[AU] The Ashes of Zahran (Massive Updates 2-13-04)

[WayneLigon]

The Ashes of Zahran

Three hundred years ago, the Giants came from across the ocean to free humans and the other races from the dramojh. A hundred years ago, they lifted their hand from the coastal regions and human governments gained ascendance. Fifty years ago, kings who chafed at the original division of land united and waged war against their fellows. Decades of ruin and battle have left their mark on the land and people.

Now little remains of the human lands. The wars have not so much ended as run out of steam; the resources to wage war on a large scale simply do not exist and so a shaky peace has fallen over the land.

Lawlessness prevails. Trade has slowed to a trickle, resulting in shortages of common items in many places. Mercenary bands roam the countryside looking for an employer. Failing that, they take what they need. Thieves and brigands thrive in the wastelands between strongholds. Cities have become battlegrounds and now many lie partially ruined. Mad kings and petty princes scheme in their high towers while spies seek to undo their works. Other powers grow strong in the land, seeing their opportunity come round at last.

The campaign will start in the city of Runestone, site of the first Giant landing on the continent and early beachhead in the war against the dramojh. Of all the coastal region cities, it has fared the best since it had the strongest walls and best defenses plus a cautious queen who has done much to steer her people through the past fifty years. Runestone is a seaport and a river port, with a good deep harbor, massive walls and fortifications that have withstood much over the last five hundred years. Once home to 150,000 people, it now has a population of 70,000.

Characters start at 1st level, using feats and abilities solely from the Arcana Unearthed core book.

[This is the initial teaser and handout to the players, giving them the basic situation and starting area.]

 

[WayneLigon]

Episode 1
The party consists of…
Keltset, male Litorian Totem Warrior (Wolf)
Sellik, male Verrik Mage Blade
Kyran, female Verrik Iron Witch
Mont Nuyen, male Human Unbound Unfettered
Alayah, female Loresong Faen Greenbond

Thirdmonth 1, a cold blustery and miserable day as a group of people assemble in the caravansarai of Runestone, having just arrived. They were acting as caravan guards and have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last few weeks of travel. Now cut loose from their previous employer, Master Branis, they mull over what to do next when a remark from Branis enflames Mont into drawing his blade on the man.

Not wanting to die (Branis has seen how good the young man is with his weapon), Branis calms and offers the brash men and women chance for further reward, as he knows of a friend in town in difficulty. Agreeing, the adventurers get settled in the Inn of the Three Candles, by TradeGate, and get washed off and fed before the meeting. They find the hospitality of the inn to meet all expectations and then some; the word they heard on the road was true. Fed and clean, they meet with Master Elard Runn, a human merchant. One of Runn’s indoor laborers has made off with a carved box containing a musical instrument; said instrument is of great personal value to Runn and he offers gold for it’s return. The servant can be bound over to the guards for all he cares.

Taking the directions and a rubbing Runn gives them of the unusual symbols on the box surface, they go down to the Laborer’s Quarter to seek out the former servant Ilin. They ask of various folk around the subdivided stone buildings entrance if this man is inside, and are told yes. A young man wearing a necklace of small seashells is stopped and asked to guide them up through the warren of small passages to the room this man uses. The adventurers go up and get into position; Keltset notices that the thin wooden walls are even flimsier than he at first thought. The huge feline bursts through the wall and sees the servant, two other men, and two goblin servants. His greatsword swings down and cuts one goblin in half from crown to crotch. “Where is the box?!” the Litorian roars at the top of his voice.

Mont throws darts through the wall opening and kills the other goblin. The servant Ilin is utterly intimidated by the swift savagery of the attack. He immediately gets the box and hands it to them, along with the other minor items he stole, all the while shocked into silence. Their objective met, they leave and deliver the items back to the merchant at his home before the man even arrives there from his afternoon business.

Satisfied they’ve made an impression on an influential man who can push more jobs their way, the adventurers retire back to the Inn. Mont entertains the main room and is so well-received that the place fills to capacity and stays that way until closing. People have been arriving in the city early for the spring festival and now word spreads of how good the Three Candles is. The innkeeper is well pleased and makes a deal with Mont for his room and board if he continues to bring in such custom.

Thirdsmonth 2 is as cold and wet as the previous day. Now the group rises early and goes to the main market to seek out announcements of work and bounties on criminals. They spot several but decide to make a point to seek out Drakon, a mass-murderer known to be at large in the city. The fact that he is mohj only sweetens the pot for most. They begin by going back to the site of the previous day’s events to see if the criminal servant knows a good person to go to for info. The room is now occupied by a completely different group of people, so they seek out the seashell-necklaced man once more and ask him. Nervously he directs them to the CrowGate, which is the entrance to the Lost Quarter (the poorest section of the city, much of it now in ruins).

On the way there, they hear sounds in an alley and look in; they then spring into action to stop a gang of town goblins from beating a young fishmonger to death. Killing the goblins, they heal the boy and give money to him for food and replacement clothing.

There they find the well-appointed shop of Tethya, a quickling faen who specializes in knowing things and finding people. For a price, she reveals where Drakon has been seen to hang out and where he frequents. They move to the most likely area and do indeed find tracks that indicate the mohj has been there. Mont, Alayah and Sellik check out the ruined temple and courtyard. Trying to see through the cracked walls into the interior, Mont is surprised by a green viper, which bites him on the nose and retreats. Alayah manages to stop the spread of the serpent’s venom but Mont is terribly weak from the debilitating effects; he still presses on, though.

Satisfied that Drakon is inside, they plan an ambush and lay in wait for him. They jump him and his kobold servants as he exits, and manage to kill him quickly before the serpent can hurt anyone else. They also ransack the temple of Khaelorr (some forgotten god), taking two ivory tusks from the twisted baboon bas-relief (depiction of the god?) over the dais. Leaving, they find a healer and stop to see him about the snake bite; more poultices are made and administered.

Taking the equipment to sell and collecting their reward from Ia-Ka, the Giant assistant to the guard captain for the market ward, they then place armor orders from a local leatherworker.

Next: The Spring Festival

 

[Tuerny]

Sounds good!

So why did you decide to use your own world rather than the Diamond Throne?


Jesse D.

 

[WayneLigon]

Sounds good!
So why did you decide to use your own world rather than the Diamond Throne?

I generally feel more comfortable doing that. I'm using some things from DT (I bought the PDF when it came out), but I wanted to do this entire idea of the ruined kingdoms.

 

[Tuerny]

I generally feel more comfortable doing that. I'm using some things from DT (I bought the PDF when it came out), but I wanted to do this entire idea of the ruined kingdoms.

Cool, I have been thinking about developing my own AU world (I am currently running a campaign in Jerad in the Diamond Throne), but I am not quite sure how I want to go about it.

Do you have any more material about the world then you have presented here that you would be willing to share? Perhaps in a thread in the Worldbuilding forum?

 

[WayneLigon]

Do you have any more material about the world then you have presented here that you would be willing to share? Perhaps in a thread in the Worldbuilding forum?

I'll be posting more with each update. It's a discovery process for the players as well, and I'm trying to take things slowly so we all learn how the new classes and spells operate.

The main continent map is at http://webpages.charter.net/wligon/Misc/Karhala1.jpg

 

[WayneLigon]

Episode 2: Descent in the Depths

The party consists of…
Vorz, male Litorian Totem Warrior (Wolf)
Sellik, male Verrik Mage Blade
Kyran, female Verrik Iron Witch
Mont Nuyen, male Human Unbound Unfettered
Alayah, female Loresong Faen Greenbond

(The part of Keltset is now being played by Vorz…)

Thirdmonth 3. The great spring festival of Landwarden is gearing up outside; many people have come in from the surrounding country areas and over the bay to trade and make new contracts. New people stream in through the gates, which are open late. The Inn of the Three Candles is jumping the night of the 2nd, with various entertainments cramming the small inn tighter than usual. Mont is subdued and quiet, doing only a couple of songs to provide variety. The serpent’s poison has done him ill and he still feels the debilitating effects despite Alayah’s ministrations. So the party sits at a large table near the fire and talks over what they wish to do over the next few days. Many early entertainers come in, including the Holly Queen, who distributes flowers and small nut-like cookies with fortunes in them.

The merriment fades as the hours wear on and finally the master of the inn calls it a night and bars the door. Several more people than usual bed down on the straw mattresses and rough blankets provided to those staying the night in the common room. The party forms a small circle around Mont, keeping him against the wall. Cautious since their encounter with the mojh, they set a light watch just in case the known criminal had friends who may wish to avenge him. Lucky that they do so, for in the very early morning hours, Alayah spots a shadow not cast by the flickering firelight, making it way down the wall towards Mont. She alerts the group, and Vorz picks up the sleeping Mont and places the short human behind him. The shadow changes from a vaguely human shape to that of a serpent and slithers along the floor towards Mont, ignoring the others. They attack, and Vorz’ weapon manages to disperse the undead creature.

The other patrons are of course awakened by the ruckus and most do not sleep for the rest of the short time until morning. Dawn comes with horns, bells, whistles and songs greeting the dawn of spring; processions and ceremonies, deep rituals and light-hearted play dominate the day. Sellik goes forth to question one of the Akashic scholars; he read about snake cults and such that used to be in the area. Mont uses his skills to talk up the locals and try to find out about any such cults, as they now suspect the ruined temple of Khaelorr to be the focal point of some new horrible worship. Mont runs across a young woodsman called Arad, in the city to see a relative of his, Iaska, a greenbond healer. Arad tells Mont about a ruined watchtower he stayed at during a storm; the squatters there gave him shelter. He was almost killed and eaten by them, one of which proved to be some sort of snake-shapeshifter. He provides a map to the place in the southern mountains where he encountered them two seasons ago.

Alayah, Kyran and Vorz go to participate in the various games of chance and skill; all enter the archery competition, which they lose. Vorz manages to win the blunted sword and hand-to-hand competitions, though, and win a small purse of silver. At the competition, they notice they’ve seen no Giant women, at all. Questioning a male Giant, they find that the females are all participating in a day-long ritual calling back spring into the land. That night and all night, the men will do a ritual that puts to bed the old year. Vorz, who was partially raised by Giants, is attracted to Ia-Ka, the second-in-command of the Guard whom they met earlier. He sees this as an opportunity to find her and get to know her better.

Vorz finds out that the Queen Arelora Inn is where Ia-Ka will be, so he arranges to go there along with Sellik, Alayah, and Kyran. Vorz finds the Giant woman with two friends of hers, and goes to join them. Aa-Kar and Ae-Torin are a warmain and magister respectively, and express concern over the shadow attack. They confer, then decide it might be best to return to the Inn of Three Candles so they can talk to Mont directly. The others follow, Alayah at a distance and under cover of darkness so she can see if they are followed. Kyran remains behind at the inn, since she finds the calm peaceful atmosphere of the Giant inn much more calming and orderly than the raucous Human celebrations.

Meanwhile, Mont has hooked up with a young human girl by the name of Eana; she’s a chandler’s apprentice and they seem to hit it off very well. Mont charms her to no end, though as the other re-appear with the Giant women in tow, Vorz can see a flicker of fear across her face that no-one else seems to notice. Ia-Ka questions Mont, listens to him and tells him of shadows. After the meeting, they also meet with Mellen, from the Akashic guild, and he tells them what he’s managed to learn about the worship of Khaelorr. The aspects of death and pain worship worry them. The discovery of a ruined temple to the old baboon god excites Mellen and he wishes for them to escort him to the ruins in the Lost Quarter.

That night is quiet. Vorz notices that Eana, who sleeps in Mont’s arms that night, positions herself so that if Mont were attacked, she would take the damage instead.

The next day, the group girds for exploration of the temple and courtyard once more. Going there, escorting the scholar through the dangerous Lost Quarter, they find more kobold tracks – fresh ones – going in and out of the courtyard and into the small temple ruins. Suddenly, they are attacked by kobold crossbowmen on the roofs surrounding the courtyard! They manage to kill the kobolds, after taking a few wounds themselves. They push on into the temple and find more kobolds, plus a leader-type with his undead zombie wolf! Battle is joined in the small temple ruin, and finally the party manages to prevail, even though Mont is wounded near to death by the kobold leader. Alayah manages to restore him to health, but almost exhausts herself to do so. Even the scholar Mellen fought, using a purloined kobold crossbow. They party notices that the crossbows and shortspears are new and fairly well-made, certainly not the normal possessions of ruin-dwelling kobolds.

Only one kobold managed to get away from the previous fight. The party confers and decides to push onward. They discover this time how to trip the hidden stairway (the stairs up to the dais also can sink into the floor, giving access to the long-ruined and mostly dry old sewer system. There, the discover ominous lizardman tracks, leading off into the darkness. Following for a short distance, they have a terrible encounter with the guards of the passage: two zombiefied troglodytes. Tremendously strong, the zombies claw Sellik almost to death when the young mage blade leaps out to engage them both at once. The small passgeway becomes a swirling melee as the party fights to kill the things. Terrible wounds are taken, bad enough that healing only a small amount exhaustes Alayah’s powers and a decision for retreat is made. They make their way back up the stairs and out through the Lost Quarter to the home of greenbond Iaska. A runner goes to get Ia-Ka, and they tell her the tale of their encounter while Iaska heals their wounds. Ia-Ka suggests the Steward may be generous to someone who could clear out whatever evil is festering beneath the city….

Is there a serpent cult beneath the city? How does Drakon figure into it? What is Eana's secret? Will Vorz and Ia-Ka hit it off or will Alayah's matchmaking come to naught? More answers next week....

 

[WayneLigon]

What do I use?

So far, I've used several items from the Diamond Throne fan site, including the name of the baboon god, the alley encounter with the goblins in episode #1, and several NPC write-ups (esp. Drakon). The Queen Arelorna Inn is a free Harn PDF download, revamped to the larger size the Giants require. I used the zombie troglodyte and skeleton wolf writeups from the miniatures set, so I could have the cards close at hand. Also, I use the dungeon tiles from issues of Dragon. This last episode saw use of the tiles from the Miniatures starter pack for parts of the sewer undergound.

Right now, I may well use the sewer adventure from the latest Dungeon as the serpentine temple.

 

[WayneLigon]

Episode 3: I Bring Fire To Our Enemies –or—Two There Are…

The party consists of…
Vorz, male Litorian Totem Warrior (Wolf)
Sellik, male Verrik Mage Blade
Kyran, female Verrik Iron Witch
Mont Nuyen, male Human Unbound Unfettered
Alayah, female Loresong Faen Greenbond
And joining our intrepid band… Na-Vilarus, male Giant Giant

Thirdmonth 5

Talking to Iaske, the party relates their latest exploit as the Greenbond Alayah helps her sister with the various infusions the party needs. Eager to aid against any incursion of the Dark, Iaske gifts the young heroes with potions of healing. Ia-Ka returns with Na-Vilarus, a young giant who has joined the Guard; she binds Na-Vilarus to aid the group with a series of oaths and sworn vows.

The next morning, the party checks on their armor and finds that the last bit of ordered armor, for Vorz, is ready. They talk with the armorer, and find out that the best swordsmith in the city is Tel-Morn, the Queen’s Own Bladesmith; other than he, the human Garas is the best. He also mentions the merchant Lorin, since they will hear of him from others, but he does not speak well of the man calling him a possible grave-robber and battlefield scavenger.

Next, they go to buy supplies from the chandler Telmos Copperwright, Eana’s master. They find him to be an affable man who is curious as the Mont’s intentions towards his apprentice; the man is quite protective of her now that she is close to being a Journeyman.

Armed with torches, more rope, and various other delving supplies the group once more descends into the ruins past Crowsgate, and go back to the ruined temple. It’s raining terribly hard and they are glad of the shelter the leaky temple provides before they open the hidden door and descend into the depths. They move to a collapsed section and can see light over the rubble; boosting Alayah up so she can see, they expose her to kobold crossbow fire! Coming away with a minor wound, Alayah stays back while burning oil and tossed darts take care of the small creatures. Scrambling over the collapsed section, the group finds a steep ramp; descending it, they find themselves in a terrible room full of bones and old blood, with two savage serpent/insect things that are pulling a kobold to bits. Seeing the party, the things mindlessly attack. The fight is a terrific one, the hideous things taking tremendous damage against their hides. One repeatedly attacks Mont, it’s entire head gaping open to reveal fanged jaws and a terrible bony extension of hooked mouthparts that works greedily. It apparently tries to fasten to his throat and drain blood, but to no avail. After a long fight, the hideous things lie dead; Mont takes particular care to kill them, and takes the head from one.

Ascending out of the abattoir, they happen upon the main mining shaft. The kobolds here are a particularly wretched lot; most flee from the sight of the insect/snake head, the others fall to the swords of the party. One kobold, in fact the same one that survived the courtyard fight days before, jumps down the shaft and scuttles into a lower tunnel. They also see that kobolds that fall down the shaft are snatched up by a muscular tentacle about fifty feet down and crushed into pudding before being dragged into the darkness.

An alarm has been sounded, so the group decides to return to the surface. They scramble back over the collapsed section only to find a group of kobolds waiting for them. They kill most of them, but keep two alive to take away for questioning. Removing to the run-down boarding house/inn they went to days before (they find the name of the place is The Hanged Dog, complete with cleaned dog skeleton). They encounter the young man with the seashell necklace once more and find his name is Conn. Using Conn’s room as an interrogation room, they browbeat the kobolds to find out what they know, which is precious little. A smaller kobold by name of Rizz survives the questioning and they take him along. Na-Vilarus even gets him clothes and shoes.

They take the bug/snake head to the scholar Mellen, who is greatly disturbed by the unnatural thing. He promises to relay the request to his superiors. The group goes back to the inn, bathes and eats.

Thirdmonth 5, Later that night….

The group rests for the remainder of the day and decides to make a night assault on the underground lair, seeking to kill what Rizz refers to as ‘The Master’. Now that the rain has stopped, they decide to find the well/shaft entrance to the west of the ruined temple. Coming upon the entrance, they find kobolds carrying away dirt and rubble sent up from below; watching over them are two lizardman guards and some hooded figure. The group decides to attack, and the hooded figure moves to divest itself of the concealing disguise in order to climb down the well. Revealed, the figure looks like a starved woman that’s been set on fire, with blackened flaking skin. Hissing at the approaching swordsmen, she drives her iron-like claws into the stone of the well and begins to climb down the shaft.

Vorz decides he cannot let this happen and leaps in after her! Grabbing her as he descends, he tries to simply grapple her until he can grab the rope. She doesn’t manage to hold onto the wall with the Litorian’s weight, and both go tumbling down the shaft. Seeing his friend do this, Mont also dives in after them, kicking himself off from the rim of the well to give himself added momentum as he follows his friend into the darkness.

Meanwhile the remainder of the group finds themselves in a tough fight against the lizardmen. Sellik rushes to the well to try and animate Votz’ greatsword so it can wedge them into the shaft, but fails. He turns back to the fight after seeing Mont use their momentum to swing the entire group into one of the corridors. The burned woman continues to struggle against Vorz, but to no avail as he tries to crush her in his powerful arms. The sudden change in direction pitches all onto the corridor floor and the woman rolls up free from Vorz’ grasp.

The undead woman attacks with her claws, and a great battle is joined; she can’t seem to lay a claw on Vorz, but neither can either of them seem to damage her much. After the lizardmen up top are killed, the group slides down Alayah’s rope and joins the fight one by one. The undead thing simply refuses to die, but the combined might of the entire party beating on her finally manage to drive her back down to dust. They recover a jeweled amulet that seemed to have been burned into her body, and leave to explore this new shaft. After a pitched battle with dire rats and their wererat-goblin leading them, the group once more finds their way back to the corridor they entered. Now taking the other passageway, they quickly come upon what Rizz refers to as the food storage area. It’s a prison.

There they find four humans, a man, a woman, a boy and a girl; all are in various states of privation. The woman detects as having some kind of disease but Alayah can’t determine what it is. They free the prisoners and tell them that if they’re not back in 30 minutes, that the escape route is up the way they came.

They find the serpent temple area, and with it the yuan-ti half-breed guardian/priest who is watching over this entire operation. Mont wants to flee, but after seeing the rest of the group wants to stay and fight, he dives back into the fray with the cultists. Ignoring the cultists, Mont makes for ‘The Master’, who reveals his serpent-bodied appearance and attacks. Battle is joined as they rest of the party dispatches the cultists and swarm ‘The Master’ in a devastating attack that puts the snake-man dead on the ground before he can even attack.

Clearing the area, the party takes the former prisoners and makes their way back to Iaske’s place of business; they rouse the healer from her bed and she is horrified to see the woman prisoners condition. Finally after knocking the woman out with drugs, she tells the rest of the party that she bears the teeming litter of the yaun-ti. Iaska informs them she’ll do her best to save the woman, but that if the infestation cannot be aborted.. the woman simply won’t wake up after the treatment.

Ia-Ka is summoned, and takes a report from Na-Vilarus as well as the rest of the party. Divying up the spoils from the temple, plus the reward from the Steward for ridding the city of these cultists, they discover that ‘The Master’s’ short sword is magical. A short conference is held, and the party begins to make it’s way back to the inn. Iaska does stop them with disturbing news. She tells them that ‘The Master’ must have a mate somewhere, and that the female is always deadlier than the male. Initial plans are made to use the map Arad gave them to investigate the ruined watchtower high in the mountains, but sleep seems like the best course of action now…
--
Everyone save Na-Vilarus is now second level.

 

[WayneLigon]

Episode 4: Return to The Undercity -or- Blood and Guts!
The party consists of…
Vorz, male Litorian Totem Warrior (Wolf)1/Litorian1
Sellik, male Verrik Mage Blade2
Kyran, female Verrik Iron Witch2
Mont Nuyen, male Human Unbound Unfettered2
Alayah, female Loresong Faen Greenbond2
Na-Vilarus, male Giant Giant1, Champion of Magic1
Rizz, male kobold Expert1

Thirdmonth 6

Mont rises early that morning and goes to pay a visit to the Chandler who is Eana’s master. He pays off her apprenticeship bond, then gives her 150 gold as starting money in case something happens to him. Eana, elevated to a free person (effectively), is more than happy to accept even while remaining apprehensive. The rest of the day is spent in happy fun activities for the pair. Vorz commissions a masterwork dire greatsword from Tel-Morn. Everyone else rests and plays for that day, before the next expedition. That night, the group hits one of the larger gambling houses near a better part of the city, in the Silver Quarter. Much money exchanges hands but alas none comes home with the group.

The group also upgrades their living arrangements. Thinking they’ll stay in the city longer than they expected, they take residence in the smaller of the inn’s two lofts; it has one exit and one small window overlooking the alley. They subdivide the space with cloth sections to provide a small amount of privacy.

Thirdmonth 7

The next day sees the party up early at sunrise, the first stop of the day being to make buckets full of ripe, stinking fish and bad rations; fishhooks are mixed up with the terrible-smelling guts to make bait for the tentacled thing in the pit. They go talk to Ia-Ka about the pit-thing, and she consults with the Steward and the quartermaster; she procures four Giant dire longspears, tipped with harpoon heads, and gives them to the party. Packing along the terrible weapons as well as fire, acid, and other things they stop by the healer’s abode near the Gate of Swords. Vorz studies Arad’s map.

They look in on the woman they rescued from the temple; Iaska tells them she’s managed to abort the terrible pregnancy but the ordeal may have poisoned her; she is terribly weak in any case and may not make it. The greenbond is making more medicines for the woman, and also prepares a Healers’ Bag for Alayah. They ask for and receive some paralysis poison to use on the creature; also a small vial of antidote in case there is an accident with the poison. She figures that the poison may slow a creature of that size, providing it’s not immune to such things. If a human were stuck with it, they’d die ‘as their lungs collapsed’.

They stop off in the Lost Quarter and find their ‘old friend’ Conn; with his aid, they hire 15 men to hold ropes and pitch the giant harpoons, and who are also willing to brave the depths of the undercity. Conn and the henchmen follow the party through Crowsgate, where they then consult with the Akashic Tethya, but she knows nothing of such a creature as they mention.

They then go back to the tunnels of the serpent temple and make their way through the now-vacated ruins to the pit. They fill the buckets with bait and lower them down.. the Thing comes out to eat the proffered food and is promptly skewered three times, shot with crossbow bolts and arrows, poisoned and set on fire. Screaming and howling of a sort can be heard as the tentacle thrashes about, trying to retreat down the tunnel. Finally, it rips two of the impaling spears out of it’s form and retreats. There is a sound like a rushing wind or an intaking of breath as all of a sudden air all around them moves down towards the bottom of the well. A couple of men almost pitch in, but they are roped together and stopped. The party decides to pursue and slides down silken ropes to the bottom.

They find a curious thing: the bottom of the well is covered in crushed and powdered bones. Also, from the lowest set of tunnels hang many burnt-black kobold bodies, wrapped in rope and hung over the edge via spikes in the tunnel floor to hold the ropes. Most of the bodies are now smashed into dust by the terrible thrashing of the tentacle. The party pursues the Thing, and sees the still-burning bulk of it far ahead down the tunnel. They follow, and find that the other end has been raggedly torn off, perhaps much as a lizard sheds it’s tail when caught, Up close the monster is if anything even worse. The narrow end of the tentacle actually splays open into several appendages; a thick throat is where they all meet, with rasping ridges to grind prey. The ends of the individual tentacles are tipped with eyes; multiple sucking mouths are situated all along the under ridge of each smaller tentacle. They make sure it burns and toss acid and fire on it, as much as they can pile on. They cut into the beast once they are sure it’s dead, and find little of value there, save some kobold bodies so compressed that they are like sticks of dried wood. Mont takes a couple of these to make novelty walking staves from.

Going back to the workers, they pay each of them 3 silver, while Conn gets 9 silver; three times the daily wages that could be expected. They then go to Ia-Ka to present their tale and collect what monies the Steward will give them for ridding the city of a terrible monster.

Afterwards, they go back to the serpent temple but find scratchy small quasi-kobold tracks coming out of it. Quickly they follow and rescue two small children from a swarm of fire-blackened kobold skeletons. The rest of the squatters have been brutally murdered. Taking the children and leaving them in the care of Iaska, who promises to find a home for them.

The party returns once more to the well entrance, finding that the bodies of the lizard men they’d killed earlier have been savaged by animals over time. Going down on ropes, they stop at the four-way tunnel intersection, the lowest level they know of. They pick a tunnel and follow it to a wider passageway, waiting area and set of doors, all guarded by four ogres who bear clean armor, well-made weapons, and a strange wooden token hung around their necks. The fight is a bloody one, and gets even more bloodier when Rizz manages to put the killing shot on an ogre. They give the ogre to him; he whips out his knives and disappears into the body for several minutes, emerging with a distended full belly, burping from the best meal he’s ever had. They sluice down the small creature and push through into the ogre lair. They find several caches of weapons, armors, and mundane equipment, which they repack and take. They even find a small magical dagger hidden in one of the ancient statues of the room. Pushing on through past a fall of rubble, they are surprised by two more ogres coming from deeper in the complex; they fight, and Vorz is seriously injured in the battle. Taking their loot and retreating, the party leaves without incident, and makes their way back to more civilized quarters.

They sell the weapons, and find that the marks suggest they used to be the gear belonging to a mercenary group that was wiped out a few months ago, while crossing a river ford. Sellik also commissions a masterwork longsword.