"Retake the Island" - Concluded!

[Silver Moon]

"Retake the Island"

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


Introduction and background:

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

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

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


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

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

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

July 29, 1018:

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

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

August 3rd, 1018:

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 4th, 1018:

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

SM -

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

Also: this seems like a very convoluted plot...how do you keep so many characters [mostly PC's, or so it appears] straight?

Admiringly,

DM Who Can Barely Keep 10 Characters Straight.

Thanks Terry

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[Silver Moon]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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