The Chosen: A High Magic 3.5 Homebrew

[random user]

OOC Comments for session 3:

Shortly before this campaign started, I watched a movie called "The Cube." I thought it would be neat to have something like this in the campaign, but was troubled as this was supposed to be a long term campaign, and I didn't want to kill them all off in session 3. (For those who don't know, the plot of "The Cube" features 5 or 6 people mysteriously trapped in a series of cubical rooms. Throughout the movie, several people die as they try to get out.)

So I thought to myself, how can I run this module without actually killing them? Taking a page from soap operas, I decided that I would place the entirety of The Cube into a dream. This would also present an interesting plot point as this type of dreaming is unheard of in my campaign world.

When we started the session, my players were expecting to question Tera about the statue. Instead, I opened it with,

"When you awake, you find yourself in a stark white room, 15' width, length, and height. The room is lit by ambient lighting, though there is no light source apparent. Neither is there any source of ventilation, though the air seems fresh. There is not a trace of dust in this room. In the center of the room is a 3' altar which seems to come out of the ground. On top of the altar is a scroll. There is an outline of a door along one wall. Where a doorknob would be is a black handprint. Aside from the handprint and scroll, there is no color in this room."

The scroll reads:

Start at the very beginning
It's a good place to start
By calmly starting over
You may find you're back

On or off, no other!
From high to low progress
The powers lead to death
Breaks into one pair only
The rest simply mean nothing

Simplesimilarities Seemsage
complexthoughts complicatetheories
Wronghypotheses Wreakhardships
besmart beststrategy

Rejoice halfway done
The wise adventurers
Spill no blood

Two as 1 2 get 2 1

The final Battle: You will win! You will lose!

The End
Or by consensus!

The party was appropriately bewildered, and had no idea it was just a dream. Thus, as the night went on, the players grew more anxious as they faced what they thought would be a TPK.

In any event, the party tried many different things, and I had a problem because it would be simply too tedious to write down every little thing they thought of, but it might give something away if I chose to put down certain thoughts and not others.

So instead, I decided to write it from a third-party view. At this point, the author is a mystery. Through the session in The Cube, the party tried many things, and managed to get through the first puzzle to the second puzzle (though they weren't sure how they did it).

Someone was reduced to negative hit points and stabilized. At this point, the party decided to be much more cautious and started scrutinizing the first paragraph. Eventually someone said the magic words, "Start Over" and the party reappeared in the first room (with the unconscious characters back to 1hp). At this point they realized that something weird was going on.

Eventually they all died to an ettin (which is pretty tough for a party of 1st level characters) and were released from the dream, probably as discombobulated as if they had actually dreamt it.

 

[random user]

Chapter IV: Aid Alana

March 2

"Wait a second," Errol said. "Let's find out more information before we venture forth." The party went back to the inner city and knocked on Mortenser's door.

"Come in," was the response. Mortenser's looked bemusedly at the party and asked how he could help them. The party explained Alana's plight and asked if there was any chance he could do.

"I'll look into it, but I can't promise anything. Check back with me tomorrow and I'll see what information I can get."

The party did more research and interviewed Bobbar, Alana's arrestor. He said that Alana had been arrested for wearing a courier's tunic when obviously she had no business having it. Since the guards didn't believe that Alana could have killed a courier, they surmised that she must have thefted it somehow.

"Courier tunics have a magic beacon on them. We're magically alerted when they near the city gates in case of an emergency. Usually anything really important is teleported, so couriers are used either when things are less important (in which case we just let them through) or things are vitally important (in which case we need to be ready to raise the alert or make preparations)."

Now knowing why Alana got picked up, they set forth towards the cave to search for the bag. It was a great day for travelling, full of sunshine and a warm breeze promising summer would be here soon. As they walked along, the uneasiness stemming from last night's nightmare faded.

By midafternoon they reached the cave, though it perhaps could have been better called a hole, as it was a seven feet drop in a span of about four feet. Vernon searched around and spotted many tracks. There were several humanoid tracks, along with some talon tracks and large snake tracks, discernable, all having traveled though in the last week or so. All-in-all it was a busy trail.

Vernon cast longstrinder upon himself and started following some humanoid tracks into the cave. The rest of the party quickly followed. The cave wound a few feet before opening up into a large cavern, larger than Blink's lantern could shed light. The air was certainly colder and damper here.

Vernon followed the tracks to the near right corner while the Kestrel and Vaugner peered out into the blackness. All of a sudden two dark creatures burst out of the dark charging Kestrel! A tentacle landed with a thunk into Kestrel's armor but he was unhurt. Another tentacle slapped across Kestrel's armor much harder and crushed into Kestrel.

The party reacted quickly. As Blink's light swung around, the party saw the two fearsome creatures -- eight feet tall, they slithered like snakes, but instead of a head, four tentacles protruded.

Vaugner drew his bow and shot true, but the arrow glanced off the creature and dealt no damage. Seeing this, the party changed their tactics to land more powerful blows and managed to quickly down one. Thinking the worst was over, their confidence was shaken when two more charged into Blink. Luckily Blink was able to dodge their blows. A wild comedy of melee then ensued where neither fiend nor the party was able to land a blow.

The only person dealing damage was Malif, who chanted arcane words and shot rays of frost into the beasts. Finally the party overcame the beasts, though Blink was moderately hurt in the process. Errol healed Blink, but Blink was still in pain. Blink asked Vernon to also heal him, but Vernon claimed he was low on healing and that he would prefer to save the heals for emergencies.

A debate broke out among the party regarding when party members should be healed and whether they should continue farther into the cave. In the end it was decided that the best course of action would be to acquire a wand of cure light wounds. Vernon decided to stay at the cave while the rest of the party went back to town.

As they were headed back, Blink thought to himself, "Can't fault his courage, I must say, but I thought clerics were supposed to be wise? Ah yes, but I forgot, Vernon isn't a cleric. Either way, I was visualizing the menu in the cavern that night - 'Mesdames et Messieurs, tonight we have a special on fresh-caught Vernon. The main course is a flank of Vernon, with a delicate mint sauce; for dessert, we have Vernon feet, lightly pickled in brine and wild raspberries.'"

After arriving back in Pavalar, the party soon realized they weren't sure exactly where one bought wands. Eventually they asked someone at the mage's guild in the inner city who wrote an address down.

"Huh this is just a house," Errol said, double checking to make sure the address was correct. Undaunted, he knocked at the door. A young man answered the door and asked how he could help Errol. It was indeed a residence, but unfazed Errol delicately asked, "We were directed here by the mage's guild... do you have a mundane wand of cure light wounds for sale?"

Rather than negotiating, Errol offered 400 gold for the wand, which was accepted.

"400 gold? I'm sure you could have gotten it cheaper. Why didn't you haggle?" Vaugner asked.

"Haggle? I do not 'haggle'. Does a king dispute the price of his robes with the tailor? Does a duke quibble over the cost of his meals? Youhave much to learn about refined society," he responded.

Having acquired the wand, they ate a quick dinner and then headed back to the cave in the dark.

During this time, Vernon set up a simple trap to alert him if anything wandered in. He also discovered some gold and a masterwork longsword in the lair.

The party regrouped after dark. Errol produced the wand for Vernon to look at, and Vernon showed them the gold and longsword he had found. They decided to explore the cave further. Just past the lair, they found an alcove littered with bones, mostly-decomposed flesh, and rotting pieces of clothing. Rooting through the refuse, Vernon eventually found a pouch.

Reassured by having just purchased the wand, the party decided to continue exploring the cave. The passageway continued on for another 20 feet before widening out to an enormous cavern. From here, the cavern floor grew rockier, though not so treacherous as to cause problems. In the distance flowing water could be heard.

Blink's torch barely made a dent into the darkness. At the edge of the lantern light, a small island of stalagmites jutted out from the ground.

Vernon cast light upon a stone and tossed it towards the stalagmites. Seeing nothing, he started walking towards the stone when a web of goo suddenly exploded next to him. Kestrel leapt forward to meet any incoming monsters, and was rewarded by being immobilized by an incoming web. At the same time, a second web aimed at Vernon fastened him to the ground as well.

When Blink shone his lantern into the darkness, two troll-like creatures appeared suspended in midair, about 45 feet away. Very quickly all the party members except Malif, who was smart enough to stay in the shadows, were stuck in webs. As Malif lit some torches to burn people out, the creatures skittered down and charged into Kestrel.

The webs proved to be tough to break out of, and the party spent several rounds trying to break free. Meanwhile Kestrel was taking significant damage, and also losing his dexterity as the monster's poison spread through his body. Kestrel remembered that Abbey had given him a necklace of healing, which had one charge of cure light wounds which he could quickly activate. He decided that this was a good time to use it, and Errol inaugurated the wand by healing Kestrel.

Eventually the party was able to break free and flank the monsters. Once that happened, the monsters, greatly outnumbered, died quickly. Searching among the rubble, the party found some minor coin and a clear liquid potion.

 

[random user]

Feeling exilerated by their triumph, the party decided to explore the rest of the giant cavern. Beyond the stalagmites, the lantern illuminated a fast flowing river at least 10 feet wide. Vernon lit another stone with light and tossed it across the river. A small chorus of clicks greeted him, as Vernon spotted two adult shocker lizards along with two hatchlings. The two adults took an agressive stance but did not charge, and the party decided to withdraw.

Eventually they found a cabin built in one of the corners. Approaching carefully, they quickly surmised that the cabin was vacant and had been abandoned long ago.

A quick search revealed a book, several pouches of arcane material components, two pearls worth about 100 gold each, and a monocle carefully left on one of the beds. Kestrel quickly discovered that magical items glowed when looked at through the lens. The pouch showed magical markings when seen through the lens, leading the party to believe this was indeed the courier's pouch. Malif flipped through the journal and found out it was over 60 years old. Scanning to the last entry, he read:

We [the author and two of his companions] found what appeared to be an easy mark on the road today. We ambushed him carelessly, and it would prove to be our downfall. It turns out that our mark was a powerful cleric who quickly killed off Kooper and Freca. As he turned to face me, I decided to beg for mercy. He did not pay attention to me, and in a panic I swore an oath to Valkon, who I assumed was his god. At that, he stayed his mace.

He agreed to spare my life if I would swear to turn away from my evil ways and spend the rest of my life in repentance. I quickly agreed, and I intend to follow through with my oath. This will be the last entry in my journal of exploits. This cabin has too many memories of my past. I must find somewhere else to stay now. The loot from the hapless mage we killed earlier this morning I will leave here. It will be the ultimate test -- and a sign of my conviction -- I will not touch this treasure or come back.

Where my life leads me now I do not know. But now I leave my past behind me.
​

There was a brief moment of silence as Malif finished the entry; there was nothing to be said. Eventually Vernon spoke up and said they should finish exploring the cavern. There explored the near side of the cavern without finding anything else of note. The river ran the entire length of the cavern and was 10 feet across at the shortest points. The party considered a couple ways for ford the river but eventually decided it was getting late and they should head back to town.

It was about two hours till midnightby the time they made it back to Pavalar. They met some guards at the checkpoint into the city and explained how they came into possession of the courier's pouch. The guards looked at the party and seemed to believe the story. One of the guards provided an escort to the police station where they submitted the pouch for evidence.

March 3

Most of the party turned in for the night, but Errol and Blink decided to head to the university commons for a midnight snack. The commons was unusually busy with hungry students getting a snack while studying for finals. Spying them, Brock came over and blurted out, "Why did you guys get picked and not me? I would have done much better I'm sure."

"What?" said Errol. "It wasn't that exciting. There was crap everywhere and it smelled."

"Anyways, I don't believe you don't need to take finals now. I would have gotten a better score than you anyways." And with that Brock walked off.

Ravni, another classmate, also stopped by. He greeted Errol and Blink. "Hey, by the way, I'm hosting a surprise party for Jay in the commons on the 22nd. Everyone in our class is invited. She has to go back home right after finals so she'll miss the graduation party. She'd love to get a chance to say bye to y'all I'm sure."

As they were finishing their meal Kestra came by. "That was pretty cool what you guys did! Anyways just wanted to say hi and congratulate you guys. Anyways, gotta get back to my studies!"

Errol was surprised at how many people knew about what happened, and decided to check up on it in the morning.

The next morning, Errol went looking unsuccessfully for Pippy, while the rest of the party, sans Errol, went to Mortenser's office and filled him in on what happened. "Nice job, it sounds like you won't have a problem getting Alana acquitted," he said. He also said he would look into whether her court day could be moved up.

After their meeting, Vaugner thought it would be a good idea to sign depositions in case the party couldn't make it to the trial. Malif gave a guard a short note and tip to deliver it to Alana.

Errol went to visit Tera but she wasn't in. Finding Mortenser still in his office, Errol knocked on his door. "Do you know where Tera is?" Errol asked.

"She's taken a leave of absence, and isn't around. She's looking forward to seeing you at the graduation party though," he replied.

Kestrel found his mother and asked her about the strange rocks. She shared his concern but didn't have any specific information on what to do. Troubled, Kestrel then went to Mortenser's office and said, "So there are these rocks that a street urchin bought from a wizard, when we had previously bought a some, they were confiscated at the inner city gates. Now they seem to be multiplying out of control, and it seems that no one but me is concerned!"

Mortenser thought for a moment and then replied, "This is indeed concerning. I will bring this up before the council and we will try to gain some insight into this matter. For now, if you can find out any more information I would appreciate it."

After lunch the party met back up. Errol wanted to do more research into the unsettling group dream, so they walked to the library to talk to Malif's mother, who was a librarian. She agreed to help them research the phenomena, and pointed out that they could also hire some professional researchers to speed up the process.

After saying goodbye to Malif's mom, Malif went in search of a falcon, Errol tracked down down a researcher and hired him for three days, Kestrel went to a healer temple to regain some of his dexterity, and the rest of the party took a couple hours to rest.

 

[random user]

Chapter V - The Trouble with Cherbas

March 4

The party rose early and got to work. Malif spent the entire day creating his familiar, Kestrel went off in search of Pippy, while the rest of the party started reading through the books Malif's mom had found.

After searching through town for a couple hours trying to gather information, Kestrel ran into Ash, who claimed to be Pippy's friend. Unfortunately he didn't know where Pippy was, but Ash said he was with Pippy when he originally got the stones.

"Yeah he got them from a wizard that came in through the west gate. The wizard was maybe six feet tall and had black hair but I don't remember much else." Kestrel asked a few more questions, but the lad was getting antsy and didn't give Kestrel any other real information.

Towards dinner, the party met back up to compare notes on their research into group dreams. They found much background information on dreaming itself, but little in terms of group dreaming. They did find out that there was a renowned researcher into sleep, dreams, and trace states in the area, a belar named Chias.

As Kestrel headed back to his room, he found an odd letter in his mailbox. Lydia had moved to Pavalar and made enough money in the last couple weeks to repay Kestrel! She was working at The Traveling Minstel in town and invited him to stop by.

Kestrel found the tavern without much trouble ("Eh lad everyone's been asking about it recently, it sure seems popular" a walker noted when Kestrel asked for directions). The Traveling Minstrel was a large three-story inn and tavern taking up much of a block. Upon entering, Kestrel noticed immediately that the place was packed and lively. Booths lined the sides of the common room, with some large tables set up in the middle. On one end was a long bar with three bartenders taking orders. Through the din of the crowd he heard some music in a corner.

After looking around for a couple minutes, Kestrel spotted Lydia moving from the kitchen to the bar. "Oh heya Kestrel! I'm glad you could stop by!" exclaimed Lydia as she gave Kestrel a heartfelt hug.

When asked how she had come to be in Pavalar, Lydia said, "Well, it's the most amazing thing really... I was pretty depressed when I first met you guys, and even though Janson is a kind-hearted man and took pity on me, I was doing such a bad job I'm pretty sure he would have fired me soon.

"But after you loaned me the 15 gold, I was so happy I started paying attention. A couple other customers at the inn overheard Errol appreciating his drink, and asked what he was drinking. I remember Janson making something special for him so I asked them if they wanted some too. They said yes, and I convinced Janson to make a couple more batches. Well turns out that the drink was hit!

"They liked it so much, everyone at that inn wanted a taste. A couple days later, an investor from Pavalar was coming back from Gront and liked the drink so much he wanted Janson to run a new inn he was about to open in Pavalar.

"Janson was thrilled and I was being a lot more productive at work, so he promoted me to head of the kitchen. Between my new wages and the tips we share, I've already made enough money to pay you back!

"Kestrel, I want to thank you so much again! I just had a feeling that my husband was going to have something bad happen to him in that mining town. But thanks to you he's back, Janson has a new inn, and I'm running the kitchen!

"Oh, hey I gotta go but come back if you get the chance and bring your friends too!" Lydia exclaimed as she heard her name called, and turned back torwards the kitchen.

As Kestrel left the inn and headed back to his apartment, he thought to himself, "Yet again, things are happening, and we seem to be right in the middle of it. I wonder if there's something about us that made Tera pick us besides that we were convenient. It seems like we have having an inordinate impact on the area for just being a few students. Is something out there helping us, or putting us in the right place to have an impact? Or is the paranoia from Malif and Vaugner rubbing off on me?"

As he was walking, he noticed that some of the usually constant magical lights which lit the streets were flickering for no apparent reason.

March 5

Kestrel and Errol decided to swap roles. Errol would try and find more information about Pippy while Kestrel hit the books. Errol spent the morning gathering information and found that Pippy had fled the southwest quarter and was now hiding out in the north quarter. Errol decided not pursue Pippy there as it was a rough and tumble neighorhood. A streetwise urchin would have no problems there, but Errol was wise enough to realize he would be lucky to escape the north quarter with his pants intact if he went there alone.

Meanwhile, Malif finished the final incantation and converted his falcon into his familiar. While the experience had been tiring, with a fresh bout of energy from his exaltation of bonding his familiar, Malif spent the rest of the day modifying his hand crossbow to better load bolts.

Towards lunch, Kestrel got a summons to Mortenser's office. Once there Mortenser said, "I have an update for you in regards to the cherbas and the wizard. The cherbas are very dangerous. They can cause an anti-magic field around them as well as disrupt nearby magic. They are definately a threat to Pavalar, especially given how fast they multiply. We've done some scrying for a wizard leaving stones here as well as divining in general for any malicious attacks by a wizard. Nothing has turned out so far. We'd like to talk this urchin Pippy if possible. He may help us a lot."

"We've been looking for Pippy but haven't found him yet," replied Kestrel.

Mortenser continued, "If you could even find out his real name we should be able to find him without too much effort. Anyways, I remember you did a good job with the sculpture a couple of weeks ago, and I'd appreciate it if you could continue looking into this matter. If you get any further information please contact me or Jasrina -- she's the lead investigator in the outer keep -- as soon as you can."

The party met up to eat lunch and discuss their findings from the morning. Vaugner had reseached more about Chias. "Chias is very old, over 4000 years old, and used to teach his course in Pavalar. But interest wasn't very high and eventually he decided to move to the coast and continue his research there. He doesn't seem to be especially friendly or unfriendly, which probably means he'll be aloof unless we have someone introduce us," he reported.

As they were finishing lunch, a crier ran down the street shouting, "The magistrates of Pavalar have declared that all cherbas must be removed from the city. Please gather all cherbas and deposit them at the East checkpoint. Also, the magistrates are looking for a young boy who goes by the name of Pippy. A 100 gold reward is being offered for finding him alive. In addition, there is a 1000 gold reward for anyone who can find a way to reliably and efficiently get rid of the cherbas."

The party grumbled that this would make thier finding Pippy much harder, but decided they would try their luck in the north quarter anyways.

 

[random user]

Entering the north quarter, the party noticed that most of the people were taciturn and kept to themselves. Still, that didn't stop them from staring at the party when they thought they were unnoticed.

The buildings and streets were maintained poorly compared to other parts of the outer city, and an eerie quiet contrasted the hustle and bustle of other the other quarters. Errol started to gather information but most people were reluctant to talk to him and gave him vague answers. Eventually Errol found and cornered a street urchin. "Hey," Errol said, "We're looking for some information. If you help us out it will go well for you. If not it won't."

Only hearing the threat, the waif took off running, but Kestrel easily caught him and lifted him up. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" the kid wailed. The lad was causing quite a scene, but no one moved to help him. Suddenly from down the street a voice called out, "Hey what's going on here?"

The party looked towards the origin of the voice and saw five men in a group. The one in front was clearly a leader, and his four followers flanked him with weapons ready to be drawn. Immediately the street cleared, and the kid stopped struggling. Vaugner, feeling a bit paranoid, looked around checking for snipers in any of the surrounding buildings. He was rewarded by spotting a person on a rooftop, though he could not see if the watcher was armed.

Kestrel looked up and calmly explained that the kid had information but was unwilling to share it.

"Exuse me, sir, but the kid's not your personal property. Let him go!" the man growled sarcastically. A short conversation that went nowhere ensued between the man and Kestrel, and it looked like it was about to come to blows. Before that could happen, three men on horseback ride up. They had the markings of the local militia.

"Sullivan, what's going on here?" one of the men said.

Sullivan replied, "These brats came down and decided to pick on Sainy here. We took offense to that, and asked them to let the kid go. They refused. We were just about to settle our dispute."

The militiaman turned to the party. "And what do you have to say for yourselves?" he asked. Kestrel replied with the essentially the same story, that the kid had information and the party was attempting to get it.

"Sainy, what these guys want to know, do you know it?" he queiered. Sainy shook his head vigorously while whining, "No I know nothing, sir."

"See, the kid knows nothing, you should let him go," the militiaman intoned calmly. At that Kestrel shrugged and dropped Sainy, who quickly scampered off. He continued, "There still a problem here?" as he looked at the party and Sullivan's men. "No Sir!" Sullivan replied respectfully. With that his group turned around walked down the street.

"We're not going to have any more problems here are we? This isn't the inner city you know. People aren't just going to answer to your beck and call here," the man warned.

If Kestrel felt rebuked, he didn't show it. "What is your name?" he asked.

"My name is Myan and I'm one of the seagents," Myan replied. He rode alongside the party for a bit. They found out that Myan was also tasked with finding Pippy, as was the whole city, but that he thought chances were slim that he would be found anytime soon. "The belar misunderstand the situation here. Pippy isn't a hardened and cruel criminal. He's well liked in the community and a good judge of character, and while a lot of people will be tempted by the reward, the friends who know where he might be hiding aren't going to tattle on him."

Discouraged, the party left the north quarter and stopped by to see how Malif was doing. "Look guys, you don't need to find Pippy, you just need to find someone who knows what Pippy knows!" he exclaimed.

With that revelation, the party left Malif to continue his tinkering. Vaugner checked in with his rogue contacts and verified that Pippy was not in the thieves guild. Asking around discreetly and obliquely, he did find out that Pippy often hung out with Ash and Tip.

The party set out in search around town again, and late in the afternoon Kestrel spied Ash sitting in an alleyway eating an apple. Vaugner crept into the shadows and used his hat of disguise to make himself look like a random walker. At the sight of the party Ash started to bolt, but Kestrel called out, "Hey Ash, remember me, it's Kestrel... I have some more silver if you can help out with some information!"

Ash turned around and recognized Kestrel. He stopped and asked what they wanted. From Ash, they learned that since the heat was so high on Pippy that he would have bolted from town, and Ash didn't recall any more details about the wizard. Kestrel kept handing him more silver, though, and Ash dug deep into his memories to come up with more information. Suddenly, he had a revelation. "Give me an hour and I'll have more information for you. Meet me outside Rina's shop."

The party agreed and with that Ash scampered off. Vaugner discreetly tried to follow him, but Ash was running at full tilt and Vaugner lost him as he ran through a tavern.

"Don't worry Vaugner, we still think you're a good rogue," Errol said dryly.

About an hour later, Ash showed up in front of Rina's store with another young boy about the same age. After greeting Rina, Ash presented his friend Tip.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to the wizard, but I remember him pretty well. Pippy was chatting him up. He was from outside Gront he said, and was on the way to one of the libraries in the inner city to do some research on ami.. um.. ani... animations, I think it was. He was about six feet tall and had a brown robe. He was definately a wizard. He wanted to stop by to say hi to someone he knew that had just moved here, but I don't remember where it was."

Through a flash of insight, Kestrel asked, "It wasn't by any chance The Traveling Minstrel was it?"

"Yeah that might have been it," Tip said. For their information Kestrel gave them each a gold and dismissed them. Ash punched Tip hard on the shoulder and said, "See I told you it would be worth it!" as they ran off.

The party then headed to The Traveling Minstrel. Errol chuckled as he saw the insignia of the tavern -- a mug of ale with a set of drums engaved on the mug. It was Friday night and packed with wall to wall people. Above the din of noise, a band could be heard playing.

Janson happened to notice the party come in and shouted to them, "Come in! Come in! You guys need a table? First group to give up their table gets their tab on the house tonight!" A table quickly vacated and Janson ushered the party to the table.

"Welcome!", he said. "I owe all this business to you guys. If you hadn't asked for a special drink, I'd still be in Mero. You guys have my word as long as you are in any tavern I run, drinks are on the house." Errol spotted the band and excused himself to go jam with the band. Following Errol's gaze, Janson shook his head in disbelief. "It's the craziest thing. Lydia thought of it really. People were loving the TMD's (we weren't sure what to call them, someone suggested called them 'The Minstrel's Delight, and the nickname stuck). It seems to make people more jovial and want to sing.

"Well, Lydia came up with the idea that we should hire a band, and the band plays whatever song or ditty the person wants to sing to. They go on stage and take a turn with a song. Everyone loves it, even though most of the singers are quite bad! Along with the TMD's that's what is making this place so popular."

The party described the wizard they knew and asked if Janson knew him. "Oh sure, Rillan I bet it is from the description. I've ran the Mero Inn for the last 35 years, and it's the only inn, and in a good location. I've met just about everyone who has regularly traveled between Gront and Pavalar. Rillan was here last week. He has a keep somewhere pretty close to Gront. Say I gotta get back to work, but if you guys need anything just let me know!" And with that Janson disappeared back into the crowd.

With that confirmation, the party resolved to set out to Gront the next day.

 

[random user]

March 6

Wanting to claim the reward themselves, the party decided not to tell Mortenser exactly what they learned and instead just mention that they had a lead on the wizard. They also left a note with Lydia to deliver to Mortenser in the event that they didn't return within 10 days, just to be safe. With that, they bought horses and set off.

Rabab, Malif's new familiar, soared overhead in wonder as she took in her surroundings with a new degree of insight and understanding. Throughout the day, the falcon flew excitedly around the party.

As the sun set they stopped at the Mero Inn. Errol tried to convince the bartender there that the party was supposed to get free drinks, but the bartender was having none of it. Not wanting to make a big issue, the party asked him to keep a record of their drinks.

March 7

As the party prepared to ride out for the day, they spied a gnome also getting ready to set out. Curiousity got the better of Errol, and he found himself staring.

"Hiya, my name's Gnash," the gnome introduced himself. "How are ya?"

The party discovered the gnome was travelling to Gront also so they decided to spend the ride together. Gnash related his tale, "I've been traveling for 5 or so years now on my quest. I'm looking for a dragon because my quest is to build a mechanical dragon!"

Unfortunately, poor Gnash had little inkling of what a dragon really was.

"Dragons fly? Oh my, that's going to make it much tougher."

"What? They are made of gold? I'll never be able to afford that... oh, they are just colored gold? Ah that's better."

"How big are they? Oh, that's quite big."

were some of his comments. Errol and the rest of the party bemusedly educated him with what knowledge they had of dragons. "Well, that's all very interesting, I'll have a lot of questions to ask him when I find my dragon!" he said as he shook his head.

Gnash also made small talk with several members. With Malif he chatted about the properties of metals and gems. With Errol he shared his experiences in his travels. While the party uniformly thought the gnome was a tad bit crazy, it did make for more cheerful travel.

March 9

Reaching the outskirts of Gront, Gnash bid the party farewell and headed into the city. To the irritation of the rest of the party, Vernon went up to one of the guards and asked if he knew a wizard named Rinnel. The rest of the party was discussing a more subtle approach, but Vernon had spoken and they hoped they weren't tipping the wizard off. The guard indeed knew of Rinnel and furthermore provided directions to his keep. With that information the party continued onwards.

After traveling north for about an hour, they found the keep. It was a large house in an enormous lot with wheat fields on either side. The property was surrounded by a tall stone wall, and a bit of forest peeked out from behind the house. As they came to the gate, they found it ajar.

"Maybe it's abandoned," Errol suggested.

Peeking inside, they immediately saw a nonfunctioning fountain. Atop the fountain was a statue of a centaur. To the left was a hedge maze. To the right were the stables. In front and a bit to the right were three steps up to a doorway. On either side of the doorway was a stone granite gargoyle statue.

The party made its way to the fountain. A faint stink permeated the area, and the water looked stagnant. As the party walked up to the stable, a few floating brushes came up and started brushing Vernon, and not pleasantly. Some firewood floated out and was dumped at his feet. Looking around, they saw more firewood heaped in rough piles on the ground. The party decided to leave their horses at the gate.

Moving to the door, Vaugner knocked at it. After a few seconds with no answer, he took at look at the lock. Feeling rather paranoid, Blink decided to tie the gargoyles up in case they decided to animate. After a few minutes Vaugner picked the lock and the party entered.

The doors opened up to a 20' x 20' entryway. In the far right corner was a pond, and in the near right corner was a small apple tree. A few green apples hung from the trees, and several more had dropped to the ground and were in various states of decomposition. To the left were several expensive looking benches. Ensconed in the walls in various places were magical torches with continual light to provide illumination. At the far wall there was another door.

Vernon moved forward and opened it. This door opened into the main house. Immediately in front was a large staircase leading straight up. To the right looked a living room with a large wooden table and a gigantic rug. A tapestry hung from the far wall. In the corner was a polished suit of armor, and a couple couches lined the walls. To the left was a door, and there was also an opening towards the left into the dining room.

Still feeling paranoid, one of the party members tossed a stone onto the rug in the living room. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then a small bown blob with 4 legs ran into the room, scooped up the rock, and disappeared!

Shrugging, Vernon opened the door to the left, which led into a bedroom. Though nicely furnished with a bed, dresser, table, fireplace, and a rug, nothing interesting was found.

Suddenly two more of the strange creatures appeared and started coming towards the party. Vaugner shot an arrow at one but it flew past the creature harmlessly. The creatures attempted to lift Kestrel. When that failed, they bit and clawed at Kestrel but failed to connect. The party killed one, but rather than killing the other, they grappled it and tied it up, as some of the party members were loathe to kill it.

As the party pondered what to do now, they saw another one of the creatures skitter along the floor, pick up Vaugner's errant arrow, and disappear through back through a doorway.