"Return of the Rod of the Seven Parts" - D&D

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 18, "Where do we go from here?" September 17, 1018, 10:00 A.M.

The party considers talking to this Rainville again. Narg says “At this point I think the last thing we want to do is have contact with these guys,” to which Aradyn fully agrees. Fiona feels otherwise, saying “Look, the damage is already done. He now owes us, so why not collect, like getting more information about this castle and its defenses.” “Or at least find a way to get past these animal creatures,” comments Mark. Fiona suggests having Cassie contact him again on the Astral Plane. Cassie says she does not know how to access that plane on her own, and has only been brought before when she was asleep. She then looks to Hiroshi, and asks him if he could access the plane. He answers “I could, but at this point I really don’t want to have any more contact with him or his family. My Dwarven Clan are prominent citizens of this city, and I personally don’t want to be involved with this any more than I already am. Besides, you don’t need me to go talk to him, he told us where he would be hiding out today.” Aradyn looks to Cassie, sniping “Really? Was that information also on a need-to-know basis?”

Lannon and Duegar remind the others that Clan Ming was researching information about the castle for them, and now that they know its general direction, this could help to narrow down the location even more. Hiroshi offers to go back to the Ming Estate with them, and then meet the party back here.

Toshiro meanwhile has left the temple and heads back to the bookstore that he visited two days earlier. The proprietor has found a book about the Hengeyokai, written by Li-Tak and dated fifty-one years AFTER Lee Takayama had left the Heian Empire.

At noon the entire party reassembles outside of the church. Hiroshi relates the information that they obtained about the Castles of the Giants. During the two centuries when the giants ruled this land, from 1,800 to 1,600 years ago, they had four massive castles built. The first of these was at the western border of their lands, and now has a vast city built alongside this structure, so it is clearly not the castle that Oterel visited. The second was built on the southeastern border of their lands, and in the times since the giant’s occupation has been home to a variety of different types of people. This remote structure still stands, but is surrounded by desert, rather than forests.

The other two castles were built in the northeast part of their lands, and Clan Ming was involved with the quarrying of stone for both of them. One was built at the northeastern border of their lands, on the top of a cliff alongside the ocean. During an earthquake approximately 1,200 years ago, this cliff and castle fell into the sea (simultaneously ending the “Reign of Dragons”, as the dragons had headquartered in this castle, most dying during its collapse. This also began the “Reign of Churches” as the clerics credited their gods with causing the earthquake). While some of the ruins of this castle remain above water, it is clearly not where Oterel visited. The other castle, which was indeed known as the “Summer Palace of the Giants,” is located to the east.
The rest of the records regarding this castle are located only in the Clan’s vault in the City of Chunming.

The party debates either going to Chunming to get more information about this castle, or to go find Rainville to get more information about Morgarth and the Hengeyokai. They decide to do both, by splitting the party into two groups. They also decide that Timothy should accompany neither group, since he is required to stay within the city walls. They suggest that he just hang out at the Church of Kwan Yin.

Hiroshi is thrilled about the idea of going to Chunming, and getting to see his family again. Duegar and Lannon also wish to visit with more dwarves. Mojo, Narg and Serita decide to join them. Toshiro raises the concern that his Uncle will choose to not return, which cause the promise that Toshiro made to his Grandmother to be broken. Hiroshi tells his nephew “Toshiro, I have made an obligation to the Silver Moon to help them with this mission, and will adhere to my word. While I am very much looking forward to again seeing my wife and children, I will also return here with the Silver Moon. As far as my mother is concerned, I have thought much about this, and as Serita suggested, I now believe that she is already aware of my dwarven family. When this mission is over, I will leave the choice to her as to whether I should return home, letting her know that if I do, others who I have an obligation for will accompany me. I suspect that she will choose to let me stay away, but in either case, that choice will be hers, so your promise to her will not be broken.”

Hiroshi asks Toshiro to join him on this trip to Chunming, stating “You have met my family before. We visited Chunming when we traveled together over a decade ago. You were just unaware of my relation to them at that time.” Toshiro declines, stating that he is having difficulty enough with this situation, and has no desire to visit these dwarves. Hiroshi shakes his head in disappointment, and heads back upstairs at the Common House Inn with the other five who are joining him, to teleport away from the privacy of his room.

The group of Aradyn, Cassie, Fiona, Lono, Mark and Toshiro decide to head off and confront Rainville.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 19, "He's got to be around here somewhere!" September 17, 1018, 11:00 A.M.

While the group of Duegar, Hiroshi, Lannon, Mojo, Narg and Serita are away at the Chinese city of Chunming, the group of Aradyn, Cassie, Fiona, Lono, Mark and Toshiro decide to go and confront Rainville. They get directions to the park of foreign churches to the east, and set out on a trio of rickshaws. Cassie and Aradyn take one, for what turns out to a be a four-mile ride of silence and high tension. Fiona and Toshiro take another, and discuss the predicament that Timothy has gotten them into. Toshiro asks “Is this the first time he has gotten your group in trouble? “The first time not also involving gnomes,” is Fiona’s answer. [There has been a running joke that the Lawful Good cleric has a thing for male gnomes. This is actually not true, but got started once when a drunken gnome member of the party staggered in late one night on a campaign, and got into the wrong bed.]. Mark and Lono are in the third rickshaw. The well-traveled road takes over an hour due to the hilly terrain near their destination. During this trek they see over a hundred rickshaws and carts going to and from the same destination.

They arrive at the park, which like the park area they first teleported into the Shosun region at two days earlier, has twelve churches situated around a pond. Unlike the other park area, rather than being in a grassy plane this is set on top of a large, flat hill. Of the twelve churches, four are of Pantheons of other Oriental cultures, the this world equivalent of Indonesia, Japan (Heian), Korea and Vietnam. The other eight are the this world equivalent of Babylonian, Celtic, Egyptian, Finnish, Greek, Indian, Norse, and Sumerian. Alongside the pond is a parking lot, where hundreds of rickshaws and carts are parked. Their rickshaws soon park (after first circling around the lot to find the best spaces). Lono states “With all of these different churches you’d think that there would be at least one dedicated to Lovers of Chocolate.”

The party gets off of the carts. Fiona asks Cassie “Where did you say your boyfriend’s brother is hiding out?” This comment earns her a dirty look from Aradyn. Cassie answers, “All he said was the church of his group’s cleric. Does anybody remember what religion their cleric was?” It is recalled that of the six members of the Hendry family, none of them were clerics, as their team’s cleric had been Hendry Senior’s wife, who had died the previous year. A heated discussion follows, with more criticism of Cassie having not been thorough in her discussion with Rainville earlier.

The party decides to start checking out the churches. Toshiro decides to spend this time at the Heian Empire church, feeling the need to meditate about his current situation, and the recent revelations from his Uncle, and heads off on his own. He also uses this time to read the thin book that he had purchased earlier that morning for the sum of six gold pieces. The book is written in the language of the Heian Empire, and the author is listed as the “Transformationalist Li-Tak.” Toshiro recognizes that the handwriting of the book exactly matches that of the two texts that the party found which had writings by Lee Takayama. This book contains information about the Hengeyokai race and its twelve animal sub-races. The book clearly indicates that this new race was “created” by Li-Tak, although it does not explain how. The book’s conclusion states that the twelve sub-races were only the first ones created, and that the author plans to also develop other sub-races. The date listed on the book indicates that it was originally written 403 years ago, which was 51 years after Lee Takayama left the Heian Empire (when he would have then been approximately 190 years of age).

Meanwhile, the others conclude that whatever cleric the Hendry family has allied with would probably be someone who escaped from one of the other teams that attacked the island, which eliminates all four oriental churches. They also notice that the vast majority of the people visiting these twelve churches are frequenting the four oriental churches, so these would be a bit too crowded for a conspicuous Caucasian to hide out in. They start by checking out the pantheons they are most familiar with Greek, Finnish, Celtic and Norse, but come up empty at all four. Fiona goes to check on Toshiro, asking him to look around the Heian church for Rainville and to come and get them if he is found. Toshiro does so, finding nobody, so goes back to reading and meditating.

They have Cassie re-think everything that she had been told earlier, with her recounting that Rainville said their cleric had been given permission to stay here by the church’s groundskeeper. With that new tidbit of information, they find a Chinese official from Shosun who has administrative duties for the park, to inquire as to groundskeepers at the other four non-oriental churches They find that neither the Indian or Sumerian employ anyone to take care of the landscape, that being part of the duties of the clergy. They are told that the Egyptian church, the smallest of the twelve churches in the area, only employs a part-time groundskeeper, who is currently not at the park. They are told that the Babylonian church and the Korean church both have full-time groundskeepers.

They start with the Babylonian church, finding the man to be rather cooperative. The man denies knowing anything of the person they are looking for. The party concludes the man is being truthful, however Lono still wants to “rough him up a bit, just to make sure.” Pulling Lono away, they head to the Korean church, and are given directions to the groundskeeper’s home by a High Priest. They go to a small one-room building behind the church. The man refuses to open the door or talk to them. The rest of the party guards the building, as Fiona goes and gets the High Priest. She explains to the Priest that they are looking for a wanted criminal responsible for eleven deaths within the city, and that the groundskeeper is being uncooperative. The High Priest returns with her, and demands that he be let in. The groundskeeper opens the door only a crack, stating that he has does not know what the party is talking about, and wants to be left alone

Aradyn looses his patience (a rarity, but then again, he has been emotionally on-edge this day) and kicks in the door. They discover that the man is not harboring any fugitives, but that he has been stealing from the church, the room being filled with the stolen goods. The groundskeeper tries to run away, but is stopped by a Hold Person spell thrown by the High Priest. The High Priest thanks the party for bringing this matter to his attention.

They head to the Egyptian church, finding it to be a large wooden building with a marble floor. Statues of various Egyptian deities are throughout the room. Noticing that many of these deities have faces of animals, Fiona ponders if there is perhaps some connection to the animal-creatures. Fiona recalls that a neutral-aligned cleric named Barry had been part of Morgarth's forces, and that he had negotiated his freedom from the party the previous month. Barry had the Egyptian pantheon for his deities.

They find nothing in the room, but also notice that the room only occupies about eighty percent of the building, although there are no visible doorways into the other twenty- percent. No secret doors are found, so they head outside and around back, finding a locked exterior door to the other section of the building. Lono picks the lock, and the group enters. This section of the building has two rooms in it, the first being a storeroom of gardening supplies. The door to the other room is locked, which Lono again unlocks. They enter what is a small bedroom. They do not see anyone in the room, which is quickly shut behind them, with Mark guarding it.

Aradyn spots very fresh tracks on the floor. The bed looks to have been slept in, and is checked, finding it to still be warm. “OK, we know you’re here Rainville. You might as well come out,” Aradyn says. “Or else,” Lono adds. Cassie interjects “Please. We aren’t planning to hurt you, we just have some questions.” “Who says we aren’t planning to hurt him?” Lono asks. “Apparently she does,” Fiona answers. “Who elected her party leader?” Lono inquires, then saying, “Look, if you don’t speak up we’ll have to start trashing the place until we find you.” “This is a holy place,” Aradyn says to him. “Hey, it’s not my church,” Lono answers. “He might try to stop you Lono,” Mark interjects. “Great, that would be an offensive act, which would make him visible,” Lono answers. Fiona asks, “I don’t know. Would you really consider hurting or killing Lono to be an offensive act?” She then adds, “Why don’t I just cast a Detect Magic.”

A voice, coming from a wooden chair, finally speaks up, stating, “I’m here.” “Show yourself,” Aradyn demands. “I’d rather not,” he answers, “I need this invisibility spell to help protect me.” Cassie says, “Let him stay invisible.” “I like to see who I’m killing,” Lono states. “We’re not going to hurt him,” Cassie interjects. “Says you! Why shouldn’t we kill him,” Lono yells, “That would at least get Timothy off the hook.”

Cassie says “Rainville. Here’s the situation. Our lawful-good cleric is being held by the city because he said he knew of your family. My friends are inclined to turn you into the authorities, and think that you may still be working with Morgarth. Could you please explain to them what you told me earlier?” Aradyn angrily states “Yeah, like how you guys went from escaping from us to becoming cop killers.” “It’s a long story,” he replies. Aradyn answers “Well, for your sake right now, you’d better tell us the whole story about what you and his family have been doing during the past five weeks since leaving our Island, and not just the abbreviated version that you previously told Cassie and Hiroshi earlier. And don’t leave out any important facts.” Rainville begins his story.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 20, "The Hendry Family Saga", September 17, 1018, 3:00 P.M.

Rainville begins his story: “OK, the day after returning to your island, and before we could persuade Morgarth's high cleric Roger resurrect our father, Morgarth teleported us all away again. There had been a dispute between Roger, who had assumed leadership of our team, and the leader of another team, as to who should be declared the winner of our competition on your island. Morgarth decided to send both teams out on another mission to resolve this, namely the elimination of a hobgoblin king who had defied Morgarth.

Roger led our team on a direct assault of this King’s lair, but the hobgoblin King managed to escape, his escape route leading him directly into the path of the other team, who killed him and therefore won. Before Morgarth came to collect our two teams, my older sister and brother were able to recognize that this particular lair was located on the same continent as our homeland, the Forest Dawn Kingdom, being around 1,000 miles away from it. Rather than going back with Morgarth, they decided to go home from there instead. They wanted to bring father’s body with them, which my twin brother and I strongly objected to. We felt that our grandfather, the King, would still blame father for our mother's death, and have it destroyed. We could not resolve this and split the group, with my brother Hendry Junior and I deciding to come back here with Roger, for Roger to attempt resurrection on our father. Our sister, older brother and sister-in-law to set off on their own.

The following day Roger brought father back. Father became despondent over both the failure of our mission on the Island and the fact that his oldest children had not only abandoned him but were also willing to leave him dead forever. Father declined Morgarth's offer for us to stay on at the castle, and received permission for us to leave. Two other adventurers asked to accompany us. They were a cleric of the Egyptian pantheon named Barry and his associate, the fighter Kenneth. We later found out that they had also negotiated a truce last month on the island.

Leaving however, proved more difficult than we had imagined, as the forested land surrounding Morgarth's castle is the home to a race of unique creatures that can assume both human and animal form. We had traveled no further than a mile from the castle when a large group of these creatures attacked us. We teleported away to horizon, to just inside the edge of the anti-magic shell, the bottom 100 feet of which is a dark opaque color. Once there another group of these creatures attacked us. We quickly made our way through the anti-magic shell, only to then be attacked once we reached the other side by a group of fifteen oriental humans.

Because of our traveling through the barrier the spell casters were now without spells and our magic weapons and armor did not function. Kenneth and I were still able to defeat these foes, assisted by our three comrades whose above-average strengths and weapon proficiencies proved more than adequate. We found the camp where these men had been staying, and a trail that we followed for the next day, ending at a much larger camp with close to eighty humans. It was there that we discovered the full nature of these humans. They were slavers, and they had captured twenty-three of the animal creatures, who were in cages and wearing magical collars. Never a fan of slavery, Father decided then that we should rescue these creatures.

By this point our magic was now functional again, and the other three had regained their spells. With the element of surprise was on our side the five of us proved to be sufficient in taking down these slavers. Father then used his Comprehend Languages spell to speak to the animal creatures, who called their race the Hengeyokai. Only then did we realize why both groups attacked us on sight. Apparently, during the five days that the anti-magic shell was around your island it had vanished from this location. That shell had kept the slavers away, and sensing the opportunity, they had invaded the home of the Hengeyokai to take captives. The Hengeyokai that attacked us apparently mistook us for slavers, and the human slavers saw us exit the barrier and thought us to Hengeyokai in human form.

We freed the creatures from the cages, dispelled the magic from their collars and removing them. This earned us the trust of these creatures. We agreed to accompanied them back to the anti-magic shell to prevent other slavers from recapturing them. During this journey back, Father gained a greater appreciation for these truly unique beings. When we arrived back at the wall and Father had myself and Kenneth accompany our newfound friends to speak to the Hengeyokai Elders. The Elders thanked us, and apologized for having attacked us two days earlier. They explained that there had been a total of seven raiding slaver parties into their “biosphere” homeland, during which seventy-four Hengeyokai had been captured. These twenty-three had been the final group. We promised that if we came upon any of the other fifty-one during our travels, we would do what we could to rescue and return them. We then headed back to the rest of our party.

Father was immensely pleased with the promise we had made to the Elders and declared that that was to be our new mission. He felt responsible for what had happened to the Hengeyokai, as he had been an advisor to Morgarth, whose actions had indirectly caused their capture of these sentient beings. He said that helping them now was the least we could do. A week later we came upon our first lead to finding more of the Hengeyokai, at the city of Anchou. Two separate slaving groups had recently traveled through this City, the destination of both groups being the City of Chempaka, around a hundred miles further.

We arrived in Chempaka three days later, and found that a group of eighteen Hengeyokai was to be auctioned off the following day. We also found that a second group of slavers, holding twenty-six Hengeyokai, had also traveled through this city a week earlier but had continued on to the northwest. That night, we managed to free the Hengeyokai without being seen, and Father returned them all to the biosphere. The following day we attended the auction, which confirmed our suspicion that nobody knew how the creatures had escaped. One of the auction attendees had a Hengeyokai, who we later rescued and returned, finding that it was not a recent captured, but had been captured and enslaved several years earlier. We then headed off to the northwest after the next group of slavers.

Two days later we arrived at a distant crossroad, where we found that the slavers had had passed through and then headed west from there to the city of Shosun. Before leaving the crossroad they had sold two of their captives. The new owners of these Hengeyokai had left traveling east. One was going to a nearby shine at the E’bo Formal Gardens, the other heading further east towards the distant city of Chunming. We soon found the shrine, and the businessman Hengeyokai owner, who sold the Hengeyokai to us for a reasonable price. We were provided with a receipt that was validated by the priest. That night father returned the Hengeyokai, and we then continued east.

"On the day following our legitimate purchase of a Hengeyokai we ran into the silk and cloth merchants who had purchased the other Hengeyokai, a female member of the cat sub-race. Unlike the man at the shine, these were not reasonable men, which created a difficult situation. This was exacerbated by the fact that these men had physically abused the Hengeyokai, who we later found out was named Ling.

A fight broke out, which we handily won. The melee frightened Ling, who fled into the woods. Kenneth had been trained as a tracker, and so he and father spent the next several hours searching for her. They eventually found her, with Father explaining who we were and what we were doing, earning her trust. While they were searching for Ling, Barry and I buried the bodies of the merchants. We decided that their possessions might work for a good cover, so my brother studied for and then used many color cantrips to change the appearance of the horses, wagon, and some of the merchandise.” “So that is why your group was listed in the hotel register as merchants of cloth and silk,” Cassie interjects. “Makes for a good disguise,” Lono adds, “Since it’s hard to keep track of cloth merchants. They tend to bolt.”

Ignoring the bad pun, Rainville continues: “Ling soon returned with the others. She felt that our cause was noble and volunteered to join us rather than returning to the biosphere. Since she was proficient in the local language, and also had thieving skills that the other five of us lacked, we accepted her offer. As we also had a legal receipt for a Hengeyokai, from the previous day’s purchase, her being with us would also present no problem with authorities. Ling has been with our team for fifteen days now and has proven to be a valuable team member. She and Kenneth have also become rather close. Our team then headed west, making a wide detour to avoid the town at the crossroad.

Aradyn says, "OK, so far you haven't hurt anyone other than the slavers and other people who deserved it. How did you guys sink so low as to then go around killing the police?" "You're asking when did father adopt a "The ends justifies the means philosophy? That actually began after we reached Shosun." Rainville states. He then continues his story.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 21, "The Hendry Family Saga (continued)", September 17, 1018, 3:00 P.M.

Rainville continues telling several members of the Silver Moon the tale of his family's recent adventures, and the problems they have gotten into. "We arrived here in Shosun a week later, on September 9th, and secured lodgings at the Common House Inn in the Caucasian district. We found that the slavers had arrived in the city on the 3rd, and had split their two-dozen captives into three different groups. One group of six Hengeyokai had been auctioned off on the 5th. Another group of the slavers left the city with ten Hengeyokai on the 6th, their destination being the city of Y’Cho Kang several hundred miles to the west. The remaining slavers, with the other eight Hengeyokai, were planning to leave Shosun on the 11th as part of a caravan heading south to the city of Zun-Hi. Father was able to sign up our wagon to join this caravan, and we then spent the next two days in Shosun finding out where in the city the six Hengeyokai who had been auctioned off were located.

We left with the caravan on the 11th, then some of us teleported back here to Shosun that evening, rescuing two of the Hengeyokai, who we then returned to the biosphere. We did the same on the night of the 12th, rescuing and returning another Hengeyokai. On the night of the 13th we found that each of the remaining three Hengeyokai in Shosun were now being very well guarded, and the three of us who came that night did not have the right combination of skills and spells to pull off an easy rescue, so decided to refrain.

We came back on the 14th” “The night that you killed four policemen,” Aradyn interjects. “Unfortunately,” he answers. “Father had brought with his that night Barry, Kenneth and Ling. Ling sneaked into a building in cat form, to inform the Hengeyokai of the impending rescue. Only then did she discover that it was a carefully set trap, and that she was now a captive as well. Before she could alert us to this, Barry had held what we thought were the only guards, and Kenneth entered the building. It was then that the twenty policemen charged out of their hiding places at him. Father ordered an immediate retreat, but Kenneth refused to leave Ling behind, and fought his way to her and the other Hengeyokai. While still invisible, Barry and Father joined them, and all teleported away.

On the 15th, Father returned with Barry and my brother Hendry, using that night strictly for surveillance of the remaining two Hengeyokai captives. Both locations were now very heavily guarded, and they planned an assault plan for the following night. We decided that it was too dangerous to bring either Kenneth or Ling back, so last night, the 16th Father brought with him myself, Hendry Junior and Barry. Using a combination of Hold and Sleep spells, as well as magical sleep dust, we managed to incapacitate the twenty police and five other guards.

Unbeknownst to us however, another five-dozen police plus additional guards were also lying in wait. As we neared the Hengeyokai they sprang their ambush. Father tried to teleport us away, but was hit by Magic Missiles, loosing his spell. He then tossed up a Globe of Invulnerability to protect us from further spells, as our three spellcasters used more Hold and Sleep spells to stop the foes. The enemy numbers, however, were far too great. My twin brother was hit by a weapon, which knocked him unconscious, with police swarming towards his body. This caused Father to panic, and he used some of his more forceful spells to get to Hendry Junior, which must have been when the casualties occurred. Barry then exhausted his remaining Hold Person spells, and urged Father to retreat.

During that time, I had managed to get to the Hengeyokai prisoner, of the sparrow sub-race, and freed her from her cage and magical collar. She changed to bird form and flew to my father, who I yelled at to leave while he still could. He reluctantly teleported away with the rest of the team, leaving me behind. I dived out a window and ran, with a small army of police chasing after me.

We had been in one of the interior districts of the city, and I used my Boots of Climbing to get over the wall to the adjacent Caucasian district of the city. I quickly made my way towards the final city wall, but by now a city wide alarm had gone out, and the entire exterior wall was lit up and heavily fortified. I headed back towards the Common House Inn, and climbed up to the fifth floor rooms where we had stayed earlier that week. Before we had left the Inn, Ling had rigged the windows to be opened from the outside, for just such an emergency situation. I found one of our rooms to be currently unoccupied, and entered it. I could see dozens of police searching the city below, but my entry to this room appeared to have gone undetected. Still, I waited another half-hour before lying down and sending off my Astral form to find Father, and let him know of my situation.

He was glad to hear that I was safe. Because of the spell lost in the battle he no longer had enough teleports to return and get me. We both assessed that the Common House was too dangerous for me to stay at, and Barry suggested that I go the this church of his Pantheon. He had spoken to the groundskeeper the week before, which had offered to let him, stay there. I then sent my Astral form back to Shosun. On my way back into the Inn I came upon Cassie-Andra’s Astral Imprint, and realized she was also staying there. I then approached her to help me. The rest you know.”

The party pulls back together. Aradyn asks, “What do we do now?” Lono says to Aradyn “I’d say that you’d better keep your woman in line from now on.” Fiona says to Lono “You’re not helping.” Cassie says to Rainville “What are your plans now?” He answers, “Wait here until tonight, when Father will come and get me.” “And then what,” says Aradyn “You’ll attack the city again to get the remaining human-animal, killing dozens of police at the same time?” Rainville answers, “No, the authorities are clearly prepared for us. We will concentrate on the group with our caravan, and leave this one here for the time being.”

Aradyn replies “Are you sure your father will agree to that, he sounds like a mono-maniacal person to me.” Rainville answers, “I’d have to agree, he does seem to have tunnel-vision in regards to this current mission, but my brother and I find it an improvement over his previous severe depression over the loss of his wife, and even you must admit that slavery is a bad thing.” “So is killing police,” Aradyn answers, adding, “Cassie and Hiroshi’s helping you has caused us enough trouble already. If you guys cause any more trouble in this city they’ll not go as lightly on us. How do we know you’re father will listen to you?” “He is a very intelligent man,” Rainville answers, “It would be foolish to do anything further in Shosun in the immediate future.”

The party suggests getting more information from the Hendrys. Aradyn interjects “No, I’m in favor of members our groups separate. Here’s the deal Rainville. You tell us now what you can about exactly where Morgarth is, and we’ll go our separate ways.” Rainville agrees to this, and describes the heavily forested area east of Anchou that they traveled through from the anti-magic shell. Fiona comments “I wish we’d brought Hiroshi’s map with us.”

Fiona then asks “And why is it that Morgarth came after us in the first place?” Rainville answers, “He wanted to retrieve a magical teleportation ring of his that your druid Serita had.” Cassie interjects “Well, it’s his own fault for leaving it lying around on another world in the first place.” “Why would he need that?” asks Fiona, “Couldn’t he just make another one?” Rainville answers “Well, that one apparently has some unique properties, and he needed it as a component for an artifact that he is creating. That no longer is the case, as the Hobgoblin King had a comparable item, which can be substituted instead. Still, he’s not happy with you guys for defeating his troops.” “Yeah, like we told him to come and attack our Island,” Lono adds.

Rainville continues “Speaking of the Island. I agree with what Aradyn said about it being best to keep our groups apart. Father still harbors anger towards Cassie for brutally killing him.” “He touched my library!” she yells out. “Yeah, and also tried to kill you,” Aradyn adds. Rainville quickly responds, “No, he was not trying to kill Cassie, only capture her.” “Yeah, to give her to Morgarth. What are the odds that he would have let her live,” Lono throws in.

The group decides to leave, but only after Aradyn gets Rainville to promise that he will not let Morgarth know that they are on this continent looking for him. Rainville assures him that they have had no contact with him since leaving the castle, and fully intend to keep it that way. Lono later adds “That promise was worthless. He was still invisible, so he probably had his fingers crossed when he said it.”

The five go get Toshiro from the Heian church, return to their rickshaws, and head back to the city. They get back in time for supper, joining Timothy in one of the dining rooms. The other group has not returned yet from Chunming.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 22, "Hey Honey, I'm Home!", September 17, 1018, 11:00 A.M.

The group of Duegar, Hiroshi, Lannon, Mojo, Narg and Serita gather in Hiroshi’s rooom to prepare to travel to Chunming. Duegar, Lannon, Mojo and Narg climb into the bags of holding. Serita transforms into a white eagle to ride on Hiroshi’s shoulder as he dons the Helm of Teleportation. They then vanish.
They arrive in the living room of Hiroshi’s home in Chunming. The room is built onto the side of a mountain overlooking the city, with the final ten feet of the forty-foot square room being built into the mountain itself, and the remaining being built out overhanging the cliff, supported by sold oak pillars. The overhanging part of the room has windows on all sides, and affords an excellent view of the city below. The city itself is vast, covering about fifteen square miles of land, in approximately the shape of a triangle. Mountains surround the city on two sides, the ocean being the third side. The bay itself cuts another a triangular wedge into the city,

Hiroshi explains that three-quarters of his home is actually inside of the mountain, with the remainder like that room, overhanging the cliff. Looking out the picture windows, the party can see several dozen similarly constructed rooms below, above and beside them on the mountain. The party comments about the safety of these rooms in times of severe weather, but he says that hurricanes and earthquakes are not common to this particular region, and that even if they were to occur, the solid dwarven construction should hold. He says that the entire complex had been constructed for them by his father-in-law as a wedding present thirty-five years ago, and the design was “a compromise”, with his wife wanting traditional dwarven caves, but him wanting the bright sunlit rooms.

Not wanting a repeat of the Heian Empire problem, Serita transforms back into her half-elvan form. The party asks Hiroshi if he wants to go get his wife. As this visit is a total surprise, he answers, “No, there’s no reason to shock her, as she wouldn’t have gotten the message yet from her brother in Shosun that I am coming home. This room is fairly well traveled, so let’s just sit and wait until somebody comes along and finds us here, gesturing to the well-crafted couches and chairs that afford fine views of the city below.

The quality of the woodworking of the furniture is exquisite, being a finely carved mahogany. He goes to a cabinet along the wall, and removes several mugs, which he places on the coffee table before the couches and chairs. He then goes to part of the stone wall, which slides to the side to reveal a liquor cabinet, removing a bottle and saying, “This is a family beverage that I think you’ll like.” The group tries the beverage which tastes like a cross between mead and wine. ” The bottle is soon emptied, and a second is opened. Propping his feet up on the coffee table, Duegar exclaims, “I could get used to this type of adventuring.”

After about twenty minutes a middle-aged halfling comes scurrying through the room on an errand. He is wearing glasses, and attired in long-sleeved tunic-style garment, with a dagger and pouch attached to the belt. The halfling comes to an abrupt halt when he finds the room filled with people. Hiroshi says to him “Hello Chin-Tang, it is good to see you again. These are my friends.” The halfling loudly exclaims “MASTER HIROSHI! I was not told to expect you!” Hiroshi answers, “Well, I didn’t know I was coming here either until a half-hour ago. We arrived by magical means. If it’s not too much trouble, could you please let my family know that I am here?” “Certainly! Certainly” the halfling exclaims, then scampers off.

“Was that you butler?” asks Narg. Hiroshi answers “Actually, he’s my children’s nanny. When Chin-Tang first arrived in the city of Chunming he attempted to steal some fruit, and got caught. Stealing in this city is strictly punished, and he was then sentenced to involuntary servitude working for Clan Ming. The clan soon discovered, from his interactions with youngsters, that he had a natural ability with children. That was shortly after Su-Ming had given birth to our first child, and with me away in the Heian Empire, he was assigned to assist Su-Ming with the infant. Over the years all three of our children have come to deeply love their "Uncle Chin-Tang" and he is now a trusted member of the Mitsubishi-Ming household. I guess he must like being here too, as his sentence of servitude was for five years, and he’s now been with us for nearly four decades.” “Maybe he’s just really bad at math,” Duegar interjects.

After a few minutes a stunning young woman enters the room. Whatever the members of the party had expected the offspring of a Chinese dwarf and Japanese human to look like, she far exceeded those expectations, having clearly inherited the best traits of both parents. Her age is a human equivalent of early twenties, and she stands slightly less than five feet in height. Unlike dwarven women, she had no beard. She has a head of beautiful long curly brown hair, of a color and texture clearly inherited from her dwarven genes. Her face had a round shape to it, with a pleasant smile and sparking Oriental eyes. Her body barely hints of the typical dwarven stockiness, and with a trim waist, and projecting a voluptuous hourglass figure. The other aspect of her mixed parentage is that there is an indefinable exotic quality to her overall appearance. Duegar, Lannon and Mojo each became immediately infatuated with her.

Hiroshi embraced the young woman, introducing her as his eldest daughter, Kim-Sung. As the party introduce themselves it soon becomes obvious to both Narg and Serita that their companions are acting unusually assertive and exceptionally polite. This becomes even more apparent when Hiroshi states that Kim-Sung is a druid, and Mojo exclaims “How nice. I’ve always enjoyed the company of druids.” The shock of that comment causes Serita to spit out the beverage she is drinking. Mojo then follows up with the comment to Hiroshi “Does she need a job, we’ve been looking for a new druid.” “Since when!” Serita yells. “Since now!,” Lannon interjects.

“Father, we did not know that you were coming home,” Kim-Sung states, with the party noticing that, like Hiroshi, she speaks the Common language without any hint of an accent. He answers “Neither did I, as I only received permission to leave Miyako two days ago. These people are friends of your cousin Toshiro, and I am assisting them on a mission to vanquish great evil. We have come to Chunming in search of information for this quest.” Mojo interjects “But we are in no hurry. I think we should stay here, and spend time getting to know Hiroshi’s family.” “Absolutely,” Duegar interjects. “It would be rude to leave soon,” Lannon adds. Narg and Serita exchange glances, with Narg softly saying, “Oh boy, I think we’ve got a new problem.”

Lannon pushes himself over closer to Kim-Sung, stating “My name is Lannon, and don’t be put off at all by my appearance, I’m gruff but loveable.” “He’s a bit smelly too,” Duegar interjects. “Hey, I took a bath just last week,” Lannon snaps back. “You both should know, you bathed together,” Mojo interjects. “Too much information,” Narg blurts out. Duegar pulls a piece of pastry out of his backpack and offers it to her. She declines, with him then asking “Would you perhaps like something else?” Narg interjects “Yeah, he has half a restaurant in that pack.” She politely declines.

Hiroshi’s wife Su-Ming arrives, and warmly embraces her husband, the kiss lasting for several minutes. Seeing how tightly Hiroshi’s noticeably strong dwarven wife is hugging him, Narg whispers to Serita “You’d better have a healing spell ready, he might need it.” “He’s been away for four years,” Mojo nods towards the couple and softly interjects “I think she’s got what he really needs.” Hiroshi is apparently thinking on the same lines, as he asks Kim-Sung to help the party to find the information they are seeking, as he has some matters to discuss with his wife in private. Duegar, Lannon and Mojo act thrilled to hear this, and Hiroshi gives Narg and Serita a look that clearly communicates that he will hold them personally responsible for his daughter’s safety. Hiroshi and Su-Ming then quickly hurry out of the room. “Well gang, don’t expect to see him again today” Narg comments.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 23, "A trip through the mountains", September 17, 1018, 12:00 P.M.

They party explains to Hiroshi’s daughter Kim-Sung what their mission is all about, and the information that they are seeking regarding the castle construction. Kim states that before they can access the Clan’s vaults they will first need permission from the Clan Chief, her grandfather. She says that she will take them to him. Before leaving the Mitsubishi-Ming home they are joined by the halfling Chin-Tang, who is now wearing a hooded cloak. Chin says, “Hiroshi thought that I might be of assistance.” “On the mission or just to protect his daughter from these three?” Serita comments, gesturing to Duegar, Lannon and Mojo. “Both,” the halfling replies.

The party heads deep into the interior portion of the home, and exit through a great oaken door into a busy underground street, off from which many other dwarven homes are situated. During this time the three love-struck party members debate which of them is best suited to be Kim-Sung’s protector. Narg comments “Geez, was I ever this bad?” The entire party replies in unison “Yes”. The conversation degenerates into a discussion among the three as to which one has the greatest stamina, with references to the time spent at the Ale House two nights earlier. Chin-Tang tells Narg “I guess I didn’t have to come along after all. Those three are going to kill any chance they had with her on their own.” They hear this, and immediately change the conversation back to a debate about their other positive qualities.

The party does not travel far, and are soon at a large stone archway, with half-a-dozen dwarven guards in platemail. Kim says to the guards “Hi guys,” as she leads the party through this. They go through many vast chambers, soon reaching an ornately carved doorway, with massive oak and iron doors. Seated at a desk by the doorway is an elderly gnome, attired in robes and with a colorful hat. The gnome is writing on a scroll. Kim says, “Hello Xhang-Chou Shang, is Grampy free?” “I’ll check”, the gnome says, and exits through a very small doorway cut into the wall about ten feet to the right of the other doors.

A few rounds later the massive doors open, being pushed open from inside by a pair of burly dwarves. Xhang-Chou is standing on a mauve carpet, and formally announces to the party “Please follow me for a private audience with Cho-Ming, the Chief of Clan Ming.” The party follows into the next room. This room looks like a typical throne room, with an elaborate gold and jewel encrusted chair sitting on a stage at the far end of the room. However, nobody is seated in the chair, and based upon the dust and cobwebs on it, it looks to be seldom used. Instead, they see a dwarf in platemail standing alone by a table near the door, looking at some sort of diagram. Sitting on the table is the man’s helmet, along with a tankard of ale and a bowl containing some sort of meat. He gestures for the party to join him.

As there are only two chairs by the table, the group continues to stand. They see that the diagram is some type of architectural drawing for what looks like a metal windmill. An inked quill sits on the table besides the drawing. The dwarf turns around towards them. He is a human equivalent of fifty years old, with an eye patch covering his right eye, and the dents on his plate armor showing evidence of that it is functional rather than ornamental. A sheathed shortsword hangs from his belt, and from the wear on the handle, also looks to be functional rather than ornamental. His beard is tucked down inside of the armor, which covers him up to his chin.

Kim says “Grandfather, I would like to introduce you to the Silver Moon adventurers. They are associates of my father and have just returned him to us.” He bellows “Friends of Hiroshi! And you rescued him from those humans! Excellent! I am Cho-Ming, welcome to my home.” He thrusts his hand out first to Lannon and Duegar, shaking so firmly that he makes their own hands sore. He then does the same for the other three men, getting a surprisingly strong grip in return from both the elf Mojo and half-elf Narg.

Kim explains about how they are on a quest to vanquish great evil, and fear that the evil they seek may have come to this land. She tells of how they suspect the evil is now living at the place known as the Summer Palace of the Giants, which Clan Ming had helped to build. Cho-Ming comments “Summer Palace, huh? Never seen it myself, but yeah, a long time ago our family helped a bunch of giants build it. We probably have information about it in the Clan vault.” Kim asks, “With your permission, I would like to take them there,” “Sure, go right ahead,” he says, and tells the gnome “Write them what they need Xhang-Chou. Good to see you again Kim-Sung. Interesting group you Silver Moon people have there. Come back if you need anything else. ” He then turns back to the looking at the drawing as the party exits, picking up an inked quill to mark on it. They return to the desk and the gnome writes them out a note.

They leave the building and go to the end of the street, to an intersection with another street. This street has a pair of metal rails running down the center of it. This particular underground street also has a smoky smell to it, and lumps of coal can be seen in the dirt near the rails. Kim points to a stone bench, and tells the party to have a seat. What follows is a Three Stooges routine of the game musical chairs, as Duegar, Lannon and Mojo each wait anxiously for Kim to sit down, jockeying for position to sit next to her. Unfortunately they all lose, as both Chin-Tang and Serita see what these three are doing, and ask Kim to sit between them instead.

After around a turn Narg asks “What are we waiting for, my feet aren’t tired.” “That” Kim answers and points down the street, as they see a distant pillar of smoke coming towards them. A metal contraption approaches, the likes of which only Mojo has seen before. Kim explains how it is a dwarven machine, originally built for transporting ore through the mines. Mojo says “Yeah, on the planet Carvel they are called trains.” [Carvel is a 20th century superhero world that Mojo’s player is the DM of.] The train itself is actually rather small, consisting of a small engine with a lone engineer; a coal car to shovel coal into the steam powered machine, and three flat cars with metal hand rails behind it, each capable of holding three or four people.

The group climbs onto the carts. Kim tells the engineer that they are going to the Clan Vaults. The train starts up, and brings them another two miles through the mountain, with a couple of long wide turns. At one place they have to pull onto a side spur to allow another train to go by heading the other direction. They eventually stop by a side street, off from which are several stone staircases. Kim thanks the engineer, and asks him to wait until they return.

Kim leads the party up one of the staircases, and then through a long tunnel, ending at some guarded iron doors. The dwarves on guard duty are handed the paper, and then begin unlocking the door. The party follows one of the guards through a metal hallway, behind which the first door is locked prior to a second door being opened. They continue down stone walled tunnels and then pass several armed dwarven guards as they reach a guarded intersection. She gives the head guard the paper, and he leads them down one side of the hallway, which is unguarded. The group notices that the other direction with is filled with dozens of guards, going back as far as the group can see. “What is that other way?” Narg asks. “Most of the Clan’s wealth” Kim replies. “I’m glad we didn’t bring Lono,” Mojo comments. “They soon reach a wooden door, above which “Clan Records” is written in both dwarven and Chinese.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 24, “Information from the ancient archives” September 17, 1018, 12:45 P.M.

The guard unlocks the door to the Clan Ming Records Vault, and gestures for the party to enter. The room is a massive stone library, with hundreds of stone shelves of books mounted to the walls. In the center of the room are oak bookcases, filled with books and scrolls. At the far wall are tables with piles of animal hides, which also appear to have writing on them. Three dwarves are within the magically lit room, an older man by a desk near the door, and two younger men hurrying around the room. “It’s a good thing that Cassie isn’t with us, we’d never get out of this place” Lannon comments.

Kim starts to hand the written information request to the older dwarf, but he just puts it down on the desk and doesn’t even bother looking at it, recognizing her as the Chief’s granddaughter. “Hello, I am Tse-Long Ming, Please tell me how can I be of assistance to you, Kim-Sung Mitsubishi-Ming?” he asks. She explains how they are looking for information about the construction of the castle once known as the Summer Palace of the Giants. “I think we may have something on that,” he says.

The man pulls out two long drawers and places them on top of the desk. In the drawers are thousands of pieces of paper, organized in a particular manner with markings in both Dwarvish and Chinese. He soon pulls out seven different papers, and starts barking out orders to the two workers, apparently named Pang and Fung, who quickly begin looking for specific texts and scrolls. Once found, they bring them to the older dwarf. He begins to look through them, opening to specific pages. One volume is strapped shut and locked, and Tse-Long has Pang retrieve a key to open it. He yells to Fung, who is having difficulty finding a particular record. This takes a while and Tse-Long notices that some of the Silver Moon are looking impatient, and says that he now has most the information they seek, and will give it to them in chronological order.

Tse-Long Ming begins by reading to the party from a book with leather binding that has many splits and cracks on it. The book’s yellowed pages are also beginning to crack. He reads, “During the Reign of Giants, the Giant King Hachou-Chu-Kwen commissioned that the palace be built. Clan Ming was hired to quarry the massive dark stones for the structure, obtaining them from mountainside cliffs at the Go S’tenai Quarries, several hundred miles west of Chunming. The stones were loaded onto barges, where they were sailed up Xogai Lurr Bay, through the Straits of Va’Shung, and onto the opens sea where they headed south to the coastal city of Keeling, well to the southeast. From there, the giants transported them in secret. Although many dwarves were said to have assisted with the castle’s construction, they belonged to the distant Yang-Ton Clan, as the Giant King did not wish any of the local Clans to know of the castle’s secrets.” He closes that volume, handing it back to the boy Pang.

Tse-Long then reads from another text, a massive leather and metal bound volume, paraphrasing a few pages that tell how the giants were forced to abandon this castle when the Dragons moved in to rule the land. He then reads “A dragon named Cryomantipelica used the palace as his headquarters, making its Forge Tower his personal habitat, and using its vast central hall as an audience chamber. This dragon ruled the castle for over a century. The dragon was later slain by the great dwarven hero Huang-Din Ming.” Kim-Sung tells the party that she has heard of this hero, as he was one of her more famous dwarven ancestors. “Indeed, this particular volume is actually a biography about him,” Tse-Long states. The book is handed back to Pang.

Next he reads from a scroll, written on some sort of animal skin. “This short note tells that the castle became home to Varalla, a lich queen that defeated the Mongols who had lived in the castle. She defeated them around eight hundred years ago.”

Next he reads from the volume that had been locked, stating that “This book once belonged to the Zhentarim, the evil mages and priests who ruled this land five hundred to seven hundred years ago. They were the ones who defeated Varalla.” He quickly reads a couple of chapters to himself, then turns back to the where he started, stating that “Most of this is about internal Zhentarim issues, but I’ll paraphrase for you the information that references the castle itself.” He tells the party that “The Zhentarim called the castle Darkhold, and it was during their reign that they commissioned Clan Ming to make extensive repairs to the structure. Three-dozen dwarves spent the better part of their lives on this task, after which these dwarves returned here to Chunming. The Zhentarim placed a magical curse on the dwarves to prevent them from being able to tell any details about the castle itself. Without the curse the Zhentarim would have felt the need to kill the dwarves, to keep their knowledge secret, however preferred to keep them alive in the event that future repairs on the castle were needed.”

Tse-Long stops, and yells at Fung in Chinese, which Kim-Sung translates to the party as “Haven’t you found that yet, I need it now.” The boy hurries over with another book, this one with the binding falling apart, and pages only pressed together. Tse-Long carefully turns to a particular page, and tells the party. “This is a journal of the High Priest Jang Ming. A parishioner of his, named An Chen Ming, was one of the construction workers. An Chen had been sought for information regarding Darkhold by an adventuring team from a distant land, where the Zhentarim had originated. They asked Jang Ming to use his clerical magics to lift the curse. He was mostly unsuccessful at this, but alleviated the curse enough for An Chen to share one piece of information regarding the castle that the Zhentarim was also unaware of. He told them of the location of a secret wall that the dwarves built, to hide themselves in if the Zhentarim had sought to kill them. Unfortunately, this journal does not state the specific location of this wall. “I’m not sure how any of that information actually helps us” Serita comments.

“Ah, but I’ve saved the two best for last,” Tse-Long says. He holds up a scroll, saying “This is an inventory of the paintings currently at the Chunming City Hall, one of which is described to be a painting of Darkhold Castle, painted during the reign of the Zhentarim.” “And this”, as he opening another book, “tells of a journey by a trio of dwarves who visited the castle during the time of the Zhentarim’s successor, a druid-mage by the name of Li-Tak.” This causes the group to perk up and play close attention.

“This record begins three-hundred-and-twenty-five years ago. At that point Li-Tak had lived at the castle for nearly two centuries. He contacted Clan Ming in Chunming, and asked for that a specifically named trio of dwarves come to the castle. Two of these dwarves, Han-Che Ming and Tu-Huang Ming, were the last two surviving members of the Zhentarim’s construction group. The third was a cartographer and mapmaker named Yin-Ywe. The three spent a year at the castle, helping with what were mostly just minor repairs to the structure. They describe that the castle was inhabited by hundreds of Hengeyokai, human animal hybrids, who waited on the very elderly Li-Tak.

Following their return from Li-Tak’s castle the three dwarves looked decades younger than when they had left. Shortly thereafter, the wives of both Han-Che Ming and Yin-Ywe also looked younger, and gave birth to children, even through they had both previously been thought to be past child-bearing years. Tu-Huang Ming later became active as a priest, but he had his own radical interpretations of religion, which led to his being declared a heretic. He, and his eighty followers left Chunming, and were never seen again. There were rumors that they founded a monastery thousands of miles to the west. Both Han-Che Ming and Yin-Ywe later fought as soldiers with Clan Ming during the Great Orc Wars, along the western coast. Han-Che Ming was slain at the Battle of N’Tumi, and Yin-Ywe lost a leg and an eye during this engagement, which ended the war in favor of the dwarves. It says that Yin-Ywe returned to the city as a hero and was then formally inducted into Clan Ming. His life then took a turn in a different direction, as he then became the founder and headmaster of the Yin-Ywe Ming School.” Chin-Tang interjects “I know of that school. It is one of the more prominent private schools within the city. I would occasionally bring the Mitsubishi-Ming children there to participate with special activities or to attend a guest lecture.”

“Is there anything further information about the Castle?” asks Narg. Tse-Long says “There should be. The record states that Yin-Ywe Ming was in possession of an actual diagram of the castle, but was forbidden by Li-Tak to share it. Upon his death it was to be placed here in the Clan archives, but I can find no listing that we have received it. Maybe it was misfiled.” He calls to Peng to find the records of Yin-Ywe Ming’s death and estate disposition. After a brief while Pang says that he can find no listing for this. Tse-Long then has both younger dwarves check the tax records, to see when Yin-Ywe Ming stopped paying taxes. They report that the records indicate that Yin-Ywe Ming is alive, and resides at the school. This shocks Tse-Long, as it would mean that the dwarf is now 711 years old, more than two centuries beyond the maximum age for a dwarf. The party thanks Tse-Long for his time and leave.

[DM’s note: Much of the above information about the castle was modified from that provided in the Darkhold supplement in the Forgotten Realms Castles boxed set.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 25, “Kim’s Story”, 2:00 P.M.

The group return to the train, which has been waiting for them, and Kim-Sung asks that they be taken to the base of the Mountain. They train travel for about fifteen minutes, down a wide spiral track, eventually stopping at a station with several other trains. This area is a well-guarded cave chamber which also has a gateway opening out into the city. Hundreds of dwarves are traveling through these open gates. Kim-Sung explains this is the major passageway between the Ming Mountains and the City of Chunming.

It is a bright sunny day, with a cool breeze coming off of the ocean. This section of the city is populated primarily with dwarves. The party can smell meat being cooked in several nearby restaurants, and they have not had lunch yet, so Duegar suggests they stop for a bite. Kim-Sung tells the group that most of the restaurants in this area serve excellent food, and asks Chin-Tang to “Take them to one that you like. We’ll meet up at the school.” Kim then tells Serita that she knows of a restaurant with a vegetarian cuisine more consistent with their druidic beliefs. Mojo interjects “Wonderful I feel like a nice salad.” Serita answers “You’ve never had a salad in your life!” Mojo answers “I have too, and that’s exactly what I want right now. I’ll just go dine with the ladies.” Serita answers “He’s really got it bad if he’s calling me a lady.” Narg looks at Mojo and says “I don’t know you any more!”

Both Duegar and Lannon debate also joining them, but the smell of dwarven cooking wins out. As the group splits up Narg comments to Lannon “I’ve never seen him eat a salad before.” The group of Chin-Tang, Duegar, Lannon and Narg go to a place whose name translates as “Lot’s of Beef”. They order foot-round two-inch thick juicy steaks, smothered with onions and barbecue sauce. Duegar and Lannon try to find out more information from Chin-Tang about Kim-Sung, but he is not very forthcoming. The diner conversation then centers on how they are now getting closer to Morgarth, and specifically what Narg plans to do to him once they find him.

The other three enter the vegetarian restaurant. Mojo says “Here, let me get that for you,” as he helps both women into their chairs. Kim, Mojo and Serita look over the menu, which lists about twenty different types of salads. Serita sarcastically asks Mojo “What do you want to eat?” He answers “I don’t know, it ALL looks so good.” He then turns to Kim, and says “I know, why don’t you order two things and we’ll share.” The waitress takes their orders, Serita ordering for Mojo, and they are soon brought three ornate salads made from multiple types of greenery. Mojo hesitates before biting into what looks to him like a pile of weeds, but does an adequate job of faking that he actually likes the food. He decides to take advantage of the fact that his two rivals are not around to hear, and asks Kim-Sung to tell them about herself (sometimes he really does use that 15 intelligence of his). Serita is also curious, having never known any druids of dwarven blood, and asks Kim to tell her story.

Kim-Sung begins by saying “My siblings and I had some social adjustment problems growing up in Chunming, being of mixed race in a predominantly pure-race city. Since we were direct descendents of the dwarven Clan Chief, nobody mistreated us, but we had few dwarven playmates. My closest childhood friends were a pair of hybrid race children, also of royal blood. They were half-elves, a boy named Way-Elorra-Chun and a girl named Mei-Elorra-Chun, who lived in Chunming with their human father Wei-Chun. Wei-Chun belonged to the ruling human Chun family, although he was far from the actual line-of-succession, being a fifth cousin, twice removed.

In his youth, about a half-century ago, Wei-Chun had led an adventuring team. The team adventured together for over two decades, and the team’s membership included a gnome wizard named Yulo-Eng, his younger brother, a gnome druid named Yun-Eng, and a high elf archer-ranger named May-Elorra. May was born in the nearby elvan territories of the Kwah-Ling Forests, and is also a distant relative of the elvan leader. During this period of time May and Wei fell in love, and had their two children together, who were left in Chunming with Wei’s parents when the team was away on adventures.

As Wei and the other human members of the team began to approach middle age, and no longer had the same energy and enthusiasm towards adventure that they had in their youth, the team disbanded. Wei-Chun decided to settle down in Chunming to raise his children, and asked May-Elorra to formally join him as his wife. Although flattered by his proposal, and still deeply in love with Wei, it went against her basic elvan nature to be bonded through human law and ceremony. She also dreaded the prospect of being forever “cooped-up” in a large city of humans and dwarves. She declined his proposal and returned to the elvan lands, but did agree to spend each winter in Chunming with him and their children. In the thirty years since that time May has kept her promise to Wei,. She spends between three and five months of the year in Chunming, living in the elvan lands the remainder of the year. .

A little over a decade ago the Ming Clan began to run into conflict with the elves along the loosely defined border between our lands. I had inherited my father's gifts of diplomacy and linguistics, and having been taught fluency in the elvish language, took it upon myself to negotiate peaceful relations between my Clan and the elves. I approached May-Elorra, as a resident of both locations, to assist in ironing out an agreement between the races.

While both races sought a settlement to the disputes, it required several years of diplomacy. The elvan leader was very reclusive, and would not venture anywhere near the dwarven or human settlements, nor would he allow a large dwarven force to travel through his territory. Similarly, my grandfather can also be a stubborn man, and he had no desire to travel without his supporters through unfamiliar elvan lands. With May-Elorra acting as spokesperson for the elves, myself as the spokesperson for the dwarves, and May’s old adventuring buddy, the charismatic and now renowned gnome wizard Yulo-Eng acting as facilitator and mediator, terms for a meeting were eventually decided upon. Grandfather and I traveled deep into the elvan territories, where he met alone with the elvan leader, and signed a formal agreement to resolve all present disputes. They also created a methodology for mediation of future disagreements, through the gnome Eng clan, who reside in both territories.

By that point in time May-Elorra, Yulo-Eng, his brother Yun-Eng and I had spent considerable time together. May taught me fluency in the selective high elvan dialect of Elvish, and we all traveled extensively together through the elvan lands. At one point they saved my life from a dragon, and Yun-Eng brought me to safety with his druid friends while the others dealt with the monster. The druids befriended me, teaching me how to better survive in the woodlands, and to appreciate the intricate web of nature. Shortly thereafter Yun became my mentor and gave me my druidic training.

Grandfather was not sure what to make of my chosen profession, but was grateful for my intervention with the elves, so decided to tolerate it. Since then, as the Clan’s only druid, I have been given the title of Chief Herder of the Guttar.” “The gutter?” Mojo ask. “No,” she replies, not gutter, gut-tar, a unique type of oxen bred by the dwarves to work in tunnels and mines. The role lacks prestige, but it does enable me to work with large numbers of animals and see that the Clan properly cares for them.” The three conclude their meal, and Kim-Sung leads them to the school.

Back at the other restaurant, at the end of the meal Duegar orders two more steaks “To go.” “Good, Mojo will probably want one later to keep from starving to death,” Narg comments. “Really?” Duegar comments, then yells “Waiter, better make that four steaks to go.” “Four?” asks Chin-Tang. “Sure,” Duegar answers “By then I’ll have already finished the two for my snack, and I’d hate for Mojo to have to eat alone.” “Change the subject” says Lannon, “I don’t want to think about the time he is spending together with her.”

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 26, “Solving an old mystery”, September 17, 1018, 3:15 P.M.

The trio of Kim, Mojo and Serita reach the school, which is a large three-story mansion, situated near the end of the dwarven section of the city. The building has a vast yard, where about sixty dwarven children are seen playing. An iron fence surrounds the property. The main gate is open. On the archway above the gate is an intricately made metalwork design depicting a shining sun beside a crescent moon. Serita asks about that, and Kim replies that the design is the school’s symbol, as the name Yin-Ywe Ming translates into common as “Shining Sun and Moon.”

They see the other group coming down the street and, despite Mojo’s suggestion to the contrary, decide to wait for them. The rejoined group approaches the building, with Chin-Tang knocking. A dwarven woman, looking to be human equivalent of late thirties in age, answers the door. She recognizes Chin-Tang, and asks for him and his friends enter. Chin-Tang explains that they need to speak to Yin-Ywe Ming. She has their wait in the living room while she goes upstairs. She returns, and leads the group up two flights of stairs, to an office on the top floor where a very old dwarf is sitting behind a desk. The man has a long white beard, which is parted in the center. He has only one working eye, although wears no patch on the other. He gets up, and hobbles forward, one leg being a wooden peg, and using a battleaxe as a cane. The woman brings some additional chairs into the room, and the party is seated. The woman leaves.

“What can I do for you Chin-Tang. It has been many years since you came to visit us with the Mitsubishi-Ming children.” “Indeed,” the halfling answers, and gesturing to Kim, says, “Kim-Sung is the eldest of those children.” Yin-Ywe Ming appraisingly looks her over, saying “My word, how you’ve grown young lady. Now, how can be of help to you?” She briefly explains about the party seeking an evil mage, who they suspect now lives at Darkhold Castle, and seek knowledge of the structure.

After a long pause, he says “I will never forget my time there. The mage Li-Tak was a great man, who I owe my continued existence to.” “What did he do for you?” Kim inquires. The dwarf replies “In payment for our services at the castle, he provided myself and my companion with potions to grant us long life. He also gave me a potion for my wife. My wife and I had never been blessed with children, but he said that would change, and also gave me five potions to give to the spouses of the children on their wedding day.” “And you had exactly five children?” Serita asks. “Yes” he answers, “who all still live with me here and are teachers here. All of the children that you see playing outside are my grandchildren. With such a large family, opening a school seemed the best thing to do.”

“What exactly did you do at the castle?” Narg asks. The old dwarf replies “For the first few months, mostly minor repairs. Towards the end the other two constructed a secret chamber in the walls to store treasure in, and he had me draw a schematic diagram of the first floor of the building.” “We were told that by the Clan Records Keeper,” Serita states. “Could we please see this map?” asks Kim-Sung. “I’m afraid not,” he replies “Li-Tak was very explicit about that. Nobody but myself can ever see what I drew.” This creates a stir among the party, not sure how to proceed.

Kim-Sung is deep in thought, and then asks “Do you remember exactly what it was that Li-Tak said to you about that?” The older dwarf thinks for a minute, and then says “Yes, I remember it very clearly. He said that ‘None except Yin-Ywe Ming may have this’.” She immediately interjects “Ah, but the records indicated that you had not yet joined the Ming clan at that point.” He replies, “You’re right, I did not take on the Ming name until after the war.” Kim then says “So, what Li-Tak actually said was that ‘None except Yin-Ywe may have this.” “Yes, that would be the case” he replies. A broad smile crosses her face, and she exclaims “My friends, when you drop the Ming from the end of his name, the name Yin-Ywe translates as Silver Moon.”

With this revelation, the party quickly explains to him their party’s name, and shows him their Silver Moon rings. He is overwhelmed and somewhat relieved, saying that it had never made any sense to him why he had been asked to draw and keep something that nobody else could ever see. He had been given no instruction of what to do with it after he died, which might happen soon. The elated old man now gets the drawing, spreading it out on the desk for them. He explains how to read the diagram, and shows them the location of the secret chamber that the other dwarves had made, adding “I guess I can tell you this now. We not only made the secret chamber, but also sealed it back up after he stored several books inside, so that nobody would ever find it unless they knew just where to look.”

He thanks the party for solving the mystery for him, and asks that they return to schematic to him when they are finished with it and to tell him of what they find at the castle. The group leaves, Narg saying “Well, that worked out better than I would have imagined.” Serita adds “Yeah, but it wigs me out a bit to know that Li-Tak knew we would be here over three centuries ago.”

[DM’s note: The map of Darkhold Castle shown to them is the one from the Forgotten Realms Castles boxed set.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 27, “You Can Fight City Hall”, 4:00 P.M.

The group leaves the Yin-Ywe Ming school and heads into the human section of the city, towards the Chunming City Hall, to get a look at the painting of the castle. The City Hall is located in a massive stone and timber building, seven stories high, and occupying an entire city block.

It takes a bit of red-tape cutting to locate to the bureaucrat who has a listing of the locations of all artwork within the building, however, since the Granddaughter of the Ming Clan wants this information the group is helped as expediently as possible. They are eventually directed to a rear hallway on the fifth floor, where the painting is now on the wall of the office of a Yu-Tin Kwan, an assistant to a minor official. They are shown to the office, where they see the painting of the tall black castle, with four spires, out of which pour fire and smoke. A mounted warrior, whose armor is painted like a member of the undead, takes up most of the foreground.

The occupant of the office asks what he can do for them. Kim asks to be told about the painting. Yu-Tin Kwan says that “It used to be in an office downstairs, but when somebody new got appointed to that post he wanted it removed, finding it too dark and dreary. It was moved here a few months ago.” Yu-Tin then says that he has personally done some research on the painting, and that it is of a castle called Darkhold. He says that it was the main base of operation of the Zhentarim, the mages who ruled the land a half-millennia earlier. He states that the painting must have been created early in their reign, as most of the outer wall that they had Chunming dwarves later build for them is not depicted.

They party asks where he obtained his information, and he tells them that “There are a group of clerics trying to start a new church in the city, followers of a demigod by the name of Finder Wyvernspur. The provided me with this information. Apparently they recently fought and defeated a group of the Zhentarim in their own homeland.” “What, You mean that group of mages still exist?” Narg exclaims. “Oh yes,” Yu-Tin answers “They only ruled here for a few centuries, but have been prominent on their home continent for much longer. The people at the church could probably tell you more.”

“Who exactly is this Finder Wyvernspur? I’ve never heard of him,” Serita states. “Few have,” answers Yu-Tin “He’s apparently a new deity, having only recently been ascended to a demigod.” “With a name like Finder he must be a god for thieves,” Lannon comments. Yu-Tin answers “Actually, he was a bard, and is now considered to be the ‘god of reckless fools’.” “Reckless fools? Sounds like someone for this group,” Serita mutters. They ask for and are given directions to this church.

The group then asks if they can borrow the painting. Yu-Tin Kwan is very reluctant to let them, and tells them that they would need special permission. He explains that this permission would be nearly impossible to get and would require many permits, which would take several weeks to obtain and get the appropriate signatures for. “Yeah, right,” Kim sarcastically answers. Mojo whispers to Narg “Let’s tell him that a light on it has burned out, and we have to bring it back to the North Pole to fix it.”

“Follow me,” Kim tells the party. They then meet with the city official who is in charge of the building. This man spends no time at all evaluating and prioritizing that Kim-Sung’s wishes (or rather, her Grandfathers) take much greater precedence over those of Yu-Tin Kwan, and he tells them to “Go ahead, take the painting, and keep it as long as they wish. They return to the room with this official and take the painting off of the wall.

As they remove the painting Yu-Tin starts to complain about the bare spot on the wall. “OK, I’ll replace it for you,” says Duegar, who pulls one of the steaks out of his backpack and sticking it to the nail on the wall. “What is this!” Yu-Tin explains. Duegar replies “Humans! Can’t even recognize a fine piece of steak when they see it.” As they leave Lannon tells Yu-Tin “It would probably look better if you put a couple of pork chops on either side of it.”

As they leave Chunming City Hall, Lannon says to Duegar “Wasn’t that the steak you were planning to eat later with Mojo?” Duegar replies “Yeah, I guess he’ll just have to go without.”

[DM’s note: The painting of Darkhold Castle is from the Forgotten Realms Castles boxed set that is also depicted on the cover of that gaming supplement.]