Adventures in Kalamar! - (Now) Forging Darkness

[wsclark]

Session XIII - What A Nice Place We've Found

Snowfall 1st, 744 YND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shaedra points to a spot on the map.

[Shaedra] "Here, in this area."

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

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

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

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

[Lulla] "How much would it cost?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Shaedra] "Deal"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snowfall 2nd, 744 YND

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

Snowfall 5th, 744 YND

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

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

Snowfall 8th, 744 YND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rufio find nothing but wall behind the tapestries. Pug finds a door on his side. Thalen reaches the door in the north wall. Shaedra finds a journal in one of the bedrolls with the name "Halaan" on the cover. Most of the entries deals with the expedition which set forth overland from Zoa over a year ago, following the coast. It notes the loss of bearers and mercenaries quite often. The entries near the end are the most interesting. They read:

26 Famine, 563 (est.)
Stumbling upon the castle before dark was a stroke of luck. It can be used for shelter and a base camp. There are only four armed men, six scientists (including myself) and a dozen or so native bearers left.

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

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

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


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

 

[Halma]

Bump

More, More

 

[Broccli_Head]

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

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

Thanks, your loyal reader, BH.

 

[wsclark]

Thanks for checking in Halma and Broccli_Head.

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

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

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

 

[wsclark]

Session XIV - So What's Here?

Snowfall 8th, 744 YND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snowfall 9th, 744 YND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• a gold crown studded with gems (6,000 gp)
• an ornate spyglass (900 gp)
• a silver tiara with small sapphires (2,000 gp)
• a platinum scepter studded with rubies (7,000 gp)
• a jade bracelet of intricate design (1,400 gp)
• a pair of silver and gold earrings (300 gp each, 800 gp for the set)
• an ivory armband (600 gp)

He also estimates that the throne is worth 10,000 GP to the right buyer.

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

 

[wsclark]

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

Snowfall 9th, 744 YND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[wsclark]

Session XVI – Eww, What's That Smell?

Snowfall 9th, 744 YND

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

10:00

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

9:30

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

8:00

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

3:00

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

2:30

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

2:18

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

2:00

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

1:54

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

1:48

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

1:42

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

1:36

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

1:24

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

1:18

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

1:12

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

1:00

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

0:42

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

0:24

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

0:06

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

0:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Broccli_Head]

Just a friendly bump after catching up with the story.

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

 

[DWARF]

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

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

Well, different campaigns, different ethics I suppose.

 

[wsclark]

Just a friendly bump after catching up with the story.

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

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

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