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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3934661" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 14, "Back on Track" July 6th, 1005: The group of Hherrmyie, Kharole, Klaaze, Lysdashi, Mark, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Serita, and Tao decide to head back in the direction of Kohlorahdooh. [DM’s Note #25: We were now approaching the "home stretch" of the module, at which point I required each of the ten players to select only one character apiece. They chose the above group (plus Narg).] The group meets up with another group of adventurers, the famed Zalparian Trio (human ranger Greyshade, human magic-user Oterel, and gnome cleric Dominic). The trio are on a quest to find some lost holy swords, and they have travelling papers which say to let them and their group pass freely to the city. The group figures that this will allow them to get past any troops. Narg reappears, and joins the group. Once out of town the group runs into the Sheriff and ten of his men. They accuse Natasha and Serita of stealing his money. Natasha and Serita say that he is lying, and that they sold him magical items in return for the money. The Zalparians seem annoyed by this, and are about to leave the party behind, when Serita and Natasha give in, and give back the money. Both also vow to later return to deal with the Sheriff. The group bypasses the Temple of the Black Sun. They are attacked by Griffons, which are quickly killed by the Zalparians before anyone else can react. July 7th, 1005: The group runs into another patrol of soldiers. The Zalparians do all of the talking, and their papers get everyone past without any difficulty. July 8th, 1005: The party heads toward the city, encountering some minor undead while going through a large cemetery. Dominic manages to ward off these creatures. The party reaches the City. The Zalparians go off on their own mission. The party finds lodgings in the outer part of the city, and starts to plan their next move. The Rod gives Klaaze a strong tug when he checks it, indicating that the next piece is in the city. July 9th, 1005: The party decides to split up to find out whatever information they can. Kharole makes friends with one of Lord Kohlorahdooh's off-duty guards to acquire information. Tao goes off to check out a monastery of his alignment. Tao also gets recognized by one of the guards who had been with the patrol that stopped the party on the 27th. He goes into hiding at the monastery. July 10th, 1005: Kharole gets taken on a tour of the city by the guard she had flirted with. Lysdashi tries to figure out a way to get the party over to the large inner island of the city, where Lord Kohlorahdooh's castle is, as all bridges leading to this island are heavily guarded. The group decides to use Narg's Pooka to get to that part of the City. This does not work, since Monty tells Narg that he is the only one who can see or travel with him. The group uses the Scepter of Wishes to get over to that part of the city. The exact wish only specified the "people" in the party. Serita then uses the Scepter to get her dog there as well. July 11th, 1005: The party heads to the Cathedral of Ukko, looking for Dominic. The High Priest, a man named Augusta, says that the Zalparians have already left the city. He also says that he remembers their ally Timothy, who had apprenticed in the city five weeks earlier. Augusta offers the group lodgings in the rooms below the Cathedral, which they decline. The group finds lodgings at a nice hotel. The group finds information about Lord Kohlorahdooh and his Castle. They get a map of part of the castle from an old elf that had helped to build it 150 years before. Narg vanishes. July 12th, 1005 Shortly before noon the sky turns dark, and all people within the city of Good Alignment fall asleep for several hours. When they awaken many of them find their pockets have been picked. Nothing much happens this day. July 13th, 1005: The party found out more information about the Castle. In addition to a map of part of the castle, they found an illustration of it. The building is surrounded by two walls, 60 and 40 feet high. The second wall is surrounded by a moat, with only one bridge across it. The building itself is rectangular, 600 by 500 feet. Most of it is only a single story high. Atop the roof is a 400 by 300 foot grove of miniature maple trees. In the center of the roof is a tower, 80 by 100 feet, which is five additional stories high. The castle is said to have many lower levels to it. The group find out that it was currently guarded by three naval battalions and one army patrol. Except for the officers, the naval troops were all non-human races. Narg reappears, and helped the group plan their assault. Meanwhile, Tao has found out similar information about the Castle. The monks had knowledge of a group of rival monks, the lawful evil Brotherhood of Benjamin, whose monestery was in a tower at the northern tip of the inner city. The students and instructors for this group now reside within Lord Kohlorahdooh's castle. They tell Tao that twice a day these monks leave the castle to attend ceremonies at the tower. Tao waits near this tower until evening, when a group of the monks are returning to the castle. He ambushes one of the students, killing him, and exchanging clothes. The student's robes are black and gray, with a pouch containing six star-shurikens. Tao quickly rejoined the other monks, who assume he was just answering a ‘call of nature’. They enter the castle through the main gates, passing several hobgoblin, lizardmen, and kobold guards. Once inside the building Tao follows the monks through a large hallway and down several corridors. They passed a kitchen, with a side pantry. Tao breaks off from the others, and hides in the pantry behind some crates of dishes, pots, and utensils. He decided to rest there and wait until the castle residents were all asleep. [DM’s Note #26: The above encounter was rather annoying for me, as I had assumed that the entire party would try to enter the castle disguised as these monks, rather than Tao going solo. This meant that from this point forward I was running two games until I could get them back together, a situation that I had hoped to avoid when I had each player pick only one playing character for the duration of the module.]</blockquote>

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