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

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 37, “Preparations for the big auction”, September 20, 1018:

The group of Cassie, Duegar, Fiona, Hiroshi, Kim, Lannon, Lono, Mark, Mojo and Toshiro gather in the main dining hall with two-dozen of the Ming’s for breakfast. “I’m not surprised that Timothy hasn’t joined us,” comments Fiona. Duegar again starts to explain his strategy of relating the half-minotaurs onto Morgarth. Fiona turns to him, and says “Listen, we’re not buying any half-minotaurs,” she then turns to Lono “or Polynesian women either.”

The Ming leader, Tac-Tung, asks what their strategy is. They tell him of their plan to purchase the Hengeyokai. He points out one possible snag, namely that the Ming Estate has a strict policy of no slaves allowed within their walls. “We’re not going to keep them slaves, we’re freeing them and bringing them home,” says Fiona. Tac-Tung answers, “I know, but you can’t bring them in here with the collars on, and if you take the collars off what’s to keep them from flying or running away and being recaptured in the city by somebody else?” He suggests that they find some alternative lodgings in this part of the city to bring them in the short-term.

In order to have some gauge as to how much money slaves might sell for she asks Tac-Tung. He answers that he does not know, that a few decades back the clan had actually gone to the auctions to purchase and free any captured dwarves, but that they discontinued that practice as it caused the slavers to go out of their way to find and capture dwarves.

Tac-Tung suggests going to the tax library, and consulting tax records for the auction house. Cassie, Aradyn and four Ming Estate guards leave to do this, with her reporting back mid-morning. She has found that human slaves tend to sell for between ten and twenty thousand gold pieces, common monsters for less, and other humanoid races for more. The highest price she saw listed, for a Fire Giant, was 120,000 gold pieces. They conclude that based on that they probably have enough for the Hengeyokai lot, although they may have to exceed the deposit amount and get some more money later.

They group prepares to head over to the auction. Since only twelve of the fourteen can go, they decide to leave behind Timothy, who is still hiding from Serita, and Narg, who is still asleep. Mojo asks Serita “Why did you say Timothy spent the money on gnomes?” She answers “He didn’t tell you? The fast-talking salesman who sold him the dust was a gnome.” “Ah, that clears a lot up,” comments Fiona.

They arrive at the auction house and put the additional 70,040 gold pieces that came from the Shosun auction as a deposit as well as 4,500 gold pieces from Mojo, 320 gold pieces from Lannon and 100 gold pieces from Toshiro. This brings their total to 422,631 gold pieces, allowing them to bid up to a total of 845,262 gold pieces.

They decide upon the three quartets for the auction. Lannon and Mojo both decide they want to sit with Kim, and Fiona joins them to ‘chaperone’. Both Mark and Serita conclude that they do not trust Lono, so join with Hiroshi. That leaves the group of Aradyn, Cassie, Duegar and Toshiro for the third table. Hiroshi’s group is escorted to a table near the front of the stage. He initially thinks this is due to his large credit balance, then discovers that this placement is due to Lono’s presence, with all those who showed a strong interest in Lot One getting up front seating.

The dinner begins, with the members of Lot One all being beverage servers for the two front rows of tables. Mojo comments “That’s disgusting. I think that the selling of women is repulsive, it goes against their dignity.” Lannon nearly chokes on his food hearing this.

At the table up front, Lono tries to appeal to Mark and Serita to purchase Lot One. Lono promises “I’ll clean up after them, and they’ll get plenty of exercise.” “Oh sure, you say that now,” comments Hiroshi.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 38, “How much for the little girl?”, September 20, 1018, 7:30 P.M.:

The auction begins, with Lot One, the Polynesian women, being placed up. The price keeps rising, largely due to the other patrons in the two front rows. Lono continues to plead to Hiroshi to bid, but he steadfastly agrees with Mark and Serita. The lot finally sells for 242,900 gold pieces, which meets the reserve price for the lot. Lono mutters softly “Damn. It’s back to drugging women in alleys.”

Lot Two is brought out on stage. Unlike the previous day’s preview, they were no longer attired in the plain gray clothing, instead wearing what the announcer stated was the “what they had on when captured.” This lot included the human middle-aged businessman, attired in fine silk and velvet clothing. He had no visible weapons, but was using a fancy cane as a walking stick. Beside him was his daughter, the bard, attired in a short chain-mail tunic and carrying a lute. Near them were the three human male fighter crewmembers, each wearing full plate armor and carrying weapons.

Also on stage was the human male druid, attired in leather armor, with a hooded cloak, and carrying a sprig of mistletoe. Beside him was Gritt “Red” Fire-sword, the male dwarf fighter, wearing armor but carrying no weapons. Next were the two gnome fighters, one middle aged the other younger, both wearing some type of armor and uniform and carrying shields and weapons.

At the very front of the stage are the male half-elf fighter, attired in expensive fancy clothing over what appears to be elvan chainmail, and brandishing a fancy looking long-sword that looks more ornamental than practical. Beside him are the male elf archer/ranger, wearing leather armor and carrying a longbow and the female elf cleric/fighter, wearing a full suit of elvan chainmail, cloak, with a shortbow and quiver of arrows on her back.

The bidding starts, with Toshiro entering a bid mid-way through. The prices get high, but not as high as from Lot One. It finally comes down to three bidders, then two. Toshiro’s competitor stops at 161,100 with Toshiro going one higher, and winning with a final price of 161,200 gold pieces. The sealed reserve price envelope is then opened, during which Hiroshi notices a man two tables over give the “waive the reserve price” signal, indicating that he is the seller and the price offered is sufficient. The auctioneer states that the price has met the reserve.

The group sits idly back as Lot Three, the fifteen Vikings, is brought out on stage and sold for a total 166,800 gold pieces, which is said meets the reserve price.

Lot Four, comprised of the twenty common monsters is brought out. Again, the group has no interest in this lot, but Mojo decides to take advantage of the fact that both Lannon and orcs are in the room together. He starts to quietly whisper comments to Lannon, trying to goad the dwarf into losing his cool in front of Kim, and thus eliminate a potential rival for her affection. Lannon starts to become irritated, but does not say anything. The lot reaches a bid of 152,000, which is announced to be less than the reserve price. The high bidder is given the option to raise his bid, but declines, so it will be split into five sub-lots.

The first sub-lot is the two hill giants, which sells above their reserve at 51,700 gold pieces. Next is the pair of hobgoblins, which is a non-reserve lot selling for 21,000 gold pieces. The five half-orcs are next, during which Mojo whispers to Lannon “now’s your chance, get’em and kill’em.” Lannon snaps back, loud enough for Kim to also hear “They’re half-orcs.” Seeing this as an opportunity to further impress the female half-dwarf, Mojo answers “I think interbreeding adds to diversity. Don’t you think that diversity adds to the races. You should try to be more open minded Lannon.” Commenting on the auction going on, Fiona gestures to the half-orcs, and says “We don’t want them!” Mojo says “Why not, I’m nothing if not open-minded.” “In more ways than one,” she replied. They sell for 51,800, again meeting the reserve.

The five orcs are up next, Mojo whispering to Lannon “Are those earrings the leader is wearing dwarf thumbs?” Lannon’s grip on the glass he is holding tightens, loudly breaking the glass in his hand. He starts to turn to snap at Mojo, but stops once he sees Kim-Sung looking at him with a puzzled look on her face. The orcs, the final reserve group, sell for 31,900 gold pieces. The six goblins go last, for only 10,600 gold pieces, which isn’t much given that the six slave collars and rings are worth two-thirds of that amount.

During the break before the next auction, Kim turns to both Lannon and Mojo and asks “What was that all about?” Before Lannon can answer Mojo says “He’s a little unstable upstairs, I think you need someone with more stability.”

Next up is Lot Five, the Hengeyokai. They are brought out on stage, unclothed while in biped (half-human, half-animal) form. They are of the cat, falcon, fox lynx, and rat sub-races, the cat and falcon being female, the other three male. Upon command by the auctioneer, they change to their full animal forms, then upon command again, change to full human forms. Again unclothed, it is clear that all five are young and healthy. Mojo comments “How dare they make them parade around without clothing.” “Like you’ve every complained before,” states Lannon.

The bidding starts, with considerable interest in this lot now from the two front rows. Toshiro enters the bidding, which gets up to 160,000 before slowing down to only three active bidders. This becomes two at 1,800, but doesn’t stop until Toshiro’s final bid of 197,200. The envelope is opened, and it is announced that this is below the reserve price. Toshiro is asked if he wishes to raise his bid. He increases it first to 199,000 then to 202,000, both of which are said to still be below the reserve. He is given one final opportunity to raise the price. Not wanting to bid too low again, he raises it to a full 300,000. It is announced that this is above the reserve (way above, in fact).

The final lot is brought out, consisting of the five half-minotaurs, four male and one female. They are all attired in armor, and carrying weapons. The males wear armor and tunics that leave the head, arms and legs free, and the female is in a full suit of plate mail. Much to the party’s surprise, they are all wearing holy symbols and accoutrements like those worn by Silver Moon member Vincenzo, and other Chaotic Good Twin Gods clerics. Other items on their person, such as necklaces, anklets and pouches, of a style and with markings that resemble those made by the this-world-equivalent of Native Americans. It is announced that the four-armed leader, while half-human, is only one-quarter Minotaur, the other quarter being a Type III Demon. This catches the attention of many of those present in the audience.

The bidding begins. Duegar keeps urging Toshiro to put in a bid. Toshiro turns to Cassie and Aradyn for advice. While they had both been previously opposed to this idea, the revelation that these are chaotic good Twin Gods followers has them now undecided. The bidding soon gets above 200,000, which Cassie tells Toshiro “Too much,” so he remains seated. The price finally gets up to 252,000. It is announced that this is less than the reserve price, and the high bidder, a Chinese aristocrat wearing fancy clothing at a table with a beautiful young lady and two burley bodyguards, does not increase. The lot is then split into three sub-lots.

The first sub-lot put up for bid is comprised of the three two-armed males. Bidding quickly gets up above 100,000, then slows. The previous high-bidder again wins, with a bid of 136,500, which is said to be above the reserve price. The second sub-lot is the female. Mojo actually considers putting in a bid, saying “She reminds me of the nurse-maid of my cousins Marathon and Mycroft. She was also a humanoid cow.” Lannon rhetorically comments “And you call me strange?” She sells for 32,400 gold pieces, and is purchased by a Chinese human dressed as a High Priest of Huan-Ti (one of the two Twin Gods deities). It is announced that this was the non-reserve sub-lot, meaning that the final auction of the leader has a reserve price.

As with the first sub-lot, the bidding quickly gets up to 80,000. The aristocrat that had been the high bidder and winner of the first sub-lot surprisingly drops out of the bidding at that point, with the field now narrowing to six active bidders. At 100,000 the bidding narrows to two bidders, when Duegar finally convinces Toshiro to stand and put in a bid of 102,000. The party members at the other two tables, especially Mark and Serita, give him surprised and angry looks. They relax as the other two active bidders go higher, and Toshiro doesn’t counter. The bidding finally stops at 105,300 when the auctioneer starts to announce “Going, going…” At Duegar’s insistance, Toshiro says “105,400”. The other bidder reluctantly goes to “105,500,” with Toshiro countering with “105,600”. The other bidder remains silent.

The DM tells the players that this is still below the reserve, but only slightly so, and that there is a seventy-percent chance the seller will accept this price. Percentile dice are rolled, falling within this percentile, so Toshiro becomes the winner of this sub-lot as the auction ends.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 39, “You bought a what?!”, September 20, 1018, 9:00 P.M:

The group gets together, with Hiroshi doing the math, and concluding that with the purchase of the three lots they have exceeded their cash deposit by 144,169 gold pieces, or 160,669 when you factor in what they still owe on the potion lot from two days earlier. Since they have paid enough to take all, they decide that this is as safe a place as any to leave the more unusual of their purchases (Lots Five and Six) in the short-term until they get enough cash. Since the man they know from Lot Two is wealthy, they decide to pay for this lot now, and hopefully get him to then reimburse them the full 162,000 gold pieces that they paid for the lot, which will then give them enough cash for the other purchases.

They have Toshiro deal with the auction house, while some of the others in the party go to find a hotel to bring them to, and the rest go back to the Ming Estate to get Narg and Timothy. Upon hearing that Duegar convinced Toshiro to purchase the four-armed part-minotaur leader for over 100,000 gold pieces, Timothy says “Good, now Serita can be really mad at somebody other than me.” Narg is also told of the group's purchases. Upon hearing about the part-minotaur he exclaims "You bought a what?!", and then becomes very quiet. Timothy asks him "What are you thinking?" Narg replies "I'm thinking that I should drinking heavily."

The fourteen characters meet at the auction house, where they are given the dozen magical rings, and instruction on their use. They are given three command words. The first will have the ring activate a small electrical charge in the slave collar. The second is a more powerful charge. They are told that the third and final command “Has the ring create ever increasing pain until the other person is dead.” Lono comments “I think they call that a wedding ring.”

The twelve acquisitions are turned over to their new ‘owners’, who take them to a nearby inn, where they have rented a suite comprised of a large living room and five adjoining bedrooms. The dwarf, Gritt Fire-sword glares angrily at Duegar during this short journey.

The group of Kim, Lannon, Mark, Mojo, Narg, Serita and Toshiro decide to take the businessman into one of the rooms for a private conversation. He insists on not being separated from his daughter, who they let come along too. It is clear that he still has not recognized Mark, Narg and Serita from their previous business transaction thirteen years earlier (not altogether surprising, as three other members of the group negotiated that purchase). Whereas the players for two of these three characters who met his man before are absent from this game the other players decide to postpone the discussion until the following week.

That leaves Aradyn, Cassie, Duegar, Fiona, Hiroshi, Lono and Timothy to watch the other ten. Fiona decides to be the group’s spokesperson, telling them that “We did not buy you to make slaves of you. We are actually saving you from your captors.” They appear to be extremely skeptical of this, the half-elf asking “Why?” Fiona continues “Your Captain is a former acquaintance of some of us, which is why we sought to help you.” The half-elf answers, “That man wasn’t our Captain, the ship’s Captain was killed by the pirates. He was the ship’s owner, and why have you separated us from him?” She answers that “The others are seeing if he will reimburse us of our expenses to buy your freedom.” The half-elf answers “I see. We’re now your hostages, and you’re holding us for ransom.”

Fiona answers “No! It just cost us a lot of money to get you, which we can’t afford to just give up right now.” The half-elf replies “Nice words, but it still sounds like ransom to me.” She points to Timothy, saying “He’s a lawful good cleric of Ukko, he wouldn’t participate in a kidnapping and ransom scheme.” The half-elf answers “How do we know that isn’t just a costume that he is wearing?” “Who on earth would intentionally pretend to be a cleric of Ukko?” states Aradyn. Lono turns to Timothy, and says “OK big guy. Do something a lawful good person would do, I know, buy a magic item at twice retail.” “He’s not going to let that one ride, is he?” Aradyn whispers to Cassie.

“He’s not the only religious one,” says Fiona, “we also have some druids.” The newly acquired druid perks up at this, asking “Who?” Fiona looks around, and then realizes that both druids, Kim and Serita, are in the next room. “They’re in the other room,” she says, “Why don’t we go get them.” She knocks on the door, saying “We could use some help out here.” Serita’s voice yells back through the door “Just a minute, we’re busy.”

Lono quietly suggests “Maybe we should tell them who we are, they might know of us.” Fiona answers back “Not a good idea, they may know of us, but not necessarily for favorable things we’ve done. Let’s just make them more comfortable, and perhaps they’ll relax a bit.” Fiona gestures to the couches and chairs in the room, and suggests that the ten have a seat. She then takes Duegar to go with her to go get some beverages. “A job that’s right up my alley,” he answers. On the way out of the room Duegar yells back at Timothy “And you, stay away from the gnomes.”

Meanwhile, Kim-Sung, Mark, Mojo, Narg, Serita and Toshiro are in one of he bedrooms of the suite where they have brought the businessman and his daughter for a private conversation. With her usual lack of tact and diplomacy, Serita begins the conversation with “Look, I don’t remember your name when we bought the Silver Moon from you, but we want the money we paid to get you. We don’t want you, we’re just out to kill a mage.” The very confused man answers “What?” Mojo interjects “She’s saying we once did business with you, and have helped you out, but want to be reimbursed.”

“Wait a minute, you’re saying we’ve met before?” the man asks. Narg says “Yeah, ever heard of a place called Lendore Island?” The man answers, “Of course, that is where we are from.” “Well, we bought a big ship from you there once,” Narg states. “What ship?” the man asks. “The Silver Moon!” Serita screams at him. Mark reminds her that they named the ship a while after they had purchased it. The man asks, “When did you buy this ship.” Mark answers “Thirteen years ago, a big three-masted ship.”

The man thinks for a few minutes, and then says, “Ah, you’re with the adventuring team that bought T-5-1.” “T-5-1?” Mojo asks. The man explains “Our designation. T for three-masted, 5 for the year 1005, 1 for the first of that type built that year.” He then says “And you’ve come all the way here to get your revenge against me for that?” This has the party confused, Mojo asking “Revenge, for what?” The man answers “For the design flaw. It wasn’t intentional, that was our first attempt at building a ship that large.” “WHAT DESIGN FLAW!” yells Serita. The man explains that the ship was built too wide for its length and number of sails, making it travel very slow in the water. “We’ve corrected for that” Serita answers [They have, using a magic item for additional propulsion]. “Then why are you here?” the man, who states his name as Laughlin, then asks.” The group summarizes their situation, and again asks if he can help with reimbursement.

He says that he has no idea of the present status of his finances back on Lendore Island, as he assumes that he has been declared dead, with this ex-wife and his business partner both now in possession of his fortune. He also says that he feels that his primary personal financial obligation is to the families of the passengers and crew who died at the hands of the pirates. He points out that, since he and his crew are company employees that he could get his company to reimburse the party for what they paid to free the four, which would be one-third of their total. He also says that he could also get his ex-wife to compensate them for their daughter. Of the passengers, the only one he knows of is the half-elf, Lanthros Pace, whose father is also a rich businessman from Lendore Island. He suggests that the party approach this man to get his son back. He also suggests they determine a fair charge for the “transportation” expense of the teleportation.

They head back out into the other room to talk to the other passengers. Laughlin explains the situation to the others. The passengers are asked their story. The female cleric/fighter named Ellowin is also from the Spindrift Islands, but her family has no money. She had ventured off to explore the world, and one-month later was captured by the pirates. The human druid, named Maple-twig, and the Elvin archer, named Hunter, were picked up on the western continent, from the Elvin forests two hundred miles south of Liebercrantz. Neither appears to have much in the line of assets, or rich families back home.

The two gnomes and the dwarf had been picked up at the ship’s next port of call, a port city near a mountainous region. The older gnome explains their story, how the three were with an army comprised of gnomes, dwarves and humans who were fighting a group of giants and orcs in the mountains. During a high-elevation battle the giants began an avalanche, which swept into the battalion of seventy-five gnomes and twenty-five dwarves that these three were with. The avalanche carried them over a cliff, where they fell approximately four to five hundred feet, onto rocks and ice below. These three miraculously survived, and dug themselves out. They were the only survivors, and spent the next day climbing back up to where they had been, were they found the rest of their army group had lost the battle. When the three finally caught up to the main army, the army had actually won, and the war was over. The three were discharged, and were heading home. They booked passage on the next ship home, which was then attacked by the pirates.

“Sounds like a long string of bad luck,” comments Mark. “Bad luck?”, counters Mojo, “These three are three of the world’s luckiest gnomes and dwarves ever! They should have been dead several times over, and now get bailed out of slavery by us, who are planning to just let them go.” Hiroshi asks about their fighting skills, and Laughlin attests to their having fought courageously against the pirates. Hiroshi says he will talk to the city leaders of the dwarven Ming clan and resident gnome Shang Clan about hiring them as guards of the Ming Estate, if they are interested. The three indicate that they are.

Serita and Laughlin prepare to teleport to Lendore Island. The half-elf Lanthros wishes to accompany them, but is not given the option, being asked instead to give them his ornamental sword and write a note for his father. Duegar and Mark also decide to join them.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 40, "You guys have a guest room, right?", September 20, 1018, 10:00 P.M.

Because of the time difference from the Orient it is 6:00 A.M. on Lendore Island when the group teleport in, arriving near the Laughlin & Whitehall Shipyard. The crisp sea air blows onto the beach, as the group looks out at the sea. "Well, at least the company is still in business" Laughlin notes, looking over at the business where three of the five dry-dock facilities have ships under construction, including a large six-mast merchant ship of the same design as the one that was lost to the pirates. He says it is too early for them to go see the half-elf’s father, so it would be best to check in with his partner or ex-wife. “Which one first?” Serita asks. “Both,” he answers, “They’re at the same house.”

They arrive at the house, Laughlin knocking on the door. A butler answers, and is totally flabbergasted at seeing who has knocked. “Hi there, me again!” Laughlin says, “Don’t bother announcing me, I’ll just do it myself,” he says, and rushes past the still shocked servant. The other three follow, Serita commenting “You’re enjoying this far too much.” He answers “Allow me this one indulgence, the rest of my day will be far less enjoyable, with me visiting the families of my deceased crew.”

He then busts into the dining room, where his partner and his ex-wife are both sitting down to breakfast. Laughlin blurts out “Hi honey, I’m home!” to the shocked expressions on their faces. She recovers quickly, and demands to know what happened to their daughter. Laughlin tells her “She’s safe, these people rescued us,” while pointing to Duegar, Mark and Serita. Duegar exclaims, “Great, breakfast time,” and pulls hops down into a empty chair at the table while grabbing a bowl full of fried eggs, using the serving spoon as his personal utensil.”

Laughlin goes on to explain how the ship was attacked by pirates and of their spending the last five months as property of slavers. He explains how the party bought them out of slavery, but had to borrow money to do it, and need to be reimbursed. The partner, who Laughlin warned the party is quite frugal, is reluctant to pay. Laughlin pressures him into coming up with the 55,134 gold pieces for the four employees.

He then gets his wife to commit to paying the 15,433 gold pieces for the daughter. “You’re paying half,” she tells him. “And what is the status of my personal wealth?” he asks her. She and her current husband exchange glances, with the maneventually saying “They found four bodies in the water, we thought you were all dead.”

“Just as I suspected,” Laughlin says, “Well, we can work that out later, just pay these people.” The partner says “It will take a while to get that much currency together.” Duegar leans back, propping his feet on the fancy table, and with a mouth full of food says “No problem, take you’re time, I’ll just stay here as long as it takes. You guys have a guest room, right?” A panicked look crosses the woman's face, and her husband says “I’ll get it today.”

Serita tells him to add in 2,000 gold pieces each for transportation back to the island. The partner balks at the amount, until Laughlin points out that they are now approximately ten thousand miles away, so would cost a lot to get home via any means. The party then leaves, Duegar gabbing some food “for the road,” as they leave. Serita comments to the dwarf “Well done, you have some uses after all.”

Next they visit Xavier Pace, the human father of the half-elf fighter. Laughlin decides that it is best for him to wait outside as they go to enter. The door is locked, but gives way with a little force from Duegar. The man, a distinguished and well-dressed middle-aged man sitting in a leather chair by an oak desk looks up, and says “We’re not open yet.” “You are now,” says Serita, “This is about your son” She gives him the sword and note, which basically instructs the father to “Pay these people”

Serita tells the man that they need 40,000 gold pieces, which causes the man to hesitate, and ask for confirmation that they really have his son. They then call in Laughlin, who enters the room, with Mr. Pace immediately yelling to him “What happened to my cargo?” Laughlin quickly relates what he and the boy have gone through for the past five months. The man agrees to get the money.

Two hours later the group are at the local bank, geting their money from the accounts of the shipping firm, Pace’s trading firm, and the Whitehill’s personal account. The party tells both Pace and Whitehill to expect the return of their children and crew within the next day. They four leave the bank, bidding farewell to Laughlin. Only then does Serita finally remove the slave collar from Laughlin’s neck, pocketing it. They teleport back to the hotel room in Y’Cho Kang.

September 21, 1018, 1:00 A.M.

Serita dumps Duegar and Mark from the bag of holding, and talks to Aradyn, who is on guard duty. He says that the Ming Estate has taken the two gnomes and the dwarf, reimbursing the party the 40,300 that they paid for them. Aradyn is told how much they were able to obtain in Lendore Island, and does some quick math to conclude that they now have enough to clear up their auction house debt with 198 gold pieces to spare. Serita gives Aradyn the bags of holding, telling him to closely guard them, and heads off to sleep. Duegar and Mark also conclude that sleep would be good.

In the morning, Serita teleports the five agreed upon acquisitions back to Lendore Island, leaving from that group only Ellowin, Hunter and Maple-twig. Mojo suggests that these three be dumped onto their spin-off group, Da’Bears, but Serita refuses to use up two teleports to do this (her ring has a maximum of six charges, and self-recharges one per day). It is decided to just keep these three until the party can come up with another alternative.

The group of Cassie, Fiona, Duegar, Hiroshi, Kim, Lannon, Mark, Serita and Toshiro head over to the auction house. They pick up the potions, then ask for the part-minotaur. He is brought out and given to the party. The party decides that it is best to engage him in conversation earlier rather than later, to let this massive and well armed (no pun intended) individual know their intentions.

Cassie explains to him that they are familiar with his religion, the Twin Gods, and that they have a party member who is a Twin Gods cleric. They explain that they did not purchase him to be a slave, but rather to help him. Duegar then starts telling him how they will make “A spot for you on our Island where you can bring your whole village to live.” Mojo stops Duegar, telling him, wait-a-second, we still haven’t decided if there’s a spot on the island for YOU yet.” Cassie tells the creature “We can figure out future arrangements later, right now we have rented rooms at a nearby inn, where we can go now to continue the conversation.” The creature indicates that this is acceptable, but that he would also like them to find out what happened to the other four half-minotaurs who had been sold.” “Fine,” says Serita, “but first things first and before we go to the inn we have one more lot from the auction that we have to pick up.” The group decides to wait until they are back at the inn to engage the Hengeyokai in conversation.

The Hengeyokai are brought out. The two females have been attired in bikini-style clothing. One of the men is in simple robes, another in armor and the third with a hooded cloak over robes. Kim speaks to them in the local language, telling them “We are not going to keep you as salves. We got you to set you free, but we also need your help. This is not a safe place to talk. Will you please come with us? We have lodgings nearby.”

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 41, "How to win friends and influence Hengeyokai", September 21, 1018, 9:00 A.M.

The Hengeyokai and the part-minotaur are brought back to the inn, where all fourteen of the party and their nine acquisitions get together in the main living room. The Hengeyokai are very apprehensive to the group. Serita begins the conversation, having Kim translate from common into the local tongue for them. Serita starts with “The evil mage who removed the protective wall is the one we are out to kill.” The Hengeyokai are unsure of what to make of this statement, and Aradyn comments “Gee Serita, maybe should give them a bit more background or context.” She continues, “We are not going to harm you. We purchased you from those jerks who took from your home.”

The female Hengeyokai of the falcon sub-race sub-race speaks to Kim, who translates her question of “Why?” Serita answers “So we won’t get ripped apart by your people.” “What was that about putting things into context,” Lannon murmurs to Aradyn. Mojo interjects “Tell them we bought them to release them, but not here, we need something from them first.” Kim translates this.

The female Hengeyokai then replies, in Common “So, what do you want.” Lono starts to speak, saying “Well Babe, now that you ask.” and then Mojo elbows him to shut up. Serita continues “We want safe passage through your territory.” “Well, that’s not all I want from her” Lono starts to say, until Duegar shoves a carrot into his mouth. Lono and Duegar start to engage in a wrestling match, Lono eventually getting the carrot dislodged, yelling to Duegar to leave him alone, “or else”, adding “Can’t you see I’m getting somewhere with them.”

Serita tells the Hengeyokai “Just ignore them. All we want is safe passage through you land, in order to kill the mage at the castle in the center.” “So you can set yourself up as the rulers there?” the female asks. “No,” yells Mojo, “We just want revenge, not to be your landlord.” “So you’ll let us free, but only if we take you to our land where you can be a danger to our people,” she comments. “You’ll be freed either way,” says Serita, “We just want your help.”

"Let me try" Hiroshi says. He then goes on to tell the Hengeyokai in the local tongue about how Morgarth not only attacked the party of the Silver Moon at their home, but was also the one responsible to removing the anti-magic barrier around the Hengeyokai biosphere. He explains that this evil Mage has the power to again remove this barrier, but how if the Silver Moon stops him it will remain safe and intact.

Meanwhile, Timothy has done a Detect Alignment on these creatures, identifying the speaker to be lawful good, the other female to be of good alignment, but the three male Hengeyokai to be evil aligned. He whispers this information to Serita, who tells the party “Some of them are evil,” gesturing to the Hengeyokai. The female speaker asks, “What is evil?” Mojo answers “Bad, not good.” “What is good?” she asks. The party then has a great deal of difficulty trying to explain these concepts without using the works good or evil as part of the definition. Finally, Cassie comes up with “Evil is those who take advantage of others and are destructive.” Mojo whispers to Narg “So far that describes most of our party.”

The female says “That is not us. We are not evil; we have harmed no one. It is your type who captured us and made us slaves.” Serita tries to explain Timothy’s power, as it was given to him by his gods, but might not work when dealing with their race, even though he thinks the three Hengeyokai are evil. The female replies “My people are not this evil. We do not enslave or capture others. We do not try to kill others. We all get along. I spit on your gods.”

Gesturing to the three males, Serita says “But do they follow the rules? Do they freely work with others?” The woman replies “All of us, all of us work together. We have heard stories of your type of person, making war, killing, we do not do this.” “What do you do?” asks Serita. “Trust, love,” the female answers. “Great, the Hengeyokai are a Hippie commune,” Mojo comments. “Why should I trust you, or any of you people?” the female asks. “You can trust me Babe,” says Lono, “I can offer you some love.”

“We only want the man who established the Castle in the middle of your area,” says Serita. “Established? You mean the Father of our Race.” “No, not Li-Tak,” interjects Hiroshi, “The one who lives there now.” “Ah, the Storm God,” she answers. “Yes,” says Mojo, “Our job is to destroy the Storm God. Will you help us?” She answers “We could maybe take you to a friend near the biosphere, who you could stay with while we consider this,” she says, still rather apprehensively. Lono says “Let me spend some time with her, I’ll convince her.” “Can’t you shut him up?” Serita asks to Mojo.

At this point the newly acquired human druid Maple-twig raises his hand to ask a question. Serita turns to him, and says, “Yeah, what do you want?” He answers “Am I to understand that you’re planning to take all of us with you to attack a god?” “Yes,” Serita says. Maple-twig says, “Can I remind you that I’m just a first level druid.” The Hengeyokai spokeswoman immediately reacts to this, moving towards him and enthusiastically saying “You’re a Druid! Our race befriends druids.” “Hey, we’re Druids too!” Serita interjects, gesturing to herself and Kim. “You don’t speak or act like any druid we’ve ever met,” the female tells Serita. Kim then introduces herself, the name getting a reaction from all of the Hengeyokai except for the one of the cat sub-race. The spokeswoman exclaims, “You’re Kim-Sung! We’ve heard of you. The Elders speak highly of you.”

Just as the Hengeyokai finally begin to act receptively to the party, Lono again starts to speak to her, saying “Listen Babe.” Before he can say anything further to mess this up both Timothy and Aradyn grab him, shove him into one of the bedrooms, and shut the door behind them. They hear Lono protesting and fighting to get free, then nothing, as Timothy casts a Silence spell inside the bedroom.

The female speaks to her four associates in the Hengeyokai language, then turns back to Kim and says “Kim-Sung, Leader of this group against the Storm God, we will help you.” Kim starts to say that she isn’t the leader, but Toshiro stops her with an abrupt “We would welcome your help.” The female repeats her previous offer to take the party to visit a friend near the biosphere, and asks when they want to leave. The party has a quick discussion, concluding that their business in the city is nearly finished.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 42, "This sounds like a really, really bad idea", September 21, 1018, 10:00 A.M.

The part-minotaur, who introduces himself as Cheveyo (which means "Spirit Warrior" in the Hopi language) reminds them that they have promised to help him find out about the others sold with his lot. Serita says, “Yes, we did agree to that.” Duegar, Mojo, Narg and Toshiro decide to join Serita and Cheveyo for this. They decide to begin at the Cathedral to Huan-Ti, as its High Priest had purchased the female half-minotaur. They travel through the city, getting many stares from passers by (probably due to either the nine-foot tall four-armed Cheveyo or the “kick me” sign that Mojo put on Narg’s back).

They arrive at the Cathedral, a large building with a stone foundation, atop which an oak structure with red-tinted glass windows. They enter, seeing that much of the interior is also red. There are statues of Huan-Ti, riding a chariot pulled by pegasi. A priest approaches them. Toshiro says they wish to see the High Priest, to which the priest immediately answers “Yes, come with me.” They are escorted to a back room, where the priest is seated in a large chair, with a table of opened books besides him. Seated in a chair near him is the female half-minotaur. She is still wearing her plate armor, but has removed the helmet. The group also notices both the slave collar is no longer on her neck, and the High Priest is not wearing the collar control ring. She is excited to see Cheveyo enter the room.

The High Priest looks to the party, and says in common “Good. You got my message.” Narg answers “Sure.” The Priest gestures to the female half-minotaur, and says, “She was concerned about what became of her friends.” “So was he,” says Serita, gesturing to the tall guy. The priest says, “As you can see, she is safe here. I had hoped to purchase the whole lot, but had limited funds, and was outbid on all but her. She is no longer a slave, and has agreed to join my church as a member of the clergy.”

The High Priest goes on to say that the other three half-minotaurs are also safe. The Emperor’s Treasurer purchased them, as he had need to new guards for his vault, as some past employees had been caught stealing In addition to strength, the half-minotaurs will provide a physical presence to deter future thefts. The High Priest had already made arrangements for him and the female to visit at the Emperor’s Estate each week, to observe religious services with the others. The priest then asks the party what their plans are for their captive. Serita and Mojo lead the conversation, explaining that many of their party follow the Twin Gods, and that was their interest in him. They say that he is not a slave, and is free to make his own decisions. The High Priest then invites him to live at the Cathedral.

The tall guy declines, stating that it might not be safe for either of them. He explains that, even through he is a follower and believer in the Twin Gods, he is still part-demon, and is harmed by things such as holy symbols and holy water. That is why the Twin Gods markings on his armor are only painted on rather than being metal holy symbols. He says that he has also inherited a quick temper from his demon heritage, which might make matters difficult between the High Priest and his followers. Mojo appears concerned about this new information of demon powers and a quick temper.

Cheveyo then goes on to tell something of his origin, how he and the others were raised by tribal humans (this world’s equivalent of Native Americans) who were followers of Hoturu, the Native American Wind and Weather God. Their peaceful life there was disrupted when the Minotaur tribe that their mothers had escaped from found them. For the safety of the tribe, the half-minotaurs then fled, and have been hunted down in the years since then. “Hunted down, hold on just a minute there.” says Mojo, “You mean there’s a whole group of minotaurs chasing after you.” “Oh no,” says the tall guy, which calms Mojo down until Cheveyo finishes with “They usually hire the local assassins guilds to do the hunting. If you see a single minotaur with a group of assassins it’s probably them.” “HOLD IT JUST ONE MINUTE THERE!” Mojo yells.

“So what are your plans?” the High Priest interjects. Cheveyo replies “Well, we came to this land since it was very far from our home, to throw off those after us. As Huan-Ti, the other deity of the Twin Gods, was worshipped here we thought it would be safe for us here. While I can think of no safer place for her (gesturing to the female half-minotaur) than to be protected by a High Priest, and it sounds like the Vault of the Emperor’s Estate is probably about the safest and best-guarded place in the city for the other three. My presence, however, could put them all at risk. On the off chance that our hunters do follow us to this place it is perhaps best that I move on, to draw them away from this area before the sanctuary of these four is found. I’m the one that the Minotaur chief, my father, really wants to get back. I guess I’ll go with these people (gesturing to Mojo, Narg and Serita).

Mojo starts to strongly protest, when Serita casually turns to Cheveyo and asks “Want to go kill a Storm God?” He replies “Sounds invigorating.” They leave the cathedral, Mojo stating that "Taking someone into the party who stands out, and is being hunted, sounds like a really, really bad idea."

Duegar, Mojo, Narg, Serita, Toshiro and Cheveyo are returning from the Huan-Ti Cathedral when a boy runs up to them and gives Toshiro the message that he is wanted back at the auction house. Serita swears in response, then the six head over in that direction. Rather than being any problem, the owner of the auction house instead has two messages for him. The first is that the High Priest wanted to talk to them, to which Serita says “Done it already.” The second is that the seller of the Hengeyokai has purchased tables for Hiroshi and Toshiro for the following week’s auction, where five more Hengeyokai will be auctioned off. The owner also says that he will reserve a selling space and buying table for Hiroshi at the following week’s gem and jewelry auction. They return to the inn.

The messages are relayed to Hiroshi. The Hengeyokai spokesperson wishes to know what the party is planning to do about the other five to be auctioned off. “Look,” says Narg, “I came here to take Morgarth's head off and am not planning to do any more anthropology or zoology.” “You’re just going to leave my comrades then, so be sold as pets?” she asks. Cassie tries to explain that they do not have the money to buy them. Kim tries to tell that that they can try. Lannon comments “So we’ll come out of this with a bigger menagerie and still no cash,” “Not fair,” a player answers, “I play this game to escape reality.”

Hiroshi intervenes, and explains to the spokeswoman that the party could maybe get money from the treasure pile of Storm God to buy them with. The spokeswoman wants him to pledge that they will do this. Hiroshi says that, while that is indeed their intentions, it is possible that they will not survive their battle with the Storm God, so he would not be comfortable making any pledges of their actions beyond the coming battle. This line of reason appeases the spokes-woman, but manages to get the druid Maple-twig even more upset, reiterating that as a first-level druid he really thinks it is a bad idea to take on a Storm God. “Don’t worry,” says Narg, “You may not die until the second or third day.” Gesturing to the three low-level additions, Mojo asks Narg “Are you trying to say these three are expendable?” “Let’s put them in red shirts,” is Serita’s reply.

The party decides that their business in the city of Y’Cho Kang is concluded, and that it is time to get to the biosphere. They do not trust the Hengeyokai with a teleportation device, nor are they fond of having to travel eight hundred miles. Looking at the map, they decide they could go to Chunming, which would be closer, but still several hundred miles from their final destination. Kim tells the party that she has actually seen the biosphere, from a hilltop eighty-five miles to the north of it. They debate having her teleport them directly to the sphere, but since she has only viewed it from a distance there is a sixteen-percent chance of teleportation error, as opposed to a three-percent chance if she teleports to the hilltop that she knows. Concluding that eighty-five miles is better than eight hundred, they opt for that. A reduce spell is cast on Cheveyo. Serita transforms to a bird and lands on Kim’s shoulder, and the others all go into the Bags of Holding. Kim picks up the bags, and teleports to the hilltop.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 43, "Reunion for Kim" September 21, 1018, 12:00 P.M.

The party is emptied out of the bags of holding, seeing a 270-degree viewpoint of the surrounding lands. There is nothing but forests as far as the eye can see. Kim is asked where the biosphere is. She gestures to the south, saying that it is transparent and can only be seen from here when the sunrise reflects off of it at dawn. “Dawn? Well, that’s no going to happen,” says Narg.

The slave collars are now removed from all nine of the acquisitions. The group has decided that the three 1st level adventurers from the slave auction would be safest in the elvan forests. Ellowin asks about where the elvan forests are. Kim replies that the group is now on the southern border of those forests and says “just head anywhere that way,” pointing to the north. The elves Ellowin and Hunter and the human druid Maple-twig bid the party farewell, and head off. “There goes the dead wood,” comments Lono. “Most of it anyway,” replies Narg, looking directly at Lono as he says it. The group sets off on foot, heading south, with Lannon complaining about all of the walking that the party has to do.

September 22 & 23, 1018:

The party spends two uneventful days traveling south. The five Hengeyokai keep to themselves, not interacting with the party any more than necessary. Cassie manages to teach Hiroshi his first magic-user cantrip, FireFinger. The group finds out a bit more of Cheveyo’s background. He tells of being raised by the this-world equivalent of Native Americans, and of his being a follower of Hoturu, the wind and weather god.

September 24, 1018, 10:00 A.M.:

The group arrives in the vicinity of the biosphere. The Hengeyokai spokeswoman, the one of the falcon sub-race, says that they are looking for a man named Chong-Tai. He is a fifth Level male Human Druid, who lives in the forests to the southwest of the biosphere. He has a falcon companion named Chu-Tai and they are friends to all of the Ki'Jor-lath, the Hengeyokai avian scouts, those of the falcon sub-race in particular

They arrive at Chong-Tai’s tree house home, and the five Hengeyokai investigate it. They find that Chong-Tai is not in residence. The female ranger of the cat sub-race assumes her biped cat form, and investigates the area for scents. She finds that the human scents are two weeks old, but that there are fresher scents of two gnomes and an orc. They relate this to the party, with Lono commenting “Maybe it was just Timothy, wearing orc boots so he could be with the gnomes and throw us off.” The four rangers (the spokeswoman, humanoid cat, Aradyn and Mark) check for tracks. [The group also has a side discussion on how they are now violating Gary Gygax's original rule about how no more than three rangers could ever operate in one place. "Gee, does that mean that the world will now explode?" one of the player's asks.]

They eventually find a trail, with they follow for about a mile, the party following behind. At that point the Hengeyokai stop and ask the party to wait there, then immediately disappear into the forest. “Where the hell did they go?” Narg asks. “They didn’t say,” answers Kim, “just for us to wait here.”

About twenty minutes later the Hengeyokai return, now each carrying weapons. To say that this upsets Narg would be an understatement. “What transpires here,” Mojo yells out, beating Aradyn to his signature line. The spokeswoman tells him that since Chong-Tai is missing something is apparently wrong, they were uncomfortable traveling through this area unarmed. They knew of a weapons cache nearby, so they decided to arm themselves. Narg informs her that she could have told them in advance what they were doing.

The group continues onward, with the humanoid cat ranger now finding an even fresher trail, comprised of three gnomes, three elves and an orc. They continue to follow this for a mile until a pair of half-elves, one male the other female, emerge from behind two trees. Both half-elves are armed, but not carrying the weapons in a threatening manner. Kim-Sung recognizes them both (refer to Chapter 25, "Kim's Story") telling the party that she knows these two. She approaches them, accompanied by Aradyn. After a brief conversation, the party agrees to accompany the half-elves back to their camp. When asked about the druid Chong-Tai, the two half-elves exchange glances, the male saying “We’ll tell you once we are in the safety of our camp.”

The group travels for about a mile, arriving at a camp, in a small thinner forested section surrounded by a very thick and heavily overgrown-forested area. There are three others present, two gnomes and a half-orc. The older of the two gnomes is dressed in cloth clothing, and surrounded by small animals. The other two are attired as monks. Both Kim and the older gnome are excited to see each other and embrace, with Mojo muttering, “I’ll have what he’s having.” “Lucky bastard,” Lannon mutters. Narg turns to both Lannon and Mojo, commenting “You two love-struck dopes would wander in front of a buzz-saw for her.” “If that’s what she wants,” Mojo answers. “I should bang your heads together,” Narg answers. “If that would please her,” Mojo replies. Lono tells Timothy “Hey, she’s got a thing for male gnomes too!”

The male half-elf introduces himself as Way-Elorra-Chun, and introduces the female half-elf as his sister Mei-Elorra-Chun. He says that their mother, May-Elorra, is the leader of the Elorra-Eng Team. She is currently out on a scouting mission along with the party’s mage, Yulo-Eng, brother of the older gnome and father of the gnome monk. The older gnome is introduced as Yun-Eng, and Kim tells the party that he is her druidic teacher and mentor. The gnome monk is introduced as Yala-Eng, and the half-orc monk is introduced as Chi. Lannon is very apprehensive of the half-orc, but is in a calmer than usual mood today, so hasn't tried to kill him (yet).

Way explains that they are currently observing a large group of slavers who have set up a camp five miles away. These slavers have been in the area for the past month, and number nearly two hundred. They all have horses, and have been practicing the capture of animals, apparently for an assault on the biosphere. Lannon mutters “Great, now that we’ve done all this walking we finally find a place to get mounts.” Way says that his party was first alerted to the presence of these slavers by Chi, whose sister is with them. Chi is from the same monastery as Yala-Eng. Unlike many monasteries, theirs allows non-humans to join and also permits the monks to remain in touch with their birth families. Chi became concerned when he heard who his sister was involved with. He fears that either she will be unsuccessful and killed by the Hengeyokai, or successful and take up the life of a slaver, neither prospect of which appeals to him.

The Hengeyokai spokesperson asks what this has to do with Chong-Tai. Yun states that the slavers presently have captured six Hengeyokai, as well as the druid Chong-Tai and his falcon companion, apparently mistaking these two for being a pair of the Hengeyokai's avain scouts, the Ki’Jor-lath. The Hengeyokai spokeswoman declares that they must all be rescued. “Just one damned minute here,” says Narg, “We’re not the animal rescue league!” Mojo mutters "I don't know, it is starting to look like we are."

The spokeswoman declares that the party MUST rescue them if they want any cooperation from the Hengeyokai. Narg declares "I've had it with being dictated to by a walking bird! I came here to get revenge for the attack on the island, and will get it with or without their help." It is pointed out to Narg that entering the Biosphere, without the cooperation of its inhabitants, will result in the whole party getting attacked. Narg's reply gives hint to his below-average wisdom, saying “So we’re down a few points when we get to Morgarth, no big deal.” Mark comments that given Morgarth's power, a few points could make a difference. Serita comments that if they have to fight twenty miles of Hengeyokai it might also be more than just a few points that they would be down.

Thankfully this debate is interrupted by the return of May-Elorra and Yulo-Eng, both being glad to see Kim-Sung again. May is also pleased to see Hiroshi, who she hasn’t seen in several years. Both Lono and Mojo do a double take when they see May-Elorra, as she is one of the most beautiful high elves that they have ever set eyes on. Lono asks Way if she is single. The half-elf answers, “Well, technically yes, although she and my father do have a relationship." He then adds in a semi-threatening manner "I'd forget about it if I were you.”

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 44, "Battle plans", September 24, 1018:

May is quickly brought up to speed about who the Silver Moon are and what they want. May states that they have been observing these slavers for the past two weeks. She had originally alerted the elvan leader about this, feeling that the elvan army might be able to deter the slavers, but the leader felt it was too far outside of the elvan forests to be something for them to be involved with. “How far away is it?” asks Narg. “The elvan forests are approximately one-hundred north,” she answers. “Geesh, Why can’t you people just keep everything in one place?” Narg answers.

Ignoring Narg, May goes on to say that, while the elvan leader said he would investigate, their group is pretty much on their own. Their concern increased once they got to the area and Yun discovered that his apprentice had been captured. Their original plan was just to capture Chi’s sister at a time when she left the camp with a roving patrol, but now they also need to also free Chong-Tai and his falcon. “And the rest of the captured Hengeyokai,” the Hengeyokai spokeswoman interrupts with. "She's really starting to get on my nerves," Mojo mutters. Mark adds "Yeah, I wish one of the other ones knew Common" (Actually, the ranger of the cat-subclass does, she has just kept that piece of information to herself).

Several members of the Silver Moon feel that this side diversion will only take a short amount of time. “But they’re not who we came here to fight,” says Narg. “I just want to blow something up,” Serita comments. Cassie points out that freeing these prisoners could potentially help with the Silver Moon's relationship with the Hengeyokai. The spokeswoman agrees, saying that if they free these prisoners she will speak favorably to the Elders. “Well, why don’t you go do that NOW, and save us some time,” says Narg. May pulls Kim aside, and says that Narg’s idea of sending away the Hengeyokai would probably be a very good idea, that they have further information about the slavers, but not to be said in front of the Hengeyokai. Kim discreetly relates this, and Narg tells the spokeswoman “OK, We’re going to free them, You go tell your Elders.” The five Hengeyokai all leave, heading in the direction of the biosphere. Narg comments that he hopes they send back "a spokesperson with a better attitude.”

Once the Hengeyokai are gone May relates to the party that they know even more of the slaver’s plans. Apparently, during the five days when the anti-magic sphere around the biosphere was down Chi’s sister used a Ring of Invisibility to follow two separate slaver-raiding parties into the Hengeyokai territory. She correctly assumed that the creatures would be too preoccupied with their visible and attacking enemy to notice an invisible enemy a short distance behind them. She used these visits to map out the territory, and knows exactly where to lead the slavers. If the Hengeyokai were aware that she has this knowledge then her continued existence would be perceived as a threat to them. Chi therefore does not want the Hengeyokai to know this about his sister.

May-Elora draws a diagram in the dirt of the slaver camp. It is in the middle of the forest, occupying an area approximately five hundred feet in diameter. The layout has a make-shift corral holding approximately 100 horses on the western edge, a larger corral holding approximately 200 horses on the southeastern edge, and three-hundred foot long “training area” on the northern edge, this being the only tree-free straightaway, where the mounted riders do practice runs, training to catch the Hengeyokai. Between and beside these areas are eighteen rows of canvas tents, varying from three to eleven tents in each row, the rows being anything but straight. In the very center is a large, 20 x 25-foot leaders' tent. Located fifty to one-hundred feet from this tent, to the northwest, north, east, and southeast, are four cages, each of which currently contains two captives.

She says that the slavers don’t stick to any specified schedule, with usually a few mounted patrols guarding the encampment. “There you go Timothy, something to use your sleepy-dust on,” Serita says sarcastically. Duegar then breaks into a chorus of “Mr. Sandman.” The group formulates a plan. The main assault group will consist of Cassie, Duegar, Lannon, Mark, Mojo and Narg. They will come in from the woods north of the training area, and head straight for the leader’s tent. Their main objective is to incapacitate the leaders. Coming in alongside them will be May, Way, Mei and Chi, whose objective will be to capture Chi’s sister.

Two separate trios will simultaneously move in to free the captives. The group of Kim, Lono and Timothy will position themselves near the northern edge of the western corral, to then head the remaining 100 feet to the northwestern and northern cages. Similarly, Yala, Yulo and Yun will position themselves near the northern edge of the southeastern corral, to then head the remaining 100 feet to the eastern and southeastern cages. At the southeastern corral Fiona and Toshiro will attempt to free and disperse the horses, with Cheveyo doing the same at the other corral. Aradyn will position himself in a tree to the east, to fire arrows where needed. Hiroshi and Serita will position themselves in a tree to the south, from which she can target bolts from her Call Lightning spell.

Everyone moves into position, with the groups getting into position without being seen by the two mounted patrols (one of six, the other of eight) traveling around the outer perimeter of the camp. The main assault group watches as a group of thirteen riders being a practice run on the training field. To the south, Serita is now completed her first turn of casting time, and prepares to bring down a Lightning Bolt.

[DM's note: This module had now been running for five months without a single combat encounter, and it would be at least another month until they got to Morgarth, so I threw this slaver scenario together to give them an opportunity to fight something.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 45, "Assault on the Slaver Camp", September 24, 1018, 3:00 P.M.

Serita sends down her first Lightning Bolt into the leader’s tent for seventy-eight points of damage, which serves as the signal for the assault to begin. The sound and flash of Serita’s massive lightning bolt also alerts the enemy camp to the presence of the party. The slavers emerge from tents throughout the camp, with those exiting tents nearest to the four prisoner cages proceed towards them as guards. A group of thirteen horsemen on the practice field stop to see what is going on.

The eight separate groupings of the Silver Moon and their allies mount their assaults and/or rescue missions. The main assault group headsacross the training ground, with the dwarves Lannon and Duegar branching off to the side. Cassie, Mark, Mojo and Narg head straight across towards a row of tents that three enemies emerge from, each attired as clerics.

Meanwhile, the quartet of May, Way, Mei and Chi quickly cross the training ground, making a beeline towards the leader’s tent to attempt to kidnap Chi’s sister. The other members of May’s team, the gnomes Yala, Yulo and Yun, make their way towards the first cage, using some tents as cover. Fiona and Toshiro open up the gates to the eastern corral, and she then uses her wand of fear to panic them. Both then move into the corral.

Kim, Lono and Timothy make their way into the camp from the other corral. As enemies begin to emerge from the tents, they find cover behind trees. They then proceed to the back of a line of tents near the first prisoner cage.

Several enemies emerge from a tent and move towards an unguarded cage occupying two Hengeyokai, one in the crane humanoid biped form, the other in human form. Lannon and Duegar decide to take them on these enemies directly, with Duegar charging forward.

The horsemen from the training track turn and begin to make their way through the camp, making them excellent targets for Aradyn, who unfortunately misses his first two shots by rolling a pair of “1’s”.

Fiona and Toshiro both decide that they can best proceed from horseback. Given her prior experience riding horses and pegasi, as well as her past occupation as a teamster, she has no trouble grabbing a mount. Fiona then leads a stampede of a group of thirty horses out of the corral and into the main part of the enemy camp. Toshiro likewise grabs a horse and rides off into the main camp.

Nearby, the gnomes spot five enemies who have emerged from a line of tents near the prisoner cage, and have clothing and weapons normally associated with magic-users. The gnome wizard Yala throws a Fireball into the nearest three, dropping them.

Cassie and one of the enemy clerics toss spells simultaneously, hers being a Silence spell, which prevents them from any further spell casting. Their spell is a Hold Person, which both Narg and Mojo save from. Mark, unfortunately, gets held. Since he is in the rear of the group the other three do not notice that he is stopped.

The quartet heading towards the leader’s tent are almost there, with the monk Chi taking the lead. He pulls up the side of the flame-engulfed canvas structure, disappearing inside. The other three head around towards the back of the tent.

Cheveyo begins chopping the ropes off the rail posts to the corral. He then runs into the corral, projecting Fear on the horses, which charge around, with many running off into the forests. He continues to break down rail posts for them to escape.

Narg and Mojo reach the enemy clerics. One tries to hit him with a board with a handle attached. “You’ve got to be kidding. Get a real weapon,” Narg tells him. Cassie assists against these with a Magic Missile spell, the three low-level clerics not lasting long against their opponents.

Duegar and Lannon continue to fight the men guarding the cage, with Duegar managing to kill two of them and Lannon killing one, both taking a few hits in return. Not far from the dwarves Aradyn succeeds is dropping one of the horsemen, with a pair of near-perfect shots.

Over by the eastern cage, the gnomes see that six enemies have moved in to guard it. The druid Yun also sees five trees near this cage, and casts and Entangle spell in order to incapacitate these guards. The trio then moves in towards the cage.

Lono and Timothy start collapsing the tents they are behind, as Kim decides to copy her mentor and casts an Entangle spell onto the trees near the prisoner cage, grabbing four of the five guards. The cage contains two Hengeyokai, both in humanoid biped form, one of the fox sub-race the other of the owl sub-race.

Two enemy leaders emerge from the burning tent. One is a half-orc fighter and the other is the orc/ogre hybrid, standing around eight feet tall and brandishing a bastard sword and a short sword. Narg charges these two, the half-orc attempting to stop him with a lasso. Narg swings out his sword-of-sharpness, cutting the lasso in half and charging into the biggest enemy. Simultaneous to this, Cassie hits the taller one with a Magic Missile spell as Mojo lets loose his Hammer of Throwing into the same foe.

Duegar takes out the guard who had been fighting Lannon, allowing Lannon the opportunity to pick the lock on the cage. Duegar moves in to fight the remaining two guards by this cage.

Narg strikes at the taller enemy, missing him, but Mojo is successful with his second hammer toss. The half-orc then uses his own weapon, a magical man-catcher, which is a spiked “U” shaped metal fork at the end of a pole. The weapon hits, knocking Narg to the ground. Sword in hand, Narg strikes the wooden shaft of this weapon with the Nargblade, destroying the polearm. Narg tells the half-orc “You should forget about the strings and sticks and try using a real weapon instead.”

Cassie sees the group of horsemen now charging towards the leaders tent, and tosses a fireball into their midst. This catches and drops four of them, causing the next pair of horses to panic and thrown their riders. This leaves only two riders in front of the fireball and four behind, one of which then gets felled by two more of Aradyn’s arrows.

At the eastern cage, the Monk Yulo opens the lock, freeing the Druid Chong-Tai and his falcon companion Chu-Tai. The two horsemen who had escaped the fireball charge towards their leaders, but are then cut down by a lightning bolt cast by the gnome wizard Yala. The other three riders on the training ground now decide to retreat just as Aradyn picks off another one of them. The two scatter into the forests. Meanwhile, Cassie’s owl Deanna alerts her to the eight horsemen charging towards her from 150 feet behind, apparently one of the patrols that had been returning to the camp.

Narg regains his footing, getting struck by the taller enemy leader’s shortsword. Mojo again places a successful hammer throw into this foe. The half-orc draws a wakazashi, a type of Oriental shortsword. He successfully stabs Narg, barely penetrating Narg’s armor for minimal damage. Narg casually looks towards this foe, and says “Ah, so you took my advice and are finally using a blade. See how much better that works.” Cassie finally notices that Mark is held, and breaks him from this. Mark immediately charges forward to assist Narg. Mojo also begins to move forward, still throwing his hammer at the enemy.

Kim, Lono and Timothy make their way to the western cage. Lono is unsuccessful at picking the lock. He then notices that each of the six iron sides to the cage were apparently brought in separately, as there are two hinge bolts on the outside of each side. He begins to pry off one of the bolts. Kim begins a long conversation with the humanoid owl. [Kim's player wanted to start an owl Hengeyokai as a new playing charter, so both of these are hers. Another player comments “It’s official, you’re part of the group when you wind up talking to yourself as part of the role playing.” Another player adds “That only becomes a problem when you start arguing with yourself.”]

The monk Chi emerges from the back of the flaming leader’s tent, seeing his sister cautiously moving away to the south, using trees as cover. She is apparently waiting for Fiona to ride close enough to her for a backstab, so does not notice as her monk brother covers the thirty-foot distance to her. His allies also see him, and follow in that direction.

With his exceptional strength, Lono gets the second bolt off the cage, and pries apart the two sides enough for the two Hengeyokai to get out. They then head over towards the next cage, which only has two guards around it. This cage has two Hengeyokai of the duck sub-race. “Great,” comments Narg's player, “We came here to mop the floor with a high level mage and we end up rescuing a pair of ducks!” “How the mighty have fallen,” another player states.

Duegar continues to fight the remaining guard, as Lannon releases the two prisoners from the cage, then goes to assist Duegar. Working together, they soon drop the remaining foe, but another slaver then charges in to hit Duegar from behind. Duegar strikes him back, and then is assisted by one of the rescued Hengeyokai in human form, who strikes down the enemy with a karate chop to the neck.

Narg and his foes continue to fight. Mark charges in, also striking at the taller of the enemy foes, with Mojo’s hammer again connecting. Between the three of them, he falls. They then pivot towards the half-orc, who successfully strikes Narg twice this round. Deciding that the fighters now have the lone enemy leader under control, Cassie lets a fireball into the eight horsemen charging down on her. The fireball drops the front four, the next two panicking and their riders dismounting to calm them. The rear two riders break off to the side, continuing to charge towards her.

Chi grabs his sister, who struggles to get free from him. May, Way and Mei are soon upon them, and help Chi to tie and gag her. The four then start to head off to the east, as the clearest path out of the camp, followed by their three gnome allies.

Fiona’s stampede charges straight into the line of tents as soldiers, trampling everything in its path. This also works to bisect the camp itself into two sections, preventing a group of approximately sixty enemies to her south from coming to their leader’s assistance. Cheveyo notice’s her success with this, and changes his tactic from panicking the horses to herding together another stampede. He kicks down fence posts nearest to the southern row of tents, and starts a stampede out of it.

Serita is now to the point where she can throw another lightning bolt. Unfortunately, she cannot target the two enemy leaders without also hitting Narg. She looks for another target, identifying two of the enemies to be a pair of magic-users, and sends sixty-one point bolt into them, which proves to be fatal.

A pair of enemy mages begins making their way towards the leaders tent. Toshiro rides straight towards them, causing one to let loose with magic missiles into his horse. As the horse falls Toshiro dives from it. He lands running, sword extended, and skewers the mage. The other mage prepares to attack him with an oriental weapon called an Uchi-ne, which is essentially a knife attached to a string with a weight on the end.

Timothy casts a Hold Person on the two guards by the next cage. One becomes held; the other does not, prompting an attack by Lono. The attack is successful, but the man is still standing. Four Magic Missiles then strike him from an unknown source, which drops the slaver. Lono then goes to open the lock.

Cassie continues to check the bodies of the three clerics, finding a candle to be magical in addition to the Tui-fa that the one had used to fight Narg with. Her familiar Deanna alerts her to the pair of charging horsemen that are now only sixty feet away. Before Cassie can react to this, however, a fireball drops these two horsemen. Since the only other two mages, Fiona and Yulo Eng, are both in sight far ahead of her and preoccupied Cassie has no idea who threw the spell. She decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Meanwhile, the half-orc is finally brought down by the combined efforts of Mark, Mojo and Narg.

Nearby, Toshiro tackles his own magic-user foe, and knocks him unconscious. He the picks up and pockets the man’s Uchi-ne, which is apparently magical. Next, he stops a pair of horses, typing the mage onto one as a prisoner, and climbing onto the second.

Back at the remaining cage holding prisoners, the lock is opened, and the two Hengeyokai fly out in duck form. “That’s the last of the prisoners,” Timothy yells. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Cassie yells back.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 46, “Leaving? What a good idea!” September 24, 1018,

The dwarves Duegar and Lannon take off with two freed Hengeyokai on foot to the northeast.

Meanwhile, Fiona yells out to the other “I’m on my way”, as she rides up with a group of fifteen horses. Using her horse to slow the stampede she approaches the majority of the party.

Narg checks the weapons of both fallen leaders, concluding that the tall one’s shortsword and half-orc’s wakazashi are both magical, and snags them. Not knowing what the tall creature is, Cassie insists that it be put into the bag of holding for later study, tossing the bag to Narg. It’s a struggle, but Narg and Mark working together eventually manage to shove the large body through the bag’s opening.

Serita and Hiroshi see that the party is preparing to depart, and manage to stop a pair of horse that
Cheveyo scared in their direction. They then circumnavigate around the camp in a counter-clockwise direction, avoiding the enemy.

Cheveyo is too large and heavy to ride a horse. He stops four horses, and with his telekinesis ability he quickly put together a makeshift chariot using saddles, ropes and a wheelbarrow. Using all four of his arms to hold the reigns, and using his telekinesis ability to steady it, he is able to sit in and steer the wheelbarrow heading off after Hiroshi and Serita.

The party and the freed prisoners climb onto the horses that Fiona brought. Cassie, Kim, Lono Mark, Mojo, Narg, Timothy approach and grab horses. The fox sub-race Hengeyokai knows how to ride and pulls the humanoid Owl Hengeyokai up with him.

“I’ll take a horse too,” yells a nearby voice. Fiona turns to see Hendry Junior emerge from the woods accompanied by a female Hengeyokai in the cat humanoid form. Cassie is surprised to see the human mage again and correctly concludes that he was the one who had throw the additional Fireball and Magic Missiles. They ride off to the Northeast, Fiona bringing along the other six horses that she had gathered.

Three hundred feet away Aradyn also sees his potential rival. He says nothing, but the disgusted look on his face is priceless. Aradyn grabs a nearby horse to ride off to the northeast, following in the same direction as the others.

Fleeing the slaver camp, the group reassembles to the northeast. It takes a total of fifteen rounds for the entire group to get together and redistribute the captured horses among all of the party. By this time the surviving slavers are beginning to organize back in the camp. Seeing this, the group decides that they have overstayed their welcome. The thirty-three characters ride off (15 members of the Silver Moon party, 7 members of the Elorra-Eng party, Hendry Junior and his Hengeyokai companion, the six rescued Hengeyokai, the Druid Chong-Tai and the two captured prisoners).

The first two miles of riding prove uneventful. Duegar then notices a group of approximately a dozen mounted slavers rapidly closing in from behind. Aradyn looks back, commenting about that these slavers are riding horses with saddles and barding, whereas the party are all bare-backed, so it is not surprising that they have managed to catch up. He concludes that they will soon overtake the party.

The group reaches a place in the forest where the trees are far more dense and round a turn. Deciding that this is a good place for an ambush, Duegar stops and dismounts, announcing that he will stay back and fight their pursuers. Not to be outdone, Aradyn, Cassie, Hendry, Kim-Sung, Lono, Mojo, Narg, Serita, and Toshiro all decide to join him. Everyone else is urged to move on. Hendry and Kim-Sung gather up the ten horses to move them out of the line of fire, as the other eight prepare for the ambush.

The subsequent battle goes rather quickly, with the party utilizing a strategy of “divide and conquer” to split up the slavers. In the thick forests the slavers are forced to dismount and attack on foot All but one of the slavers appear to be fighters. The lone slaver cleric quickly becoming a target for Aradyn and Lono’s bows after he throws his first spell. The spell is a Hold Person that only affects Mojo, who is then quickly shaken out of it. Serita manages to entangle several foes, preventing them from further attacks. The fighters focus on the stronger slavers, combining their attacks once the number of foes diminishes. Duegar at one point throws his pickled herring at a fleeing enemy, which manages to trip him up by hitting him in the back of the knees. At the end of the combat all twelve foes are stopped with the party sustaining only minimal damage.

The eleven surviving enemy horses are gathered up and the saddle and barding is stripped from the one horse that had died in the battle. The group head back to the Elorra-Eng camp.