"Beast of Burden" & "Into the Fire"

[Silver Moon]

Game #9 - 12/21/03

Chapter 32, “Gheldaylin”, September 14th, 1019, 12:15 A.M.

Alton, Cassie, Mojo, Narg, Nahmi and Teakas are looking at the creature when Mojo glances at Nahmi and says “Hey guys, what have we decided to do with this guy?” Narg exclaims, “No. Absolutely not! No gnolls in the party. We have to draw the line somewhere!” Mojo replies, “Hey, if drew that line you’d have never been let into this party.” “And look where that’s gotten us,” Cassie sarcastically comments. Alton says, “Hey, he’s my kind of people, he’s hairy and grows things.”

It appears that Narg is going to lose this argument and he exclaims, “Well this is the last straw. From now on if I run into anyone that I don’t like I’m just going to kill them outright.” “How is that any different than what you do now?” Mojo replies. Alton tells Narg, “Look, we already have a gay bugbear on the island. How can this be any worse?” Narg says, “Okay, I give up. But I don’t want him anywhere near my house.” Mojo replies. “You barely let me go into your house.” “I think that’s more of his wife’s good judgment,” Cassie answers.

Since Cassie is still in dragon form she decides to obtain some samples from the creature, flying up and collecting blood as well as some pieces of torn flesh and muscle. She also flies by the rubble pile and gets a few scales that had broken off. She returns to the party and Mojo says, “What do you need that for?” “Analysis,” she replies. “I think you’re the one who needs analysis,” he answers.

They hear the sound of horses approaching from the town, and the party gets into a defensive stance. A dozen horses ride up and an armored woman dismounts. Teakas approaches her and they briefly converse. Teakas introduces the woman as Captain Ral Twarn, the leader of the town guard and also Gellyath’s cousin. She then introduces the Silver Moon Adventurers, explaining that the chimp and dragon are polymorphed party members “What do you want?” Cassie asks.

Ral says that they are concerned about the creature since it is still less than a mile from town, and they have come to post guard over it. Cassie explains that, “Its tired and resting. When it wakes up it is planning to teleport away from here.” Mojo adds, “Or it might decide to wander into town and (Grandma offending comment omitted). We’re not sure yet.” Cassie gestures to Mojo and comments, “What is it that the Queen sees in this Bozo?” Mojo reaches towards his belt buckle and replies, “Do you really want to see?” “You just keep those on,” Narg interjects.

Getting back to Ral, Cassie says, “Ignore him. Look, the creature is going to rest and then it will be going home to another world. We’ve also instructed it to stay away from your buildings. You have nothing further to worry about.” Mojo comments, “Hey, if it is going to teleport away shouldn’t we first load it up with all the people we’d like to get rid of?” “Starting with you?” Alton inquires. Mojo answers, “I was thinking more like the King, and possibly my cousin Lono.” Alton answers, “We just got one group of monsters off its back, why give it another?”

Ral tells the group, “Well, I’m happy to hear that, but we still want to keep an eye on it just to be safe.” Cassie suggests that they keep a distance, to which she says, “No problem. The horses don’t want to get too close to it anyway.” Ral then tells them, “The town is that way. Your friends Mark and Purge got rooms for you at the Gheldaylin Inn.” “A bed and a drink, you don’t have to tell me twice,” Narg comments. “Let’s go,” Mojo states. Alton and Cassie say that they plan to stay and keep an eye on the Kadtanach. Nahmi decides it is probably safer for him to avoid the town is well. The two fighters walk off. Teakas decides to fly back to the town as well. The other three bed down for the night.

Narg and Mojo soon arrive in town. Gheldaylin is a typical rural crossroads hamlet. The center of town consists of around twenty buildings surrounded by a wooden palisade fence. There are two inns in the community. One is named the “Cranky Rooster”, which has the refugee carts near it. The other is a sturdier stone structure with the sign “Gheldaylin Inn.” Mojo comments, “At least they picked the better establishment for us to stay at.”

They enter the building, seeing Mark and Purge sitting at a table and join them. Narg says, “I have one critically important question. Have we missed last call?” Purge replies, “No. With a giant monster less than a mile away this place isn’t planning to close.” Purge hands each of them a room key. Mojo quips, “Gee Purge, I’m really not that kind of guy. You have to get at least a drink into me first.” They order drinks and catch each other up on what is going on. Mark says that the town normally has a population of around 300, but that the overwhelming majority of the residents have evacuated. They finish their drinks and the four then head upstairs to their respective rooms.

Cassie is the first party member to awaken, finding it to now be well past dawn. The sun is shining down and she notices the rays of sunlight are shining through the Kadtanach, with it now being translucent. She approaches the creature and passes her hand through it, encountering a minimum of resistance similar to movement through water. She rejoins the others, and is pleased to see that the samples she collected are still solid. The town guards are pleased that the creature is fading away.

Cassie spends the next two hours using her dragon form and the four draft horses to start pulling the large harness straps away from the rubble pile. She is able to get several that had been attached to the torso, but all of the ones still fastened to the massive yoke are still buried under tons of rubble. “What do you want that for?” Alton asks. She says, “Are you kidding? These staps are made of a petrified leather and are 9-inches thick, 3-feet wide, and hundreds of feet long. There’s nothing like them on this world. I’m sure we can come up with something to use them for.” She instructs Ral to keep everyone away from the debris pile, claiming salvage rights. Ral agrees to rope off the area, pointing out that rocks are still falling from the hill, so they should keep people away for safety sake.

The four party members from town eventually join them. By this point it is almost gone, being only a faint outline. Alton passes his hand through the creature, finding no resistance at all. Cassie explains that she has read about inter-dimensional travel like that before, that the elvan timekeeper Lord Aldorn wrote about a mysterious cube-like structure that once visited the planet which took three days to solidify on this world and another three days to fade away when it was done.

By mid-morning the creature is totally gone. Cassie and Alton both transform back into their normal humanoid forms. Ral tells the party that she has just been notified that the gnoll prisoner they captured has regained consciousness and is currently in the town jail. Alton reminds the party that the gnoll was present in the room where Yeenoghu disappeared from and might have an ideas as to where he went. She also has brought horses for the party to ride back to town on.

They arrive at the town jail. Purge and Nahmi stay outside while the others head inside, with Nahmi reminding them that this gnoll was a Lieutentant and son of the gnoll chief. Mojo comments that the iron cage the gnoll is inside reminds him of a baby’s playpen. He goes up the side of the bars and says in a silly voice “Oh, what a big gnoll. Oh what a big gnoll!” Cassie says, “I’ll handle this.”

She says in the gnoll language, “Listen. We want some information from you. If you tell me what I want you will not be harmed.” He replies, “Of course you won’t harm me. You are only a woman. Can’t your men speak for themselves wench?” Cassie goes ballistic at that and surprises him by reaching into the cell and grabbing him. She then casts a reverse Hairy cantrip onto the beast, making him instantly bald. The others are repulsed at this, as the creature also wasn’t wearing any clothing. Mojo comments “What was that I said about ‘too much information’”

The gnoll is totally shocked by this. Narg says, “I’ll handle this. Listen pal, you just blew it. She was the only one of us who didn’t want to take your head off. Answer our questions NOW or I’ll let her do some real damage to you.” Cassie then adds to this by telling him in detail about the Kadtanach being gone, the buildings that it carried all being destroyed, the other gnolls all being dead, and that they are his only possible hope to live.”

The gnoll’s defiance is now gone. He answers their questions. He says that Yeenoghu only briefly took the form of the spectral hound, and that he then transformed back into his own form and teleported away. Alton says, “Makes sense, I partially recover from wounds when I change form. He must have too, since I hurt him pretty bad. I guess he needed to be better to use spells.” They ask where he would have gone. The gnoll tells them where Yeenoghu’s howdah had been located. “Where checked, he wasn’t there,” Mojo comments. “Maybe he was invisible,” Alton comments. “Nah, my visor would have seen that. He must have plane shifted away,” Mojo comments. “Well, we didn’t leave him anything to stick around for,” Narg adds.

They head back outside. Ral asks what should be done with the prisoner. “Whatever you want,” Purge comments “He was one of the leaders of that thing that attacked the other three towns. You may want to turn him over to the former authorities from those towns.” Ral comments, “Yeah, I imagine more of those refugees will be wandering in during the next day or two.”

Ral then invites the party to stay for around for lunch, saying that there will be a banquet to honor the heroes that saved the town. “Do you mean us?” Cassie comments. She answers, “You, and the Dragon Stalkers.” Several people are uncomfortable with the idea of sharing the accolades, but Narg points out “We probably should give them some of the credit. Didn’t the Dragon Stalkers lose something like seventeen guys fighting that thing?” “I think the actual number was two,” Purge points out. Narg responds, “I never was very good at math.”

 

[Blasphemonkey]

Just two curious questions on this Christmas morning (Happy Holidays!):

Cassie explains that, “Its tired and resting. When it wakes up it is planning to teleport away from here.”

How did they figure this out? Or were they just guessing that would happen?

Cassie explains that she has read about inter-dimensional travel like that before, that the elvan timekeeper Lord Aldorn wrote about a mysterious cube-like structure that once visited the planet which took three days to solidify on this world and another three days to fade away when it was done.

Is there anything to this story? Was it from another adventure that you ran or something?

Keep up the good work.

- Blasphemonkey

 

[Silver Moon]

How did they figure this out? Or were they just guessing that would happen?

Alton deduced that from the Kadtanach's thoughts (Chapter 30, paragraph 3).

Is there anything to this story? Was it from another adventure that you ran or something?

Actually it's foreshadowing for a future module. From the moment I first saw a Rubic's Cube I've been designing a module where a giant inter-dimensional cube will visit the world, each square being a patchwork quilt of a different world.


And now for the next chapter:

Chapter 33, “Heroes Honor”, September 14th, 1019, 11:15 A.M.

Cassie reminds the group that the Queen hasn’t been notified about what happened. Narg says to Mojo,“You need to call the little woman on your corkscrew.” Mojo replies, “If I had a little woman on my corkscrew I’d be a whole lot happier right now.” Cassie interjects, “He means you need to call the Queen on your communication device.” “I prefer my interpretation,” Mojo responds.

They decide to make the call in private. Mojo says he will handle it by himself, but Alton, Cassie, Mark and Narg insist on tagging along. They head back to the inn and up to the second floor. Mojo takes the combination bottle-opener and corkscrew and make the adjustments to activate it. The Queen immediately answers, having been waiting impatiently to find out what is going on. “Hi Honey, it’s me,” Mojo starts. The others then hear him say; “It’s gone. I defeated it single-handedly.” The others start yelling comments to the contrary.

Mojo gets then to calm down, then says to the Queen “Okay, fine, I had some help from my teammates.” Alton blurts out “YOU had some help? Where were you when I was fighting a god all by myself?” Mojo starts to give her a summary of what happened saying, “We got the monster to leave once we killed all of the smelly creatures on top of it.” Alton again comments “What is this WE he keeps talking about? I was the one who talked to the thing!” Mojo continues “We saved the Kralt Lordholding. Someday you’ll have to explain to us what we did that for?” Cassie yells, “Give me that! I’ll talk to her.”

Mojo refuses to share the communication device, turning around and holding it closer. He makes another comment, implying that the Kralt residents are even filthier than the gnolls. The Queen asks if there were any casualties and Mojo replies, “Nobody important, only Dragon Stalkers.”

Mojo smiles and they hear him say, “Sure, I’d be happy to stop by later for a reward.” Narg yells, “Just him or all of us?” Mojo frowns, and mutters “You guys are invited too. Must be a different type of reward than what I thought.” Cassie comments, “One track mind.” Cassie then has Mojo confirm that the Queen will grant the Silver Moon Adventures “salvage rights” to the debris pile. Mojo concludes the conversation by saying, “Okay honey, see you in a few hours. Bye.”

They head back outside for the luncheon. Several members of the Silver Moon Adventurers start to have second thoughts about attending the banquet when they discover that the four seats at the head table are reserved for the Dragon Stalkers. “I think we should hire ourselves a better publicist,” Narg comments. “Well, at least we don’t have to sit with them,” Mark adds. Cassie complains, “Let’s just skip this. We don’t need the aggravation.” Alton puts his foot down and says, “No, We’re staying! I’m tired, I’m hungry and I did more than the rest of you. If these people want to honor the heroes with a free meal we stay and accept it, even if we don’t get top billing.”

The main square in the town has now been filled up with the tables and chairs from both inns. The remaining people in town, plus the refugees, number around one hundred. The Silver Moon Adventurers are seated at a table adjacent with to the head table. Given the presence of the refugees, whose homes were destroyed by the gnolls, Nahmi decides to hide out in the Bag of Holding rather than attend the dinner.

The Dragon Stalkers make a grand entrance. Gellyath leads his team, his wounds all healed and attired in his finest silk clothing beneath his ring-mail vest, his flowing blonde hair neatly arranged. Teakas follows, wearing the decorative rather than functional version of her General of the Queen’s Army uniform. The ranger Kela follows. She is attired in a form fitting leather jerkin over cotton shirt and leggings, with her hair tied back in a ponytail and fastened with a fancy ribbon. The fourth and final member of this team is a gnoll. He is wearing a simple tunic, belted at the waist. The fur is burnt off of about a quarter of his body, revealing charred skin beneath. Much of his remaining fur appears burnt or singed. “That’s the senior druid!” Cassie exclaims. “I though he was dead,” Mojo comments. “Looks like he got better,” Alton adds.

The Silver Moon Adventurers approach the quartet. They nod greetings at the first three while Cassie and Alton head directly towards the gnoll. Narg and Mojo follow, with Narg muttering “Do we really need to visit this guy?” Mojo replies, “Yes, if we want to get rid of that other gnoll.” They introduce themselves and the gnoll introduces himself as Dalcom. Alton says, “I think we have something of yours, an apprentice named Nahmi.” Dalcom angrily replies, “Then you can keep him. I was tortured, incinerated and left for dead because of his actions. I never want to see him again!”

After a rather tense pause Mojo comments, “Well, Nothing that awful will ever happen to you again now that you’ve joined the Dragon Stalkers. They usually don’t get close enough to any real danger to get hurt.” Dalcom moves on, joining his newfound allies at the head table. Mojo comments, “Wait a minute, that guy’s joined the Dragon Stalkers, and he never wants to see Nahmi again. If we keep the guy then we never have to see the Dragon Stalkers again!” “Sold,” Narg interjects. Cassie tells Alton, “Guess that makes it unanimous.”

The Mayor of Gheldaylin stands and makes a great speech honoring the heroes. The towns priest then stands and talks about the two members of the Dragon Stalkers who perished. The party discovers that the deceased mage Asgorad had also come from Gheldaylin and was a childhood friend of Gellyath. Each of the Dragon Stalkers are mentioned by name and given time to make a speech, with Gellyath, Kela and Teakas speaking fondly of their fallen allies. Mojo mutters to Narg “Geesh, is this a banquet or a wake?” Narg answers “A little of both I think.”

The final speaker is Dalcom, and his speech actually interests the party. He tells of his background, having been forced to work for the being claiming to be Yeenoghu, who commanded the Kadtanach. He says that he was never a follower of that deity, but one does not say “No” to the god of your race. Dalcom states that his job was to cast Pass Without Trace spells behind the monster to keep armies from immediately tracking it. He assumed at first that the god could have done this himself but didn’t want to be bothered with this mundane task. Only later did he start to suspect that ‘Yeenoghu’ wasn’t who he claimed to be.

This suspicion was confirmed the previous day before, as Dalcom was interrogated and tortured by the being claiming to be Yeenoghu. Dalcom states “I answered his questions truthfully, but he still accused me of lying. The ability to detect lies is common among clerics, and a true god would certainly have that power. I knew then that he was a false god. I was later assisted by this town’s priest to inquire to his gods and my own about who this creature actually was, finding it to actually be a member of near-immortal race known as the celestials.” Dalcom concludes his speech by swearing his loyalty to his new friends the Dragon Stalkers and pledging to help protect this world.

The dinner is completed. Cassie talks to Ral about the debris pile, informing her that “The Queen has granted us salvage rights. Please keep everyone away from that pile. I’ll be returning tomorrow with a construction crew.” Cassie also makes arrangements with the inn to take care of the four draft horses until she returns.

The party heads back upstairs to one of the rooms. Nahmi is let out of the bag, and informed “We have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your master is alive. The bad news is that he never wants to see you again.” Alton volunteers to be Nahmi’s new instructor.

Cassie says that she needs a few minutes to restudy her Teleport spell. She discovers a footnote in her spell book that references the use of the spell in conjunction with a Helm of Teleportation, discovering that up to six teleports are possible with the use of a single spell! (1st Edition item description, the Helm having been acquired in a game way back in 1982) “Why didn’t we ever know that before?” Narg comments. Cassie replies, “Kharole probably did but she must have forgotten. It’s her helm, and she’s still not high enough in level to know the Teleport spell, so she probably didn’t consider it important enough to mention.” Alton says, “Well, that solves part of the problem of getting all of us to the Queen's Castle, since the Bags of Holding are currently all filled up with treasure!”

 

[Blasphemonkey]

Actually it's foreshadowing for a future module. From the moment I first saw a Rubic's Cube I've been designing a module where a giant inter-dimensional cube will visit the world, each square being a patchwork quilt of a different world.

Hey, that's a really neat idea. I have to conclude, though, that either you've been designing this module for about 20 years, or you've been out of the loop for awhile, as the good old Rubic's Cube came out in the early `80's.

As for myself, I eventually "solved" the Cube by rearranging all the little colored stickers on it. Whatta maroon.

- Blasphemonkey

 

[Silver Moon]

...I have to conclude, though, that either you've been designing this module for about 20 years, or you've been out of the loop for awhile, as the good old Rubic's Cube came out in the early `80's.

The former. I originally started planning that module as my second "Epic". I've now run five Epic-length modules (the latest being the frequently pimped "Chinese Take-out", played back in 2001) while that idea still remains in the development stage. Oh well, here's the last numbered chapter in this Story Hour (an Epilogue still to follow):


Chapter 34, “Audience with the Queen”, September 14th, 1019, 2:00 P.M.

The Silver Moon Adventurers arrive at the palace of Queen Jennifer, located in the city of Karjjil Valley in the Thenossia Lordholding. The palace is comprised of a large walled structure with a multi-story tower and several baileys with other buildings. (DM’s Note: Jennifer’s place is modeled after Richmond Castle of Yorkshire, England, a picture of which can be found at the following link: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/parade/hq69/Pages/hist_dia.html ).

The adventurers are escorted into the Great Hall where the Queen awaits them. She welcomes them and then asks for a detailed description of what transpired in Kralt. Narg does most of the talking, giving a fairly accurate summary with Cassie adding in key details that he misses. He concludes by telling her “Those Dragon Stalkers who you sent aren’t the most competent group in the world.” She rhetorically replies, “I know. Why do you think I asked you guys to go in there the day afterwards?”

Mojo interjects, “Why did you appoint them in the first place?” She answers, “Somebody needed the job. Look, I gave you guys the most important places. I appointed you to watch over Jawlt, where you live and several of you are political leaders, Thenossia, where I rule and you use to live, and Aldorn where the Lord is a close friend of yours who Cassie here has been named as a successor to.” “Okay, that makes sense,” Cassie comments.

Jennifer continues, “The Elucidators are competent and reside on the border of the East and Zalpar Lordholdings, so it made sense appointing them to watch over those lands plus the other central Lordholding of Kaloon. That left the Cantage, Eldamar and Kralt Lordholdings to go to someone else. I’m not really worried about Cantage, as it has its own 1,000 strong army and a fleet of ships to protect itself with.

Kralt and Eldamar are mostly forested lands where nothing much happens. The only real major community in both of those Lordholdings is Eldamar City where the Dragon Stalkers live and are the local heroes of. So it made sense to name them. Yeah, I know, your spin-off team Da’Bears also lives in Eldamar City, but it is to both your advantage and mine for them to continue to have a low profile for us to use for more clandestine operations. Besides, from what you’ve said, the Dragon Stalkers at least tried to help this time, so give them credit for that.”

The Queen summons a scholar advisor of hers and asks him what he knows about the race known as Celestials, which this false god apparently was a member of. The scholar says that he has heard of them but does not know any details and will need to research it further. He adds that he was under the impression that all Celestials were Lawful Good. Mojo comments “Well, this wouldn’t be the first time that a good guy was turned evil and sent to this world. Remember last year, when the evil Arch Mage Morgarth turned out to be the possessed Mordenkainen (Module #100, “Chinese Take-out”, the Story Hour of which is at the following link: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28642 ).

Cassie reiterates that she wants salvage rights to the debris pile in Gheldaylin, which the Queen now formally grants, writing this out and marking it with the official seal. The Queen then says, “Now, I wanted to give you some type of reward.” Mojo states, “Your praise is reward enough, Milady.” Alton yells, “Oh shut up Mojo. You weren’t the one wrestling with the god!” Mojo mutters, “No, I’d rather be wrestling with the Queen.”

The Queen brings out a collection of sixteen magic items to give the party. She explains that these were possessions of the former Halla Thief and Assassins Guild. That Guild had attempted to assassinate both the Queen and King two months earlier (Module #117, “League of Assassins”, the Story Hour of which is at the following link :http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37644 ). Jennifer states that she has retaliated by having the Guild eradicated.

The items consist of two broadswords, a shortsword, a hammer, a dagger, two rings, a pouch of sling bullets, a pair of gauntlets, a necklace, three potions, a protection scroll, a cloak, and a crimson rose. The magic properties of each item are explained to the party. Alton takes the rose, Mark takes the gauntlets, Cassie takes the dagger and one of the rings, Mojo takes the cloak and Nahmi takes the hammer. Neither Narg nor Purge see anything they particularly want and suggest that the remainder be added into the collection of Party Magic. Mojo’s player jokes that since Nahmi’s two weapons are now a hammer and sickle that he must be “Soviet gnoll”.

Jennifer comments that she was glad that she didn’t have to also send in the Elucidators, as their mage Lynne is currently pregnant and her husband Ji-Do Kwan objects to her adventuring in that condition. Narg comments that he was smart enough to let his pregnant wife Vallessa make that decision on her own, adding that “Since she no longer fits into her armor she’s more content to stay at home.” Cassie comments “I’ll have Ji-Do’s twin sister Jamie (another character of Cassie’s player) talk to him. She still adventured during her pregnancies.” Mark adds, “She would have had to, she was pregnant more often than not.”

The conversation is winding down and Cassie says that they should prepare to teleport back to Silver Moon Island. Mojo says, “Give me a few minutes, I need to go see somebody first.” “And who would that be?” Jennifer innocently asks. “A certain husband of yours,” is Mojo’s reply. She replies, “He’s not around here. He’s in his own section of the castle.” “I’ll find him,” Mojo answers. “You will not!,” she replies, adding “What is your problem?”

Cassie interjects, “He objects to your being back together with your husband.” Jennifer replies, “Why? It’s just a political arrangement so that I can directly control his two Lordholdings in addition to my own.” Mojo angrily yells, “Yeah, right, except that you’re also sleeping with him!” She answers, “We are not! Quite frankly, he’d probably prefer you to me.” “Huh?” Narg states. Jennifer walks over to Mojo, points her index finger against his chest, and says, “Look, Matthan and I have an arrangement. I’m discreet about my boyfriends and he in turn is discreet about his boyfriends.” Mojo has a shocked look on his face. Cassie just smiles, having figured that out a very long time ago.

Narg speak next, saying “Hold on? Are you saying that Matthan’s playing for the other team?” Jennifer replies, “Yes, but please keep that a secret. That secret was what his brother Toronas and the High Priestess Pamela used to control his actions.” Mark says, “So when he was courting you and those other two women…” Jennifer responds, “That was only to give him an heir. And it certainly worked in my favor, didn’t it?” Narg glances around and says “Now that you mention it, this palace does look like it’s recently gotten a ‘Queer Eye’ makeover.”

Mojo finally speaks, yelling to the Queen, “You could have mentioned something about that to ME!” Jennifer smiles and replies, “Ah, but it was such fun watching you get jealous.” Once everyone is finished having a laugh at Mojo’s expense he feels a renewed sense of self-confidence and tells them, “You guys move along home. I think I’ll stay here for a while.” Jennifer says, “Yes, I think the General and I need to confer about a number of things.”

The others take the hint and teleport home. Cassie finds her apprentice Hiroshi and works out arrangements to recruit a group of construction workers from his wife’s clan of miners from the orient for the salvage operation in Kralt. Several weeks pass before Mojo returns to the Island.

 

[Silver Moon]

Epilogue: November 20th, 1019:

Wurgul awakes Rizah from his deep slumber on this cold morning. They arise and look out from their temporary quarters, a dilapidated shack situated behind the larger inn. A dusting of snow covers the ground, the first snowfall of the year. “What an odd thing, this ‘snow’”, Wurgul comments. Rizah states agreement with his chief bodyguard. The world where they came from had a warmer climate and snow only existed atop the highest mountain peaks. They both head over to the back door at the inn and knock. The human cook opens the door and passes them a platter of food that they take back to the shack.

After consuming the majority of the food they then approach the slumbering bugbear in the far corner, awakening him and giving him the plate of remaining scraps. The bugbear named Ploth gobbles down the food quickly and then asks if there is more. Rizah replies “That is all they gave us. Dress and go ask the human for more. We are hungry too.” The bugbear gets dressed up in some fine woolen clothing, a fur cloak, and gold-plated cloak clasp, rings, necklace and bracers. Speaking in the gnoll language Wurgul comments “This ruse disgusts me.” Rizah replies, “And myself as well, but that bugbear tribe ruled our valley for many generations. It is to our advantage that all outsiders believe that they still do.”

The three head to the side door of the inn and go inside, remaining in the hallway outside of the dining room. The human trader Eberton is eating with his sons and then notices them, stands, and approaches the trio. The bugbear asks in broken common “The sale today?” Eberton replies, “Yes, in around two hours. Go and ready the wagon.” “Need more food,” the bugbear replies. “Are you animal creatures always hungry?” Eberton rhetorically asks, grabbing up a bowl of fruit and cheese from a side table and handing it to them. They eat the food and then head over to the stable and get the horses and wagon hitched up.

While waiting for the human and his two sons to join them Rizah reflects back upon the prior two months. After leaving the town of Gheldaylin, Rizah and his twenty-six gnoll followers traveled first to the south and then to the west, avoiding all humanoid settlements along the way. They used the lizard-riders to scout, but only sent the wyvern high aloft at the first light of dawn and last light of dusk, to avoid being seen. The aerial reconnaissance proved valuable, as it helped them to steer clear of the dwarven land of Northumberland.

The group stuck to less traveled roads, sending their cavalry troops ahead to scout, and all hid whenever groups of three or more travelers approached. Lone or paired travelers were stopped and interrogated for information before being killed, stripped of possessions, and buried where the bodies would not found. The group was eventually told of a valley where gnolls of this world resided, deep in the Thenossian Mountains, which then became the group’s destination.

They arrived to discover the gnoll tribe was subservient to a sizeable tribe of bugbears that ruled over the great valley and the surrounding mountains. Rizah learned that a second tribe of gnolls and a very large tribe of goblins also resided in the area and were vassals to the bugbear sovereign. Rizah invited the head of each of these three subjugated tribes to join his Leader’s Council and they then collectively plotted a revolt.

On a warm day in mid-October the King of the Bugbears was taken by surprise, being grabbed up by the wyvern. He was flown aloft and then dropped into the midst of the tribe from a great height. His sudden death immediately demoralized the remaining bugbears while simultaneously signaling all of the gnolls and goblins to attack their masters. No prisoners were taken, soon resulting in a group of only fifty bugbear survivors. These were predominantly women and children, holed up in the most defensible section of the cave lair. Those were then betrayed by the cowardly bugbear Ploth. He told Rizah of a secret entrance to the lair in exchange for the life of himself and his mate. The only other bugbears besides that couple who were left alive were infants and toddlers, as they were deemed young enough to be re-educated into the new tribe.

Rizah was named Chief and he appropriated the previous bugbear lair as his home and headquarters. The eight members of the Leader’s Council were each given the title of Sub-Chief with all honors accorded thereof. The combined tribe is now comprised of nearly 400 gnoll and goblin warriors, with each of the gnolls from Rizah’s original command given the rank of Kegyai or higher. For the past month these troops have engaged in military training exercises and raids upon any neighboring creatures that might prove to be a threat to his valley. The most successful of these raids was against a mother wyvern, which had four baby wyverns that were still at an age where they could be domesticated and trained for use as mounts.

Rizah saw to it that the carcass of the mother wyvern was skillfully skinned, knowing that it would be of great value as a trading commodity. He also had the organs and blood of the creature packed in mountain ice to preserve as components for spells or magic items. The bugbear tribe had traded with some distant human communities and a wagon was loaded up with the wyvern body. It was decided that they would approach these humans, presenting Ploth as the new Bugbear King with Rizah and Wurgul acting in the role of his servants.

In two days they reached the town of Almwell. The human trader Eberton agreed to take them to a large city some thirty miles west of his town where he would broker the sale of the items in exchange for one-third of the price which Rizah, through Ploth, agreed to. They traveled through the mountains and around Mount Karjjil, the continent’s highest peak, arriving in the city of Karjjil Valley two days ago. The city has a population of 25,000 with the residents being predominantly human. However, ogres and orcs had once ruled this mountainous region and a considerable number of half-ogres and half-orcs continued to live there. This tolerance towards monster-types meant that while Ploth, Rizah and Wergul received an occasional stare by passers-by nobody actually questioned their right to be there.

This morning’s wait ends, breaking Rizah from his thoughts as Eberton and his sons climb up onto the wagon. They leave the inn and proceed towards a large stone building in the center of the city. The building has no exterior walls, the roof being supported entirely by columns. It serves as an open marketplace and is presently crowded with people hawking their wares and a large number of shoppers. They circle around on the roads near the building, eventually locating an available space to park the wagon.

Eberton heads into the structure, returning with three individuals, two humans and an elf. One human is a tanner, who shows interest in the wyvern hide. He offers a sum of 900 gold pieces that Eberton says that is considerably low, asking for 1,600 instead. A sum of 1,230 is eventually settled upon. The other two individuals appear to be wizards or sorcerers and they are interested in purchasing the other wyvern components. Each wants different items, except for the heart that appeals to them both, and Eberton initiates a short auction for it. At the end of the transaction a total of 3,258 gold pieces are pledged. Arrangements are made to deliver the items to the homes of the three individuals and then collect the payments.

At the home of the elvan wizard a rather talkative apprentice helps with the unloading of the items and Rizah is able to glean considerable information from him about the city and continent. Rizah discovers that this city is the continent’s capitol and that a human female is the current ruler. Furthermore, she does not have a standing army, relying instead on three teams of adventurers for protection.

The loquacious human goes on to tell Rizah what he knows about the invasion in central Kralt two months earlier, where two of these adventuring teams had to be mobilized to stop a giant beast that had a gnoll city atop its back. The apprentice tells him “The leader of the invasion was a Hound Archon, a creature of the celestial race, who had claimed to be the gnoll deity Yeenoghu. The Hound Archon escaped capture and is rumored still on the continent, attempting to raise a monster army somewhere deep in the forests and hills of eastern Kralt.”

When the transactions are complete the group prepares to exit the city. Rizah is still processing all that he has heard, concluding that the entire continent is incredibly vulnerable and that the Queen is too overconfident. He concludes that the creature claiming to be Yeenoghu made the mistake of not understanding how this land was organized, and that with a little preparation the invasion could have been an overwhelming success. Rizah thinks to himself “Well, his loss has become my gain, and will continue to be so. If he is truly not Yeenoghu then I should be able to use that information to add his new forces to those of mine.”

As they pass near the outer gates of the Queen’s Palace, Rizah whispers something to Ploth. The bugbear tells Eberton “Stop the wagon. One of my servants has a cramp and needs to get out and stretch his legs.” Rizah climbs down from the wagon and approaches the large iron fence surround the outer castle grounds. He surveys the sizeable stone structure and the many stone walls surrounding the castle, evaluating all of its defenses. A human guard on the castle grounds eventually notices the gnoll standing there and approaches. The guard states from inside the fence “Hey, you flea-bitten mutt. What do you think you’re looking at?” Rizah gives the man a toothy grin, and replies in well-articulated common, “I am looking at my future home.”

The End

 

[Silver Moon]

Module #125 - Game #1 - 4/11/04

Chapter One, “Putting The Band Back Together”, January 14th 1020:

It has been a quiet three months since the Silver Moon Adventurers helped rid the world of the Kadtanach and its invading army of monsters (Module #120, “Beast of Burden”). The adventuring team has kept pretty much to itself (largely due to the four intervening modules being with the gaming group’s two other campaigns). The druid Serita has been spending much of the time in the city of Jawltorn, supervising the construction of the city’s new hospital A heavy winter has also set in, with major storms in early November and weekly storms thereafter.

The harbor on Silver Moon Island iced over in early December, preventing the arrival and departure of ships. As such, there have been very few visitors on the island. So it came as a bit of a surprise on this brisk January day when an old human wizard accompanied by a female centaur teleported onto the street outside of Jerry’s Tavern. The centaur thanked her companion for the ride and he teleported away. She entered the tavern. Jerry, the gnome proprietor of the establishment, recognized her as Brianna, a cleric of Mileiki who belongs to he adventuring team known as The Elucidators.

Brianna finds herself a table, moving aside a chair, orders up a meal and a bottle of wine. After the meal she seeks and is granted permission to travel to the Silver Moon School several miles inland. She arrives at the school and is greeted by the Headmistress of the school. Headmistress Jamie is the twin sister of one of Brianna’s teammate, a monk named Ji-Do-Kwan. They enter the parlor of the main house and Jamie’s cleric husband Vincenzo joins them.

Brianna gives her the good news, that former Silver Moon Adventurer Ji-Do-Kwan and his wife Lynne have become parents. As both had each been twins Jamie asks, “How many?” Brianna replies, “Too many. It seems that our Viking teammate has his dwarven sidekick gave the newlyweds a bottle of wine last spring, which they had spiked with a fertility potion. Do you know what happens when you add fertility to two people already inclined towards multiplicity? You get five!” Vincenzo comments, “Quintuplets! The most we’ve ever gotten is twins. I guess we’d better plan on those five joining the school in a few years.”

Jamie says, “I hope those fighters was punished for their practical joke.” Brianna replies, “Indeed they have been. Our team leader did not appreciate what they did, and spent over ten hours lecturing them.” “About what I’d expect from a cleric of Ukko,” Vincenzo comments. She says, “He then assigned them to handle all of the overnight feedings and changings.” Vincenzo states, “So what. They’ll just give the kids booze until they fall sleep.” She answers, “Not with Lynne’s brother supervising them. They have the night shift while the parents have the day shift. I came to give you the news and also to see if I can hang out here for the next several months. I’m not overly fond of human babies that cry day and night.”

The good news travels quickly around the Island, with Cassie commenting, “It sounds like the Elucidators will be out of commission for the indefinite future. The Queen assigned three of her Lordholdings to that team. Any guesses who she’ll call instead if something comes up?” Cassie’s speculation proves to be accurate, as five weeks later Mojo will receive a call from the Queen on his magical corkscrew/bottle opener/communication device.

February 17th , 1020:

Narg and Vallessa’s child is due to be born. They have temporarily moved into a room at Jerry’s Inn to be near the midwife Jamie and the clerics for the birth. The inn is also in close proximity to the Tavern for the celebration to follow. Mojo enters the tavern this day and approaches a table where Cassie, Jamie, Narg and Vincenzo are seated. Mojo announces, “I just heard from Queenie. The Dragonstalkers are tied up and the Elucidators are out of action, so she needs to have us head back up to the Kralt Lordholding for a mission. Apparently that guy who pretended to be the gnoll god is still hanging out in the area causing trouble.”

Narg blurts out “Great! Let’s Go!” Jamie gives him an icy stare and says, “NO! You’re not going anywhere Narg!” He replies, “But the Queen needs us!” She says, “She needs people whose wives will not be giving birth any day now!” Vincenzo tells Narg, “You’re not going to win this one.” Mojo tells Narg, “See you later. I’ll tell you how it all turns out.” Narg replies, “Like hell you will. You’re the Godfather. If I have to stay here then so do you.” Mojo says, “But the Queen…” Cassie interrupts, “The Queen wants a team to go on this mission. The team doesn’t have to include either of you. I’ll lead it, you stay here.”

She then asks Mojo if she can borrow his communication device. He says, “No, it’s mine. I’m going to be needing it.” “Fine, be that way,” she states and exits the tavern. Narg turns to his companion and says, “You’re planning to talk to the Queen again?.” Mojo replies, “Nah, but I’ll be needing the corkscrew and bottle opener. You will too, hours of labor are nothing to sit through while sober.”

Cassie decides to bring along the others from the previous Kralt mission, contacting both Alton and Mark to accompany her. Alton insists on having her cast a “Reduce” spell on his motorcycle and placing it inside one of the three Bags of Holding. He says, “I could have really used it last time and don’t want to be caught short again.”

The monk Purge has long since left the Island, so Cassie decides to fill his spot on the team with his female human monk protégé Luekia. She is a very unique individual and belongs to a rather reclusive order. She wears gloves, a birka and hooded cloak that cover everything except for her eyes. Like Mark, she had participated on a prior mission requiring aquatic transformation (Module #83, “Chariots of Water”) and can assume an aquatic form when triggered by a Dispel Magic spell. She has spent the better part of the past year trying to avoid a half-orc party member who has fallen in love with her, and quickly volunteers to go along when asked.

Cassie decides to bring along the dwarf Lannon on the mission. He is the party’s most experienced thief, although in many ways he is really just a frustrated fighter whose low strength didn’t warrant his going into the fighting profession. She rounds out the team with Timothy, a tall and very quiet human cleric of Ukko, who was also one of the founding members of the Silver Moon Adventures. Timothy and Luekia each make arrangements to have their pegasi looked after while they are away. Luekia also arranges to have an Invisibility spell cast onto her.

The six adventurers assemble back at Jerry’s Tavern, having gathered together the necessary supplies for the mission. Surprisingly, both Mojo and Narg are not around to see them off. Jerry, Jamie, Vincenzo and Vallessa wish them well, as Cassie’s five teammates climb into two of the three Bags of Holding. She picks up the bags and then teleports away to the Monastery of the Kralt Lordholder.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two, “What Has Transpired”, February 17th, 1020:

Cassie arrives in the meditation area where Purge had teleported the group to the previous year. She lets Alton, Lannon, Luekia, Mark and Timothy out of the bag and they approach the monastery. Eight monks are guarding the door, Alton commenting to the others “Looks like they’ve heightened security, there were only two last time.” Cassie wastes no time with conversation, announcing to the guards “We are the Silver Moon Adventurers. I believe that we are expected.”

They are led through the building and into the large meeting room with the elaborate tapestry depicting the Kralt Lordholding affixed to the wall. The monk greets each of them by name and thanks them for coming to help. Lannon notices something odd about an area on a side wall, which just doesn’t look right to his dwarven genes. Further concentration on the area shows it to be just slightly out-of-phase. He gets the Lordholder’s attention and gestures. The monk turns to the wall and says, “These are friends. You can reveal yourself.”

The party watches as a large humanoid form appears beside the wall. The form stands around 12 feet tall and is the exact same shade and texture as the wall, perfectly camouflaged. It then steps away from the wall, and the skin tone changes to the rocky hue normally associated with stone giants, this humanoid’s race. Timothy checks out the creature’s aura, quietly whispering to the others that it is neutral in alignment.

Assuming the giant to merely be a bodyguard, the party goes back to ignoring it, and Cassie asks, “So, what has transpired in the last five months?” The Lordholder replies, “Through a combination of clerical and magical means and interviewing of his captured past associates we have been able to derive a great deal of information about the enemy leader who commanded the great beast that attacked our land.” Cassie interrupts by asking, “Has the beast returned?” The monk replies, “No, it appears to have left our world for good. The enemy leader, however, has remained in Kralt and continues to cause trouble.”

“Who exactly is he?” Lannon asks. The Lordholder replies, “He is a creature known as a hound archon. It is a member of an immortal race known as the celestials. Think of a hound archon as an eternal lab-dog to the gods. “Ah, someone to fetch the cosmic slippers,” Alton quips. The monk continues, “Yes, and hound archons are all lawful-good in alignment, subservient to the wishes of their lawful good masters.” This hound archon had been sent to hunt down the evil wizardess Sykless that you fought atop the beast. “And she found a way to control it?” Cassie asks.

The monk replies, “Not exactly. Are any of you familiar with a magic item known as a ‘Mirror of Opposition’? Cassie replies, “Vaguely, it creates a type of opposite image doesn’t it?” He replies, “Yes, with all of the same powers but of the opposite alignment. And Sykless owned one. So when the archon came to capture her she used it on him. This opposite creature was equal in power to the good archon, and with Sykless’s assistance they were able to defeat and destroy the good one. She and the evil one then formed an evil alliance. She had the knowledge to capture the extra-plainer beast while he used his form and abilities to convince the gnolls that he was their deity.”

Mark comments, “That explains a lot. We didn’t see any such mirror in the howdahs on the beast.” The monk replies, “It was probably well hidden, as something that powerful is too dangerous to just leave sitting around. Given how violently that travelling gnoll city was reduced to rubble it is safe to say that the mirror no longer exists.”

“But the evil archon still does?” Lannon asks. The monk states, “Yes, and has been spending the last five months raising an army. He has all of the abilities of the original archon, including the ability to plane shift to the Seven Heavens, but since the beings there are opposite his alignment he is wise enough not to. That therefore leaves him stranded here on our world. Most of the land of eastern Kralt is wilderness, with few human settlements but lots of small disorganized lairs of humanoid monsters. It is these that he has been recruiting and organizing.

“And you’ve waited until now to call us?” Alton exclaims. The monk replies, “The Queen has sent two teams to deal with the threat. The Dragonstalkers have been in the Lordholding since November, being very effective with continuous strikes against the archon’s army using guerilla tactics and thereby driving his forces away from human towns.” Cassie exclaims, “That group has actually been effective? That’s new! That druid must have taken over the team.” The monk replies, “I concur. Gellyath remains team leader, but the gnoll druid Dalcom’s quest for vengeance against the archon does appear to now be the driving force for that team.”

“And the other team?” Luekia asks. He replies, “On loan to the Queen from your Lord Kindor, known as the ‘Suicide Squad’”. Alton states, “Oh, those bums. We captured them when they attacked our Island a while back (Module #98: ‘Retake the Island’). Kindor’s having them work-off their prison sentence.” The monk says, “Yes. Their assigned team leader and head guard is a high-level druid, and he has been coordinating his team's actions with the druid Dalcom on the other team. They’ve been hitting the enemy with two-pronged assaults.”

Lannon asks, “What is the make up of the archon’s army?” The monk replies, “The celestial has the most influence on animal-based creatures so the majority of his forces are comprised of gnolls and bugbears. He also has nearly total control on canines, and has drawn together most of the wolves of the Lordholding. He uses them as his first line of attack and so many wolves have been slain during the past three months that I fear we will have an overpopulation of deer next winter. Also among his troops a hobgoblin tribe who rides upon giant worg wolves, as the wolves were led to follow the archon and they chose to stay with their mounts. We have also heard rumors that the archon has attracted several lycanthrope followers of the werewolf and werebear races.” “He has been busy,” Alton comments.

“How large is his army?” Lannon inquires. The monk replies, “For the last several months it has numbered between 500 and 700, although that recently changed. He had continued his ruse of being the gnoll deity Yeenoghu but the deception was found out last month, and two-thirds of his forces then abandoned him.” “Where are those troops now?” Cassie asks. The monk replies “They are long gone. They must have feared retaliation for desertion from his remaining and future forces because they returned to their homes, packed up their families, and then left the Lordholding, disappearing into the mountains of Thenossia.”

“And his remaining troops?” Mark inquires. “Currently on a major offensive against the Dragonstalkers and Suicide Squad. The archon however is not with them, having retreated to the safety of his lair.” “Ah, I get it. That’s where you want us to strike,” Lannon exclaims. The monk replies, “Yes, we have just now found details as to the exact location of this lair.” The stone giant has remained silent until this point but now speaks in a deep baritone voice that resonates throughout the room stating, “He is in my home. I want him gone from there.”

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Three, “Entry Strategies”, February 17th, 1020:

Gesturing to the giant, the Lordholder states, “My friend is from a mountainous area of southeastern Kralt, not far from the border to the East Lordholding. He arrived here a few days ago with information about the archon’s whereabouts.” Looking towards the giant, Cassie says to him in the language of the Stone Giants “Please sir, tell us your story.”

The giant states, “The stone giant cavern was home to me and three of my friends. We thought it was well hidden and easy to defend, but this dog-like creature and his army still manged to invade. The giant guarding the area near the bridge was incinerated by the creature whose forces then overran our cavern. We fought hard but were overwhelmed by the greater numbers. I survived only due to my ability to blend into walls, staying in one place until I had an opportunity to get away. My friends were not as fortunate."

“I am sorry for your loss,” Cassie states. A long period of silence follows, until the giant finally says “I am told that you can help rid my home of this vermin.” “It’s what we do best,” Alton states. “Can you describe the layout of your home to us?” Lannon asks. The Kralt Lordholder says, “We can provide you with much more than that. One of my monks is a skilled cartographer and has been working for several days now in making a detailed map of the caverns.”

They are led over to a table in the corner of the room where a full-color map has been laid out. [Note: The map shown to them is the “Map of Mystery” from page #47 of Dungeon Magazine #108]

The ‘Stone Giant Caverns’ are comprised primarily of one very large chamber that is roughly a diagonal oval 100x300 feet in size with stones of various size breaking up the formation. Off from it are several more smaller chambers, one of which is identified as being the ‘Chieftan’s Cave’. “The leader is probably holed up in there,” Luekia comments.

There appears to be only one main entranceway, with a rope and stone bridge leading to it across a chasm. On the lair side of the bridge is a large grassy ledge, roughly 80x100 feet in size, From this ledge are two stone caves with staircases up into the main lair. Also higher up along the chasm wall is a smaller sentry ledge that looks out over the bridge. Lannon comments, “That will probably be too well defended. We should look for another way in.”

“Tell us about this underground river?” Luekia asks the giant. He explains that it flows from the east and passes by a side chamber of the lair, which is where the lair gets its water. “Could we swim in?” Luekia asks. The giant replies, “Probably not, it is totally underwater for over a half-mile leading to the liar. That was how I escaped, but I can hold my breath for up to half-an-hour.” “I think we can handle that one,” Cassie comments asking, “What exactly is located at that point the half-mile west?” He replies, “Just a ledge along the river to come up for air, then it goes underwater again for nearly a mile.”

Cassie asks Alton “Do you still have that amulet of ESP?” He indicates that he does and hands it to her. She explains to the giant that she needs him to visualize in his mind the ledge a half-mile west of the lair for her to capture that image in order to be able to teleport there. He shows reluctance to having his mind probed, but the Lordholder assures him, “It’s safe and she can be trusted. She’s only going to draw from you your surface thoughts, not what is deeper in your mind. Think only of the destination itself and that is all she will see.” The giant does as instructed and she focuses on the amulet’s power for a few minutes then says, “Okay, got it. Thanks.”

Looking back at the map Timothy comments “What is this large pit in the center of the main room?” The giant replies “It goes deep down to the center of the earth. We use it to get rid of our trash.” Alton comments, “We should be careful of it. You never know what this celestial may have pulled out from down there.”

Cassie asks the monk, “Did you find out anything about this hound archon’s powers?” He replies, “The creature can send flames from his hands. He apperat o have immunity to flames and like all celestials is partial immunity to other types of attack. He can mimic some spell abilities. He can assume the form of any canine, and like druidic transformations, gains partial healing with each transformation.” Alton says, “Yeah, I saw that one. I hit him with a powerful missile weapon last time, but he got better by changing into a funky dog.” The monk says, “Well, according to his followers he carries a deep visible scar on his head from that encounter, so he is not totally invulnerable.” Alton replies, “Damn, I knew I should have shot him again.”

The monk wishes them luck and the giant thanks them for attempting to rid his home of this vermin. Cassie has the group gather into two of the party’s bags of holding, and she then teleports away to the location derived from the giant’s thoughts.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Four, “Going with the Flow”, February 17th, 1020:

Cassie lets the group out of the Bags of Holding, with them now standing upon the ledge with the river flowing by. “Okay, how are we going to do this?” she asks. Luekia suggests that she and Mark be hit by a Dispel Magic to trigger their aquatic forms. Alton says that he could do a druidic transformation. Cassie points out that she could also use the Belt of Shape Change.

“Why don’t we do all,” Mark suggests. Cassie replies, “No, that’s risky too. This is a rather fast river and flows to a waterfall. More people means more chance of getting separated, hurt or seen by the enemy and ruin the element of surprise. I should probably go alone.” The others object to that, seeing that as dangerous also. They eventually decide to send just the two aquatics, as they are most comfortable in that environment.

Timothy tosses a dispel magic onto the pair, with Mark becoming a sea elf and Luekia becoming a triton. Mark had removed his armor prior to the transformation. Luekia waits until afterwards to remove her burka, her specific transformation magically made to create for her a solid black well-oiled skin suit beneath (similar to a modern wet suit) that like her other attire keeps all but her eyes covered. Each take a pair of party members in a Bag of Holding. Mark sheathes his magical sword with darkness now filling the cavern.

They enter the river, their eyes both adjusting to the darkness and they swim with the current keeping each other close. They are careful to avoid various protrusions in their path as they travel the underground river, staying with the widest flow as side passageways intersect off from it, as they would have been too narrow for the giant to swim through. They eventually reach an area where the river flows into an underwater cavern approximately 50 by 80 feet in length, with illumination coming from the surface above.

Luekia surfaces near where the river first breaks the surface, seeing a ledge area with several creatures on the opposite shore. She heads back down and swims with Mark closer to them, to where a large rock juts out to the surface around 30 feet from the ledge area. They surface behind the rock to use it for cover and then scout out the room. The ledge runs 60 feet east to west at its widest point and ranges from 20 to 60 feet north to south, the narrowest section being that closest to them. The area is lit by torches.

They see five creatures of two different races. Two appear to be large bears, standing upon two legs a few feet into the water. They have bags of clothing that they appear to be washing by beating them upon several rocks. The remaining three creatures are standing around some boulders at the far end of the room. They appear to be humanoid bears, possibly were-bears, and are wearing clothing and carrying weapons.

They cannot see part of the room from the angle they are at, so they head back below the water and swim over to another rock 50 feet further south. This turns out to be a wise move, as from here they can see the only exit from the room, a stone staircase leading up into the remainder of the complex. Standing on the stairs are a quartet of armed bugbears.

Luekia suggests that they carefully follow the river down to the waterfall to check out the other entrance. This reconnaissance shows that area and the ledge above it to be filled with over a dozen hobgoblins archers and several hobgoblins riding atop large worg wolves. Mark comments, “No good. Those wolves will smell us long before we ever get close.”

They return to the first cave and surface behind the second large rock, opening the bags of holding enough to converse with the others. Mark then alerts them to movement on shore. The waiting has paid off, as the bears have now finished the laundering. They collect the clothing in baskets and head back to the main complex, the four bugbears following them from the room. The three humanoid bears remain, now moving back to the area near where the bears had been and inspecting it. Mark comments “I’ll take three over nine any day.”

Battle plans are made. Luekia swims over to the first rock. They cannot see the three creatures from here, but that works both ways, so Lannon is let out of the bag. He climbs onto her back and she swims him the short distance to the side wall, which he begins to climb. Cassie is told by Luekie, “Be ready to shape change if I have to open the bag underwater.” Luekia stays with Lannon from beneath the water as he makes his way toward the landing.

Mark has meanwhile swum to the far end of the room, over near where the creatures had originally been, and stays just beneath the surface behind a small outcropping that provides a minimal of cover. Once Lannon is in position near the creatures Mark opens the bag just above the surface of the water and Timothy begins to climb out. Timothy’s voice fills the chamber from the spell he casts, a Silence over the stone staircase to block all future noise from this room.

The creatures react to the sound of a human voice echoing through the chamber. Luekia exits the water, creating a further distraction as Lannon drops from behind and backstabs one of the monsters. A second slash is all it takes for the creature to perish, its two companions charging towards Luekia who dives back beneath the water.

Timothy has now climbed onto the banks of the shore, and tosses a Hold Person spell onto the creatures, which fails to work. Alton hands Mark’s bow up to him and the sea elf stands at the waters edge, firing silver-tipped arrows at the monsters. Alton then climbs from the bag and illuminates the pair of remaining foes with a Faerie Fire spell to make them better targets for Mark.

With foes on several side the creatures back up towards the staircase and begin to run. Luekia lets Cassie out of the bag and she uses her Wand of Force to create a Force Wall several stairs up. The creatures collide abruptly with the wall, one falling back. They both then pound on the wall, finding no way through. The two decide to head back to the main chamber to fight, but the party are now ready for them and the battle ends quickly.

The party decide to do further reconnaissance. They decide to keep the Silence spell in place, but Cassie removes the Force Wall so that an invisible Lannon can now go check out the main chamber above. He finds the room appears similar to that on the map, except it has nearly fifty occupants. A bonfire is raging in the firepit, illuminating the vast chamber. These include around ten were-wolf type creatures, some larger than man-sized. Many wolves circle the room. Various other humanoid animals are also present, but he fails to see the creature he fought on the Kadtanach the previous autumn, although several rooms and side. A tweleve-foot tall bald albino wolf-man with various painted markings on his body stands by the fire chanting. One thing that concerns him most are piles of robes and horse barding lying in place around the pit. He returns to the others to tell them what he has seen and for them to plan further.