingly this journey seemed to be resembling. They had also incidently decided to take the mule train the dead bandits had came in with, the Dwarves agreeing to split the proceeds from its sale 50/50 with the group. The mules appeared to by carrying various materials for clothing, expensive looking silks from far off lands.

Since I had Tina and Anders staying for a week we (me and Anders) had some chats about his replacement character. We got down to he would like to play Zolis.

Now, being a high magic world he could actually be brought back from the dead. There are various ways this can actually be done, some more expensive than others. And some work differently from others. The cheapest option would bring him back in a different body. And well, a different species. There is a table you roll on randomly on for what he comes back as. Oh and I so want them to use this spell. The next option... well Zolis comes back to life but has lost some of his powers. If the party really wants to splash out the cash though they can have him back as he was before. I may have to make surte they lose their money beforehand then lol. I so want Zolis to come back as a Kobold. Or a Hobgoblin. Or a Bugbear... oh the possibilities, mwah hah hah hah!

Although just because the party gets a ressurection (or reincarnation) spell cast does not automatically mean that the god/goddess the person follows will allow them to be brought back. If the persons deity wants to keep that person... well that is just tough (the DM is allowed to say the spell doesn't work).

The Ballad Of The Band Of The Hand Part Twenty Three.

The somber wagon train continued on its way from the trading compound with an increasing supply of dead bodies. Well they had two bodies. Dammas was stripped of his equipment then left naked and dead on the ground, forgotten about in the chaos.

Almost a week of travelling brought the group deeper into Sembia and within sight of the capital city, Ordulin. Unlike most cities in Faerun, Ordulin is laid out to a plan with the capitol building in the centre and the streets spreading out from it like rays of sunlight. The city is much newer than the others having been constructed to claim the area from the dales.

The Dwarves told the party they'd be staying in the local branch of The Rumpled Bedsheets while the party decided to head somewhere more upmarket. They found a rather exclusive inn and raised some eyebrows when they entered. Asking for a room in the outfits they were wearing automatically let to the price being multiplied several times upwards, but the group members wanted a bath and didn't pause to think about the cost.

Seeking to have Zolis brought back to life Val headed off to the temple district. Past experience pulled her footsteps past most of the houses of the holy until she found herself at the temple of Lathander. She entered inside without being recognised by the clerics. Unfortunately she was recognised by a paladin. Indeed the very man who had been sent to hunt her down. Surely it was the providence of Lathander that had led him to this place. He watched as Val spoke to a junior priest and was then led to the First Dawnbringers office.

Val asked the Dawnbringer about having a companion brought back from the dead. Being a Sembian the Dawnbringer did his best to sell the most expensive spell available to her, not mentioning the cheaper options until it was made clear that she did not have the money to pay for the deluxe options. Eventually the Dawnbringer suggested that if his services were out of the price range of Val then perhaps she should enquire of the druids for a less expensive option.

On leaving the Dawnbringers office Val was stopped by an armoured figure. He asked if she was Valerie, the companion of Cadmus. Caught off guard she replied "Yes, uhm maybe. Depends who is asking."
He got the story of Cadmus's demise out of her, but he found the story a little... well unlikly. She also confessed to stealing gold from a dead man. Somewhat taken aback he demanded to hear the story from someone who had seen Cadmus's death and he swore he would make it his personal mission to ensure Val remained on the path of goodness by keeping an eye on her to make sure she would not have the chance to steal anyones money.

Val took the stranger outside to meet Sillas, the only survivor who actually saw Cadmus die. He explained in his yokel accent about the escape under the city and the giant albino crocodile they had encountered, perhaps including various details that the rest of the party might have rather he had left out.

Still somewhat incredulous of the story he was being told, the paladin resolved to keep this group of miscreants under a close watch.

Especially Val, who after all was the only survivor of the group named on the wanted poster.

The rest of the day was spent in debate on how to proceed. It was however decided that as the spells that the party could almost afford to have cast had a time limit on them, and the party would only have a day or two at most to sort one of them out that they would ask Thorin if they could spend another day in the city before proceeding (This is a request that will have major repercussions as the party may find out later. They however are sadly unaware that they are being tracked) . The night was spent in the inn, a comfortable blessing compared to the sleeping outside they had subjected to.

The next day everyone met up for breakfast. A variety of fruits, nuts and breads were available. Much to her delight some of the breads were baked with a chocolate centre. But for her new… companion’s intervention she would have taken every single piece of it away with her. He limited her to a reasonable amount, then left the inn before her. With a skip of delight, Val retrieved her bag of holding and filled it with all the bread she could.

This would be the same bag that contains the masks the party has so far collected. The fragments of a long-destroyed god. Remember this. It becomes important later.

Val decided to meet up alone with Thorin, which pretty much was the party saying to the Dwarves you are not leaving right now. Since the caravan was ahead of schedule Thorin agreed on the condition the party paid for the lodgings and entertainment for everyone. Val agreed and with a whoop of delight the Dwarves headed off to the nearest taverns and whore houses.

As Thorin left, Val handed him her bag of holding and told him to help himself to the bread within.

Remember just what is in that bag. Val just gave it to a Dwarf and said she’d pay for him to get very drunk and sent him running off into an unfamiliar city.

Yeah like that isn’t going to bite the group in the ass later.

Well not much.

Val then returned to the temple of Lathandar with the paladin, who finally introduced himself as Sier Nigel of Hawthorne, apologising for not doing this earlier. He was hoping to persuade the temple to give them the required resurrection a little cheaper. The Dawnbringer did agree to perform this at cost (although being Sembian it clearly pained him to do so). He would require however 10,000 gold pieces worth of diamonds as a reagent to cast the spell. The gems would be consumed as part of casting the spell and lost. Val then spent most of the rest of the day desperately trying to track down Thorin in order to buy some gems off him. Colesta meanwhile was speaking to the priestess in the temple to Chantea, a nature goddess. She could restore life to Zolis for a mere 1,000 gold but she could not promise what body he would come back in.

Nigel persuaded Val and Colesta that they should actually contact Zolis’s spirit and ask him if he wished to be returned to life. This was well within the cleric of the goddess of magic’s powers. They unwrapped his body from its funeral shroud, invoked the power of her goddess. With his throat deeply cut, he replied in a ragged, gargling voice that he wanted to return to the land of the living. Or did he? Maybe. Well yes. Probably.

Val then spent many hours in an almost entirely fruitless hunt for Thorin to try and buy diamonds off him. The gods of fate were not being kind (i.e. the dice) and she couldn’t find anything. Out of desperation, Colesta went looking for a gem trader. She found one easily who could supply the required gems, but couldn’t find Val to get the money to pay for them. If she had, had enough money on her she’d have paid for the budget resurrection herself.

In fairness, the visit to the city was supposed to be about 10 minutes. It got extended a little when the party said they wanted to visit a temple of Lathander and I decided this was a perfect chance to introduce the new member of the party since he was a paladin of that god. Seems to be a lot of coincidences with Lathander in this campaign. I’d like to say I had a hand in them, but it owes everything to serendipity instead.

In an attempt to get things moving I mentioned it was close to shop closing time and the party were running out of time to get the diamonds. Val persisted in trying to track down Thorin (a useless endeavour as he has signed a contract only to sell his goods to Irilian and he is a stickler for rules), but I fudged the dice rolls a bit to allow her to bump into Bombur instead. She found out from him that the caravan had no diamonds on board. The shops had now closed and as it was getting dark the temple to Lathander would be closing soon too. The party either had to get the diamonds from the merchant via theft, or visit the temple of Chantea. If they arrived after midnight however it would be too late to return Zolis’s soul to his body. Although Val really wanted the more expensive spell to bring back Zolis she eventually had to settle for a Reincarnation.

The dice were rolled for what body Zolis would return in.

The old druidess hurried the group in and had the body prepared, applying sacred unguents to him, drawing ancient mystical symbols all the while chanting in a language that was ancient when the world was young. A sparkling green mist covered the body of Zolis and his form inside it seemed to warp and change.

And although the party know what form he has returned in, in order to create some suspense I am going to wait until next week to tell you exactly what that form is.

Still wondering what to do about the party being stupid enough to give the Dwarves the bag of holding with the masks they have found so far. If I do what my gut tells me to do, then it has major implications for the campaign and yet just having them handed the bag back seems... wrong.

Kind of one of those situations where I know exactly what I am going to do, I am just still debating with myself for some reason on it.

So, the scoreboard for the party runs something like this...

Reoccuring villians killed too early: 1.
Party members killed (PCs): 2.
Party members killed (NPCs): 2.
Party members ressurected: 1.
Party members vanished: 1.
Current bounty level on the party: 4500 gold.
Major enemies: Teziir, The Court Of The Night King, The Dark Reflection, The Dark.
Masks the party have collected: 2.
Masks the party have lost: 2.

Scoresheet updated for tonights game.

The Ballad Of The Band Of The Hand, Being Part Twenty Four.

Zolis's eyes opened and he sat up, bolt upright. "What the... Where am.... What is happening."

The rest of the party breathed a sigh of relief that the spell had worked and brought Zolis up to date on what had been happening while he was... resting. They then started making plans, until with a cough the druidess informed them that she wished to get to bed and would the party kindly leave the temple. Zolis was however totally naked and his new body would not fit into his old clothes.

Oh yes, his new body. Zolis was now somewhat taller and muscular than he had been before. He also had tusks and green skin, but no hair as was common for a half orc. When he spoke his voice was much deeper than it had been before. Colesta removed her cloak and told him to wrap it around himself to make a makeshift loin cloth.

They went to return to their inn, but bearing in mind the late hour the inn had shut it doors and was locked up tight. Various options were discussed but in the end the group decided to sleep in the coach. Val quickly offered to stand first watch and as soon as Nigel had closed his eyes, silently slipped off to find a tailors shop. Breaking into the first one she found it specialised in ball gowns for high born ladies. Although tempted at the thought of stealing one and makign Zolis wear it, she with a regretful sigh decided against it. The next shop proved slightly more useful, at least catering for high born men. Grabbing a random selection of clothes she slipped back out into the night, leaving what she guessed the clothes were worth sitting on the shop counter. Going outside and returning to the coach she found she had a pair of bright yellow silk pantaloons, a frilled shirt with puffed and slashed sleeves, with a black waist coat. Finally for some accessories he would be sporting a top hat and monacle.

Oh, if only I was a talented artist and could draw what a half orc in that get up would look like.

In the morning the party awoke as well rested as they possibly could be and rejoined the somewhat hungover looking Dwarves. Thorin greeting them, and told them he had good news for them. He'd heard they needed money from Bombur and had been offered 2,000 gold for the bag with the bread in it she'd given to Thorin. He'd sold it on their behalf and presented them with the money.

Given the other items that had been in the bag, this caused some consternation in the group. Val protested to Thorin who shrugged his sholders and said "Well lass, you gave a bag to a bunch of Dwarves and told them to go and get very drunk. What did you think might happen?"

Besides as Thorin pointed out. The man who bought the bag said he was a friend of the group and he'd be seeing them again soon. Said his name was Kano.

Much blame was then cast in Val's direction as she was (eventually) forced to admit they'd lost the black mask. Zolis was distraught when he heard this and wanted it back. He tried using the compass to see what direction the mask lay in and it pointed steadily southwards. There was also some consternation that someone the group had long thought dead was apparently not as deceased as had been originally though. The group wanted to search for the mask, but the Dwarves were not willing to wait any longer. They had already spent an extra day and wanted to complete their mission and be on the way home.

To be continued.

The caravan exited the city heading southwards, along the road known as the way of the manticore that would take them to Irilian. Over a couple of weeks of travelling they passed through Salgaunt and Daerlun. When the road split, Zolis wanted to continue south to recover his mask (evidently he had forgotten the compass is only good for rough directions as it can only be used once a week. Had the group parted company with the Dwarves at this point they'd have been on a wild goose chase), but the Dwarves refused to make such a detour and pointed out that down that road lay the city of Saerloon which of all the cities of Sembia was the worst.

Once the caravan had left Daerlun it left the great trading road and took a much rougher and less well maintained road to the north, leading them towards the Thunder Peaks and the turgid place known only and simply as The Vast Swamp.

The group spoke to the Dwarves looking for more information on their destination. Much of what they learned they had already been told. Nigel was advised to cover his sigil to Lathander on his shield but haughtily refused saying he would never be ashamed of his God. Thorin merely replied that hit was his funeral, or more likely bonfire when he was burned for blasphemy.

With the last day of the journey approaching the Dwarves were increasingly excited and eager to get on with the journey and be on the way home. Everything that could go wrong it seemed however did go wrong. Wheels broke, draft animals needed reshod, a giant fallen tree blocked the road... It seemed as if nature itself conspired against them. They stopped to clear the road, but a horde of orcs came pouring out of the woods at either side of the road!

To be continued...

As the raving horde charged the caravan, Nigel heroically leapt out of the lead carriage and found himself toe to toe with the biggest Orc he had ever seen, and one who carried a maaaahooooooosssssivvvve two handed axe. The Orc raised it for an overhead swing, and brought it down with incredible force onto Nigel's chest, sinking deep into the breast cavity until the head protruded cleanly through his back.

(Yup, a character just died in his first combat, and not only that but on the first attack of that. The Orc rolled a 20 to cause a critical hit and then rolled maximum damage which was tripled for this particular weapon. This was enough to kill one and half Nigel's and still have a little damage left over. However, being the DM I decided to fudge things a tiny little bit. While 90% of the time I'll let the dice lie where they fall, sometimes in the interest of keeping the game fun I will mix things up a little. I also didn't do the usual fining someone a level for being brought back from the dead).

As Nigel's body fell to the ground, he felt his spirit departing this plane of sadness and sorrow. He felt rather irritated at the Orc for putting a couple of big holes in his shiny armour, he'd spent hours polishing that, and now it was air conditioned and splattered with his own blood. As his spirit drifted towards the heavenly planes that were the ideal paradise according to each deities desires, he heard Lathander's voice fill his head "Not yet my son. I have important work still for you on the plane of the living."

Nigel's floating spirit was dragged downwards, once more filling his body, unhurt and uninjured. With a smile, Nigel realised Lathander had kindly also repaired the big damn hole in his breastplate too. Taken by surprise the Orc barbarian was too slow to dodge Nigel's retaliatory strike, which although painful was not enough to down the beastial creature.

Although the initial surprise attacks had done little damage, the sheer numbers of Orcs was beating back the Dwarves who were taking small but regular amounts of damage and although none had fallen yet it looked like just a matter of time. The Dwarves were reaping a bloody harvest, and the green skinned hordes started to waver, but did not yet break. It was however the Orcs turn to be surprised however as a bunch of fantastically armoured Elf like creatures mounted on horseback, rode into the melee and started cutting down the Orcs. After a couple of passes by the cavalry and their champion being downed by a lightning bolt from Zolos the Orcs frenzy was broken and they fled only to be cut down by the vengeful Dwarves.

I like Nigel.

Uhm, you may wish the skip the next part of the adventure when I get around to writing it...

It's just that I admire the moxie of anyone who knows how to properly use "mostly dead" in a fantasy setting.

The elf like creatures seemed somewhat ethereal and otherworldly. Each of them wore a helmet shaped like an animal, stags seemed to be a popular theme. Their leader dismounted and removed her helmet, revealing a stunningly beautiful woman beneath. She approached Nigel and gave him a warning that dark powers were seeking to prevent them reaching Irilian and handed him a silver scroll tube instructing him to deliver it to Teral Guthdohtor at the Abbie in Irilian. Without another word she nimbly jumped back on her horse and their saviours rode off.

Minor nuisances continued to plague the travellers however delaying their arrival at Irilian until the light was starting to fail. Up ahead they could see the city gates were locked up tight. As they were contemplating spending a night in the shadow of the city walls cries of alarm went up from the rear caravan. Looking behind them the group could see what could only be described as a wall of inky darkness behind them and getting closer. Just ahead of the darkness lumbered a small horde of the undead. The drivers urged their draught animals to make their best speed, but where to go to? A path led off to the right towards an eight foot high wall with some heavy iron gates. Nigel however despite being wounded and the party being low on spells decided that since his god hates undead it was his holy duty to exterminate the creatures. As he ran back towards the undead (and the weird black mist), a heavily robed figure pulled the gates open and beckoned to them to come to him. As he opened the gates a strong wind picked up, whipping his cowl and robe around. Colesta joined Nigel and called on the power of her Goddess. She managed to send some of the zombies running and they disappeared back inside the mist.

The party was slowly forming the opinion that the mist would be a bad thing to touch.

Zolis and Val also decided (eventually) to ride down and make a stand against the darkness (oooh, that sounds proper dramatic that does), but were overcame by terror and their mounts decided to head to the only sanctuary available as the darkness started to close around them. When the increasing wind knocked the cowl of the stranger down, revealing a fleshless looking deathshead they may have had second thoughts.

The creatures that had resisted Colesta's attempts to turn them reached the stalwart paladin and he found himself fighting five of them at once. They were rotting and eyeless. Thick green slimy worms crawled over their bodies, chewing on the dead flesh which seemed to repair itself. Nigel slashed at one of them. His sword sunk into it, but the hole closed up completely when he removed his blade.

At this point he saw he may have a problem. The unarmed creatures grabbed at him, scattering their unholy parasites over him. The worms immediately begin slithering into the joins in his armour and burrowing deep in to his skin. Already near death, Nigel decided that while his god might want him to face undead and destroy them, he would also be quite understanding of the occasional need for a tactical withdrawl. This left only Colesta standing her ground and she decided that perhaps discretion might be the better part of valour. With the undead pursuing them every step of the way everyone now broke and fled to the gates. As soon as he was inside Nigel lashed out at the undead clawing to get through the wrought iron gates. However, the worms were burrowing deep inside him, making their way to his brain. Wracked by agony, Nigel was overcome by his tiny opponents and fall, blood pouring from every orifice as they chewed him up from the inside. His last words, ever recorded for posterity. were "Oh bugger, I forgot I could have drank one of my healing potions!"

The first words Nigel heard as his eyes opened once more in the gardens of Lathander were "Oh not you again!"

And with that we ended the session for the night.

Hmm, so one character dies twice in one session. This is a tad unusual. Ok, the first time was a tad unlucky. The second, well the party knew they were badly injured and low on spells, although they had healing potions available so hey, I did warn my players than sometimes you may come up against a foe that is a lot more powerful than you and you may not be able to take in direct combat.

I am not giving Nigel a second divine intervention (as a follower of Lathander he believes he has to exterminate undead at any cost (and he does have a bit of a point here), however I doubt if his god wants his followers to effectively commit suicide doing so), so if he wants to play the same character still then the group will have to go get him brought back just as they did with Zolis, and indeed Zolis is very keen to see how someone else likes being brought back in a new body.

Also the zombies with the green worms (a type of creature known as a son of, or spawn of Kyuss, although I have not came across who Kyuss actually is in D&D), were actually underpowered to face the party and should have been a walk over. The party should be able to take several 7th level challenge rating encounters and these creatures were only challenge rating 5. Taking them on badly wounded was a mistake especially as was mentioned before when they had plenty of healing pots available.

Oh well, I shall message Ross and see if he wants Nigel back or if he'd like a new character. I hope he doesn't go through characters like p**s poor Pete. Hmm, now there is a story for my tavern tales thread...

So today on the train I came up with a new creature for the party to face.

They are going to come up against a swarm of bees. Now the best way to deal with a swarm is to use an area of effect spell, but when the casters go to try a spell they'll find they can't pronounce the words properly to cast them.

I am going to call these insects...

Spelling Bee's.

[/b]


Zolis seeing Nigel fall called on the most powerful arcane ability he had at his command and sent a bolt of lightning thundering towards the undead monstrosities outside the iron gates. The creature took (almost) the full force of the blast, blowing a smoking hole through its chest. Unfortunately, the closed gate between Zolis and his target was ripped off its hinges by the force of the lightning bolt leaving a gap the undead could pour through.

As he no longer had a defence between him and the terrifying undead, Zolis was once more overcome by fear, feeling a warm dribble of pee running down the inside of his leg he once more collapsed into a catatonic gibbering ball. Val however managed to shake off the worst of the effects (although she was still shaken up by them). The stranger with the deaths head stood to one side of the breach, while Val took the other side and bravely they battled these unholy entities and their parasitic, slimy green worms. The stranger found himself several times being covered in the creatures, who burrowed into his exposed flesh, causing him a great deal of pain, but bravely he battled on against the tide of undead, similarly Val found herself under assault from them. Luckily for her only a single thick green beast managed to grip onto her with its teeth but it too, quickly dug into her side and began to work its way up her body.

Colesta used a mixture of offensive and healing spells to support the front rank, but the wave of blasphemous undead seemed not to be weakening and she was running out of spells. Zolis and the Dwarves were all useless, overcame by their fear. The worms however had dug their way to their target and started eating away at the brain of the stranger. He tried to fight on as he was wracked in agony, barely able to keep standing never mind fight off his attackers. For a few seconds the party thought they were saved when Nigel twitching, rose to his feet, but with a soulless moan he threw himself against Val, attempting to spread the curse that had raised him now as one of the damned.

To be continued...

Reeling from the renewed attack of the minions of The Dark, the survivors slowly began to give ground. The stranger swung a heavy mace that sparked and crackled with holy light every time he smote one of the foul creatures, but many of their wounds healed up before their eyes. Every time a creature fell a ragged cheer went up from the defenders, but they too were taking heavy wounds. Val felt the disgusting thing burrow over her ribs, up the inside of her neck and into her head, seeking the tasty grey matter under the skull.

Going to go hungry in this group then.

Eventually though, the last of the monsters fell to the ground. By this time however the black mist that was creeping up was only a few feet from the walls of the cemetery. His words slurred and blood haemorrhaging from his eyes, the stranger told the group to run to the temple at the back of the graveyard. Dragging Nigel’s dead (again again) body with them, they ran to whatever sanctuary it could offer them.

Now the threat was gone the Dwarves recovered somewhat from their fears and apologised profusely for being overcome with terror. The stranger was still clearly in much pain as was Val, both of them looking increasingly dazed and confused. The stranger was trying to battle through the pain to cast some sort of spell, but was having some trouble. In desperation Colesta pinned Val to the floor and with a dagger carried out and emergency trepanning (that was one miraculously high Heal skill check), grabbing the creature feasting on Val’s brain and ripped the creature out poor Val’s head, then used a healing spell to repair the damage. Colesta looked out of a temple window to check what was happening outside and saw The Dark reach the walls, and started to rise up, but it seemed unable to cross the barrier. It rose higher and higher with insubstantial tendrils probing unable to penetrate the sanctified grounds of the graveyard. Eventually it was able to start creeping over the sky covering over the cemetery like some gigantic black bowl, but still seemed unable to reach the ground. No one on the ground wanted to see what would happen if they touched it. The death’s headed stranger finally managed to cast his spell, which seemed to cleanse him of his parasites. His eyes still seemed somewhat glazed and confused though and he was dribbling somewhat through his rather skeletal lips.

Colesta expended the last of her magical energy healing the group as best she could. Their mysterious saviour collapsed in a heap and could not be roused, although he continued to breath shallowly. Outside the temple they could hear the pack animals cries of fear, but as with the humans and dwarves none of them dared leave the hallowed grounds and face the unknown outside.

Cowering in fear of the darkness outside, the group spend the night huddled in the temple, many unable to sleep with the tenebrous presence lurking outside.

Despite their fears nothing else happened during the night and the darkness faded with the rising of the sun. The Dwarves were understandably keen to get inside the city and be on their way back home. The party were keen to get in the city and get paid. While Bombur dealt with the taxes on the trade caravan a couple of guards tried to shake down the party for an extra payment but they refused to pay, thus marking them as trouble-makers in the eyes of the city guards. Not even inside the city walls yet and they are already making enemies.

Once inside Val decided to go with the Dwarves while they sold their cargo (and the cloth they took from the bandits back at the trading post), while Colesta went with Sillas to see Teral Guthdohtor at the Abbie of the goddess Forgivness. Judging from the sick and lame clamouring around the temple, she appeared to be some sort of healing goddess. Colesta entered and with some asking was eventually introduced to Teral. She was an elderly woman, but vigorous despite her age. Colesta handed her the silvered tube and Teral broke open the seal, extracting a pure white silk like material the size of a handkerchief with two words embroidered on it.

‘Deoc Rys”.

To be continued...

After Teral read the piece of cloth she recited a song in a very soft voice.


If Colesta had heard this song before she gave no sign of recognition (So my attempt at foreshadowing has completely fallen flat). After saying this, Teral suddenly stood up very straight, announced that she had to go pray and asked one of the sisters to look after Colesta and Sillas.

Meanwhile Bombur and Val returned to the Abbeie and were shown to where Sillas and Colesta waited. The Dwarf counted out the parties share of the expiditions profits, which amounted to a healthy 3,500 gold each.

Val had also received a bag of monies for the sale of the cloths the Dwarves had sold on the parties behalf. She took this half in gold and half in gems, but tucked it away and apparently completely accidently (of course), forgot to mention this to the rest of the party.

I am considering telling her, her alignment has shifted from Neutral Good to Neutral due to her habit of stealing from both innocent and dead folks. If she does without money from the rest of the party (by not mentioning it in the next adventure), then it will happen.

After a few hours the old woman returned and told Bombur to return to his Dwarven halls and tell his clan to prepare for war.

With a bow to Teral, the fat Dwarf bade farewell to the party. He told them they'd be leaving first thing in the morning and if the party wished to accompany them, they'd be made more than welcome but if they weren't there it wasn't a problem. Oaths of friendship were sworn between the two groups and they parted ways. Teral then spoke to the group privately. She was afraid some ancient evil, one that she did not fully comprehend was rising. She was convinced that in some way the key to defeating it lay in the city, but what it was, or where it could be found she knew not. She begged the party to be her hands, investigate for her as she was too old for this kind of adventure and in any case could not leave the Abbeie. Teral bade them to tell no one of their mission and if they should be hurt they would receive healing, even be ressurected (although church funds were limited so try not to die too much). She also suggested they start by chatting to Timis the seer, and gave the group his home address as well as a scroll bearing her seal charging anyone to lend such assistance to the group as they required. How much use this would be however would depend on how faithful the reader was. Colesta said, well actually we do have a friend who died attempting to reach the city, and could Teral see her way clear to bringing him back to life. She asked them to bring her the body and prepared the ritual. Nigel was no doubt glad to escape the (well deserved) berating he was receiving from his god. You'd think he'd have been happier with that level of one on one connection with his god. His spirit reentered his body with a feeling much like a huge bout of pins and needles. After filling him on what had happened since he died (missing out the part where he joined the undead and Colesta brained him with her mace) they were ready to continue.

Traveling through the city to the address they were given they could not help but notice this was very much a city of fallen grandour. The buildings were old and although well designed perhaps a centuary or more ago, were in dire need of repair. Zolis (and remember he is now in a half orc's body)wanted to go into an inn that had three severed Orc's heads, preserved in tar hanging outside it. Obviously it was advertising that his kind were welcome as long as their were no more than three of them, but the rest of the group persuaded him, that perhaps they should go elsewhere and stick to their mission.

Timis's house proved to be a crumbling ruin of a place in one of the areas that was on the edge of being a slum. No one seemed to be home, but a passer by told the group they'd be better off trying 'The Grifoun', a nearby inn that the old man was fond of frequenting. Again they were given directions and after a few minutes they found the tavern. A narrow wooden staircase let upwards to the bar area from the outside of the building. Inside was busy, but not overly so. Most notably a bunch of half orcs were gambling in the middle of the room. Asking at the bar for Timis, the barman pointed to an apparantly empty table in a corner of the room. but on closer inspection a foot could be seen protruding from underneath the table. Collecting their drinks the group investigated a little further and found an elderly man, lying in a pool of (presumably) his own vomit, his clothes covered in wine stains. He was passed out and it took much collective shaking from the group to rouse him. When he started to come around Colesta told him they'd been sent by Teral and needed his help. Drunkenly he told them they could have it, but only if they protected him if he was attacked. He would provide no details on what might attack him, and when asked how long they would have to protect him for he slurred the words "As long as I am being attacked."

Sighing they reluctantly agreed and started heading out the inn. Timis managed to stagger straight into the group of half orc's gambling in the room, knocking their drinks over. Their leader stood up and knocked the old man senseless with a single punch as the party prepared for a fight.

And with that the session ended for the night.

How long has this group been playing together?

Just over a year, although Tina and Anders are a married couple from Denmark we've known for about 8 years.

  



Seeing Timis going flying from the half orc's punch and his body coming to rest under a nearby table, Colesta dived under the table to check the old man hadn't been killed. Val meanwhile grabbed her rapier and gave the half orc a few brutal cuts. Seeing that someone had drawn weapons, the rest of the half orc's leaped to their feet pulling out their long swords. The other tavern patrons screamed and ran out, while the bouncers pulled grabbed some clubs and headed over to wade into the fracas.

Under the table Colesta was getting something of a surprise as the old man seemed to be growing larger, and hairier. Nigel dropped a half orc with a single swipe from his sword.

Really guys? After the bother you had in Teziir, you are going to bring weapons to a tavern brawl? Them's not kosherised rules there. And the holy warrior, sworn to protect life has just committed murder which I am not even sure he could justify as self defence, even if he was a citizen of the city and thus protected by those parts of the law, but since he isn't a citizen he is only subject to the punishment parts of it, so well done there Val and Nigel.

Seeing their fellow fall, the half orc's lashed out with their blades injuring some of the party. Zolis seemed a bit confused by what was going on but decided to cast Mage Armour on himself anyway. The fight was however interupted by the table Colesta was beneath, being thrown half way across the tavern by some sort of cross between a man and a wolf. It howled its defiance. Everyone stepped back from their opponents, shocked at this latest turn of events, but Nigel recovered quickest. Ignoring the stunned half orc's he ran across the room, raised his sword to swing it at the werewolf, only as he did so to realise the werewolf was wearing the tattered remnant's of the wine stained robe he had seen Timis wearing just a few minutes earlier.

His charge faltered and came to a halt with an "Oh bugger!"

The last few patrons who had stayed to watch the fight were now running outside, people were screaming for the watch.

And unknown to the party Teral had assigned two of her paladins to keep an eye on the party, see if they needed any help and stop them getting into trouble. These paladins however are the sort of ones who will burn witches at the stake, torture people to get them to confess and so on. Rather fanatical, but the best fighting force the city has available. Seeing some sort of trouble at the inn, the pair of them (Serial and Ankos), grabbed their weapons and started running for the inn.

It had all the markings of everything about to go terribly wrong.

Deciding killing their single lead might not be the best thing to do, Nigel grabbed the drunken werewolf and dragged him towards a side door. Zolis went for a sit down, totally bamboozled by current events. There were only seconds between Nigel managing to get Timir out the door and the paladins charging in the room. Seeing only Zolis in the now empty tavern they made to head to him. This pierced the clouded fogs of Zolis's judgement and he decided he should follow the rest of the group. Since they paladins were dressed in full plate armour the party was easily able to escape them in the narrow and dark streets of the city. The group wanted to head back to the Abbeie (an astoundingly bad idea all things considered), but Timis demanded to be taken back to his home and protected. Eventually the party had to give into the elderly drunks demands.

To be continued.

Timis demanded a fee of 500 gold (half his normal fee, he was not ungrateful for the assistance the party had given him). Val was somewhat reluctant to part with any gold but was overriden by the rest of the party, especially when he told them either they paid him or he was off back down the pub.

After he was finally paid the old man bade the group wait in his house for him while he went to his library to consult his books. It took him a couple of hours of research, but finally he returned not long before midnight. He had found out some information that may be of use to the party but not a great deal. He explained that The Dark was some sort of manifestation of every evil thing in the world. Normally it was unable to affect the outside world, but once every so often it would rise and be able to act as a controller. The more evil a creature is, the easier it is for The Dark to control them. One could only destroy it completely by destroying every evil thing in the world, but it could be put back down, although how this could be achieved Timis had not been able to find out. Val asked if there was anyone else who could possibly give them more information and they were directed to an Astronomer, Toth-Agoth. She might be able to give them more information.

After some debate on wither they should go find a place to sleep for the night was eventually settled by Colesta pointing out that if the group wanted to speak to an astronomer then night time was the best time to speak to her.

The party left Timis's crumbling accomodation and hurried through the dark streets to the address they had been given by the drunken sage. Toth's house was much more impressive than Timis's. Three stories high with a circular tower on one corner. Nigel knocked on the door which was answered by a middle aged woman, built like an elf. The group explained that Timis had sent them and were invited them in. The situation was once again explained, a fee agreed and they went upstairs with the woman to the top of her tower. Starting in the east she scanned the sky, working her way across. As she reached the west, the woman suddenly arched, her mouth open in a silent scream and she fell to the ground, blood running from her eyes, ears and mouth. Nigel checked on her but she was stone cold dead.

To be continued.

Deciding that taking the body of Toth back to the Abbeie was now their best option the party quickly left her house carrying the Astronomers limp body.

The gates to the Abbeie were closed by the time the party got there (sometime around one in the morning). The group could see a bunch of dogs, which looked like golden retrievers running around playing in the courtyard. One, a tiny little puppy barely weaned off his mothers milk ran up to the gates and barked excitedly at Zolis, who completely ignored it. Nigel however knelt down and scratched behind the dogs ears reaching through the bars. Val rang the bell outside the Abbeie, and a young sister soon arrived. After being shown the scroll Teral had given them the group she ushered them inside and fetched the head of the Abbeie. The old woman was surprised to see them returning with another corpse and having already resurrected one person that day was unable to carry out the deed a second time. She could however cast a spell that would allow them to communicate with the dead woman's spirit. Putting their heads together the group discussed what questions they should ask her. First off, Nigel wanted to know if she wanted to be brought back to life. Secondly the group wanted to know what had killed her. The answer to the first question was yes, and the second she told them as she probed the western night she felt some malign intelligence that allowed her to probe it, then overwhelmed her. She picked up many thoughts from it but the only one made any sense to her, an address within the city itself. She gave the group the address and then her soul returned to the embrace of her god.

All this time Nigel was being followed by an excited little puppy.

By this time it was after four in the morning. Teral offered to let the group sleep in some spare cell's used for novices. They gratefully accepted even these Spartan accomodations and everyone except Val decided to go to bed. After being shown to her room Val decided to slip outside and go investigate the location they'd been given.


At this point I was thinking "Oh bugger, I hope she has a back up character ready to roll."


The house was in a slum area of the city (which isn't saying much since most of the city is a slum). The doors and windows were bricked or boarded up, as were those of the two neighbouring houses. After a quick search she couldn't find a way in however and retired back to the Abbeie.


I was quite relieved at this because if she had entered the house I am pretty sure she would not have survived. If she'd rolled one higher on her search test she'd have found the way in.

Ok, well she'd have survived for a while. But she wouldn't have enjoyed it. Or, well maybe she would. Val seems a bit adventurous where that kind of thing is concerned.


Barely had Val returned to her rest and got into bed when the bell rang summoning everyone to breakfast. Nigel found something blocking his door slightly when he went to leave his room. A hard shove was greeted with a piteous yelping as the puppy that had been sleeping outside his door all night was rudely awoken. Nigel called the pup over to give it a cuddle and it came running across the floor to him, leapt up and vanished. This was no small surprise to Nigel who spun around to see the puppy excitedly wagging its tail behind him. He carefully reached down to pat the dog and check it was real and solid. Perhaps deciding the dog must have ran between his legs instead of jumping up at him, he picked the puppy up and went down for breakfast.


I wonder what the chances are of anyone in the party figuring out exactly what Nigel has picked up? It was originally designed to be a pet for Zolis, one that would perhaps prevent him getting into so much trouble.

You've heard of a seeing eye dog for the blind? Well this is sort of a thinking brain dog.


They were served a thin gruel, but nutritious and most importantly it was free. After having this (and despite several of the group carrying unhealed injuries), the group then set off to investigate the address Toth had given them. Some in the group thought it was a little unusual how Val could lead them unerringly through the city streets to exactly the place they needed.

To be continued.

Nigel was of course followed by a small animal. He didn't want to take the animal with him on the basis they could be going into danger, but it appeared to be very attached to him now and he gave into the sad puppy dog eyes staring at him.

The group looked somewhat stumped at the bricked up front door of the house for a few minutes before going to check for a back door. There was a rear doorway, and unlike the front door it was only boarded over rather than bricked up. After attempting to pry off a few of the boards they discovered the boards swung sideways revealing a very new looking lock which Val quickly picked and then slipped inside the darkened building, lighting up her magical gem as she did.

And on looking inside, Val immediately had a flashback. She was back in a tunnel beneath a city, surrounded by thousands of tiny, red eyes as a horde of rats chased her and her friends.

There weren't quite as many rats this time but they were much larger (about the size of a medium dog). Oh and a glowing human skull was swooping over the rats seemingly driving them forward.


Unknown to the party, opening up the door had rang a bell alerting whatever was inside to the presence of intruders and while the group fought the rats, they would be preparing an ambush.


Val stumbled backwards, allowing the other party members to push their way past her and into the house. Zolis unleashed a new spell he'd been dying to try out, his most powerful one he had available and sent the arcane power of a Phantasmal Killer against the flying skull.

Yeah, that did nothing. Being undead it was immune to such parlour tricks. Zolis's face fell in disappointment. However the Scorching Rays he sent out next would fry many of the creatures, while Colesta dropped a Sonic Bomb that left the majority of the rats badly wounded and stunned (not to mention causing some pain to the rest of the party caught in the blast. Val took care of the skull with a well aimed shot from her crossbow. It was quite a surprise to her when a single shot dropped it.

Without the fearful aura emitted by the skull driving them onwards the remaining rats broke and fled, down their burrows and through small holes in the wall. The party stood victorious but they had unleashed a surprising amount of firepower to take care of the rodents. Never the less, they determined to push on. The floor was covered in rubble, but Colesta's Sonic Bomb had blasted much of it to one side revealing a trap door, while further exploration of the house did reveal a badly broken staircase leading upwards to a nailed shut door. There were only two rooms on the group floor. The party decided to investigate the trap door first. Opening it up revealed up a pool of darkness that nothing the party tried managed to penetrate.

To be continued.

Deciding to risk pushing on into the darkness, Nigel climbed down the ladder into the stygian pit below. His new friend barked and whined about being left behind, but Val decided to bring it down with her. Nigel could hear moaning in the darkness and the shuffling of something moving but couldn't tell what was making the sound. With a flash of inspiration Colesta decided to cast Daylight which cancelled out the magical darkness they were now enshrouded in.

In front of Nigel were four well decayed looking zombies lurching towards him and behind them, a creature who looked very much like the dark skinned elf's that had tried to poison them in the woods on the way to Irilian. He was cast a spell and Nigel felt his life force being drained from him, while the scrawny creature seemed to absorb the stolen life force. Zolis was stuck up on the ground floor as Val was still standing at the ladder. Nigel saw some movement to his side. The most gorgeous woman he had ever seen was looking at him, with come to bed eyes. She walked over, kicked the ladder down and then with a flash of a cheeky smile ran from the room through a pair of double doors. Before he could do anything else however the undead were on the group. Zolis yelled for people to move so he could jump down. Hewing down the last of the undead, Nigel and Colesta ran over to the Drow who had spent the fight buffing himself up with a variety of spells designed to make him almost invulnerable to the party.

The scene was set for an epic clash between the Drow necromancer and the party.

A quick magic missile from Colesta and a mighty blow from Nigel however managed to overcome his defences and leave him dead and bleeding on the ground.

The party decided that because he was bleeding he couldn't be dead yet and decided to stab him some more. I then explained that even if his heart wasn't pumping blood out of the gashes in his body, that gravity still had a certain role to play in events of this nature and that was why blood and other vital juices were flowing from his much abused corpse.

And with that we ended the nights session.

So the party are about half way through their adventures in the city already, and to think I have been waiting for a chance to run this particular adventure for somewhere around 20 years.

In the next session the action will really start to heat up as The Dark increasingly makes its presence known. When they first encountered it, it was restricted to when and where it could operate with either being at night, or in darkness (such as the Underhighway), or the possessed villagers who were unable to leave the shadows (boy, would the group have gotten a surprise if they'd stopped the caravan and investigated any of the buildings back there), underwater (during the ambush at the river crossing the bad guys were severely weakened by exposure to sunlight, the Orc ambush they had a druid who had summon heavy cloud cover). The attack as the party was nearing the city was a last ditch attempt by The Dark to prevent the party reaching the city.

Of course, the party hasn't yet considered why this malevolent force was so hell bent on preventing them getting access to the city. Now they have, it is however moving its plans up and the party is going to be caught up in an increasingly violent tidal wave of events. If they can successfully ride that wave then the rewards are commensurate with the challenge.

I am very sure that at least one member of the group will die before this chapter is concluded and part two of The Masks campaign begins (as soon as The Dark is defeated, if indeed they defeat it).

As always, we start where we left off. The party sent Val to scout one of the two doorways on this floor to see what she could see. The first set of doors she opened revealled some sort of temple. One a large stone 'X', a cross between a man and a lizard hung. Blood dripped from numerious wounds onto the cold stone floor.

He was bleeding to death. Each turn he'd lose another point of health until he died at -10. When the party entered the room he was on -6.

Seeing the figure hanging there, Val called Colesta who called Nigel. They decided they should rescue the lizardman and did eventually go to heal him and cut him down. Alas by the time they'd finished debating how they were going to rescue the lizardman he was on -13 health and he only had time to beg the party to return him to his people for the proper funeral rites to be carried out.

It was then decided the find out where the attractive woman who had ran out the room earlier had went, so the other doors were opened. This led to a chamber decorate in  luxuriously dedicant style. Black silks hung from the walls, while the floor was draped in red satin pillows. In the centre of the room was a stone statue of a nude female figure, with her hands held above her head holding a candle (which incidently was made of human fat). The party failed to recognise who the statue was of, but that is a minor note and of no major importance to the plot. A small chest was found when they searched the room. Val disarmed a poison needle trap on it and on opening the chest found it was filled with treasure. She was then asked to check out the only other door leading from the room.

Now given the party had messed around a bit, I decided they'd given this escaping person more than enough time to prepare a trap. Nothing that was part of the plot, but I figured what the hell. Val saw a small piece of paper stuck in the door. She carefully pulled it loose. It read "I prepared explosive runes today. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." and as she finished reading it the spell went off engulfing her in a magical storm of pain that ripped a few holes in her body. She was also going to need new eyebrows.

After surviving this the door was finally opened to reveal... a latrine. It had a ladder built into the wall leading upwards and through an open trapdoor the party could see daylight. It was depated climbing down into the latrine to see if she was hiding there, but eventually Nigel decided to go up the ladder and see if they could see her. Who ever she was however, she was long gone. Val got some healing before she declared herself ready to continue.

It occured to the group that since non-humans were frowned on in this city that they should perhaps hide the body of the lizardman rather than carrying it openly, so it was wrapped up in a cloak, bundled into the coach and driven off to the abbeie. Teral was sleeping late after having being up until the small hours of the morning, but the group found one of her attendant nuns. When they explained the situation to her, she was horrified that a lizardman had gotten into the city. She told them they had a small village just over the river from the city, and they sometimes traded fish with the city, but under no account were they allowed within the city proper. Everyone decided taking the body outside the city and not being discovered with it would be a good thing.

With a few subtle hints, the party realised that with a paladin in the group evading taxes would not be possible. Val decided not to go through the city gates with a box full of gems. Instead she got out of the carriage, saw an inn across the road and decided to have a few drinks while she waited.

This was an inn they'd passed before. It has a number of severed Orc's heads hanging outside it and was called the 'Heafod Aef Orc'. It is also the centre of the cities criminal element. Val was offered a wide variety of drugs or prostitutes as soon as she entered.

It would all go badly wrong from here.

To be continued.

As Val happily imbibed an assortment of drinks, the rest of the party driven by Sillas (just to remind everyone that Sillas is actually still with the party). They rode over the bridge and could see a collection of 5 rude huts clinging to the river bank on the far side of the river. They took the carriage off road, but stopped short of the semi circle of one room huts. Several of the lizard people occupying the village ran over expecting trouble from the city dwellers. Their tails thrashed about aggressively, but their leader an older looking creature, whose scales had dulled from the bright green of his fellows to a dull black.

Nigel explained that they had found the body of a lizardman in the city. Grief stricken, the old lizard told them it was the body of his son. He had fallen in love with some human woman, a thing unheard of amongst his people. They had tried to stop him, but he'd went missing a few days ago and he had guessed his son had slipped inside the city. When Nigel asked who the girl he'd fallen for was, he was told she was a working girl at the 'Heafod Aef Orc', called Elhiri.

The group asked if they could do anything or stay for the funeral. The lizardmen were somewhat surprised by this request, but accepted saying that since the party had returned his body they were welcome to stay for the funeral feast and partake of his flesh.

Everyone decided they were vegan at that point. And that their return to the city was now overdue.

Returning within the walls the party did get some catcalls for consorting with filthy lizardmen. Luckily the very inn the group needed was right beside the northernmost gate and indeed, Val was already inside. The rest of the group followed suit, handing in their weapons as they entered.

This would later lead to a conversation about the length of a lance and wither or not it was reasonable for him to be carrying it around the city with him.

To be continued.

Being the DM, I won the argument on wither or not it was reasonable to be carrying around a 14 foot long sharp stick and indeed socially acceptable.

Nigel was slightly downhearted that he hadn't actually been carrying around a big pointy stick on his back, leading to much comedy value as he tried to get through doorways.

Nigel arranged to spend some time alone with Elhiri (who would not be willing to take on a group job, nor provide her time for free). He was told to head upstairs to a particular room and following these instructions found himself in a 10 by 10 room with a cheap double bed and a very attractive and very naked Elhiri beckoning him to join her on her bed, however his innate ability to sense evil sent alarm bells ringing in his head. He reached for his sword, only to realise he had surrendered his weapons at the door.

Thinking quickly, he summoned his celestial charger (Sir Boozey) and ordered the horse to attack the naked and unarmed woman. His hoof lashed out, catching her on the head. She dropped to the floor unconscious with a fractured skull. Meanwhile Nigel shouted for the rest of the party to join him.

Hearing the racket from downstairs, the bouncers quickly headed to the stairs, cutting off the parties access as they tried to head upstairs.

Unfortunately for the party one of the bouncers in the group just also happens to be the cities champion pit fighter.

Val tried to acrobatically leap over the bouncers, only to find these bouncers did not wait for others to draw weapons first. She was sent tumbling painfully to the ground as the dwarf knocked her out of the air with a well aimed strike from his war hammer.

Really, you'd have thought this group would have learned something about bar fights from their extensive prior experience.

Deciding taking on half a dozen men and an angry Dwarf might not be their best option while unarmed, Val, Colesta and Zolis decided to accept the rather generous offer of backing out of a fight and paying a fee of ten gold each from the bouncers before being kicked out onto the street. The bouncers then ran upstairs. Thinking quickly, Nigel decided to throw the body out the window, hoping the soft landing of a cesspit below the window would prevent too much damage. Shame he did not think to open the window first though causing her to sustain multiple lacerations.

I don't know if you've ever been defenestrated, but let me tell you it isn't like it happens in the movies.

To be continued.

The bouncer ran into the room and Nigel decided to try and bluff his way out of the situation. "What the hell is going on here? I paid for a woman, not a horse."

Unfortunately the men did not fall for his bluff, so Nigel decided to leap out the window, figuring the prostitute would give him a soft landing. He forgot about the cesspit though. He also forgot about the cute little puppy that was following him everywhere. The Dwarf appeared at the window holding it and threatened to break its neck if Nigel didn't immediately surrender. Since he could communicate mentally with his horse, Nigel ordered it to kick the Dwarf. Sir Boozey did so, causing him some injury and making him drop the puppy.

Seeing the dog falling down, Nigel jumped out of the filthy pool and made a desperate dive onto the cobblestones trying to catch the (still unnamed) pup in his hands. His fingers brushed the fur of the dog, but got no closer to catching it as he slid over the wet and slimy cobblestone.

And at this point I am going to take a break and leave you wondering what happens to the cute little puppy.

Somehow the puppy was in Nigel's hands. He was sure he had missed catching it, but none the less, there it was safe and sound.

If in need of a wash after being in close contact with Nigel, covered in the filth and ordure of ten thousand nights of debauchery. As he picked himself up he could feel the pain of Sir Boozey as the bouncers attacked the horse. Fearing the bouncers would be chasing him into the street Nigel dismissed his magic steed and then resummoned it to better flee the scene.

Paladins are supposed to be the epitomy of all things good and shiney, hence the requirement for a Lawful Good alignment. This means they must follow all laws, but are also supposed to be just and fair. Although Nigel was able to detect that Elhiri was evil, he had witnessed no evil deads, and while he suspected her involvment in whatever cult they'd unconvered he had no proof beyond some circumstantial evidence. Paladins who break the strict rules governing their behaviour can find their gods favour withdrawn from them. This can also happen to clerics, such as when Cadmus killed a bunch of innocent civilians in a tavern brawl by casting an area effect spell. With Nigel I am going to be a bit more subtle. His god (Lathander) is most certainly going to withdraw his favour... some of the time. Every time Nigel want's to use one of his paladin powers I'll have him roll a d20. If he rolls higher than his paladin level, that ability simply won't function. His god has decided not to hear his prayer on this occasion. Nigel can get his powers back. The usual way of doing this is to find a cleric of his own god and have a spell called Atonement on him. He will then have to go and perform some penance to prove his has seen the error of his ways and has truely repented. This however lies in Nigels future and it is worth noting that since Irilian does not allow faiths outside its own within the city Nigel will have to go outside it to see redemption.

I did have a chat with Ross (Nigel's player) and explain to him before he chose to play a paladin that this is how they are ran in my game. If you commit a crime there are consequences. Also as a paladin sworn to obey the law he should turn himself into the forces of justice for punishment. If he fails to do this, then arguably he has shown that he hasn't repented of his evil action.

To be continued.

Nigel fled in roughly a south eastern direction, Colesta was trying to follow, but a large crowd of people were running in the opposite direction and she got caught up in the rush. Val watched the bouncers leave the tavern and chase after the fleeing paladin. She took the chance to slip inside the tavern and liberate Nigel's weaponary. When she left the inn, Zolis had wandered off somewhere.

The party was split up with no one knowing where anyone else was, or if they were alive.

In all of gaming, there is one rule all players are supposed to abide by.

Never split the part.

To be continued.

Zolis and Colesta followed the crowd to the central market square of the city. From a balcony on a tower of the temple an old woman was preaching to the masses. She was talking about how The Dark was coming for them all, and how she had accepted it into herself. Then she stepped off the balcony, and walked across the air above the market place. She pointed randomly to five people in the crowd and as she did, the person pointed at started to rise up into the sky level with her, before bursting into unholy black fire.

There was a one in a thousand chance of any party member present being picked out and so burnt. I told Kristi to pick a number between one and a thousand. She picked 986. I then generated a random number from the computer between 1 and 1000 and got... 985. This caused quite some laughter.

Colesta was shocked when a woman standing beside her started to scream as she rose into the air, and then was immolated in black fire. Finally the priestess announced that she would be as they, and she too started to burn with the eldritch flames. Although the six continued to scream and burn, none of them seem to be consumed by the flames and it didn't kill them, although the chosen might well have rather been killed rather than suffer an endless burning.

Val meanwhile had returned to the Abbeie figuring that sooner or later the others would make their way there too. She got wind of some excitement within its gates and people talking about something happening outside the city walls, although she was not able to find out any details of what was or had happened.

Nigel on the other hand had managed to lose his pursuers in the narrow streets on Irilian. Having being given a fractured skull, thrown through a glass window, dropped into a cess pit, and then thrown over a horse and ridden at a gallop through the city I decided she had died of her accumulated injuries. Nigel sat her corpse up against the city wall, then rode off back to the Abbeie in the hope of meeting up with the others.

A general stampede had broken out at the marketplace. Zolis and Colesta allowed themselves to be carried along with the flow of people and managed to avoid being injured, although many people were left dead and wounded on the cobblestones of the marketplace, all the while the burning bodies above continued to writhe and scream in agony. As the panicked people fled in different directions they too were able to return to the Abbeie.

Reunited (see splitting the party doesn't always lead to death and madness. Well not unless you are playing Call of Cthulhu), the party swapped stories. Val wanted to return to the marketplace and see if they could pick up any clues. As a nervous watch started to enter the area to see to the dead and injured, the party slipped across the open space and into the temple. It was filled with dead priests, whose eyes burned with the same flame as the unfortunates outside. Nigel could sense a great evil in this place, something recent. He followed the trail of the unholy and the found themselves in what seemed to be a set of private chambers. Inside his attention was drawn to a book sitting on a table. It was smaller than most and bound in lead. Just viewing the book, the group could feel the evil within trying to drain their souls from their bodies (Normally the holy aura of a paladin would have protected the group from this however, due to his recent crime his powers are weakening leaving the group much more vulnerable than they would normally be). Zolis had to be physically restrained from reading the book, and threatened with violence if he laid a hand on it. His reasoning was well, just grabbing the mask and putting it on hadn't worked out great, so the odds were that this time it would be the right thing to do.

Nigel confessed his crime to Teril, but not being of his faith she was unable to offer him attonement other than promising to inform the city guard if they all survived what was coming.


To be continued...

Deciding to move on the group headed back to the marketplace. Some members of the watch were just arriving, and wondering quite what to do. The party slipped over the square and into the squat temple building from where the drama earlier had unfolded. Entering the main hall of the temple, the party found many dead priests, their eyes burned out. Nothing else seemed to be alive inside. Nigel could sense a powerful source of evil from somewhere inside. Following the trail of evil, the group went upstairs and found themselves in what appeared to be someones private chambers. The source of the unholy aura, even the other members of the group could pick up on was a small book lying on a table. Its pages were bound between two lead plates and just looking at it the group could feel it attempting to to steal their souls.

Zolis immediately wanted to read the book. He was reminded that this approach had not worked well when it came to the Mask they'd found. His reply was that if it had went bad that time (and Zolis did not agree that it had went bad at all), then the odds said that this time it would be the right thing to do. Val attempted to cover the book with a blanket, and then put it in a box without actually touching the book. Unfortunately she dropped the book and it fell open. Nigel saw the words written on the page and couldn't help but start to read...

"The Dark-Ruled"

Just reading those three words was enough. Nigel's hand suddenly felt very warm and then burst into a black flame that began to spread up his arm. Thinking quickly Colesta drained the magic from the area, saving Nigel's life. However he had now been touched by darkness. Wither or not that will have any consequences later on remains to be seen...

Eventually they managed to get the book safely into a box. The only thing they could think to do with it however was take it back to Teral.

When the old nun was told of the book, she remembered vague fragments of legends from the title of the book (Tzuthi Ag Necrozth). Perhaps she suggested it was the book that was drawing The Dark to the city. It would take an artifact of godlike powers to destroy the book. The paladins of Lagu had in their possession such an item. A sceptre that was by Lagu to inscribe the laws of the universe at the dawn of time. The party immediently headed to the gates of the Abbeie.

To be continued...

On leaving the Abbeie however, the group found themselves surrounded by several units from the city guard. An officer said the party had been invited to speak with the counseil. Initially the party refused saying they had to go straight to the Monesterion. Then it started to dawn on the party just how many soldiers there were around them (somewhere around 80 to 100).

They were escorted to the counseil hus where some very angry council members pointed out a number of things that had happened in which the party were connected. Some of this, the party obviously knew about, other charges would come as a complete surprise.

First off the counseil had heard of the highly eventful journey the party had been on with the Dwarf's in just getting to the city. Next it was pointed out that the Dwarf's had left early that morning and the city guards on the wall had witnessed a dark cloud engulfing the caravan. The Dwarves, minus their heads were seen nailed to the sides of their caravans when the cloud lifted.

The party were also implicated in some strange goings on in a local bar The Griffoun. Members of the party had also been seen at the unnatural events that had transpired right outside this very counseilhus (the black flame burnings).

Finally, a large number of citizens had attempted to flee the city with everything that had been happening recently. Their heads were now mounted on stakes around the city.

All of this had happened since the party had arrived. I guess it was a good job the council had not yet heard of the trouble in the Heafod Aef Orc then, or the large bounty on the party. Some of the council was for the party, others against (a five / four split against them) as the party attempted to explain their actions. Their biggest defender was Tiroff, the man the Dwarves had sold their cargo to, but deliberations on what to do with the party were interupted when a mob formed and stormed the counseil hus. Many of the soldiers seeking to ingratiate themselves with the crowd, simply opened the doors to the building. Those who stayed loyal closed the doors to the chamber the council was meeting, while the councillors fled via a secret tunnel. Nigel wanted to stay and help the soldiers, but Tiroff and the party persuaded him that their mission was more important. They followed a tunnel under the street until they reached a ladder back up to street level.

Two blocks south of them they could see the Monasterion.

And there we ended the game for the night.

I think the players will finish the current part of the adventure during the next session. After this what the party decides to do has a major effect on the direction the game takes. They can gain a castle to serve as their base, but this ties them down with responsibilities too. Will the party decide to become a power in their own right, or remain wandering warriors? Potentially they could even look to take control of Irilian itself, a city that sits right between two powerful rival countries.

A powerful and dangerous position.

Gah, Tina and Anders are going to be visiting family on Sunday, so I'll need to wait an extra week to see the culmination of the adventure.

And the group now has a fifth member. I was hoping he'd go for a fighter but I gave him a free choice of whatever he wanted and he went a... well you'll just have to wait utnil next week to find that out.

The hunter had been tracking his quarry for three days now. The encampment was far outside the city, but the price on these devils heads made the journey worth it. Recently they'd been getting more and more bold, raiding the caravans travelling to the city.

They had little enough trade coming in these days. They could not be allowed to convince those traders who did make the journey that other routes would be safer.

His keen eyes could see smoke rising from just beyond the tree line. Those woods were thick once you got into them. If they didn't have any lookouts hidden in the trees watching for anyone approaching across the plain then he had a good chance of taking them by surprise. He guessed they were no more than fifteen or twenty minutes walk away. Time to get stealthy. He walked quietly to the trees his dun coloured clothing blending easily with the landscape. As silent as a drifting ghost he entered the forest, a place more home to him than the city of his birth. He could hear their voices in woods. Too arrogant to try and disguise their presence. It would be their downfall. They were close now. The thick vegetation slowed his progress, but he could hear them just through the thick foliage before him. He walked over to work his way through the plant life to see his targets.


At times like this it is vital to remember to tie your shoe laces.


The hunter made a rare misstep and sprawled flat on his face. If they had heard him, they'd be on him in seconds and his hopes of ambushing them over. It would be a hard fight without the element of surprise. Like a flash of lightning, he climbed one of the nearby trees hiding himself as best he could while standing on a high branch.

There was a rustling noise as a pair of creatures pushed their way through the woods to see what the commotion was. Ugly humanoid creatures, with coarse features. Well, he had to start somewhere. He drew back his faithful bow and fired down at the creatures, busy looking around the ground for what had disturbed them. They would never have the chance to correct their mistake as he buried an arrow in each of their heads, dropping both to the ground dead before they even knew their brutal lives were over. The hunter waited a few minutes, but no further creatures came to investigate.

Shimmying down the tree, the hunter drew his rapier to collect the heads. Decaptitation with a rapier proved to be hard work, even when his target was dead, so he picked up one of the fallen long swords to finish the job, and then slipped into the woods via the same path the creatures had entered from. Snaking through the undergrowth on his belly, and remaining hidden he could see a camp site. A dozen or so Hobgoblins were sat around a camp fire, with a captive tied and bound on the ground near them. With a grim smile the hunter prepared his bow. He wanted to take one alive. He had three types of arrows. Most were just ordinary arrows, but some turned into fireballs when fired, others rather than killing would merely incapacitate the target. He decided one sleeping arrow and some fireballs to start with. The first hobgoblin (and the one closest to their prisoner just in case they thought about using him or her as a hostage), fell fast asleep as the magical energies of the arrow flooded his body. The next few fell to burning arrows, and then deciding to save the rest of his expensive arrows for more worthy foes he switched to ordinary (but still deadly shafts).

The hobgoblins were not cowards however and quickly recovered from the initial surprise. His fire arrows had given away his location, and weapons drawn they charged him, long swords drawn and ready to draw blood.

The archer jumped to his feet and prepared to meet them, whipping out his rapier. He slowly stepped back giving ground, but the creatures were starting to surround him. He inflicted some cuts, but not enough to drop any of his attackers. Taking short jumps backwards out of the reach of the hobgoblins slashing weapons, he once more switched back to his bow. With each step backwards he dropped a few of them, his armour protecting him from the worst of their attacks, although the occasional blow slipped through, leaving a painful slash down his ribs and hot blood running down the hunters chest. He was worried though that he might trip on something as he stepped backwards and if he did he would surely never stand again. More of the hobgoblins fell, but still they pushed their attack.


To be continued.

Looking forward to tonights game and hopefully the climax of this chapter.

Standing outside the Monastarion, the group hurridly conversed. The wind was rising and the night was quickly rising, the only light the party could see was the guttering torchlight. Beside the heavily fortified compound, a tall spire with a stair case running around the outside of the building attracted repeated lightning strikes, each one temporarily illuminating the area.

Several pilgrims and followers of Lagu were entering the compound, heading in for evening services. The party went to enter alongside them, but standing out as the did in armour and carrying weapons they were stopped by the guards.

As the party clearly weren't pilgrims (and indeed openly carry the symbols of what the Irilian's consider to be pagan gods), the guards refused them entrance. If the party had went in civilian dress they would have been able to enter without question, although actually getting to the Sceptre of Lagu would still have been an issue. When the guards when shown the scroll the party had been provided with by Teral they agreed reluctantly to summon their guard commander, although they still were not willing to allow them inside their walled compound. The duly summoned officer was no more inclined to let the party in whatever their reasons than his minions had been until the party decided to open the chest. The waves of evil emanating from the book sent those around staggering back a few steps. The colour draining from his face the officer agreed to summon the Marshal. The party were ushered in off the street and to the rear of the main temple building inside. A large number of warriors of Lagu were present, particularly around the Sceptre, which the party could see was kept in a glass cage on top on an altar. The Sceptre itself was a short thing, less than two feet in length. The haft was a brilliant white, while it was studded with tasteful gems and gold filigree.

It took a few minutes, but the Marshal came down stair, look florid faced in his ceremonial gear. So not to attract the attention of the worshippers and pilgrims around the altar he spoke in a harsh whisper demanding to know the party's purpose. When they told him they wished to use the Sceptre of Lagu to destroy the book, he flatly refused. To allow any heathen to touch it would be sacrilege he insisted. The Sceptre had been used by Lagu to inscribe the laws of creation at the dawn of the universe, not a plaything to be used by the followers of false gods.

The 'paladin' got a bit upset about this and insisted that Lathander was the one true god (ok, Lathander accepts the existence of other gods. Indeed in Forgotten Realms, one god saying the others don't exist would be like you claiming your neighbours don't exist. You might not like them, but they still exist regardless) and that Lagu was a fake.

Just a bit of background info. Right here, the paladin has just committed blasphemy in the eyes of the most religiously right wing population of the city. You can be sure that this is something that can (and if I gauge their actions correctly will) bite the party in the ass very hard in the future).

Once again Val tried opening the box, and the men gathered around felt the evil of the book. This did not do the party any favours considering weapons were already drawn and pointed at them after the false god argument. The party were told in no uncertain circumstances to leave. Val threatened to leave the book on the ground, but found the box it was in picked up and thrown at her. The party were dangerously close to provoking a fight they could not win. It was with bitter, angry thoughts that both sides parted and the party retreated to the street outside. Moving out of sight of the front gates, and out of the direct wind (which by now was gale force and getting stronger). Colesta suggested Nigel summon his magical steed and the party load their weapons and armour onto it, then sneak through the gates into the temple.

Not actually a bad plan, although it did have one slight flaw. When Nigel went to summon his faithful steed, nothing happened. Panic building in his breast he tried using his ability to sense evil. Equally this failed too.

At this point I informed Nigel's player (Ross), this his wanton murder of an evil doer while possibly laudible was an act neither lawful nor good. His god has not withdrawn his blessings from him completely, but every time he wanted to call on his powers he would have to roll a D20. If he rolled equal to or lower than his level then his ability would work. If he rolled higher then nothing would happen. In some ways making an ability unpredicatable is worse than removing it entirely.

Moving further around to the back of the compound (right on the edge of the city), Val decided to slip over the ten foot high stone wall and explore inside. She found stables, a blacksmiths and several other buildings although only the central temple and living quaters areas seemed to have anyone in them. She peered through a stained glass window and could see the holy warriors and worshoppers attending a devotional ceremony. Eventually it came to and end, and other than a guard the Sceptre was left alone. Val returned to the party. She'd picked up that even before the group had made their request or got in an argument the Gran Marshal had been uncomfortable about something and she wanted to investigate. However the higher windows of the main building were either barred or narrow arrow slits, too slight for her to squeeze her way in.

She returned to the others and told them what she had seen. What followed next was a long debate by the group on what they should do next. Eventually they decided to climb back over the wall (carefully to avoid the patrols although the increasing storm would cover up a lot of noise. As it happened this came in very useful for the party).

Map of Irilian.


(http://i.imgur.com/jDt7LQE.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/2fAw5Br.jpg)

Most of the party managed to climb up the ten foot wall no problem.

Most of the party.

All except Nigel, who still clad in his armour was unable to find any way of gripping onto the stone wall. They tried lowering a rope down to him and getting him to climb up that.

Yeah, that didn't work either.

Eventually Nigel was told to tie the rope around his waist while the rest of the group hauled him up. This made a fair bit of noise but the storm prevented them being heard.

Told you the weather would be useful.

Moving more carefully inside, the group found a stone staircase down to the ground floor and crept over to the temple. A single paladin stood on guard. Colesta cast a spell on the guard, and he fell asleep on the spot instantly. Val ran in, looked at the glass case and decided it didn't look like it had any traps. The glass case was secured closed by a heavy padlock, and she went to pick it.

Shame she never thought to get any of the casters to check for any spells on the case. The instant she touched it a while series of alarms sounded (five of them all at once, it was quite a cacophony). Quickly she smashed the glass and grabbed the scepter, opened the box with the book inside while the party raced against guards to reach her.

Val said (and I quote her hear) "Well its not like I can break this scepter", raised it high above her head, then smote the book most mightily.

And the Scepter snapped in twain much to her horror and that of everyone else in the room.

As the wooden haft of the Scepter fell out of the shocked Val's hand (and incidently the book sat undamaged), cries of shock from the gathered paladins filled the temple. The Gran Marshal ran over demanding "Who has done this?" as Val noticed a piece of vellum all out of the hollow handle. She picked it up, but could not read the language it was written in.

Nigel insisted on being told where the real Scepter was, however the Lagu worshippers insisted this was the only relic. Zolis looked at the vellum that Val had found and casting a spell was able to read the magical language.  It had a date, almost 30 years ago and a name 'Zotaquaan Aef Tor Wysard'. This caused almost as much shock amongst the Lagun's. Zotaquaan was the wizard who stayed in the tower right beside the Monastarion. The Marshal ordered the Monastarion locked down. He asked the party to speak to Zotaquaan and gave orders that only the party were to be allowed in or out of the complex. Initially he agreed to sending one of his men with the party, but then changed his mind, deciding he needed all available manpower to secure the Monastarion.

Unholy book still in tow the party left the temple and headed back out into the stormy night. High winds were now making conversation difficult.

The staircase leading up the tower lacked any kind of handrail and looked somewhat foreboding given the weather, but girding their loins the party headed up the stairs (made treacherous by the high winds), up the six stories to the top of the Tor Wysard. As they neared the top however, Colesta was caught off balance as the winds strengthened to near hurricane force at the top and plummetted off the top. She smashed painfully into the ground, but survived (Barely. she had one hitpoint left). Painfully she started the ascent again, this time making it without further mishap.

An open archway led inside the top of the tower to a single room with some sort of arcane drawing on the floor. With a squeal of delight, Zolis announced he knew what this was an jumped onto it, vanishing in a flash of light. Outside, the storm still lashed and the party could hear lightning repeatidly striking the tower. With no other options they decided to follow him hoping that he hadn't just done something really stupid.

Instantly the party found themselves in a sumptuously decorated room. On a golden throne a man with glowing eyes sat, long silver hair cascading down his shoulders. On his left a demonic dwarf stood, to his right a devil. Behind him towarded an Iron Golum and before him a large glowing red eyed panther.

The party had found Zotaquaan.

Between the party and the wizard a shimmering force wall prevented them from from approaching too close. Zotaquaan observed the group intently but said nothing until the party explained their presence. He told them he had indeed created a fake relic for the previous Gran Marshal which had prevented the Brothers of Lagu becoming backrupt and in return he received a share of the income they received from pilgrims coming to see the holy relic.

He and Val both found it amusing that the holy brothers had been fooled by one of their own into guarding such a fake. The rest of the party kept their opinions to themselves on this. In order to make up for unintentionally wasting the groups time, Zotaquaan offered to help the party with information about The Dark. Dismissing his force wall, he prepared to cast some ritual while his servents served refreshments to the group. Nigel attempted to use his ability to sense evil once more on these creatures but failed.

Proberly for the best that really.

First Zotaquaan attempted to contact a higher plane, but found some incredible force had shut off access to those planes. Next Zotaquaan decided to try contacting a lower plane instead,

So, obviously these are adventures, quests, campaigns you write yourself, and from your descriptions it would be hard for anyone to improve on them. I still think you would generate interest in publishing these as modules. (Is that still the term?) Even novelizations. I know I've said so before but whenever I read these synopses I keep thinking that. I know I always take a moment to read them and I don't even play D&D.

Here he was more successful, but this turned out not to be a good thing. The Dark started pouring out of his mouth, ears, nose and eyes. Tendrils of it touched the demon and devil freeing them from the wizards control. Immedietely they sought to attack him, but his faithful cat and Golum blocked them. Zotaquaan passed into unconsciousness, drifting in and out of it over the next few minutes.

Yeah, modules is the term. I have to confess this particular part of the adventure is actually from someone else's published work (as was The Oldenhaller Contract), but 99% of the stuff in here is my own work. Since the games system belongs to Wizards of the Coast I'd have to publish it through them, although who knows, perhaps I'll change some details and work them into a novel as you suggest (or more likely it would have to be a series of novels).

I wonder if you were to listen into one of our sessions how you would think they compare? Perhaps I'll see if I can record one and send it to you.

Suddenly Zotaquaan sat both upright and in a trancelike state said something about following the water to life to find the secret to defeating the dark. Snapping out of the trance he said in his normal voice "Urgh, useless dogmatic drivel," before casting a protection against evil spell on himself and telling the party to flee! The last they saw of the wizard, the dark was surrounding his protective bubble, inside which the wizard and his guardians waited. The group fled back to the teleportation circle and returned to the top of the tower. A crowd was milling around in a panic at the open plaza. The party attempted to sneak unnoticed back down to the ground but as they got down they were recognised (all that walking around all heavily armed and armoured is a dead give away) and once again a mob was chasing them. Loaded down in heavy armour Nigel was falling behind and the crowd catching him. With a desperate prayer to Lathander he tried summoning Sir Boozy.  This time his god listened to him, and his faithful mount appeared, still bearing the wounds he had received when Nigel had left him to fight the bouncers in 'Heafod Aef Orc'.

Nigel (and Ross), was quickly coming to the realisation there would be consequences to his actions when he saw the injuries to his faithful steed and that they would affect more than just him.

He jumped on his horse, half getting in the saddle as it bore him away from the angry crowd. Val got to the wall of the Monastarion and tried to climb up, but the crowd tore her off the wall and bore her to the ground. She managed to squirm and wiggle her way out before they could tear her appart. Since the crowd was between them and the nearest well, they decided to try and get to the river so fled towards the nearest gate the top of Zotaquaan's tower blazing with black fire.

They reached the nearby southern gate but it they were shaking as something tried to batter its way through the gates. Something big...

Just to the north sat a largish building. Seeing the party out in the street the occupants opened the doors and beckoned the party in. They slammed the doors shut behind them, barring them against the pursuing crowd, but the door would not hold long. The group (temporarily) had found sanctuary. Looking around they saw a pair of gnomes (one male, one female), over twenty humans, one of which was a young woman in a pale blue robe, bald head and a headband with a pulsing white gem in the centre of it. The building appeared to be some kind of casino.

The gnomes asked the party what was going on, while the strange young woman stared at the group intently.  As the mob started trying to break down the door or break through a window, the party hurridly explained what Zotaquaan had told them about the waters of life. Val could feel her mind being gently probed as she told them what was going on. The woman told them that she had picked up some strange vibrations when she'd drank from a nearby well. Pointing the party towards a nearby well, the party was shown a back door they could escape through just as the mob finally broke into the building. The well was only a few feet away. Heading in the opposite direction the party ran into a group of Irilain's guards, including an adventurer caught up in all the excitement.

The group reached the well, The Dark closing around them and dozens of Dark possessed humanoids attacking the city. Nigel said he'd lower Val down into the well on a rope to investigate it, while the other survivors made a defensive circle around the well, preparing to sell their lifes dearly if needed.

About fifty feet down Val hadn't yet reached the level of the water, but by the light of her magical gem she could see a roughly ten foor square patch of moss was a different colour from the stuff that coated the rest of the interior. She ripped the stuff off the wall revealling a white stone block inscribed with a glowing golden sigil. She ws however unable to understand its meaning. She tried to pull the block and found that it came loose easily, falling into the well and nearly crushing her beneath it. Badly injured but still alive she managed to swing over from the rope to the ledge revealled by the fallen block and called for the others to come down and join her. The defenders above had lost many of their number and had fought off waves of kobolds, orcs and bugbears. The pounding on the gates finally caused them to crack and break. Something big was coming...

Meanwhile from her ledge Val could see a corridor of a pure white and gently glowing stone lead away under the city. Up above The Dark was closing in as Val shouted for the others to come down and join them. Nigel told the others to climb down the well and he'd hold off the invaders until the others were safe, but the leader of the survivors (the head of the city guard), with a touch of pride in his voice, said it was their city and they would defend it. Nigel and the others had their own mission, and one that might save everyone.

To be continued/

Colesta went to climb down first, but slipped and plummeted down into the water over a hundred feet below. She hit the water like she had slammed into the pavement from the tower, but again she survived.  The others lowered a rope down to her, but it was a long slow climb back up, water dripping from her constantly every inch of rope.

Once Colesta had been rescued the team set off down the glowing white corridor, even as tendrils of The Dark entered the well, drifting down after them. They walked for perhaps half a mile until the perfect corridor opened up into a large round room with a burning ball of white flame hovering in the air. Zolis wanted to leap into the flame, but was restrained by the others.



At this point I gave the party a minute or two to see what they would do, and then decided to move the session on.

Sillas stepped forward towards the flame. "I know why I am here," he said and stepped into the firey ball.

To be continued.

An intense light temporarily blinded everyone, but as everyone's vision returned they could see the firey ball had disappeared. Sillas stood in its place, naked, but burning with a silvery light. He told the party they had to take him to the temple, but as the party prepared to leave a pair of shadow demons attacked. Insubstantial but still deadly the party fought these shadows whose claws tore at flesh just as if they were claws and bone themselves. With magic weapons and spells the group fought them, sending them back to the darkness that has spawned them. By the end of the fight however, both Zolis and Colesta were almost entirely out of spells and they would still have to fight their way through to the temple in the city above.

And with this the adventure ended for the night.

Introducing the bad guys.

Someone the party is going to meet shortly.

Uliak, the fourth reflection of Mask. Doppleganger Sorcerer 10th level, Rogue 4th level, Doppleganger 4th level. Neutral Evil.

Uliak often partners with Lady Elthaian, as the two of them favour similar tactics. In Uliak’s case he is able to go one better and use his natural abilities to replace someone in a group then sew dissention, turning them against each other. Uliak enjoys toying with his opponents and will often pass up chances to kill them in order to extend his pleasure. This is his biggest weakness. He will try and taunt the party, appearing as people they know and let himself be seen briefly, or from a distance and then disappear before they can approach him. His spells are normally used to enhance these, or to make his targets feel paranoia with Ghost Sounds making them think someone is behind them, or touching them with Mage Hand.

Uliak will keep a dosage of his chosen poison in his glove and will seek to dope his chosen targets food (Sleight of Hand roll to do so unnoticed). The rest of his poisons will be in his bag of holding. Uliak does not deign to engage in melee unless left no other option. It’s dagger is there simply to finish off anyone weakened by his primary weapon. Should he be forced to fight, it will seek to coat his dagger in a dose of Deathblade. Uliak is not a strong fighter and if used to directly face the party will be wasted. He sticks to the shadows, using his poisons and then when he is sure his opponent is helpless he will finish them off. The Id moss is reserved for use against casters.

Unlike his regular partner, Uliak is very happy in his role as a Dark Reflection, and has its eye on eventually becoming the Seventh Reflection. It has even considered replacing both Ekul and Aiel and using his natural abilities to appear as both siblings.

When using Uliak, do not commit him to full frontal assaults on the party. He will very rapidly die. His abilities are much better suited to striking from the shadows and disappearing into them. The party is mostly safe from him in wilderness areas (unless he uses his abilities to infiltrate and join the group), and his preferred hunting places are all urban. In many ways considering how most PC groups operate, he is the most dangerous of the Dark Reflection, has killed thousands of people using his tried and trusted methods and should not be wasted with poor tactics. He is not perfect and in his arrogance may well leave clues that allow the party to track him down.


It will be interesting to see how the party handles a Doppleganger (pretty much the group are going up against The Thing). Nothing destroys inter party trust faster than one of these bad boys (or girls). I have never used one before as a DM and I am not sure this is the right party to be able to deal with one, but we shall see. I have thought that NPC's I've created previously were too much for the party (and equally I've given them what should have been easy fghts that have damn near been a TPK) that they have breazed through.

Introducing the bad guys. Lady Elthaian the second reflection of Lloth, Dark Elf Assassin Of Lloth. 13th level (2nd level Drow, 5th level Rogue 6th level Assassin). Neutral Evil.

Possibly the longest serving recruit of the Dark Reflection, Elthaian will look to use her disguise skills to get close to the group and turn them against each other. If she can he will take the place of one of the party to sew chaos and dissent before turning on the party at an opportune moment. Physically Elthaian is the weakest of the group and relies on her other skills to achieve her kills. When she has to engage in melee she prefers to take out other rogue types first using her Death Attack, then disappear into the shadows. Preferably while everyone else is in combat and can’t concentrate on fighting her. Hit and run strikes to wear everyone down along with poisoned weapons work well for her not to mention her love of traps.

When working with her regular partner Uliak, she will instead switch to using poisons and let it use its superior disguise skills instead, not to mention letting him take the greater risk.
Elathaian will also look to escape should any fight be going against her, but you can be sure she will return to strike again another day. She favours poisons even more than Sir Gelden, using them in food and drink normally rather than on weapons. The group may need to check any meals they have at inns for example very carefully. She tends to sound as polite as Sir Gelding but with a general b***hiness behind it.

The Lady is terribly bored with being an assassin. Not so much the killing part. That she is fine with, she just wants to be killing the people she chooses to kill rather than being someone else’s tool. She was chosen by Lolth however as an original member of the group and dares not spurn the desires of her patron. Her distaste for her role has prevented her moving up the order.
Whereas Uliak will not engage the party directly, Elthaian will be more prepared to, however she would still seek to weaken the party first via poisons and traps. Should the party pay for rooms in the same place for several nights, they will find poison needles left in their beds, or door handles smeared with poisons. She prefers to use a unique poison of her own concoction, one that leaves her opponents blind and dazed, at which point she will try and capture them, before inflicting a long, lingering death on them.

The Tale of the Band of the Icky Hand. Part Twenty Nine.

As tendrials of darkness probed their way along the corridor, Sillas stepped forward. The dark seemed to recoil from the light he blazed with but kept returning, probing as if reachig a barrier it was unable to penetrate and searching for a weakspot. The deeper the darkness, the more Sillas struggled to move forward against it, as if he was trying to wade through thick molasses. In a voice that seemed much deeper than his normal one, he intoned "You must get me to the temple."

Val.


(http://i.imgur.com/BXmeVyb.jpg)


Colesta.


(http://i.imgur.com/aTHAo8o.jpg)


Zolis.


(http://i.imgur.com/CBtgxCJ.jpg)


Nigel.


(http://i.imgur.com/g0KBl3W.png)


Sir Boozey


(http://i.imgur.com/Jcfb6YD.png)


Khalrad.


(http://i.imgur.com/ndHhUkl.png)


To be continued.

I think Sir Boozy taught a class of mine in college....

Did he also kill a naked prostitute?

The group followed their shining 'leader', back along the tunnel, him apparently fighting The Dark all the way and pushing against it. The Dark itself did not seem hurt by the shield around them, but was equally unable to penetrate it. It took much longer to reach the well then it had taken them to get to the chamber. Eventually they made it back to the well. Val jumped onto the rope and attached her own rope to that of the well bucket. Nigel followed next, but he failed to get a good grip and slipped maybe twenty feet down the rope, only his armoured gauntlets preventing him getting severe rope burns. He tried climbing back up, but his heavy armour dragged him down and he slipping plunging into the ice cold water beneath. He spluttered, trying to tread water but again his protective shell betrayed him, pulling his head under the lapping water. Val somersaulted back, falling downwards, and then pushing herself off the wall managed to grab the hanging rope in one hand (tearing some shoulder muscle in the process), and managing to grasp Nigel's outstretched hand. Hand over hand, he slowly climbed up Val's body. Dripping wet and short of breath he none the less managed to make it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew made it up the well. There was no sign of the men who had been defending the well, although the bodies scattered around told of a viscous battle fought above ground. Having almost been defeated by a rope climb, the party decided to move away from it in case events should push them back down it. They snuck off down a side alley, looking to move to the wider main road leading north to the market square. Outside the small protective bubble generated by Sillas they could see northing until a small horde of Kobolds ran in to battle them. Although the Kobolds were little taller than knee high, it was difficult for the party to fight them off and several wounds were sustained. Eventually, all the tiny creatures lay dead around them, but their crude spears had injured several of the group and they were low on healing.

Reaching what appeared to be the main street (Diament Rad), they also came across a band of mounted soldiers. The men had no idea what was going on. They'd been riding through the dark, fighting half seen enemies all night, but glad to find someone who appeared to know something about what was going on they asked to accompany the party. Inching their way northwards to the Mark Geard, the group finally reached a place not yet overtaken by The Dark. The reminants of the city defenders were strung out over the marketplace, battling in small groups against various humanoid creatures and trying to hold the line. Over by the temple stood a man in black armour. He was flanked by a pair of starving looking dogs with burning eyes and flames licking from around their jaws. In front of him were many dead guards and militiamen, but equally he bore several wounds that told of some hard fighting. A few surviving guard stood around him, looking more to stop him get out than fight him any further. For his part, he was blocking the door to the temple, preventing anyone from entering.

The cavalry rode out to assist the groups fighting around the plaza, riding to the rescue leaving the group to deal with the man and his hellhounds.


To be continued.

The party crossed the plaza, weapons drawn and joined the men surrounding the temple. One of the men, an officer by his bearing told them "If you feel like helping and can take the man we can keep the dogs off you. He's killed too many of us already for us to try and take him."

Val nodded in agreement on behalf of the group and they moved in to engage. Nigel had other ideas however and moved to fight a hellhound instead, leaving Sillas to bear the brunt of the man in black'sattacks. As he fought him, he said something to Sillas that the rest of the group couldn't hear, but Sillas's glowing visage palled somewhat. Khalrad fired a hail of arrows, filling the wall behind the man with arrows just in case it turned out to be evil. Their enemy drew a couple of matching short swords, which burned with a black flame and carved up Sillas badly, burning golden blood dripping from each of the wounds cut into him. Sillas was starting to wilt and his bright aura was fading, but Val drew her rapier and ran around behind the man who yelled that he was the herald of the darkness and they would not pass him. Val's first attack opened the man's back, showing his spine and ribs to the world. Her second, stabbed straight through his heart, leaving him staring in shock at the length of steel protruding from the front of his chest. As he died, the second hellhound faded from this plane of existence.

Sillas collapsed down on one knee. Unknown to the party the strain of his wounds combined with the pressure of preventing The Dark from taking over the entire city was close to overcoming him. The party gave Sillas what little healing they still had available digging out a couple of potions. It gave him enough strength to stand on his feet and finish the task at hand. It was why the Light had protected him as they travelled with the Dwarves, and what he had been fated to do since he was decided to take to the life of an adventurer. They pulled open the temple doors and entered. The bodies from the earlier massacre still lay around. No one had yet had the time to clean them up. In the middle, the bonfire of the gods still burned in the temple naive. Nigel asked what they needed to do. Sillas turned around to look directly at him, his eyes a liquid silver. "You heard the prophecy same as I. The hero must go to the funeral pyre." He climbed up onto the wall around the fire pit. The others protested, that there must be some other way, but Sillas spread his arms wide, looked at his friends one last time and thanked them for their companionship and that he wished they had more time together, before he fell forward into the flames.


To be continued.

The light from Sillas grew brighter and brighter, hurting the eyes of those looking on. Val popped behind a pillar to hide in its shade, while Nigel used his shield to try and block out the worst of it, while still seeing what was happening. A column of the purest light imaginable shot up from the firepit, smashing a hole in the roof of the temple and shooting straight up into the sky. Even though they were inside the temple, they could see its light spreading outside, touching each and every living person remaining in the city with its light until the entire city was ablaze with light. The Dark was not to be defeated without a fight and it rose up, clashing against the spreading light. Light and dark intermingled, each seeking to crush the other and then both were gone!

Through the open temple doors, the party could see the first rays of the rising sun illuminating the world. A clear blue sky covered the world and for the moment it was peaceful. The surviving defenders realised they had survived the night.

The creatures possessed by The Dark (and many of them were people of the city), found themselves free once more, their minds and actions their own once more. Wisely those who had invaded the city took to their heels looking to flee to their lairs ourside the city walls before the remaining soldiers were able to organise and exterminate them. Never the less, many would die either from the fighting the night before, killed trying to escape, some by the militia, others by vengful possies. The tribes around the city would be weakened for many years, perhaps some of them never would. While everyone else was busy, Val took all the weapons, armour and equipment from the Herald.

Staggered and exhausted the group decided to find a tavern and get some drinks. Alas, the had killed people in both city taverns (something for which their will still be consequences to face later), and might not be welcome inside. The city lacked any other place they knew of to go and eat, so they returned to the Abbeie. It was full to bursting. Most of the city appeared to have taken refuge inside, and the nun's were overworked attending to everyone who had been wounded. It took some searching but they managed to find Teral, who looked just as worn and exhausted as the party. She ordered rooms set up for them and food prepared. Colesta offered to lend her skill at healing to help with the wounded and spent an hour or so bandaging up the citizens and applying poultices to bruises, before she too went to her room for a well deserved and much needed sleep.

They would sleep that night, and through the next day, their dreams touched by visions of brightly glowing angels.

When they awoke, they found out the surviving counsielmen were planning a feast to be held the next night to thank the cities saviours properly and remember those who had lost their lifes in the defence of the city.

For some reason this panicked the group quite a lot and they found something sinister in those words. Never the less, they set out to try find out as much information as they could about it, including what food and drink was likely to be served (I am wondering if they think they might be the main course?). Zolis found himself a tailor and ordered a red satin wizards robe and matching hat saying "This is the great and powerful Zolis!" around it's cone.

No one asked if the tailor was literate or not though.

A trip to Zotaquaan was on the cards next, looking to buy spells and magic items. Nothing he had though caught the parties eye and they left disappointed. After that they returned to the Abbeie. People had started to return to their homes and the grounds were much less crowded than before. Teral welcomed them back and for the first time noticed that Nigel was accompanied by one of the puppies of the guard dogs. She said as a thank you from the temple he could keep it, athough normally they would be sold for no less than 500 gold. She explained they were Blink Dogs, animals attracted to good people who had some interesting magical abilities that allowed them to teleport short distances.

Suddenly much that had happened with the puppy made a lot more sense.

As evening drew in, Zolis and Val returned to the tailors. Excitidly Zolis donned his brand new clothes asking what Val thought of them.

It was with some degree of difficulty that she kept a straight face as she read the legend the old man had embroidered into Zolis's hat.

To the world it announced "The grate and puwurful wizzard Solizz!"

If only he had stopped to read it before stepping out into the street.

Still he felt good in his new clothes, and he must have looked good in them, for whereever he went people smiled at him. He returned to the Abbeie to show his new outfit off to his friends, who seemed equally cheered by his attire.


To be continued.

Seriously, the entire party seems convinced the people of Irilian are going to eat them at the upcoming feast. The phrase "So you can be properly honoured" has them worried like nothing else.

Apparently they know I have a twisted sense of humour and would do something like this.

The remainder of the session was spent the group doing various mundane tasks around the city, and making plans to leave the environs within days. I had been expecting them to rest and relax for a few days and look at getting some new magical items, but no. The equipment taken from the Herald was identified (the Short Swords are magical weapons, and the black fire burning along the blades cause extra fire damage, but the colour is purely an aestetic choice. The deeds of the wielder of these swrods would be etched along the blades in gold filagree, blank now and ready for a new master, but the swords would only operate as a matched pair and no one in the group uses two weapons in combat. The armour was also magical and (perhaps thinking of his difficulty climbing and swimming), Nigel asked for this to replace his scale mail armour. The headband improves the wearers intellect and after some debate between the casters went to Colesta.

Everyone in the party went up a level from their adventuring. The have earned a (short) rest to reap the rewards of their exploits.

Unless they end up getten eaten at the celebratory feast.]

Thus ended not just the nights adventuring, but also the first part of the campaign.

Wondering if after next week I should take a break in the campaign. I'd like to, but I know if I do then the chances of it starting up again are pretty remote. I've never known anyone to get one going again after a extended break in one.

Still it would be nice to be a player again rather than running the show. Ross is talking about doing either a Pathfinder 2 or Vampire game, although what I'd really be looking for is Call of Cthulhu or Shadowrun (or if I could find someone running it, 2300AD, a highly unlikely prospect).

Working on the rewards for the party for saving Irilian. Part of it is that they each get a major magic item which on a whim I decided to generate randomly. Trouble is that some people come off much better than others.

Oh well, I can always chuck in a bag of gold to even things up. The group is receiving many awards, but this is the only one that is something physical they can use.

We pick up with the party having woken up in the Abbeie the morning of the big celebration (in which the party were convinced they were to be the main course). Zolis finally found out about the terrible spelling on his wizards hat and decided not to wear it, but did pop out to buy a new travel costume rather than just wearing his wizards robe all the time. Nigel headed out into the city to see if he could use any of his skills to help out. Val also decided to do this, but no one apparently was going to be helped by being robbed.

Eventually, the appointed hour rolled around. Everyone had returned to the Abbeie to wash up and put on their best clothes, except for Nigel who only had his armour to wear. They were taken in carriage (although Nigel attempted and failed to summon Sir Boozey to ride).

A platform had been constructed in the middle of the mark geard, and long tables with free food and drink were all over the square. Around the edges other fare was available from stalls set up by those who wished to pay for extra. The party were escorted up onto the platform (and suspiciously checked for traps), where the city counseil was waiting. Tirouv (the man who the Dwarf's had sold their cargo to), pushed past the man who had been waiting to greet them (much his irritation and annoyance), and welcomed the group before launching into a speach. He lauded them and said the city would be showing its thanks, but first of all they had to hear from a couple of other people first. He called on the cities Marshel, an elderly man, whom the party recognised from the defenders of the well. It surprised them somewhat that he had survived. He announced his retirement, saying that soldering was a youngers man game and he no longer felt able to meet its depends. Then Teral, making a rare appearence outside the Abbeie, led the city in a prayer of thanks for their salvation.

Finally, it was back to the party. They were granted citizenship of the city, awarded guardianship of a castle and given a magic item each. Khalrad was given a flaming sword, Valerie a selection of magical potions (and a bag full of gold from Tirouv, along with a smile and wink). Zolis was given a golden sceptre he was informed would allow him to extend the range of a spell three times a day. Colesta was given a staff that would allow her to bring her companions back from the dead a limited number of times, and Nigel given a brightly polished magical shield that had a couple of magical properties including the ability to blind enemies. Colesta for a second thought she saw someone in the crowd that she recognised, but blinked and the figure was gone.

Could she really have seen Bran watching them from the crowd?

To be continued.

After receiving their rewards, those outside were invited to start the free feast, although many had not realised (or cared) that they were supposed to wait and were happily drinking and eating. The party were taken inside the Counseilhaus for a proper banquet. The finest minstrels who were in the city at the time were playing, and between songs it seemed everyone had to take a turn at making a speech to thank the heroes of the hour. Many men and women tried to catch the eye of one of the party for a private meeting upstairs, but having learned a hard lesson earlier on with Zagan the group had became more circumspect in such dealings.

Tirouv however seemed particularly taken with Val, and having waited, watching her until he had saw her checking out just how much gold was in the bag he had given her, asked if it was sufficient and would she do him the honour of a dance. Nigel (or Baron Nigel as he had taken to calling himself, given his recent elevation to the minor nobility), had caught the eye of a pretty young lady with sparkling blue eyes and ash blonde hair. As he was not drinking alcohol, she served him water. He spoke to her and found out she was a slave girl (and it came as quite a shock to him that slavery was legal within Irilian) and he insisted she join the banquet. Colesta also stuck to just drinking water, while Val and Zolis drank (with the aid of a willpower check not to get carried away), only a little.

With the Marshal of the city having retired, Nigel found himself sought out by one of the heirs apparent. The commander of the cities cavalry invited him to attend a training session with his men and dropped hints that a recommendation from Nigel in the counseil's ear would surely go a long way towards securing the job for the right man.

Given the group had only been partaking lightly of the drink available, it came as quite a surprise to them when they discovered at the end of the night, Colesta was passed out drunk. The others picked her up and carried her back to the Abbeie. Still tired out from their recent exertions, everyone slept deeply that night.

In the morning, Colesta awoke, but felt weak and disorientated. Nigel meanwhile put on his armour and went downstairs, his mind resolved on what he had to do. He put on his armour and walked outside until he found a city patrol. Its constable, somewhat in awe of the man before him, who just the night before he had been drinking toasts too. He was completely shocked when he told him that he wished to confess to a murder.

To be continued.

Nigel was escorted into the Counseil Hus and the presence of cousillors Tirouv and Elisim. There was some confusion as it turned out a serving girl from the night before had been murdered. Indeed the very same girl who had taken such a shine to him was being carried out past him, her hands still bound behind her back and her throat cut from ear to ear. The clerics had put her death at around the middle of the previous day, something that confused Nigel quite some as he had been chatting with her later on that night. Elisim told him they would look into this matter, but they had much to deal with and would have to get around to this in time.

After all, approximately one third of the cities citizens had perished in the night of the Dark Rising, and almost half the soldiery. Walls and gates needed repair, and the funds to pay for such repairs would have to be found. And in the air outside this very building, the five citizens still burned with black fire, writhing in pain.

Nigel, in somewhat of a state of shock headed back to the Abbeie.

Deciding it was time to valuate the jewels they had retrieved from the evil cult, Val went to open the chest. Although she had previously disarmed the trap a needle shot out from the lock, pricking her skin. Immediently the others saw the colour drain from her face as she collapsed. Fortunately, she remembered she'd been given an antitode potion the previous night and managed to prevent any further damage, but she would still be weakened. Colesta (or any other sufficiently high level cleric), could cast a spell that would reverse the damage already caused, however it would also take diamond dust worth 100 gold.

The party set out to the Gnome Juel Aef where they arranged to buy the dust. It would take a few hours to grind up though. Following this the group made haste back to the Abbeie. Colesta wanted to know why she had seen Bran, who she knew was dead. Similiarly, why had Nigel seen a dead woman? Teral was unable to help with this, but suggested speaking with the Chantrman.

And there the session ended for the night.

Nigel decided that if an assassin was after them, then they should leave the Abbeie rather than put the sisters at further risk. The party also decided to part exchange their carriage for a covered wagon. First of all though the group set off to speak with the Chantrman to see if he could speak with the spirit of Bran and find out why he was haunting them.

Cheered by the crowds as they passed through the city it came as a slight surprise when the party was halted at the city gates and informed by a somewhat embarresed looking guard, that while Sier Nigel was an honoured guest of the city, orders had came down from on high that he was not allowed to leave the city at this time. Although the others argued, Nigel told them it was fine and they should go speak to the Chantrman without him (although the party had just a few minutes earlier argued against splitting the party, they would now do so (and indeed did so several times throughout the session).

Nigel decided to wait around at the city gate for his companions to return (had Nigel returned to the Abbeie to await the others, he would have interupted the assassin making his next attempt on the party by poisoning the handles on the doors to their rooms. In a straight up fight, the chances are Nigel would actually kill this one). Led by Colesta they spoke to the Chantrman, who was surprised to receive visitors not concerned with a funeral. He told them he could speak to the spirit of Bran, if they could bring him something belonging to the old man.

With this information, they returned to the city and collected Nigel. They then debated on where to stay. I pointed out that 1) The city had just lost a sizable proportion of its population and had many empty houses (although equally a lot of them were damaged in the fighting) and 2) As a native of the city Khalrad most likely had somewhere to stay in city already. The group decided all to crash at his tiny two room house, although first their was the business of selling the coach.

Really quite disappointed there. I expected the group to turn the coach into some sort of armoured tank. Oh well.

They managed to trade it in, getting some money back. There was some wear and tear on the wagon after all and no one had bothered to repair it. The few possessions left on the coach were removed, which reminded the party of the 10 bottles of alcohol Zolis had bought a while back (the highly explosive stuff called 'Coal Tar'). Not being familiar with this drink Nigel and Khalrad both decided to try it. Although it burned somewhat, Khalrad enjoyed the taste of it, while Nigel not quite as used to drinking as his companion spat it straight back up, the impact causing sparks of blue flame to ignite on the cobblestones.

Having found one of Bran's old blankets, Colesta, Khalrad and Zolis returned again to the Chantrman. It a deep, sonorous voice he intoned the words of a spell designed to peel back the veil and allow them to speak with the departed. Colesta and Zolis's finely attuned magical senses could feel the touch of divine magic as Bran's spirit was called into the room and spoke to them...

"What the bloody hell do you buggers want with me now?"

He then went on to insult Zolis quite a lot (for example calling him a useless bag of s**te), even after he was told actually, the half orc is Zolis, but did tell the group how he died. He'd been driving the carriage and been a bit surprised when he had seen his double standing at the side of the road. Before he could say or do anything his twin had pulled out a blowpipe and hit him with a dart. The last thing Bran remembered was a terrible pain in his chest and it had all went dark.

Now, if the party had quite finished with him he had some serious afterlife carousing to be getting on with.

As his spirit returned to the other side the Chantrman asked if they were sure Bran had been a friend of theirs, while Zolis had to explain that when they had first met he had not approved of the old man, but grew fond of him over time.

Evidently this had been a one way thing though.

Eventually the party picked up a few wineskins and retired to Khalrad's bachelor pad, which was decorated with tapestries of naked women from his copies of Medieval Playboy. A watch was set and the group spent a slightly crowded night more or less comfortably. They'd gathered a group of admirers who had followed them back to the house, calling their names most of the night (but were ignored). They are awoken in the morning by someone knocking on the door. A messenger girl in the livery of Tirouv had a sealed parchment for Sier Nigel's eyes only.

It read

“Sier Nigel,

I appreciate your patience in waiting for me in regard to your recent confession. Although other concerns have occupied our time, understand justice in Irilian does not normally run in such a fashion, however the other murder combined with the deaths of almost one in three of our citizens has overwhelmed our normal procedures.

Given the precarious state of the city, we cannot in all good conscience conduct a trial in public least further chaos spread and engulf the city. With the murder of one of the sisters aef Abbeie the city is on a knife edge and we must tread very carefully not to push it over. Equally a crime (and especial one as serious as this matter), equally cannot be ignored. Therefore, you are summoned to a trial in closed session.

You are hereby ordered to attend a court hearing three night hence. Until this initial hearing is held you are bound under your own honour not to leave the environs of the city. Bring any witnesses you wish to assist your defence. As you cannot be expected to be familiar to the fullest extent required with the laws of Irilian I would like to humbly offer my services as your defender.

I would also ask that since you appear to be the targets of an assassin that you and your companions move out of the Abbeie and find alternative accommodation. The consequences for the city of another murder of one of the sisters are more severe than I care to consider.

Yours,
Tirouv.”

It came as quite a shock to the group that one of the nun's had been murdered, although the messenger was unable to provide any additional details. Zolis sent his raven with a message for Teral asking if they could assist. The reply that arrived some while later was that the Abbeie was in lockdown after a nun had been found tied up with her throat sliced open, and four other sisters were deathly ill after going to clean the rooms the party had previously been occupying.

The assassin is getting quite irritated now at the parties refusal to succumb to its traps, and is running low of poison supplies. Although the party doesn't know it, they will be getting a break soon as it will have to go looking for more potent concoctions and calls in help from other members of The Dark Reflection. However he has enough poisons for a few more attempts.

Now it was time for some shopping. Khalrad ordered some magical arrows, although these would take some weeks to arrive. Val bought herself a nice shortbow, although she wanted one that hadn't been dyed pink and ordered it repainted (it had been commissioned by a nobleman for his daughter, but never collected).

The group decided to spend the night once more in Khalrad's house, but Zolis created his interdimensional safe spot where they could hide unobserved, but still able to see the outside world. Nigel, Khalrad and Val agreed to take turns at sitting a watch.

Nigel took first watch, followed by Khalrad and then finally Val. Each of them watched the room through an interdimensional window. Val was perhaps an hour into her watch when she heard a sound, like a rodent scratching. Then the front door slowly opened and a hooded figure crept in. It leaned over various parts of furniture, although from her vantage point she was unable to see what the figure was doing. Carefully she prepared her crossbow, leaned out of the door to their hideyhole and fired. The crossbow thunked into the sideboard beside the figure who spun around hissing in anger and surprise. Initially it could see nothing, but then stopped and concentrated for a few seconds, then looked directly at Val. It was too dark however for her to make out any details. She fired again as the figure turned to flee, but hit the floor this time.

Happy that she had done her job, she climbed back into the room and chose not to take up anyone or raise any kind of alarm.

When the others were awoken, they were upset that Val had not woken them up or pursued their attacker. Discussions were had on what the group should do next. Val and Khalrad decided to go out shopping while the others were going to remain. Opening his front door, Khalrad was somewhat shocked to see three crossbowbolts suddenly protruding from his chest. He staggered backwards his fingers attempting ineffectually to pull the bolts out. Colesta leapt into action, healing the badly wounded ranger while Val and Nigel went out into the street to confront his assailent. Alas, it was merely a trap. Three crossbows had been set up facing the door with trip wires connecting the triggers. When Khalrad had opened the door he set them off. Nigel examined the crossbows looking to see if they had been poisoned. True the crossbows were wet, but it was impossible to tell if this was just morning dew.

The party noticed a letter pinned to the front door.

And with this the game ended for the night.

Given the party hadn't done much with their free time thus far I more or less expected to pass the three days waiting for the trial fairly quickly. Instead we got a pretty roleplaying heavy session where I had to make most of what was going up off the cuff. Although I had a plan for the attempts to kill the party, I also had to adapt this to what the party chose to do (for example I hadn't expected them to abandon the Abbeie prior to one of the sisters being killed.

So, they have finally figured out that the person trying to kill them can disguise himself as other people (slightly painful getting there at times though lol).

However, equally the party has done nothing to prepare a defence or find out anything about Irilian law (which is seriously corrupt and open to bribery). They were to have been contacted by Tirouv and warned that someone is trying to ensure it goes as badly as possible, however moving locations has left several people trying to find them (the messenger did a lot of asking around town, the assassin took a bit longer to track them down and Tirouv only found out from his messenger in the middle of the night).

So, now I have to prep for Sunday and see what awaits then.

Had to cancel tonights game, due to a file going missing where I'd written a load of stuff out for the trial. I can rewrite it all, and I guess I could have just ran the game off the cuff as I can remember most of what I put in it, but I just didn't feel like playing once I found out the file was non-recoverable.

The only other trouble I have with a court room session as that I feel it will more or less be repeated in another chapter (when Nigel goes for redemption). So, I wilkl have to consider dumping the other chapter or changing it significantly.

With me travelling we will again have to skip a game, however I am getting work done on the adventure, in particular the 'trial' of Sier Nigel. Although as he has confessed to the crime already, it is more a matter of establishing any mitagating circumstances. Nigel was right when he said his victim was evil. Did she deserve to die? Well, given she'd been seducing people in order to deliver them to the cult she'd joined I would say yes. However Nigel knew none of this, and the group haven't sought to establish any link between her and the cult beyond the trail of clues that had them wandering around Irilian. I have came up with a system where the court judges have been rolled randomly from the counseil members, and given a die roll modifier depending on how positively or negitively they view the party. This will be further modified by how they act during the trial and what they say. It is entirely possble the group will be able to navigate to a point where the charges are dropped and a pardon issued.

Or Nigel could end up on top of an auto-de-fé (as in what it came to mean in the end, rather than it's original meaning).

In fact, due to a little known facet of Irilian law that the party may fall foul of (if Nigel says the wrong thing), the entire party could end up being condemened to death by fire.

Yup, pretty sure they are all well and truly f**ked then.

There are a few get out of jail cards I can play, but as far as Nigel's fate goes I am tempted to let him hang or save himself by his own actions.

So tomorrow night will the party finally make it all the way to the trial?

Gods I hope so. Not that I feel this part is dragging, or I am not enjoying running it. I am just eager to throw the next part at the group, and find out if they decide to restore the castle to its former glory, or journey forth once more as wandering, landless adventurers.

The party read the note stuck to the door. It was from Tirouv complaining he'd been trying to track them down and could they attend him at their earliest convenience to start preparing the defence for Sier Nigel.  He suggested they petition any possible character witnesses or anyone else who could help them out, giving them a slight berating for disappearing and making defending them harder.

I did actually have a subplot planned out where the party would have been investigating someone trying to prejudice the trial against them. It would have led to them uncovering who sits at the top of the Irilian underworld and remove a potential thorn in their side for the trial, however since they only had one day left by the time Tirouv found them, I sadly dropped this section.

Leaving the rest of the party to guard the house and look after the injured Khalrad, Nigel and Colesta went off to speak to Tirouv. Evidently, he was still somewhat miffed that the party were not taking this upcoming hearing seriously enough, he pointed out that Nigel was potentially facing the hang man's noose.

It was something of a surprise to the party that the city had the death penalty. But then they were also surprised that the had to pay taxes, or that slavery was a thing. *shrug*

He suggested they petition any possible character witnesses or anyone else who could help them out, giving them a slight berating for disappearing and making defending them harder, although he still offered to help represent them as their defence lawyer. He also shared with them that some of the other counsielers had been campaigning quite hard to be sitting on the bench to judge the proceedings. Someone had even been bribing people quite heavily... Nigel took offence at this and wanted to insist his judging was 'clean', but Tirouv told him he had only been told these things and had no proof. To raise a hue and cry over it now with no proof could only hurt their case. Nigel asked Tirouv what his help would cost them, he smiled and said that a businessman always had need of adventurers for something, and no doubt they could do him a favour in the future.

After some more discussions and an invite to dinner (which the party neglected to turn up for), the pair left to go track down anyone who could potentially help them. First of all, the sought out Teral who was more than willing to give them a scroll they could present at the trial where she would state that the group had been acting with her blessing and at her instigation (this would have an implication that the party did not pick up on later). Next, they looked up the now-retired Gran Marshal of the City Guard. They managed to track down where he lived, via the town hall records but the old man seemed confused. Sometimes he would recognise them, other times he would start the conversation afresh as if they had only just met and were strangers (alas he is suffering from senility), so the party had no joy there. Zotaquaan was next on the list. He agreed to make an appearance and tell what he knew of the events, but he warned that he had not been overly involved and could not comment on the party's actions outside of his tower. Finally (and here I was impressed), the party thought of bringing in the Hssisss, the lizardman chief whose son they had returned (ok, he was dead, but they made the effort). I had accounted for the possibility of them asking him but hadn't expected them to.

Anyway, Hssisss agreed on the condition he was provided safe escort into and back out of the city (bearing in mind it is a criminal offence for them to enter the city walls, something that would be ignored during daylight hours mostly likely, but rigorously enforced after dark).

Feeling they had done all they could to prepare for the trial, they then retired to Khalrad's house, to await the trial. The next day dawned and was spent in meditation and prayer until in the early evening, Tirouv's carriage arrived to take them to for his judgement.

Before dawn, the party was awakened by a knocking on the door. Tirouv had sent his personal carriage to collect them, along with an 'honour' guard of four of the city watch. They were taken to the Counseil Hus, and escorted into a room they hadn't been in before. Eilsham, Erea and Pelas were sitting behind a table, draped in a black cloth all stood on a platform. Tirouv was there as well, dressed in more sombre clothes than was his usual want. The city guards were ushered out of the room, which was guarded by many of the brothers of Lagu instead.

Nigel was called on to explain his actions. He went over the events that led up to him slaying the woman and apologised for his actions. Witnesses for the defence were called, the scroll for Teral read out. Pelas interrupted him on several times, in a generally hostile manner demanding to know if the false god he claimed to follow allowed him to kill people he judged to be evil (no), and how could he tell if someone was evil or not. He said if they brought several people before him they could have the paladins present tell them who was good and who was evil. He would then look at them himself and similarly be able to judge them and if those the paladins said were wicked souls matched up to what Nigel claimed then it would prove he had this ability.

Shame he forgot that his powers are currently unreliable really. When it came time to see who was evil and who wasn't he couldn't read anything off the chosen people (which was a shame as he'd have found out that one of his judges was completely evil, which also would have played into the storyline I'd to abandon)

Despite this, the trial seemed to be going more or less in the group's favour. Then Colesta was called as a witness. She explained that the entire group had been close by while the murder happened. At this Pelas stood up and claimed 'communis culpae.' Since the rest of the party had been involved in the murder, even if indirectly then they shared a common guilt under Irilian law and would all have to share whatever punishment was judged suitable.

What the party failed to realise at the time, was that this also meant Teral (who after all had sent them out to act as her agents), would also share their punishment. This would have caused the city to erupt in a riot like none that had been seen within its walls before. The sisters are universally beloved (possibly the only people who are) in Irilian and anyone harming one would be hunted down and lynched. Wither Pelas herself was aware of this consequence or not, well that is for me to know.

Once the witnesses for the defence had finished Pelas called on the head bouncer of the 'Heafod Aef Orc', in the interests of presenting a balance of views on what had happened. His testimony made the group look a lot more guilty, especially when it was mentioned that they had attempted to prevent the bouncers getting upstairs after the screaming started.

After this, the judges left the room to consider their verdict.

It would be a couple of hours before they returned. Pelas looked happy, while the other two were somewhat ashen-faced.

Elisim stood and read out the judgement of the court...

Unable to reach a consensus, it had been decided to put the matter in the hands of the Gods.

Guilt or innocence would be decided in trial by combat. Should Nigel win, he and his fellow accused would be absolved, while should he fail they would all be sentenced to death by hanging.

Bit of a different way to have a TPK.

The fight would be arranged quickly and quietly. It would take place the next morning and the city's champion would be waiting for them. Zigud the Dwarf made it quite clear that he would be the chosen champion, as in addition to being a bouncer, he was also the champion of the cities fighting pit (yes, they also have gladiatorial combat).

A strong force of eight of the brotherhood escorted the group back to their lodgings, where they would prevent anyone from entering the house. They would stick to this order by the letter and when a bunch of drunks started singing and being noisy late into the night the paladins refused to do anything about them telling Colesta that while they had been ordered to protect Nigel from any assassin's attacks they had not been tasked with clearing the streets of innocent people. Again tying into the abandoned storyline, someone has bribed this group of drunks to keep Nigel awake all night, leaving him tired for the fight the next day. Had the group spoke to the drunks or bought them more booze they could have found out what the person who paid them to make a noise here looked like.

They decided on an alternative way of clearing the street. They asked Zolis.

Failing a Wisdom check, Zolis zapped the house across the road with a lightning bolt causing the front of the building to collapse. It did indeed though scare off the drunks. Luckily the house is one of the many now unoccupied in the city.

Nigel did get to sleep the rest of the night though.

Before dawn, they were awoken by the Paladins. Nigel came down in his armour but was told the fight was to be an honest one. Armour would not be allowed, although he could carry a shield if he wished. Tirouv had once more sent a carriage for the group, with shuttered windows this time so no one could see inside. The centre of the city had been cleared by the guard and all ways in blocked. It must have taken every remaining man in uniform to blockade the square. A large marquee had been erected and they were taken inside. The cream of Irilian society (such as it is), were stood around inside. Money quite clearly was changing hands and Nigel told Val to bet every penny they had on him.

After all, it wasn't like they would need money if he lost.

Val however, claimed only to have brought a small portion of the group's money with her, which Colesta added to so they could bet a reasonable sum. Most people were betting on the home champion and Val got 3 to 1 odds. The referee checked both sides were ready, gave them the rules (no magic, no armour, fight on until one is unable or unwilling to continue). Then the fight began!

Zigud ran at Nigel, his eyes blazing with hatred. Two mighty blows sent Nigel staggering, although he managed to stay on his feet as the Dwarf's hammer slammed twice into his chest. Ribs broke under the fierce assault, but Nigel managed to lash out, taking his measure of Dwarven blood in return. Zigud attempted to crush Nigel's skull with an overhead blow. He barely parried the blow on his shield but left himself open to the return swing and more ribs popped as it once more slammed into his torso and the Dwarf cried out "That's for Elhiri". In agony and with a red haze descending Nigel managed to seriously wound Zigud, running his sword through the pit fighters side, leaving blood running from his side and his beard matted in the blood of both fighters. Ignoring his wounds Zigud reached into the depths of his stamina, launching another assault on Nigel, hitting him twice in rapid succession and yelling with the first "This one is for Jacob!", and then "This one is for Dona!"

Puzzled as to who Jacob and Dona were and nearing the end of his own strength, Nigel stuck again, leaving Zigud's chest a bloody mess. The Dwarf was near death, fell to his knees and cried "I yield!"

Nigel had won his freedom. He extended his hand to help the Dwarf to his feet, but he angrily brushed the hand aside, and with a herculean effort got back to his feet to walk away under his own power. Nigel called out after him "Who are Jacob and Dona?"

The Dwarf without even turning back around said "They were her children. When the dark came they had no one to look after them. A ogre ripped them to pieces and I buried what was left with my own two hands."

Suddenly Nigel did not feel like a victorious man any more.

Sickened by the realisation of what he'd done Nigel slumped, unable to deal with the consequences of his actions. Colesta decided to change her alignment to Neutral b***h and told him to get himself out of this funk and think of the people he had saved, and the good he could now do. This seemed to resonate somewhat with Nigel and took the (entire parties) winnings from the gambling and set off to the Abbeie, deciding that they should not profit from this. Clearly, he needed some time alone. Tirouv came over to congratulate the group and offer his help (for a fee), in setting up an expedition to their castle, now the legal complications for the party had been dealt with. He also invited the group to dinner, this time at 'The Stormridden', the highest class establishment in Irilian (not to mention the only inn the party have not yet killed someone in).

Nigel donated the money to the sisters and asked if they had any orphans he could help out. He was set to work helping in the kitchens. The rest of the party joined him after being dropped off by Tirouv and assisted in his good works, although they left Nigel to his own thoughts.

And with that, the game ended for the night.

So I have the suspicion that the next game (hopefully next weekend), the party will finally get around to heading out towards their castle. Unfortunately Irilian has long since lost control of the lands, pretty much outside the castle and it has been claimed by an assortment of humanoid(ish) tribes, ranging from Kobolds, up to Ogres.

Not to mention some more powerful creatures than that, that The Dark brought down from the mountains (including, but not limited to some Frost Giant's who broke through the southern gate to the city just before the party went down the well).

Potentially the party could recruit some allies and rally a small army. The city itself does not have troops to spare, but the Brothers of Lagu regularly campaign in the wilderness seeking to hold back the tide of creatures.

If only the party hadn't exposed their holy relic as a fake, not to mention stopping the regular flow of pilgrims (and their subsequent donations), thus earning their enmity. Still, they could always take on mercenaries, not to mention they may find help from (very) unexpected quarters, especially if they make it public that they are going to clear the hostile tribes and reclaim the land for Irilian.

The next session will be the last of this year, so hopefully they will spend the session organising themselves, and be ready to sally forth in the New Year.

Picking up with the group finishing up helping orphans and old people at the Abbeie, they headed back to Khalrad's place to get changed for a night as the one inn, in the town they had not yet murdered anyone in. The group decided to get out of their armour for once, since this place was a bit more upmarket than their usual haunt. Nigel however decided to take his sword and shield.

Alas he was not allowed to take them inside, nor did the inn (The Stormridden, named after the city's 'elite' cavalry regiment). They did not have a place for him to hand his weapon into either, so he decided to take them outside and leave them in their cart. He found a bunch of half a dozen urchins (members of a local street gang), who offered to watch his cart for a fee and make sure nothing bad happened to it. He gave them 2 silvers each (a huge amount of money to a homeless child), which assured they would be looking out for him in the future to see if they could fleece be of any assistance to him.

Seriously, the group traded in a top of the line carriage with shock absorbers and all mod cons for a cart. WTF?

Anyway, they all dressed in their best finery, except for Zolis who was not allowed to wear his hat that proclaimed him to be "Zolis, the grat and puwurful wizzzard!" and threw a strop about this. He was even more upset that Val did not want him to demonstrate how his lightning bolts could cause buildings to collapse. Eventually they managed to get out the house though, travelled to the inn where they were taken to Tirouv's table and enjoyed a sumptuous 4 course meal.

Given recent events I was surprised no one checked the food was poisoned. Nigel did however stick to just drinking water, forsaking the free wine. Unlike Zolis who liberally imbibed it).

The group asked Tirouv if he could use his contacts within the city to help them organise an expedition for them. He said he would do so, for a 10% brokers fee. The rest of the dinner was taken up in discussions of what the party might need. Tirouv did confess he had no experience in castle building and repair. He could guess they would need professional stone masons, carpenters, perhaps an architect depending on the what, if any damage had been sustained by the castle. They would need slaves to carry out the work (I expected Nigel to speak up at this point, but surprisingly he was silent. He is still upset about having indirectly caused the deaths of two children), and they'd certainly need tools to quarry stone from the mountainside, carts and wagons to provide supplies (or alternatively powerful magic to do all the work), guards for the caravan, not to mention regular supply wagons. Budgets were discussed and the fact that the lands the party had been awarded had long since been lost to the city. These creatures would need clearing out, and he recommended they speak to Timis for information on the local tribes.

All in all, the party is preparing for a weighty task.

The party decided to see if the Brotherhood of Lagu would be willing to provide some additional manpower towards clearing the evil creatures from around the city. After all, they had been told the brothers regularly campaigned in the region during the summer months.

Yeah, the same Brotherhood of Lagu that used to have a holy relic of their god until the party smashed it and revealed it to be a fake. Those guys.

Ok, let's see if I can get enough time to type more than a line or two.

The Monastarium was investigated and the doors were found to be barred. Locals told them the compound had been sealed up since Dark Rise. The paladins were receiving their supplies but had not been seen entering or leaving since (although they had left when asked by the city counseil to provide guards for Sier Nigel's hearing).

Nigel could detect no trace of evil coming from the compound, no patrols manned the wall. Chanting could be heard from inside, but the words were made unintelligible by the distance. Deciding that whatever was happening inside was worth risking angering the paladins further, Val jumped up over the wall. No one could be seen walking around, but the chanting came from the direction of the chapel where the phoney Sceptre of Lagu had been kept. She walked over to the door which lay ajar. Inside she could see the paladins dressed in horsehair robes, whipping themselves as they chanted.

Apparantly they haven't just laughed off the whole destruction of their holy relic which turned out to be fake.

Rather than disturb them to ask for their help, Val decided to leave a note pinned to the door with a dagger asking them to get in touch with her and leaving a contact address.

Yeah, I am not thinking that the group is the Brotherhood's favourite people.

Val then quietly left the compound and returned to the party. It occured to the group that since they had destroyed the sceptre (and thus destroyed the Brotherhood's main source of income, donations from pligrims coming to see the relic), that this could potentially be a difficult situation. No one other than themselves and the Brothers themselves knew of it's destruction, or that it had been a fake. They decided that they should talk this over with Tirouv and asked him to meet them for a second night in The Stormridden.

Tirouv is actually starting to get a bit irritated with the party. They are constantly disturbing him, distracting him from his business. This may cost them a bit extra when it comes to paying him for their expedition as he looks to recoup any missed profits. However, bearing in mind he does have his own plans for the party and aware they already owe him a favour, putting them more in his debt might not be a bad thing and he agrees to meet them. This time the group did manage to leave their weapons behind, however Nigel decided to go in armour and was refused entry (the place has a dress code, and as I explained to the party many times, walking around in heavy armour isn't quite the done thing in a city unless it is under attack). Nigel ended up standing outside while the others went in.

When Val explained to Tirouv about the sceptre he exclaimed that this answered a few questions he'd been wondering about recently and made for excellent blackmail material for the future (even though he was standing outside and couldn't hear this conversation, Nigel felt a shudder run down his spine as these words were spoken). Discussions were had concerning the expedition with the party eager to start on the morro. This caused quite some amusement to Tirouv who explained such a thing could not possibly be put together in any shorter a time than a week.

And with this, tonights game came to an end.

Oh, forgot to mention that Nigel has now had his powers restored. I was going to make him undergo a visionquest type scenario where he would have to come face to face with his own soul and come to terms with his crimes. However after his confession and the subsequent trial I felt this was retreading old ground and took the decision to move forward. However, Nigel has been warned (by what he thinks is his god, but was really just one of his minions) that to slip off the path of rightousness will lead to a smiting that will serve as a warning to others for generations to come.

Translated, I've let him off easy but if he fails again his fall will all the further for it.

Prepping up stuff for tomorrow. Came up with a small army to follow the party out into the wilderness. 47 people, wagons, draft animals, supplies... It's going to cost the party, but not as much as they expect (a bit over a thousand gold in upfront expenses and under three gold per day in wages).

Heading back to their lodgings following the meal, the party headed back to Khalrad's place. They spent the night peacefully and in the morning decided to just wait for Tirouv to tell them he had managed to assemble their expedition. In the meantime they engaged in charitable works throughout the Abbeie. After 5 days had passed this way, one of Tirouv's messenger girls arrived and bid them attend her master at their earliest conveience. The party duely trooped along to Tirouv's mansion. The smiling half elf informed the group he had assembled a suitable caravan with everything he could think of that they would need. They checked the prices and equipment Tirouv had ordered on their behalf (due to the recent depopulation of the city, labour costs were increased about 50%), decided they were reasonable enough and paid the man what they owed him. The caravan would be ready to leave the next morning at first light.

The party met with their employees (ok, so they haven't figured out half the people following them are slaves yet) and heading off through the Nord Gaet and into the wilderness beyond. About ten minutes later (with some subtle hints from yours truly), they realised no one had bothered to tell Timus they were leaving. Given they'd paid him several thousand gold to accompany them. Val frantically rode back to the city, woke up the elderly sage (who was somewhat upset about not being given prior notice and enough time to pack whatever books and sundries he wished to take. Val found her bag of holding being filled up with ancient tomes. The old man then retrieved his equally ancient donkey and the duo set off. Much of the city was awake by now and cheered them on their way. It took perhaps an hour for them to rejoin the others.

My nine year old nephew is just getting into D&D and I told him about the 2000 movie which was made from the game.

Oh, that is just mean Trevor. You will scar the poor boy for life. I'd have to admit to liking the third one in the series though.

 :teddyr: :teddyr:

I've actually never seen it  :wink:

The first one is just awful mate. Badly acted... So many things about it...

The best review I can give you came from my friend Garry "Not only was I not enjoying it in the cinema, but I had paid to not enjoy it. After half an hour I decided screw the wasted money and got up and left."

As they traveled through the day, they say signs they were being watched. Sunlight glinting off metal, scouts observing their progress. Val and Nigel rode off from the group to investigate and saw half a dozen Orc's running off behind a ridgeline. Not wanting to leave the main body of the party behind to investigate further, they returned to the safety in numbers offered by the caravan. On the hills to the north, they could also see a strange shadow moving over the hills. It didn't travel straight but zigzagged its way around. The shadow wasn't heading in the group's direction, until as evening drew on the wind changed direction, blowing from the group to the mountains. Sometime after this, the shape changed its random wanderings and headed directly for the party. As the light faded though they lost sight of it.

The guard for the camp was doubled that night, however, nothing untoward happened in the darkness and the sun arose finding them unmolested. Colesta and Zolis found they both had irritating headaches they just could not shift. As the day proceeded these pains would get more intense. As they travelled, Timus filled the group in on the details of the local tribes, their territories, (pre Dark Rise) numbers, tactics and anything else he could think of that would be useful to the party.

Zolis was looking sicker as the day continued until he fell off his horse, clutching his head. Colesta was looking equally ill, when from behind a nearby hillock a mass of insects rose up and swarmed the party, concentrating on the two spellcasters. It was a few seconds before the group realised it was a cloud of bees. Zolis gritted his teeth, pulled out his wand of fireballs and unleashed one into the heart of the swarm. Tens of thousands of the creatures were incinerated, but there was still enough to threaten the group. The crawled between the gaps in armour, stinging away. Both Colesta and Zolis found their magical energies being drained as they were stung. When anyone tried to speak, they found their words coming out in a jumble and being unintelligible unless they concentrated on every word. The buzzing noise was overwhelming and blood began to drip from their ears.

Praying to her goddess for fortitude, Colesta called on her divine power and unleashed a burst of sound like a thundercrack against the drone of the insects. The rest of the bugs fell from the sky, only a few dazed bees surviving. These were quickly hunted down by the party and their entourage.

Bruised by the Spelling Bees, but not beaten the group dealt with their injuries the best they could before continuing northwards.

As Kristi was feeling rather unwell in real life, we called the game there for the night.

Hmm... tempting.

(http://i.imgur.com/oZ1AbYo.jpg)

Shaking off the last of the bugs, and pulling stings out, the party continued on their way northward. The party scouted ahead of the main convoy, while Almed kept outriders watching the flanks until they decided to halt, make camp and let the wagons catch up. Although the group has shown little interest in their employees, one of them decided to make himself known to the group. Their engineer ( a man called Longeron) came over to complain about the standard of his accommodation, pointing out that a man of his standing should not be expected to rough it in the wild. His demands did not impress the party much). They offered to pay off his contract and he could head back to the city.

Alone.

The next day the terrain slowly got rougher, low hillocks dominating the landscape. It would exhaust the pack animals to drag the wagons up and down each hill, so the caravan slowly wound its way between the hills. From up ahead though, the group could hear the unmistakable sounds of battle drifting towards them. Nigel headed up one of the hills and could see in the distance some humanoid creatures, perhaps two dozen or so, battling with each other. The group decided to stay out of the fight and started moving around to the east.

Had they went west instead, they would have missed this next fight entirely.

Zolis sent his raven up to scout ahead, he reported back that a bunch of large creatures were waiting to ambush the other creatures who were fighting each other. Each must have been easily twice the size of a man, and they were right in the parties path.

As the humanoids (Orcs and Bugbears) clashed on a hillside the Ogres watched waiting for the moment to charge. Meanwhile, the party crept ever closer to look at the Ogres. Zolis climbed to the top of a nearby hill and lay down in the grass to spy on them (and was surprisingly stealthy for a man in a bright red robe). Colesta and Nigel stayed on the lower ground, peering around the edge of a hill. Unfortunately, as the Ogres charged towards the fight, two of them spotted the party and charged them instead. With their greater height and reach one of them was able to swipe at Nigel, its cudgel smashing into his chest. Nigel, however, was too far away to strike back and would have to close with it in order to hit it. This would leave him open to a further, equally painful blow that almost knocked him off its feet. Zolis fired off a pair of scorching rays at the second creature, which with a roar of pain charged up the hill towards him.

Lying down on the ground while an Ogre barbarian pounds on you with half a tree trunk is not the ideal position and he was almost broken in half by its assault. The mage did something he had not done for quite some time, and decided the rest of the party could handle the fight while he went for a sleep.

During this time I reminded the party that drinking a potion of healing was a free action, and that if Val was attacking creatures from behind then she could do sneak attack damage as apparently she had forgotten this was one of her abilites. I thought we were about to lose one or two party members, although at this point I also decided to let the dice roll as they may and if a character died then so be it.

Seconds later, finally succumbing under the hammer blows of the other Ogre, Nigel joined Zolis in the dreamtime, slowly bleeding out. Both Ogres were by now badly wounded too, although still on their feet. Could Colesta and Val finish them off before falling themselves?

Val drew her pretty pink bow (and her player in no way hates me for giving her a pink bow at all), took aim at the Ogre on the hill and sank an arrow deep into the back of it's head. Gurgling on its own blood the massive creature crashed to the ground.

Right on top of the unconscious Zolis.

Oh well, I am sure it would stop him from getting cold.

Colesta meanwhile drew deep from her well of arcane power and send a gout of flame to engulf the second Ogre. It screamed in pain, but did not fall. She then cast a healing spell, returning Nigel to consciousness. Seeing the Ogre towering over him, he found where his face had fallen and smashed it into the monsters foot. Howling and hopping on one foot, it was then easily finished off by the pair. The party watched as the rest of the Ogres massacred both the other tribes, collected up the bodies and headed off to the north west, apparently heedless of their missing comrades.

Breathing deeply and feeling the pain of her wounds, Colesta poured healing into herself and Nigel. Val and Timus joined them, the latter of whom exclaimed that the Ogres tribe lands were to the east of here. What were they doing here? Traditionally they were known for being very lazy. And why did they ignore their fallen comrades?

Rather than heading off and risking running into the other Ogres, the party decided to make camp for the night. Then they remembered Zolis, who was quietly bleeding to death and suffocating beneath the someone pungent bulk of the other dead Ogre. It took some doing, but they managed to drag his supine form out of the dent in the ground he was lying in.

Had he died, this would have actually been quite handy for the group. They could just have rolled some stones on top and called it good. That is if they actually decided to go to the effort required for a funeral. I've noticed they tend not to bother with these when players die. Kill off an NPC and they are all over it though.

Once they'd found a suitable campground, they waited for the rest of the caravan to catch up. Once Almed had been told of what had happened he decided to double the guard. The night passed peacefully enough, although the sounds of the wilderness caused then a fitful sleep at best.

In the morning over breakfast, Nigel asked to speak in private to the others. He had been praying to Lathander a lot for guidance and had decided to give up all his worldly possessions. He would no longer wear armour, or use magic items keeping only his normal clothes and his mace (as his horse is a supernatural creature I allowed him to keep this and his saddle and still be within the terms of his vow)

This caused quite some consternation within the group. Would they now be effectively carrying a much weaker party member? They tried talking him out of this course of action, but Nigel was determined that he had to undergo a penance for his actions and indirectly causing the deaths of two children.

I wonder if the party made the connection between it being Ogres that killed the children and the ones they had just fought? If they did no one mentioned it.

Nigel passed his goods and valuables out to the rest of the group which they took with mixed feelings on the matter.

I had been going to throw a second encounter at the players but given how close they'd came to being wiped out, I backed off and let them have a quiet day.

The caravan headed northwards once again. By the end of the days travelling they could see the towers of their castle in the distance. As the sun dipped below the horizon they could see a flickering light from a tower window.

Someone was apparently living in their castle.

Dum dum DAH!

Again the night was a peaceful enough one and in the morning they knew a few hours travel would bring them to their castle. Timus filled in the group on the history of the castle and how while the castle was under siege by Sembians to prevent Irilian entering an alliance with Cormyr all the inhabitants had been found dead. Cormyr had sent an army which had annihilated half the Sembian army at Irilian proper, then marched to relieve the castle. Caught between the castle and the Cormyrians, the remaining Sembians surrendered. Although the walls had not been breached everyone inside was dead. The Cormyrians blamed their prisoners and had them executed on masse, said the castle was accursed and quit the area. With the nobles all dead, and no obvious successor the alliance had fallen apart and Irilan continued on its decline.

Approaching midday they finally arrived at the castle. It had been a long time since they'd first heard of it, way back when they liberated a nameless village on the outskirts of Teziir from Black Hand mercenaries. The castle itself was built out of the mountain rock, molded by magic. Outside lay the long-abandoned siege engines that had once threatened the castle. To the west, a waterfall poured down the mountainside before snaking its way around the castle walls and then disappearing into a cave on the eastern side. Over this moat stood a bridge, large enough to take two wagons and allow them to pass in different directions, but over seventy years of neglect had left it in a somewhat dilapidated state. Behind that stood the main gatehouse, although both the gates and portcullis had fallen to the ravages of time. Entering through the gaping gate they noted one of the western towers had collapsed completely and much of the west wall had been brought down.

Were the stories of the castles fate missing some details?

The castle itself appeart to be built in two squares forming a digital number 8. The outer box contained a two story keep in the middle and some buildings around the side, including a stable and blacksmith. The squat keep had one heavy door which lay open. Peering inside the group found their first evidence of a fight. A jumble of skeletons lay scattered around. This had been no ordered defence but a scattered melee. Other than the skeletons, all that could be seen on the ground floor was a well and a staircase leading upwards. About half the ceiling had collapsed, but the party were able to safely make their way upstairs. The remains of the second story contained an armoury with many bows, crossbows and ammunition for them. The stairs continued up to the roof. Nigel went up to investigate but found nothing else of interest. Deciding the outer castle had nothing else worth investigating at the moment it was decided to move to the inner area.

The partition wall dividing both sections was intact as was the inner wall. The sad tattered remains of some knotted ropes hung from the wall. Perhaps this is how the scouts checked the inner castle out?

Colesta climbed up over the partition wall and walked down into the courtyard of the inner keep. Although the west wall was also damaged here, the damage seemed less than the outer area. Whereas the outer courtyard was hard packed ground, the inner one was cobbled, although grass and weeds had grown in the cracks between the stones. She moved the bar from the main gate allowing the others to enter. At the rear of the inner courtyard were a number of buildings built into the mountain. A very ornate door on the western edge of the buildings attracted their attention and they decided to start with that.

The double doors opened into a hallway. Directly across from the doors was an archway with a crude barricade pilled up before it. Off to the right was a staircase going both up and downwards. It was decided that they would investigate the ground floor first.

Just as well really, I haven't finished designing those parts of the castle yet.

Clearing away the barricade, the group revealed what seemed to be a throne room. The middle of the floor was dominated by a heap of skeletons, while two more corpses sat on thrones at the back of the room. Judging from their clothes one was male, the other female. Each held a golden chalice on their lap.

Three other exits led from the throne room. One was a set of double doors near the thrones on the north wall, while two others were in the east wall. Opening the double doors first, they found themselves in a shadow wreathed garden of some kind. A faded sign, barely legible read "The Night Garden - Beware of the plants!"

It was decided for the moment, not to investigate this area and they returned to the throne room. The first of the eastern doors led to a guard room, and in a further room beyond that, an armoury, still containing many usable weapons and some suits of armour. This was however a dead end and they had to return to the throne room. The next door led to another room, about the same size as the guard room, but with no clue as to its function. Another door did lead onwards however. That left just one room in this part of the castle unexplored, the night garden, and the stair case. The party decided however to now move over to the other side of the buildings and explore there.

And with that we ended the game for the night.

The party realised they had missed out a room and returned into the complex. The final room had the appearance of a barracks. Many beds filled the room, each with a single wooden chest. Looking through the boxes the party found old clothes and the occasional private geegaw. It was then decided to descend the stairs and check out beneath the castle. The stairs went down much further than the group expected, and they ended up somewhere around thirty feet underground. They found a set of cells, some with skeletons inside, an 'enhanced interrogation' room with all manner of classic torture devices, although no long expired corpses were in place and a long-abandoned guard room. A jug and some wooden tankards sat on the table which Zolis attempted to drink from. When the party later returned to this room, he tried to drink from it again, claiming that someone might have refilled it while they were out.

It was pointed out to him that people up stairs had died from poison and drinking anything could be a risky business.

They also after following a long corridor found a pit. Dropping a coin into the darkness, it fell for a count of eight before the heard it chink against the floor beneath.

Nigel asked for an arrow, cast a spell to make it glow like a bright summers day and dropped it down the hole. The group watched it fall. The hole got narrower until it was only broad enough for a body to fit through. The party could not see what was beneath well, but something was down there and it did not like the light.

An unholy, raging howling filled the air. Screams and shouts echoed all around making a confusing mess of noise. Zolis attempted to cast a spell that would allow him to float gently down the hole, but the rest of the party persuaded him this was a daft idea. Finally, the group followed a long, narrow passageway that wound its way north and east, gently leading upwards twisting and turning several times. Eventually, the sounds faded with distance or ceased as the spell dissipated. They emerged into a massive wine cellar. Val pocketed a few of the bottles and the group agreed one, not to let Timus loose in the room, or even mention to him that this place existed. Two, they should not let Zolis in here by himself.

A set of stone steps led back up and the group found themselves in an ancient kitchen. Utensils had long since rusted to the surface. A set of double doors let to the south and an archway to the west. Heading westward, first of all, they found they were in a room filled with shelves and jars. The scents of spices still hung in the air. Nigel said no one should taste of them though and turned around to see Zolis with a guilty look on his face, his hand half in an open jar. Another archway led further westward. This time however the room was only decorated with hooks hanging from the ceiling. Some of them had bones still dangling from them, while other bones lay on the ground beneath them. Any meat that had once covered them had long since decayed. This room was a dead end, so they returned to the kitchen and took the southernly door.

The next room was the largest they had yet seen. Long tables ran the length of the room forming a 'C' shape. A spiral staircase and a grand staircase both led upwards. The ceiling had collapsed inwards, leaving a few denuded wooden beams pointing up into the air and giving the room a skeletal air. A set of stained glass windows once looked out over the courtyard outside, but most of them were now broken. At the far end of the room sat a spherical mass. It looked as if it was made of wood, but did not look natural. A two-foot wide hole led inside, and with an excited whoop Zolis ran over and stuck his head inside, shouting "I think this is a huge wasps nest!"

Almost immediately an angry buzzing noise arose from inside the next.

Zolis pulled his head out of the nest and asked "Did I just do something stupid?"

Angry wasps starting pouring out of the hive, each around two feet from mandible to stinger and swarmed over the party stinging them repeatedly. Colesta summoned some sound burst spells, damaging both the party and the wasps but not killing them.

The party had hit a couple in melee by the time Kristi cast those spells and they'd found out the insects had a decent amount of health. The AOE weapons Kristi used weakened them considerably, and although they weren't powerful enough to kill the creatures, did leave them badly wounded. The party however concentrated all their attacks on one creature at a time to kill them off, generally achieving a lot of overkill. Had they spread their damage out a bit more, the fight would have been much easier on them

Each sting brought with it a load of poison which left the victim feeling disorientated, hitting their fine motor skills. Eventually, this overcame Colesta and she collapsed to the ground, conscious but unable to do more than twitch spasmodically on the floor. Zolis was overcome by the cloud of flying creatures and collapsed.

At this point I changed Zolis's name to 'The Great Nacralepto**'. I wonder how long it will be until he notices.

Val and Nigel bravely battled on as more and more angry wasps* came to fight the intruders (each round I rolled a dice, starting with a D3 and going up to the next size dice each round for how many wasps emerged until they were all out of the hive.

Near death and wondering why they were being bugged by so many flying insects recently, the survivors were surrounded. Despite taking many more hits from the creatures they eventually stood alone in a room, surrounded by battered and splattered insect bodies and ichor everywhere. Fortunately for the group they now have hirelings they can have clean up this sort of mess for them now.


*Like angry birds but would make a better movie.
** If any narcoleptics out there are offended by this, before you reply just sleep on it.

I just ordered the Dungeons and Dragons movie (2000) for my nephew who wants to see it.  :buggedout:

Before he watches it Trevor, make sure he watches 'The Avengers' (the Uma Thurman one).

It will make the D&D movie seem less painful.

Having taken something of a beating the party decided to retreat to the camp outside rather than risk exploring further and find any other creatures which had taken up residence in their castle. Having to carry Colesta back outside and the bloodstains on the other characters did not fill the rest of their entourage with confidence. That night, once again a bright light shone from the window in the tallest tower.

In the morning, Colesta had recovered enough to cast spells and was able to start working on purging the party of the toxins that had left them nearly crippled. Her remaining energies went into healing the group up. What the party had told the guards about what happened inside the castle had spread like wildfire throughout the camp and Longeron, their somewhat pompous engineer told the group that none of the hirelings would be crossing the bridge until they could be promised that it was completely safe to do so. Although the party threatened to withhold their wages, the entire camp was behind Longeron on this. Timus was handed the book of days they had found in the throne room. It detailed the day to day happenings of the castle including the events just before it fell. It talked of creatures from inside the mountains coming out and the nobles taking poison when all seemed lost rather than allowing the creatures to take them.

It took a second nights rest before the party felt ready to re-enter the castle again. Once more the lone light burned brightly in the tower.

I definitely need a night garden like the Princess had.

In that case, the plants you are looking for are Assassin Vines, a Shambling Mount, Orcwort Tree and a Tendriculos. Each of them is bound into a separate area of the garden but is free to attack anyone who enters its 'zone'.

Wonder if I could train them to particularly go after poachers?

Yes, that would not be a problem.

The tough part would be training them not to go after something.

Nigel asked the others what they would think of turning the barracks into a memorial to those who died defending the castle. There was general agreement on this. By the next day everyone felt well enough to venture once more and continue their exploration. Val had gotten fed up of finding Timus lying passed out drunk when she wanted to speak to him and asked Nigel to retrieve a footlocker from the barracks so she could put all his alcohol in it. He should have brought two as one wasn't quite large enough to contain everything.

Deciding they were fit to face the castle, they shouldered their gear and entered the walls once more, returning to the feast hall and headed up the grand staircase. This brought them to a minstrels gallery which had a pair of doors leading out. One led to a series of rooms filled with cheap furniture which the group guessed was meant for the servants. The other set of doors led to a much more expensively appointed room. The walls bore many maps of the local area while the room was dominated with a large, circular table surrounded by chairs. Although they searched, nothing else of interest was found in this room. One more door led from the room. Colesta opened the door which slowly creaked open to reveal....

The end of the session for the night.

I wonder if next week the party will be able to finish exploring the castle, or at least find out about the night light? Will they ever come up with a name for the group beyond the temporary one I gave them? Given they know they have a lycanthrope in the group, what happens when the full moon arrives (currently they have a waxing 1/4 moon, so they have some time to think about this, but not too long). Given they did not clear any of the humanoid tribes out of the area on their journey north, is their route southward now cut off?

 :buggedout: +  :teddyr: :teddyr:

I'm still going to re-write that review which I had on here and deleted.  :wink:

You should do a review of your nephew watching the D&D movie. Maybe kids will enjoy it more, but I can just imagine the different contortions of agony his face will go through with it.

A GM should never fall in love with one of his NPC's. Luckily the one I am working on is being a real pain in the ass to design and I think I'll be glad if the party kill him off.

And I have finally finished detailing the rooms inside the castle. :) 60 internal rooms as well as the outside spaces.

Novelize this, sir!

Colesta opened the door which slowly creaked open to reveal....

A wide, stone-floored corridor running north/south. Several door were set in the same wall the party were peering out from, and at the southern end a staircase led both up and down. In the opposite wall only a single door could be seen, although the room with the stairs to the south did get wider beyond the parties ability to see from the current vantage point.

They are going to find a plethora of magical items tonight. One of which could go horribly wrong in so many ways. I've not included this item in any of my games before so it will be interesting to see how that all works out.

Searching this floor, the group found that it seemed to consist of rooms for officers of various ranks and a trophy room with many battle standards and relics of past conflicts, not to mention a book wherein the names of all of those who had fallen in the defence of the city had their names written (although somewhat out of date given it hadn't been written in, in the past 70 years). The next floor up contained a chapel to the Irilian gods (one of which Zolis drew a 'tache and monocle on). The other rooms indicated this was where the nobles of the castle lived. In one room, evidently, one where women spent time Colesta found a strange device (which is the fault of one of the women on this forum who will remain nameless), which had the following description...

"You see something about the length of a dagger in one of the drawers. It has an unusual 'wavy' design. On the base is inscribed 'Bino's Love Emporium. Sword of Pleasure +5. Ribbed for her pleasure."

I'll save her blushes and let the deviant who inadvertently suggested this item remain nameless.  :wink:

Old clothes once grand but now moth-eaten hung in wardrobes. Unusually a somewhat plain brown dress alone was untouched. This tested as having magical properties, but since no one had identify prepared they were unable to tell what those properties were.

Unable to access the area above the feast hall from this part of the building, the party continued on their way upstairs. Firstly they found a sort of sitting room, with a bearskin rug, some comfortable looking chairs, and a large fireplace, with a door leading further in. Moving through that, the party found themselves in a bedroom, with two large glass doors opening up onto a balcony. The balcony had a view of the mountain a few feet away, and down to the Night Garden. Also, the group could see a tunnel leading into the mountain just past the Garden. The bedroom contained a truly massive bed some 15 feet long and ten feet wide. On a desk in the room, the party saw five rings, each bearing the seal of the royal family (a Wyvern bursting forth from a burning jewel). They left these on the desk and continued on to the next room. This turned out to be a nursery, although it did not seem to have been in use at the time of the castles fall. A box of wooden toys sat forlornly in one corner which Nigel decided could be donated to the orphanage back in Irilian. The nursery also contained another door which led to a room with a spiral staircase leading upwards. The room also contained all sorts of magical items, evidently the personal property of the lord and lady of the castle. Suits of armour, weapons, crowns and royal regalia filled the room. Unable to identify any of the items at the moment, however, they left them alone for the moment and climbed the stairs. This took them to a room with a heavily reinforced trapdoor, but no other decoration. A search for traps or secret doors revealed nothing, but an attempt to detect any magic in the room revealed it was a magical dead zone. With no other options to continue this way, the party returned to the sitting room and went up the spiral stairs there.

The first room on the next level took them to a guard room, with a single heavily constructed door. Val examined the door and found several magical traps which she did her best to disarm, then picked the lock to the door. The lock itself seemed magical and changed its workings every few seconds, but Val's skills were up to the task. She unpicked the lock, and somewhat less confidently announced that she had disarmed the trap (she disarmed one of the three magical traps on the door).

Opening the door, the party realised they had found the royal treasury. Chests full of jewels and a pile of gold coins deep enough to swim in greeted their eyes.

Somewhere in the hearts of the party a choir of angels was singing hallelujah!

Then Nigel remembered his vow of poverty and cried.

Deciding to test if she had made the room safe or not, the rogue entered the room and picking up a handful of gold pieces attempted to leave.

This room had multiple traps and alas Val had only managed to disarm one of them.

Glowing arcane purple bolts manifested from the very walls and slammed into the luckless woman, while from the door a thin green ray that is the calling card of a Disintegrate spell hit her. She staggered backward, dropped the coins and then safely fled the room without further disaster. It occurred to Colesta at this point that perhaps the rings with the royal seals she had seen downstairs could possibly be of use in this room. She ran back downstairs and came back with the five rings. She and Zolis took one each while Val held onto the other three. Repeating their experiment, Colesta was this time able to remove some treasure with no ill effects.

In December last year, my nephew was telling me about certain characters in D&D who live in the shadows, so Uncle Zombie told him about the scary, blind and insane nun who lives in the dark in the eerie The Crimson Rivers.  :buggedout:

(http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2000_The_Crimson_Rivers/000TCR_Dominique_Sanda_002.jpg)

Now he wants to see that movie too: Oy.

Estimates on the treasure trove ranged from 300,000 gold up to a cool 1,000,000. Combined with the magical items from below this would mean a significant advance in the parties fortunes. What could possibly go wrong now.

Well for a start, the money in that room technically belongs to Irilian. Perhaps I'll let the party spend it before they find this out. Still, when you are top of the world the only way you can go is down.

Excited by their finds and wondering what else lay ahead, they headed up the stairs to the tall tower. These stairs went on for quite some height, eventually ending in a trapdoor. Opening it, they climbed through onto the top of the highest tower, from where every night a bright light glowed.

Climbing through the trapdoor, the group found themselves in a strange looking green stone room. The ground felt slightly unpleasant and it felt like their feet would sink slightly into the stone each step they took, although to the touch the stone seemed solid enough. The room itself was larger than the dimensions of the tower would suggest. It was square with large double doors set in each wall. It was decided to open the northern doors first. They were locked, but once again Val was up to the task of unlocking them. All the while the party could smell some stench emanating from behind the door. Somewhere between rotting meat and a cesspool.

Opening the door, the party were confronted by a massive, roiling blob of what seemed to be living material. It was perhaps twenty feet wide and half that toil. Noisome eyes would appear on the surface of the mound, blink and disappear back into its huge bulk. Val quickly slammed the door shut and decided to investigate elsewhere first. Whatever the creature was it either couldn't follow or chose not to. Working their way around to the eastern door, they tried this one next. Unlike the first door, this one wasn't locked. The room it revealed had a floor where black and red colours swam like lava. Two circles surrounded by arcane writing lay on the floor and at the far end of the room a plain, unmarked altar sat (lacking any bloodstains or any other signs of nefarious activities). The floor was carefully probed, but was found to be safe enough to stand on. Looking at the symbols, Zolis announced that they were used in the summoning of creatures from the higher and lower plains.

Although Nigel wanted Zolis to summon something immediately, he demurred, saying he hadn't learned any summoning spells for the days. The group was forced to move on without any divine forms, or demonic ones gracing them with their presence.

The next room (the southernly door), was a large stone-floored room. Some of the stones bore markings of fire or lightning being scorched and partially melted. Two small doors, in the south and east led to some gently glowing white rooms that gave anyone entering a supreme sense of peacefulness and contentment. In the western wall sat a large pair of double doors and it was through this door everyone went next.

Some of the rooms they had thus far encountered had surprised them. However, when they opened this door and entered into a large, open field on a sunny day, it truly shocked them.

To the south, a rectangular window hung unsupported in the air. Between the group and them lay a sparkling pond, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens... Elsewhere a large double bed sat on the grass. Beside that was a large pile of books.

As the doors opened, the noise attracted the attention of a singularly unusual figure. He was dressed in the motley of a fool, and one hand swung a stick on the end of which danced an inflated pigs bladder. He cappered, leaping into the air, clapping his feet together before he landed, then lept and jigged his way over to the party. The man looks around fifty years old, give or take. As he reached the party, he puffed out his skinny chest and declared "Ah! You must be my new advisors. An Emperor cannot rule his Empire without advisors after all. No no no he can't. You shall attend me in council shortly. I am the Emperor. Everyone else was killed, left me all alone they did. Since no one else was here that makes me the boss it does. Oh yes. I am the man in charge."

Asking him what his empire is brought the answer "Well, the entire world of course. I started out as the king of just here, but as time passed my holdings increased and now the world belongs to me. It does, doesn't it? See, they all agree with me." as he gestured to a non-existent crowd around him. As he spoke he resumed his dancing, jumping from foot to foot, the bells jingling with every twitch.

Eventually, the figure seemed to bore of talking to his minions and jumped in his bed, pulling the covers over his head from under which emerged the sound of fake snoring.

Somewhat non-plussed, the party decided to continue with their explorations. Looking out the window, they could see out over the castle and the lands to the south (If anyone casts detect magic on this window they will discover it can do a bit more than just show the view to the castle approach)  along with the camp where the workers awaited the party clearing out the castle before they would enter it and go to work.

With only the old man snores and the various animals around them, the party decided to leave the pleasant meadow and continue onwards. The door in the north wall beckoned and the lords of the castle were keen to finish exploring their domain. Opening these doors brought the party into a large room filled with heavily loaded bookshelves. Eager to see if any of the books contained any new arcane knowledge both Colesta and Zolis started searching the books. They were somewhat disappointed when all the books had titles like "The Greek Billionaires Mistress Who Was Bought By The Sheik" or "Half a hundred colours between black and white".

Evidently, a previous inhabitant was a fan of trashy romance novels.

Further doors in the north and east walls led on from this room, which it has to be said was something of a disappointment to the party, who failed to see the potential profits to be made from a collection of romance novels gathered from across multiple dimensions.

The north door led to a simple if sizable bedroom. The only notable thing about this room was the carpet appeared to have to naked image of a four-armed and four-legged man inside a square and circle. They returned to the library and the east door which took them back to the unpleasant green stone room. This left only the northern door with the blob behind it.

Once again, the door was opened, revealing the monstrous, putrid blob lurking behind. Nigel and Colesta stood at the front, while Zolis and Val stood behind. Zolis immediately unleashed his most powerful spell, a multicoloured spray of beams leaping from his fingertips to strike anything in their path.

Including Nigel...

Although the paladin took some painful damage from the careless mages' spell, the massive blob bore the brunt of it. Its body began to hiss and pop, shriveling and shrinking as it did so until it left behind a greasy looking stain on the ground and a noxious odor. Now the beast was gone, the rest of the room could be explored. The blob had been standing on a circle of arcane writings (which had held the monster in place, so it couldn't have attacked the party unless they entered the circle). The rest of the room was evidently a wizards workshop and a virtual treasure trove of magical scrolls and potions, not to mention many items which gave off a magical aura although the party could not at the moment tell what their abilities actually were, or even if the items were beneficial or cursed.

It was with some delight that Zolis found a pack of cards. He squealed and insisted that everyone draw some cards, saying he recognised what this was.

Nigel pulled a card out, saying he would draw another later. On drawing the card, Nigel was shocked to find he was suddenly naked, and his mace vanished. Giggling and laughing, the wizard insisted Colesta try next. She drew out a card and was immediately struck by a curse, weakening her resistance to spells. Zolis himself drew a card and found he had grown in power and gained a magical item, although he didn't know its powers. Val now decided she would draw a card only to find all her magical possessions vanished!

This included the bags of holding which contained the last of the masks the party had found and the party treasury.

Oh just wait until the party find out what else they have lost.

Nigel now took a second card, and vanished from sight. Although the party don't know it, Nigel has been trapped, frozen in an underground prison deep under the earth. There are ways he could be rescued, but this would require much higher level magic than the party currently has.

And on that note, the game ended for the night.

So, time for a bit of behind the scenes stuff. Since the castle is a group possession and two of the party have lost all their possessions, has the castle now vanished too? The rooms the party are in just now are an interdimensional space. If the castle is gone, they are now trapped there without a way out. This would very much end the campaign, although equally since the party has managed to lose all the masks they had collected and have no way of tracking down any other ones it is difficult to see the campaign continuing.

So should I continue it, or call an end to it? Hmm.

Everyone stood in open-mouthed amazement staring at the space Nigel used to occupy, a single card slowly drifting to the ground. The group demanded Zolis tell them what he knew about the cards. He explained they were powerful and every card could bring the user fortune or misery.

Nigel had just gotten a bit unlucky. It would take more higher powered magic than the group currently possessed to bring him back but perhaps in the future, something could be done to return him.

Val and Colesta wanted to search the castle and see if they could find any trace of the paladins. Humphrey the dog that had adopted Nigel whined and looked sadly at the party wondering where his human had vanished to. Heading to the stairs in the green room the pair were shocked to discover the staircase appeared to have vanished with an inky black void having replaced it. Zolis explained that they seemed to have left the dimension of existence they had occupied previously, and well not entered another one. They were somehow in a place between dimensions, a place thinner than a piece of paper, existing only in the moments between seconds. The rooms they were in had been created by magic, and the cards removing the castle had left them adrift in space-time.

The rest of the group had no idea what he was talking about.

Colesta suggested heading back to the field to look out the window. As they moved through the next room, they ran into the self-proclaimed Emperor of the World. He said "Ah, my subjects. Have you finally came to swear your fealty to me?"

Zolis questioned him somewhat, but the group decided to they might as well. He promised as the ruler of the world he would give his loyal subjects each a boon. He had the power to restore anything they had lost. Each of the group, in turn, swore to serve the Emperor. As the last vow was taken, the world seemed to spin and dance. The old man transformed. No longer old and bent over, this figure was inhumanly tall, and clad from head to toe in black leather, with long brown hair tumbling from behind a mask. Many sheathed daggers decorated his costume.

With a harsh intake of breath, Colesta recognised the figure as an avatar of the dark god Mask, patron to thieves and assassins. He bowed to the group telling them he'd be in touch in the future with instructions for them and then with a clap of thunder, he vanished. In the silence that followed, they could hear the sounds of fake snoring drifting through from the field in the next room.

They went through to the field to question the old man, however they received only grumpy answers and demands to be left alone to sleep. He threatened to have his men-at-arms behead the party if they did not leave him alone.

(The group had entered a realm where Mask was hiding from a creature called Kezef, the chaos hound. Detecting the intruders immediately, and realising they were too weak to help against Kezef, he decided they might be useful in the future and therefore moved to secure their services as potential tools.

Giving up on the old man, the party searched the castle from top to bottom looking in vain for any trace of Nigel.

Meanwhile, outside the castle a stranger was wandering into the camp ~(which having seen the castle vanish and then reappear was in some degree of turmoil).

The stranger told the others he'd been part of a caravan ambushed by Ogres. They had been sent by Counsielman Tirouv with supplies for the rebuilding of the castle. Only the stranger had survived, forced to flee for his life. Few though would stop long enough to chat to him and hear his story, or come to the realisation that to return to Irilian would mean braving those same Ogres.

Sooner or later, the party would have to face that threat.

The party finished searching the castle with no clue as to where Nigel had disappeared to. The saw the camp in disarray, many packing up to go home. Longeron was talking to the stranger. Many were saying the castle was cursed and wanted to abandon it.

The party is curiously unconcerned about the workers wanting to leave, or for their welfare. This kind of thing may bite them in the ass shortly, especially should they find themselves in the middle of a war and trying to raise or train an army.

The stranger however was treated as if he was an old friend. She introduced herself as Mary Rose.

Deciding they were done exploring for the day and wanting to identify some of their new toys recovered from the castle the party rested up for the rest of the night and spent the next day with their magic users looking over the goodies. Finding the rapier recovered from the castle to be far superior to her own weapons, Val claimed this for her own.

Val then offered her old weapon, not as effective as her new toy, but still a potent magical weapon to Mary. To a complete stranger.

The party may have lost roleplaying XP's around these events. Ok, as far as the party as a group goes, it is useful to share out magic items this way (although since Val tends to avoid melee combat, the more powerful rapier may be wasted on her.

The next day Zolis wished to keep identifying magical items. Looking for something more exciting the others asked Mary if she wanted to go into the castle with them to which she readily agreed. Heading off to the pit, the group attempted to illuminate the stygian blackness beneath but any light source they put down there vanished into the black. Each party member in turn tried being lowered down to the apperture leading to the pit. None of them could see anything, and having lowered and raised each party member in turn, arm muscles were starting to ache across the group. The last to try looking down was Colesta. Fatigued from their exertions however the others slipped on their grip causing the unfortunate cleric crashing down into the cold water and hard ground below. Immediately attracted by the noise, what ever was down there sensed a meal and several sets of teeth were sank into Colesta's arm, torso and leg. Unable to see anything she swung wildly with her mace, but her movements seemed strangely slow and lethargic. Her muscles refused to obey her brain and she found herself frozen. Unable to keep her balance, she fell backwards, the chill of the stagnent water embracing her. Whatever it was attacking her certainly wasn't put off by her lack of movement continuing to bite and tear at her prone body.

Alarmed at the noises from below, the other pair plunged down into the darkness, Val landing right on top of the creatures biting the paralyzed Colesta while Mary managed to land some distance away, but still shrouded in darkness. Unseen assailants threatened to swamp the group, teeth sinking into any unarmoured parts they could find. A slobbering voice cried out arcane words and spell after spell lashed Mary just as teeth rent her. In return steel blades struck out in the darkness, sometimes finding a soft target, and being rewarded with a cry of pain. Other times the blades would meet only air.

Colesta managed to fight off the effects of whatever toxin was paralyzing her, only to fall unconscious from the wounds she'd sustained. The other two made a stand in the dark, and eventually, they were the only ones standing, bloodied, but unbeaten. With the spellcaster who was keeping them shrouded in blackness dead the party, they were able to light up the pit they were in. The ceiling was beyond the reach of their feeble light, but from what they could see it seemed to be bell shaped, with a foot or so of water on the ground in which floated a bunch of strange looking corpses with doglike faces and bodies that looked like they had been dead for some time already. Colesta was fed a healing potion to bring her back around. The others were somewhat surprised when Colesta called them idiots. They were now trapped in the pit. The others had jumped down without securing a rope or any way back out.

They were stuck in a pit designed with no way to escape and hadn't told anyone where they were going.

Searching around the dingy room Val found a narrow, low tunnel apparently dug out of the rock by the hands of the pits occupants. It was large enough only for someone to enter it crawling on their belly. It was decided that Val would explore the tunnel with a rope tied to her leg. She made the first fifty feet, able to move forward only at an agonizingly slow pace. It took several hours just to make it that far and the tunnel showed no signs of getting larger or changing direction. On the other hand, she met nothing coming the other way either. The others back in the pit tied a second rope to the first and she continued her painful crawl. A third rope followed and when Val reached the end of that she started tugging on the rope so the others would let it go and she could explore further.

The same signal they'd set for her to do if she encountered a problem. They pulled hard on the rope, dragging a protesting Val all the way back to the pit. By the time they got her out she was filthy and stank. Angry with the party and seeing no other possible ways out, she decided to reenter the tunnel and explore, this time without a rope.

And with that, the session ended for the night.

After eleven hours of casting spells, Zolis started to wonder where the rest of the party was hiding, but with a shrug of his shoulders he went off to his tent to settle down for the night. Before he could get to sleep however he was interupted by Timus who was frantically looking for some alcohol and in quite a panic when he couldn't find any. As abruptly as he'd entered, he left the tent disappearing into the night. Zolis took the chance to get his head down and get some sleep. 

The crunch of bone and the scream of men being ripped to pieces by a werewolf tore him from the bosom of sleep.

Running out of his tent, Zolis almost tripped over a torso missing its legs. Having used most of his spells identifying magical items earlier in the day, Zolis whipped out one of his wands and sent a bolt of acid flying straight and true towards the beast as a man frantically fled from its slavering jaws. He watched as the skin bubbled beneath the corrosive liquid and burned, then reknit itself back together, healing all the damage he had caused.

Seeing lesser magic failing, and aware that there was nothing between him and the lycanthrope Zolis pulled out a scroll and chanted the incantation contained within. A glowing green magical fist coalesced out of the air around the man-beast, the fingers closing around it and squashing the soft meat trapped within. Bones cracked and popped as the were was slowly crushed to death. The hand continued to close tighter and tighter until the thing inside resembled nothing more than a wet rag. Sure the creature was now dead, Zolis checked around the camp to make sure no other such creatures were around. The camp was in chaos and disorder, but Zolis decided to ignore this and went back to his bed.

Despite this, he was still somewhat surprised when he woke up in the morning and found all the workers they'd hired had left taking all the horses and wagons with them.

Meanwhile, down in the pit beneath the castle the previous day.

Seeing no immediate way of getting out of the castle the party decided to settle down for the night. Colesta had a plan that would allow them to escape, but they would have to wait for the next day and crucially, she would have to get a nights rest.

The rest of the party heaped up the dead Ghoul bodies into a makeshift bed so she could at least sleep on something dry.

In what they assumed was the next morning, the cleric prayed and then intoning the language of the divine she caused the very stone to warp and change, causing a rough pillar with a staircase winding around it to appear. It took a couple of castings of the spell to get out, but she created a serviceable exit.

Any relief the party felt was strictly temporary as the exited the castle to find Zolis standing alone beside a ragged corpse.

Zolis explained about the werewolf attack and the workers abandoning them. Mary and Val set off in hot pursuit, aware that with the slow moving wagons, they could catch the deserters if they ran. Colesta decided to use her Staff of Life to resurrect the dead sage. As the damage to his body healed and he resumed his human form, Timus woke up, convinced he'd just gotten drunk the night before and had some strange hallucinations, getting upset when the others tried to tell him what had really happened and demanding they stopped trying to trick him.

The others caught up with the party and had they been 15 minutes slower the caravan would have walked into an Ogre ambush and been annihilated. The workers claimed the party didn't care about them, did nothing to protect them and the money they were paying wasn't worth dying for. Val promised to provide more protection, but it was the offer of a 5 gold piece bonus per man that really persuaded them to return. It took a few hours to get back, but once everyone was reunited it was decided to move the camp inside the castle. The workers could sleep in the outer keep which would provide them with more protection. The night was spent inside it, once the skeletons were cleared out. Longeron, the engineer asked the party if they wanted the bridge repaired or a drawbridge built instead. He asked about a few other bits and pieces and them gave them a ballpark figure of 100,000 gold to fully repair the castle.

In the morning the party now decided it was time to deal with The Night Garden, and then explore the tunnel at the rear of the castle. Opening the doors at the rear of the throne room, Zolis took out one of his wands and launched a fireball into the centre of the garden, instantly making several incredibly rare species extinct and utterly destroying many plants they could have made money from or got hard to get spell components from.

Oh well, scratch that resource.

Walking through the charred remains of a garden built out of love, the players reached the hole leading inside the mountain. It was about three foot above ground level, and between five to six feet tall, making it a little cramped for some of the taller members of the group.

With no natural light, the party used the bright reddish glow from the magical gem they'd found way back at the start of their adventures. It gave the cave an unnatural, bloodied look. The cave slowly curved around and the group reached what seemed to be a curtain of chain links hanging down along the width of the corridor. Convinced it was a trap, Val examined the chains carefully but could find no evidence of anything dangerous connected to them. Eventually she carefully moved the hanging chains and the party crept through.

The chains were actually there to prevent the giant wasps from entering the caves. The party showed an amazing amount of caution getting past them.

The cave opened up into a wider T junction. In the middle sat a dust covered chair, and beside it a brass bell lay on the ground. The passage to the right wound its way on a downward slope, while the left hand was straight and level, but curved around to the north preventing the group seeing where it led. None the less, it was this path they decided to take. After a short walk, they could see a very solidly constructed looking door, which initially seemed to be made from wood, but on closer inspection turned out to be of some grey, leathery material. Although the door had a heavy metallic lock on it the door was very slightly ajar, but alas not enough for anyone to peer through and see what lay beyond.

Opening the door revealed a long room, smoothly carved compared to the rough hewn stone of the cave outside. A white marbled floor with several doors and passages leading onwards greeted their eyes, but of immediate concern was a massive figure clad in iron sitting atop a throne carved from some purplish crystal. As the group entered the room, the iron giant stood up, steam hissing and leaking between the joints of its armour. The monstrosity stood perhaps 12 feet tall, stepped forward causing the solid marble floor to tremble in resonance with its steps and then raising its broadsword, it assumed a combat stance.

And with that we ended the session for the night.

The iron giant lumbered slowly towards the group, its weapon raised and poised to strike. Val and Mary pealed off up opposite sides of the room looking to outflank the creature. Mary however went a little too close to the giant and found it could reach further than she could. Its massive blade lashed out carving a deep wound in the unfortunate adventurer.

This of course left the casters completely open to attack from the rampaging creation. Zolis lashed at the slow creature with a bolt of lightning which sparked and arced over the torso of the armoured figure. While it did not seem to overly damage it as far as the party could tell, the slow moving monster did seem to walk even slower towards them. When it did reach the hapless wizard though, it struck him a blow that almost killed him outright. Mary meanwhile reached the throne the giant had been sitting on and searched it for some method of controlling it in vain. Val meanwhile was surprised by, and in turn surprised a grey skinned figure that ran out of a side passage. It was the height of a Dwarf, grey skinned and bald headed. Her rapier lashed out cutting deeply into the vital organs on the new arrival, causing him to stagger backwards. Val followed up, finding herself directly beside the passage he had just entered from.

She found herself attacked on her flank by a slavering horde of 8-foot tall furred creatures. From the northern corridor, more of the Dwarvish figures ran into the room. The spellcasters continued lashing out at the giant figure with spells but seeing little effect. Things looked grim for the party.

Meanwhile, in a room not so far away from all this action, a prisoner was being escorted by some other Grey Dwarfs. She had long been separated from her companions, lost and wandering in the Underdark. Her guards heard the sounds of battle nearby and looked at each other with unmistakable concern. Two of her guards ran towards the sounds of battle, leaving two with her. She hadn't been disarmed or tied up. The roar of the iron giant, the thunderclap of spells mixed with the roars and cries of combat. One of the remaining guards barked an order at the other and then left the pair. Seeing her chance to escape, the woman drew her sword and attacked her remaining captor.

Slaying him quickly, she ran along the corridor her other captors had also went along.

Back with the rest of the group, a high pitched voice shouted through the din of battle calling for everyone to stop fighting. Hearing his voice, the Duergar backed off, although they did not lower their defences. The other creatures (Underdark dwelling creatures called Quaggoths), however ignored the calls to back off, continuing to attempt to tear at Val as she lashed out at them with her deadly rapier.

Most importantly the iron wrought giant ceased pounding Zolis and Colesta into a mushy paste.

The two fighters peeling off and running behind it left the spellcasters with no one to defend them. They were never going to stand up to him for long and I think another round would have seen one of them dead.

The high pitched voice came from a tiny stick-thin figure, no more than three and a half feet tall. He looked somewhat aged and weary. Ordering the bodies to be cleared away he ushered the party over to the doorway he had entered the room from. He introduced himself as Grimal Glittergold (a name which triggered a vague memory in Zolis, but he couldn't remember why).

Grimal explained that many years ago, he had been hired to improve the defences of Irilswatch Castle. He had diverted the nearby waterfall to create a moat around the castle and ran it off through a cave leading into the mountain. Alas, unknown to him, several levels of caves beneath this a clan of Duergar had made their home. The deepest levels of their hold had been flooded by the influx of water and the survivors had been forced to dig upwards or drown, pursued by the rising water levels. Their flight had caused them to tunnel blindly, eventually exiting through the tunnel the party had found at the rear of the castle. Understandably there had been some confusion and fighting between the inhabitants and the unwitting invaders. Most everyone else had been killed, a few were taken prisoner. The Duergar used them as slaves to help build a new home, and soon noticed Grimal's skills at designing gadgets to make work easier. Since their leaders were dead, and this little gnome was able to 'suggest' ways of making their new home more secure, they listened to him more and more until one day he just seemed to have became their leader. The Duergar were not willing to leave the mountain (indeed sunlight is painful to them), and they came under attack from Drow who lived deeper in the Underdark (and lacked the numbers to defeat the Drow). Grimal had made ingenious defences, but each time they attacked a few Duergar would die, and those numbers were not being replaced fast enough. The Duergar has lost access to their iron mine, only being able to use what they could scavange so metals were very limited. To a degree they had been able to use other materials as substitutes for heavy armour, but if the party could get them more ore, especially iron they could vastly improve their odds in battle. The little metal they could get currently was used to make weapons. The Duergar did have access to several seems of gemstones and although they had no use for them, themselves, they would be willing to trade them to the party in return for much needed supplies of metal.

The party enquired about the Duergar helping to rebuild the castle. This was a possibility, dependant on the players ability to supply them with what they needed in return. When questioned about fighting for the party (the idea that the group is going to have to do something about the Ogres seems to have finally gotten through to them and they are thinking they need an army, not to mention the war with Thay getting closer to their borders). Grimal told them if they could prove their worth to the Duergar he could try and persuade them. Several days into the Underdark the Drow maintained a base they used to raid from, including the Duergar holdout. If the group could destroy this then the Duergar (who he explained were an evil race, but one that believed in sticking to their word), would surely be willing to return the favour and fight for them. He would need some time to talk it over with the clan and no doubt the party would need to discuss things themselves about what they required. He allowed the party to return to the castle to return after dark to discuss terms of a trade deal.

Retiring to the castle, Zolis decided to head to the library while the others showed their new friends around the castle. The party decided on bedrooms for themselves and invited Mary and Gabrielle to pick ones for themselves too if they wished to stay.

When the light faded, Grimal (accompanied by four Duergar guards) left their mountain for the first time in decades. Grimal was saddened to see the castle in ruins. They escorted the visitors to the outer keep. The party agreed to deliver at least one wagonload of iron ore within five days to the Duergar in return for assistance. When asked about military aid, a deal was struck for the party to destroy the Drow raiding base, meaning the party would be delving deeply into the Underdark...

And with this the session ended for the night.

So 40 sessions in, and where do we stand?

Well the party has found themselves a home base, even if it is one that requires some TLC. They've had two party members killed, one imprisoned in such a manner that he might as well be dead, have retrieved two masks (and lost one of them). Once the war crosses the Vilhorn Reach there is only an abandoned Elf realm (Cormanthor), and a human kingdom (Sembia) between them and the front line.

They've had several assassination attempts against them, and although The Dark Reflection are not currently trying to kill them, they will be back and in greater numbers. Poison hasn't worked, so they will try something a bit more direct. Something brutally direct...

Most of the NPC's they have befriended are dead (the old wagon driver, the bard who was eaten alive in the sewers), or missing (the Shadowdancer friend of the bard. They have seen at least one foe they thought they had disposed off (Kano), alive although he may or may not have been an assassin in disguise. Still, they have Timus (an alcoholic lycanthrope), and Timir (who is happy to help the party as long as he see's a profit in it for himself). Oh, and the priest in the vault beneath Teziir. He is a big ally of theirs, but there is the matter of the bounty on their heads in that city.

The problems the party have to deal with immediately (repairing the castle and dealing with the Ogres), are really just side quests, although sorting them out now certainly has a big effect on later on in the campaign. Left unmolested, the Ogres would rise to become a significant power in that part of the game world, and not one for good. They wouldn't be powerful enough to stand against the legions of Thay, but dealing with them would weaken the forces trying to stand against them. In our terms, Thay is Germany in World War 2, having launched the Blitzkrieg. They have conquered France and the low countries. Increasingly the Thayan's will seem unstoppable, but in truth their forces will becoming stretched thinner and thinner. While they may use a lot of easily replaced undead troops, the wizards who summon and control those undead take years to train and there is a limited number of them.

Anyway, several people from the parties past are going to re-emerge. Wondering if I have too much of this planned though and I should bring in fresh faces. All I have to do there is change a name and appearance after all.

(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/54264593_1757895240978585_110034665531768832_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=60568527ba903dc10f055241c9c134fe&oe=5D1566A4)

After some chatting post-trade deal, the party went to bed and spent a restful, peaceful night.

Meanwhile as the full moon rose, the dead bodies of the Ghouls deep in the pit began to knit themselves back together. For 70 years they'd been trapped down in the pit, cursed by the gods for their crimes to die of starvation over and over again, then return to life on the second night of every full moon. And now they had a escape route. Climbing up the stairs, the ghouls explored the castle grounds but found no fresh meat. Eventually they wandered off into the night in search of a better feeding ground.

Completely oblivious to the undead (and these guys were evil before they became undead. Dying just made them meaner) they have just unleashed onto the world.

In the morning, they awoke to a bright, but chilly autumn day. After breakfast, they had a team of four horses hitched to a wagon and started a southward journey with no instructions to the men they were leaving behind. Once passed the castle walls and able to look out over the low hilled plains ahead, they could see several columns of smoke rising up to the sky. They decided to take a detour and investigate one of them. It took about six hours to get close, and the party dismounted to creep closer to what they could see was a burning farmhouse. They could see some dead people and animals scattered around the ground, but the burning building itself blocked their view of what might be going on beyond.

Mary went running down towards the farmyard, only to see around the corner a massive Ogre. The creature spotted the hapless adventurer and shouted a warning to its companions. Two Ogres came running around the side of the building, flanking Zolis while the others in the party all headed off to deal with the Ogre they could see to the south. He was joined by serveral others and battle was joined. One of the Ogres apparently had magical powers and was able to convince Mary that the Ogres were infact her friends and she should protect them from the others.

Zolis dodged and weaved, avoiding being pummelled by an Ogre a second time. Lashing out with his arcane might he sent a bolt of lightning streaking through the air, catching both Ogres full on and leaving them twitching corpses on the ground. Colesta sent a bolt of mental energy directed at the most powerful looking Ogre. In its simple mind, he found himself under attack from a terrifying demon. Terrified by the images assaulting him, the mighty creature's heart gave out and he collapsed dead. Gabrielle slashed another Ogre across the throat and it collapsed, soaked in its own blood, while from the hedge running alongside one of the fields a man came running out, a short sword in each hand. He jumped up and as he came down plunged his sword swords in either side of another one of the creatures neck. The only remaining Ogre was the mage. He cast a spell turning his body to mist and floating up in the air. Arrows fired at him did nothing, but a barrage of spells caused the mist to fade and dissipate.

The newcomer explained he'd been tracking the Ogres since they attacked his farmstead. Hopeful that the group would help him hunt any more Ogres he accepted an invitation to accompany them to Irilian since his farm had been destroyed. The party checked around the farm, but found no survivors. Farmers and livestock had been butchered equally. And equally chewed on. The humans were given a quick buried while the bodies of the Ogres were left to the elements.

The party continued on through the day, stopping only when the light started to fade. On a nearby hilltop the party could see some torches burning. Colesta and Zolis decided to make camp and stay put while the rest of the party went to investigate, although shortly after they had left Colesta decided she would go after them and make sure they didn't get into any trouble.

As it turned out, this would be a fortunate decision.

Near the top of the hill, the group lurked in some greenery, watching as a bunch of robed figures held some kind of ceremony. Atop a stone altar, someone lay bound, while surrounded by seven others. The one at the head of the altar wore heavy plate armour and held a dagger in on hand, the others dressed in dark robes (brown if you really need to know. Bet you were expecting black).

The group decided to wait and see what was going to happen before acting.

Ok, lets just think about this for one second. You have a bunch of people in the middle of the wilderness, in not especially good weather and they are chanting in a strange arcane language. You have one person tied to a stone altar, while another stands over them with a dagger and most of the people are wearing sinister looking robes and they decided to wait for a couple of rounds before seeing what would happen. What next? Will the group forget to check for a hidden cubby hole beneath the altar filled with jewels?

Mind you, they did yet again forget to loot the bodies of the Ogres and left some magic items behind, so it wouldn't surprise me

What appeared to be the leader of the cultists plunged the dagger down into the sacrificial victims heart, killing her instantly. At this point the party decided they were up to no good and stealthily started moving in.

Well, all except Gabrielle, who it turned out couldn't sneak around in a suit of full plate armour. The cultists heard the noise and peered into the gloom looking for who was bashing a couple of bin lids together. Their ritual had been successful though. They had called out to a place known as the Far Realms and something had listened. It tore a small hole in reality, and squeezed its noisome bulk through into our universe. The first the party knew of anything being up was when everything was covered very momentarily in shadow as something passed in front of the moon.

Unperturbed by this they charged the cultists. The newcomer, a ranger by the name of Dar'Kanus ran over and was quickly surrounded by dagger wielding robed figures. He favoured each one with a single wound each from his short swords and was soon surrounded by corpses. Others charged Val (much to her surprise) and Gabrielle, but these were no tougher than the ones who had faced Dar and were soon gasping their last breaths, their life blood pouring from ragged wounds. This left only the leader, who stepped away from the whirlwind of death that was Dar and started casting a spell. A feeling of dread filled the hearts of the party, but they fought off this strange curse and fought on. They would have no doubt quickly overwhelmed the last figure, but the thing that had heard his prayer chose that moment to land fully on the stone altar, crushing the lifeless body beneath its bulk.

The thing looked like an octopus, but with massive bat wings sprouting from its head. Two long tentacles and six smaller ones squirmed and twisted, lashing out at the unexpected 'guests'. Mary, Val and Dar all turned on the beast, while Mary moved to kill the leader. Val tumbled and dived getting behind the creature, opening up several large gashes in its rubbery hide. In place of blood a thick black ichor oozed from the wounds. Unfortunately this gained her the creatures full attention and it wrapped both its tentacles around her body, crushing the life from her. Ribs popping and internal organs rupturing under the pressure, Val screamed and then was silent, her soul already winging its way to her goddesses side.

Colesta, having followed the rest of the group but struggled climbing the rocky outcrop leading to the top of the hill. She ran over and threw a healing potion at the badly wounded Dar. However she was badly injured herself and was hit several times by lashing pseudopods as she attempted to close with the beast as was knocked unconscious. The others in the party were near death, but the beast was labouring now, and bleeding its loathsome fluids, staining the rock beneath it. Gabrielle managed to get a blow past the defence of the cultist leader, sending his head flying from his shoulders, and then stepped forward plunging her long sword into the side of the monstrosity. With an inhuman and unholy wail, the thing seemed to collapse in on itself, more of the black ichor running and spurting from the shrivelling and rapidly decaying body. Soon all that was left was a greenish blackish mess, an unholy stink arising from the remains. The party stood badly wounded and victorious, but at what cost? Val and Colesta both lay on the ground, dead or dying.

And with that we ended the session for the night.

So with the death of a second original party member, where does the group stand now?

Well, the party has it within their power to resurrect Val (via Kristi's Staff of Life. I am slightly regretting given them this and I am going to remove the second one they found at the castle from their treasure pile). I am guessing she will be returning next session, slightly weaker than before thanks to the level drain from being brought back from the dead. The party really is making fights much harder on themselves than they need to be. Both Mary and Val like to outflank their opponents. Not a bad thing in itself. The way both their classes work, it is where they are at their most powerful.

The problem is that they are leaving the casters exposed, and in that situation, the casters have a life expectancy that makes a mayfly look like Methusla. I am hoping the addition of Gabrielle (who in heavy armour would have problems getting into a position to flank the enemy anyway), and Dar will help out here since they are more stand up fighters rather than sneaky, sneaky backstab types.

With a current strength of six, I would be reluctant to let any additional party members in. As it is, experience points are going to be a lot less spread out six ways compared to the three or four way dividend they have been used to so far.

Mary is going to cause a slight problem, although not one I can't fix. Ross has taken a lot of feats and abilities designed to give him a very high armour class. Most creatures that are equal to the parties challenge rating will struggle to hit him. If I bring in creatures that do have a reasonable chance of hitting him then they are going to wade through the rest of the party with ease.

How I am going to fix this? Well, not every creature needs to get past someone's armour class to get a hit in. Some creatures can ignore armour, others have attacks that must be defended against in other ways. That isn't the option I am going with.

Instead, I am going to put him up against one of my old characters. Someone who used to chew up high armour class bad guys (as long as they were alive, he struggled against undead opponents like you wouldn't believe). I did warn Ross that if he went with the character design he was planning on that in order to provide a challenge to the group I would have to put them against something suitably powerful. I am not going to stop him going with it though.

Looking forward to the next game, where the group should come up against the newest member of The Dark Reflection.

The others went rooting through backpacks and pouches looking for healing potions. One was poured down Colesta's throat quickly enough, but Val lay still and unresponsive. It would take more power than a healing potion for her to breath once more. Colesta used some of her own magic to heal herself up further. She then gripped her staff tightly, touched Val's corpse and unleashed the healing power within. It wrenched her soul back from the afterlife and returned it gasping and coughing to this world. They then took to searching the altar and bodies finding a few potions, scrolls, gems and a huge bag of gold. Finding all of this involved a revived Val searching through the putrescent goo left by the strange monster. On the body of their leader, they found a key with a tag attached to it with address in Irilian written on it.

Dusting themselves off, they headed back down to hill to where Zolis had prepared a camp. Telling him everything had been quiet up there they settled down for the night into a troubled, uneasy sleep.

The next day saw them continue the return to Irilian. The guard recognised them and waved them ahead of the hoi paloi. The benefits of being heroes. As they entered through the northern gate this meant they had to pass the Heafod Aef Orc inn. A familiar dwarven face swore at them and spit in their directions telling them to let Nigel know they still had unfinished business. Val tried to give him some coins for the orphans but he refused them.

The group took rooms at The Griffoun. Evidently the blood stains had been cleaned up since they were last in that place. Mary bothered the in house bard wanting him to play songs that don't exist on Faerun. The party decided to pay for single rooms and baths for all. Especially Val who did not like the piscine smell coming from her fingers ever since she delved into the remains of the strange tentacled monster (a slightly modified Mooncalf. When Zolis didn't go up the hill I decided the party lacked the ranged firepower to deal with this beast and swapped its spells for a feat called Combat Reflexes which allowed it extra attacks in melee).

They then headed off to Tirouv's house, but the master was not at home and the butler who answered the door was somewhat confused by the party enquiring if she knew where they could buy iron ore from. Never the less, she had an appointment made with Tirouv for that evening.

To keep them occupied in the meantime the party decided to investigate the address on the key they had found. Much to their surprise it took them to a house they had been to before. It was where they'd almost rescued the lizardman. The house had been cleared out by the watch and a search of it revealed no signs the cult had moved back in. Were the group they had encountered just a few remnants of the cult they had fought earlier or were there more out there?

Although the day was getting late, the marketplace was still busy as the party returned across it. Traders loudly hawking their wares combined with the sounds of lifestock, and general chit chat all clashed creating a cacophony of noise. A young man with an open, friendly face seemingly lost his footing and fell against Mary. She felt something pressed into her hand and then collapsed, leaving the smiling man standing beside her, a dagger dripping blood in each hand. He took to his heels and fled the scene. Val immediately ran in pursuit, followed by Dar'Kanus but the man easily outdistanced them, disappearing around a corner. Following the assailant she rounded the corner but could see no sign of the target. She quickly climbed up a nearby building but could see no sign of him.

Mary lay still on the ground, unmoving and not breathing. With a sigh, Colesta pulled out her staff of life once again and dragged her spirit back to this realm, healing the various stab wounds the mysterious attacker had inflicted on her faster than she could see. She could feel the power in the staff draining away each time she used it. If they weren't careful, it would not last long. One of the party handed Mary a healing potion The staff brings them back to life, but doesn't heal all wounds, just enough to get them breathing again. As she reached for the potion, a note fell from her hand. Reading it, it said this was a warning from The Dark Reflection. The members of the group who were not covered by the contract on the rest could either quit the group or they would be considered under sentence of death. It also mentioned the group had a bounty on their heads which led to some explaining later when the party got back to The Griffoun.

Ok, let us see if I can get the rest of this adventure written up. I remember when I used to have enough time to type out an entire session in one sitting. Anyway, here we go.

In the meantime, the party went to see Tirouv. After some pleasantries were exchanged the group got down to business and arranged to buy a cart load of iron. The party made the mistake of mentioning this was for trade with others. Forewarned that the players could be making money on this, Tirouv proceeded to gouge them on the price, which they happily paid, leaving the happy couseilman 20,000 gold richer. They mentioned about the cultists they'd come across, but Tirouv had thoughts of gold running through his head and paid no real attention to this. The group left to return to the inn, planning on collecting their goods in the morning.

On the way to the inn, while travelling along a street, Gabrielle found herself under attack out of nowhere by a knife-throwing old woman. Luckily her armour prevented any damage, although one of the blades ricochet off her and stuck in Mary hurting her quite badly. Again the more mobile members of the party immediately took off in hot pursuit, but once more lost their quarry when she turned a corner and vanished from sight.

Eventually getting back to the inn, everyone decided on some enhanced security measures to secure their rooms like putting washbowls behind their doors to make a noise if anyone attempted to open them. Since the doors opened out the way this was of limited use.

An uneasy night was had by all. If they weren't dreaming of tentacled flying horrors, then it was being attacked by random knife-wielding strangers. Things did not get better in the morning. Dar, Colesta and Gabrielle all awoke with a note pinned to their pillows by a dagger informing them they were now legitimate targets. It occured to the party that the obsidian mirrors they had been sent may be how the assassins kept finding them (although they checked these items and found they were non-magical) and decided to throw theirs away. Or at least Val did. Zolis claimed he had left his back at the castle.

They ate a hurried breakfast keen to be on their way out of the city, collected the wagon and headed northwards. They had only been travelling for a few hours, through a heavily wooded area when the sounds of combat unmistakably reached their ears. Val and Dar decided to investigate, being lightly armoured stealthy types while the others waited with the wagon. They were instructed to scout out the region only and not to get in a fight.

Just as well, had they abandoned the wagon it would not have been there when they returned. Curious eyes were spying on the party unknown to them. Perhaps those eyes will return later in the campaign.

Val and Dar trekked through the tangled wood, Val stumbling over roots and frequently having to run to catch up while Dar, more used to this type of terrain strode effortlessly through the greenery. Eventually the sounds of combat faded and were replaced by a heart breaking crying. If all the pain and sorrow in the universe were bundled up into one place and given voice, surely this noise would be its sound. Following the wailing the pair could see a clearing up ahead. The grass was stained with blood and many dismembered Ogres as well as a few belonging to less identifyable bodies lay around. In the midst of all this carnage was the source of the agonised voice. Whoever was crying was child sized, sitting in the middle of the blood and gore. Both the veteran heroes decided to hide and spy on the scene, and see what would happen. Val found herself a perfect place to hide, behind a tree screened by bushes. Dar also hid behind a tree, but being slightly confused decided to stand on the wrong side of the tree.

Figuring this hiding lark wasn't up to much, Dar walked over towards the 'child'. Alas his ability to move quietly was matched only by his abilty to hide and the snapping of a hidden twig revealled his presence. The figure turned around, stopping its crying as it did. Evidently it was no child, but a halfling with a cherubic face. His face widened into a broad smile, which kept getting wider and wider. Hair sprouted all over its body, fingernails became talons as it transformed into a bear.

About four feet tall, and looking like the cutest little teddy bear you ever did see.

Dar looked around at the creature transforming before him, the bodies lying around and put two and two together, deciding to get the hell out of dodge before the transformation finished. Not wishing to lead the creature back to Val, or the rest of the party he took off running past it and hoping to lose it in the woods on the far side before circling around to get back to the party. As he ran past the werebear, it lashed out. Razor sharp talons tore through his armour and ripped deep into his skin which only served to encourage him to run away all the faster. Val meanwhile decided to climb a tree and try to signal for help, using the gem she had found so long ago in their travels. Of all people Zolis was the only one of the rest of the party who noticed, but he refused to go investigate deciding to stay with the cart instead. The rest made their way through the woods, slowed by Gabrielle's heavy armour. Dar was fleeing as fast as he could, the tiny bear in pursuit. He could hear it crashing through the woods, knocking trees down. He was faster than the beast, but he knew well that bears could track and didn't dare slow down. His breath burned his lungs from the exertion. When he came across a small river, he ran along it hoping to trick the beast into losing his scent.

Eventually he became aware the crashing noises from the thing hunting him was moving further to the north. By now he had led a merry chase and had managed to turn so he was running back westwards. With his tracking and wilderness skills it was no great issue to find his way back to the clearing he had first fled from. Colesta, Gabrielle and Val were there and they agreed rather than wait and see if the creature found them again that they should instead head back to the wagon and get the hell out of dodge. They also agreed to drive on through the night rather than risk camping outdoors. Travelling slowly through the dark, there way lit only by Val's magical gem (gets my award for most useful and overused item in the whole campaign) they reached the castle just after dawn.

While they had been away the workers had not been idle. The old bridge had been removed and what would eventually become their drawbridge lay across the river in its place. Wooden pallisades had been placed to cover the holes in the walls, the old stables had been refurbished and a Dutch barn raised for the carpenters to work under. The skeletons that had littered the ground had been removed. Finally the blacksmith had gotten the old forge fixed up and ready for work.

Val complained they hadn't made new furniture for her bedroom.

And with that, the session ended for the night.

Behind the scenes.

The psychotic teddy bear is actually one of the assassins from The Dark Reflection (as was the guy stabbing them in the city, he was waiting for the party to return to Irilian and had bribed a local street gang to let him know when they returned. Given the party entered the city openly, he knew within an hour of their arrival. Some of the urchins followed the group and reported back to him that they'd entered The Griffoun. He simply tailed the party, ambushing them in the busy market place to limit their ability to strike at him with spells or missile weapons. The idea was he'd harass the group, driving them into the wilderness where the second assassin (Faelin) would take them out.

These guys are competent enough that they can easily track down a people who not only do nothing to hide their presence, but also (by saving the city and becoming local heroes) have advertised where they are.

This fight was designed to be one that would take the entire party to defeat and I was pretty sure that just two of them going toe to toe with Faelin (he is a Barbarian with levels in the Frenzied Berserker prestige class and then a were bear on top of all that. He is capable of killing a party member each round (doing on average 57 to 66 points of damage per round), meaning the group is going to have to play a bit more cleverer than usual to take him out. They are going to need a high armoured person to tank, someone ready to slap healing spells on the tank and the rest of the group going all out DPS. He isn't hard to hit (although he does have immunities to various kinds of damage), and he does have a fair whack of hit points for them to chew their way through), so I dropped some subtle hints that this fight might just be beyond the pair of them (although had they defeated him they'd have a shed load of XPs).

Oh and while Faelin is both raging (from being a barbarian), and frenzied (from Frenzied Berserker) he cannot be killed. Luckily for the party eventually his rage runs out, but he can take any amount of damage short of outright disintegration and just keep on going. They just have to survive for 13 rounds before that happens. I once played a Frenzied Berserker in a game and really upset the GM by refusing to let an ancient black dragon kill him until he'd hacked it to pieces first of all.

Been reading through some of the first sessions. It never ceases to amaze me given the number of experienced players we have, that they very rarely go into a combat fully healed up. Mary for example, would not have died from the damage she took in the last session if she'd been at full health.

How someone else's campaign goes... http://www.reddit.com/r/dndmemes/comments/b6heuu/the_adventures_of_sir_bacon/ (http://www.reddit.com/r/dndmemes/comments/b6heuu/the_adventures_of_sir_bacon/)

That reminds me of what happened to poor old Ridley and Snails in the D&D movie.  :twirl: :tongueout:

Having returned home, the group decided the first thing they needed to do was catch up on some sleep. Driving on through the night had been painstakingly slow. Once they had rested up they decided the next time they were in town they were going to pick up new bedclothes. The ones on the beds were seventy years old and somewhat musty.

I am dreading a future roleplaying session where the party argue over what colour and type of sheets they want already.

After they had rested up it was time to go see the Duergar. They gratefully sent a small group to unload the caravan and take it in to the caves. They had only gotten half way through when a load gong started ringing. The Duergar immediately dropped what they were doing and ran back to the cave. The group followed them, and were led deep into the cavern. They reached a large U shaped cliff, at the edge of which lay a 600 foot drop down into the underdark. Something was climbing up the cliff face and in large numbers. Duergar manned (dwarfed?) three lines of defences. Initially heavy crossbows, explosive pots and ordinary rocks were all placed at the edge of the cliff and were used to fire down on the swarming masses climbing up the cliff face along with a tangle of taut ropes set at different heights and criss crossing each other, designed to tangle anything trying to reach the ledge. Behind them was a low wall, perhaps two feet tall. Behind them was a line of warriors wearing leather armour and carrying hand weapons and a shield. Behind that was a higher wall, perhaps six foot tall. Spears and all manner of pole arm equiped Duergar manned this wall. As the creatures reached the top of the cliff, the first line of defenders abandoned their posts and retreated to join those in the second line. The second and third lines picked up crossbows and fired into the charging masses cutting down the front rank in a withering hail of fire. There were plenty more to replace those that fell though.

In small numbers at first the invaders reached the first line of defenders. They were quickly cut down, but each warrior fighting was one less firing crossbows which slowly allowed increasing numbers to reach the defenders. The party could only see in their own little bubble of light and could not tell how the Duergar fared elsewhere although they could hear the sounds of battle well enough. Colesta invoked the power of her god, filling her allies up with a renewed vigour and disheartening the foes. Seeing the battle possibly reaching a tipping point Zolis created a bonfire running along the edge of the cliff. Many of the attackers attempting to climb over the wall were incinerated, or fell backwards to their deaths. The fire also destroyed the crossbows and ropes as well as igniting a set of small jars all along the cliff edge causing a series of loud explosions, adding to the general chaos and mayhem.

Gabrielle and Mary leapt to the front lines, engaging the mongrel horde. Every evil race they knew of seemed to be represented. Goblins, Orcs, Hobgoblins, Kobolds and many, many more. Everytime they cut one down, another stepped forward to take its place and there seemed to be no end to the creatures boiling over the lip of the cliff. The fire burned along perhaps half the length of the cliff throwing a weird illumination throughout the cave.

Zolis reached deep into his pool of arcane power and made himself invisible. He then stepped up to the front, climbing over the low wall then lined up carefully and unleashed a bolt of lightning that fried dozens of creatures and shocking the defenders (figuratively).

Off on the left flank, Duergar warriors were tossed aside by a wide swinging club, wielded by a nine foot tall giant with flaming red hair. He charged against Gabrielle pummeling her with his massive stone club. Zolis summoned up a ball of arcane fire and sent it hurtling at the giant. He merely laughed and brushed the fire away taking no damage. In crude and heavily accented common he taunted them for trying to use flames against a Fire Giant, although he couldn't see where the fireball had came from. Gabrielle desperately tried to avoid the lethal swipes of his club, while Mary and Val ran over and took up flanking positions. Val viciously tore into the giants back, and (understandably) attracted the lions share of his attention while Zolis tried to support them with spells. Colesta meanwhile had got caught up in a fight with a creature that had the lower body of a giant spider, but the upper body of a Drow. She smote it with spell after spell until the creature lay twitching on the floor.

A horn sounded earnestly in the dark and in a obviously well practised manoveur, the Duergar stepped back from the wall, covered by their comrades on the second wall. Meanwhile a pair of massive doors opened on the eastern flank and a horde of powerfully muscled Quaggoth's (slave race kept by the Duergar) came pouring out to attack the invaders. Seeing the furred creatures throwing the invaders on the flank back, Colesta turned and ran over to where the others struggled desperately with the giant.

This is actually the first time I have actually seen each member of the party mostly fulfilling their proper 'roles'. Only took what 18 months of gaming, maybe two years?

The giant was taking heavy damage, but doling it out in equal measure. A low sweeping blow caught both Val and Mary sending them crashing unconscious to the ground. Gabrielle was badly injured from the initial assault, and desperately fended off the powerful blows of the giant, fighting defensively. The Duergar were trying to help, but were unable to land any blows on the huge creature. Seeing both combatants near death, Colesta called on one of her last remaining offensive spells, sending a hail of magic missiles into the Fire Giant and with a cry of timber, it fell lifeless to the floor with a loud crash.

The battle had most definitely swung in favour of the defenders and the attackers tried to retreat, but were pursued to the edge. Pushed into an increasingly tighter and tighter space the inevitable happened and the rearmost invaders fell off the cliff to their doom in the darkness below.

With the invaders in full retreat, Colesta used her staff of healing to restore the rest of the party to full health. This was actually an extremely close thing, Val had been two rounds away from bleeding out, while Mary was three rounds away. One more hit on Gabrielle, even on minimum damage would have killed her too).

Grimil ran over to thank the party for their aid, although he lamented the destruction of the fire pots, and especially the crossbows which the Duergar lacked the materials to repair. The party offered to supply wood to make new ones and asked about how often these attacks took place. The gnome explained that the attacks would happen frequently enough for them to keep their defences and guard up, but were not a constant thing. Perhaps one a month, although sometimes there would be several waves of attacks over a number of days. As attacks went, this one had been fairly small. The Duergar, he explained were canny warriors but lacked the skills to track the Drow back to their raiding base. While they faced this danger the Duergar would only be able to provide limited military aid. If someone were to eliminate the Drow however, they could afford to lend most of the garrison to help the players.

The group agreed to go into the Underdark, find and eliminate the Drow, but said they would need three or four days to prepare for the expedition.

And with this the game ended for the night.

Tonights session was taken up with identifying the haul of magic items the party had collected and divvying them up. Of note, the armour, shield and long swordof the lord of Irilian was given to Gabrielle.

No one claimed ownership of the Deck of Many Things.

So the group is heading into the Underdark. Or at least the upper part of it. I doubt they will encounter my favourite denizens of the deeps, the Ithilids but there are plenty other creatures for them to meet. By the end of this part they will be wishing they were only fighting Drow who can at least be reasoned with and if only in the short term, even trusted after a fashion. At first I was just going to let the party go down there and let them pick off the Drow, but then I decided on something that would be a bit more bteresting (for me anyway) and put them up against something more insidious. I’d say more but Kristi might read this and spoil the surprise.

If it helps honey, I am not putting you up against frogs.

Although come to think of it there is a race of frog people in the Underdark.

A few last-second trades were made within the group on magic items while they made plans for their upcoming trip into the Underdark. The party spoke to Longeron the engineer and the head of their guard (whose name I had forgotten), and gave them money for supplies, told them to look after things until they got back and asked them to recruit enough men to defend their castle, offering two and a half times regular pay (given that with a major war on, sell swords are at a premium). Their guard commander who is a career caravan guard and openly admits to knowing nothing about defending a castle guessed he might need 50 or a 100 men.

The party then went into the cave and the Duergar. Grimal gave each of them a flare which they could use when they returned to let them know to lower the ladders and let them back up. The grey dwarves let down the rope ladders that would take them down the 600 foot cliff down into the Underdark.

It took quite a while to climb down, but they got there unharmed although Colesta came close to falling off. The ground under their feet crunched and looking down, they could see a deep pile of bones all around the cliff base. Hundreds of attacks over seventy years had left a boneyard.

Of course in the resource starved Underdark such a rich source of food was not going to go ignored. The party could hear something slithering over the bones...

Attracted by the movement and the scent of fresh meat, a horde of ten-foot-long caterpillar-like creatures came looking for a meal. Each of them had a toothy maw and multiple tentacles waving from their head. The creatures (Carrion Crawlers) had long feasted on the dead of the battles at the top of the cliff and were unused to having to fight for their meals and were dispatched by the heroes. The sheer numbers of the monsters attacking them took quite a while to kill them all, but eventually, they did all die, but their tentacles were loaded with a poison that left Cadmus and Mary paralyzed for several hours. Cadmus recovered first and was able to use her magic to cure Mary.

With that sorted, the trip into the Underdark was able to continue. The group did not make it as far as they had hoped but found a large cavern that was easily defended with a stream running through it. Everyone settled down on the cavern floor while a guard was sorted out.

And with that the session ended for the night.

Hah, was rereading the early posts. Currently on three females. Not sure on Anders, and my brother certainly matches any woman for the length of time he takes in the bathroom getting ready.

When we left off some weeks ago, the party had descended 600 feet down a cliff face into the Underdark, travelled for several hours and then made camp for what they hoped was for the night beside some running water.

What they are about to discover is that if there is a resource vital to survival in the Underdark, then something has claimed it and is living there.

Val sat up on first watch as the others all settled down to sleep. Soon the gentle and not so gentle snores of the others were filling the air like a bunch of lumberjacks battling it out with chainsaws. She was sitting bored with only her own thoughts for company when something gripped her by the waist and started dragging her backwards. She screamed out for help wakening Colesta and Mary. Both of them sat bolt upright, but their movement attracted the attention of whatever had attacked Val and they too found themselves gripped by a long thin, but immensely strong tendril while dragged them off into the dark. Both managed to grab a weapon as they were pulled inexorably into the darkness. In the confusion spells were fired off into the pitch black air, hoping to hit whatever assailed the group but it wasn't until Val was dragged to the maw of the creature and everyone could finally see what was attacking them that they actually managed to hit the monster.

And monster was truly the word to describe it. An immense stalagmite, fully twenty feet tall appeared to have come to life. In addition to the tendril like appendages that had grabbed the party, others waves in the air ready to strike at the first hint of movement. It had no face that they could see, merely a horrible gash like opening filled with the glitter of diamond teeth. Val was perilously close to being dragged into those teeth and in her panic tried to slip free of the thing wrapped around her. Mary was dragged over the sleeping form of Zolis, her kicks and struggles to try and free herself making for a very rude awakening.

Another tendril located Zolis in the confusion, wrapping itself around his leg and pulling him towards the deadly looking fangs of the rock thing. He shrieked and fired off spell after spell, but to no avail while Val tried finally managed to slip free of her bonds, only for another tendril to enmesh her. One arm was dragged into the toothy maw and she screamed at the teeth sank into her shoulder. In desperation she slashed at the monster with her free arm, cutting it deeply and causing a translucent fluid to leak from the wounds. The force of the bite slackened as the thing felt the pain and she dragged her arm free, cutting it deeply on the razor sharp teeth. The scent of blood, wither hers or the beasts own caused it to redouble its efforts. Colesta desperately reached deep into her reserves of powers and summoned up magical phantasms to attack it. The spell she unleashed however was more insidious than that, and for the first (and only) time in its existence the thing knew the sensation of fear. What passed for a mind was overcame with panic and horror at the half real creatures it could see and its heart exploded with the strain. With a crash it fell to the ground.

The monster seemed to have no treasure and another search of the area revealed no more lurking monsters. It was a much more uneasy rest that the group sank into, but nonetheless, they managed to get enough sleep.

Setting off the next day everyone bar Mary started to feel curiously tired. Walking became tiresome and their breathing heavy. They started to find the skeletal remains of many creatures both humanoid and animal, but with no signs of violence on their bodies. The further they traveled the more skeletal remains they found. The further they travelled, the worse the effects seemed to get. Colesta figured it was something in the air and through weezing and coughing, she asked Zolis if he could cast his rope trick spell and give them somewhere to rest and recover. Luckily Zolis had taken that spell, and everyone dragged themselves painfully up the rope.

It took several hours rest for them to recuperate fully, and when they left their extradimensional safe space the air was still of a poor quality (Deep below the ground doesn't have the best air conditioning. This isn't a magical trap just a normal, natural hazard). The piles of bones continued, but it took the party by surprise when with a clacking of bone, two of the piles stood up. Like lizards, but running on their larger back legs the two creatures (skeletal mega-raptors) came running towards them. Colesta cast a spell over the group, hiding them from the senses of the undead. No longer able to detect any prey the two skeletons collapsed back into their inert state.

Of course, they'd be waiting for them on the way back.

Eventually the quality of the air improved enough for them to breath easy, but the hazards were not over yet. They found themselves almost buried under a cave in. Fortunately it wasn't enough to block the corridor.

Travelling on somewhat bruised and battered by the rock fall the party were grateful when the cave they had been travelling through opened into a much wider area. In parts the previous caves had been so low that they were forced to crawl along on hands and knees. They ended up deep enough in a cavern to be unable to see the walls or roof, but gradually they became aware that there was something else out there watching them judging from the noises they could hear to the sides and rear. An attempt was made to find out what was close by, but was soon abandoned when a hail of arrows came raining down on Val as she moved to one side. Chanting soon echoed through the vast chamber in a familiar tongue, but not one anyone in the group could understand. Fearing they were about to be surrounded the party starting running, hoping to find an exit from this huge underground space and into somewhere more defensible. In the ruddy light cast by Val's magic gem (but now held by Colesta), they could see a mound up ahead. It would perhaps make a decent place to make a stand from, or possibly take cover behind from the mysterious archers.

As they approached what looked something like a crooked spear rose up from behind the mound. It was covered in short, bristly hairs. Then it seemed to hinge in the middle and with an audible crunch dug into the rocky ground. Then a second and a third similar thing appeared and more until they had a good enough grip and hefted up what seemed to be a spider-like creature made of nothing but legs. Horrible, tarantula like legs but not limited to the mere eight an arachnid possesses. It hefted its bulk over the top of the mound and wither through eyes they could not see, or from some other hideous means sensed their presence and came scuttling towards them. The damage the horn tipped legs was inflicting on the solid rock it was climbing over left the group in no doubt this monstrous almost spider was indeed a serious threat to them even without its massive size. The creature had been worshipped as a god by the local Goblins and had grown fat and lazy on a diet on easy feeding, steered into its lair by the green skins. It therefore came as something of a surprise when its latest meal (curtesy of Zolis) fed it a fireball. It proved it had a mouth by the screams of pain from it as the party laid into the monster with mace, sword and spell until it was no more than a twitching heap lying on they ground, ichor leaking from its numerous wounds. Panicked by seeing their god vanquished the Goblins fled back into the darkness.

Just after the spiderlike monstrosity, the narrow cave the party had been travelling through got much larger and a wide variety of fungi became apparent, growing on the cave walls and floor. The larger the cavern got, so the mushrooms grew larger until they were passing ones that would dwarf upper world trees. It took a day to travel through this weird forest, but at its end was a pebble strewn beach and the lake edge. The beach extended a short way along either side but did not look wide enough to risk walking around the lake on. Instead it was decided to hack down some mushrooms and create a raft to travel over in, a plan not endorsed by Zolis or Dar'Kanus.

Indeed, when the raft was finished they decided since it only looked large enough for four people that they would await the others return and guard their retreat. Despite plea's from the others they remained steadfast that they were not going to accompany the others in it (translated Anders and Stewart couldn't make the game and I got fed up playing their characters for them).

The four intrepid explorers took to the high seas (or low lake I guess) in their mushroom raft. After 'sailing' for several hours the raft came to a sudden violent halt. One corner dipped dangerously low in the water as something grabbed the raft from beneath. Tentacles came questing up around the boat looking for something to feed on. The occupants stabbed and slashed as whatever it was beneath the surface sought to make a meal of them and managed to inflict enough damage to either kill the beast or at least drive it off.

It took another day or two floating on the lake to reach another shore. Other than it wasn't the same one they had left behind they had no way of knowing where they had landed but the lack of mushroom trees told them they found land elsewhere. Glad to have solid ground under their feet again, it was decided to make camp here for a rest and continue on later.

And with that the session finished for the night.

The party searched the steep shale beach they had found themselves carried by the currents to and it appeared completely safe.

Much in the same way as their previous campsite had seemed completely safe until a stalagmite had tried to eat them. They rested up for a few hours, which was interrupted only by the appearance of Gabrielle. She had decided to join the others after all and made effectively what was a surfboard from one of the mushroom trees and paddled across in it. Her return to the group was welcomed and they set off through the dark and winding tunnels, still heading in a north-east direction. The group had forgotten that the Grimal had only been able to give them directions as far as the lake's edge. Indeed as you will see shortly, it seems like the group completely forgot what they were in the Underdark for.

From the darkness up ahead came a lot of noise, indicating either the presence of a lot of things. Or possibly one very big thing. Val decided to scout ahead, but when it was pointed out that she'd have to carry a light source and that while her light source allows her to see 20 feet around her that something glowing in the dark can be spotted from a lot further away. In the end (and of all people to choose for a stealth mission), it was Zolis (who since he was reincarnated into the body of a half orc has Dark Vision) who went to check out the noise.

From the limits of his vision, Zolis could see a crossroads. Traveling from the east to the west was a long train of misery. Cages on the back of wagons pulled by lizards the size of oxen were filled to bursting with all manner of races many of which the mage had never seen before. Just as strangely it was a similar mix of creatures that were guarding them. The guard's movements seemed stilted and unnatural as if they were but puppets on strings. Half a dozen or so strange looking monstrous creatures were apparently in charge. They were human-sized, but unnaturally thin with purple skin and four tentacles around where their mouths would be. As far as he could tell the creatures did not speak to one another or any other creature but the others seemed deferential towards them. The caravan of slaves trundled past, seemingly going on endlessly. From his vantage point in the dark he watched for a few minutes and then returned to tell the others what he had seen.

There was some debate on wither they should intervene or not. In the end it was decided to wait and let it pass before continuing on their way. (just as well really, the Mind Flayers would (literally) have had them for lunch).

Once the caravan had moved on the party discussed which way to go. Trailing the Ithilid caravan was mentioned and then this was dismissed. It then came down to north or west. After a long debate it came down to the western route. After walking on through the tunnels for around six hours they came across a group of fellow adventurers.

I'll copy their description over from how I wrote it down.


Kristi managed to figure out who they'd bumped into right off.

The other group was looking for their friends. Everyone had been separated somewhere down here and they were trying to find the other half of their group. The party asked what was back the way they'd came and they got more of the parties story from them. They'd found an abandoned village and split up to look around it, but afterwards they'd been unable to find their ranger, barbarian or wizard and had followed this cave system as the only one leading on from the underground village. Both parties agreed to travel on together at least as far as the junction.

Saying goodbye to their temporary companions (did anyone recognise them?), the party turned north while the kids headed off eastward hoping to find their friends wandering around, or at least rescue them from the clutches of the Mind Flayers.

HINT: They fail and half the party meets a horrific end and die. Especially the unicorn and the cavalier. f**k you, Eric!

The northern route brought them eventually to a large roughly circular pool in the middle of a cave. The pool itself had a thick layer of scum floating on top, broken only by the couple of dead Drow floating on top of it. Other Drow bodies lay scattered around the cave, some half in and half out in the water. Others still were outside the pool, although their clothes were wet suggesting they had came from the pool and were trying to get away.

So remember the reason the party came into the Underdark was to find the hidden enterance to a Drow base.

Val, Zolis and Gabrielle all wanted to ignore the pool with all the dead Drow lying around it and go north.

Kristi could see the expression on my face and decided that the pool warranted more investigation.

She cast Detect Magic and discovered the surface of the pool was subject to an illusion. This was dispelled revealing it to be a much purer source of water (abet one that still had dead bodies floating in it) than they had thought. Someone had went to all the time and effort to disguise it as a tainted source.

And the party still wanted to ignore it and go north.

After quite some arguing, Colesta convinced the group that the pool was at least worth checking out. Most of the party was convinced some horrible tentacled monster lived down there.

Look folks, that was last week. There was a whole giant lake with an ecosystem that could support such a creature.

Oh, if only they had a pony called Bill with them.

Casting a Daylight spell on a rock, Colesta dropped the stone down into the pool to see how deep it was. At a rough guess, it descended around 60 feet (57 feet, 8 and 1/4 inches for any stats freaks out there). The pool then seemed to curve away and out of sight. Investigating it further would require getting wet, but as far as they could see there was nothing dangerous living in it. Colesta decided to go for a swim. She stripped off her armour (oh wait, she doesn't really wear any), borrowed the Ioun Stone that allowed someone to survive without air and sank into the deep water. Guided by the light from the enchanted stone they'd cast into the pool she swam down to where the passage curved out of sight.

Just beyond the bend Colesta could see beneath her lay a tangled mat of bones lying on the bottom of the pool. The remains were beyond counting. She kept clear of the boneyard and followed the passage as it continued to curve, heading upwards and forming a 'U' shaped bend. She surfaced in a cavern lit eerily by the glowing moss that coated the walls.

Having given the cave a quick look over she returned to the group to tell them of her findings. The rest of the group wanted to ignore the hidden lair and continue north still, but with even more debate the rest were reluctantly talked into at least investigating it a little more. Everyone made it through the sump with varying levels of success. No one drowned so that at least counts as a win.

Once they got through an investigation of the bodies revealled two causes of death. Some of the corpses had been crushed to death, while others had a pair of puncture marks in them, with a space between themm large enough to fit a man's fist between the marks. Three chambers led off from the main one they were in. The first contained water barrels and food. The barrels themselves had been smashed. Hanging meat was covered in a translucent goo and other foods had been destroyed by stomping them on the rock floor.

Zolis decided to try some of the hanging meat. Uncooked.

He fell to the ground, his stomach knotted up in painful cramps from the poison that the meat had been covered in. Incidently, this was the same poison that the Drow with the puncture marks had been killed by. The second chamber was full of all sorts of strange equipment, some of which the group could not fathom out the use for. Poisons, potions, hand crossbows and other weapons filled the room.

The party decided to ignore all that stuff, including some hoods that would have allowed them to pass through the bad air they had encountered on the way here.

The third chamber was where the slaves were penned up until they had enough to send a mass wave of attacks against the Duergar. The conditions were to say the least unsanitory.

Deciding to abandon the chamber everyone swam back through the sump and made camp on the other side.

They however were not alone.

Val shrieked at the two massive arrows sticking out of her body. Pain overwhelmed her and she felt weak. The others woke at her alarm. It was decided to double the guard, Mary deciding to stand a watch with her first.

The next attack came as soon as the others had settled down. Mary was overcome with a wave of dizziness. She fell to the ground her body riven by convulsions. FLuids poured out of every orifice and her clothes felt too large for her as her body shrank, warped by the course magic running through it. Where Mary had sat, a snake now wriggled. Most horribly it had all its memories and could recall being a woman.

More arrows lanced through the air, sinking deep into Val's body again. With a scream, she fell to the ground overcome by yet more doses of the powerful venom coursing through her veins.

Zolis woke up and spotting something moving in the dark he fired off a powerful spell at whatever was out there. A bolt of acid that would melt a man to his bones is seconds flew through the air and impacted with the hide of whatever was out there. They could see vague hints of its form. It was massive, three times larger than a man at least and it had a hint of the ophidian about it. The acid however caused it no discomfort. It could extrude the stuff itself on anything within its coils should it wish. Assaulted by a barrage of spells though it decided to retreat into the darkness and strike again later. Already one of them was weakened to the point of uselessness.

Others would soon follow.

And with that the session ended for the night.

After two ambushes the party decided to take refuge in a Rope Trick spell (damn them for spoiling my fun). As Colesta had cast it rather than Zolis it would only last eight hours, however I decided to be generous and let this be enough time to get a full nights rest (normally 8 hours is the minimum rest period, but they'd also lose time to get up into the room and settle down to sleep).

This however also gave their assailant time to rest up and regain spells.

The party had planned on heading north, but it was mentioned that they'd been sent into the Underdark to wipe out a Drow encampment. The Drow were indeed wiped out, even if it hadn't been the party who had done it. It would be up to them though just how much detail they went into on how the Dark Elves were wiped out.

With barely enough rest, the party had to leave their refuge though and (thankfully) abandoning the thought of traveling further north (Which made me happy as I hadn't written anything for that). Heading back towards to lake, everyone felt paranoid and was convinced they could hear something following them (which is true, they are still being stalked) but took no actions to try and deal with the menace. A long days march was had and at the end of it, Zolis cast a Rope Trick to provide them with a refuge (and as a higher level caster it would last longer).

Coming down in what for want of a better term we will call the morning, Colesta spotted something, or at least thought she did moving in the darkness. Once again the group came under an ambush attack from the Yuan-Ti abomination stalking them. This time, however, as it turned to flee Mary was able to catch up with it, using her boots of haste. This was almost her undoing as the creature turned on her, sinking its fangs into her, filling her with its venom and wrapping her up in its coils.

Mary also found out the unpleasant lesson that Abominations can extrude acid from their scales and she was getting badly burned in addition to being poisoned and crushed. Luckily for her, however, the rest of the group managed to catch up to the fight and after a struggle, Gabrielle's sword sung through the air and sent the monstrosities head tumbling to the ground while the body thrashed and twitched in its death throes. Near death, Colesta did her best to restore Mary to full strength, but lacking crushed diamond's she was unable to completely cleanse her system of the poison ravaging her.

As best as they could the party continued on southwards, happily remaining unmolested by any further creatures.

Their raft had been less lucky however. From the missing chunk bitten out of one corner it looked like some animal had tried having it for lunch, but decided it did not like the taste. It was decided to just abandon the raft and make their way around the narrow shore that ran around the lake. It took them an additional three days traveling by that route.

This will have important consequences for the group should they ever make it back to the castle.

On the far bank they were reunited with Dar in the mushroom forest. He complained that he'd felt as is something had been watching him while he'd been waiting. The rest of the party soon started to feel paranoid, like they were being watched. The group headed on through the thick fungal forest and several times were convinced they could see movement, often just a quick glimpse out of the corner of their eyes. They however came under no kinds of attack or threat that they could see.

Near the edge of the forest, Mary spotted a fungal growth about the size of a small child. It was vibrating, as if trembling. Calling to Zolis quickly, she shouted at him to blow it up. Always happy to show off his deeper understanding of the universe and ability to manipulate reality, Zolis promptly used a lightning bolt to blow the mushroom up.

Turns out no one in the group had ever heard of a race of mushroom people called Myconids. Generally, they are peaceful unless attacked as was the case here. Blowing up one of their 'children' was never going to be seen as anything but a very hostile act. The elder Myconid's flooded the area with spores designed to have all manner of effects on meat-based lifeforms. Mary found her brain refusing to consider any hostile acts, while Colesta was filled with anger and rage at Val. She attempted to electrocute the unsuspecting rogue with her gods-given powers. The others in the group had no idea what the hell was going on. Meanwhile, figures the group had previously assumed were inert growths of fungal matter suddenly started moving, many of them pointing wicked looking spears in the parties direction. The group was almost entirely encircled with only one gap providing a possible escape. Not wishing to face the dozens of creatures advancing on them, the party bravely ran away for the gap, finding that it led to a narrow tunnel which slopped downwards. They kept running, finding the temperature of the air plummeted rapidly as they traveled along the route. Eventually, though it opened up into a larger network of interconnected caves. Puddles of water, sometimes a foot or two deep were frequent and as the group came to a halt, they could hear the sounds of something large moving around nearby.

And with that, the session ended for the night.

So the group is approaching the end of the second part of the adventure. Unlike the first part it doesn't quite have a hard and fast endpoint (the saving of Irilian), more instead merging into the next part. It will nudge them back on the path of hunting down some masks (although they can ignore that and stay focused on restoring their keep before the armies of Thay cross the Dragon Reach).

Trouble is they have two big fights to get through between now and then. The first is going to take place right at the start of the next game and I am not sure the group will survive it. In theory, it is a fight well within their capabilities. Mind you, in the past when I've been worried about a fight killing at least one of the party they have sailed through so I guess we shall see.

Anyway, two characters from their past are going to be reappearing. Will be interesting to see how the party react to them.

With my computer I had written everything on having went fizz pop bang we've only had one partial session where we did the fight the party had blundered into. The campaign isn't over but is alas on hold until hopefully next month when I get my new desk top.

Ok, so I need to get writing on this.



This was a short session consisting purely of one fight just to see if the party would survive it or not.

Deciding to investigate the noise Mary moved deeper into the shadowy cave they had found themselves in. The temperature had dropped significantly and they could see their breath as if left their bodies. Colesta called on her god's given powers and lit up the cave as if it were daylight revealing a host of serpentine heads on long sinuous necks that all joined to the one titanic body. The whole thing lunged forward with surprising speed for something so large and one of the heads exhaled a freezing mist that threatened to drain the life force from the group.  It was a fight worthy of a bard's song as men and women clashed with the Leonian Hydra, but spells and blades won out over freezing breath and envenomed fangs. Mary lay near death at the end, but Colesta's powers once more closed her companion's wounds and kept her from leaving the mortal realm.


For a while the group debated on wither they should descend further into the darkness, or return the way they had came. In the end though, the only route home they knew of lay back up the slope to the mushroom forest.

The party approached the forest expecting a fight, but the mushroom people having tricked the party into dealing with the monster that had been preying on them had retreated deeper into the vastness of their wilderness home. Given the choice between hunting for them or continuing on home it was decided to get back to Irilswatch.

The rest of the trip back was uneventful. They reached the base of the cliff and fired off the signal flare they'd been given. There was no answering flare though and after an hour or so had passed there was no sign of their transport back up the clifftop. They waited and waited but still nothing. Eventually, it dawned on them that no rescue was coming. They had some potions of levitation but were not sure if they would last long enough to float to the top. After some discussion, it was decided that Val would climb as high as she could up the rock wall, then drink a potion and (hopefully), reach the top and then lower the basket down for the rest of the group.

What followed turned out to be a lot more complicated that the group expected. They had relied on their magic gem for light for so long it hadn't occured to them that they might need another light source as Val climbed up to into the darkness.

Val climbed up perhaps 50 feet and then took her potion, ascending through the dark air. When it occured to her that she could see absolutely nothing she paused in the air for a minute or two.

Had she not done this, the potion would have allowed her to levitate to the top of the cliff with time to spare. As it was, the potion would run out slightly before then.

As it was she soared upwards, fumbling in her backpack and trying to light a torch mid air. This was not perhaps the most fruitful experience. Then suddenly she found herself plummeting back downwards. Flailing in the darkness she managed to grap a rocky outcrop, damn near wrenching her arm out of the socket. With a cry of pain that was lost on the underground air she desperately managed to hang on and then haul her battered body up the cliff face until she was able to drag herself over the edge and onto the top. Finally able to freely root around her backpack and set up her tinderbox. She dug out a long-forgotten torch and ignited it. The top of the cliff looked much as it had the last time she had seen it, save there were no lookouts watching for invaders.

The winches for lowering the basket were there and still working, but were designed for two people to operate. She found she'd to lower one side and then the other. It was a long job and by the time she'd got the basket to the ground she was exhausted and there was still the journey back up to do. Unfortunately, the basket was a lot harder to raise back up with just one person, having to raise up one side and then the other. The party found themselves pitched out as one side of the basket rose up.

I found all of this highly amusing. I had been expecting Colesta to make a staircase up the rocks. It would have taken a few days, but they'd have gotten them eventually. Just getting up this cliff face took the best part of the session as I had to repeatedly point out that Val was in total pitch blackness, and no, her eyes weren't going to adjust to that level of darkness.

Finally, everyone got up there in a manner that would have made Buster Keaton proud. They investigated the Duergar complex, heading back to the main hall. Beyond the silent guardian in the throne room, they found no trace of life or death.

They hurried through the caves back to their castle. The rooms were empty, as was the inner courtyard but through the gate drifted many strange sounds. The party hurried through to the outer keep and found the Duergar standing alongside their mercenaries on the outer wall. Longeron the architect stood alongside Niamad the smith and Aldo, their chef and a gaggle of slaves. On seeing the party emerge through the inner gate they ran over and in a rush of excited voices told the party that an army of creatures led by Ogres had laid siege to the castle. They hurried to the wall and gazing out over the battlements saw a huge horde stretching out to the south and east of all manner of unsavoury creatures. Orcs, Hobgoblins, Trolls, Ogres and more. They were surrounded and cut off from the rest of the world.

Determined to show the besieging force who was boss and punish them for their brazenness both Colesta and Zolis started firing off spells into the horde, killing dozens and destroying siege implements. However, the attackers too had their own magic and sent fireballs and lightning bolts in return. A massively fat, two-headed Ogre was matching them spell for spell. Glimit shouted orders to the Duergar in a tongue unknown to the rest. As one they fired their crossbows into the thronging masses.

Zolis fired a spell directly at the enemy caster, but found his spell crackled harmlessly into the ground at his feet, protected by some unknown barrier or device. Orders were shouted and the army organised itself for an attack.

Colesta summoned a dark cloud in the middle of one of the enemy regiments, which then went rolling through the enemy camp. Where it passed, weak creatures died and stronger ones found themselves weakened. Despite the carnage being wrought, the enemy came onwards and the temporary wooden gate that had been constructed over the moat was soon buckling under a powerful assault. Mary screamed at the Duergar to follow her and ran to the drawbridge where she prepared to make her stand.

Oh if only the Duergar spoke the same language as her they might have joined her. Zolis summoned a wall of flame behind the battered gate. Anything wanting to enter the castle would have to survive running through his magical fire.

The wooden gate gave way under the assault of a dozen Ogres and other lesser creatures and headless of Zolis's flame barrier they plunged through. Overhead, trebuchets launched rocks the size of carts at the castle walls, seeking to batter them down. A few exploded around the defenders crushing many and sending sharp splinters of rock to wound those around.

Most of the creatures who plunged into the flames died screaming in them, but the Ogres were tough enough to survive and broke through the barrier hair and clothes aflame. Mary met them with her blades, but more and more of them were breaking through leaving her more and more under pressure. More than one died on her blade, but more of them filled the ranks of the fallen and a series of blows felled Mary. The breath of her life left her body. Zolis cast spells, allowing himself to fly and turn invisible. He sought out the mutated spell caster and fired a barrage of spells. Many failed to penetrate the mystical barrier around the Ogre, but enough got through and by the time Zolis had finished, the giant creature had been turned into an unliving stone statue. With the death of this strange creature the horde's will to fight broke and they scattered, routing to the four winds. As the broke, another army entered the field. Heavily armoured knights on horseback charged into the already panicked horde running them down by the dozen. The riders fought under a white banner that bore the device of a purple dragon.

Being from the same country, Zolis recognised this as the royal standard of Cormyr.

The defenders were rallied inside the castle and were about to be led outside at a charge when it occured to the group that Duergar were not the most popular of creatures, being largely known for their cruel practises and evil gods. Not wishing to see another battle break out, Colesta shouted to Glimit to get his people safely back within the mountain. He nodded and shouted in the harsh language of the underdark. His troops orderly quit the battlements and headed inside to the safety of their own fortiifications.

Zolis dropped his firewall and the others charged outside, adding their swords to the carnage outside.

The rout became a bloody slaughter. Those who fled south would run into the Cormyrian infantry, while those who fled west would find shelter of a sort in The Vast, a swamp of dire reputation. Wither or not they would survive its hospitality was an entirely different matter.

Our heroes carved their way through a group of Hobgoblins and Orcs attempting to make a stand. A rider in plate armour that appeared to be made from brass and mounted on a magnificent white stallion. The animal reared up and its rider pulled it to a halt, in an attempt not to trample Val.  As the warhorse was calmed down the rider raised her visor, revealing a not unattractive youngish woman. In a voice used to command, she declared herself to be the Princess Regent Alusair, and demanded an immediate meeting with the rulers of the castle. Her army was directed to pursue the fleeing tribes and ensure it would be a long time before any humanoids were able to threaten the region again. The party escorted her and her bodyguard to the throne room accompanied by various others (basically pretty much any named character in the castle). Once they were ensconced within, she pulled a manuscript from her belt. "I received this missive informing us that our great aunt, the Lady Aurielle has been married seventy years ago to the then lord of Iril thus formally completing the joining of Irilian to Cormyr and that since then this land should rightly belong to our crown. When we travelled to the city to press our claim the ruling citizens of Irilian chose to deny us our rightful claim. The city was then put under a thankfully short siege and the Counseil have all been arrested and await trial for treason. Which brings me to you. As the Regent I have the right, should I wish to remove you from this castle. The Counseil never had the authority to grant lands or title and it is well within my rights to install whom so ever I please as castellan of this place. Make no mistake we will shortly be at war with the Thayan alliance. Sooner or later they are going to cross the Dragons Reach and there are no mountains ranges, no vast oceans or powerful kingdoms between us and them to stop them. I have been building an alliance of western nations in the hope that together we can stand against this vast army. If you can help me with that then I am mindful to let you keep this castle. By the gods I'll even make one of you a Duke. If you stand in my way, you'll find yourself under the headsman axe before you know what is happening. If you wish you can clear out of here, take to the road and be forgotten, you can stand with me on the battlefield and take your chances that we will win or you can try standing against me. Which is it to be?"

Without much delay the party decided to accept her offer and remain as lords of the realm. They were next asked a series of questions about their background and pedigree. She expressed disappointment that none of them were noble-born, or native-born citizens of Irilian. Since none of them were, the Princess Regent decided that the next best thing was to grand land and title to the only native citizen of Cormyr.

Yup, she made Zolis the Duke of Irilian.

The rest of the party made rumblings about wanting to cut Zolis's throat at this point. Especially Val when it was pointed out to her that she would have to refer to him from now on as "Your Grace."

A feast was announced to celebrate (which the party struggled to supply food for given the state of the castle and its stores). Luckily the fully stocked wine celler came in handy. There was much toasting and dancing, but mid-way through the night Val and Zolis spotted a hooded figure lurking at the edge of the banquet hall and who beckoned them. The pair looked at each other and then quietly slipped out of the hall. They followed the mysterious figure to a quiet part of their castle where it removed its hood revealing a face long lost to the group.

And with that the session ended for the night.

No less a personage than Kano stood before Val and Duke Zolis. The side of his face was heavily scarred now, but there was no mistaking him. "I have a proposition for you," he told them. "I know of the location of five more masks but they are too well guarded for me to get to alone. If you help me get them, you can keep two of them and I'll take the other three."

Val tried to bargain, pointing out that since there were more of them than there was of Kano and they'd presumably be doing more of the work then surely they should get the three masks. Snorting derisively Kano pointed out that they had already broken their word to him, killed his horse and left him for dead in a shallow grave and besides, he only needed some extra people. He did not specifically need the party, he could just as easily hire others and besides, he knew the location and they didn't and the price for finding out was 3 masks.

They told him they'd need to speak with the rest of the group and he left saying he'd be back in touch. Val and the Duke then returned to the feast where he managed not to create any diplomatic incidents, much to everyones surprise.

The next day the party met with the Princess Regent in her magnificent pavilion. She welcomed them, told them that as she had a country to run she would be leaving the next morning and introduced the party to her castellan. She told them that Thay was expected to cross the Dragon's Reach come the spring and she intended to be there to meet them on the shores of Cormanthor. To this end, she was building an alliance of western countries to stand against the Red Wizards. The meeting would be held at Irilwatch in a month and it was the Duke's responsibility to have the castle in a fit state for the meeting. She would also require Irilian to contribute to the war effort by building an army. Again, this responsibility fell on Zolis's shoulders. She would however be leaving a contingent of 50 guardsmen to help with training new troops and guarding the castle (and to make sure the party remains loyal to her).

Basically, the players were being given a choice. Do they want to play at being lords and ladies, or did they want to get back out adventuring?

If the Duke or his retainers required any help they should speak with the Castellan, Lord Arian. They humbly thanked the Princess and retired to the library at the top of the castle to debate their next move. It was decided that they should employ someone to run the castle for them. Various names were suggested, Longeron the engineer (a man who while highly skilled in his own profession has no idea about running a castle), Timis (an alcoholic werewolf), or their head guard who to be fair to the man is a caravan guard who has already expressed concern that he is out of his depth. In the end though the best candidate they could think of was Timur. They determined to speak to Lord Arian and see if they could arrange some sort of clemency for the man in return for his service.

And with that, the session ended for the night.

This was an interesting session. Most of it was spent with the group roleplaying with each other, with me only providing minimal input and playing the odd NPC as required. It was good to see.

PS Oh, I forgot to mention, the group used their staff of healing to ressurect Mary. This however is the last time her god will let Mary be brought back from the dead.

So why does Ross's characters keep dying?

You may have noticed that Ross dies a lot. Sometimes this is because of sheer bad luck, like when his paladin died the first time. He was in his very first dice roll of his first combat and took a critical hit, which rolled maximum damage. I can to a degree mitigate this. However Ross also likes to do what is called mini maxing which is where you try and make a character as powerful as possible while negating his disadvantages. He likes to take abilities from books that can be game breaking.

Mary for example has an insanely high armour class which in normal combat makes her hard to hit. Which in theory is great, but as I warned him when he told me what he was going to do with his character, this means I have to put in creatures that are capable of getting past an armour class that high, and things that can roll that high, tend to also hit very hard. I do have other options. I can put in ghost like creatures who can get through armour with other abilities, but most of the fights are going to be against things that can get past high armour 33 to 50% of the time. When that happens you then have to be able to take a lot of damage. Mary is like a fragile glass inside a heavy iron safe. Everything is great until someone strong enough to move the safe comes along and your glass gets smashed. And no matter how high your armour class is, sooner or later someone is going to roll a natural '20' against you on an attack roll and it gets through your defences. At that point you need to be able to take a hit. As Ross took a couple of levels in wizard and through in an option rule, changing out having a familiar for the ability to increase his stats, which is great but also means you are only getting d4 hit points per level, when a fighter should be getting d10. I can put him against a horde of creatures who individually have no chance against him, but even then every one in twenty is going to get through and slowly wear him down. Where he thinks he is a strong character, he has just super specialised in one area that has left him weak in many others and he can't quite understand why he isn't more powerful in game.

In the morning the party was invited by her herald to join the Princess Regent for breakfast. They were taken to a tent even larger than her private pavilion. They were given a filling pheasant breakfast and an invitation to speak to her privately afterwards. The party were seated close to the Princess, but not by her side.

This was just to say to the party, hey you might be in power, but you still have a way to go.

Afterwards in her tent, she told the party her advisor had told them of their wish to leniency for Tirouv and Joul (the gnome who had rescued them). She made them work for it a little but in the end, said she was inclined to agree with their request. They were given a warning though. They were accepting responsibility for the pair, and any further crimes committed by them would be on their heads, including the death penalty if so justified. With that, the Princess dismissed them and left with he vanguard, leaving the infantry and baggage trains to catch up with them.

Ever looked at a way cool site called Chaotic Shiny? I love that place.

The party decided to wait for a couple of hours before heading to Irilian to order supplies, free Tirouv and start building an army to face the Red Wizards in the spring not to mention getting the castle ready to host an international conference of the western powers. Zolis decided to wait in the castle and start making some magical items. Seeing this as a relatively safe trip, the others decided it would be fine to travel without him. They passed the poor bloody infantry marching along the road. The journey was too long, however, to complete in a single night so Colesta summoned an extra-dimensional space for them to hole up in for the night.

Had they not the party would have been ambushed by one of the assassins of the Dark Reflection.

The next day they reached the city. Evidently the conquest of Irilian had not been that much of a fight as the walls showed no signs of major damage. They entered the city, but whereas before they were greeted as heroes and saviours this time they found only a sullen silence. People spat on the ground as they passed or jeered at them. Unsure what to make of this, they headed to the jail where a young lieutenant in the colours of Cormyr seemed to be in command. The guardsmen were still those of Irilian, but the men in charge were Irilan still. They secured the release of the two counseilmen whose services they had planned on obtaining. Jules looked broken, as if he had lost everything he ever valued in the world (he has), while Tirouv shot them a momentary look of purest hatred before masking it behind his normally placid elvish features.

The group could not understand what they could have done to invoke such hatred. They would find out soon enough.

Taking the newly released prisoners to the high-class inn that Tirouv favoured for his meetings, The Stormridden the group found themselves being pelted with stones and odure en-route. The maitre'd had to be bribed to let them in, and even then it had to be to a private room where no other customers could see them. Although Tirouv was in no mood for chit chat, they did manage to find out that they were being blamed for the city being under Cormyrian rule. Word had gotten out that the confirmation that the lands belonged to the Cormyrian crown had came from the castle. When the city had been attacked, the party had been nowhere to be found when it came to defending it.

Val remembered how uncomfortable Timis had looked when they had been gathered in the throne room and suddenly put it all together. Tirouv was fairly hostile to the group, but given the choice between facing a trial and most likely the hangman's noose or working with the party he agreed to work for them. An offer was made to Joul who also accepted, but he seemed to have little interest in living or dying. Colesta started to have serious doubts about employing either of them.

And they thought they'd ride in, save the day and be treated as heroes.

Tirouv mockingly suggested while they were in the city they might want to check their wine glasses for broken glass. When they started worrying someone might try and poison them again he reminded them that in order to have someone killed, you had to publically announce that you wanted someone killed, then the local guild would get in touch. It let the potential target know they had angered someone enough to have them killed and would give them a chance to either flee the city or to try and make recompense. Just at that point, there was a knock on the room door. They nervously asked who it was and were told it was their supper (meals were included in the cost of the room). Val opened the door to be confronted with two men dressed in black and pointing spears in her direction.

And with that the session ended for the night.

Val found both spears plunged into her body, one catching her thigh, the other through her gut. She stumbled under their assault and tried to move out the way but the shock was too much and she failed to dodge out the way. Mary was unable to get past Val's body to attack the would-be assassins. Colesta's magic however was easily able to find its way past her comrades and incinerated both black-clad assailants. The bodies lay smoking on the ground. A quick search revealed they had no items of note, no handily signed contracts or suchlike. Just a couple of crudely made spears and black rags. The bodies were chucked out of a nearby window and the party settled down for the night, five bodies crowded into one double bed.

Meanwhile, back in the castle an impatient Kano confronted Zolis and demanded to know if the party was going to accompany him, or would he be looking for other assistance. He would be leaving in three days and wanted an answer the next morning. Zolis tried explaining they had other matters to attend to, but Kano was determined he would be moving on in accordance with his deadline. He returned the next morning for his answer and a flustered mage agreed to accompany him.

He just hoped the rest of the party returned in time.

The next day was spent negotiating with merchants for the supplies required. It had been estimated that they would need food to feed around 500 people for a week, not to mention their mounts. Entertainment would also have to be sorted, accommodation and a myriad of lesser details. Eventually, the party did figure out they had employed two people to do this kind of thing for them (Tirouv and Juels) and did not have to engage in roleplaying it all out themselves.

I am rather thankful for this. It is not really interesting to roleplay shopping for food and drink.

They then went to the paladins to try and mend some fences with them and recruit them to be the core of the army they are assembling. A 'bribe' of 1,000 gold along with promises of future donations was made as well as a suit of magical plate armour. The Grand Marshal (rather coldly) accepted the gifts and said he would consider the offer. He would pray on the matter and send his response to the castle. Another night was spent in Irilian, everyone crowded into the one room and taking turns to keep watch. The next day mounts were bought for Tirouv and Juels before they headed back to the castle.

It was a peaceful enough journey back, and they arrived in time to be told by Zolis in his usual breathless fashion that they had to leave the castle for a couple of weeks and accompany Kano as he was not willing to wait any longer for them and certainly not the month they would require. Besides, they should be back in time for the conference. They have minions to take care of the details for them. As long as nothing happens that delays them, then they should be fine.

The rest of the night was spent going over their inventory, setting up a treasury of 50,000 gold the new Castellans could use without going into the main treasury and deciding what items to take with them. I told them weight could be an important factor in the next part of the adventure so they have to list what they are taking with them and what they are leaving behind).

The end of the session saw them heading off to bed, ready for the next days adventuring.

And with that, the session ended for the night.

Oh and due to Tina writing a brooch down as brioche, the party now had a magical loaf of bread.

The party finished off their final checks on their gear and set off following Kano out of the castle of their castle. Rather than following the road south to Irilian, he turned off and went cross country, skirting the eastern edge of the Vast, the swamp of ill-repute that marked the unoffical border between Sembia and Cormyr. Eventually they reached the road reaching along the coast, known as the Manticore Way where they turned west. After four days travelling with nothing much happening, Kano took a northern fork. His replies were short and while he told the truth, he didn't really give them anything useful to go on. Where are we going would be answered with "North west" for example.

They were due to spend the night in Arabel. Normally Kano had insisted on camping away from towns and villages and they'd had to rough it in the field. Since Zolis comes from nearby he suggested that they stop in and see his family whose estate was perhaps an hours ride outside of the city. The party picked up a few supplies and continued on to the estate. The wizard was visably... excited as they drew nearer and he admitted he was somewhat concerned about how his family would adjust to his new body, him having been human when he last saw them and now being a half orc. As they got closer and passed many of the estate workers they noticed they were staring open mouthed and pointing at the group.

Well, more specifically they were pointing at Zolis. Colesta asked if half orcs were outlawed in Cormyr or anything, but Zolis knew of no predjudice against them. The main farmhouse building lay on the leeward side of a large hill in the middle of the estate. To one side the hill sloped downwards towards a lake. This was where the best of the grape crops grew, catching the sun all day long.

Please note, I know nothing about viticulture and if this isn't the best way to grow grapes I neither know or care. Its just a bit of background detail. Anyway, many sessions ago the party found a Deck of Many Things in Irilswatch. Many things happened as a result of this, one of which was that Zolis gained a small keep. He gave vague directions as to where the keep should be located. This is worth bearing in mind.

Only now, where rows of carefully planted grapes there stood a shuffing great castle. Well, not a huge one. More of a small keep, but it was large enough to have destroyed the majority of this years crop. It was a squat construction, no where near as grand as Irilswatch, but solid and defencable enough. From the four towers and the walls fluttered purple silken banners, each embroidered with the familiar features of Zolis the half orc.

The first words from his mouth were "Oh crap."

Followed by "So that is why they were staring at me."

It was decided to investigate the keep first off, and then go and try explain things to his family.

The keep itself was plain and as yet undecorated. It looked secure and functional enough though. Zolis decided it was time to face the music though and headed off to his family home. Word of strangers had reached the farmhouse though and his father and younger brother were riding towards them.

It took some convincing the old man that the huge, tusked half-orc was in fact his eldest child. He was unimpressed though with his tales, even when he told him how he was now a Duke receiving instead a highly unimpressed "Well whoop-tee-f**king-doo. Do I bow or do I curtsy?"

Back at the old homestead, the party met the rest of Zolis's family, his mother and younger sister. At no point did he bother introducing the party to his family though.. His mother recognised Zolis right away, claiming that she could never mistake his eyes for anyone else. She was baking bread and told him his room had been untouched since he was last in it.

This turned out to be very literally true. As soon as they opened the door the smell of stale sweat and unwashed clothes hit them. A small cloud of flies buzzed about the room. Zolis decided to close the door and carefully go back downstairs.

The subject of the keep came up and how much it would cost to buy some extra land nearby. The hefty sum of 10,000 gold was reached, to cover debts, buy the land, pay workers and so on. Looking through their bags the group managed to come up with this amount (saving the family from bankruptcy although this was not directly mentioned during the session).

Zolis's family (the Pegasun's if anyone is curious), didn't have enough guest rooms for everyone, but they made up beds for people where they could and everyone spent a safe and comfortable night sleeping in one of the outer buildings. In the morning a breakfast and packed lunch was prepared for everyone. Zolis's father took his eldest son to one side and in a serious voice spoke to his boy. "Look son, I've heard to stories of the war in the east. I am guessing somehow you are going to be all caught up in this with your castle and lands. Just try not to... make the entire Cormyrian army vanish in a puff of smoke or anything eh."
And with that he gave his boy a hug. Goodbyes were said and the group got back on the road. Or on the cross country as it happened.

Another couple of days on the road passed. The party did discover their destination was somewhere in the Desertmouth Mountains, a high ridge of mountains that separated the fertile lands of Cormyr from the desert land of the Anauroch and the dangers those destroyed lands contain.

North of Arabel lay the city of Tilverton. Kano indicated they would be going nowhere near that place. To much had happened there he hinted darkly. Zolis agreed with the strange bounty hunter and the rest of t the party did not ask questions. The mountains were in sight and the group spent another couple of days travelling northwards, the ground now tilting upwards as they slowly began the trip to the base of the mountain range. Settlements were non-existent on the cross country ride, however, they did reach a crude road running east-west which Kano had them follow for a while. On a boulder at the roadside, they saw a gaily dressed man sitting, playing a lute. He hailed the group in a friendly manner as they approached. ‘Hello, there my friends. I hope this fine morning finds you well and that at the days end it finds you equally well. That of course, depends entirely on what you do next. You see, a small army of my fellow ruffians even now have you in their sights and are prepared to rein down an arrow filled death on you all. This is a fate that is in your power to avoid. All you have to do is hand over all your wealth, goods, weapons, armour and so forth.’

The group decided to reply by opening a can of whup-ass. As it turned out, this was a fairly small can, and it was the diet variety. Despite spells, arrows and swords the man appeared wounded, but unconcerned. Undeterred the party continued unleashing all manner of attacks but failed to kill the stranger. Meanwhile, crossbow bolts came flying out of the foliage to the north and south. The fire was fairly inaccurate, but it was slowly whittling down the group's health. Every so often the stranger would drink a potion and not just his wounds, but also the damage to his clothing would be instantly repaired/healed. After a while, Colesta started to get suspicious that something wasn't quite right (about 6 or 7 combat rounds in), so she cast a spell designed to detect the threads of magic. The longer she concentrated, the more information she would find out. She and her companions fairly reeked of magic between their spells and magic items, but the stranger too, he also was wrapped in magic. Colesta extended her magical sense out, following the threads of magic woven around him until she saw the nature of the enchantment around him.

"ITS AN ILLUSION!" She cried out. "ZOLIS, BURN THE BUSHES!"

Zolis for his part summoned a mighty fireball and sent the huge ball of arcane fire hurtling towards the shrubbery to the north. Unfortunately, the rest of the party stood between him and his target. Instead of engulfing the enemy in a ball of flame, his allies found themselves hit by the 30-foot inferno.

On the plus side, the radius was large enough to hit the guys hiding in the plants as well. Three-quarters of them were incinerated instantly and the survivors found themselves badly injured and without cover. Val managed to jump into cover, and Kano, still on horseback got out the way, but everyone else was caught in the explosion found themselves nearly dead. Colesta and Zolis saw a man, the double of the illusionary figure running away. A hail of missile fire and a lightning bolt dropped him though, with no fakery to pretend he was someone else this time. The other ambushers fled, badly wounded but alive.

It was time for the party to take stock of the damage they had suffered though. The fireball was hot enough to melt certain metals, like lead, gold or silver. Their stash of money was now a 27lb slag heap. Non-magical weapons and clothing had been ruining by the firey holocaust.

Oh and their horses were so much BBQ. They still had a few days travel ahead of them, and many days travel back and were stuck in the middle of nowhere with civilisation at least 4 days walking behind them.

And with that the session ended for the night.

The group stood around, still somewhat shocked and in a couple of cases completely naked. The hair had been singed from the heads of everyone, bar Kano and Val. Luckily, Val still had her ballroom gown in her bag of holding and Colesta was at least able to cover her blushes. Mary, however, had no such luck and demanded that Zolis stop staring at her.

Kano cursed the stupidity of his companions. He would not make his planned timeline now and he knew of nowhere in this desolate land where they might get replacement mounts. He had travelled rarely in this region. There was nothing else for it but to trudge on, on foot. He insisted the group make what headway they could. Lacking shoes it would not be a pleasant walk for Colesta or Mary.

Spirits in the group did rise somewhat when they spotted a small village up ahead, but when they got closer it was merely a burned-out shell of a village. Kano's keen tracking skills told him that the village had been hit months ago. Riders had come in from the north and left the same way. Slavers, the group guessed. Still, while they were there it was reasoned they could search the buildings for any clothing that had survived and perhaps stop Mary from suffering from hypothermia. The two ladies headed off to a nearby building while the others prepared a camp. They managed to find some clothing. Not in the best of conditions perhaps, but serviceable enough and certainly better than being totally nude, or tromping around the wilds in a ballgown. As they rooted through the clothing though, the angry spirits of the former owners were called back from the grave. Three mist like figures vague and insubstantial formed around a fourth that while the others were grey and faint was a sickly green glowing colour. They drifted over the ground to attack those who had disturbed their rest. The green one touched Val, its insubstantial hand drifting straight through the rogues armour. It felt like an icy cold hand had just gripped her heart and was crushing it. She felt a portion of her life energy drain from her body, and the green glow from the creature grew stronger. Her and Colesta fought back against the strange ghostlike creatures but found they were outmatched and shouted for help. The others came running and lent their spells and swords to the fray. Every time one of the wraths touched them, they felt not just the physical damage, but a spiritual one too as their life force was drained from them and made their attackers more powerful. The green one concentrated on Val, who realising she was losing the fight. She attempted to use her training and meld with the shadows, but the wraith, chill with the touch of the grave was attracted to the heat of the living and could sense her. Once again it touched her and Val felt her body weaken. She could no longer stand upright as more and more of her life force was drained to feed the insatiable hunger of this monster.

The rest of the party saw Val fall, but none of them could get to her. The Dread Wraith drained the last of her vital energies and left her a lifeless corpse on the rubble. Seeing this was a fight they could not seem to win, at least not like this Colesta stepped back and ran out of the building to where Zolis stood. The mage had been firing spell after spell at the creatures, but having learned his lesson from the earlier encounter was afraid to unleash his more powerful magics for fear of hitting his companions. She shouted to the others to get out of the house. Kano fought a fighting retreat, moving back slowly while Mary turned her back and fled outside while Colesta called down a storm of icy death whose magic weakened the undead, not to mention hitting Kano a bit too. Another spirit started to coalesce out of the air, this time over Val's spirit as the Dread Wraith called the spirit of one it had slain to rise up and serve it.

Things were looking grim for the band of heroes.

Now the fighting was out in the street Zolis was able to unleash some of his more powerful spells and sent a couple of lightning bolts which incinerated the lesser spirits and left the most powerful one in a badly weakened state. Mary could easily have finished it off, only feeling weak and dizzy, her blades failed the hit the twisted etherial creature. Zolis could still save the day, but his spells now missed its target. It would come down to Colesta, and who else but a priest would you want to trust with a hail Mary? She called on a Phantasmal Killer, but the Dread Wraith easily fought off the phantoms of the mind that it created. Desperate to cling on to its unhallowed life the Wraith stuck out at the closest target and its insubstantial claws sunk deep into Mary's body. Weakened by its repeated draining attacks she had no more resistance against the spirit as her soul was sucked from her body and into the Wraiths. It waxed powerful once more on stolen life energy. It was to no avail though. Incensed by the loss of another companion the remaining adventurers redoubled their efforts and managed by spell and magic weapon to end its unhallowed existence.

But at what cost?

The others saw to their wounds while Colesta went to return the bodies of their dead friends to life. As she did so though another creature formed, rising up from the body of Mary. This however was a weak, newborn spirit and was quickly dispatched. She called on the power of her healing staff and sent magical energies questing forth to call her friends back from beyond the veil, but nothing happened. Confused she tried again, but still the bodies lay still. Their souls had been destroyed by the Wraiths and had not passed on to the etheric realms to dwell with their gods. There would be no coming back from this death, not without much more powerful magics than the group currently possessed.

Kano grunted and said "Going to need reinforcements now."

And with that, the session ended for the night.

New characters.

Well following last nights decimation of the party, we'll be having some new faces turn up. Tina is going to a sorcerer, ranger, arcane archer mix while Ross is going with a Fighter who has a prestige class that specialises in hunting evil dragons and is sworn to devote his life to their destruction. I have warned him that there are not a lot of dragon fights in this campaign (unless the party decides to go hunting them), and that many of his special abilities will be useless. Not only that, but if he isn't hunting dragons then his god will get p**sed at him and start withholding its favour from him. I have messaged him to warn about this but he is happy enough to take the character anyway. He uses a bastard sword in each hand and has built his character around this, trying once again to take someone overpowered. I wonder if it will work out any better for him than Mary did?

Unable to find an alternative, the party decided to bury their fallen comrades. Colesta used one of her spells to create a couple of headstones to commemorate their lost companions and then with heavy hearts they continued on their route north. Zolis sent Black Adam flying around to see if he could spot any settlements nearby, but the bird could see no signs of life.

The scenery was as desolate as their hearts.

A camp was set up for the night and Colesta dreamed deeply. She saw the realm of her goddess, Mystra. As befits the patron of magic, it was a vast library. Her goddess spoke to her and told her that this mission had an importance far beyond that which they knew. She would send companions to replace those they had lost for it was of vital import that they succeed.

The next day she told the others of her visitation and that they would receive divine assistance and would meet companions on the road who could assist them. The others did not comment on wither or not they found this reassuring.

As they continued their journey northwards, Kano and Colesta riding while Zolis walked, Kano suddenly motioned them to stop. In a harsh voice he commanded them to take cover. No sooner had they sought the sparse cover of some nearby trees than something flew low and fast overhead. They had a quick glimpse of a massive, long body. Serpentine, scaly and with leathery wings.

A wave of fear washed over the small group as the beast flew overhead, but it passed quickly. After a couple of minutes, Kano said it was safe to continue. When he was asked about how he knew the creature was coming he simply shrugged his shoulders and told them "Been expecting it. We are heading to its lair. That's where the Masks are."

Some comments were then made about not being warned that they would be facing a dragon (although in truth the party is actually facing a danger much closer to home that is far more deadly than the dragon).( They wanted to know if he knew of any weaknesses the creature had. Again he shrugged and shoulders and replied "It likes the cold. White dragons nest in the mountains and where it snows."

Colesta looked at Zolis and said: "Fireballs."

As they headed on through the day, always upwards the light began to fail. Up ahead though they could see a fire. It would take them perhaps another hour to reach it, but it was decided to push on and investigate. Getting closer they discovered two travellers. One was a well-built male, clad in an unusual red mail armour. He had two large swords strapped across his back. He was bald and seemed to be somewhere in his mid 30's. He was obviously an experienced fighting man, but somehow when they laid eyes on him, they immediately found him somehow dislikable. His companion was a female Elf. She had an intricately carved bow nearby and a large wolf lay across her lap while a hawk perched on her shoulder. She welcomed the travellers and offered to share their campfire. The man merely stared at the newcomers. They introduced themselves, the Elf was called Allania (Tina), while the man was Lionel (Ross). They got down to chatting about why they were in the area. Allania told them she'd been hired by some wannabe dragon hunter, while Lionel unhappily introduced himself as a Dragon Hunter (When I gave Tina her intro I had explained to her that she'd been hired by a wannabe dragon hunter. I did not mention that this was Ross's character and she didn't figure this out by herself. This caused much mirth within the group). Since both groups were hunting the same quarry although, for different reasons, it was decided to join forces. Kano made it quite clear that this did not affect his share of the treasure. He was still going to take 3 Masks, and the others could split any other treasure in whatever fashion they so cared.

During the conversation, Lionel revealed his armour was crafted from the hide of a juvenile red dragon he had personally slain. Colesta immediately took him to task for the slaying of what was effectively a child.

They settled down for the night and in the morning continued ever onwards. Just around midday, they could see a squat, ugly building on the horizon. It stood out as a dull grey building compared to the dull brown rock around it. Kano pointed with one hand. "That's our destination."

It took over an hour to reach the building with Zolis walking along. He cursed never having learned any spell that would have allowed him to fly.

As they reached the building, they could see a pair of wooden double doors and a large brass gong hanging beside it. I had worked out a whole timetable that would decide where the inhabitants of the temple were and what they were doing. It was quite intricate really, but it was all rendered moot when... Kano was about to suggest sneaking in when Lionel rode up to the gong and rang it quite loudly causing the inhabitants to drop what they were doing and prepare an ambush. They opened the doors, revealing a long corridor with a long dried up reflecting pool along the centre. Heading up the passageway, they found themselves setting off a bunch of pressure pads causing darts to come flying out of the walls at them. Some minor injuries were sustained, but no one was seriously wounded. The darts were however loaded with a slow-acting poison that left Allania gradually feeling weaker. The corridor led on until they reached an intricately carven door. It had a confusing mass of whorls and lines that made no sense to anyone looking at them. Looking at them, however, set off a magical trap that would allow one of the wizards who was even now preparing a trap on the other side of the door to see through Colesta's eyes (unknown to the cleric).

With weapons drawn, they opened the door.

And thanks to Lionel's gong ringing skills, they opened the door onto an ambush. First off, a man in purple robes (who shall be referred to as The Wearer of Purple, for this is his title), cast a spell that caused oily, black tentacles to rise up from the floor grasping the party in their magical pseudopods. Next, a second wizard (who was not wearing purple), cast a spell to buff up the small horde of minions that we set up in ambush. Finally, the small horde themselves loosed a hail of darts from the hand crossbows they held. Lionel fittingly enough was trapped in the doorway and at least provided cover for the rest of the party. Only a few of the bolts were finding kinks in his armour, but eventually, they would wear him down and kill him.

The entire group was caught by the malevolent tentacles. They struggled against their slippery, but powerful grip. Allania sent her hawk flying through the door to attack some of the crossbowmen and was able to concentrate long enough to cast a spell and call on a second bird of prey to join it. Both birds were a minor nuisance to the cultists but were at least enough to stop a few of them from shooting at the group. Colesta meanwhile (and I may have said something to her here), reached over and closed the damn door, thus preventing the cultists from shooting them anymore. Allania managed to break free from the tentacles though and opened the door again right after *shrugs*.

One by one the group managed to break free of the tentacles, all except Kano and poor Zolis who found himself transformed into a frog by one of the opposing magic users. No one noticed that during the time the door was closed both the opposing magic users had disappeared. Lionel got into the room with the remaining cultists and his swords unleashed a bloody dance of revenge. In moments it was all over and the only things left breathing in the room were the party. Lionel was quick to criticise Kano for being stuck the entire fight, while Kano and the others pointed out that ringing the bell was not the most sensible thing to do.

And with that, the session ended for the night.

The group decided to go through the western door first. It had been left open by the wizard who had retreated back down that route. The first room had some arcane marks (an ancient relic from the buildings original purpose), carved into the floor and found a wand, although they didn't have the spells available at the moment to identify what spell the item could cast. The next room was similarly unoccupied, containing books, a table large enough for a dozen men to sit around and a desk. The next room was set up as a bedroom cum torture chamber, with a rack, iron maiden and several other implements of pain. The party could see no one else in the room, but as Zolis entered last, a wizard who had cast invisibility on himself ambushed them. He first attempted to cast a spell that would have robbed Zolis of his wits (no change there then), but he missed and his attack caused his invisibility to fade away.

The party then made short work of the lone spell caster, cutting him down in short order.

The room was looted, and who would get the book of spells became a slight bone of contention between Colesta and Zolis. Then it was back to the main hall and the other door. Firstly they found another empty room. Stone benched lined one wall, and above them, wooden pegs protruded from the wall, some of which had purple robes hanging from them. Another door led southwards and the group wasted no time in heading through it. The next room seemed to be a dormitory. Crude wooden pallets lay around and a wooden staircase led upwards. They noticed something odd at the back of the stairs. It turned out there was an illusion hiding more stairs leading down. Kano impatiently said that the dragon was unlikely to be downstairs, as it was too damn big to get down there. They could explore it later if they wished, but they had a job in hand to complete first. The group went upstairs and found themselves in another bedroom. The second wizard was in here and launched a barrage of spells at the party. One of them sent phantoms of the mind twisting around Lionel. He struggled against them, but they overwhelmed his senses and he collapsed to the floor.

And with that we had to end the session early for the night.

With Lionel lying down on the ground, Allania put a couple of arrows in the wizard, one of which sunk into his throat. He joined Lionel on the floor, his life blood spilling out into a pool beneath him. Colesta used her staff, aware that the precious life giving energy that it contained was running dangerously low and brought Lionel back. He awoke though to find Colesta's dagger pressed against the underside of his chin. He had to promise not to kill any more baby dragons. Or indeed other dragons unless they were attacked first.

Not everyone gets a chance to hit back if a hostile dragon attacks first.

The room and body were searched revealing another spell book and a few more items, including a set of iron keys which Kano immediatel claimed and took to unlock a small chest beside the bed. It contained the 5 Masks he had came here to retrieve, but he wanted to leave them locked in the box until after they had dealt with the creature in the next room. If they failed, he did not want the monster getting its claws on the items. The group at this point decided to conjure their extra dimension space and rest up for a few hours.

I honestly considered having the creature in the next room fly away with its treasure horde since the party had decided to rest midway through raiding the building, but I wanted something else to happen more... Additionally, no one picked on on Kano knowing what the keys were for, or that the dragon was in the next room.

Colesta studied the 2nd spellbook during their rest. Most of what it contained she already knew, but there was one spell she was unfamiliar with. She could tell that it would cause ice to spread around her, but she didn't have enough time to carry out an indepth study of its mechanics and figure out its exact effects. After they had rested up, it was time to venture into the next room through the double doors in the north. Lionel cautiously opened the door and crept through followed by Allania, Zolis, Colesta and Kano brought up the rear. As soon as the others were in the room though they heard a high-pitched voice speaking from behind them: “Well my friends, I am afraid it is now my time to leave. You survived my attempts to poison you in the city. Let’s see how you do against a more worthy foe.”

You turn around to see Kano has vanished. In his place stands a grey skinned creature. It has no mouth that you can see, and its eyes are those of an octopus. The body is thin, gangly and hairless with long arms that hang down as far as its knees. With a chuckle, it slams the double doors shut and you hear a lock being turned.

Whatever was in this room, they were trapped with it!

It was icily cold in the large L shaped room. Right in front of them was a large pile of treasure, gold, jewels, artifacts and artwork. Zolis especially was taken by the horde. Then from around the corner of the L, something from a nightmare loomed out of the darkness. Its eyes are two burning pits of an icy blue flame. Scraps of rotting flesh cling to the skull in a few places, but mostly you can see bare bone. The head is a long and elongated nightmare, with long and jagged teeth visible all along the crocodile-like jaws. It rears backwards, its body rising up until it towers above you. Where once scaly flesh covered muscles and organs there is just bone, which glistens wetly where the flesh has been freshly ripped from its body. As you watch it tears another chunk of bloody raw meat from itself which falls to the ground with a gristly plop. A wave of fear rushes through you and from its unholy mouth, a torrent of freezing cold air spews forth. An inordinate amount of torn off flesh and organs litter the floor, where they steam in the freezing air.

It opened its attack with a blast of freezing air that washed over Lionel, Allania and her pets. Then, since he was the closest its teeth and claws tore open the would be dragon hunter. A deathly chill spread through his bones from its dark energies and he found himself unable to move. Allania cast a spell to make her wolf more powerful in combat, but doing so exposed her to an attack from the undead dragon and she too failed to resist its life draining power (Lionel would be frozen for 3 rounds. Allania however was somewhat unluckier and would be stuck for 9). Zolis summoned a globe of acid and made it rain down on the unnatural thing they faced, while Colesta called down a pillar f holy fire that almost blinded everyone in the room. The creature moved so it could catch everyone in a second icy blast. Not to be outdone, Zolis sent streaks of fire from his outstretched fingers that incinerated the bones and destroyed the hold that necromatic magic had on the corpse, causing it to collapse.

Once the paralysis had worn off quite a while was spent discussing the practicalities of taking the dragons skull back as a trophy (and I had to work out how heavy the skull of a dragon that size would be) versus the danger that the thing might come back to unlife. Eventually it was decided to destroy the skeleton before they left. A couple of hours was then spent counting out the loot, which consisted of several thousand gold and platinum pieces, various minor magic items (including a rub carved into the shape of the god of good dragons (Dragons come in two main types in D&D. Metallic dragons have scales the colours of metals and are generally good creatures, or at least not evil, while Chromatic dragons are evil ones. Before it had became a Dracolich, this had been a white dragon, who follow Tiamat the evil dragon god rather than Bahamut the good dragon god, so this was a rather unusual item to find in the creatures lair. Lionel is a follower of Bahamut and seeks out Chromatic dragons to kill them).

The group packed some of the treasure into a bag of holding, while Allania went down stairs to explore the basement they had ignored earlier. She found a couple of empty rooms, one that contained pit cells full of skeletons. She didn't make the connection, but these were the remains of the people taken from the nearby villages. A loud clacking noise sounded regularly from an iron wrought gate and she sent her wolf to investigate. It whined and didn't want to go near the door, but she insisted. As it approached a massive stinger crashed into the gate, knocking it off its hinges and plunging deep into her pet. With him badly wounded and filled with poison, she decided not to investigate what was on the other side of the gate. What ever it was, was too large to get out the room and she was happy to leave it there, deciding instead that discretion was the better part of valour and she would return secure in the knowledge whatever monster lay in the next room could not follow her. At least not via this doorway.

Zolis sent Black Adam outside to see if he could find a wagon or something they could haul the treasure out on. He reported that there was a stable to the rear of the temple filled with horses, but not a single wagon. If only they'd kept the one Bran stole for them. He had also spotted a single figure riding casually southward. By this point 'Kano' had a couple of hours head start and the party decided to pursue him first. As they left, Zolis blasted the bones of the dragon with a fireball, not destroying the bones but atleast shattering man and sending them flying all over the room.

And with that the session ended for the night.

So now all I have to do is wait and see if the party chases after Kano (or more accurately, the creature that was impersonating Kano). If they do things right then they will catch him out in the open and have more or less a straight fight. If they mess up, then they'll end up pursuing him into somewhere where he (or rather it, these things don't have sexes as far as I know), can prepare a battleground and fight it out with them.

Outside the temple, at the rear, the group took enough horses for them all to 'liberate' a mount each.

Shame all the other horses were just left to starve.

The group quickly decided they were going to pursue 'Kano', but the details took a bit of time to work out. An attempt to send both Black Adam and Allania's hawk (Sanu) out to confirm the fleeing thieves location at the same time met with the slight problem that the hawk is a bird of prey and was feeling hungry. Black Adam returned quickly, complaining that Sanu was looking at him the same way he looked at eyeballs. The birds had however spotted a lone rider heading southwards at an easy pace. If they set off immediately they could catch him before morning.

I guess I should get this one updated and finished off.

The group set off immediately in hot pursuit. In the distance, they did sight a campfire not too far off. Believing that 'Kano' would assume the dragon had killed them they figured he would be in no hurry and taking no particular care to hide his trail. A few hours ride in the darkness brought them to a mile or so away from the fire. It was decided to dismount, spread out and surround the traitor.

Unfortunately, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Some clumsy missile weapons alerted their target and he ran from the fireside where he had been gutting a dear. The party tried to find him in the darkness, but 'Kano' circled around behind them and (spoiler alert), changed his physical form so he now looked like Lionel. He walked up behind Zolis with a smile on his face and when the mages back was turned, plunged his dagger into his back several times. 'Kano' was in truth a Doppelganger working for The Dark Reflection. The assassins had now killed the last of those they had been commissioned to slay. It would doubtless have been some cold comfort to Zolis had he known that his companions surrounded his killer and hacked him down, but alas his soul had been sucked into the weapon that had slain him. Like poor Val and Mary there could be no coming back from this death.