Tantras - Forgotten Realms Campaign

[Corran]

Session 4 – Monday, November 19, 2001.

18 Hammer

A lot happened today. Varsk is staying in The Roaring Lion Inn, the most expensive inn in town. He’s really the type that can’t have money without immediately spending it. He told us that when he woke up he found a small silk bag on the pillow next to him. In it was a nice smelling piece of crystal with a picture of rose carved into it. The staff in the inn can’t explain where it comes from. Varsk isn’t too bothered about it; he put it in his backpack and went to the nearest tavern. Later in the day he found out that the crystal was a gift from Tima, one of the other guards on the ship. I guess she’s sweet on him.

The others did some shopping, Borric traded in his scale mail tunic for a banded mail armour. He’d better oil it well; it makes quite some noise when he walks. Cadrach surprised us all; he bought two buildings! This is his first step towards his goal of a creating a merchant empire. The building near the harbour is to be a shop and he will live in the other building. The buildings are in quite good repair, but they do require some work, especially the interiors.

Since everyone was pleased with our last job, it was decided to see if we couldn’t get another job for the six of us again. While I didn’t like the fights and the goblin warrens one bit, I guess it’s safe to assume that things won’t go wrong every time. As long as the job doesn’t entail us entering dark caves or warrens I am happy to go along. Cadrach and I both went to look for jobs but we both returned empty handed.

That didn’t matter as it turned out. During his shopping Calim saw the three Zhents again. It’s no surprise that he followed them and he observed them buying horses. He hurried back to us and prevailed upon us to follow the three. I didn’t like it one bit, but the others reasoned that since there were no jobs anyway they might as well follow the Zhents. As far as Calim could tell our quarry would leave the next morning, so we went to bed early.

19 Hammer

We got up before dawn and bought horses and supplies. I managed to rent a horse for a month. The merchant looked a bit surprised, but I got the horse for twenty-four gold pieces a month. That’s more than I would have paid in Waterdeep, but not too bad. We then waited near the inn the Zhents were staying and then followed them out of the city. They went north on a road called the Cross Road. During the night Calim sneaked up on their campsite and he overheard them saying that they had to see a man called Wersin Erkades in Calaunt.

20 Hammer

At the end of the afternoon we arrived in Calaunt, it’s the foulest smelling city I’ve ever been to. The tanneries in the North West quarter excrete an acrid smell that covers the entire city. Because we didn’t want to get to close to the Zhents we didn’t know where they were in the city. We took our lodgings in an inn called the Mocking Maiden Inn. I then went to gather some information about the name Calim heard mention. It turned out the Erkades is a fur merchant who lives in the north of the city next to his warehouse. I also learned that he has a ship he uses to transport his wares.

We took a look at the merchant’s domicile but we didn’t learn much. There was no way of telling if the Zhents were there or not. Calim has decided that he’ll stay and observe the building during the night.

21 Hammer

We are now once again on the road following the three, here’s what happened. Last night Calim noticed that he wasn’t the only once scrutinizing the warehouse. Another figure nearby was also looking directly at the warehouse. When Calim tried to get this person’s attention, the individual left. Calim stayed at his post the entire night (he should really try and get some more sleep, this can’t be healthy). Just before dawn Calim’s perseverance pays off, the Zhents are leaving the fur merchant’s house. Calim then runs back to the inn and rudely wakes us from our dreams. He is quite peeved that we don’t want to follow the Zhents any more. We feel that we have done enough and we are bored with following them. Calim is not happy and he rushes to the gate, hoping he can still find out where the Zhents are going. At the gate he is approached by a woman in a grey cloak, who tells him she has also been following the three. She was also the figure he saw last night. When she learns that we have no further interest in following the Zhents, she tells Calim that she is willing to pay everyone five gold pieces per day if we join up with her.

Calim rushes back to the inn again and he tells of the woman’s offer. My companions’ attitude towards following the Zhents goes through a dramatic reversal and they can’t wait to start. We quickly get our things and we go to the gate. The woman is still there and after she confirms her offer we set out after the Zhents. During the journey I’ve had some time to talk to the woman but she is closemouthed. She doesn’t tell us much except for her name, which is Arcelle Winter. Looking at the small armoury she’s carrying on her horse, she looks like she can take care of herself.

22 Hammer

In the morning after breakfast Arcelle pulls out something that looked suspiciously like a spellbook and proceeds to study it. When I ask her if she’s a wizard she just smiles. If she is than she’s no ordinary wizard. She’s wearing chainmail, something that ordinarily would interfere with spellcasting.

During the journey today we got into a heated argument. When asked why we were following the three, Arcelle told us she wanted to see where they were going and then kill them! I nearly fell of my horse when I heard this. I started to protest but my complaints fell on deaf ears. I can’t understand how she could kill anyone in cold blood. She didn’t give us any reasons why she wanted to kill the Zhents. Apparently life is cheap to my other companions; they have no qualms killing the Zhents. We still have no proof that the three have done anything reprehensible but that doesn’t seem to be necessary for the others. The facts that they are Zhents is enough for them. This ‘guilt by association’ thing seems so weak to me, I can’t understand that anyone would find it enough.

I thought long and hard about just leaving the others and returning to Tantras. I’ve decided against it, I hope I can convince the others before it’s too late. And maybe I can stop them from going through with this heinous plan. I’ll try and sneak up to the Zhent campfire and see if I can learn anything that might help. With all the snow on the ground it is impossible to not leave a trail, so I’ll have to wait and see if I get a good chance.

24 Hammer

We’ve been riding along the river Vesper so far. But now our quarry turned north again. They are going over the Trollcrag Mountains through Three Trees Pass.

25 Hammer

Today we were followed by three wolves. They came out of the mountains and took up our trail. During the night more wolves joined them, fortunately we were able to keep them away from us by placing torches all around the camp. I’m glad we kept them away, dogs with delusions of grandeur, that’s what I think they are.

30 Hammer

Today we left the hills behind us; the going is now much easier. It seems the Zhents are on their way to Mulmaster, just as Arcelle had predicted. We saw two figures walking on the mountain slopes to the north east, but when Calim approached them they disappeared.

Midwinter

Today we passed a campsite filled with Mulmaster soldiers; they were busy setting fire to a pyre filled with orc bodies. We set up camp early as the weather took a turn for the worse. During the night a storm developed and it wasn’t long before lightning was flashing on the horizon. The storm must have had some supernatural origin; eldritch flashes of green energy shot through the sky. It made the hairs in my neck stand up straight. It looked as if Talos had lost himself in range. We didn’t sleep much but we were happy to see the storm rage itself out just after dawn.

1 Alturiak

We have nearly reached our destination; we can see the towers of Mulmaster’s southern roadkeep.

2 Alturiak

A few hours before dusk we arrived in Mulmaster. It’s a dark, forlorn, city. Arcelle warned us to keep to ourselves as the city is far from safe. She also warned Celedor to refrain from spellcasting as it is forbidden in the city. Arcelle then led us to an inn she had been to before, called The Flying Bed inn. We procured a room and Arcelle left us to find out more about the Zhents. I got into a warm bath and had some nice warm, spiced wine and lit up one of my few Maztican cigars. It’s good to be off the road for a while. The big, bad city outside might be as cold as the deepest pits of hell, lying in a warm bath makes it all seem to go away.

 

[Corran]

Session 5 – Wednesday, December 5, 2001.

The brutal reality of living in this city was shown to us not an hour later. We were sitting in the taproom when a bunch of soldiers accompanied by two men in dark robes entered the inn. The soldiers moved through the room, looking for someone to make a wrong move. Four soldiers went upstairs and not much later cries of pain came from above. The soldiers returned carrying two men whose knees had very clearly just been crushed. Without a word the entire company then left the inn. From the innkeeper I learned that the two men were probably wanted Cormyreans. The innkeeper felt only relief that he wasn’t charged with hiding criminals.

Then Arcelle returned and she had some shocking news for us; Bane has returned! The eldritch storm we endured a couple of days ago apparently was caused by The Black Lord’s return. I fear for what this means for the realms. The most despicable acts in history have been portrayed in Bane’s name and Bane is the kind of god to really show that he is back. Tantras might be in the most immediate danger; it was here after all, where Bane was slain by Torm during the godswar. Tantras also has the largest temple to Torm in all of Faerûn. The only small fortune is that Xvim, Bane’s godson, and a god in his own right, has disappeared during the return of The Black Hand.

Winter also had also found some information about our quarry; they are looking for the architect who is rebuilding the temple to Xvim here in Mulmaster. I guess that temple will have to be re-desecrated or something. The architect however, isn’t in the city. According to Arcelle’s information he has gone into the Giantspike Mountains. Our three Zhentarim are planning to track him down tomorrow, meaning we will have to leave this inn with its nice and warm fireplaces as well.

3 Alturiak

We left early in the morning and we had an easy time following our men in black. At dusk we could see the fire of their campsite. Unfortunately we can’t make a fire as to not give ourselves away.

4 Alturiak

Today we found the Zhents' destination; it must be quite large, we can count seven campfires from quite a distance away. One has to wonder what so many people are doing here in the mountains. I’ve heard in Mulmaster that there is gold in these mountains, but I can’t see an architect go prospecting.

5 Alturiak

In the morning we got close to the camp and we got a good look. There are twelve small tents and about ten humans are excavating a hole in the side of a mountain. We can also hear the sound of hammering and sawing coming from within the hole. There are only six horses in the camp and there are three orc sentries dressed in what looks like bearskins. We can’t see the back of the camp but we estimate that there are about thirty to forty people in total in the camp. Around noon the sentries moved away, presumably to get some lunch. Their position was taken over by a human woman dressed in black. At the beginning of the evening most of the camp took part in some sort of religious ceremony, probably dedicate to Bane or Xvim.

Calim volunteers to sneak around the camp and have look at the excavation. He gets back safely and tells us what he has learned. The excavation is the beginning of a natural cave that slopes down deeper into the mountain. Calim had no source of light and he heard growling further inside the cave, so he returned. The sounds are according to Calim made by some kind of dog and not some scary monster. The rest of the group now wants to entire the cave en masse. I really don’t think that this is a smart idea, if the camp wakes up we will be trapped inside the cave. We don’t know what we will find inside or even if there is an exit. The others won’t be swayed and the only choice I have is to either return to the horses or go with them. Though it is really against my better judgement I have decide to accompany the others, I guess I would feel guilty if something happened to them and I wasn’t there.

We’re trapped and it’s all Winter’s fault!! I can’t believe how stupid she has been and yet the others are almost happy because they now get more money, yet they seem to forget that they need to be alive to spend it. Here’s what happened.

We manage to get into the cave without alerting any of the sentries in the camp, even though some of us weren’t all that quiet. Inside, Calim slips on the first steep slope we encounter and he glides further down into the cave. Now we clearly here barking and once we have some light we see two large wolf-dogs running at Calim. We hoist Calim back up and since the dogs can’t reach us they are easily killed by missile fire. We are very fortunate that we haven’t been heard, no one comes to investigate.

We move on and we end up in a large cave with three tunnels radiating out of it. One dog has been wounded and he has fled into a tunnel that is to low for us to walk in. The tunnel in the middle is only about ten meters deep then it ends in tumble of collapsed rock. This unmistakably is where they are working, trying to open up the blocked passageway. Borric grudgingly admits that the work is done quite professionally. The other tunnel winds upwards for about forty meters and then ends suddenly as it drops into a deep crevasse.

Then, suddenly Calim hears voices coming from the entrance. The only sentence I could hear was: ‘If there’s nothing down here, you’ll be sorry.’ Fiddlesticks! We weren’t as quiet as we thought we were. Everybody quickly hides near the tunnel to ambush whoever is coming our way. Arcelle all of a sudden jumps out and fires a wand into the tunnel. A fireball detonates in the corridor and hot air rushes out of the tunnel. I can hear people screaming in pain and dying, Borric then charges into the tunnel, yelling in Dwarven something irrational about killing orcs. Winter shouts at Borric: ‘You fool, get back!’ I agree with Arcelle, with the wand of fireballs we could keep the enemy away, now we can’t fire into the corridor for fear of hitting the dwarf. Arcelle quickly takes command of the situation and she tells Calim to find us an exit and she tells Varsk to go get the overenthusiastic Borric the Unstoppable.

There is one tunnel we haven’t explored yet; the small tunnel the wounded dog went in. I am already feeling like the walls are closing in on me and I feel no need at all to help them. I’m not entering and I’m telling the others that I will defend the tunnel entrance. I wish I knew why I am so scared of small, dark spaces. It’s totally irrational, yet I can’t help it. Why can’t I just have fear of heights? We never go to high places; we always end up in some cave for some reason.

The other quickly return, the small cave was the entrance to a goblin warren that is now empty. The Zhents must have turned the wolf-dogs upon the goblins, the others tell of more than two dozen goblin corpses and blood splattered all over the walls. The dog we wounded is also inside, having succumbed to its injuries. The crevasse we discovered earlier is to steep and deep to escape by; the collapsed corridor is our only hope. Arcelle fires another fireball into the entrance tunnel and we set to work digging through the collapse. More fireballs explode and we finally reach the other side of the collapsed tunnel. Winter comes running into the tunnel and she fires another fireball into the cave, but then the wand crumbles in her hands. We quickly move through and once we reach the other side of the pile of rubble Arcelle tells Borric to collapse it! With everything going on I hadn’t noticed Borric attaching a rope to one of the supports. Before he gets a chance I step up to him and I shout at him not to do it. Winter then runs up and pulls the rope from the dwarf’s hands and yanks the line! Behind us the tunnel collapses and our only exit is now forever gone!

I have never cursed so vigorously at anyone in my life as at Winter at that moment. It didn’t help our situation one bit, but it made me feel somewhat better. When I get my breath back I ask her how she could have done something so stupid. She is quite unperturbed and she says that she knows what she’s doing. I ask her to prove it and for once the others agree. Arcelle then proceeds to tell us that we are now in the upper reaches of the Underdark and that the Zhents will clean up the collapse behind us. I’m now very upset at learning that we are in the bleeding Underdark and trying to remain calm, I ask her why the Zhents would even try to clear the collapsed tunnel; they can just let us starve here. Now we are in for yet another surprise. ‘Because I know what the Zhents are doing here,’ answers the prissy little miss. Everyone erupts in indignation as so far she had said she didn’t know what the Zhents were doing in the mountains.

What is it with employers lying to you? Are we just having bad luck getting two in a row or is this normal practice? Weapons were not quite drawn, but we vehemently insisted she tell us the truth, all of it. Arcelle stayed remarkably cool under the circumstances and she tells us matter-of-factly that she is an agent from Cormyr. This is what she had to say. Some time ago a fist sized ruby called Aramus was stolen from the royal palace in Suzail. The stone is traditionally the property of the heir of the Obarskyr family and has no magical properties. Scrying revealed that the ruby had been stolen by four men who turned out to be Zhents and further scrying revealed that the four had died in the Underdark not far from here. Why the Zhents would want the stone, apart from its obvious monetary value, Arcelle couldn’t or wouldn’t tell. So, Winter had been stringing us along all the time, she knew the destination of the three Zhents she made us follow before the journey even began.

Everyone is livid to learn that Winter had been lying to us from day one. We also know that standing around isn’t going to help us either. Trying to find the stone seems to be the smartest thing to do strangely enough. I keep hoping we might find an exit on the way. We only have food for a couple more days and it might take much longer for the Zhents to excavate the collapsed tunnel. Cadrach proves to be a sharp operator at that moment; he starts to negotiate for more money. In the end we agree upon a salary of ten gold pieces per person per day and we get to keep everything we find with the exception of the ruby. The others also want a Cormyrian adventurers' charter, which Arcelle agrees to. I can’t for the life of me understand why they would want such a thing. Adventuring in Cormyr is not that big as I understand and you do not need a licence. In my, admittedly limited, experience people tend to look down at you if you start waving around some kind of charter. ‘Them rich kids bought a charter, think they’re adventurers or something,’ that’s the reaction I expect. The fact that half of Cormyr was laid to waste in a war not a year ago doesn’t help matters either.

We set out down the tunnel and after half a kilometre we get to a large cavern. The big cave has some stalactites and stalagmites and more importantly, there’s a lake in the middle of it. Regrettably there are no fish in the lake, which is a shame; I could really have gone for a smoked mackerel and a kipper for breakfast. At the end of the cavern are three more tunnels leading deeper into the Underdark. Winter has no idea which one to go in and there are no marks or tracks that we can find. We take the left tunnel and find that it ends high up the wall of another cavern.

The cavern is illuminated by a dirty green glow coming from the lichen on the walls, making everything white show in a horrid purple light. Some dilapidated huts are standing not to far away. Varsk is already climbing down and I decide to go with him. If there are people living in those huts, I might as well try to talk to them first before everyone charges at them like some raving lunatics. When Varsk and I get close to the huts, the barbarian sees a dark shape moving between the huts. I say in all the languages I know that we mean no harm and that we are simply looking for an exit. Varsk, who speaks many more languages than you would expect of an Utgardt barbarian tries his luck, but still there is no reaction from within the village.

When we get closer dark shapes suddenly rush at us, they’re enormous spiders! The first thing I do is to drop my rapier, grace under fire? Not me. Calim, who had been covering us with his bow all the time, opens fire and draws first blood. I charge at a spider and draw a second dagger and with two daggers I manage to do just fine in combat. I am learning quickly that in combat it’s the result that matters, how it looks is of no concern. The thrust and riposte of rapier and dagger might be good for duels, fighting with two daggers seems easier because both weapons are the same size, even compensating the loss of reach, well against spiders anyway. General melee ensues and when the dust clears up we are victorious. I got nicked by a spider once, but I am ok. Varsk has been seriously wounded though and Cadrach is even worse of. The spider’s venom has a profound effect on our cleric, his strength has been all but sapped away.

After a quick exploration we decide to set up camp here for the night, even though we are not even sure if it is night. The cave ends in another two tunnels and in the huts we find two dwarf like skeletons, probably Duergar according to Borric. The little village has been deserted for at least forty years.

 

[Corran]

Session 6 – Wednesday, December 19, 2001.

6 Alturiak

Today we continue our search for the gem (and for an exit!) by entering one of the tunnels at the end of the cave. After a while we come to yet another cavern. This one’s quite big; the floor is covered in moss and the lichen on the wall bathe the place in a sickly green glow. Patches of enormous mushrooms are dispersed throughout the cave. Some of the mushrooms are as big as small trees. When we move further into the cave there suddenly is a rumbling noise and then the floor starts to shake. From further ahead we hear a strange sound and then all of a sudden warm drops of liquid rain down on us.

We carefully move on and then a small voice calls out to us: ‘Hey you!’ We find a small pool of boiling water and three little figures sitting on a rock near the pool. They are white skinned, about four feet high and have little wings. They look a little like the pictures I’ve seen of imps, only less rotund. They seem friendly enough so we ask them if they know a way out of the cave. They point further down the cave and tell us we can find an exit there. Here my experience in dealing with less than honest merchants comes to good use. I feel the little guys are not quite truthful about the exit and when pressed on the matter they confess that the exit is not safe. When we ask if there might be an exit that is safe, they say there is a hidden one, but they are not telling us where until we do something for them.

Just out of curiosity I ask them what the task they would have us do is. They want us to damn the river. Well, it’s hardly a river, but there is a fast flowing stream here and we also learn that there are numerous geysers in the cave. They seem to like the hot water pools and they want to get some more of them. When I ask if our work won’t flood the entire cave they say it won’t and this time I think they are speaking the truth. We then excuse us from their company and we quickly decide what we are going to do. We can damn the stream in a couple of hours with the large mushrooms that grow here and that’s probably faster than searching for the exit or anything else we can come up with. We do what they ask of us and make the damn. They keep there word and show us an entrance hidden in a patch of mushrooms.

We enter the tunnel and we soon hear the sound of rushing water. The tunnel ends and we find a river flowing from right to left. This is certainly a river; it’s over thirty meters wide and no babbling brook by any means. Calim points out on the marks on the wall that show that the river sometimes is four meters higher, coming nearly up to the ceiling. On our side of the river is a small path going downstream. It’s very small and quite slippery, the wall offers some handholds but it doesn’t seem easy to travel this way. There is no other path than the one here so we set out on it. Things go wrong almost immediately. Varsk gets on the path first and after a couple of steps he slips and falls into the river. As quick as he can Calim throws a rope to him, but by then the fast flowing current has swept him away. My last image of Varsk is of him desperately trying to stay above the surface, I don’t even know if the strapping barbarian can swim.

There is nothing we can do to save our friend but hope that he manages to get to the shore of the river and that we will find him down the path. Borric comes up with a plan; we will use the mountaineering equipment we have to traverse the path. He will go first and hammer pitons into the wall; we then thread a rope through them to give us something to hold on to. Calim will go last and he will remove the last piton from the wall with his crowbar. The piton will then be transferred back to the front and Borric will then hammer it in again. We do not have that many pitons so this is going to be quite a long journey.

7 Alturiak

Many hours later, it seems like over half a day, we come to a waterfall. The river flows out of the tunnel here and plunges into a lake way down below. It takes quite some time to climb down and when we get down there’s a joyful surprise; Varsk is waiting for us. He had been unable to get out of the river and he fell down the waterfall. Once in the lake he found a small beach where stayed for a while before returning to the waterfall. He did all this in complete darkness; he had no way of making any light. I’m glad this didn’t happen to me, I’m sure I would have gone completely mad, all alone in total darkness. This also makes me regret quitting my magical studies; it would be so simple if I could just conjure up some light whenever I need it. But, as my mentor so bluntly put it, I have no patience for the rigid requirements of the arcane arts. We go Varsk’s beach and we find another exit beyond it. We then make camp on the beach and sleep for hours after our gruelling journey along the river. I hope my back will stop aching someday, but it doesn’t feel like it.

The next tunnel quickly leads to another cave, this one thankfully without any green lights. Further down the cave we spot a small light source. Calim goes to investigate and he returns with scary tidings. Further up the cave is a small desolate villages and between the houses a small group is sitting around a camp fire. The group consists of two huge spiders used as beasts of burden, six dwarf-like figures, most likely duergar and two drow! I had never thought I would be so close to real life drow, and I can’t say I’m too stoked about it. The others immediately start plotting an attack upon the little band. I once again think this is stupid and foolhardy but knowing there’s no use I withhold from commenting upon it. Still, why should we attack them, they’ve done nothing untoward and even though the stories about drow are no doubt exaggerated they are still powerful individuals.

The decision is made however and everybody sneaks towards the campsite. I borrow Arcelle’s bow and I’ll try to help the others as best I can, even though I do not agree with them. Before we are all in position some of the duergar here something and there is a mad rush to keep the element of surprise. Celedor does what he’s famous for (well amongst our group anyway); he takes out two of the duergar with his sleep spell. The drow woman is revealed to be a wizard when she casts a spell and three missiles of force hit Varsk in the side. Varsk hardly even flinches and with an enormous chop he almost takes the head off the drow man’s shoulders. Then the duergar start swarming in on Varsk and the big man is brought down by savage jabs of the duergar shortswords. The others are now fortunately closing in melee and Borric drops the drow woman with a backhand swing of his warhammer. After that the battle is quickly over. I think I hit two duergar with the bow, but that’s all I was able to do, not very impressive I’m afraid. Calim must have hit just about every enemy on the field with his eagle eyed shots. Winter was out of sight from me but she killed the two spiders and a duergar or two.

Varsk is saved by Cadrach’s timely intervention and the two sleeping duergar are bound. The drow wizardess is still alive and she is bound and gagged as well. Arcelle and Borric take the two duergar that were taken out by the sleep spell into a hut to interrogate them. The fact that Winter asks Borric to take the hammer and pitons into the hut makes me fear the worst, but no sounds come from the hut. Then the duergar are brought out again and they take the drow captive and the body of the dead drow into the hut. In the end we learn that the group was guarding the entrance to a drow settlement some three miles away. It seems somewhat strange, guarding a town from three miles away and they hardly did a bang up job now did they? The ruby Aramus is in the town according to the drow. The town is home to between two and three thousand drow and four or five thousand slaves. I was pretty relieved to hear Arcelle remark that we would be unable to recover the gem.

The cave has no other exits and we decide to head back to the Zhent campsite and try and sneak back out if they have cleared the corridor by now. There is no further use for the prisoners and although it makes me feel ill I have to agree that killing them is the best we can do. Borric sets to the task and at least he’s mercifully quick. Calim and Varsk loot the bodies and they find some ninety gold pieces in all. The drow have quite some jewellery, which Cadrach appraises to be worth around five hundred gold pieces. The wizardess has an envenomed dagger and the drow fighter has a sword made from something called darksteel according to Borric, we take both with us. The drow fighter is wearing a finely crafted chainmail which is still in one piece. Calim tells me I should put it on, it’s both easier to carry that way and it gives me some much needed protection. After being bit by a spider and shot by goblins I can only agree. After thoroughly cleaning the armour I put it on, fortunately it fits quite well. On the spiders we find some sundry items and two things called tanglefoot bags. These are used to glue people to the floor according to Calim. We set the dead bodies alight and we go back to the lake.

10 Alturiak

It has taken quite some time but we have negotiated the waterfall and the river and we return to the cave with the geysers and the little creatures. When we get near the cave we hear the sound of an explosion. We run towards the tunnel exit and stumble upon a dead orc, probably one of the Zhents. Three not so dead orcs are nearby, but we quickly remedy that situation. The battle ends and we learn that the Zhents have attacked the little guys. Three of the little guys have died but five more are alive, there were more of them than we had seen when we first met them apparently. There are in total, ten dead Zhents both humans and orcs. Varsk and Calim loot the bodies but the little guy we met the first time around demands half of the gold. It seems only fair and we give him half of the hundred and ten gold pieces. We promise our little friends that they have probably seen the last of the Zhents and we move on.

We go back all the way to the first large cave, the one with the big lake. Here we find that the Zhents have put up a camp near the lake. There are ten tents and about thirty people walking around the camp. After waiting two hours the Zhents all go and eat, whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner we don’t know, after being underground for such a long period we have lost all sense of time. We snow sneak past the camp and manage that without being heard this time. When we arrive at the tunnel Calim steps in and an alarm sounds. The alarm is heard in the camp and we all run into the tunnel as fast as possible. It’s half a kilometre to the collapsed part and the Zhents are going on the slowest members of our group; Borric and Cadrach. Varsk is the fastest among us and he rushes ahead.

When we get to the collapsed part we see that it has been shored up again and that Varsk has killed the two Zhents guarding it. I try to rig a rope around one of the beams to collapse the tunnel once again just as Borric had done before. We wait for Cadrach and Borric to reach us and when they come into view the Zhents are hot on their tails. Calim and Arcelle stand ready to intercept the Zhents when the priest and the dwarf come through. A Zhent mage casts a web spell and the passageway fills with webs, making our escape even more difficult. Varsk starts hacking his way through the webs to create a passage, I still try to rig the place to collapse it again, but the web isn’t helping any. Cadrach and Borric finally rush through just when I finish attaching the rope. Calim turns to run and is then struck down by a Zhent sword from behind. Winter grabs his body and pulls him through the narrow passage. When they are safely through I pull the rope and the tunnel collapses yet again. Calim fortunately survives, after some healing spells from Cadrach he is ready to travel onwards.

Without further problems we get outside. Boy, but it’s good to be outside in the cool air and watery sun again! There were times I thought I was never going to see the sky again. Now we also see what we look like. Living in caves is not something I recommend, we are all grimy and covered with dust, I don’t think all that dust will ever get out of my hair. We have no time for personal grooming however, Arcelle is adamant we keep moving; she’s afraid the Zhents will keep after us. We quickly check the four tents that remain of the Zhent camp but they contain nothing but food. Twelve horses are tethered next to the camp, including our own horses. We take all the horses so that the Zhents can’t use them and we can change horses during the journey. The small camp we used to spy on the Zhents is empty and the belongings some of our party left there are gone. That can’t be helped and we set out for Tantras post haste.

20 Alturiak

We arrived in Tantras today, somewhere in the afternoon. We sold the surplus horses and I returned my rented horse. Winter tells us she can take us to Cormyr if we want to go, she says the journey is instantly and not by ship. No one has any objections and no one has any reason to stay in Tantras, I guess Cadrach will return later to look after his two houses. We follow Arcelle to the temple of Torm and when she shows a guard something we are taken to an entrance. A large ramp leads into the dungeon below the temple and Arcelle leads us to one of the rooms. A big portal stands in the middle of the room and a bowl of water stands on a table. She throws the water on the portal and with a flash a blue glow appears inside the portal. Winter tells us we have one minute to go through the portal and she steps through. We quickly follow and with one step we are suddenly in a forest, the portal here is formed by two trees arching into each other.

This was the first time I ever travelled through a magic portal; it’s a very strange experience. One moment you’re somewhere and the next you’re somewhere else entirely. It’s a bit disorienting but you do not feel anything when stepping through the portal. Just as Arcelle had said the portal disappeared after a minute. She then paid us the money we earned; two hundred thirty gold per person (not that I care about the money but it should have been much more considering what we went through). She then pointed in a direction and with the words ‘Suzail is five miles thataway,’ she stalked off. We went to Suzail and got rooms in an inn called The Six Candles Inn, and that’s where we are now.

 

[Corran]

Ok, everything has been moved here from the old board, the next session will hopefully be up before the weekend.

Then I might finally be ready to make a new website.

 

[Corran]

Yet more delays, the update will have to wait I'm afraid.

 

[Corran]

Session 7 – Thursday, January 10, 2002.

21 Alturiak

Arcelle came to the inn this morning with our money. At least she came through for us on that one. She said she had also made an appointment for us tomorrow to see the King’s herald Sthavar about an adventurers charter. Sthavar, what a name, I’m glad it’s not mine. We invited Arcelle for diner and then we all went out to do some shopping. Celedor went to the Suzail College of Wizardry. I don’t know what the others did, only that Borric used his hard earned money to order a warhammer with an inscription in silver on the head. After consulting with Calim I bought myself a very good quality chain shirt, I managed to get the armorer to take twenty percent of the price. The armor fits perfectly and look quite nice as well, let’s hope I won’t get hit anymore.

At diner Arcelle has a gift for Varsk, just like he asked for as payment. The gift is a two foot long horn from some beast. She told us during the dinner that it is a Tuigan war horn. She got it during the battles against the Tuigan horde after her first battle. Varsk is very happy with it; it seems a very precious gift, as it is a personal memento. When Arcelle leaves she mentions that we should think of a name to give to our adventuring group, because it is required to be on the charter. She shouldn’t have said that; we were up into the small hours trying to find a suitable name we could all agree on. Somebody, I can’t even remember who, mentioned The Talon or The Talons. I could hit my head for not thinking of it myself; the name fits perfectly with my family’s crest. After some persuasion I managed to get the name accepted; we are now officially called The Talons. [Evil DM tip: if you had no time to prepare for a session just ask your players to think up a name for their adventuring band; presto, you just filled an entire night ;-)]

22 Alturiak

Before noon Winter picks us up, she is wearing a Purple Dragon Knight outfit. She takes us to the Court; an enormous complex of buildings where all of Cormyr’s administrative affairs are dealt with. The Court is located along the Promenade, a broad street with on one side the Court and expensive shops on the other. There are benches all along the Promenade, making for leisurely shopping; it’s certainly more bucolic than any streets in any of Waterdeep’s wards. We get to see the herald; he has us swear an oath to take no actions against Cormyr and the Obarskyr royal family. Nobody has any reason not to do such, or if he does he does not make it known. We do as he asks and then we are presented with our charter. We leave the office being a bona fide adventuring band in Cormyr, I can’t say I feel any different, but who knows the others might feel all warm inside, you never know. Arcelle asks if she can bring a friend of hers to dinner tonight, he might have a job for us. We agree; there’s no harm in listening to what he has to say.

At dinner we meet Winter’s friend, a man in his thirties called Darvear Huntinghorn. By both his name and his attire it is clear he is Cormyrean nobility. During dinner he gives us his sales pitch. He tells us that about five to six times a year he goes into the Stonelands with a group of friends and retainers to kill the ever prevalent orcs and Zhents. According to him only three people in his group died the last five years. Until that is, the last time he went into the Stonelands. He lost nine people that time, most of whom were friends. He says they were ambushed and had no chance, he was lucky to escape alive. As to the opposition, he thinks it was a Zhent ambush.

To me this does not seem like the best kind of employment, but – you guessed it – I’m a minority once again. Borric is chomping at the bits at the slightest mention of orcs and Calim starts to get that look in his eyes the moment the Zhents are mentioned. Varsk doesn’t care, he’s always happy it seems. Cadrach I’m sure is already figuring out how much we are going to make. Only Celedor remains a mystery to me, we would the aloof wizard want to go into the barren Stonelands. I would almost start to suspect him of having a secret agenda, were it not that he never tries to get us to go somewhere or do something.

Calim then asks how much the pay is. After some negotiations we finally agree upon a salary of five gold pieces per day per person. The spoils will be divided equally. The only exception is heirlooms of Cormyr; these are returned to the palace. As we can’t quite imagine them lying under just about every rock of the Stonelands we have no problems with this arrangement. We also get Darvear to pay us ten days upfront to buy equipment. Darvear needs to take care of some business first, before our little foray, so we agree to leave in five days.

23 Alturiak

Celedor tells us he’s going to create some magic scrolls, so he’s not to be disturbed. The rest of us don’t have much to do as we already did our shopping. Varsk has been invited by Arcelle to eat at her place tonight. I’m going to see if there are any interesting antiques for sale and during the night I’ll see if there a friendly game of Swords and Shields I can get into.

24 Alturiak

According to some of the others, Varsk did not get back to the inn until this morning. I’m not going to spend any ink on this.

27 Alturiak

Darvear arrived this morning and we left for our first stop: Arabel. It’s a good thing too; I already lost thirty gold pieces. These people know how to play Swords and Shields, that’s for sure.

1 Ches

Today we arrived in Arabel. When we got in sight of the city, Varsk decide to try out his new horn, Calim was unfortunate enough to be riding next to Varsk; he lost his hearing for about half an hour. Arabel is quite a mess; the city was conquered and subsequently abandoned by a goblinoid horde not a year ago. The people there are now busy building their city up again. There was no room in any of the inns that survived, so we have to sleep outside.

3 Ches

Today we got to Gnoll Pass; the Stonelands are just to the north of here. Although I’m sure Cormyreans would tell you that the lands we’ve ridden through since we left Arabel are a part of Cormyr, I have to agree with those who would sooner call it disputed territory. While we did not meet any opposition we did also not see any farms and there are clear signs of humanoid traffic on the roads.

4 Ches

We had hardly entered the Stonelands when Darvear suddenly told us that he saw between seven and nine orcs seven hundred meters away. My first thought was, how can he see them so far away? I asked this but he would not answer, indicating that we should sneak up on the orcs. We left the horses and slowly started moving towards the bluff Darvear pointed out to us. When we got to about a hundred feet from the bluff a head appears and then disappears again. With stealth losing its use everybody charged the bluff.

 

[Corran]

I know the alst update has been long in coming but a lot of other stuff required my time.

The good news is that I now have a completely new (and very nice looking) website for 3 campaigns.

I'll give the URL after the weekend, so the players can have a first look and find all the bugs. ;-)

I also hope to have penned up a new session by then.

 

[Corran]

Session 8 – Wednesday, January 23, 2002.

The battle is swift, furious and pretty one-sided; I think we got more nicked when shaving that morning. Celedor proves his enormous value again when he, at the beginning of the battle, drops three orcs with his signature sleep spell. Varsk must have scarred the orcs pretty good, all screaming and kicking he leapt into battle and killed four orcs. I think I injured one and I saw our employer killing another. Borric gets slowed down a lot by his shorter stature and heavy armor, when he arrived the battle was all but over. After the battle two of the sleeping orcs were killed, I almost stop protesting the inevitable. They then interrogated the third one and learned that their fortress is fifteen miles to the North West. There are supposed to be about ten orcs in the camp right now but it normally holds eighty. When we returned to the horses I once again asked Darvear how he could see the orcs from so far away, but he refuses to answer the question. Most peculiar.

5 Ches

Late in the afternoon we arrive at a crest overlooking the fortress. It consists of a stone keep of several floors surrounded by a high wooden palisade. Some smaller wooden structures are built against the palisade on the inside. Five wooden towers are positioned at the corners of the palisade. In them is one goblin guard each, at least one of them is sleeping. The plan is to sneak a close as we can to the fortress and to try and open the gate and get in and exterminate the inhabitants. I’m not happy about this plan at all, it seems very risky, also because we have no idea how many enemies might be in the keep.

I’m so glad to still be alive and free!! I still can’t believe what happened to us. I think it’s best I’ll tell everything in the order it happened. I’ll also put it under the date it happened. Now if I can just put my pages back in my journal all will be all right again. Please remember that some of what I’ll write I have learned from the others I have not observed everything myself.

The beginning of our plan works fine; we all get to the palisade without being spotted. Calim then climbs over the palisade and opens the gate for us. Then Besheba gives us our full attention and everything goes wrong. Calim is heard and an orc rushes to the gate, the few goblins in the courtyard on the other hand run to the keep. Borric kills the orc at the gate and we all rush into the courtyard. The courtyard however is empty only the goblins in the towers remain. Varsk rushes to the door to the keep and tries to break it down. It is a reinforced door and even the strong barbarian has problems getting through. The goblins in the towers start have also wakened up and start shooting arrows at us. I run around the corner to the back of the keep and I find a trapdoor on the ground. The trapdoor uses some kind of spring mechanism to close automatically and probably leads to an underground level. I do not think it wise to enter it and I return to Varsk and Darvear to tell them of my discovery. When I round the corner I discover that quite a bit has happened in the short time I was away.

Three orc shamans have appeared on the roof and they have caught Calim and Celedor in a web spell while they were killing a goblin in one of the towers. Right in front of me Varsk is lying on the ground and now Darvear is trying to bash open the door. I rush towards the barbarian to see if I can heal his wounds. When I examine him I hear him softly snoring! The orcs must have used a sleep spell! The cads! I shout this fact out to Darvear; in response he kicks Varsk, pretty hard. Painful it may be it has effect. Varsk wakes up and starts to bash the door again. Cadrach casts some spell at the roof but there’s no noticeable effect. Calim, even hampered by the web he is caught in, manages to fire an arrow and kills one of the shamans.

The orcs respond in kind, and how. They cast more sleep spells and Borric, Calim and Celedor succumb to the arcane enchantment. [Talk about off day: seven (count ‘em) roleplaying veterans and all of us forget that elves are immune to sleep spells. ;-) ] The door to the keep suddenly crashes open and hits Varsk full in the face. Just our luck; to find one of those rare front doors that open outwards. One human and two orc fighters are inside trying to rush out. Varsk and I land solid blows on the human but he does not go down. Cadrach also charges in, but his swing just misses the man. The man adjusts his position to give the orcs room to come out of the building and thankfully misses Varsk with his sword thrust. The first orc moves out of the building and he lands a solid blow on Varsk, the barbarian is in real pain now. The second orc, still standing inside, swings his wicked axe in an overhead blow and lays me open from collarbone to crotch! At least that’s where I think he hit me, blissfully the shock made me lose consciousness instantly. [Bloody criticals! I had 21 hitpoints and he did 24 damage, our wizard would have instantly died from that.]

The next thing I remember is Cadrach standing over me, telling me he has just healed my wounds and to get up and kill the bad guys. While I was out of the fight both Varsk and Darvear have been brought down, I don’t think our employer has hit an enemy in the entire battle. The priest then casts a spell creating a very dense fog all around us. I can hear some one running away but there are still plenty enemies left. I manage to kill two orcs while Cadrach heals Varsk. The barbarian runs after the adversary that just left. He finds the human bandit in one of the guard towers with Borric’s unmoving body. The man warns Varsk not to get any closer or he’ll kill the sleeping dwarf. Varsk tries to negotiate but we are in no position to make demands. When he tries to move closer the man shoots Varsk with a crossbow, a shaman on the roof follows up with a second bolt and the barbarian sags to the ground again.

Once again my chain shirt proved mostly useless as another orc hit me and I dropped unconscious to the blood soaked ground again. Note to self: I must pray and tithe more to Tymora it seems. Cadrach has by now moved out of the fog and he has managed to throw a stone at Calim, thereby waking the ranger. Calim shoots an arrow at one of the shamans on the roof but his shot goes wide. The orc shaman then shoots a crossbow at our priest and now Cadrach is also out of the fight. Calim fires another arrow and has the pleasure of seeing it connect solidly with one of the shamans. His pleasure is short-lived however; one of the orcs climbs the ladder to the guard tower and hits him with a savage blow. Now the ranger is also out of the fight.

The fight is over and we lost. We all awake inside some dungeon, tied to the wall. Our captors have taken no risk, we are all tied securely and even our fingers have been set individually as to prevent spellcasting. We are also gagged of course. After an indeterminate amount of time the human bandit comes into the dungeon. He tells us: ‘Him (pointing at our employer) I will ransom, you I will sell as slaves.’ With that he leaves again. Later we get fed some soup, through a straw!

After a few days we overhear a conversation between our captor and an orc. The orc wants to kill ‘the dwarf,’ there’s no doubt he’s talking about Borric. The human tells the orc that if he can buy him he’s his. They start haggling over the price and the human does not want to go lower than hundred and twenty gold pieces. The orc loses his interest and then asks how much the man wants for ‘the elf.’ Celedor is for some unknown reason a lot more expensive his price is four hundred and fifty gold pieces.

9 Ches

Still very weak, we are taken outside. Four wagons are in the courtyard and around forty people, humans, orcs and half-orcs. A half-elvish woman seems to be in charge, she is wearing a banner later identified by Calim as being of Zhentil Keep. The woman casts a spell and the gags are taken away from everyone but Cadrach and Celedor. It is then that I notice that Darvear is not with us, it seems the bandit has indeed other plans for him. The Zhent woman then pays the bandit with two filled pouches; it seems we have just been sold. She now addresses us and tells us that we can either make it a pleasant or an unpleasant journey until she sells us again. Varsk then boldly asks the woman if he can have his crystal back as it is a memento to him. She gets it out from our belongings and decides that is has resale value so does not give it back. I then all of a sudden remember my journal and I ask her if I then can have it back. She looks at it and rips out the pages! She stuffs the pages in my shirt and tells me the book is still useful to her.

Cadrach has all the time literally been chomping at the bit. I couldn’t make out what he was trying to say, but apparently the woman could. She has the bit removed and Cadrach tells her he wants his money back! She laughs in his face of course. He then offers to have his family pay her for his release. ‘How much do you think you are worth,’ she asks him. ‘You tell me,’ Cadrach replies. The woman tells him she’ll take him along to Zhentil Keep all the same and once there she will find out if he is worth more there or to his family. A new glimmer of hope has just been revealed to me and I tell the woman that my family will pay for my release as well. She tells me the same deal applies to me as to Cadrach. While I am of course sorry that the others do not have a family that can pay for their release I think that’s no reason to try and obtain one myself. I can then always prevail upon my family to buy the others or if they refuse try and set up a rescue myself. I’m sure; I took the correct course in this.

14 Ches

For days now we have been travelling in our wagon. The caravan is moving north, edging the eastern side of Anauroch desert. We are tied up all the time and only at night we are taken out of the wagon for a short time. I think my entire body is cramping, if they didn’t give us that one hour each day I think we would all lose the ability to walk; permanently. We are all in excruciating pain and we don’t talk much during the long days either. Everyone is facing some personal demons I think.

Tonight something very strange happened. Calim suddenly saw a dark shape of a man all of a sudden appear behind our guard. Our ranger pretended not to notice and the guard had no inkling of what had happened behind him. The man looked both us and the guard over and then he vanished again.

15 Ches

At midnight the same figure appeared again. We were now all ready for it to happen and saw him the instant he materialised. The man put a hand over the guard’s throat and swiftly cut the jugular. It was a particularly unpleasant sight to see the blood spurting out of the guard’s throat, Zhent slaver or not. The man moves very silently and takes the keys from the dead guard. With the keys he frees us from our manacles and we move out of the wagon. Varsk takes the swortsword the guard had been carrying. The man in black points towards ten shadowy figures moving toward the camp. Ten meters from us we see another dead guard lying in a pool of blood.

The dark figures rush the camp; there is the flash of magic and the clattering of swords. The battle is over quickly, we were not involved in it and all the Zhents lie dead in record time. We get our belongings back from the wagons, Varsk is very happy to get his crystal back again. Not everyone is so lucky; it seems the orcs kept some of our belongings. We loot the rest of the caravan and find out it is carrying quite an assortment of wares. I find a rapier, some daggers and an armor. There are also plenty of blankets, bedrolls, torches and other equipment one can’t be without in the wilds. We also find two small chests containing over eight hundred gold pieces. Most importantly I found a good composite longbow. I still can’t believe I forgot to buy one when we were in Suzail, Tannyth would call me adle-brained and I’m afraid I would have to agree with her. Our rescuers still haven’t spoken a word to us and we join them in a nightlong trek to the Desert Mouth Mountains.

16 Ches

We stop at the foothill of the mountains in a very defensible position Borric points out. The men start to make a camp and we finally thank our rescuer. He does indeed talk and tells us we will rest here until midnight. We ask him what the plan is and introduce ourselves. He tells us his name is Iskaren Themthyl and he asks how we got captured. We tell him the whole story and he seems interested by Darvear Huntinghorn. Varsk asks him what language the man had been speaking with his men. He answers that it is the language of his people. When we ask why he freed us the truth seems less romantic than we might have hoped. He tells us we were inside a target of his and as we are not his enemy, he figured the enemy of his enemy must be his friends.

When asked why he is at war with the Zhents, he tells us he’s not but he will attack them whenever he sees them. After this somewhat cryptic remark Varsk asks again what people he might be of. He let us know that, ‘we will hear of his people soon enough.’ ‘I am from a city and it is now in Anauroch.’ What a strange statement; it is now in Anauroch? When pressed, Iskaren tells us that the city flies! I guess anything is possible but this seems pretty far-fetched. Cadrach asks what exactly he is doing out here and he says he can’t talk about his mission. All that he can say is that he is travelling to a place called the Dales. He makes it sound as if it is some exotic place for him. The man tells us to get some sleep and walks away.

Not much later we see another shadowy figure appear next to our rescuer and after they have talked and gestured south and at the mountains our dark friend returns to us. The other figure has disappeared again and Iskaren tells us he has some bad news. The group has to leave, they have gotten new orders it seems. He tells us that forty miles to the south we can find a place called Shadow’s Gap and that we from there can get to Shadowdale. It seems he just got a crash course geography. The dark band leaves at once, they go north.

It doesn’t take any persuading from me, we all agree to not go to Shadowdale but to go back to the Fortress. My reasoning is that maybe now they still have Darvear and our money (I lost fifteen hundred gold pieces to the bastards) and they might not have their security back up to strength. I know I am not a violent or vengeful man, but these bandits just pissed me off big time. The others agree with my sentiments and after some sleep we leave for the fortress.

 

[Corran]

Journal for session 8 arrived sooner than expected. ;-)

I'll post the URL for the new website on Tuesday.

 

[Broccli_Head]

Friendly bump!