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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Selm" data-source="post: 64004" data-attributes="member: 1592">Episode 2-1Episode TWO - Another Day in a Quiet Little Town - Part 1(DM: You're approaching the moathouse. Players: Hey we're searching an old fortress, what do you want with a"moathouse"?  DM: Yeah, I'll stop english ok ... 8) )Planting 16, 591CYIt was dawn and the sun was rising in the sky. Killasha is alreadyawake and praying Mayaheine. Ezekiel awake soon after and at 7h30 theyare nearly all around a table in the dining hall of the Inn of theWelcome Wench.Nearby ... Rousing Fox is doing body exercises behind the inn, Lywenis in his room studying his spells and Diane is still asleep.Alahija and her escort go to the fortress in the early morning, theyare awaited as Elmo informed Rufus of their arrival yesterdaynight. As soon as he learns her name, the guard at the gate letAlahija pass into the keep and escort her to the meeting room, on thefirst floor of the keep dungeon.After something like fifthteen minutes, Rufus arrives and Brune fiveminutes after him (Brune is in fact Burne in the official campaign butwhe changed the name as it does not sound well in French). They aretwo men between fourty and fifthty years old, Rufus is a clearly afighter beeing a strong man with greying hairs; Brune is a littleolder, his hairs are nearly white as his beard, he has more than onewrinkle and a severe gaze. After some presentations, Rufus explains them why he has requestedsome help. Some signs seems to indicate that the old Temple near thetown of Nulb, known as the ruins of the Temple of Elemental Evil, isonce again getting some power.Humanoids attacks are more and more common, as the recent gnoll attackon a gnomish caravan demonstrates it. And by experience, each andevery thing must be taken with great care when you deal with thistemple.Recent investigations by Elmo and others have proven that a hobgoblintribe now occupies the temple grounds, but nothing more precise isknown on the temple activities, especially about the lower levels,which "should" be entirely colapsed.The three agree to study the matter and search for these humanoids,Alahija announce their intention to hunt the gnolls, having attackedthe gnomish caravan, this very afternoon. Rufus is pleased but advisesthem to be carefull, there is no need for more deaths around Hommlet,enough courageous adventurers have already given their lives forgoodness in the fight against the temple ten years ago.Brune then speak for the first time, saying them that some friendsshould also come from Chendl to help them in the arcane domain. Theyinform him that these friends are already in town, arrived yesterdaywith them, which "seems" to make Brune happier.They depart from the keep and go back to the Inn of the Welcome Wench,preparing for the gnoll-hunt during the afternoon.Killasha is her going to the temple to Pelor. She encounters Yetherthe Keen, priest of Pelor in Hommlet who is readying the temple forthe midday office. He is happy to see a new member of the faith inHommlet, even if Killashalandilis is a paladin of Mayaheine, this isnearly the same for him. Yether is a friendly man, devoted to Pelorand the good of Hommlet inhabitants, Killasha promised to come backoften and Yether promised her his aid if necessary.Gandigoot also has an urgent affair and goes to the tanner shop (whois not working with elephant hide!), the leatherworker Naddy Tomanloftis a friend of him as all the gnomes in Hommlet. In fact he wants anew leather armor, this  is a special matter as it needs good leatherand an armorer. Rendez-vous is taken for tomorrow morning with Alphon,halfling head smithy of hommlet and his armorer at the tanner shop."You will get the best Gandigoot, you're such a courageous fellowthats you deserve it." In fact he starts to have a gnoll slayer reputation as a survivor of the gnoll attack on the gnome caravan hewas escorting near Hommlet a week ago. Gandigoot also proposes to thetanner to take a drink at the Inn, they plan to make a great gnomeparty tomorrow evening at the Welcom Wench. "This will be great forsure."-- Have we lost some of the group ? --But the morning is only starting for someone ... Diane, who slowlyawakes for eleven. Lywen is already waiting for her since more thanone hour, having finished his studies for nine hour and a half.Diane promises to be quick trough her door and starts to put herclothes, even without tacking the time for a bath ... which is a realeffort for her. They finally quit the inn for half and eleven, whenthe others are going back ... whaoo, good schedule budies ... grinning... Lywen and Diane are bring to Brune as soon as they said that they arehere to see him. He must have spread the word that he's expecting twopeople from Chendl as the others have said him that they must passthis morning.They are guided to the fourth floor of the dungeon and enter Brune'sprivate quarters. The old wizard is alone, he's reading a book, sat ata table in the center of the room. He close his book when his guestsenter and make a sign for them to come sitting at the table.The discussion is short, clear and straightforward. Brune does notlike to lose his time babbling and this seems to perfectly suits Lywenand Diane. He explains them that the Temple of Elemental Evil seems tobe resurrecting again. The Canoness of St Cuthbert and himself havemonitored the temple since ten years, using divination to prevent anybad surprise as the revival of the demoness Zugtmoy in the year 579.And bad signs are rising, the divinations were becoming harder andharder since nearly half a year, as if a powerfull force was opposingthem. And the last one two weeks ago showed a big "living" fire and agreat black nothingness, which are clearly not good omens.After this divination he informed Kerzalyn, Lywen master, and Kerzalynconducted the same divination at Chendl, getting the same results. Itwas important enough for the two powerfull wizards (and the priestswho helped them) to justify further inquiries. This is Lywen taskhere, with the other group from Chendl and Verbobonc which wasrequested by Rufus for the same reasons.Brune think that Spugnoir, a local mage, could know more about thetemple as he's often adventuring in the region. But he has disappearedsince two days and they should start their researches with him. (He isused to run a potion shop in the west of the town.)Following Brune's advice, Lywen and Diane go to the potion shop. Itis built in the new part of the town, on the other side of the riverthan the small castle. The shop is in fact very small, a glass windowlets see some medical herbs and bottles and there is very few room inthe shop, just enough for three people between the entry and thedesk. And just now at the desk a young girl is reading a book, she'salone in the shop which is quite uncommon.Lywen and Diane explain her who they are and why they are here. Theyoung girl, who's name is Renne, is very happy that some people decideto search her father and she gives them all the informations shehas. She does not know much as her father do not allow her toadventure with him, but she's very aware, intelligent and perhaps evenmore wise than her father who seems to like adventuring a little toomuch ... They learn that Spugnoir is currently investigating the oldfortress eastwards of town, he went there two days ago, and he's notyet returned. This is not in his habits as he informs his daughter ifhe plans to go out for more than a day. Besides, as it is not thefirst time that he goes to this place, he said Renne that gnolls seemsto be around the fortress, even if he didn't know why or where istheir camp.With all these new informations Lywen and Diane are going back to theWelcome Wench, promising Renne that they will go to the old fortressand search for his father.It's now time for lunch, Alahija, Killasha, Ezekiel, Rousing Fox,Gandigoot (not the innkeeper, the gnome) are eating at the Inn of theWelcome Wench when Lywen and Diane come back from the keep.They agree to meet for two o'clock and to two go to prepare as theytook their breakfast at eleven, it's not yet time for lunch <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" />But they do not depart without speaking at least a little of theSpugnoir incident, this seems to awaken the interest of their friendstoo, they'll see after lunch.But some are eager to know more and Killasha (you know she's so kind)runs to the potions shop. She enters the small shop and does not seeanyone, after one minute, a young girl goes up behind the desk. Afraidfor the girl's security, Killasha asks her if she wants some help, butanother voice then goes out from behing the desk and a helmet with asturdy dwarf head under it appears. Haunor is payed by Spugnoir justfor this task and seems to sincerely stick to it (at least Killashawill not asks him that ... his gaze surely says enough). Neverthelessshe proposes her help if "anything is needed" and Renne thanks her andencourages her to come back if she ever need any potion. When Killasha goes out she can hear the two resuming their queens gamebehing the shop desk. During this time, Gandigoot is visiting his friend Joman Dart, thehalfling at the old trading post. He searches wolf traps for "big badwoofies" and finally takes three big wolf iron traps. Poor gnolls youdon't know to await with tihs dreadfull gnome. "Because if you needthree gnomes for a gnoll, one is enough if he has a lot of traps."At one hour and a half nearly everyone is ready, they encounter Xaodwho says that he will be there at two o'clock, and they discuss theplan for the gnoll-hunt.It seems that gnolls have been seen near the old fortress to the east,at least that's what the young girl said. Beside, it's possible thatthis Spugnoir will be there and he could perhaps give them moreinformations ... so they decided to go there ... quite easily ...As they all have horses, Rousing Fox decides to buy one, just... immediatly. He does not know much about horses but there is astable in Hommlet and a friendly dwarven helps him to chose a goodhorse. One hundred and seventy five golden pieces later, Rousing Foxhas a good horse with a saddle and all he needs to ride, excepttraining. But this he will have soon.-- On the road again --It's early afternoon, they finally depart to the fortress, the oldoutpost of the Temple of Elemental Evil. The road starts beyond thekeep, behind Hommlet hill.Once again they can pass by the walls of Rufus and Brune's keep. Thesmall castle seems so reassuring ...After some time on the dusty road towards Nulb, they arrive at acrossroad. To the north awaits Nulb and to the east the fortress,determined, they go east.Slowly the landscape starts to change, the brushy hills around Hommletbecome less and less common, and they start to enter a marshland.Their guide, the gnome Gandigoot, is scouting before the party on hiswarpony, nearly a hundred meters ahead of the others.Suddenly two creatures jump on the track and attack Gandigoot. Theylook like huge badgers with a black fur, glowing red eyes and big, bigclaws. Hopefully for Gandigoot, his pony isn't even afraid, it's acourageous animal and two dire badgers will not frighten it, sometimesGandigoot even says that it's quite a blockhead for that. Avoiding thebeasts, the pony backtrack on the road and Gandigoot jump on theground.The others, seeing that Gandigoot is attacked (and hearing the criesfor help) prepare for the fight. Alahija takes her bow, Diane,Killasha and Ezekiel run towards the fight, Lywen studies thesituation and rousing Fox is trying to calm his horse. But for theupcoming two rounds, Gandigoot is alone against the two big badgers.Alahija tries to help him by firing at the badgers but misses and isforced to stop because of the arrival of the others into the fray.Nevertheless our gnome successfully survived, mauled but linving,until the charge of Ezekiel and Killasha. The badgers are finallyeasily dispatched, but this first fight opened their eyes: hommlet isa peacefull town but its neighbouhood is surely less friendly.Besides, Gandigoot was mad <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f621.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":mad:" title="Mad    :mad:"  data-smilie="4"data-shortname=":mad:" /> against Alahija because she shot andarrow while he was fighting the badgers. She could have hurted him andhe do not like to be hurted, gnolls and badgers are already enoughtfor him without adding half-elves.After having packed the frightened horses, they resume the march. Alight fog starts to cover the land, as it slowly morph into a swamp,which does not seem to make them happy :rolleys:Gandigoot decides to once again scout ahead of the party and takes thelead on his mighty warpony. When they really enter the swamp, the roadbecomes a trail towering out of the swamp by three or four feets. Theydismount and continue on foot (but with the horses behind themobviously).-- Arrival at the Moathouse --DM: "Finally, nearly three hours after your depart from Hommlet, a formappears in the fog, this seems to be the moathouse."... silence ...After some confusion everybody understand this moathouse is the oldfortress they are searching for. Alahija and Gandigoot advance whilethe others are waiting out of sight.Taking their time and using the fog, the half-elf and the gnome reachthe drawbridge with mastersfull discretion. They start to investigatethe old bridge which seems to be quite strong. During this time, Dianeis also advancing and reaches them just when Alahija starts to crossthe wooden drawbridge. They discuss the plan with Gandigoot and shebacktracks to inform the others, the two rogues and the ranger aredoing quite a great scouting team really ... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />The plan is simple:- Alahija goes to the moathouse broken door, she looks into thecourtyard.- When Alahija advances (this means the courtyard is clean), Gandigootadvances to take the position at the door.- During this time, Diane informs the others and they start to slowlyadvance when Gandigoot goes on the bridge.Good plan, clear and simple ... this should work ... most of the time.... soon ...-----------------------------------------------------------Episode TWO - Another Day in a Quiet Little Town - Part 2(Alahija playing with her newfound little friend <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> )</blockquote>

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