I've enjoyed some of the descriptions of the campaigns going on and I especially like reading about the exploits of others. So I have decided to write up my own campaign journal and post it here in case there are others that might enjoy it. This first post is a little long becuase it was really nearly two sessions. Anyway I hope you like it.
Session 1
Kirinor, Yurthgreen 4th, 422 AC: The story begins along the South Shore of Estwilde when Lukin, a monk of Majere is on a journey to the north from his monastery in Mageholm. He passes through a small community on a crossroads between Two Creeks and Haltigoth called Hap. Lukin was called by his aunt in Two Creeks to look into the disappearance of his two cousins an aspiring knight and novice red-robed wizard. All he knew was that they had traveled north so he was headed that way.
In the village of Hap there was a Qualinesti elf wizard by the name of Rouge that was studying under the tutelage of Hamlin Mooney, an old human wizard she had known 40 years ago before the Chaos War. She had been in Hap for a number of years studying magic and was ready to get out of the “no-horse” town because most of the people there were not happy to have an elf living among them despite the fact that she kept to herself all the time. Her identical twin sister had left a number of years ago and said she would be back one day.
Lukin walked into town that evening and Rouge, curious of the new stranger went out to find out more about him. They began to talk and he spoke of traveling north. Rouge decided she would go with him to see a bit more of the world. But before they could go Mooney, Rouge’s mentor, asked the wizard to stay a day or two and look into the strange disappearance of some cattle. Normally wizards wouldn’t look into things like this, but the circumstances were different this time. It appeared that wolves were involved, but gates had been opened or disassembled. (Something wolves normally wouldn’t bother with.) So Rouge agreed to look into it and Lukin said he would stay a day or two himself.
Misham, Yurthgreen 5th, 422 AC: The next day Mooney sends the pair to the only tavern in town to deliver some “Silvanesti Wine” (he had created himself) and to speak with the owner Redhand in order to see if he would know any local rumors. Redhand is a weasely good for nothing retired rogue that dislikes non-humans in general, but he feeds Mooney for the so-called “Silvanesti Wine” that he makes a pretty good profit selling. Redhand is not much help, he mainly complains about elves and complains about strangers in town and complains about the increase in the number of gully dwarves around town recently. About the time of his last complaint a gully dwarf sneaks into the tavern looking for a scrap of food and Redhand chases him out.
The monk Lukin and the wizard Rouge make their way to the site of the latest incident. The farmer’s wife asks them to be discreet because the farmer himself does not like strangers poking around his land. So they follow the outside gate on the property and find the area that had been breeched. The fence had been dismantled, apparently by hand, and they could make out faint footprints of wolves all around. The farmer shows up and starts yelling at them. Lukin and the farmer get into an argument and the monk decides to leave Hap. Rouge decides that she will go back to Mooney’s.
That afternoon Rouge’s sister returns from her year long sabbatical. Her identical twin sister, Theanna had traveled to the Citadel of Light in order to find out more about mystiscm. Theanna is a rogue but she has had a fascination with the Power of the Heart. While she was there she was given a staff called Patient Lesson from an instructor as a gift. On her way back she went through Haltigoth which is a rough city. While she was there she was arrested on false charges and escaped prison with a kagonesti half-elf ranger by the name of Thaylin.
So the wizard, her sister the rogue and the half-elf ranger all decided to try to catch the cow rustlers. With the permission of the farmers wife they spend the night out in the field. It starts raining when the ranger hears something below the tree he was keeping watch from. He sneaks down and jumps into the foliage only to be narrowly missed by a skunk’s spray. While the elven sisters are busy laughing at him he hears screaming from the forest and wolves with the cows in the opposite direction. He sends Rouge and Theanna to check the cows while he slips into the forest to check the source of the screaming.
Thaylin glides through the forest and happens upon a kender screaming “Flounder! Flounder!” It seems that the kender has lost his pet skunk. Irritated at the disturbance the ranger rushes back to help the rogue and wizard.
The elven sisters had made their way to the cow pen where the cattle had been corralled for the night and noticed that the gate was swung wide open and the lock that was holding it had been unlocked. A pack of wolves was herding a cow out of the pen and leading it out into the pasture towards the woods. Four of the wolves broke away and stacked the elves. The ranger made his way back and joined in as more wolves broke away from chasing the cow. Then the kender eventually joined in the fray. They noticed this when they heard “oops” because the kender had dropped a ball of acid on his feet.
They defeated all but one wolf that escaped. The ranger and wizard decided to follow it but the rogue decided to stay behind along with the kender. Theanna spoke with the kender and he introduced himself as Telbin Reedwhistle, a kender sorcerer that was out just exploring the world. He became fast friends with Theanna and was happy to share a number of stories with her throughout the night until they both fell asleep.
The ranger and wizard continued to follow the injured wolf right back to the rest of the wolf pack. The wizard stepped on a stick and the ranger had his head poking out from behind a tree when she did. Therefore it caught the attention of the entire pack of wolves which promptly hunted the two down and mauled them until they fell unconscious.
Meanwhile back at the ranch the ranger and the wizard woke up and realized something was very wrong. Evidently they had been healed up, but the most surprising thing was that they were no longer a half-elf and elf respectively. Thaylin the ranger was now a boar and Rouge the wizard was now a pig and they had been locked in a pen. So they began to look for a way out. They were unable to communicate with one another and the Ranger started using his tusks to try to ram the gate of the pen open.
The kender and rouge journeyed for almost an hour through the forest following the owl until they reached a small hill. There was a cave entrance that the owl settled upon and waited for Theanna and Telbin to enter. Cautiously the rouge attempted to check for traps but Flounder (the skunk) waltzed right in followed by the kender. Luckily there wasn’t any trap. They continued down a passage until it forked left and right. They heard some noise down the right fork so they skulked down the passage, but the rogue slipped in some gravel and alerted the voices and they stopped and movement could be heard. Not wanting to miss out on the action the kender jumped out down the hall and caught the last traces of a gully dwarf slipping into a small crevice.
So Telbin slipped in after it and the elven rogue followed having to crawl on her hands and knees to fit through. After crawling around for a few minutes they finally emerged in a dark cavern lit by a small crack in the ceiling reflecting filtered sunlight off some crystal. The room smelled terrible and was crammed with gully dwarves living in squalor. There was a pile of rocks in one corner that served as a throne and a fat gully dwarf sitting on it. Next to him a dirty female gully dwarf in a long shirt (worn like a robe). Most of the gully dwarves looked scared, but the king and the female looked angry. Theanna spoke with the Highglub and the gully shaman Shar. The gullies wanted the pair out of their home. But Theanna would not leave until they told them where her sister was. The gullies were playing dumb, but obviously new something. Unfortunately they couldn’t get anything out of the tight lipped gullies and left to explore the other passage.
The ranger actually managed to scale the pen as a boar and unlatched the door from the outside with his tusk so he and the wizard were free. That was when they heard “Flounder! Come back here!” and a skunk shuffled past the both of them. Then Telbin appeared from around the corner and saw the pig and the boar. He said, “Yup we’re having bacon tonight!” and prepared to attack the animals.
The rouge had slipped into the shadows to see what was going on. The wizard decided to send a message so she started dragging her foot in the mud to write something. As the kender unsuccessfully tried to hit the dodging boar (who was getting rather ticked off) the pig wrote out “BRAT” into the ground and the elven rogue told Telbin to stop attacking. They realized that the ranger and wizard had been transformed into animals. So they decided to return to Mooney to see if he could help them, but before they did Telbin insisted on retrieving his skunk. So they continued down a sloping passage.
Eventually the passage opened up into a large chamber lit by a magical light. In the center of the chamber stood a ten foot high arch. Runes had been carved all around it. Towering above it in the shadows was a statue of a Praying Mantis. The kender was the first one to venture up to the arch and pass through it. As he did he transformed into a duck and began quacking irritatingly and flapping his wings in excitement.
The ranger and wizard seeing this headed for the arch as well. They passed through and nothing happened. As they tried to figure out why they had not been changed back Theanna explored the rest of the room and the kender ran around like a maniac quacking and flapping. The ranger walked back through the arch again and this time he transformed back into a half-elf. It was then that the praying mantis attacked. It struck out at the ranger nearly decapitating him. So the wizard quickly ran back through as well and continued to run away from the battle, not willing to stand within the reach of any creature after the attack by the wolves.
The rouge joined the ranger in battle and they barely defeated the creature. As it died it toppled over on to the arch. Luckily the kender was on the other side and the arch fell around him making him a kender again. They thought the worst was over when the kender was hit with a ball of acid. The gully dwarf shaman had snuck into the room from another crevice and was furious with them. She told them how the Green Man was not going to be happy. They had ruined the entire plan to expand they Glub clan of gully dwarves. That was when the rogue put it all together. The wolves would carry the gully dwarves to the farms. The gully dwarves would open the fences to allow the wolves to heard out a cow. Then they would lead it here and pass it through this arch turning it into a gully dwarf which would increase the number of gully dwarves in the Glub clan. Now with the arch destroyed there was no way for them to continue.
They advanced on the shaman, but she ran back into the crevice and disappeared. Not wanting to remain underground any longer the party headed back to Mooney’s to rest and gather their strength.
Looking out of Mooney’s window the group could see that the rider was slumped in the saddle and not moving. The rogue, half-elf and kender rushed out to see what was going on. They caught the reigns of the horse and spoke with the rider. The rider was bleeding and barely conscious and he told them about a hobgoblin raid on a caravan almost half a day’s ride to the north. They didn’t have horses so they gathered their gear and started moving north along the road as fast as they could.
They reached the caravan just before nightfall and they heard it long before they saw it. The hobgoblins there were having a bit of sport with their captives and were yelling and growling without a care. A light forest ran along the east side of the road and the elves, ranger and kender slipped into the woods. They observed the bandits for a while taking note of various positions of the guards.
The hobgoblins were of the bone-tongue clan. A tribe of hobgoblins notorious for taking the bones of their victims and piercing them through their bottom lips, the bone-tongues were usually encountered further north. In the clearing ahead of them a large collection of hobgoblins was circled around a woman and a very large hobgoblin locked in combat. They were cheering on the combatants and placing bets. Other hobgoblins were dutifully keeping watch, but kept casting a look back at the fighting. Bodies of the caravan’s passengers lay scattered about.
Thaylin the half-elf circled around to the northwest hoping to get closer to the woman surrounded by the hobgoblins and the kender followed him. Theanna headed in the opposite direction and crawled under the second wagon that was still hitched to two nervous horses. The wizard waited and watched ready to jump in and attempt to save either one. All the movement attracted the notice of the guards who stepped toward the brush. Then he growled and stepped back as a skunk emerged from the bushes sniffed around and disappeared back into the underbrush.
The ranger also caught the attention of a guard as his sword caught the glare of the setting sun and reflected into the clearing. Once the hobgoblin started toward the woods, the ranger hid among the bushed and waited. The hobgoblin came within a foot of Thaylin and he jumped up and killed the hobgoblin catching his falling body and laying him on the ground quietly. As perfect as his kill was the other hobgoblins began to look toward the forest where he lay and some started moving there. Telbin, the kender, snuck up to the ranger and congratulated him on his fine skills and then he spotted a cricket. The kender snatched the cricket up and did a little dance of joy before running off into the woods past a very confused ranger.
Meanwhile Theanna, the rogue, had scuttled beneath the first wagon and carefully crawled to the first victim to see if there was anything she could do to help. The body laying closest to the cart was that of a small girl. She had been cut with a sword and thrown to the ground. She was still alive, but there was very little the rogue could do. She slowly dragged the girl under the wagon and tried to apply bandages and stop the bleeding but it was impossible. She pressed down on the wound to hold it closed with her hands and willed the girl to get better. She was completely surprised when a light emanated from her hand and the wound closed. The girl lay sleeping and apparently was now unharmed. The rogue had used the Power of the Heart to heal the little girl.
The ranger was in trouble, evidently he had been discovered and the guards were running in his direction. Rouge unleashed her magic missiles further confusing the situation. Theanna checked the other bodies and found that a caravan guard and the girl’s father still lived. She did her best to get them on to the second wagon while the fighting ensued. The caravan master, who was the woman in the fighting ring took advantage of the confusion to strike the big hobgoblin and prepared to take on all the hobgoblins when they all fell down around her in a peaceful sleep. Not wasting any time she ran for the second wagon along with the wizard and the ranger. As the remaining horde turned their attention to the second wagon Theanna snapped the reigns and the horses took off running.
The caravan master took over and continued riding into the night. The elven sisters and Thaylin asked her to turn around and go back for Telbin but she refused to go anywhere near the bone-tongues. So the kender was left behind to fend for himself. The little girl was thankful they saved her daddy, but was upset her mother had been left behind without being buried. Her father was in bad shape. The bone-tongues had poisoned him and it looked like he might die fairly soon without help. The party decided to remain on board with the caravan until it reached its destination of the village of Pinehurst two days out.
DM Notes When the rogue healed the little girl the player was actually surprised because she was not actually a mystic yet. But we had planned on her being one so I gave her a little gift before hand. She tried it again on the girl's father but it didn't work. The kender was my NPC and I have to say they didn't try very hard to go back for him. They figured he would just show up again.
Great story, keep telling it!
Thanks for mentioning it!Lu, the caravan driver suggested they moved the poisoned man in doors and told the mayor of the bravery of the elves. He personally thanked them and escorted them to the nearby ‘Boars Head’ inn so they could rest and relax and he took care of paying for their rooms and meals. The proprietor of the inn was a friendly man who greeted them warmly and offered them some hot food and ale which they accepted graciously. After they were done eating the elven sisters decided to go check on the man and the little girl while the ranger stayed in the common room of the inn.
Ralan, the innkeeper, spoke of many rumors. Cattle around the town were dying of a strange affliction. They were found dead, riddled to death, by countless strange wholes. He had assumed at first that the group of elves was traveling to the sunken citadel. When Thaylin asked what he meant, Ralan told him a tale of the nearby Solamnic outpost that was once in operation guarding a pass through the mountains a half a days ride to the west. During the Chaos war it was one of the last pockets of resistance to fall to the Dark Knights, but the victory was short lived as a pair of fire dragons swooped down on the citadel attacking the knights of both sides. One of the dragons crashed into the earth opening a fault and the entire keep was swallowed whole. In the dark years that followed during the absence of the gods a dragon cult resided within the keep, until the town hired a group of adventurers to wipe them out. To Ralan’s knowledge the sunken citadel has remained largely empty, but he knows that ‘would-be adventurers’ often come to the town to investigate the rumors. To his knowledge the last group to enter was about a month ago when a stately looking man and his sister wearing red-robes went to explore the citadel, but never returned.
Theanna and Rouge made their way from the inn and found the healer’s house where the poisoned man was being treated. The mayor and caravan driver were there arguing about something. Evidently the driver was angry that the mayor had sold a magical fruit. The elven sisters inquired about the fruit and the mayor explained that twice a year, once in the winter and once in the spring for the past couple years a goblin tribe had visited the town and sold them a magical fruit. The fruit in the spring could heal any malady and the fruit in the winter was instantly deadly. The mayor sold the fruit to a merchant traveling through town, but insisted that he been given the seeds before the merchant left. Then the mayor planted the seeds planning to grow is own fruit, but the saplings that had sprouted had been stolen. Lu, the caravan driver, insisted that if the mayor had kept the fruit they could have healed the man.
Theanna used the Power of the Heart to determine how badly the man was poisoned and determined that he would not live beyond a week. So they decided to pay a visit to these goblins and see if they could procure another fruit from them to heal the man. The mayor said the goblins made their layer in an abandoned keep known to the locals as the sunken citadel. The sisters returned to the inn and they decided to set out in the morning after a good nights rest. As they were settling down both the ranger and the rogue noticed their money pouches were missing. Grumbling at their unfortunate luck they came to the conclusion that it must have been the kender they left behind. Telbin Reedwhistle was gone, but not forgotten.
The next day the elves and the ranger slept in and started out late. They traveled along a weed-infested beaten path that was once a road between the keep and the town. Along the way they felt as if they were being watched but were unable to spot anyone. Deciding it unwise to descend into the gorge in the dark they camped in a patch of woods nearby for the night.
As they slept it was the ranger that was on watch when the breeze picked up and he noticed some unusual movement in the trees. Deciding to investigate rather than alert anyone he was caught off guard when two small trees started attacking him. They raked him with their branches causing puncture words similar to the ones described by the innkeeper. The commotion woke up the elven sisters and they sat back unsure exactly what was going on. It appeared the ranger was grappling with some nearby shrubs. The ranger broke away and ran over to the elven sisters that quickly broke up and the wizard backed away into the shadows of the surrounding foliage.
Being elves they first tried to communicate with the tree creatures, but the only response they got was “deeeeaaaaathhhhh” from the animated saplings. Next Theanna, the rouge decided to determine if they were magical and tuned into her mystic powers and was surprised to find that not only where the creatures mildly magical, but her staff patient lesson was also magical. So she held it forth and tried to invoke it… and nothing happened. Then the monsters attacked.
The wizard peppered the trees with magic missiles and rays of frost from afar while Thaylin and Theanna attacked with their weapons and eventually won against the evil saplings but not without taking some damage themselves. After the battle the rest of the night went uneventfully. Theanna kept the knowledge of the magical staff to herself and also discovered that she could now control her mystical powers better and healed herself. The next morning they gathered their things and prepared to make their descent to the sunken citadel.
DM Notes: I thought I would mention a couple of things here. This is the begining of the Sunless Citadel D&D module. If any of you are running this or playing in the game you may want to refrain from reading further journal entries. Since this was obviously DragonLance and not DnD I had to change the background of the adventure some to fit properly. And in case you didn't know Yurthgreen is Solamnic for the month of April. So that's what month it is. The animated saplings are Twigh Blights.
The courtyard surrounding the citadel was a jumble of broken masonry and boulders. It was slow going across them and they were attacked by a number of dire rats along the way, but their progress was not impeded much despite the fact that the ranger was bitten by one of the rats and the wizard used a number of her spells. They eventually crossed the courtyard to a main tower.
As they rested at the foot of the tower Theanna, the rogue approached the front door and foolishly fell into a pit hidden just in front of the door. There was a rat deep in the pit along with goblin bones and other refuse. She fought the rat and struck it with her staff (“Patient Lesson”) and appeared to kill it. Then she climbed back out with the assistance of Thaylin. After the ranger helped her out he climbed down himself to see if there was anything in the pit of value and discovered a small amount of silver and gold. So he collected it and was climbing back out when he noticed that the rat was not dead, but was breathing slightly. Evidently the rogue had knocked the creature out cold.
This time the rogue decided to check the door for traps and was unable to find any so she opened the door to the tower. The first room they entered was a tower that stretched up for about sixty feet. The floors had rotted away or fallen into disrepair. From this room they spied two doors and a secret door. (Being elves they are nearly always moving silent and spotting secret doors.) So the ranger opened the door and discovered it was a small hallway that once looked out over the courtyard. Slits for archers lined the outer wall and the bodies of two dead solamnic warriors lay within the chamber. Rouge, the wizard decided to search the remains when the skeletons jumped to life.
The whole party started cursing and jumped back as the skeletons shambled out of the hidden room. The ranger, desperate for escape, kicked one of the doors in and the entire ancient door crumbled into splinters. Now they had no way to cover their retreat. Thaylin looked at the door he had destroyed and cursed again. He ordered the elven sisters to enter the hallway beyond the door while he held off the skeletons and told them to find a place to escape to. Not wanting to rush headlong into any more danger the rogue and wizard carefully investigated three doors at the end of the hall while the ranger fought a losing battle against the skeletons. His swords proved to be woefully inadequate against them.
Of the three doors in the hallway one was a stone door with an engraving of water and a dragon on it. It was also locked. Since it proved to be the most interesting of the three Theanna went to work on unlocking it while Rouge the wizard listened to the other doors. The door at the end of the corridor had the sound of someone or something and obviously they hadn’t heard the fighting yet. The wooden door opposite the door that the rogue was working on was silent and when she opened it the room beyond was dark and empty.
The ranger was being cut to ribbons and had hardly made a dent on the skeletons. He finally got the idea to call for one of the elves staffs. Theanna refused to give up her special staff and was too busy trying to get the stone door unlocked to bother. So the wizard threw her staff down the hall and the ranger turned to pick it up taking another hit in the process.
Theanna finally got the stone door open only to find five foot square closet with a large metallic urn that they assumed held water. Disappointed with the find the rogue went to see if she could assist the ranger. Now that he had a staff Thaylin was finally hitting the skeletons and causing some damage.
The wizard turned her attention to the door at the end of the hall and snuck inside. It was a large chamber that was lit by torches. In the center of the room was a large fire pit, but what caught her attention was a large bent cage on the far side of the room. In front of the cage was an alter and something was behind the alter making a whining noise. Without waiting for her companions the wizard crept closer and found a small humanoid figure huddled between the cage and the alter. It was a small dog-like creature covered in scales and it appeared to be whimpering. As Rouge’s shadow passed over it the kobold stopped and started up in fear.
Meanwhile the ranger and rogue finished off the skeletons, but the ranger was badly beat up. Reluctant to expose her healing powers, but not willing to take a chance that the ranger would be unable to fight any time soon she called on the power of the heart and healed him. The pair walked down the hall to the room the wizard had disappeared into.
Rouge looked down on the kobold and reassured him he was in no danger. The creature was obviously scared and began babbling about his lost pet and asked if they might be able to help him find him. The only thing they could get out of him was that his name was Meepo and he had lost his pet, a dragon named Calcryx. When they asked him what color the dragon was he said a nice pretty shade of silver. When they asked him about the healing fruit or the goblins he told him that they would need to speak to his queen about that.
The elves and half-elf agreed to go see the queen and see if she could give them any information. Meepo showed them the way and led them to a great hall. Columns carved in bas-relief of dragons lined the hall. Other kobolds also stood here and there and suspiciously watched the group. They stopped at the end of the Hall where a great throne sat (a throne much too large for a kobold). The queen glowered down at them and demanded to know what they were doing in her realm. Thaylin stepped forward and explained that they were only looking for a tree that bore healing fruit to aid a dying man. The queen explained that Belak, often referred to as the Green Man, had created an underground grove beneath the citadel. It was in that grove that the elves could find the tree they sought.
The queen promised to give them directions for a price. She wanted the head of that ungrateful man that made a pact with her enemies the goblins. Evidently the kobolds had just moved into the citadel recently and had been fighting the goblin tribe for the rest of the citadel. The queen claimed that the dragon motif of the citadel was an obvious claim that it was once owned by dragons and therefore the rightful claim of the kobolds. It was the goblins that had stolen their dragon Calcryx as well. She would gladly aid anyone that would strike a blow against the Green Man and the goblins. So she ordered Meepo to show them the way to the goblins lair.
First the party requested for some time to rest and prepare. So they were shown to an empty room to settle down for the rest of the day and night. Theanna asked Meepo for some food and drink because she was tired of trail rations and he said he would try to find something. He came back later with a rather large cut on his face and a sack of food. When they asked him what happened he said that he had to fight for the cheese and meat he had tried to steal for them. Feeling bad for the kobold Theanna placed a hand on his face and healed him. The kobold looked up in awe and thanked her before scurrying away. The rogue couldn’t be sure but she thought the kobold was blushing. So the party rested to regain their health and study spells.
DM Notes: So today was Friday the 13th in game terms and I don't know if the date had any real effect but the players were rolling terribly. The fight between the ranger and skeletons took forever and the rogue had lots of problems trying to pick the lock of the stone door. My players are so new to D&D they didn't even know what a kobold was. So ironically they trust kobolds now more than gully dwarves, heh. Which should make further encounters with gully dwarves play out much more realistically, heh. The magical staff "Patient Lesson" is a +1 merciful quarterstaff. Being merciful the weapon only deals subdual damage, not leathal. The player had expressed that she did not want to go around killing and hurting people so I started her off with this magical staff given to her from the mystics of the Citadel of Light instead.
The next room was more like a great hall. A dried up fountain in a dragon motif was immediately on the right and a stone door with more designs of dragons was located on the left. The fountain had writing on it in draconian so Meepo read it aloud and when he did this a thick brown sludge trickled from the dragon’s mouth into the base of the dusty fountain. The ranger stuck his finger in it and tasted it (much to the disgust of the elven sisters) and decided to scoop up as much as he could into an empty flask they found nearby.
Next they turned their attention to the stone door. But after failing to find a lock or way to open it they gave up on it. They heard some noises coming from further down the hall and decided to investigate. Six doors lined the hall, three on each side and they heard noises coming from some of them. They each snuck to the doors that were all cracked open and slammed each one shut in turn and barred them from the outside. The final door at the end of the hall was cracked open and the elves glided up to it with Meepo scraping his feet on the floor.
The room beyond was dark and they didn’t hear anything. A pit trap was sitting open beneath the entrance of the door. Evidently it had been triggered by someone earlier. They skirted around it and found a second fountain in the room and another door that was half opened and they saw a pair of boots sticking out from it. Another pit trap was also opened in front of the second door. Making her way around it Theanna edged open the door carefully and stepped inside while the ranger followed close behind. The wizard and the kobold made their way to the fountain.
The pair of boots belonged to a young woman in red robes who had obviously fallen at the claws and teeth of rats (of which they saw a few dead ones in the room). The rogue and ranger began searching her for anything they could find and recovered a bag with a spellbook, pouches of spell components, a potion, a few coins and a signet ring. They surmised that the fallen wizard was one of the monk’s cousins that had disappeared over a month ago. Then to their surprise a rat the site of a pony charged out from under the huge piles of refuse in the room and attacked. The rouge and ranger managed to back out keeping the huge rat at bay long enough to work their way around the pit and they made their way back into the room with the wizard and kobold. Seeing the rat Rouge the wizard cast magic missle at the monstrosity causing it some more damage.
It was at this unfortunate moment that Meepo, the cowering kobold, decided to read aloud what was written in draconic on this fountain. When he did a green gas started leaking from the mouth of the dragon and moved menacingly into the room. The wizard started yelling, “Poison get out!” and made for the door of the room. The rogue and kobold followed her, but Thaylin refused to run and stayed attempting to hold his breath while he fought and eventually succeeded in causing the massive rat to fall into on of the pits where it died from the fall.
Once again Thaylin and Theanna started into bickering again as they argued about the wisdom of leaving the room or staying to fight. As they walked back past the six doors the rogue decided to try the one door they had overlooked before. The ranger however decided to go back to the stone door while the other three went through the door without him. Thaylin was obviously trying to distance himself from the rogue and found nothing new about the stone door. So he tasted the blue potion he had found on the wizard and decided to go ahead and drink the whole thing while he was killing time and found out it was a healing potion.
The elven sisters and their guide had discovered a relatively small room with one door. Listening to the other door they heard a low guttural talking. They had discovered the goblins. The rogue cracked the door open a bit and peered down a thirty foot hallway that was littered with caltrops. At the far end of the hallway there was no door, but the goblins had erected a 4 foot wall across the entry way. The sounds of them talking in goblin could be heard just beyond the wall. When Theanna opened the door all the way a bell was knocked to the ground that alerted the goblins and two goblins rose up from behind the wall.
Because the wizard was the only one to speak goblin she spoke with them as she hid behind the door. She told them she wanted to talk with Belak and the goblins demanded that she show herself. Unsure what to do the wizard opened the door as the rogue strung her bow and sat behind her sister targeting the goblins. When the goblins saw them they spit on the ground and started cursing. They demanded to know why the elves wanted to see the Green Man. All the commotion drew the attention of the ranger who knelt down near the base of the door. The negotiations went from bad to worse when the party realized that if these two goblins got away they would call down the entire tribe on them, so the rogue fired and hit one of the goblins who fell back and the other one started screaming and throwing javelins.
The ranger crawled along the hallway clearing out the caltrops and making his way toward the barricade. He jumped up the last few feet and scaled the wall to attack the goblin, but not before the goblin had opened a door and called on more goblins to join him. Eventually the whole party stormed the wall and fought their way through the first room and into a larger room. It was a hard fight, but the elves persisted and cleared the room of goblins without any of them escaping to get reinforcements.
As they searched the room it was Theanna that first heard the singing. From behind a locked door on one wall she heard “…my grandma gave me a cute little toy, silver bells hanging on a string. She told me it was my ding-a-ling-a-ling. Oh my ding-a-ling my ding-a-ling won’t you play with my ding-a-ling…” and so on. When she called over the others they recognized the voice. It belonged to Telbin Reedwhistle. The kender was locked in the room. The rogue unlocked the door and they found the kender locked in a cage much like the one that the kobolds had to secure their dragon. They released Telbin and he told them his story…
“Were have you been? I was looking all over for you! Well I was until after I got scooped up by that tree thing. Very rude creatures and they don’t talk much either. By the way, why did you leave me behind? Those hobgoblins weren’t too happy that’s for sure. Luckily I can climb much faster than they can. Anyway I’ve been stuck here for three days now. I had two friends in here with me. One was a guy named Lukin, he said he was a friend of yours Rouge! And his cousin Brad or something. They were both very unhappy because Brad’s sister had died and they had been captured by goblins. Speaking of the goblins they sure could learn some manners. Don’t look in the corner over there they wouldn’t let me out to use the bathroom. Do you know how embarrassing that is to have to use it in front of other people? Especially after the food they have been giving us… what? Where did they go? Oh the goblins took them down to see Belak in a place they kept calling the Twilight Grove. I don’t know why they didn’t take me as well. Who is this? Why it’s a kobold! Nice to meet you I’m Telbin Reedwhistle….”
And so it went on for a while and eventually the party considered which way to head next.
DM Notes: The ranger and the rogue are actually a married couple in real life. They were having a spat that night and they continued to fight while in character. Which is why Thaylin and Theanna were at each others throats the whole night. I mentioned something the next time we played and I think they realized what they were doing and thankfully we haven't had a game like that since. ;)
The elven sisters Rouge and Theanna and the kobold Meepo headed through the northern door and discovered it lead to a hallway leading west. They moved silently down the hall sneaking past a doorway that had the sound of goblins gambling and arguing behind it. At the end of the hall Theanna the rogue discovered a pit trap and they skirted around it to a door on the other side. They couldn’t hear anything through the door but discovered it was locked so Thenna pulled out her lockpicking tools and went to work.
Just as she was getting it open Thaylin and Telbin crept around the corner into the hall. They entered the chamber and discovered it was a type of goblin trophy room with a second door to the great hall. The heads of animals and kobolds hung on the walls but the tables and chairs of the room had been turned over and broken. Just as they entered and closed the door behind them there was a loud hiss and a small white dragon jumped onto the broken desk it has been laying behind. “Calcryx your alive!” shouted Meepo. Then it attacked.
Rouge, the wizard immediately knew that this was not the silver dragon the kobold claimed it had been and let the rest of the party know. Despite this they made every attempt to subdue the dragon instead of kill it at the insistent pleading of Meepo. The dragon charged through the group toward Meepo and mauled him to death. After that the group just used whatever force they could to bring down the creature. Eventually they subdued it and hogtied the creature.
As they sat back and rested from the fight they heard a commotion outside the door as the goblins they had killed in their previous encounter were discovered. Rouge could speak goblin and listened through the door to the goblins. They were complaining about the kobolds and blaming them for the attack. They also wanted to investigate the noise in the dragon’s room, but no one was willing to poke their head inside. Telbin started to make growling noises and the goblins backed away from the door and left.
The party rested for the night and recuperated. In the morning the dragon awoke and started struggling in it’s bonds so they hit it over the head again knocking it out. Then they snuck out of the room into the great hall. There were a number of doors in this hall so they picked the closest one and followed it down a corridor to a closed door. Listening through the door they heard a goblin yelling at others about the kobold invasion and the need to get more goblins rallied together for a foray into the kobold territory. Whoever this loud goblin was talking to agreed and said they would leave right way. Fearing that the goblins would exit through the door they were standing in the party ran down the hall back to the great hall. At the same time a group of goblins walked into the hall from the west and saw them. The group ran back to the dragon’s room while the Thaylin threw down the bag of caltrops he had collected earlier scattering them across the floor in front of the advancing goblins. This gave Theanna time to pick the lock to the room and get them back in again. By this time the goblins were hollering and more were arriving. Then Rouge had the idea of releasing the dragon and Thaylin rushed inside the room and struggled with the wyrm that was squirming in it’s bonds again. He wrestled it to the half open door and Telbin cut the creatures bonds. Then they slammed the door shut and listened to the screams of the goblins outside the room.
Hours later the commotion had all died down and the party risked a peak outside the door leading to the great hall. Thaylin spotted a goblin standing guard in the hall and decided to try to sneak up to it. Unfortunately it was more alert than he’d hoped for and the guard raised the alarm. Thaylin grabbed out the potion they had collected earlier of Fire Breath and downed it. When the first group of goblins came rushing into the room he breathed out and unleashed a gout of flame. He did the same when a second group appears behind him. The rest of the party came out to help, but it was obvious that they were outnumbered. So the party laid down their weapons and had their hands tied. Then their possessions were stripped from them and were dragged off to go see the goblin chieftain, prisoners of the goblin tribe.
The hobgoblin, whose name was Durnn, was the chief of the goblin tribe. The party asked that they just be allowed to see Belak the Green Man. Durnn agreed that that would, but only after they were made to pay for the goblins they killed. First, he said he would kill the kender which had caused too many problems since his capture. While the ranger tried to delay the kender’s death the wizard dropped the dagger Mooney (her mentor) had given her as a gift from her sleeve into her hand and cut her ropes. Meanwhile the rogue had managed to slip her bonds as well, but her guard never noticed. Then Durnn gave the order to kill the kender and the whole room erupted into chaos. Thaylin unleashed his fiery breath on Durnn and the hobgoblin went up in flames screaming and kicking. Rouge, the wizard, sliced at her guard with her dagger and he fell back bleeding. Theanna pulled the dagger from her boot and threw it into the guard behind her where it stuck in him. Telbin however was not as lucky, as he manged to escape the ropes that were tied around his hands, but just after he did the goblin that was holding him ran a sword in his back and he fell to the floor.
Rouge hit her guard one more time and he went down, but two started to make their way to her. Her sister Theanna pulled her thrown dagger out of the goblin she had stabbed previously (killing it) and swiped at another guard. Unable to escape his bonds Thaylin kicked at his guard and did his best to keep him at bay. Telbin crawled to the edge of the pit and started to climb down.
The wizard cast magic missile at the pair of guards and also started to climb down into the pit where one of the goblins followed her. Theanna killed her second goblin and started to make her way to the smoldering chieftain and the cowering goblin next to him. Thaylin finally broke free of his bonds and rushed past two guards to retrieve his weapons which were next to the cowering goblin. The goblin cast a spell and attempted to touch the ranger, but missed. He picked up his sword and ran her through. Then Theanna battled her way across casting Shield of Faith on herself and picking up as many bags as she could before climbing into the pit. The wizard smacked the goblin climbing down next to her and it lost its grip falling into the pit. Thaylin killed a few more of the guards before the doors opened and even more goblins ran in. Then he also started climbing down the side of the pit. The goblins threw javelins down the side, but did not follow.
The party was beat up very badly. They struggled to hold on to the vines as they continued to climb down nearly 80 feet before dropping into piles of mulch and garbage and next to a dead goblin. Getting to their feet they looked around. It was dark so Telbin couldn’t see but the elves could. The room was immense and covered with rotting vegetation. They chose a door to the south because they thought they heard noises to the north and needed a place to heal up and rest. So they followed the passage to the south. After a time they came across a huge crevice that bisected the hallway. They climbed down in it and across to the rest of the hallway and eventually found an abandoned room. They crawled inside and shut the door behind them. Then they all fell asleep.
The fissure became more narrow and ended at a broken wall. Making their way through the wall they found that it was a twenty by twenty foot chamber with a door on the far wall. So they carefully opened the door and peered through. Beyond the door there was a long hallway. This room was centered on one wall, while there was a door on either side of it and three doors across from them. Down the center of the hall were a number of stone tables covered in odd plants, beakers, and pungent spices. They snuck out into the hall and heard noises beyond some of the doors. So the wizard remained behind and the other three party members picked a door and decided to sneak up and look inside.
First Thaylin the ranger peered into an open door that had two goblins standing over a creature that was strapped down on a table. Theanna snuck over to another door and heard snoring behind it. Telbin slunk over to another door and peered inside at two goblins that were bent over some type of metal armor trying to repair it. One of the goblins got up to walk out and Telbin let out a small squeak before scurrying under one of the tables. When the goblin emerged he saw Theanna and let out a yell. The other goblin in the room behind him jumped up, grabbed his weapon and ran out. Theanna engaged the first goblin while her sister fired magic missiles from the room across the hall. Thaylin drew is swords and waited to surprise the goblins that emerged from the room he was standing near. Evetually the combat woke the other goblins who were sleeping and they ran out behind Theanna. Telbin jumped on top of the stone table and cast sleep on them knocking them to the ground and saving Theanna from being flanked.
Eventually the battled died down as the goblins fell under the attack of the party. The last two goblins woke up, but it was too late for them as they were outnumbered. As the party started searching through the goblins pockets a door at the west end of the hall opened up. This door lead to the shaft they had climbed down the day before. They waited with weapons ready. Two tall figures dressed in brown hooded robes entered bearing sickles. They ignored the party completely, stepped over the dead bodies of the goblins and methodically walked down the hall. The only glimpse they managed to get of the figures was a bony hand clutching the sickle. Then the two figures entered the last door to the north and the party followed them in silence. The room the skelatons entered was an armory. There was a door near the back that they disappeared through. The party took a moment to look through the room, but found little of value. Then they check the door the skeletons had passed through for traps, and finding none they proceeded through.
The next chamber was covered in dirt and filled with sickly looking plants with pale leaves. They thought it might be the Twilight Grove they had heard of and they spread out to investigate. Everything was quiet until the kender said “oops!” At that point six goblins rushed out of a door from the south and the party was hard-pressed to keep themselves from getting killed. One goblin managed to survive and ran back the way they had come. They let him go and decided to pick up the pace. The next couple chambers were much like this one with more sickly plants and a strange purple algae that cast off a weak light.
To their surprise the hooded figures emerged again, but this time they did not ignore the party. Telbin was fascinated with the skeletons and tried to speak with them asking them a bunch of inane questions, but the ranger and rogue would have none of that nonsense. They attacked without hesitation and cut the skeletons down in no time. Telbin was saddened by the loss of his new friends and kept a finger bone from one of them before leaving.
A few rooms later the party found themselves in a chamber that once appeared to be a chapel to Paladine, but had been transformed by the dragon cult that once resided here. A great ring of red stone was inset into the floor before a giant statue of a dragon. The wizard stepped forward and into the ring, but as soon as she did the darkness around her took form and a shadow separated itself from the surroundings and started forward.
Telbin was excited to find yet another undead creature and sprung forward to protect it from the rest of the party in case they got the wrong idea and attacked it. That was exactly what the ranger planned on doing and Thaylin drew his swords and swung at the creature, but his attacks seemed to pass through harmlessly. Telbin got in between them again and tried to speak to the shadow. Just then it reached out and touched the kender. Telbin turned pale and started shaking. Then he got very mad feeling his trust had been betrayed by the creature he had tried to save. He summoned up his magical energies and firmly smacked the shadow and blue sparks flew. The shadow issued a scream and fled back into the darkness. Then Telbin fell to the ground shivering.
The room appeared to be a bedroom of sorts. There was a bed, foot chest and a bookshelf. Most of the books dealt with plants or contained agricultural records for the surrounding area. They decided to rest and gather their strength in the room. After about and hour goblin voices got loud outside the door and they braced themselves for an attack, but the goblins passed by. Thankfully, they rested uninterrupted for eight hours and everyone was able to heal up.
Once they were ready, they went through the second door that the goblins had come from. When they entered it was obvious that this was the Twilight Grove where it was said they could find Belak. It was a large natural cavern filled with the purple glowing algae and plenty of scrawny looking trees. The trees seemed to move on their own without the wind and the party was not going to take any chances. They lit a torch hoping it would prevent any of the animated trees from attacking them and they stuck close together. As they proceeded across the grove they spotted an immense tree at the far and made their way to it. It was evident that the smaller trees were now encircling them and herding them towards the back of the cavern.
Standing at the base of the tree was a tall man of dark skin wearing an elaborate green uniform. He had green tattoos and a shaved head. He looked at the companions in a rather nonchalant manner and said he was pleased they could finally make it. They would be in time to witness the transformation of the Gulthias Tree. This towering sickly looking tree had a great gash in its side and something was being shoved out of it. Covered in a green slime a figure emerged from the tree. It was Lukin the monk. His skin now had a green tinge and he stood still like a zombie. Belak looked him over critically and smiled, evidently he was happy with the results.
Theanna said that they only wanted to find a cure for the man back in town. To find the fruit that could heal all ailments. Belak laughed and said that the Gulthias Tree only produces that fruit once a year and it was long gone. But, he said, they hadn’t totally wasted their time. Now they could become supplicants for the Gulthias Tree. The elves and even the kender, didn’t seem to like that idea.
Another figure walked out of the shadows and it was the monk’s cousin who was missing, a squire to the Knights of Solamnia. His face was tinted green much like Lukin who had just emerged from the tree. Belak ordered the small trees surrounding the party to bring them to him and battle ensued.
Thaylin foolishly rushed forward and ended up between both the monk and the knight. (They both enjoyed flanking him very much.) Theanna, Rouge and Telbin faced the animated trees and began to cut and burn them down with spells. Belak began casting spells and directed a rolling ball of fire around the battlefield. Everyone took heavy losses but they eventually defeated the trees and Rouge turned herself invisible and took the torch to the base of the Gulthias Tree hoping to burn it down. Eventually Thaylin went down but not without taking out Lukin first. That left the zombified knight and Belak who hadn’t even been touched. Theanna exchanged blows with the knight and Rouge cast magic missile and he was finally defeated, but there was no way they could stand a chance against the insane druid. Theanna knelt down and healed Thaylin best she could and he rose.
Then a small figure emerged from darkness and approached Belak unseen. Telbin issued a small cry of joy and Belak turned around just as Flounder the skunk unleashed a stream of musk in his face. The druid screamed and stumbled off trying to run away. But Thaylin wasn’t about to let that happen. The half-Kagonesti ranger cut down Belak as he ran and there was a large flash of light. The ranger knelt down next to the body and was drawn to an amulet the druid had been wearing. He picked it up and kept it for himself. Next they searched the bodies and Thaylin stripped the dead squire of his scale mail armor. Once they were satisfied that the tree was burning Telbin said that Flounder had found a way out and they followed a tunnel back outside and out of the Sunken Citadel.
They caught the next caravan heading south for the three day journey. The caravan master was glad to have seasoned fighters join him for protection because he only had one guard, a young man by the name of Yugio. As the caravan made its way south the wizard practiced the spells she had found from the red robe in the Sunken Citadel. They also sorted through all the items they had found over the past five days.
The most peculiar item was the amulet that the ranger had. They noticed that it bore the emblem of the elven sisters family crest. The colors were different, but it was a ring of roses circling a blazing sun. Thaylin handed the amulet over to Rouge for her inspection. But they discovered that the amulet continued to magically return to the ranger. The most they could tell about it was that it had something to do with necromancy and that the ranger was apparently stuck with it. They decided that perhaps Mooney could tell them more about it. Telbin also discovered an odd magical item in his pouch. It was an iron whistle.
On their last night on the road before reaching Hap the party settled down near the spot where the Bonetounge goblins had attacked the last caravan a week ago. They had heard some howling in the earlier watches but they seemed to be off in the distance. On the final watch Telbin and Yugio were up and Telbin saw some movement in the bushes. So he blew the magical whistle to alert the rest of the party that something was coming. Nothing magical seemed to happen, but everyone did wake up in time to see three large wolves emerge from the underbrush.
The wolves had rotting skin and bones could be seen through their hide. Patches of fur were missing and red skin pulsed beneath. Yugio was the first to engage the wolves and made a good showing of it in the beginning. The wolves spread out and targeted different people until everyone heard an eerie whispered command and another figure emerged from the underbrush. It was humanoid and it’s grey skin was stretched taunt over it’s bones. It’s entire body was covered in swirling patterns of scars. It whispered a command to the wolves and they all turned toward Yugio. The young guardsmen was no match for the wolves. They grabbed his leg and tripped him.
Rouge hung back throwing magic missiles. Telbin, who was initially fascinated with the undead wolves, gave up his attempts to speak with them and began to smack them on the nose causing the undead wolves to rear back in pain. Theanna and Thaylin both made a move to assist Yugio, but the horrid grey figure dove down and began to dine on Yugio’s flesh. The young man screamed out. There was a bright flash of light and then he was silent. The ghast leaning over Yugio’s body noticed the flash of light, seeming to almost expect it, and began to back away.
Finishing off the young guardsmen the wolves turned toward Telbin. The kender tried to cast acid splash, but it just ended up burning his shoes again. Just then two more figures emerged from the woods. It was two rotting human zombies that came shambling across the clearing. They walked past the ghast and started toward Telbin. Thaylin intercepted them but they just ignored his attacks and went around him toward the kender. Then the zombies began attacking the wolves, much to everyone’s surprise.
Thaylin and Theanna descended on the ghast and started attacking it as the wolves fell to the combined attacks of Rouge’s and Telbin’s magic and the zombies. The ghast snarled and spit out a string of arcane words and a magical darkness descended over it and the ranger and rogue. Then it fled into the night.
When the wolves were dead the zombies started toward Telbin muttering, “massssder, massssder” repeatedly. Telbin was just as amazed as everyone else. Then Rouge remembered that Telbin had blown the magical whistle and it must have summoned the undead, well at least the zombies anyway. Telbin was overjoyed with the find and his new “living-impaired” friends. Upon closer examination the zombies appeared to be the mother of the little girl they had rescued over a week ago and one of the caravan guards. Telbin thought the zombies looked tired so he sent them back from where they came from and told them to get some rest.
The last thing they realized before reaching Hap the next day was that there was another bright flash of light when Yugio died, just like when the Green Man died and they theorized that the Amulet the ranger carried is probably absorbing the souls of the dead, but for what purpose they could not say. The next day they reached Hap and the safety of Mooney’s cozy cottage.
The actual story will be revealed slowly through the course of the campaign. Their guess is correct that the stone/amulet absorbs souls and the ranger is tied to the item because he killed the last man that was bonded to the artifact, who was the Green Man. Which in turn means that if anyone wants to get the stone from him... yup.. they must kill the ranger. Something that hasn't quite sunk in yet for the players.
And of course Telbin and Flounder are just along for the ride.
It was a two day journey to Two Creeks and as they left Hap they could see storm clouds on the horizon to the south. On the first night on the road Thaylin had a strange dream. The ranger dreamt of a beautiful city at twilight. He felt he was being called to it. But when he awoke he only had a faint memory of it. The next day it began to rain and they reached Two Creeks in the midst of a terrible storm. The group stopped at an inn called the Courageous Maiden for the night. As Telbin was emptying his pouches he discovered two signet rings. The rings belonged to the Hucrele family. The party had taken them from the slain bodies of the monk’s cousin’s. The Hucrele’s owned a trading business in Two Creeks. So the group decided that the next day they would return the rings.
Local news had said that the storm had been going on and off for almost a week now. So the roads were slick with mud and many of the trade caravans had problems traveling back and forth from Arl’s Watch to Two Creeks. No one had been able to discover the cause of the unnatural storm that seems to b growing in intensity.
The following grey morning the party trudged back out in search of the Hucrele residence. After about an hour they found it and knocked on the door. An old gentleman with a pretentious attitude answered the door. He was reluctant to let them in, but after they showed him the rings and told him how they had retrieved them, he shook his head and reluctantly let them into the foyer.
The Hucrele house was in the noble section of town. It was quite nice. Not overly large, but it was two stories and had a number of rooms including an extensive library. Carpets covered most of the floors and Lukus, the older gentleman that opened the door insisted that they leave any wet equipment in the hall rather than carry it all through the house and asked them to wait in the next room. Theanna did not trust the butler enough to leave their things so she stayed in the foyer.
Before Lukas went to fetch Lady Hucrele he informed the party that she was slightly unstable. Her husband had died only a few month’s ago and then her children left her to be adventurers. Once she found out they were dead as well she would be in a terrible state. Then he went upstairs to get her.
Lady Hucrele came downstairs and was a very gracious host and made sure her guests were comfortable before she let them get to the point of their visit. Telbin handed her the rings and she started to break down and cry. Thaylin tried to tell Lady Hucrele how bravely her son fought and that was when she noticed he was wearing her son’s armor. She said “By the gods! You’re wearing his armor!” Thaylin started to stutter and blushed and made a futile attempt to explain that he and her son had become friends in a short time and the man gave him the armor. Lukus didn’t seem convinced and took an immediate disliking to the elves and kender after that.
Meanwhile in the foyer Theanna was standing against the wall listening to the ranger put his foot in his mouth and spied another servant, a young lady tidying up in the hallway apparently listening to the conversation in the sitting room as well. As the maid noticed the elf in the foyer she quickly finished what she was doing and left the hall. As Theanna’s attention was focused on the maid she only caught a glimpse of a black and white furry tail disappearing around the corner. Cursing to herself she went to the sitting room to get Telbin and tell him his skunk had escaped.
Lady Hucrele calmed down, composed herself and put on a brave face. She invited the group to stay for dinner and to stay the night to al least see if the storm would lighten up before they began their weeks journey to Arl’s Watch. Lukus was not happy with the arrangement at all and protested, but the Lady would not listen to him. They accepted the offer and she excused herself upstairs. Theanna told Telbin about the skunk and the kender began poking around for him.
Lukus, the butler, returned from leading the Lady upstairs and informed them that they could remain in the sitting room or library until dinner if they wished and he would serve them lunch soon. Just after the discussion there was a scream from the back of the house. Everyone looked at each other and said “someone found the skunk”. They followed the screaming and ended up in the kitchen. The maid was standing on a table and a large cook was brandishing a cleaver towards Flounder the skunk. Telbin rushed in pleading with the cook to leave Flounder alone. The cook backed off just in time as it seemed that Flounder was about to spray him. Lukus was outraged that they brought a wild animal in the house and ordered the kender to leave it outside. So Telbin released it into the back yard of the estate.
The maid gathered up her laundry and excused herself upstairs and the cook grabbed his cloak and said he was headed to the market. Lukus excused himself as well and told the party to wait in the sitting room. Rouge, the elven wizard, noticed an odd scrap of paper in the kitchen and picked it up. As they made their way to the sitting room she examined it and realized it was a sketch of the house. Scrawled in the area of the library was the word vault, with an arrow. They quickly came to the assumption that something was afoot in the house and that someone was out to get Lady Hucrele’s fortune.
So they each split up and went to talk with one of the servants. Theanna tried to use her charm on Lukus, but the butler wasn't buying it. She discovered that he had been with the family for five years and that Lord Hucrele had been an old man, but he appeared to be in fine shape. He had died suddenly after dinner one night. This caused Theanna to immediately suspect the cook.
Thaylin and Telbin hurried outside and caught a glimpse of the cook rounding a corner. They rushed to catch up to him and follow him, but he spotted them in the rain and seemed to get nervous. They caught up to him and the cook rounded on them yelling “What do you want?! Leave me alone!” Thaylin spoke with the chef, but the man was irate, he was sputtering about working for the family for most of his life and he didn’t need to be treated like this. He had to get food for tonight and told the ranger and kender to back off, which they did and returned to the house. They noticed that behind the house was an outhouse that was attached to the house's back wall and two small shacks presumably for the servants.
Rouge ventured upstairs and spoke to the maid that was fixing up the guest rooms for them. She said she had been hired by Lukus only six months ago after Lord Hucrele died and it was obvious that he had to spend more time taking care of Lady Hucrele and less time doing housework. Other than that she knew very little about either Lukus or the cook.
So during the day the party spoke among themselves trying to puzzle out who the note could belong too and Theanna decided that she wanted to get a look at this vault. So they visited the library and looked around. They finally discovered that a heavy rug covered a trapdoor in the room. So Theanna pulled it up and started to examine the lock. That was when Lukus walked in. He wanted to know what was going on and Theanna explained that she had tripped over the rug and smoothed it back into place. He believed her lie, but he was still suspicious, so he called the maid and told her to dust the bookshelves knowing it would take until dinner for her to finish. So that killed further investigation of the room. That only made Theanna more curious about the vault and she was determined to get inside and find out what was there.
That night at dinner Lady Hucrele joined them again and conversation started off nice enough at first. She explained that she was in charge of a number of ships that traded goods across the New Sea but that the unnatural storm that had been hovering about for the past week had made the seas treacherous. She said she might be able to book them passage, but unless the storms abated it would be some time before they could go.
During dinner Theanna refused to eat anything until everyone else ate first and then she started to subtly taunt the old woman. “Is this how your husband died? The food? How can you trust that cook?” Everyone was telling her to shut up but she ignored them. Rouge brought out the map she found and presented it to Lady Hucrele and informed her that someone was after her fortunes. Lukus was shocked at the audacity of these guests and Lady Hucrele’s eye started to twitch. Then she smiled and said “Oh Sharwyn my daughter, who is this woman you have brought into our house?” Evidently all the accusations and commotion had finally broken the old lady and she thought Rouge was her daughter and Thaylin was her son. So she started speaking to them as such reliving some happier time from the past. Lukus took the note and said it was time to call it a night. Dinner was at an end.
They all retired to their rooms for the night. Theanna and Rouge roomed together and Thaylin and Telbin roomed together. Theanna fully intended to get into that vault and waited until the sounds of the servants outside subsided and then Rouge cast invisibility on her sister and Theanna snuck outside. Thaylin heard the door to the next room open and just knew what the rogue was up to. So he and Telbin followed a few moments later.
Theanna snuck downstairs and could see a light in the sitting room, just outside the library. Lukus was up reading a book apparently guarding the library from intrusion. So Theanna tossed a small knick-knack in the foyer and waited for Lukus to investigate, which he did, and she snuck by him into the library. Once there Theanna pulled up the rug and went to work on the lock.
Lukus heard Thalyin and Telbin coming down the stairs and went to meet them asking them if they needed anything. They said they were hungry and he led them to the kitchen. After finding something for them to eat he went back to the sitting room. That was about the time Theanna silently pulled open the trap door but a loud crash ratteld from down below. Lukus heard the noise and entered the library. He immediately noticed the open trap door and rushed to it. Theanna whacked him with Patient Lesson attempting to knock him out but the attempt failed and Lukus saw her clearly as she appeared then he rushed out of the room yelling for the guards and then out the front door.
Theanna took this moment to rush down into the vault and discovered a small dusty room that had a suit of armor that had been knocked over and was the source of the noise and a shelf with a spot clear of dust the size of a small chest. Other than that the room was empty. The thief had already struck.
Meanwhile Telbin and Thaylin had snuck outside to make sure that the other servants were still around. One of the small houses had a light on and they started there. the knocked on the door and the voice of the cook asked them who they were and what they wanted. They ignored him and went to the next home. Telbin picked the lock and they went inside and waited for the maid to return.
Rouge checked on Lady Hucrele and then sprinted downstairs when Lukus started screaming. She couldn't believe Theanna had struck the butler. Theanna climbed out of the vault, closed the trapdoor and covered it with the rug. Then she told Rouge she wasn’t waiting around for the guards and ran up to their room.
In the back yard Thaylin and Telbin waited quietly and someone tried to open the door to the shack. It was the maid and she entered the dark room only to have Thaylin call to her from the dark asking why she was getting in so late. The woman turned and fled. Thaylin and Telbin chased her, but she was terrified of the men that had broken into her home and she fell in the mud. Thaylin asked her where she had been but she just screamed for help. Eventually the ranger and kender backed off and the maid ran into the night. The ranger and kender came back to the house soaked to the bone.
Then Lukus arrived with the guards and the party tried to explain themselves. Theanna, who was up in her room, tied a rope to a bed and climbed out the window and escaped into the rainy night. The rest of the group was taken down to the guards headquarters and a priest of Majere was called in after the guards had grilled them. The priest magically detected if they were telling the truth and it was finally decided that they did not take anything themselves and never intended to steal anything from the Hucrele’s. So they were let go by morning on the condition that they leave town and not return. Gaurds were sent out to look for anyone matching Theanna's description.
So the group was forced to leave town without equipment or rations and in the midst of yet another rainy day that continued to drizzle on their heads. They met Theanna just outside the south gate who had hired them on as guards for a caravan traveling to Arl’s Watch.
Originally posted by pddisc
Meepo? Isn't that the name of the d20 Modern kobold?
Meepo is the kobold from the 3e adventure known as "The Sunless Citadel".
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Meepo is the kobold from the 3e adventure known as "The Sunless Citadel".
Then they use that name for the kobold in the d20 Modern book. Meepo must be a very common kobold name.
Which is strange, because it's a silly name. It doesn't even sound very draconic.
Among the other passengers was an old dwarf, a family with three teenage boys, a half-elf maiden who traveled with a gnome and three mystics of the Citadel of Light. Over the course of the first three days the party made an attempt to speak with the various travelers. The old dwarf just snarled to be left alone and Telbin enjoyed getting under his skin. They never found out much from him. The family was leaving their farm that had been destroyed by hobgoblins in the north and relocating in the south. Theanna, who had studied for a bit at the Citadel of Light, approached the mystics. One was a true mystic and the other two were acolytes following her back to the Citadel of Light to learn more about the Power of the Heart. The mystic tried to persuade Theanna that she should accompany them, but after Theanna realized that they had nothing of value to steal she brushed them off and started ignoring them.
The most interesting meeting they had was with the half-elf woman and her gnomish companion. The half-elf introduced herself as Breen Swansong a bard of small repute, but one of growing fame. Her companion was Nodwyn (the short form of course) a gnome who’s Life Quest was to catalog symbols and record their different meanings according to each race and culture. When they asked why Breen and Nodwyn traveled together Breen explained that Nodwyn had a vast knowledge of different symbols, codes of arms, languages and Breen had a vast knowledge of tales and history and they seemed to compliment each other’’s work. Thaylin immediately drew out the amulet and ask Nodwyn if he had ever seen a symbol like the one that was etched into the amulet. (The symbol was a white sun surrounded by a ring of blue roses. The symbol is identical to Theanna and Rouge’s qualinesti family crest except for the colors.) Nodwyn grew very excited and started to stutter and begin leafing through pages of his book. He told them it would take some time to research the symbol but he would do his best. He asked Thaylin if he could borrow the amulet so he could make some sketches and the ranger agreed, since he couldn’t seem to get rid of the amulet anyway.
On the evening of the third day Telbin was sitting in the rain on the back of a wagon completely bored when he noticed a wisp of fog following the wagon. The mist transformed into the shape of a woman. Telbin could see through the figure to the trees beyond. She spoke to him in a soft voice and cried for help. She indicated that the storm needed to be stopped and she could take him to the place it started. Telbin was fascinated with the creature that was urgently pleading with him. She started to fade away and he told her to wait for him. He jumped off the wagon and sloshed through the mud to his companions. He told them an invisible girl needed their help to stop the storm right away! They assumed he was making up stories because he was so bored. So they ignored his story until the caravan stopped.
Thaylin was bored so he decided to go with Telbin to see if he could find anything unusual. Telbin spotted the “invisible girl” in the distance and urged Thaylin to follow. Theanna and Rouge also decided to tag along in case it was some sort of ambush. Telbin led them off the main road and they hesitated but Theanna also thought she spotted something so they went on. After an hour of travel the elves decided they were on a wild kender chance and started talking about turning around. The weather was getting worse and lightning and thunder erupted around them. The wind was making the trees sway ominously. Theanna asked “Why do we keep putting ourselves in these situations?!?” Thaylin ignored her and continued to follow the kender. But after another hour even the ranger had enough of the storm. It was difficult to make their way through the forest. Telbin argued that the invisible girl claimed that the spot they were heading to was on a high ridge just ahead of them. But the elves refused to go further. Everyone started arguing and that was when Thaylin noticed a figure emerge from the darkness.
They had seen this creature only a few weeks before. It was the grey skinned ghast that had controlled the zombie wolves that killed the young guard outside of Hap. The swirling scars all over its body could be seen when the lightning flashed through the trees. Thaylin held his ground and drew his swords. Behind the creature he noticed a pair of floating red eyes drift out of the darkness and a creature that could only be a death knight materialized behind the ghast. Rouge and Theanna immediately backed away. Rouge had told her sister about Death Knights before and both of them were unwilling to stand up to one. Thaylin didn’t know what he was up against. Telbin was fascinated of course and went up to get a closer look.
The ghast stormed past the kender knocking him over and pounced on Thaylin. The ranger was struck by the undead creature and fell to the ground paralyzed. The Death Knight casually walked over to the ranger and leaned over him. Thaylin tried to scream with terror but he was paralyzed from the touch of the ghast. He could feel the icy cold hands of the Death Knight burn him as it searched for the amulet, found it, and ripped it from him. Then he stepped back and the ghast licked the rangers face hungrily, its hot stinking breath was in his face.
The elven sisters did not want to get any closer. They did try to cast a few spells some of which prevented the ghast from eating the ranger, but fizzled when they got to the Death Knight. Telbin tried to attack the creatures and ultimately it was his attacks combined with the wizards that made the ghast back off. But apparently the Death Knight had what he had come for and simply turned around a disappeared back into the night. The ranger finally recovered and was in a state of shock. Theanna argued that they should go back, but Telbin pointed out the ridge they were headed towards above the trees so they headed in that direction. The storm was nearly hurricane force by the time they reached the rock rise. They fought their way up a mountain trail that finally leveled off in a small clearing. Up ahead they could see a mountain of stone rising over 100 feet into the air, but they were still some distance from its base.
Directly in front of them was a raised platform surrounded by pillars. Within the pillars a number of small dust devils swirled and danced in the storm. It was almost hypnotic and Telbin started toward it but was grabbed by Rouge and they passed by the strange site. When they saw what was in their path Theanna cursed. A deep gorge separated them from the peak they were traveling to. A bridge of glass spanned the chasm. It was twenty feet wide and over a hundred feet long. It was also wet with rain and gusts of wind blew across its surface. Telbin spotted a black tower at the other side of the span and fearlessly started across without the elves. The elven sisters and the half-kagonesti tied themselves together and followed the kender. They moved slowly and carefully across the slick surface. Every now and then a gust of wind would force them to stop.
When they were nearly across a small blue demon looking creature appeared from under the bridge gliding on the violent winds gleefully. It spotted the group and started for them. Rouge was the first to react and shot a Ray of Frost at the creature that seemed to relish the cold. Then it returned the favor and breathed frost back on the wizard who lost her footing and toppled over the side of the bridge. Unable to shoot any arrows in the powerful winds and stinging rain Theanna and Thaylin did their best to haul the wizard back up while avoiding the attacks of the creature. Once Rouge was back up on the bridge the party made a break for it, risking a run to the end. They received a few more freezing attacks from the creature before making it back to land. Then they tried shooting some arrows and came close enough to scare the creature off.
Looking up they could see the storm circling overhead above the jagged peak. It was swirling ominously lit only by flashes of lighting. They were standing next to a black tower so they searched for a way inside and found none. The only thing they could see were two windows one on each side that were open. Unable to find a way in they decided to explore the base of the peak. Just then lighting crashed down hitting all of them and nearly killing them in the process. Unable to continue they made their way back to the tower and decided to climb up and inside.
Eventually Theanna made her way up and once she arrived she noticed the blue imp was hiding in the tower. She called out and took out her bow to shoot it but her bow was wet, luckily Thaylin climbed up and as it swooped in for an attack he killed it.
The inside of the tower was ruined and the floors that use to exist there were crumbled. Eventually everyone made it inside and they collapsed on the floor in a heap exhausted from their journey and the horrifying experience with the Death Knight. The last thing that could be heard before they fell asleep was the sound of Thaylin cursing as he realized the amulet had returned to him. He finally realized that the only way the Death Knight would be able to get the amulet would be to kill him.
Once inside it was dark so Theanna tied herself to Telbin to lead him around in the dark. The passage way continued straight and two rooms branched off from the right and left which they investigated and they seemed to be a winery and an old library with decaying books. Then the passage made a “T” and they took the left branch. At the end of the hall there was a door directly ahead of them and one to the right. They took the door directly ahead of them and they immediately noticed some designs carved into the stone floor. At the far side of the room were a couple tables pushed up against the wall. Thaylin was the first to cross the room and was immediately drawn upward and impaled on a number of small spikes on the ceiling. Evidently the ceiling was magnetized and pulled the ranger’s armor upward.
While trying to think of a way to get Thaylin down the other members searched the room. They discovered a lever on the far wall and Theanna pulled it causing Thaylin to drop back to the stone floor taking even more damage. Rouge searched the tables and found two secret compartments with wands in them.
They investigated the next room and discovered that it had a large, slightly raised stone platform with four massive chains and manacles on it. They entered the room carefully trying to be aware of anything that might surprise them. What they didn’t anticipate was for the chains to spring to life and start flailing around. The manacles hit Thaylin and Theanna and the manacles closed around one of Telbin’s legs. He was momentarily stuck and Theanna and Thaylin did their best to dodge the flying metal without getting hurt. In true kender fashion Telbin wriggled free and made his escape from the room, but meanwhile two manacles had clamps around Theanna causing significant damage and nearly knocking her unconscious.
Thaylin rushed back in and attempted to break the chains but they were too strong. Instead he opted to help pull Theanna out and she managed to slip free from the chains and they escaped the room.
Not willing to take anymore chances they investigated the opposite end of the “T” and found an icy cold iron door. The door had a pull handle so they very carefully tied a rope to the door and went down the hallway and around the corner. The pulled the rope and a red glow emanated from the room followed by a deep babbling voice. A squat dwarflike creature covered in fire emerged babbling and screaming in what might have been joy from being freed. It ran down the hallway toward the party.
Not wanting to fight they tried to reason with the fiery creature. They could feel the heat coming from it as it drew near them. It looked like it was trying to hug Thaylin and the ranger kept trying to speak with it and they slowly backed up down the hall. It continued to advance and Thaylin had an idea. He took out his water skin and used it to squirt water on the creature hitting it in the eye. The creature screamed and babbled and turned away from the group. It ran down the hallway toward the room with the living chains and they heard it scream in surprise as it was captured.
During the creatures passing the elves noticed a secret door directly ahead of them at the connection point of the “T”. So Theanna found a way to open the door and beyond it was a corridor leading to a wall of fire. Theanna had noticed that the heat from the fire creature had not bothered her as much as anyone else and determined that the ring she had found had protected her to some extent. They figured since there was no easy way over the fire the only real way was through. So Theanna volunteered and rand through the fire. The ring did protect her from some damage but not all the damage and the elf collapsed on the far side of the fiery wall. Rouge quickly dispatched her owl to collect the ring from the other side (despite the fact that he was not very happy about it) and Dragus (the owl) fetched the ring and singed more than a few feathers in the process. Thaylin donned the ring and rushed through the fire. He grabbed Theanna and dragged her away from the wall saving her life. He gave her a potion of cure light a Theanna awoke. The first thing she asked was “Where’s my ring?”.
Theanna and Thaylin searched the room. It was a round chamber, thirty feet in diameter and the ceiling of the room soared up into the darkness. Occasionally drops of water fell down and the sound of thunder echoed from above. A large basket suspended by a number of ropes was dangling just above the floor. On the far wall Theanna found a lever and pulled it. It lowered the wall of fire and allowed Rouge and Telbin into the room. Since the only way from the room appeared to be up they discussed getting into the basket that Telbin was already poking around in. Theanna flat out refused to get in claiming that she wasn’t about to have herself dangling from a couple ropes one hundred feet above the floor when some monster attacked. Everyone else climbed into the basket and tried to figure out how to raise it. Telbin examined the basket with his sorcery and said it was magical so Rouge suggested trying some magic trigger words. They all tried different words and Thaylin finally said “Lift” and the basket started rising. As Theanna was watching them start to drift upward she heard the babbling noise of the fiery man coming closer. Evidently he had broken free from the chains and was on his way into the chamber. Theanna ran over the basket and jumped inside rather than face the creature.
So the group was pulled upward and into the darkness above. The basket finally stopped nearly ninety feet above. A thick wooden trap door lay directly overhead. The sound of the hurricane-force storm was deafening. The decided to tie Thaylin with a rope and he opened the doors. The wind caught the doors and slammed them open. Rain and hail pelted them and the wind was gusting horribly. Thaylin climbed out into the storm and onto the top of a plateau. The peak was definitely the center of the growing storm. Thaylin looked around and spotted a couple things, anchored to one side of the plateau was a gigantic horn and in between the ranger and the horn was a swirling tornado. The vortex spoke to him in shrieking tones ordering him to “open the portal or die”. The ranger sought to comply and approached the horn, he tried to blow into it, but the horn was simply too massive. He looked around and spied something on the far side of the plateau. It was a huge bellows. He crossed the plateau being buffeted and beat-up by the living tornado. He grabbed the bellows. Attached it to the horn and started to pump the bellows. A sound started to rise form the horn above the storm and as it did a hole opened in the air above the horn and the tornado made a dive into it. Then the storm started to be drawn into the hole. Thaylin continued for al long as he could before he grew tired and started to be drawn into the hole himself. His companions pulled him back into the basket and they used the last of their strength to slam and bar the doors to the world above.
They all fell asleep In the basket that night and in the morning all traces of the terrible storm had passed.
As they exited from the cliff face through the strange circular doorway they viewed the destruction the storm had wrought around them. Trees were knocked over and mudslides had wiped out most of the trails. They only exit from the keep was over the long glass bridge. None of the party members were very exited about crossing it again. The last time they tried they were assaulted by ice mephitis. But since it was the only way they tied themselves together (except for Telbin the kender) and started across. The wind picked up as they started to make their way to the other side and in front of them two small swirling dust devils blocked their way. One of them picked up Telbin and the poor kender was stuck swirling around in the clutches of an air elemental. Thaylin made a grab for Telbin while Theanna and Rouge used magic and steel to dispatch one of the creatures. Then when Telbin was rescued they made short work of the other one.
Finally across to the other side they decided that instead of backtracking for hours to the road they would instead head for the coast and follow that to Arl’s Watch. As they made their way through the broken forest and over felled trees they realized just how dirty they were. At the first creek they found the elven sisters took and bath and cleaned their clothes and then Thaylin took his turn. When they were done they looked around for Telbin, but all they found was one of his pouches with the contents spilled all over the ground. Thaylin searched for tracks and eventually discovered which way the kender had gone. The tracks apparently indicated the kender had been dragged away.
The elves and ranger followed the tracks to a dense thicket of vines and shrubs. They thought they heard a noise from beneath the vines and Theanna stepped forward to investigate. Just then a number of the vines lashed out and struck her. Then they wrapped her up and dragged her in. It all happened so fast Thaylin and Rouge were stunned. Thaylin recovered and pulled out his swords then he attacked the vines slashing and cutting anything that moved (hoping it wasn’t Theanna in the process). When the vines seemed to stop moving Thaylin felt around and found an entrance covered in vines.
Apparently this was once a small hut. It was filled plants of all kinds, beakers, pots, and laboratory instruments. A number of small animals and 3 humanoid figures were wrapped up in more vines. The largest figure was Theanna who was weakly struggling in the vines. Thaylin cut her out and started on the second figure that was much smaller. It was Telbin, he looked pale and was unconscious. Theanna healed the kender then herself with the Power of the Heart that had been growing stronger since she first started using it. Thaylin cut out the third figure from the vines and it appeared to be a gnome that was quite dead. Thaylin reasoned that the gnome must have been a hermit working on some type of experiments with plants. The ranger searched around and found a young ferret in one of the cages half starved. He carefully took the ferret and decided he would care for it. Once they recovered the party made their way to the beach and camped for the night.
The next two days passed uneventfully as they traveled, but on the third day they heard a yell from down the beach and spotted movement along the shore. Theanna wanted to just avoid it entirely. She wanted nothing more to do with helping people in distress, she just wanted a warm soft bed. Unfortunately Thaylin and Telbin were all too eager to investigate and her sister Rouge was also curious, so they continued on. Theanna vowed to stay out of whatever conflict was occurring.
Down the beach they spotted a massive toad with two scrawny leathery wings on it’s back crawling out of the water toward and man that was laying on the beach holding a piece of drift wood. The amphidragon leapt forward to bite the man and the man struck back with an awkward swing. Thaylin rushed into combat with the creature striking its slimy hide with his blades and telling the man to run. Rouge cast stone shard and gave the bombs to her owl who flew above and waited for the opportunity to drop the stones on the amphidragon. The opportunity came when Thaylin realized his weapons were starting to smoke. The creature was covered and an acidic slime. Then it spit acid on the ranger and he fell back. Rouge’s owl dropped the stones and they exploded on the giant toad.
Theanna, cursing herself for helping, strung her bow and starting firing at the amphidragon, Telbin also cast sling stones from his hoopak and Rouge cast more spells. Eventually the creature decided the meal wasn’t worth the trouble and slipped back into the water.
The man was bloody and his arm hung limply. Theanna wanted to leave him be, but everyone else convinced her he needed healing. Moaning and complaining Theanna attempted to heal the man, but it looked as though her healing was only a fraction of the damage. She didn’t trust the man after that and told him so. Rouge told her sister to back off and helped the man to a spot where they could camp for the rest of the day and night. Rouge was curious about the stranger who appeared to be human. He said his name was Gar and he was a sailor out of Haltigoth that had fallen overboard. He was adrift at sea and was headed for land when he finally saw it when the amphidragon had decided to make a meal of him. Theanna didn’t trust him one bit.
The night passed uneventfully and the next day the man had healed at an incredible rate. He merely shrugged and said he had always been a fast healer and the wound had looked much more worse than it actually was. Gar said he would travel with the group as far as Arl’s Watch which was less than a day’s journey. They day passed uneventfully and Gar and Rouge got along well under Theanna’s disapproving glare. When they came within sight of the city Gar said it was time for him to go. So he bid his thanks and farewell and gave Rouge a large green scale saying it was a gift, and then he sat on the edge of the beach waiting for them to leave and telling them, he would be fine on his own. They turned around to leave and when they looked back, he was gone. Rouge put the scale in their pocket and they continued on to Arl’s Watch.
WOW! i wish i could write or roleplay half as well as you... 
The adventurers trudged into the place and the innkeeper looked at them distastefully, but a flash of steel coins had the inn keeper bending over backwards to help out. They paid for all the finest meals and rooms and baths. Theanna and Rouge took one room while Telbin and Thaylin shared another. They decided to relax for the night and in the morning go book passage to Abanasinia.
Early the next morning they headed down to the docks and asked around for the Harbor Master who pointed them in the direction of a ship known as the Starchaser. Captain Owlen Starrider is a relatively young solamnic looking human that haggles with the group over the price of passage but seems a nice enough guy. He says the ship will set sail in two days. So the group decides to go shopping for supplies and new clothes and just take it easy for a couple of days.
On the night before they are supposed to set sail, Theanna and Rouge settled down and fell asleep. Thaylin and Telbin did the same in their room. Rouge is the first to awaken as she realizes a dagger is being pressed against her throat. A human male tells her to be quiet if she wants to live. Theanna also finds a dagger thrust at her throat. But unlike Rouge she starts talking. She starts asking who these people are and why they are in her room. The female that is holding a dagger to her throat tells her that she better shut up and that the reward offered said they could be turned in Dead or Alive. Theanna was confused as to why there was a reward offered for her capture until she remembered the incedent in two-creeks with Lady Hucrele and the missing fortune. Theanna begged for Rouge to be let go, but they said the bounty was on anyone in the party. The thieves guild of Two Creeks wanted their money. Evidently they were double crossed and assumed that Theanna and her group were the culprits.
With a slight nod from Theanna to Rouge the twin sisters burst into action. Rouge unleashed some magic missiles into the face of her assailant and suffered a cut across her neck. Thankfully it wasn’t a mortal wound. Theanna kicked the woman guarding her and grabbed her staff, Patient Lesson. They tried to make the bounty hunters back down, but they wouldn’t listen. A fight ensued and eventually Thaylin and Telbin heard the ruckus and joined in. The bounty hunters were sorely outmatched once Thaylin joined in the fray so they finally backed down and ran out of the Inn. The inn keeper came running and apologized for anything that might have gone amiss.
The next morning the party headed down to the docks. On their way they ran into Nodwyn, the gnome they had met outside of Two Creeks. He said that the caravan had just arrived. He was also very excited to tell them that he had uncovered some information about the amulet. He said the family crest was actually an ancient Silvanesti family crest, not Qualinesti. But he couldn’t uncover the family name as it had fallen into obscurity. They thanked the gnome for this strange piece of information and boarded the Starchaser bound for Abanasinia.
That night Thaylin dreamt of his encounter with the Death Knight and clearly remembered a dense fog and a pair of glowing red eyes floating in the mist.
The day went smoothly into the evening until the wind died and they were adrift. While they waited for the wind to pick back up Telbin spotted a mist moving on the horizon and of course it was moving toward the ship. Thaylin took the amulet out of a pocket and threw it overboard. As the mist drew near everyone grew apprehensive. Eventually the fog surrounded them and surprisingly it was hot, not cool in the least. Along with the strange mist came a low growling noise. Then the ship lurched on its side away from the fog and everyone nearly fell over. As they started to rise huge sparks shot over the railing and started to ignite the wood on the deck. Sailors rushed forward to smother the fires at once while the ship rocked back and forth and the growling increased to a roar. The ship was being torn apart.
Before long there were too many fires for the sailors to handle. Forge muttered a prayer to his god and pointed to a fire and it went out. Then as each spark popped above deck the Cleric of Sirrion would quench the fire before it could begin. The first mate screamed from down bellow that they were taking on water. Thaylin rushed down stairs to find that the hull had been rammed by a metallic object of some kind that had punched a hole in the side of the ship and latched on to the hull.
Meanwhile strange lights appeared in the fog above the ship and Rouge and Theanna tried to figure out what they were. Before long they discovered that Telbin had cast dancing lights in an effort to help people see in the fog. Theanna risked a look overboard and spotted a metallic ship. The bow of the ship seemed to be stuck to the Starchaser’s hull. The ship was also the source of all the fog, which they finally realized was steam, and the horrendous growling and roaring of some engine. Sparks from the ship were flying up on deck.
Rouge took one look at the ship and muttered “damn gnomes”. The captain asked Theanna and Rouge if they could investigate the ship. His crew was needed on board to make sure that the ship didn’t catch on fire or sink. Forge decided it would also be best for him to remain on board to control the fire situation. So Theanna, Rouge, Thaylin and Telbin climbed down onto the deck of the metallic ship. Its deck was slick with water and across the hull they could read “M.N.S. <0” They weren’t quite sure what it meant.
It appeared that there was a strange mechanical battering ram on the front of the ship that had pierced the Starchaser at the water line. All manner of levels, buttons and wires covered the thing. Theanna stopped Telbin from touching it before the kender pressed any buttons. They searched the rest of the deck. A small gnome-sized cabin with more buttons, wheels, gears and wires along with a couple cabinets with waterlogged documents in them. They wisely kept outside the cabin. At the rear of the deck was a wooden hatch that was waterlogged and swelled shut. Thaylin started working on opening it while Theanna went back to the battering ram.
The captain was yelling for her to find a way to get it dislodged. The engines of the gnomish ship kept running and it was pushing the larger ship like a tugboat. Eventually they would run around of something if they could not get it dislodged. Theanna picked a button at random and the ram pulled away from the Starchaser ripping out a larger whole then it shot forward again and created a second hole. The sailors and captain started cursing and yelling as they tried to stop the flooding. Theanna decided to stay away from the ram unless she caused even more damage. She and the captain decided that they had to at least find a control for the ram or cut the engines off.
Thalyin broke through the wooden door and the sound of the engines grew louder. They descended cautiously into a small room. Tools and machine parts lay strewn all over. In one corner they spotted a dead gnome. In the other was a door that a strange mechanical creature with ominous looking drills was standing in front of it. As the stepped off the stairs the machine seemed to activate and the drills reached toward them. The party eventually broke the device as it apparently tried to drill them to death. The strange thing is that they witnessed a flash of light when the machine deactivated. They had seen a flash of light before when someone had died and their soul was collected in the amulet. Upon further investigation the gnome did not seemed to be drilled, but seemed to have died of a sword strike. Not sure what to make of the strange occurrences they moved on.
The metal door was apparently stuck and it had a number of drill holes in it from the drilling machine. They found a crowbar and pried the door open. The room beyond was a galley and it was covered in a thin layer of water. Food stuffs had spilled all over and out of cabinets. Another metal door lay on the other side of the room so they started across. Just then one of the wires fell from a counter and hit the floor. Electricity shot through the water and fried Theanna and Thalyin. Once the shock was over the party carefully pushed all the wires back and opened the next door.
The room beyond had another scenario similar to the first room. But this time a hammering machine had apparently pounded a gnome to death. It walked toward the group on short stubby metal legs with its hammer flailing about. They set upon the invention and finally defeated it. Like the previous encounter a flash of light appeared when the machine stopped functioning indicating that a soul had been trapped by the magical amulet.
A trapdoor in the floor lead to the bottom deck of the ship. They opened the door and followed a small set of stairs down. The room seemed to be a common room with a small table and four dead gnomes littered around the room. The walls were covered with charts, blueprints and diagrams. A massive crackling sound filled the air and Rouge was shot in the back by a bolt of electricity. Another spider-like machine unleashed a bolt of energy and scurried up the stairs closing the hatch behind it. Theanna healed her sister and they explored the room. Rouge checked out the diagrams and figured out that there was a master switch that could be reached from the engine room that should disable the engines.
Telbin, had gone on ahead and searched a couple of the gnomes sleeping quarters. In one bed he found gnome that was dead but he did not seem to be have been attacked like the rest of the crew. The gnome was holding a journal so Telbin looked through it. The deceased gnome was the captain of the ship. He had written that his ship (the M.N.S. Less than Zero) was on a mission to find and bring an iceberg back to Mount Nevermind for study when it had accidentally collided with a pirate ship in the Gale just east of Southern Ergoth. The pirates boarded the ship and slaughtered all the gnomes aboard except for the captain who hid and was now the only one left alive. When he tried to leave the spider machine prevented him from doing so. The captain started to speculate that something strange had happened in the Gale. He believed that the souls of his crew now inhabited the inventions and very ship itself! He believed the ship was still on a mission to find an iceberg and feared it had been ramming innocent ships. But he was powerless to escape and finally died in his sleep one night.
Now the flashes of light made sense. When they destroyed a machine it released the soul of the gnome that inhabited it. The spirit that inhabited the engine room must have been very angry, spouts of steam shot out filling the engine room and the engine was glowing read hot. Theanna steeled herself and entered alone, she snuck in and avoided most of the steam. Then she carefully reached the shut off valve and turned it to the off position burning her hand in the process. In a matter of minutes the engines stopped running.
The party hurried back to the upper decks when they were ambushed by the spider-like lightning machine. It was a tough fight, but eventually they won out and made their way back to the Starchaser. They dislodged the ice grabber from the hull and the gnomish ship started to drift away. They wondered what they were going to do with it when they heard the engines cut back on. The captain called out to get the Starchaser as far away as possible from the blasted gnomish contraption and as the sailed away the M.N.S. Less than Zero exploded and sank.
Mistress Lea had been keeping tabs on Theanna and her progress she had always hoped that the roguish elf would fully immerse herself in her mystic powers but Theanna had continued to devote her time in frivolous pursuits of petty theft and skullduggery. The events in Two Creeks where Theanna had attempted to steal from an old woman weighed heavily upon the old mystic.
So the Elder Mistress spoke her mind and told Theanna that she believed the young elf should make up her mind once and for all. She told Theanna that she should seriously consider the path she wished to follow. Either she accepted her potential as a true mystic or she remain a dabbler. Then she asked that Theanna lay her healing staff Patient Lesson on the table and Theanna did so. Then Mistress Lea placed a short sword upon the table. She explained that the weapon was a sword crafted for rouges and thieves. Forge could tell the weapon was most certainly magical. Mistress Lea explained that the weapon had been left at the Citadel of Light by a former mystic that turned away from that type of life. Then she instructed Theanna to pick one, the staff or the sword. Theanna asked for time to think about it overnight and the Mistress agreed and took both the staff and the sword with her. She said she would return the next day before there ship set sail.
So the party stayed the night and in the afternoon of the next day as they were preparing to leave Mistress Lea returned and asked Theanna her decision. Theanna promised Mistress Lea that she would concentrate on her mystiscm and make strides to delve deeper into the mysteries of the Power of the Heart. The Head Mistress was pleased and relieved and handed Theanna Patient Lesson. But then Theanna continued and explained that she was journeying a dangerous road and that while she would continue to explore mysticsm she would feel more secure if she could protect herself with such a fine weapon until she was able to unlock all her potential as a mystic. Mistress Lea agreed with the elf and gave her the magical sword as well saying “Goodness knows you’re going to need it,” which made Theanna and her companions more than a little nervous. The party bid farewell to Mistress Lea and boarded the ship to New Ports.
The journey to New Ports was uneventful and they arrived the day before Rouge was scheduled to take her Test on the shores of the Nalis Arlen. The ship arrived in the morning and they bid farewell to the captain who offered them a free ride next time for saving his ship this time around. Forge also said goodbye. The daewar dwarf said that if they happened to come back to New Ports that they might be able to find him in the market place. He knew a few dwarves that lived in town and was planning on offering his services for a while before traveling on to Thorbardin.
As they players were leaving the dock area they were blocked by a group of Dark Knights that were unloading cargo from a ship on the dock. Rather than cause a commotion the party waited patiently and ignored the thinly veiled taunts of the knights that purposely blocked their path taking their time and practically daring them to voice any objection. Before long a local guard arrived and told the knights to move their cargo and make a path through. The knights scoffed at the guard who was obviously very young and inexperienced. They started to move a bit quicker once the local Baron showed up asking if everything was alright. The Dark Knight’s cleared a path and the party passed by as more guards arrived to keep the peace.
The young guard apologized and the group took a liking to him. His name was Tyrian and he had just been hired as a town guard two weeks ago. He said that in three days hence a local festival was going to be held and that the Baron was looking for as many guards as the could to keep the peace. If they could use a sword, (which he had no doubt Thaylin could use) that the Baron could use more muscle. The party thanked Tyrian for his help with the dark knights but refused the offer to stay. They said that they were on a mission and had to continue their journey. So Tyrian walked them safely to the gates and wished them well on their journey.
From New Ports the elven sisters, half-elf and kender proceeded to the Lake of Death where Rouge would take her Test.
Regardless of his allegiance Vinus was endearing and escorted them to a magical glade. Once they entered the death and decay all around them disappeared and the woods were as beautiful as they were before the fall of Qualinesti. The party relaxed and settled in, all except for Telbin who slipped out to investigate the Lake of Death looking for anything interesting he might find. Vinus stayed and chatted for a while. Before taking his leave he told Rouge to study a wide variety of spells for the Test so they could evaluate her potential more accurately. Telbin returned a while later and curiously did not have much to say before drifting off to sleep. Eventually they all laid down and rested for the night.
The next morning the group was summoned to the shore of the Lake of Death. Three wizards stood on the shore. Vinus of the Black Robes, Master Nightseed of the Whit Robes (a Silvanesti elf), and Mantagoura of the Red Robes (an old female minotaur). The first order of business was to assert who would participate with Rouge in the Test. Rouge argued that no one should. She didn’t want to be responsible for their death’s if she should fail. Telbin ignored any warnings of his impending death and eagerly said he would participate, in typical kender fashion. Theanna wasn’t thrilled with the prospect, but since she was Rouge’s sister she grudgingly agreed that she would do what she could to help her sister because without her sister she wouldn’t know what to do. Thaylin reasoned that they had already faced their death together plenty of times and was willing to face death once again with his companions.
Once it was agreed they would all participate a large chest (about the size of a coffin) appeared and Vinus asked the participants to place any magic items they may own into the chest. They were not permitted to bring them into the Test. The only arcane magic that would be permitted would be the wizard’s spells. Rouge was also asked to place her weapons in the chest as well.
Once all the magic was collected and the wizard’s weapons Vinus said there was one more order of business. He brought forth a globe and instructed Rouge to place her hands on it. When she did the globe glowed and Rouge felt herself being drained. Vinus explained that all the knowledge of her magical instruction had been drained away. She could cast the spells she had memorized, but the knowledge of relearning any spell had been taken away. In other words if she failed and somehow lived she would be a common elf once again and would have to spend years relearning wizardry, but Rouge knew there was no hope of survival.
Vinus stepped back and uttered a few words and the globe disappeared. He nodded his head to the other two wizards and they stepped back a bit and uttered a few words as well. Nothing appeared to happen however. Vinus turned back to the group and simply said “Let us begin”. He explained to Rouge that there was a potential renegade spellcaster in the area and that she would need to hunt him down and bring him back for judgment by Vinus. He asked if she understood and she said she did, so Vinus pointed to Telbin and said. “There is the renegade bring him forth.”
Everyone was shocked by this and Telbin began to step away from everyone. He didn’t like the tone of what Vinus said and was pretty sure he didn’t want to be delivered to him or be forced to become a wizard. Why read boring books when you could just imagine the spell? Plus he looked terrible in robes. Telbin was saying all these things as he backed away with Flounder (his pet skunk) following closely behind.
All of his companions tried to convince him that it would be alright. Nothing bad would happen. They made all sorts of promises but Telbin would not listen and started to leave. As Thaylin and Theanna were trying to convince Telbin to return Rouge cast Flare to distract him, but the kender jumped out of the way and started to run. Thaylin, the ranger, ran ofter him and tried to grapple Telbin, but the kender slipped out of his grip and ordered Flounder to spray Thaylin to keep him away. The skunk obliged, but missed the ranger. Thaylin cast entangle and Telbin was grabbed by grasses and vines and held tight. Theanna slipped into the moving grasses and tied him up with her ropes. Then Thaylin dissipated the spell and carried the kender over to Rouge. The wizard placed a very sad kender at the feet of Vinus.
The black robe elf said that the conclave has declared all sorcerers to be renegades. He went over the reason why the towers of High Sorcery were established in the first place as well claiming that sorcery was unpredictable. He said this goes double for magic in the hands of a kender. Rouge and Theanna argued on Telbin’s behalf saying he has never done anything to harm anyone and that he should be allowed to be set free, but Vinus would not be persuaded. He said there was only one decision that could be made. Then he whispered words of magic and unleashed a torrent of lightning upon Telbin’s head. Both Telbin and the skunk were horribly burned and they died at the black robes feet.
The party was outraged, but before they could retaliate, skeletal hands broke the muddy ground and grabbed Rouge. Thaylin grabbed her hand and tried to pull her from the deadly clutches of the skeletons. Theanna was furious over Telbin’s death and decided to attack the wizards. She deftly avoided the grasping skeletal hands and sprinted for the red and white robes since she was closest to them. Her forward momentum was stopped when she crashed into an invisible wall of force and was thrown to the ground where the skeletal hands grabbed her. Rouge was pulled down into the muck and despite Thaylin’s grip she was pulled under. Thaylin was also grabbed and eventually all three were pulled beneath the muddy banks of the Nalis Aren.
Rouge was pulled down through the muck and before long she felt her feet had room to move and then her legs. She prepared herself for a drop and cast feather fall as she emerged from the ceiling, so she was safe from the thirty foot fall. Thaylin and Theanna were not however. They fell the entire way and hit the floor hard. They realized they were in the chamber of an elven building that had sunk during the battle against Beryl. At the end of the hall they heard skittering and a wave of cat-sized spiders erupted from the darkness of the corner toward them. Rouge cast color spray and knocked out a third of them. Then the reminder descended on the three companions. Everyone was holding their own, but the damage from the fall and a few nasty spider bites plus poison began to wear on them. Before long Thaylin was out of the fight able to stumble away but not fight. Rouge was in rare form, slinging spells left and right and killing spiders with magic missiles and elemental darts. The last three conscious spiders were taken out with a stone shard spell.
Theanna healed up Thaylin and decided to conserve her healing for whatever may come next. They discovered a door at the opposite end of the hall from the spiders. Theanna checked for traps and not finding any they opened it. There was a magical darkness beyond that they could not see through so they each grabbed the others belt and followed a passage that seemed to slope upward. At the top of the tunnel Theanna and Thaylin discovered they emerged on the shore of the Nalis Aren with the other wizards who acknowledge their presence and said they could watch the rest of the Test from the lake shore. They looked into the surface of the lake and saw Rouge emerging into a sunny forest clearing.
Rouge lost her sister and Thaylin in the darkness and emerged into a sylvan glade. The trees before her made a path that lead to a burning fire. She followed the path and ended up in a clearing ringed in fire. She cast resist energy on herself and passed through the burning wall. At the center of the clearing was a marble pedestal with a chest on it. The chest was covered in magical glyphs. Deciding not to touch the chest she cast open/close and the lid lifted open. She looked in the chest and her masterwork silver dagger was laying within the chest. More runes covered the inside. She stood back, cast mage hand and lifted out the dagger.
When she did this, words glowed at the base of the pillar. It was a magical inscription so Rouge cast Read Magic to determine what it said. It read:
Magic above all things
The gift
Gives us purpose.
A wizard is what you shall be
If you
Choose wisely.
Blind Sun our ravager
Show me the key
So that I may live.
After she read this two large glass cases appeared on either side of the pedestal. Each case had a “keyhole” where a dagger could be inserted. In one case was the globe that contained her magic. In the other was her mother. Her mother had disappeared nearly 30 years ago during the Dark Knights occupation of Qualinesti. She was in the case and when she saw Rouge she started crying and banging on the glass to be let out. She was talking but Rouge couldn’t hear her. So Rouge cast her last spell which was detect thoughts and her mother was confused and didn’t know why she had been trapped here. She wanted to be freed. When Rouge made a move to the glass case containing the magic orb her mother's thoughts changed to desperation and urged Rouge to seek her in Balowil. Rouge didn’t know what that was but was determined to find it.
Although Rouge’s first instinct was to let her mother out she realized that without her magic she might die herself, but with it she had a chance to find her mother and save her. So she inserted her dagger into the glass case holding her magical knowledge… and nothing happened. The case remained locked.
Rouge went back and reread the poem. She tried all sorts of things. Holding up the dagger to the sun and reflecting light off the dagger into the lock. But nothing seemed to work. Finally she looked straight into the sun and as she looked away the afterimage of the sun’s glare created a symbol in her vision. She looked at the dagger and the symbol burned itself into the metal. Then she tried the dagger in the lock again and still no luck. So she looked at the sun again and when she looked away she saw another symbol. She repeated the process and each time she gained a new symbol, but her vision was slowly destroyed. By the last symbol she was entirely blind. She tried the lock one last time and it gave way. She grabbed the magical orb and the Test ended.
After a couple hours a visitor arrived. It was the old minotaur Mantagoura of the Red Robes. She came carrying a backpack and a smooth staff of deep red mahogany. Theanna started in on the minotaur, but Thaylin calmed her down. Mantagoura woke Rouge and spoke to her in gruff but friendly tones. She informed Rouge that she had passed the Test and was now a wizard of the Red Robes.
During the test Rouge argued for the kender sorcerer to live saying he should not be branded a renegade and to allow him to continue his pursuit of magic. She wanted him to explore magic for the sake of magic, not to further any particular cause. Plus she chose her magic over her mother, but it was a tough decision for her. If she had simply ignored her mother as an illusion and went straight for the magic she might have leaned toward the Black Robes, and if she had opened her mother's case immediately she would have discovered that she would be facing a demon and would have been forced to fight blind with only a dagger. If she had succeeded she would have been in the order of the White Robes. Instead she chose magic as a method to find her mother.
Mantagoura told Rouge that although she is blind now she will have to rely on magic for the rest of her life to see again. She said that within a few days Rouge would see the world like no other and would possess a magical blindsense that would aid her from now on.
When Rouge asked about her mother, if she was real or illusion Mantagoura could only tell her that the Test is drawn from a number of elements both real and imaginary and that she could not even be sure.
Thaylin asked about the amulet that he was apparently stuck with. Mantagoura couldn’t tell them much more than they already knew. It was of elven design, most likely Silvanesti in origin. It had an aura of divination and necromancy and was extremely powerful. As to its purpose she could not discover it. She said she would check the libraries in the Tower of Wayreth, but that they had been damaged by a battle waged between wizards and a wicked sorcerer. So it would take time to research.
When the mention of a sorcerer came up Theanna asked Mantagoura why Telbin had to die. The red robed minotaur became agitated and cursed the Black Robe elf. Mantagoura claimed the kender was not supposed to die. It was all part of the Test. But it seems that each of the Gods of Magic have different mandates concerning sorcerers. Nuitari, the god of dark magic has instructed his wizards to kill sorcerers when they run across them if they can. The Test offered Vinus the perfect opportunity to do just that and he claimed it was all part of the Test. The minotaur continued and explained that Lunitari, the god of the Red Robes believes that for now despite the attempt on the Tower of High Sorcery that her order should learn what they can from sorcerers. Knowledge of this revived ancient magic could yield new information that could strengthen High Sorcery. She finished by explaining that she suspected that Vinus may try something of this nature and did what she could to prevent it. Then the minotaur snorted and turned back to Rouge.
She told her that the dagger she was holding was capable of unlocking a portal one time a day and that it was a small token of her passing. Then she placed the staff in the blind wizard’s hands and told her that the staff was her father’s. Both Rouge and Theanna recognized it. But they protested that their father perished in the Chaos War and was never found. Mantagoura had heard the legendary tales and nodded. She didn’t know how the staff had found it’s way back to the Tower of Wayreth, but there was explicit instructions to pass the staff on to Rouge should she ever pass the Test of High Sorcery. Then the Red Robed minotaur pressed the backpack into the wizard’s hands and said that there were spell books within the bag and something special that she had added to the bag to make up for the death of the kender. The minotaur seemed very uncomfortable and snorted and straightened her shoulders. Then she bid them farewell and walked out of the clearing.
Rouge opened the haversack and reached in much farther than she should have been able to reach and pulled out some spell books. Then she heard a voice. “It sure is cramped and dark in here.” Rouge and the others were confused. They thought the backpack was talking to them. “How much longer do I have to wait in this thing anyway. I’m starting to get bored in here.” Then they recognized the voice. It was Telbin Shadowchaser. The kender was in the bag! Rouge reached in and felt his hand and pulled the kender out. Everyone cried out in relief and hugged the kender.
Telbin explained what happened. The night before the Test he slipped out to the Lake of Death to explore and was met by Mantagoura who knew that the black robe was out to get the sorcerer. She had been instructed by her Order to protect the kender. So she cast a spell on him and tricked him into the magical haversack. Then she used her spells and magic items given to her by the order to create a duplicate of the kender. It was the duplicate kender that died. They didn't know that however, and they buried the duplicate in that magical sylvan glade after the test and said their goodbyes. The kender was very disappointed to know that he had missed out on all the “fun” of the Test. Despite that everyone was glad he was still around.
The next morning they decided to make their way back to New Ports in order to allow Rouge some time to rest and heal.
Feel Free.
Thanks, bro!
They filed into the crowded streets. Rouge was led by her sister. Poor Rouge was assailed by noises and odd feelings all around her. She could sense all the commotion around her and it was just a mass of confusion. After trying a few inns on the main street and having no luck finding lodgings they asked for directions to the elven quarter. The home of the elves in New Ports was formerly a ghetto and in many respects still was. With the fall of Qualinesti many of the survivors filtered into the nearby human city. Without a true home and without the support of many of the humans the elves had to rely on selling off whatever treasures they could escape with and many of them wound up in a small corner of the city.
The beautiful homes of the elves sculpted out of trees and foliage were replaces with run down square buildings of dead wood and tentaments. Here and there you could see small gardens growing in-between the buildings. A group of dirty elven children ran up begging for money. It broke the elves heart to find the children of such a noble race reduced to common street urchins. Theann and Thaylin gave them each some money and all the children ran off except one. He was obviously fascinated by Thayin. The elven children of Newports had seen precious few strong elven warriors. The boys name was Silthanas and he invited the group to stay with him at his house. The party agreed to at least go talk with his mother about it.
They arrived at a small hovel crowed next to others just like it and Silthanas burst inside yelling for his mother. She came out and politely greeted the companions. She was obviously embarrassed over her house but Theanna, Thalyin and Rouge all put her at ease telling her they were grateful for any place they could lay their head. Silthanas’ mother introduced herself as Jessala and brought the travelers a bowl so they could wash their hands and faces. Then they talked about the fall of Qualinesti, the fate of Silthanas’ father and the adventures the companions had experienced up until now. Telbin got excited more than once telling the stories jumping up and down and running around the room acting out different scenes. Eventually Theanna told him to “put a sock in it”. Then the kender reach into a pouch, pulled out a sock and stuffed it into his mouth. Everyone burst out laughing.
After a good night’s rest the group decided to seek out Forge before deciding which way to go from New Ports. In the morning Rouge discovered that she could read by running her fingers over the parchment or anything with writing. They said goodbye to Jessala and Silthanas and gave them some steel for their stay there. Jessala tried to refuse, but did not put up much of a fight. Once outside it was evident that the festivities had already started all over the town. They could smell fresh baked breads and the sound of music was drifting in the air. As they walked they paused at a stage set up in the middle of the street with a troupe of elven actors telling the story of the Fall of Qualinesti. As the actors described the approach of the Green Overlord Beryl there was a scream from behind the stage and the curtains from back stage were ripped down.
A group of horrid looking humanoids with gray skin and no eyes swarmed into the crown clawing elves and biting them. Thaylin started yelling for all the elves to fall back. Rouge asked what was going on and Theanna stayed by her side to guide her. Telbin took Flounder out of his backpack and set the skunk down then he ran into the crowd pushing people back. Thaylin fought one of the monsters killing it and Theanna took out her bow and started shooting them from afar. Rouge was having a difficult time of it. When all the elves were crowded together it was impossible to tell what was going on, but as the elves cleared out of the street she began to concentrate on the shapes before her. She could make out a shape on the stage and Theanna confirmed it was one of the monsters. Rouge began casting Magic Missle and Elemental Darts at the creature and took it down. The ferocious Thaylin with his kagonesti tattoos and exotic half-elf build cut down one monstrosity after another and the elves looked on obviously impressed with his fighting prowness. Telbin was having a bit of a problem with his opponent until Flounder unleashed his stench on the creature and it fell to the ground retching. Then Telbin finished it off.
The remaining creates fled as the town guard arrived to see what was going on. At first they were going to arrest Thaylin until the elves spoke up for them. I was obvious the human guard was not impressed with the tales he was being told of the newcomers defending the elves. Eventually more guards arrived including Tyrian who vouched for the companion’s good standing and they were free to go.
The group eventually made their way across town to the Market District. Theanna caught at least two pick pockets trying to lift her purse. The second one she threatened with death before he ran off. They picked up some food from a nearby stand and wandered over to the weapon maker’s booth. He was staying with an old dwarf named Shooma. Shooma was renowned for her work as a skilled weapon smith. She was reputed to have created many magical weapons during her life. She was good friends with Forge and welcomed him to stay with her and her nephew while he was in town. Forge told the companions about some trouble in New Ports. Evidently there was a group running the markets for protection money and had been putting pressure on a number of holdouts including Shooma. The wise old dwarf eyed Thaylin and asked him if he knew how to use a sword. He said he could hold his own. So Shooma made a deal with him. She asked him to seek out the ones responsible for shaking down the market place for protection money and in return she would give him a special sword to use. He agreed and Shooma presented him with a longsword she nicknamed “the Luckblade”.
As Thaylin gripped the sword a commotion arose from the street. Shooma pointed out that there were a number of figures in hoods. These were the collectors. She had seen them before. They were kicking over a stall in the street and pushing an old man down. Dog-sized rats scurried into the streets causing people to push one another to escape. Cries for the guards went up and the “collectors” moved into the street. Thaylin and Forge pushed their way through the crowd, while Telbin slipped through with ease. Theanna took much longer as she led Rouge through the press of bodies.
The half kagonesti ranger demanded that the ruffians desist and they responded by pulling back their hoods and revealing reptilian features. It was a group of draconians. People screamed and ran, Forge and Thaylin engaged the reptile men. It was a relatively quick fight that ended in five pools of evaporating acid before the town guards arrived. Once again they were questioned as they were found at the heart of yet another disturbance. Evidently there were outbreaks like this occurring all over town and the town guards were spread to thinly throughout the city.
Theanna asked around to see if anyone had seen where the draconians had come from and the trail led back to the Bell Tower near the center of town. So the companions made their way to the center of town and knocked on the door to the Bell Tower.
The old man had finally been harassed enough and closed the door on Theanna and Thaylin. Then he returned to his living quarters. Ironically it was the blind wizard that finally realized that Telbin was not around. They discussed what to do next figuring that the kender would turn up sooner or later like he always does.
Telbin went up two flights of stairs before he heard a guttural language. Peaking over the edge of the landing the kender saw 4 draconians talking quietly among themselves and playing some sort of dice game. So Telbin snuck back down and out of the Bell Tower front door. He told the rest of his companions what he had discovered and they decided that the old man was in trouble. So they barged in the front door and knocked on the door to the old man’s room. He answered the door and was highly upset threatening to call the town guards. Thaylin said to go ahead and call, that he was in trouble anyway and that he needed to get out of the tower because they had discovered draconians in the levels up above.
At the mention of the draconians the old man grew silent and then started to change shape into that of a Sivak draconian. The Sivak yelled out that they had been discovered and the party heard noises from the levels above. Forge and Thaylin pressed the Sivak into the living quarters. Theanna and Telbin waited for the draconians that were coming down the stairs. Poor Rouge the Red Robe was left standing outside the tower waiting for someone to tell her what was going on.
Forge and Thaylin pressed the attack on the Sivak. The towering grey draconian scored a number of hits before it finally died and slumped to the floor. A moment later there was an explosion and Thaylin and Forge were knocked back nearly out of the room. Thaylin was the worst off and he stumbled out of the room and outside. Telbin also went outside to get Rouge and Theanna backed out to heal Thaylin. That left Forge to hold the stairs against the draconians that were descending. The cleric of Sirrion cast burning hands and then smacked the first draconian with his flaming hammer “Vera”. The draconian exploded in a pool of acid that burned the dwarf and he became angry. He flew into rage calling upon his god and smiting draconians left and right. He managed to kill four of them before they overwhelmed the dwarf and he fell unconscious. The remaining four draconians stormed out over the fallen dwarf and ran outside.
Rouge and Telbin stood together. The wizard used her staff to keep one draconian at bay while Telbin flanked it and they worked together to defeat it. Thaylin took on two draconians and almost perished when the first one exploded in a puddle of acid, but Theanna backed him up and took on the other draconian. The final dragon man headed for the crowd of onlookers which started to run. The town guard arrived and the familiar face of Tyrian appeared. The young guard held off the draconian until more guards arrived and they defeated it.
Once again it appeared that the companions were in the center of another disturbance in town. Tyrian directed the guards to clear the area and secure the Bell Tower. Once Forge was revived Tyrian spoke with the group and thanked them for handling one of the many problems around town. He explained that the town guard ranks were thinning and the number of disturbances in the city was uncommonly high, even for a festival day. He feared that something worse could happen. Seeing that the companions could handle themselves in a fight he offered them a temporary position with the town guard. He said for the next two days he could get them food and lodging plus some extra pay for their time in town. Thaylin readily agreed while Theanna was hesitant. But ultimately the party decided to stay and help.
The group was taken to a nearby inn where they found accommodations and were allowed to rest for the remainder of the day. They all rested and awoke the next morning. As they were sitting for breakfast the group was called by one of the town guards to accompany them. There was trouble again… big trouble.