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<blockquote data-quote="SolidSnake" data-source="post: 57097" data-attributes="member: 102"><p><strong>Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Session 5- A Night of Revelry and Consequence (or “Where the party at?”)</strong></p><p></p><p>The people of Hommlet had not been so excited in ages. </p><p></p><p>The word had spread that Aramek was throwing a huge party at the Inn of the Welcome Wench and had bought up all the ale in town for the event. With nothing else going on, promises of free beer, and the knowledge that all the notables would be there, everyone in town planned to show up. The townspeople flocked to the Inn, so many that the crowd swelled and spilled onto the streets. </p><p></p><p>As the assembled numbers grew, Aramek kicked off the party by opening the first keg and letting out a roar “Let me party begin!” The masses let out a cheer, the local band struck up a catchy tune, and the party commenced. The brawny dwarf was in such a happy mood from the return of Strider and Merkaetyl that he insisted on paying the bill for every person in the party, and they acquiesced. </p><p></p><p>Aramek wanted to start with a bang, so he offered Ulek’s Elixir to his fellow adventurers, warning them that it was a dwarven spirit and could fell a horse! That description discouraged everyone except for the weird sorcerer who had joined the group, Phaersay. The quirky man accepted the elixir despite Aramek’s warnings, and the two took the shot together. The burly dwarf was fine, but Phaersay was immediately unconscious. Bandar, the self-appointed caretaker of the rowdy group, checked Phaersay’s pulse and took him outside for air - and there he remained until the next afternoon! Others took note of the drink’s effects and avoided it entirely. Lathander chose to sample several cocktails, under the watchful eye of Dr. Noh, his fellow Cleric of Pelor.</p><p></p><p>Merkaeytl and Strider both drank wine that loosened their restraints and their desires. Merk’s fragile health from the resurrection helped the wine go straight to her head, and she was soon dancing flirtatiously with the men around the bar. To the encouraging cheers of the crowd and especially Aramek’s rowdy hoots, she took to the tables and displayed some energetic elven steps. For every boisterous advance Merk took, Strider matched it elsewhere; when she danced closely with a guy, he danced with two women; when she hiked up her black leather halter-top, he took off his shirt. As the two competed, they watched each other out of the corner of their eyes, and it was clear to them and many around them how fast the sparks were flying. As the lithe elf did a gyrating dance on their table, Burne and Rufus gave each other a look of surprise (they were probably thinking: <em>this</em> was one of the party seeking to crush the Temple of Elemental Evil? She’s dancing on the tables after one drink! Lord help us…) They caught a glimpse of Aramek in the background, doing his third keg stand to the loud chants of his assembled admirers, and could not help but laugh at the young and fun-loving group.</p><p></p><p>Blissful Merk one-upped Strider in the flirting contest – as he danced without his shirt with some women, she sat Lathander down and did a sexy, eye-popping lap dance. Once it was done, Dr, Noh helped the blushed and sweating cleric outside for a breather. Strider responded by stripping to his loincloth, to the cheers of drunk Aramek. Finally Merkaetyl and Strider began dancing together, getting closer and closer, and spent the evening dancing and kissing. The sparks turned to flame...</p><p></p><p>Bandar surveyed the scene early in the morning, as the crowd thinned out and the party began winding down. The psion had leaned Phaersay against the wall of the Inn, and there he remained. The watchful dwarf saw Aramek truly drunk, yelling happily and incoherently, crashing around, even tossing an empty keg through the window of the Inn! Lathander had mixed too many types of alchohol and was sick before he passed out on a bench, with little Dr. Noh tending to him. Of particular note, Strider and Merk stumbled upstairs, presumably to Strider’s room. The celebration petered out, though Aramek refused to let it rest – finally he was arrested after he streaked through the streets of Hommlet, naked as a hairy dwarf can be, howling at the moon, knocking loudly on peoples’ doors and yelling for them to come back to his party because it had just begun. Aramek was none too pleased with Bandar, having “No respect in me fer non-drinkers,” and found that his fellow dwarf was a “Muther hen!”</p><p></p><p>The next morning Merkaeytl awoke in a bed that was not her own as the sunlight streamed through a window. Her mind was a muddle, so she reacted with a start when she saw Strider in bed next to her. Letting out a gasp of surprise, she wracked her brain to remember what had happened…even after considerable effort, she could remember nothing after she began dancing with Strider. <em>Oh no!</em> As she delicately slipped out of bed, she found that she was topless and that broke her daze. “STRIDER!” she yelled, throwing his pants at his face to wake him up. The warrior just turned over in his sleep. She was ready to throttle him, but the thought cut her short: <em>Did we…?</em> the question lingered, but Merk decided against waking up Strider, instead dressing and slipping out.</p><p></p><p>Downstairs she found the Inn looking as if a hurricane had swept through. Bandar, Vesta, and a few others were cleaning up broken bottles, broken glass, spilled food and drink, and the rest of the mess. Merk took the grim dwarf aside and asked whether he knew what happened between her and Strider, but he could only tell her what he’d seen while they were downstairs. Bandar could see her consternation and squeezed the elf’s delicate hand supportively. She forced a smile and went on a walk in the woods to clear her head, with her ferret Slim scurrying after.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the group took all day to rouse themselves, clean up, and become active. By dinner time, everyone but Aramek was awake and seated in the Inn. Strider had no idea why Merk was avoiding his gaze, and he wracked his brains trying to remember what had happened after they had gotten together on the dance floor. It was all a blur… as he thought, Bandar was telling the others some of the highlights of the celebration in a matter-of-fact manner. Few would have believed him if he weren’t so serious and meticulous about his recounting. The gruff dwarf finished with “I guess we’ll be ready to go by tomorrow. I’m going to go water Aramek.”</p><p></p><p>As the group broke up, Lathander drew Merkaeytl aside and asked her in an apologetic tone if she could refrain from dancing for him in the future. Not in a forgiving mood, Merk let him fumble around until he admitted that the lap dance was very good, it just made him uncomfortable. After toying with Lathander and then agreeing not to repeat the dance, Merk took a deep breath and faced Strider, who lingered to talk with her.</p><p></p><p>Strider: Merkaeytl, about last night…</p><p></p><p>Merk: (sharply) Did anything happen?</p><p></p><p>Strider: (confused) Huh? What are you talking about?</p><p></p><p>Merk: I awoke in your bed with my shirt off, and you had only your loincloth on. I ask again, <em>did anything happen?</em></p><p></p><p>Strider: (taken aback, fumbling) …woke in my bed? You did? I don’t remember…I mean, I’m sure you did, but only if you wanted to…</p><p></p><p>Merk: (deadly quiet) What did you say?</p><p></p><p>Strider: (desperate) Well…I…uh…we wouldn’t…you know…do it unless you were OK…I’m not like that…</p><p></p><p>Ignoring Strider’s fumbling and attempts to apologize, Merk went off on him, screaming in the middle of Hommlet’s town square, in earshot of everyone. She ranted about Strider ‘taking advantage’ of her for five straight minutes without a pause, then suddenly turned and stormed off, leaving Strider bewildered in her wake, flushed red from embarrassment. As the comely elf stalked off, the beleaguered warrior thought he saw Slim, Merk’s ferret, sticking its tongue out at him as it rode her shoulder away. <em>What a day…</em></p><p></p><p>The following morning the party had recovered and was prepared to leave. Nobody knew where Phaersay was – he had apparently wandered off and hadn’t been seen since. Merk showed up at the group’s breakfast table in the Inn, but she was not outfitted for travel. Without looking at Strider, she gave the group a partial map of the first dungeon level of the Temple of Elemental Evil. She briskly explained that her friend who had been with the party that attacked the Temple the last time had sketched her this map to help future parties in exploring the dungeon. The beautiful elf then announced that she was in debt to Burne for an expensive spell to partially restore her health, and she was too weak to adventure right now. Merk said she had signed on to work with Burne in his laboratory, learning about magic and earning money as she helped the experienced wizard. With that brief explanation, she took off, leaving the group momentarily stunned. Strider would have objected, but he decided it was best that Merk stay out of trouble, he didn’t want anything bad happening to her like last time. <em>I must protect her – I can’t live with myself if I lose another love. I was already helpless to save her, I won’t let that happen again.</em></p><p></p><p>After an uneventful three-day journey to the Temple, the party stood again before the foul edifice, all shuddering involuntarily. Steeling their nerves against the hazards that awaited them, the adventurers cautiously entered the top level of the Temple, and found the battlefield as they’d left it. Apparently, nobody below cared about the hobgoblin army on the top level, not even bothering to search them! The heroes found mostly the gear of their dead enemies – pots, bedrolls, weapons, food, and other junk. Besides the many altars and the central dais, there was little else to see. Beneath the altar, where the last party attacking the temple had fought earth elementals, the group found only huge manacles hanging from the wall. Presumably the Dire Ape had resided here until its release. Strangely, no trace of the former hallways and features around the room were still visible – the old passages were gone, and not even the dwarves could find any evidence of different stone-work to indicate where someone had closed up the area. The map was apparently useless, or the old first level of the temple had disappeared without trace.</p><p></p><p>Going back upstairs, Aramek started bashing down doors – Merk was not there to pick locks. The search turned up huge bags stuffed with coins and chests with assorted treasures. Every possible passage to the lower levels was blocked off with collapsed rubble or seemed never to have existed. Frustrated at the unexpected twist, the group proceeded outside and searched the cellar in the building to the north of the temple, trying to find an underground route into the lower levels. They found nothing in the cellar, leaving the tower as the only remaining means of entrance. Soon the adventurers were descending beneath the tower to the room Lathander’s goblin had revealed to them last time, and they entered the tunnel they had seen before. After so many switchbacks and turns that even the dwarves had no idea what direction they were going, the passage sloped up to the surface. Opening a door, they came out in a well outside a dilapidated, abandoned cottage in the forest, nowhere near where they expected to be.</p><p></p><p>Clearly there was no way into the Temple of Elemental Evil, if there was anything still down there. Certainly, nothing came or went from its depths without magic! Having no way to get in, the group threw up their hands and returned to the top level to gather their treasure. There was so much to carry they had to leave a few bigger pieces behind, and Strider constructed a sled of sorts to drag the gear. Even so, the journey back to Hommlet was longer than usual, and they arrived tired. At least this trip back was more cheerful than the last!</p><p></p><p>In Hommlet the adventurers met up with Merk and she accompanied them to a room in the Inn, where they sorted the treasure. The elf had had a chance to recover her composure, but she still gave Strider a wide berth. Needing someone to open the locked chests, Bandar went searching for Phaersay and discovered the bizarre sorcerer in a tree in town. The sorcerer apparently already knew that the group had returned and needed his help opening the chests. As the two walked back to the Inn, there was an awkward conversation. Phaersay’s random and mysterious comments about Boccob’s will and guidance were foreign to down-to-earth Bandar</p><p></p><p>The sorcerer soon opened the chests as the party asked, revealing more assorted valuables, then he wandered off again. Everyone looked puzzled at the strange man’s unpredictability, but they soon were absorbed by the task at hand. Merk took the valuables the party did not want or need and pawned them off to the halfling merchant Joeman Dart, who drives a very hard bargain. He’s bought most of the groups’ odds and ends since the group returned with the first goods found in the Moathouse. </p><p></p><p>Strider insisted that the money go towards restoring Merk’s remaining health problems from the ghost and resurrection, but she would have none of it. She was not planning to adventure and did not need the money as much as Strider or Lathander, who had similar health problems. Also, she was not used to hand-outs, and didn’t want the group spending so much on her. After much debate and posturing with Strider, an argument Aramek and Lathander tried to avoid to no avail. Finally, Merk and Strider agreed that Merk would accept them paying off her debt if Strider got himself and Lathander’s abilities restored, which would cost most of the group’s money. Devilishly, the warrior paid Cannoness the remaining amount to have Merk restored whenever she stopped by the temple, knowing that he would be out of town when she learned of the ruse. The rest of the group trusted Strider’s judgement on using their money, and nobody noticed that their leader had spent nearly all the group’s wealth on Merk!</p><p></p><p>After securing rations and new gear, the party was ready for the next step: but what was that step? The Temple seemingly abandoned, they had only one other option to pursue – finding Redithador’s killers. Strider’s face grew grim at the very mention of whomever had slain the elven bard in cold blood. The note mentioned the village of Rastor, beyond the Kron hills, the area Dr. Noh grew up in. The hills were home to the gnomes, and not too friendly to human outsiders because the gnomes were tired of Verbobonc rule and kept to themselves. Two weeks of journeying to Rastor passed without incident. As they moved through the Kron hills, the good doc convincing any gnomish scouts that the group meant no harm and was just passing through.</p><p></p><p>Rastor was a rough border town downhill from a mostly peaceful orcish settlement and on the edge of the infamous Crater ridge mines – dwarven mines that had been overrun by a tide of monsters some time ago. The group entered, surprised at the number of orc and half-orcs they saw alongside people of all the demi-human races. Entering the seedy Dirk Tavern, the adventurers split off to glean information from the bar’s patrons. Dr. Noh spoke with two gnomes, Aramek talked to some dwarves, Lathander tried to speak with some men, and Strider spoke with an orc and half-orc while Bandar observed them all. After some time, they gathered again and discussed what they had learned. Apparently the mines were still dangerous, crawling with monsters. People with ocre-colored robes travel back and forth to the mines and purchase things in town, though they talk to few of those in town. Hearing that Tal Chumish, a man mentioned in Redithador’s note, was a wagoner in Rastor, they tromped off to visit his business on the edge of town, only to learn that he had gone to the Inn.</p><p></p><p>Tal Chumish was quite a talker. The party waited for Strider to speak with him, but the colorful wagoner never seemed to end his tales to his friends so Strider could slip into the conversation. As last the warrior pulled Tal aside and talked to him about Redithador’s note. Tal said that he didn’t know Redithador, nor what the note meant. He rents out wagons all the time, some to men in ochre-colored robes, but had no idea what they did with the wagons or where they went. Strider attempted to explain to Tal that he may be in some danger, the man who wrote the note was killed, but the wagoner had a hard time taking Strider seriously. Frustrated, the warrior ended the conversation by saying “You better not know more than you are telling me. Keep an eye out, you may be in some danger.” Then Strider left the Dirk Tavern, followed closely by the rest of the group.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SolidSnake, post: 57097, member: 102"] [b]Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Session 5- A Night of Revelry and Consequence (or “Where the party at?”)[/b] The people of Hommlet had not been so excited in ages. The word had spread that Aramek was throwing a huge party at the Inn of the Welcome Wench and had bought up all the ale in town for the event. With nothing else going on, promises of free beer, and the knowledge that all the notables would be there, everyone in town planned to show up. The townspeople flocked to the Inn, so many that the crowd swelled and spilled onto the streets. As the assembled numbers grew, Aramek kicked off the party by opening the first keg and letting out a roar “Let me party begin!” The masses let out a cheer, the local band struck up a catchy tune, and the party commenced. The brawny dwarf was in such a happy mood from the return of Strider and Merkaetyl that he insisted on paying the bill for every person in the party, and they acquiesced. Aramek wanted to start with a bang, so he offered Ulek’s Elixir to his fellow adventurers, warning them that it was a dwarven spirit and could fell a horse! That description discouraged everyone except for the weird sorcerer who had joined the group, Phaersay. The quirky man accepted the elixir despite Aramek’s warnings, and the two took the shot together. The burly dwarf was fine, but Phaersay was immediately unconscious. Bandar, the self-appointed caretaker of the rowdy group, checked Phaersay’s pulse and took him outside for air - and there he remained until the next afternoon! Others took note of the drink’s effects and avoided it entirely. Lathander chose to sample several cocktails, under the watchful eye of Dr. Noh, his fellow Cleric of Pelor. Merkaeytl and Strider both drank wine that loosened their restraints and their desires. Merk’s fragile health from the resurrection helped the wine go straight to her head, and she was soon dancing flirtatiously with the men around the bar. To the encouraging cheers of the crowd and especially Aramek’s rowdy hoots, she took to the tables and displayed some energetic elven steps. For every boisterous advance Merk took, Strider matched it elsewhere; when she danced closely with a guy, he danced with two women; when she hiked up her black leather halter-top, he took off his shirt. As the two competed, they watched each other out of the corner of their eyes, and it was clear to them and many around them how fast the sparks were flying. As the lithe elf did a gyrating dance on their table, Burne and Rufus gave each other a look of surprise (they were probably thinking: [i]this[/i] was one of the party seeking to crush the Temple of Elemental Evil? She’s dancing on the tables after one drink! Lord help us…) They caught a glimpse of Aramek in the background, doing his third keg stand to the loud chants of his assembled admirers, and could not help but laugh at the young and fun-loving group. Blissful Merk one-upped Strider in the flirting contest – as he danced without his shirt with some women, she sat Lathander down and did a sexy, eye-popping lap dance. Once it was done, Dr, Noh helped the blushed and sweating cleric outside for a breather. Strider responded by stripping to his loincloth, to the cheers of drunk Aramek. Finally Merkaetyl and Strider began dancing together, getting closer and closer, and spent the evening dancing and kissing. The sparks turned to flame... Bandar surveyed the scene early in the morning, as the crowd thinned out and the party began winding down. The psion had leaned Phaersay against the wall of the Inn, and there he remained. The watchful dwarf saw Aramek truly drunk, yelling happily and incoherently, crashing around, even tossing an empty keg through the window of the Inn! Lathander had mixed too many types of alchohol and was sick before he passed out on a bench, with little Dr. Noh tending to him. Of particular note, Strider and Merk stumbled upstairs, presumably to Strider’s room. The celebration petered out, though Aramek refused to let it rest – finally he was arrested after he streaked through the streets of Hommlet, naked as a hairy dwarf can be, howling at the moon, knocking loudly on peoples’ doors and yelling for them to come back to his party because it had just begun. Aramek was none too pleased with Bandar, having “No respect in me fer non-drinkers,” and found that his fellow dwarf was a “Muther hen!” The next morning Merkaeytl awoke in a bed that was not her own as the sunlight streamed through a window. Her mind was a muddle, so she reacted with a start when she saw Strider in bed next to her. Letting out a gasp of surprise, she wracked her brain to remember what had happened…even after considerable effort, she could remember nothing after she began dancing with Strider. [i]Oh no![/i] As she delicately slipped out of bed, she found that she was topless and that broke her daze. “STRIDER!” she yelled, throwing his pants at his face to wake him up. The warrior just turned over in his sleep. She was ready to throttle him, but the thought cut her short: [i]Did we…?[/i] the question lingered, but Merk decided against waking up Strider, instead dressing and slipping out. Downstairs she found the Inn looking as if a hurricane had swept through. Bandar, Vesta, and a few others were cleaning up broken bottles, broken glass, spilled food and drink, and the rest of the mess. Merk took the grim dwarf aside and asked whether he knew what happened between her and Strider, but he could only tell her what he’d seen while they were downstairs. Bandar could see her consternation and squeezed the elf’s delicate hand supportively. She forced a smile and went on a walk in the woods to clear her head, with her ferret Slim scurrying after. The rest of the group took all day to rouse themselves, clean up, and become active. By dinner time, everyone but Aramek was awake and seated in the Inn. Strider had no idea why Merk was avoiding his gaze, and he wracked his brains trying to remember what had happened after they had gotten together on the dance floor. It was all a blur… as he thought, Bandar was telling the others some of the highlights of the celebration in a matter-of-fact manner. Few would have believed him if he weren’t so serious and meticulous about his recounting. The gruff dwarf finished with “I guess we’ll be ready to go by tomorrow. I’m going to go water Aramek.” As the group broke up, Lathander drew Merkaeytl aside and asked her in an apologetic tone if she could refrain from dancing for him in the future. Not in a forgiving mood, Merk let him fumble around until he admitted that the lap dance was very good, it just made him uncomfortable. After toying with Lathander and then agreeing not to repeat the dance, Merk took a deep breath and faced Strider, who lingered to talk with her. Strider: Merkaeytl, about last night… Merk: (sharply) Did anything happen? Strider: (confused) Huh? What are you talking about? Merk: I awoke in your bed with my shirt off, and you had only your loincloth on. I ask again, [i]did anything happen?[/i] Strider: (taken aback, fumbling) …woke in my bed? You did? I don’t remember…I mean, I’m sure you did, but only if you wanted to… Merk: (deadly quiet) What did you say? Strider: (desperate) Well…I…uh…we wouldn’t…you know…do it unless you were OK…I’m not like that… Ignoring Strider’s fumbling and attempts to apologize, Merk went off on him, screaming in the middle of Hommlet’s town square, in earshot of everyone. She ranted about Strider ‘taking advantage’ of her for five straight minutes without a pause, then suddenly turned and stormed off, leaving Strider bewildered in her wake, flushed red from embarrassment. As the comely elf stalked off, the beleaguered warrior thought he saw Slim, Merk’s ferret, sticking its tongue out at him as it rode her shoulder away. [i]What a day…[/i] The following morning the party had recovered and was prepared to leave. Nobody knew where Phaersay was – he had apparently wandered off and hadn’t been seen since. Merk showed up at the group’s breakfast table in the Inn, but she was not outfitted for travel. Without looking at Strider, she gave the group a partial map of the first dungeon level of the Temple of Elemental Evil. She briskly explained that her friend who had been with the party that attacked the Temple the last time had sketched her this map to help future parties in exploring the dungeon. The beautiful elf then announced that she was in debt to Burne for an expensive spell to partially restore her health, and she was too weak to adventure right now. Merk said she had signed on to work with Burne in his laboratory, learning about magic and earning money as she helped the experienced wizard. With that brief explanation, she took off, leaving the group momentarily stunned. Strider would have objected, but he decided it was best that Merk stay out of trouble, he didn’t want anything bad happening to her like last time. [i]I must protect her – I can’t live with myself if I lose another love. I was already helpless to save her, I won’t let that happen again.[/i] After an uneventful three-day journey to the Temple, the party stood again before the foul edifice, all shuddering involuntarily. Steeling their nerves against the hazards that awaited them, the adventurers cautiously entered the top level of the Temple, and found the battlefield as they’d left it. Apparently, nobody below cared about the hobgoblin army on the top level, not even bothering to search them! The heroes found mostly the gear of their dead enemies – pots, bedrolls, weapons, food, and other junk. Besides the many altars and the central dais, there was little else to see. Beneath the altar, where the last party attacking the temple had fought earth elementals, the group found only huge manacles hanging from the wall. Presumably the Dire Ape had resided here until its release. Strangely, no trace of the former hallways and features around the room were still visible – the old passages were gone, and not even the dwarves could find any evidence of different stone-work to indicate where someone had closed up the area. The map was apparently useless, or the old first level of the temple had disappeared without trace. Going back upstairs, Aramek started bashing down doors – Merk was not there to pick locks. The search turned up huge bags stuffed with coins and chests with assorted treasures. Every possible passage to the lower levels was blocked off with collapsed rubble or seemed never to have existed. Frustrated at the unexpected twist, the group proceeded outside and searched the cellar in the building to the north of the temple, trying to find an underground route into the lower levels. They found nothing in the cellar, leaving the tower as the only remaining means of entrance. Soon the adventurers were descending beneath the tower to the room Lathander’s goblin had revealed to them last time, and they entered the tunnel they had seen before. After so many switchbacks and turns that even the dwarves had no idea what direction they were going, the passage sloped up to the surface. Opening a door, they came out in a well outside a dilapidated, abandoned cottage in the forest, nowhere near where they expected to be. Clearly there was no way into the Temple of Elemental Evil, if there was anything still down there. Certainly, nothing came or went from its depths without magic! Having no way to get in, the group threw up their hands and returned to the top level to gather their treasure. There was so much to carry they had to leave a few bigger pieces behind, and Strider constructed a sled of sorts to drag the gear. Even so, the journey back to Hommlet was longer than usual, and they arrived tired. At least this trip back was more cheerful than the last! In Hommlet the adventurers met up with Merk and she accompanied them to a room in the Inn, where they sorted the treasure. The elf had had a chance to recover her composure, but she still gave Strider a wide berth. Needing someone to open the locked chests, Bandar went searching for Phaersay and discovered the bizarre sorcerer in a tree in town. The sorcerer apparently already knew that the group had returned and needed his help opening the chests. As the two walked back to the Inn, there was an awkward conversation. Phaersay’s random and mysterious comments about Boccob’s will and guidance were foreign to down-to-earth Bandar The sorcerer soon opened the chests as the party asked, revealing more assorted valuables, then he wandered off again. Everyone looked puzzled at the strange man’s unpredictability, but they soon were absorbed by the task at hand. Merk took the valuables the party did not want or need and pawned them off to the halfling merchant Joeman Dart, who drives a very hard bargain. He’s bought most of the groups’ odds and ends since the group returned with the first goods found in the Moathouse. Strider insisted that the money go towards restoring Merk’s remaining health problems from the ghost and resurrection, but she would have none of it. She was not planning to adventure and did not need the money as much as Strider or Lathander, who had similar health problems. Also, she was not used to hand-outs, and didn’t want the group spending so much on her. After much debate and posturing with Strider, an argument Aramek and Lathander tried to avoid to no avail. Finally, Merk and Strider agreed that Merk would accept them paying off her debt if Strider got himself and Lathander’s abilities restored, which would cost most of the group’s money. Devilishly, the warrior paid Cannoness the remaining amount to have Merk restored whenever she stopped by the temple, knowing that he would be out of town when she learned of the ruse. The rest of the group trusted Strider’s judgement on using their money, and nobody noticed that their leader had spent nearly all the group’s wealth on Merk! After securing rations and new gear, the party was ready for the next step: but what was that step? The Temple seemingly abandoned, they had only one other option to pursue – finding Redithador’s killers. Strider’s face grew grim at the very mention of whomever had slain the elven bard in cold blood. The note mentioned the village of Rastor, beyond the Kron hills, the area Dr. Noh grew up in. The hills were home to the gnomes, and not too friendly to human outsiders because the gnomes were tired of Verbobonc rule and kept to themselves. Two weeks of journeying to Rastor passed without incident. As they moved through the Kron hills, the good doc convincing any gnomish scouts that the group meant no harm and was just passing through. Rastor was a rough border town downhill from a mostly peaceful orcish settlement and on the edge of the infamous Crater ridge mines – dwarven mines that had been overrun by a tide of monsters some time ago. The group entered, surprised at the number of orc and half-orcs they saw alongside people of all the demi-human races. Entering the seedy Dirk Tavern, the adventurers split off to glean information from the bar’s patrons. Dr. Noh spoke with two gnomes, Aramek talked to some dwarves, Lathander tried to speak with some men, and Strider spoke with an orc and half-orc while Bandar observed them all. After some time, they gathered again and discussed what they had learned. Apparently the mines were still dangerous, crawling with monsters. People with ocre-colored robes travel back and forth to the mines and purchase things in town, though they talk to few of those in town. Hearing that Tal Chumish, a man mentioned in Redithador’s note, was a wagoner in Rastor, they tromped off to visit his business on the edge of town, only to learn that he had gone to the Inn. Tal Chumish was quite a talker. The party waited for Strider to speak with him, but the colorful wagoner never seemed to end his tales to his friends so Strider could slip into the conversation. As last the warrior pulled Tal aside and talked to him about Redithador’s note. Tal said that he didn’t know Redithador, nor what the note meant. He rents out wagons all the time, some to men in ochre-colored robes, but had no idea what they did with the wagons or where they went. Strider attempted to explain to Tal that he may be in some danger, the man who wrote the note was killed, but the wagoner had a hard time taking Strider seriously. Frustrated, the warrior ended the conversation by saying “You better not know more than you are telling me. Keep an eye out, you may be in some danger.” Then Strider left the Dirk Tavern, followed closely by the rest of the group. [/QUOTE]
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