Outsiders of Aera

[Gale Glory]

Hangover...

I drank too much mead...my head hurts...can't remember much except the Dark Wizards offer. I need some coffee.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

So I forgot a detail or five...that's why it's nice to have a few players remind me of such details .

It's 6, I'll use this as a reference for awarding XP.

 

[Remus]

The party has made quite a few unwise decisions in our short time in Aera, with the killing of innocents becoming an all-to-common occurrence. The first time this happened, it happened to a hapless human griffin rider; some harsh words were exchanged between the party members, and it became evident that no one had wanted him to die, not even the one who flung the fireball. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, things get confusing and decisions have to be made quickly, usually for the best, but not always. Eventually, I found that the first act was justifiable from a player's perspective, yet I still think it is unacceptable from the view of my character.

This latest event could have been avoided just like the last one, but it wasn't. Cloud asked whether or not anyone _knew_ that the guardsmen were controlled. Yet as most things, only the DM is privy to such absolutes; the rest of us have to guess. As a player I was fairly certain that they were under some sort of mind control, it just "makes sense" with the rest of the campaign. But of course 90% of role playing is separating character knowledge from player knowledge.

What did Remus think? Well, he had lots of time to think about it because being encased in metal along with having the title of party pack mule usually assures my late entrance to battle. Remus saw the same guards that had been fighting next to him for the past month now attacking his friends. He doesn't know anything about the arcane arts except for the tried and true "get out of the way when the little guy in the funny hat starts to mumble." But ever since Remus killed that paladin of the evil fire god (it was an accident, I swear!) he has been a little weary of leaving humanoid opponents in little pieces all over the battle field. Remus has learned that corpses don't say as much about the evil one's plans as prisoners do. He feels so strongly about this, he is taking a feat which removes the penalty for dealing subdue damage. I think Remus would not have killed any of the guards had he been able to get there before it was all over. All he did was yell out to the others not to kill the last two guards.

From the player's perspective, I understand Lor's player's use of fireball. I think he thought that it would only soften them up rather than kill them out right. Oops. But Remus is confused by Lor's actions, since he was the most vocal during the aftermath of the griffin rider incident. Canthor's actions also bother Remus, since it is doubtful that Bryle would have condoned them.

Tonight we will see what the rest of the siege holds for our party, and hopefully we can keep the body count down.

 

[Remus]

TARMUS - Yeric's backstory

Remus was kind enough to lend me his account, since this !#$%!@#$% board software refuses to let me register...

Anyway, guess I'll post good 'ol Yeric's background here, as I described in my earlier e-mail to our illustrius DM. It's pretty rough, given that it was just pulled from a mailing; I apologize in advance.
-----
Background: Yeric was very young when his brother Tarmus left the farm, entrusting it to his future care when their parents grew too old to do so themselves. He was a passable farmer, and started his help with the chores at an appropriately young age. However, the same wanderlust that struck and eventually took his sibling always held a place in Yeric's heart as well.

As such, he was fascinated when a wounded, grizzled old man wandered onto the farm, seeking refuge. His name, or at least, the name he claimed, was Arthir Conrad (lvl 14 Successor), and of his background he spoke very little. They knew he hid from someone, or something, but the family was able to glean little more. He did his share of the chores, though, and as the months passed, he fit in like he'd always been there.

While his own past was carefully guarded, Arthir was more than happy to regale young Yeric with tales of the lands he'd picked up in his travels, from the Free North to Polary and even to beyond the ocean. The boy had no real talent for recalling the stories, however much he enjoyed them, but what he _did_ show some skill in was battle.

Each day, the elder warrior would wake just before sunup and retreat to the woods to train his craft before the days' chores needed doing. For weeks, thinking himself unobserved, Yeric followed, watched, and later would try to imitate the strangely controlled, yet incredibly powerful movements. Until the day Arthir, who had himself been secretly observing the younger's attempts, revealed himself and offered to train him with his parent's consent.

The older Woodbloods thought it a good idea, for they knew the land well, and doubted there were more than a handful of harvests left in its increasingly barren fields. Their offspring would need to go forth into the world and learn a new craft. The world was a tough place, and a man couldn't go wrong knowing how to defend himself.

Yeric showed a natural ability for the art, and although the word "successor" never touched his lips, his unequaled natural alacrity and farm-bred hardiness, coupled with a keen mind and attention to detail, sped his studies greatly. Months turned to years, and the farm indeed petered out, leaving the family with what little savings they had on hand and in danger of being unable to support themselves. But they were given a blessing, in the return of the elder Woodblood sibling, Tarmus, back from lands unknown.

It was Tarmus who had the brainstorm that would save the farmstead. With Arthir's agreement, the bard set out to find young men and women with the potential to be trained in combat, and yet had the means to provide some payment. Nothing extravagant, as the extra hands could also be used to work on tilling and revitalizing the land, but enough to support such a large community in the meantime.

Yeric, however, soon became restless, especially as his brother's tales of adventure mixed with Arthir's in his mind. With no farmwork to occupy his time, he soon set out on his own, seeking to both join his brother and his strange band of stranded outlanders, as well as help in collecting neophytes for their odd training academy.
---

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Milo and Trouble at Ralanov

Sleep came easily to our adventurers, save Lor. The slaying of almost a dozen watchmen on his behalf will trouble his weary mind for days to come, but in other respects the sleep was refreshing to our heroes.

Awaking at midday, they joined a rather large crowd in the common room of the Warrior's Courage. People were celebrating, drinking, feasting, and swapping stories. In particular, the well-known bard, Jaren Windwalker, stood among a group of townsfolk and providing them with news of the outside world. Since the collapse of the light barrier around Aenith, magical communications into the city will once again work. Tarmus and Star pulled Jaren aside when the opportunity presented itself, and Jaren was more than happy to share what he knew with the subjects of some of his most recent tales.

For starters, Ralanov has nearly been liberated. The Northern Alliance had mustered an army and had been attempting to retake the city for several weeks. The tide has turned in the North's favor thanks to a new hero with the name of Lugtee Hardroc. Lugtee became famous for rescuing Devon Treespire, the lord of Ralanov, and the two of them have been leading forays into the city in an effort to liberate it. In sadder news from Mydrana, the people there say they have witness Cloudgatherer's death, having seen him consumed by some magic spell. In happier news, King Starfire of Glarcaster is still looking for a queen, but is narrowing his search and the elven nation of Huranti is celebrating their king's (Aran Leafpath) 100th birthday with a month long celebration.

As for local news, the Polarian army has withdrawn, retreating toward the west (towards Ralanov). Thrin has left for Ralanov to assist in the fighting, and Katrina has also left on a quest to redeem herself in the eyes of Bryle. The next day, the clerics of Bryle will hold a service for the slain watchmen, clerics, and the other casualties of the Polarian attack.

The news was a bit for the party to take in. So much has transpired in the last month, but it was good to once again hear of the outside world. Over the midday meal, the party discussed the news and celebrated along with the people Aenith. Lor was not present at the time, he had left much earlier.

While the party saw Milo in the common room, they did not pay him much heed. The halfling, curious as ever, proceeded to wander about the room, looking for anything curious. The party held many interesting items (at least to Milo): Tarmus's pipes (still not sure how to play these), Remus' selection of weaponry (a halfling could get lost in here), Star's lockpicks (nice tools), Gale's dagger (eh, just a dagger), and Gwen's pet rock.

"Gwen's pet rock?" Milo thought. The halfling studied the rock intensely, as if seeing something in it that others could not. Sitting at his table, Milo started to bang the rock on the table.

"Bang, bang, bang."

"Ow, ow, ow!" exclaimed Gale. Milo paused for a moment. Could there be a relation here? Naw, that would be silly...

"Bang, bang, bang, bang" Milo thwacked the rock faster upon the table.

"Yeeeoooow! Gimme that!" cried out Gale, as his fellow adventurers, and half of the inn, watched the party close in on the halfling.

Star took the rock from Milo, who admitted to lifting it off of Gwen. The rock was originally looted from the Dark Wizard's personal chest. However, not being magical, the party had not paid much attention to it.

Gale took the rock from Star and Star offered to buy Milo a few drinks. As they sat together at the bar, Star kept a close eye on the cleptic halfling. While Milo has always put whatever he has "examined" back so far, Star wasn't taking any chances.

<Slap> "Eek," Milo exclaimed, Star having slapped his hand as he reached for Star's dagger.

"Here, take this," offered Star, giving Milo another cup of mead. "Why were you banging that rock?"

"There's something in it," Milo answered, "some kind of glow."

"How many has he had?" Tarmus asked Star, who gave a him a smirk.

"I know! I'm going to the library," Milo announced. "Wait... no I'm not...I didn't say that," he added before leaving.

Star, Remus, and Tarmus followed the halfling. After carefully avoiding some of the librarians, Milo settled down at a table and started to flip through some books dealing with spirits. The three also saw Lor brushing up on his reading, and passed along the situation to the elven mage.

The party lounged around for several hours. Around dinner time, Milo returned, a triumphant look upon his face. Gale's soul piece was in the rock (or was the rock), and Milo could perform the ceremony to restore it to him (more specifically his weapon). Milo would only require a few things for the ceremony: a certain type of elven wine, a bathtub full of water with soap, couple kegs of beer, a variety of fruits, lots of meat, a dagger with an ivory blade, an antique rocking chair, and a large room (the Warrior’s Courage most expensive room).

A little puzzled, the party acquired the requested items the next day. Star "acquired" the bottle of wine (he picked the lock, took the wine, left the money for it) the previous night. While a few members of the party attended the service for those slain in the attacks, the other members spent their time in the marketplace. As nighttime rolled around, everything was ready.

Milo ran about the room, seeming to put everything precisely where it needed to be, often moving an item an inch or two in a direciton and re-examining its position. When he was satisfied, he asked Gale to stand in the middle of the room and placed the other members of the party in specific locations.

Milo then asked Gale to drive his blade into the rock. Gale hesitated, but with some reassurance from Milo, did as the halfling asked. There was a small spark, the rock disappeared, and Gale fell to the ground. Canthor immediately checked on him, he was alive and unconscious.

"Whew, glad that's over with," remarked Milo, popping open the expensive elven wine and starting to drink. The party stared at him for several long moments. "What?" he asked. "Throw him in the tub and let's have a feast!" With a shrug the party joined in.

Gale awoke the next morning in a bathtub, in the middle of a room with food everywhere along with his passed out friends and Milo sleeping on the bed. He also had a tattoo on his arm that said "Mom", courtesy of Star (who doesn't really know how to give tattoos). Gale was upset with the halfling, but Milo reminded Gale that he fulfilled what he said he would do: restored Gale's soul back into his blade. Gale decided he would not give Milo a beating.

While Milo was enjoying his large room, new antique rocking chair, and ivory letter opener, the party proceeded downstairs for their morning meal. As the party finished their morning meal, Olon Matran, high cleric of Bryle, entered the Courage. He asked the party to do what they could in Ralanov, as it would only be a few more days before the army that had left Aenith would pound the Northern Alliance forces between them and the walls of Ralanov. The party readily agreed, and as soon as they could locate Lor they would be off.

However, locating Lor was a bit of a problem. The party checked the library and found he wasn't there. Next, Olon cast a sending to Lor, asking him his location. Lor returned a short reply to the effect of "I'm busy" that made Olon's eyebrow rise up a bit. Slightly frustrated with the elven mage, Olon cast a scrying spell to see for himself. Lor was speaking with a cleric at the Temple of the Spirit. At the temple, Lor refused to emerge from the clerics chambers, and Olon had to ask the party to respect their privacy (there was some mention of having Remus knock the door down, but he wisely asked Olon for a key instead).

Without Lor, the party proceeded to the Great Library. Olon asked the party to trust him as he handed each of them blindfolds. He was not supposed to show the party "this", so if the party doesn't see it... The party proceeded down a few flights of stairs blindfolded, each holding the shoulder of the person in front. When the party did stop, they could hear a small "whoosh" sound.

"After you feel a disorienting sensation, you can remove your blindfolds, but not before." Each member was given a small push, and reality spun end over end. As quickly as it had started it was over, each standing on solid ground once again. Removing their blindfolds, the party took a look around. The were in the courtyard of Temorana, Ralanov's castle and central building. They had emerged from one of over twenty archways in the courtyard leading to the main entrance of the castle, which they were only (roughly) 50 feet away from now.

The sound of lightning rang out from above the party. Looking up quickly, the party could see the end of a lightning bolt shoot out from one of the upper levels of the castle. In the same breath, the castle's main doors burst open, and a well tanned, tall, muscular bald man grunted "Who you?" in bad Common.

"Hi!" greeted Star, "Olon sent us." Star drew a silver short sword, a piece of proof Olon had provided them to avoid being killed by the forces of the Northern Alliance.

"What? Where you come from?" the barbarian grunted, trying hard to figure things out. The barbarian was standing in front of a heavy plated dwarf, and a woman dressed in traveler's clothing holding her bow. When Star inquired of her if she was the one in charge, the fighting began.

Quickly the party took cover behind the archways. The portal that had brought them to Ralanov had closed immediately after the last member had emerged, but they had moved little since then. Gale quickly few up to the barbarian, striking him with his double bladed sword. The barbarian returned the favor in spades, dishing out a good sum of damage to the fighter. Yeric also rushed in, attempting to close on the bowwoman quickly. In response, the dwarf in full plate called on his divine powers, and placed a blade barrier around the party. Luckily, all four party members affected managed to avoid it, and the fighting continued. Remus became paralyzed during the fight, Gale and Gwen were nearly slain by the raging barbarian, but in the end the party proved victorious. Gale slew the barbarian, Remus knocked out the dwarven cleric of Valeya, and the female rogue was subdued in a similar fashion.

The fight over, the party proceeded to tie up their captors. Elven ears could hear footsteps approaching their location from within the castle. Quickly Star closed the doors and asked Remus to hold them shut. The large man looked at the elf, took out two rods, and holding them against the doors, he clicked a single button on each of them before walking away, leaving the rods suspended in the air. (Gotta love immovable rods).

The footsteps came to the doors, and attempted unsuccessfully to open the doors. Seconds later, a magical doorway appeared just in front of the castle doors and Lord Devon Treespire and a man with bright red hair emerged. The red-haired man pointed a staff of swirling colors at the party, but Star was already holding out the silver sword once again.

"Wait, wait. We are foes of Polary," he called to the pair.

"Who sent you, lad?" asked the red-haired man, still holding his staff on the party.

"Olon sent us," Star answered. This seemed to convince the red-haired man, now lowering his staff. Devon however, wasn't as thrilled.

"Thieves!" he spat at the party, pointing accusingly at Gwen in particular. "You stole from me and now..."

"Not now," the red-haired man stated, holding his multicolored staff across Devon's chest to hold him back. The Lord of Ralanov appeared to have a respect for the staff as he quickly quieted. The red-haired man introduced himself as Lugtee Hardroc. He and Lord Treespire have been conducting hit and run missions into the city for several days, attempting to weaken Polary's hold. However, in the last few days (since the fall of Aenith's light barrier), they have had to contend with the Dark Wizard, who they have fought to a standstill thus far.

"I suggest we leave for now," Lugtee suggested. The party readily agreed, and hoisting their prisoners they proceeded to leave the city while avoiding Polarians. A squad of 20 came upon them suddenly, but just as suddenly Lugtee dispatched of them with a single prismatic spray from his staff (which blinded Star and Yeric, Star was healed by Canthor, but Yeric would have to wait).

At the Northern Alliance camp, several hours later when Lor had met up with the party (teleport), Lugtee informed them of the situation: they are going to retreat. While they would have taken the city with continued raids by Lugtee and Treespire, the Dark Wizard has made the situation more difficult. The approaching army would flank the Northern Forces and crush them. And so, the plan is to retreat to Gryphon's Forest, use the trees as cover, and think of a new plan. The party consulted Thrin over the suspected rumor of Cloudgatherer's death, and it came as news to her. The party knew more about it than she did. After spending the night rumaging through their spoils (the three they defeated were Mithral Blades, Polary's "not-so-secret" police force), they distributed a few items of magic before settling in for the night.

The next day, Lor, Gwen, and Star teleported to Mydrana to learn more of the rumors. Sure enough they found eye-witnesses who claim to have seen the archwizard be "consumed" by magic. A following blast of light blinded onlookers, but they found the clothing of the wizard. Only the wizards of Mydrana Magica would go near the clothing. Star managed to arrange to see the clothing, he even asked if he could have it, but the wizards refused (go and make a similar set of clothing, they told him).

The three returned to the Northern Alliance camp, and debated their next course of action. Star was vocal in his desire to vanquish the Dark Wizard, once and for all. Lor was doubtful, he suspected the party would suffer heavy losses if not slain outright in such a fight. The debate lasted quite some time, but in the end Lor's opinion prevailed, and the party would retreat to the Gryphon's Forest with the army.

DM's Notes: The fight went a little easier, especially since I forgot barbarians have uncanny dodge and Star dealt quite a bit of sneak attack damage (did I say barbarian? I meant barb/fighter).

Also, did I get the final decision right? There was quite a bit of discussion at the end of the session on "what do to next". Any decision is fine with me, but the worst decision is indecision!

Anyhow, let me know how you enjoyed the adventure. Any ideas for future escapades, plans, or personal vendettas (damn that Dark Wizard, damn him to the Burning Depths!) feel free to respond. I may or may not offer XP this time so beware!

 

[Gwen]

Hi!

I have been noticing stuff about the player's interactions with the world. Recently, it seems that events are kind of scripted for us... I have been thinking about the event with Milo, and how he solved Gale's problem for us. Milo did all of the work, and discovered that Gale's soul was in the rock, and how to get it out of there. I think that it would have been a little more fun and challenging to have the players try to solve the problem... for example:

-Gwen is walking along, and falls down (trips or something... or falls off her horse) and lands on her pouch with the rock in it.
-Gale yells out in pain when Gwen lands....
-Party puzzles over this for many hours... and discover the cool rock in Gwen's pouch
-Party realizes they have to get Gale's Soul out of rock...
-Party (maybe just the smart ones... certinaly not me with INT of 10) goes to the library to see if they can find something out about this rock
-Party succeeds and Gale is restored.

Now I understand that this would be a little harder to set up (you have to get Gale to react to me landing on the rock w/o giving too much away), but I certainly think that this would have involved the players a bit more in decisions that are going on.

Now, also, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that I don't like anything that is happening to us. I like the fact that we can decide what to do with the army outside of Ralanov, as well as help Katrina out of the Dark Wizard's camp.

Well, Gwen is ready to kick more bad-guy butt.... we'll see what happens this week.

 

[Gwen]

Hi again!
I just want to say (kinda in response to my last post) that tonight's adventure was lotsa fun because we got to choose a lot of what we did in the tower. While I am sure Treespire's defection to the Dark Wizard's side was planned, it wasn't scripted as to how we were going to get out of the situation. I have to say that I had a lot of fun jumping off of the castle.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

The scenario with Gale can be called "scripted." The party had the stone for several adventures and didn't wonder "Gee, why would the Dark Wizard have an ordinary rock in his chest of magic goodies?" (Although I have an idea for a wizard who has a pet rock...)

First, I decided to use it to try and bait Gale. He was offered his soul restored to him, in return for his help. Naturally, he refused. I did try to give Gale the choice (it is his soul after all). So, after several adventures I had Milo "lift" it off of Gwen and pound it hard on the table and the rest is known. If Gale had handled the rock earlier, then he would have felt the rock's warmth, just as he did in the last story hour adventure.

Since I never intended to take it away in the first place (I didn't know he wanted his soul in the sword when it was broken), I decided to make it relatively painless to get it back. Gale suffered a little RP embarrassment and the party had a little celebration!

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Betrayal at Temorana

In the Northern Alliance camp, our heroes discussed their present situation. Olon had sent them into a warzone, but the North had already committed to retreating to River's End via Gryphon's Nest. The party, it would seem, is running out of options and the outlook for Aera looking dimmer by the day.

As the party chatted amongst themselves, an irrated Lord Treespire entered the tent followed by Lugtee Hardroc. "You!" he pointed accusingly at Gwen, "Return my amulet to me."

"How do you know I have it?" she retorted.

"You were the only one who could have known I had it. I felt the presence of your piece, just as you felt mine!"

In her defense, the party laid out their situation. They needed the Medallion of the Gods to free Cloudgatherer and to return home. Treespire found this tale amusing, as he broke out into laughter at the thought. The party was quite serious, which gave Treespire a reason to pause and evaluate the story. He wasn't given long to ponder over it.

"Didn't you want them for something?" Lugtee asked Treespire, a hint of annoyance in Lugtee's voice.

Of course he did. With reluctance, Treespire proposed a dangerous plan: he wanted to sneak back into Ralanov and retreive a cache of items he still has hidden in his castle, Temorana. He would be willing to "forget" about the medallion business in return for their services.

Star's ears instantly perked up. The party readily accepted the task, and Star in particular took the lead role. Treespire provided him with a rough layout, a guesstimate as to the defenses, and their target location: which he asserted he had to access, otherwise someone else's life may be forfiet.

Night came quickly as the party prepared for their escapade. Sneaking into the city was rather easy. Multiple gaps in the walls, the cover of night, and Star's expertise easily solved the problem. Making sure to conceal their sources of light, the party and Lord Treespire approached Temorana's outside gates.

Several hundred feet away, two lone guards stood watch. Lor, in bat form, surveyed the castle itself. There were an additional sixteen archers on the roof. The roof was only four floors up, with each floor being twenty feet to climb. Their destination was the third floor.

"Take them out quietly," Treespire stated. With stealth, Star and Yeric crept along the arches along the walkway to the main entrance, as well as their targets. In two breaths the problem was taken care of and two guardsmen would never rise again.

Using the cover of the arches, the rest of the party proceeded to open the large wooden doors of the castle just enough to fit inside. In a small, twenty by twenty foot room, a large iron door blocked their path and small circular slots, designed for hurling alchemists fire, flanked the party on each side. Pulling a scroll from his pouch, Treespire started a spell and an opening appeared to the left of the large iron door. Treespire had cast a passwall to get through the stone instead of the iron.

The room beyond served as the Lord's audience chamber. Doors on the right and left and the throne in front of the party. As Treespire closed the passwall spell that had brought them into the room, Star could hear several footsteps approaching the left door. The party hid along the leftmost wall, except for Lor, who hid by the throne in a polymorphed mouse form.

Five loud guards opened the door and stepped in. Closing the door, the talked for a few breaths about the taking of the city and how the army from Aenith would ensure their hold upon Ralanov. The party was still hiding along the left wall, just barely out of sight, however if they crossed the room to the other door, they would easily be seen.

Sure enough, they did. Instantly Canthor cast silence, muting any sound. In the span of two breaths, five guards lay dead or dying in a silent throne room.

Proceeding with care, the party proceeded out the right door. This brought them to a large corridor, with several doors, but led them to the stairs proceeding upwards. In mouse form still, Lor checked around. To the far left of the stairs, three more guards sat at a large dinner table eating. At one of the table, Lor pushed off a metal plate and ran through another door. One of the guards cursed the rodent, asked the gods for a cat, and left the dinner area. Two guards left.

After some debate, the party decided on stealth, and Treespire concurred. Most of the party easily crept by without making so much as a sound. However, Canthor made enough noise for the feasting guards to take notice. They shrugged it off, must be someone on patrol, or a guardsman going upstairs to train.

The party passed by the second floor, listening only long enough to hear the crack of wood on wood: training. Treespire described a training area on the second floor, along with wooden weapons. There were a few still awake and making use of its facilities.

Proceeding up the stairway, the party arrived at the third floor. In total, an invisible mouse who was Lor, scouted the floor and noted the six longspearmen on watch. The party quickly formulated a plan, turn Lor, Star, and Treespire invisible, proceed to the room and retreive the items.

With ease once again, the trio made their way across the floor. The invisible Lord of Ralanov tried the door, it wouldn't budge.

"This door shouldn't be locked," Treespire whispered to Star. Quietly, the rogue proceeded to pick the lock, however he found the door already unlocked. Something else must be holding it shut.

"Go back, let me handle this," asked Treespire. Star acknowledge, but instead crept around another corner, and proceed to wait.

Several breaths went by. The door didn't move and no sound came from Treespires direction. Anxiously the rest of the party waited in the stairway, which suddenly lit up with an explosion of fire!

The spidery words of magic turned Treespire visible as he hurled the small red bead at the stairway. The party had disguised themselves as Polarian patrolmen, but now they were *scorched* patrolmen.

The stunned guards of the third floor looked in both directions, trying to understand what is happening. Treespire pointed at the stair way, "You have intruders," he informed them curtly, and in a softer tone directed at the stairs, "I'm sorry."

The fight began in ernest. The guards quickly raised their voices in alarm as Treespire teleported himself away. Lor and Star, keeping invisible, attempted to make heads or tails of the door Treespire had brought them too, while the rest of the party fought for their life. Canthor manned the stairway, and the rest of the party engaged the longspearmen. The battle was close, Yeric, Tarmus's brother, fell once, but his brother quickly used his bardic healing magic to stand him back on his feet. Remus single-handedly fought three of the foes himself, killing two and nearly slain by the third, but was saved as Yeric rushed over and slew the guard. During the battle, Canthor unleashed a deadly flamestrike down the stairwell, buying the party precious time. In a flash of insight, Tarmus pulled out a scroll and created a thick wall of stone to block the passageway. It wouldn't hold for long, but it would have to do.

Beaten, stabbed, burned, and in a general state of pain the party proceeded to heal itself through spells as they discussed their options. In short order, they decided upon escape via the roof. Getting out his tower shield, Remus lead the party up the stairs.

The longbowmen had their arrows ready, patiently waiting for a foe to show itself. It was unusual for someone to lug a towershield up four flights of stairs, and so the archers opened fire. Over a dozen arrows plunged into Remus' shield. The party hesitated slightly, Gwen fired an arrow back at the longbowmen, while they unleashed another barrage at Remus, this time aiming for his shield specifically, dealing damage to the formidable barrier.

Around this time, Tarmus hit upon an intelligent plan. He quickly cast an illusion of burning Polarians, running out of the stairway screaming "Fire, the castle is on fire!" Needless to say, this served as an excellent distration, as the party poised themselves to make their way down the castle using Remus' immovable rods and rope. In the meantime, Lor had poised himself to use a feather fall spell to bring everyone down quickly and safely. Unfortunately, the party had two plans: an invisible Lor asking the party to jump on his mark, and Remus and Star setting up the rope to climb down. Tarmus, Yeric, and Gale choose the rope. Star climbed down himself. Lor teleported away, and Gwen decided to jump over the edge (perhaps she was thinking Lor would use his magic).

Lor arrived back in the Northern Alliance camp. He quickly sought out Lugtee. Lugtee had sensed Treespire wasn't returning to the castle for some item, but something else. Using a detect thoughts spell, Lugtee had used it on Treespire, mostly because he didn't entirely trust him. He sensed Treespire was sincere upon returning, and hypothesized he got a "better offer."

Meanwhile, the rest of the party quickly left Ralanov, and decided to make their own camp, away from each side of the conflict. The next day, Lor rejoined the party, using his polymorph spell to cover the distance.

Once together again, the party discussed the recent events. Remus and Star were concered over Lor's actions, or lack of action. He did not fling a single spell for the party, and instead teleported himself away at the end. Remus questioned Lor about trust and liability, while Star felt a trip to the Temple of Natural Balance was in order. In any event, they had several days to discuss it, as they decided to walk back to Aenith.

During the trip, Tarmus had the hardest time remembering some of his lymerics. Each day he remebered another line, and after several days he recalled the lymeric in its entirety. Using the Dark Wizard's wall of stone spell on the scroll had caused some damage to Tarmus, but he quickly recovered as his mind once again sharpened and his mind was no longer dulled.

Arriving in Aenith, the party proceeded to the Temple of the Spirit and met with Olon Matran. He was sorry to hear of the betrayal, and wondered what the party expected of him. He informed them the transportation which had brought them to Ralanov could not be used to take the party directly to a person, but to a specific place (ie the main entryway to Temorana). As a favor, Star asked Olon to scry upon Treespire. Reluctantly, Olon did as he was asked.

Treespire lay awake in bed with a young woman by his side. The chambers were elegant, but the party had not seen the room before. Sitting up in bed, Treespire became aware of the intrusion, and dispelled the magic. The room had been viewed for all of two minutes.

Star wanted Treespire caught. He asked Lor to teleport the two of them to the room, where they would subdue him and extrat the answers they need. After some discussion, the plan was agreed upon, and the party cast *several* spells upon the pair.

Appearing in the room, Star and Lor found themselves next to the bed. The young woman was in the process of getting dressed, and the voices of Treespire and the Dark Wizard could be heard outside the room. Not moving, the pair listened for several minutes as Treespire complained about his privacy being violated and wanted to know what would be done about it. In an annoyed tone, the Dark Wizard acknowledge his requests as the young woman joined the talking pair. The discussion went on about the placement of the Polarian army in the city, and plans for the Polarians to "secure" the city. After a minute or two, the couple proceed to walk away from the room, and footsteps approached the room. Lor didn't wait any longer, and in another breath, the two elves were back in Aenith.

Relaying the informaiton to the rest of the party, they pondered their next move. Several days passed as Lor spent a good deal of time identifying the magic items they had accumulated from their adventures. Canthor agreed to make Star a magic sap, capable of better rending a foe unconscious. Remus took to repairing his tower shield, Gwen to riding her horse she had not seen in a week and a half. Tarmus and Yeric continued to recruit people for the Woodblood family farm, and Gale continued to practice with his double bladed sword.

Time passed lazily as the party pondered their circumstances. What would they do next? Who can they turn to? Would they be stuck in this crazy world forever? The season began to change, the leaves of fall bringing it's color to the trees signalling the approach of winter....

DM's Notes: The adventure took longer than I had expected. I had other stuff planned, but I can use that later! I gave the party a very open ended option at the end of this game, what to do next? They considered going to Huranti, Mydranna, and Glarcaster, but for now they seem content to remain in Aenith. Some time will likely pass as the party figures out what to do while digesting the recent events in the city of Bryle.

Since there were a lot of suggestions thrown around, the party's plan is to remain in Aenith, right? If I'm mistaken, let me know as time will pass and things will change....

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Treacherous Road and Death by the Dragon

Summer spilled into late fall as the adventurers spent their time identifying several magic items. While Lor practiced his identify spell, Canthor put his skill with magic weapons and armor to work. Canthor made Star a magical sap, better able to subdue an opponent. He also took Remus' tower shield from the Forge of Liquid Fire, enchanted it to resist damage from all but the strongest weapons.

A full six weeks passed in Aenith. The party made some money doing odd jobs: Remus forged armor in a local smithery and Tarmus used his musical talent to pay for food, lodging, and a few new instruments.

News of the world reached the party through gossip and the bards tales. Polary is suffering from a goblin and orc invasion. They are not alone as the dwarven kingdom of Oblarin is suffering the same troubles. The two kingdoms have so far refused to work together and are protecting themselves. The Northern Alliance has apparently given up on Ralanov, leaving the betrayer Treespire to his Polarian allies. In local news, the road between Aenith and Mydrana has grown more treacherous, a couple of adventuring parties have gone missing attempting to unravel the mystery. Several Gryphon Riders have also been found missing or killed, their surrounding circumstances still a mystery.

The party sat around their usual table in the Warrior's Courage, debating what to do. As the party discussed the matter, an older gentleman entering the inn drew Gwen's attention. She could feel the presence of another Medallion piece, the only artifact known to be forged by the gods in cooperation. The older man ran his hand through his gray hair, above average merchant's vestments, and asked to join the party at their table.

The party accepted the man to their table. The merchant Armathon had come to Aenith looking for the adventurers of the bard's tales, the ones who slew the pitfiend, saved Aenith, and the source of so much of Polary's ire. The party confessed to their deeds of heroism, and Armathon told them they were exactly what he was looking for.

Armathon was a travelling merchant, but had recently suffered the theft of some valuable family gemstones: an emerald, ruby, and sapphire of the same cut and approximate worth. Through divination magic he has paid for, he determined the items' location, in the mountains to the north of Aenith, roughly five days travel. The trouble was he believes the gemstones to be in the possession of a dragon, what color or size he doesn't know. In return for a map detailing the location of the lair, the party can have the entire dragon's hoard provided they turn the gemstones over to Armathon.

The party took a day to talk it over. Gwen informed the party Armathon was in possession of a Medallion piece (an important part of freeing the wizard Cloudgatherer and returning home). The party decided to take the assignment, possibly bartering for the Medallion piece later.

After purchasing their supplies, they set out toward the north. The mountains to the north-west of Aenith would take several days to reach, having to leave the path and travel the mountains.

The second night of their journey, Star and Gale stood watch over their companions. Footsteps could be heard in the night, lots of footsteps, coming fast toward their camp. Gale set himself to face the possible foe, while Star drew his bow and gave a whistle to the rest of the party. In the next breath, a dozen orcs burst from the underbrush, running right toward the party's camp. Gale sprung into action, slaying an orc while Star followed in suite with an arrow. As the orcs ran by, Star and Gale fell another pair of orcs, Gale slaying and Star clotheslining another, rending him unconscious.

As the sleeping party members jolted to action, the orcs continued to run, straight into the night. Something had them frightened, enough to run through the party's camp. The party prepared themselves, readying their weapons and armor. After two full breaths, a woman's yell could be heard from a little over a hundred feet in front of the party. A woman wearing leathers, dragging two longswords with her and black hair drapped over her face came into view.

"Troll," she called softly, as she fell flat on her face. The promised troll quickly followed, a large ugly green troll wearing pieces of metal from various armors consituting its breastplate.

Common knowledge ruled the night as the party prepared all of it's fire based attacks. Gwen lit several arrows on fire with their campfire as Tarmus produced an image of a fire elemental in front of the troll in an attempt to frighten the troll away. The troll attacked the image, but the image disappeared right as the troll's claw swept through the empty air.

The party was waiting for the troll to come forward. Lor had made Star invisible while Remus and Yeric were preparing a rope to trip the large creature. Instead, the troll sought out his closest target, Yeric, and proceeded to claw the young Woodblood.

In response, Star charged the troll, attempting to releive him of his kidneys. As he approached the troll, his invisibility ability suddenly faded as the troll quickly stepped to his left, only allowing Star's rapier to leave a grazing wound instead of a fatal one. Thoroughly spooked, Star retreated from the troll as Gale and Remus closed in on him, Gwen proceeded to fill the troll with fire arrows, and Canthor dragged the young woman, who he found to be Sheila Freefall of the Riders, away from the battle as he healed her wounds.

Meanwhile, in the midst of combat, the troll began to show his true colors. He tore repeatedly into Gale, using his sharp claws to rip into his flesh. In a matter of two breaths he had been flung to the ground by the troll as it tore Gale's flesh.

Something was different about this troll, magic was surpressed around him and he moved with superiour awareness of his surroundings. Star and Gwen continued to fill the troll with arrows as the breast-plated beast tore into Remus, the party leader. His strength failing, his injuries nearly overcoming his senses, Remus struck the blow that brought the troll down.

With fury Remus continued to beat the troll, determined to keep the monster down. Soon, flame was set to the beast, leaving only burnt metal and bones, from the troll and a few human bones in his stomach.

The threat over, the party looked in on the unconscious gryphon rider, and spent the rest of the night in their usual watchful shifts.

The next morning, Sheila related her tale to the party. She had been looking for the culprit responsible for the deaths of her fellow rider. She had been attacked by a big blue dragon, and was separated from Winter, her faithful gryphon. In the last few days, she had been avoiding the particularly nasty troll the party slew, being no match to stand against it alone.

The party considered their options. They were after the dragon, and now had more information about their target. In addition, the troll, the anti-magic troll, had been responsible for many deaths and possibly has treasure at its lair. Sheila volunteered to track down what she could, while the party dealt with the dragon. Her plan was to proceed to Aenith afterwards, hoping to reunite with her gryphon there.

The party proceeded north, and soon came to the mountains. On the 5th day of their journey, the party looked into the sky, seeing a dragon circling over head. The party choose to seek cover under a ledge in the mountainside, the elevation still being relatively low, and the slopes still walkable.

Taking refuge under the ledge, they could feel the dragon hit the ground above them, close and waiting. Tarmus sent a horse down the slope, but it was quickly zapped by the dragon's breath. Tarmus proceeded to cast invisibility on another horse and sent it out. It met the same fate as the first horse. "That answers that question," Tarmus said. "He can see invisible things."

The party was frightened by the dragon's presence, and their thoughts turned to dealing with their fear: the dragon. Taking a metallic rod from his pocket, Star looked at the party questioningly. Breaking it would attract the attention of the Dark Wizard, their greatest foe, but the party was desperate. Under the party's insistence, Star broke the rod. At first nothing happened. Then, the Dark Wizard stood directly in front of the elven rogue. Star seemed to point and babble a bit, but the Dark Wizard only had a moment to ponder what it meant as Gale rushed him, attempting to push him out from under the ledge, making him the target of the dragon's lightning breath.

Gale flew right through the Dark Wizard. He had only sent them his illusion, much to Gale's discontent as he became the target of the dragon's lightning. The situation gave the Dark Wizard a good chuckle, and seeing the party was not interested in joining the Mithral Blades, his illusion faded away.

Recovering from his frightened state, Star decided talking might be a better approach. He stuck out his hands, and slowly emerged from behind the ledge.

The dragon did not stirke him down instantly. Instead, he studied the elf intently.

"Hello there!" Star called. The dragon looked at the elf with an expression of curiousity, not understanding a word Star said.

Tarmus decided to try talking as well. He emerged alongside Star, and addressed the dragon in his native tongue. "Hello great lizard!"

The dragon gave him a low growl. "Who are you?" asked the dragon.

"Well, my name is Tarmus," Tarmus began, " and you're a dragon. Ever have a song written about you? I mean... you're a dragon, wow."

As Tarmus spoke about the greatness of dragons, Lor quipped, "What are you doing so far south?" from the safety of the ledge. The blue dragon tired of the questions and the ranting, he had one thing on his mind: gold.

"I grow tired of this human," the huge blue dragon informed the bard, "I will make you this deal: you can leave your money with me or I can kill all of you. If your friend keeps moving, he's going to feel my fury," finished the dragon, indicating Star who had been moving away from the ledge and Tarmus.

Tarmus passed along the translation, but Star kept moving away each time a growl escaping from blue dragon. Finally, Star took one step too many, and the dragon loosed his lightning breath upon the elven rogue.

Even Star's nimbleness was not fast enough to dodge the blast. The bolt caught him full on, his magic elemental protection (courtesy of Gwen) had managed to absorb part of the damage, the rest wounding Star.

The party sprung into action, the fighters emerged from the ledge, Star drew his rapier and attacked the dragon. Lor threw his most powerful fireball spell at the dragon's hind quarters, having no effect on the dragon, as Canthor called divine fire to strike the dragon, scorching the great blue. With a vicious bite and claw, Star suffered severe injuries from the blue as Gwen fired arrows into the blue's scales, injuring him greatly.

The fighters closed the gap to the dragon, who used his attacks to drive them off, using his claws, wings, and mouth with devastating results. Gwen continued to riddle the dragon with arrows, dealing a great deal of pain to the blue. Tarmus hasted Lor, who now threw twim spells into the dragon, with roughly half being turned away by the dragon's innate resistance to magic attacks. The dragon made his way passed Remus and Gale, and reached it's long neck out to bite the elven ranger who had riddled his hide with arrows. With devastating effects, Gwen was bitten cleanly, suffering almost fatal injuries. Taking a single step back, Gwen continued her barrage of arrows at the blue.

As wave after wave of magic missles from Lor struck the blue, the fighters Remus and Gale once again closed the gap on the dragon and continued their assualt. Canthor and Tarmus were busy healing the wounded, Yeric used his special technique in an attempt to wound the dragon, to no avail. Taking a single step forward, the dragon bit again into the elven ranger as it dug it's claws into her sides. Gwen fell away from the dragon's clutches, lifelessly falling to the ground.

The party continued to lay into the dragon. Another wave of magic missles pouring into the dragon from Lor, Remus and Gale dealing a minimal amout of damage as Canthor prayed to his god to help his friends.

After an unsuccessful barrage of blows against Remus, the party leader, the dragon took to the air, retreating for the time being. As he left, Lor let twin ice storms loose upon the blue dragon, but it's resistance to magic protected the dragon from the deadly spells. With a single lone shot, Star managed to plant one last arrow into the dragon as it flew away.

On the slopes of the mountains, a wounded party stares into the sky where the dragon turned around the mountains. The dragon has managed to avoid death, but has sent the elven ranger Gwen to the afterlife. What will the party do now?