Silver Moon
Adventurer
Chapter 51, “A trip back to the Slaver’s temple”, July 8th, 1006:
Ilma, the warrior maiden of Ukko, appears before the party. She informs them that the group which they have defeated included all of the Slave Lords, and that the slaving operation has now been destroyed. She tells them that this will be a serious problem for the Church of Loviatar, as the operation was not only their primary funding operation but also the mechanism that the church used to rid itself of any people in their communities who caused them difficulties. She also hints that she has some prophetic visions of the future, and that great things are in store for the Silver Moon Adventurers. She then departs.
The party search and strip the slavers. Party members without armor and weapons acquire what they can. Most of the magic and other possessions taken from the party members who had been captured are found, but some items are still missing. The freed slaves have no desire to return to Clearwater, so are given provisions, two caravan wagons, and mounts, and they proceed westward towards the Kaloon Lordholding coast. The party head back east towards Clearwater, stopping to rest for the night at sunset.
July 9th, 1006:
The group returns to the town of Clearwater, and is informed by the crew of the ship that the Magistrates of the town are looking for them. Several party members are now ready for apprenticeships, and they decide to make this the first order of business. Boz, Jamie, Kharole, Lysdashi, Melina, Phuddipeduzh and Tolbyrne all find people in the town to apprentice them. Narg takes on Mojo as his apprentice. Several members of the party receive a summons to appear in court the following day.
July 10th, 1006:
A day of great tension follows, with the party having to testify in court about what has transpired. It is discovered that the church leader Alexander had secretly been the one who had initiated the party’s arrival in town to deal with the slavers, and he is formally stripped of his rank and sentenced to leave town. With him taking responsibility for most of the party’s actions, the only major fine is levied against Serita, for destroying two buildings in town during the distraction attack. She is fined 1,000 gold pieces.
Charges against the rest of the party are reduced to the charge of “littering”, to be tried in a lesser court the following day, as they had left a large number of slaver bodies behind in the street after the town battle. The Magistrate also banishes them from the town, ordering them to depart following the other trial. The wizard Racoba, who had begun to apprentice both Kharole and Tolbyrne, then countermands this order. He declares that the party will remain for another week, until he has completed the training of his students. It appears obvious that the Magistrate fears this man, who agrees to the week delay. The towns Bishop and Abbot are in attendance, and also reluctantly agree to this. Feeling a false sense of security, Natasha then fires off accusations about the Bishop and Abbot being involved with the slaving operations. The church leaders and Magistrate just ignore her.
July 11th, 1006:
The party appears in the Abbot’s court regarding the littering charge, and those who were seen during town battle are ordered to pay a fine of 100 gold pieces each.
July 12th, 1006:
Apprenticeships continue. There is some type of holiday in town, which the party decides it is best to avoid, so those not apprenticing remain on the ship for the day.
July 13th, 1006:
Most apprenticeship end. With the majority of the key party members now back with the group, they decide that it is time to reenter the Slaver’s Temple to look for their lost possessions. A group comprised of Blake, Klaaze, Melina, Mojo, Narg, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Serita and Vincenzo head over to the temple. They bring with them a slaver captured during the initial battle, who had been kept on the ship as a prisoner.
Shortly after entering the building their prisoner guide attempts to escape, and is immediately killed by Klaaze. A trio of undead, a Wight and two ghouls, are then encountered and successfully turned by Vincenzo. The party decides that the temple is unoccupied, and split into smaller groups to look for their things more quickly.
They eventually find a walled in area. Klaaze lifts up Narg to look over the wall, with Narg seeing the party’s possessions thrown about near piles of rubble and rocks. Klaaze is impatient to get his items back, and has Narg hoist him up and over the wall. Klaaze begins to grab the things, and tosses them back over the wall to Narg. Klaaze them get bitten by a creature in the back of his leg. He lets off a yell “OWW, something just bit me.” As Klaaze draws his sword and pivots around Narg climbs over the wall to assist him.
It turns out that the creature is a basilisk, and lives in this area with its mate. Narg gets turned to stone by the creature, prompting Klaaze to decide to go get the others. He turns his head away from the creatures and drinks a Potion of Flying. He has never used this type of potion before, with comical results trying to fly in the confined spaces of the building. He does manage to get away from the basilisks and soon finds the other members of the party. He leads them back to the walled in area, and they manage to kill both of the basilisks.
The party gathers up their things, and hosing the Narg statue, make their way back to the ship. Phuddipeduzh is now experienced enough for his next level, and heads off to begin an apprenticeship with the paladin Sir Marmaduke.
July 14th, 1006:
Melina and Mojo haul the Narg statue over to the home of the Wizard Racoba to see if he can be of assistance. The wizard gets very angry at their interrupting the training of his students, but does agree to help, provided that there are no further interruptions. Melina and Mojo leave.
July 15th, 1006:
Kharole and Tolbyrne complete their apprenticeships, after which Racoba transforms Narg back to flesh. The gnome priest Jared visits the party, suggesting that they depart before the 20th, which is when the Emperor (who rules this region) is scheduled to visit the town of Clearwater. They say that won’t be a problem, as Phuddi’s apprenticeship will end on the 18th, so they can depart at dawn on the 19th.
[DM’s Note #63: After returning from his honeymoon Natasha’s player was dismayed to find that Mojo’s player had joined the group, as the two of them had personalities that were not compatible. Natasha’s player then began a behind-the-scenes campaign to get the new player ousted from the group. His plan backfired, with him soon discovering that most of the group really liked the new player, and several did not like the shenanigans this player was initiating. So, in a classic case of “If I can’t have my way I’ll take my ball and go home” the player changed the game night for his other gaming group to the same night as ours. Thus, he, his wife, and his best friend (who played Lysdashi) all abruptly departed. He gave me all of his notes for the module he had been working on regarding the old enemies of the party seeking revenge, which I decided deal with the following week in order to wrap up that subplot.]
Ilma, the warrior maiden of Ukko, appears before the party. She informs them that the group which they have defeated included all of the Slave Lords, and that the slaving operation has now been destroyed. She tells them that this will be a serious problem for the Church of Loviatar, as the operation was not only their primary funding operation but also the mechanism that the church used to rid itself of any people in their communities who caused them difficulties. She also hints that she has some prophetic visions of the future, and that great things are in store for the Silver Moon Adventurers. She then departs.
The party search and strip the slavers. Party members without armor and weapons acquire what they can. Most of the magic and other possessions taken from the party members who had been captured are found, but some items are still missing. The freed slaves have no desire to return to Clearwater, so are given provisions, two caravan wagons, and mounts, and they proceed westward towards the Kaloon Lordholding coast. The party head back east towards Clearwater, stopping to rest for the night at sunset.
July 9th, 1006:
The group returns to the town of Clearwater, and is informed by the crew of the ship that the Magistrates of the town are looking for them. Several party members are now ready for apprenticeships, and they decide to make this the first order of business. Boz, Jamie, Kharole, Lysdashi, Melina, Phuddipeduzh and Tolbyrne all find people in the town to apprentice them. Narg takes on Mojo as his apprentice. Several members of the party receive a summons to appear in court the following day.
July 10th, 1006:
A day of great tension follows, with the party having to testify in court about what has transpired. It is discovered that the church leader Alexander had secretly been the one who had initiated the party’s arrival in town to deal with the slavers, and he is formally stripped of his rank and sentenced to leave town. With him taking responsibility for most of the party’s actions, the only major fine is levied against Serita, for destroying two buildings in town during the distraction attack. She is fined 1,000 gold pieces.
Charges against the rest of the party are reduced to the charge of “littering”, to be tried in a lesser court the following day, as they had left a large number of slaver bodies behind in the street after the town battle. The Magistrate also banishes them from the town, ordering them to depart following the other trial. The wizard Racoba, who had begun to apprentice both Kharole and Tolbyrne, then countermands this order. He declares that the party will remain for another week, until he has completed the training of his students. It appears obvious that the Magistrate fears this man, who agrees to the week delay. The towns Bishop and Abbot are in attendance, and also reluctantly agree to this. Feeling a false sense of security, Natasha then fires off accusations about the Bishop and Abbot being involved with the slaving operations. The church leaders and Magistrate just ignore her.
July 11th, 1006:
The party appears in the Abbot’s court regarding the littering charge, and those who were seen during town battle are ordered to pay a fine of 100 gold pieces each.
July 12th, 1006:
Apprenticeships continue. There is some type of holiday in town, which the party decides it is best to avoid, so those not apprenticing remain on the ship for the day.
July 13th, 1006:
Most apprenticeship end. With the majority of the key party members now back with the group, they decide that it is time to reenter the Slaver’s Temple to look for their lost possessions. A group comprised of Blake, Klaaze, Melina, Mojo, Narg, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Serita and Vincenzo head over to the temple. They bring with them a slaver captured during the initial battle, who had been kept on the ship as a prisoner.
Shortly after entering the building their prisoner guide attempts to escape, and is immediately killed by Klaaze. A trio of undead, a Wight and two ghouls, are then encountered and successfully turned by Vincenzo. The party decides that the temple is unoccupied, and split into smaller groups to look for their things more quickly.
They eventually find a walled in area. Klaaze lifts up Narg to look over the wall, with Narg seeing the party’s possessions thrown about near piles of rubble and rocks. Klaaze is impatient to get his items back, and has Narg hoist him up and over the wall. Klaaze begins to grab the things, and tosses them back over the wall to Narg. Klaaze them get bitten by a creature in the back of his leg. He lets off a yell “OWW, something just bit me.” As Klaaze draws his sword and pivots around Narg climbs over the wall to assist him.
It turns out that the creature is a basilisk, and lives in this area with its mate. Narg gets turned to stone by the creature, prompting Klaaze to decide to go get the others. He turns his head away from the creatures and drinks a Potion of Flying. He has never used this type of potion before, with comical results trying to fly in the confined spaces of the building. He does manage to get away from the basilisks and soon finds the other members of the party. He leads them back to the walled in area, and they manage to kill both of the basilisks.
The party gathers up their things, and hosing the Narg statue, make their way back to the ship. Phuddipeduzh is now experienced enough for his next level, and heads off to begin an apprenticeship with the paladin Sir Marmaduke.
July 14th, 1006:
Melina and Mojo haul the Narg statue over to the home of the Wizard Racoba to see if he can be of assistance. The wizard gets very angry at their interrupting the training of his students, but does agree to help, provided that there are no further interruptions. Melina and Mojo leave.
July 15th, 1006:
Kharole and Tolbyrne complete their apprenticeships, after which Racoba transforms Narg back to flesh. The gnome priest Jared visits the party, suggesting that they depart before the 20th, which is when the Emperor (who rules this region) is scheduled to visit the town of Clearwater. They say that won’t be a problem, as Phuddi’s apprenticeship will end on the 18th, so they can depart at dawn on the 19th.
[DM’s Note #63: After returning from his honeymoon Natasha’s player was dismayed to find that Mojo’s player had joined the group, as the two of them had personalities that were not compatible. Natasha’s player then began a behind-the-scenes campaign to get the new player ousted from the group. His plan backfired, with him soon discovering that most of the group really liked the new player, and several did not like the shenanigans this player was initiating. So, in a classic case of “If I can’t have my way I’ll take my ball and go home” the player changed the game night for his other gaming group to the same night as ours. Thus, he, his wife, and his best friend (who played Lysdashi) all abruptly departed. He gave me all of his notes for the module he had been working on regarding the old enemies of the party seeking revenge, which I decided deal with the following week in order to wrap up that subplot.]