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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 857" data-attributes="member: 94">SIXTH/SEVENTH SESSION: we liked it better when we thought it was the wizard...JORIE’s SIXTH/SEVENTH SESSION JOURNALSo much has happened in the past few days, it's hard to keep it all straight. I don't know how we're supposed to save the town from a dragon, though. Oh, and it looks like Wells might not behind it all, after all.We discovered, on flooding the lower levels of the kobold fort that there was a cave opening in the lake that was previously covered up. We figured that would be our next objective. At any rate, with the immediate threat to the town cleared up, we returned to a triumphant gathering. There was a huge party at Grace's. Ma, Da, and the others all came. The Silvermanes were there, too, Belimar was beaming with pride in his son, although I doubt Tanthril would have noticed. At one point, the Wizard Wells got up and gave a long speech. I tried a cantrip to make him Sneeze (we were still sure then that he was behind everything), but he was able to brush it off. As a reward for defeating this menace to our community, we got several gifts from various members of the community. Walt gave me a riding saddle of exquisite quality. Aunt Mel promised to help me find one of the dire badgers in the area to befriend. As the party broke up and we went to return home (the guys came with, as the Silvermane farm is close to ours), we found a column of smoke leading up from the Jesper farm. Jesper hadn't said anything about burning brush, so we ran ahead of our families. Jesper's farm got burned to the ground. I think Nik took it worst of all of us. Looks like there's even more kobolds than we thought. The younger Jesper boy is going to stay with Aunt Mel until we come back. Grace might have another boy to work around the inn, though. The funny thing is, that Jesper must have been dead for most of the day, but I could have sworn we saw him at the party.The next day, I returned to town riding my new dire badger. I named him Ripper, in honor of the fallen. I also found an owl, and a second badger to keep Dodger company. I named the owl Archimedes, by just randomly putting syllables together. You know, like how elves come up with their names. I call the new badger Slasher, because he told me that's what his name is. Using some space in one of Grace's back rooms, I worked on a scroll to hold a Lesser Restoration. We need something to take care of the strength-draining poison that keeps getting thrown at us. I don't know what the guys were doing.One more day, and another scroll completed. Aunt Mel also helped us by making another wand of cure light wounds. After I was done, we headed back to the lake. The guys had gotten the wizard Wells to get us a scroll with Waterbreathing on it. Archimedes carried it to the rendezvous point near the lake. The plan was to go down into the lake and trash some more little kobolds and spiders, like we've been doing. We're all feeling much tougher than before, so it shouldn't be too hard.I left Dodger and Slasher up on the side of the lake to watch for anything strange, but stay hidden and run back home if anything looked too threatening. Archimedes was really worn out from flying all that way, so he found a tree and went to sleep. It was a really heroic flight for him to come all the way from the Wizard's tree.With Ripper, myself and the guys affected by the magic, we would be able to breathe water for an hour. We swam down into the lake into the little cave. There was an open area, still submerged, but kind of strange. It was a little stone room. There was a metal door, a flue that water was flowing through, a grill set into the floor, a lever with a chain set next to it, and a metal wheel set into the wall. The door had a similar metal wheel set into it. Rodrigo cautiously stayed out in the little tunnel, in case something attacked us.First, I turned the wheel set in the wall. That had an effect. The flue closed so that no more water was entering the room. At the same time, a set of bars fell across the opening to the room. Rodrigo was stuck on the outside! Fortunately, Tanthril was strong enough to bend the bars enough to let Rodrigo squeeze through. Next, Nik pulled the lever. Now the drain opened in the floor and the water rushed out, leaving a nice little room filled with air. We were able to move through the complex with little difficulty until we came to the room with the half-dragon thing. As soon as we opened the door, we should have known to run. Instead, people took a couple shots in at the kobolds, then they shot back. And hit Ripper. Who raged. With me on his back. I've been trained in Mounted Combat, under Ma's guidance. It came in handy, as I was able to help Ripper dodge several crossbow bolts and spear blows. Together we rode down to the far end of the room. They had sorcerers, they had their elite "commandos", as they yipped out in their dialect of Draconic (which Da had tutored me in). The commandos would climb stairs to balconies in the room. The ceiling in here was nearly twenty feet. That gave the half-dragon room to fly out of reach of our weapons. With Ripper stumbling from his wounds, his rage the only thing keeping him on his feet, I stuffed a couple Goodberries into his mouth and led him back to the far end of the room. We'd done a lot of damage to the kobolds, but there was no way we could defeat them here and now. Rodrigo worked his way into the corner, but he'd gotten knocked unconscious. Ripper moved over to his side and crushed the commando that had dropped Rod. That allowed all of the commandos a shot at one of us without worrying about hitting their friends. I felt a bolt hit me, but I was able to shrug off the poison. I grabbed Rod and led the way out of the room. I revived Rod with the new healing wand, as we raced back to the room with the levers and wheels, hoping to flood the complex and drown the kobolds.One of the kobolds followed us, but he only shut the door so that we wouldn't be able to flood the complex. That was too bad, because it would have been good to remove the threat once and for all.We headed back to town, licking our wounds. I felt even more confident in my abilities after that battle. Aunt Mel's been teaching me how to take the forms of other animals, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm still not quite ready to do it on my own, though.This is getting too long, but when we headed back the next day, fully rested, we were able to defeat the kobolds and capture the half-dragon. He warned us that his sister would destroy us, anyway. We found a strange amulet on him. When Rod put the amulet on, he said he could hear a voice speaking to him. The voice sounded like it thought it was talking to the half-dragon. He was ordered to destroy the town before the end of the next day. If not...I'm not sure.But it doesn't sound good. -----------------TANTHRIL’s SIXTH/SEVENTH SESSION JOURNALMuch has transpired since my last journal entry, and I am eagerly awaiting our return to Mirromere. After our victory within the kobold’s warrens, we successfully flooded the lair that harbored the wicked creatures in an attempt to prevent any further misuse of the area as a staging ground for a kobold-led attack on our homes. During the process of the flooding, the water level in the artificial lake lowered and I was able to spot a small underwater cave. This discovery certainly required additional investigation, but since the cave was underwater, the party wisely decided to seek magical assistance to aid us in our investigation. Perhaps the wizard Jon Wells would assist us in the matter? If he did not provide assistance, we could be sure that his refusal would be just the admittance of guilt that we would need to bring him to justice. With that, we returned to our homes beaming with great pride in our accomplishments. The town held a grand celebration at Grace’s and even the wizard Jon Wells attended. Surprisingly, he praised our efforts and even volunteered to acquire a magical scroll for us that would aid us in the ongoing investigation at the artificial lake. Perhaps the solitary wizard was not the clever mastermind behind this evil after all, or perhaps he was just trying to buy himself some time by parlaying with us in the hopes that we would not separate his head from his shoulders. Regardless, there was much rejoicing amidst the townspeople, and we were aptly rewarded by them. Walt was kind enough to bestow his mighty long bow as a gift to me, and Hastur had crafted a fine mail shirt for my protection in combat. The celebration was short-lived, however, as flames from Jesper’s farm to the south became visible in the early morning’s dawn. Nikolai was visibly shaken as he had spent a majority of the night talking with Old Man Jesper. Without hesitation, our group quickly mounted some of Walt’s horses and streaked off towards the farm.The destruction that we came upon shocked us. Before us lay the smoldering ruins of Jesper’s farm. A couple of kobold bodies lay strewn about next to the badly burned corpses of Old Man Jesper and his two eldest sons. His youngest son, Arneus, was missing, however. Within moments, I was able to find a set of small child tracks heading off in the direction of the closest farm. Once again, we set off as a group at a fast-paced gallop. We soon arrived at Aunt Mel’s farm and located Arneus hiding behind a stack of kindling.  Apparently, the attack on the farm had occurred the day before, and the terrified child had waited here in hiding for fear of his life as the celebration at Grace’s ran through the night. This was terrifying information for us, as we realized that who we thought to be Old Man Jesper at the celebration the night before, was actually an imposter. Nikolai was visibly taken aback by this discovery as I loudly cursed the foul magicks of the evil illusionist. Whoever was behind such dastardly deeds would not escape my wrath! The witch or warlock from the previous night would soon be bleeding upon my blade.We quickly returned to the town and placed Arneus in the care of Grace. We gathered the men of the town together, and asked them to gather their families from the outlying farms and come together in the center of town where proper defenses could be established.  Hopefully our townsfolk would find safety in numbers as we returned to the artificial lake to stop this evil once and for all. Jorie dispatched Archimedes to the wizard John Wells’ tower with a note, and we once again began our trek back to the artificial lake.When we arrived at the lake, Archimedes was there to greet us with a note from John Wells attached to a magical scroll of water breathing. Jorie quickly reviewed the note, and within moments we were inside the underwater cavern, breathing the surrounding water as if it were air. To our surprise, the underwater cavern soon opened into a room that had an intricate device, that once activated, drained the water from the cavern and allowed us once again to breathe and walk freely without requiring the aid of magicks. The cavern seemed to lead deeper underground, and soon we were battling familiar enemies: kobolds. They appeared from around corners and attacked us like rabid rats trapped in a maze. They quickly fell to our might, but I was disturbed by the fact that no kobold that I had ever run into was capable of the ingenuity required to established such a fortress as the one that we now explored. There had to be a higher power that was assisting them. But what form could this “higher power” take?Before long, we did indeed find this “higher power” in what appeared to be a large throne room within the tunnels. The room opened up into a twenty-foot-high corridor with several balconies overlooking it. At the end of the throne room, what we had mistakingly assumed earlier to be a lizardman grinned at us evilly. The mottled green and brown winged, lizard-like kobold quickly signaled for an attack, and soon the room was full of kobolds pouring out from their hiding places, crossbow bolts filling the air like a furious hurricane. I held my ground near the throne room’s entryway, cautiously raining death down upon the kobolds on the balconies with my mighty long bow. We were drastically outnumbered, and I instinctively took up a defensive position behind one of the throne room’s large doors in order to do as much damage to the enemy as possible before tactically withdrawing. I knew when we were outmatched. We had a slim chance at defeating the enemy by fighting off-balance and on their terms. We had to fight them on our terms, at our chosen place, and at our chosen time. That is the way of the hunter.Jorie and his dire badger, however, had different plans. Before I could do anything to stop them, they charged head-first into the room and disappeared from sight behind a hail of crossbow bolts at the end of the corridor. I hesitated for a brief moment at the tactical insanity of rushing into the room after them, fully aware of the dire consequences of what would likely occur if I followed. But Jorie was a trusted friend, a comrade-in-arms, and a devoted worshipper of Ehlonna. If he were to fall, I would fall with him at his side, fighting until the end! With a deep breath, I dropped my long bow, drew my swords, and entered the fray.Kobold after kobold fell victim to my blades as I tried to fight my way deeper into the room to help Jorie, and I could hear the familiar and reassuring sounds of Rodrigo and Nikolai fighting behind me. I attempted to work my way towards their winged leader and destroy their source of morale, but the coward hovered into the air just out of reach of my blades.  Seconds later, he disappeared from sight altogether leaving only a strangely unsettling echoing laughter behind. My attention quickly turned back to the kobolds manning the balconies and running about in front of me as the shear numbers of warriors brought to bear on us was beginning to become overwhelming.  The battle line was weakening, and I could feel my arms tiring under the strain of battle, my wounds becoming too grievous for me to continue on. Luckily, Jorie and his dire badger had also come to the same conclusion at that time. They raced past me in full retreat and bounded out of the throne room. They stopped just long enough to pick up the unconscious body of Rodrigo lying on the floor, blood splattered across his face. With my companions running for safety, I yelled to Nikolai that it was time to leave, turned, and quickly bolted from the room. We eventually fought our way out of the underground complex and retreated back to town to recover from our wounds. Our pride was certainly hurt, but it would take much more than that to stop us from returning.  And return we did. This time our wrath could not be stopped. Our initial battle had obviously taken its toll on the kobolds, as many had been killed or mortally wounded. When we returned this time, there was noticeably less resistance to our intrusion, and when we confronted the lizard-like kobold in his throne room for the second time, he did not appear to be as confident in his victory. After a hard-fought battle in which the lizard-like kobold leader revealed his true self as a half-dragon, we emerged victorious and were able to secure the half-dragon as a prisoner.  He was unconscious and critically wounded after I was finished with him, but we were able to stabilize him and properly restrain him. Rodrigo donned a magical item that the half-dragon leader was wearing at the time of our battle, and now all his incessant ramblings about vampires have been replaced with talks about an evil green dragon. Sometimes I think the sorceror’s dabbling in the arcane arts has made him mad. In either case, I am confident that once we return to town with our new prisoner, much of this mystery will be unveiled. Green dragon or not, the menace behind our towns problems of late will be stopped. With our group of fearless adventurers investigating the mystery, it is only a short matter of time now before peace and tranquility once again find their proper homes in Mirromere...-----------------NIK’s SIXTH/SEVENTH SESSION JOURNALThe kobolds were proving tougher than we had thought they would. We were forced to retreat (I feel no particular joy at the idea of persihing in a fruitless battle, but sometimes it seems my friends do).We returned to town, regrouped, healed, and returned. We smashed the remaining kobolds and their Queen.Or so we thought.We returned to town to get our reward, and there was a small party. I struck a conversation with a farmer named Jespers. In my mispent adolescence I had set fire to his barn, and it had been destroyed. I tried to make amends, but he was acting as if he had never met me. I thought he was playing mind games with me, but...Later that evening we realized that there was a trail of smoke rising from the area where his farm was. We investigated, and found Jespers body. He was at least several hours dead, meaning the person in the bar was an impersonator. In my short time in the thieves' racket in Littleberg, I remember one truism: Never impersonate a man who is likely to show up where you're impersonating him.I take this to mean that whoever impersonated Jespers knew he was dead. In the current environment, anyone who knew he was dead should have reported the fact to the authorities. Failing to have done so implicates the impersonator in the death itself, in my view.In any case, we realized that the kobolds were NOT all gone. Further investigation resulted in finding an underwater passage that led to a cunningly crafted lair. In short order we were once again surrounded by kobolds, and in need of retreat (and once again, my friends seemed reluctant). This time we had a Half-Dragon to add to our troubles. He vanished, and we found ourselves in a world of trouble. We fell back again, and returned to town to lick our wounds and regroup once more.In our next return we were resolved to finish the Kobold/Dragon, and we were successful, although not until after much blood had been shed. We hemmed him in, and took him prisoner. Now Jorie wants to break his wings and do various other cruel things to the thing. I think it needs to die, but it said something about a "sister," and we need to know that there isn't something out there... worse...-----------------DM’s SIXTH/SEVENTH SESSION SUMMARYHaving once again read the players' journals and the quality therein, I think it's fair to let them speak for themselves. However I will provide a more streamlined overview summary of each session as required.The players fought their way to the bottom of the spider lair and felled the bloated Spider Queen—who despite all her agility, jumping, and various mobility Feats wasn’t able to deliver the satisfactory (and humiliating) flying-bellyflop I was hoping for. After rigging up a simple deadfall to pierce the seals at the bottom of the spider pits, they easily flooded the complex. The lake above dropped noticeably and Tanthril was able to spot a cave entrance under the water. The players hardly seemed to note the fact that they hadn’t killed more than a half-dozen kobolds or so, and returned home to claim their reward for “wiping out the kobold lair.” In point of fact they’d simply wiped out the spider breeding pits. The bulk of the kobolds remained safely under the lake with their leader, the half-dragon Maldrak.During their triumphant celebration in town, things got a little more complicated for Wells when Dria insisted on joining the fun. Perhaps it was simply bad luck, but she happened upon the fact that Jespers wasn’t in attendance, and assumed his form, using her magical trickery and skill at disguise. During the celebration Nik made a beeline for Jespers and started mumbling vague apologies. Dria made the best of the situation but bungled it terribly. There was no way she could know that, in his youth, Nik had burned down Jespers’ barn. In order to assuage the guilt that had wracked him for years, and to mend the bitter dispute between them, Nik offered to rebuild Jespers' barn with his own hands, to which Dria replied, "Ahh... Won't that be nice."It didn’t help any when the party broke up and the entire town could see smoke rising from the south, near Jespers’ farm. The party rode down to find a horrific “Uncle Owen-Aunt Beru” scene before them. Among the smoking ruins Jorie noticed some scarred and pitted damage that reeked more of acid than fire. Maldrak and a small band of kobold commandos had successfully carried out their first retaliatory raid.The party, however, were more ready to put the blame on Dria and Wells. Naturally, when the group came to Wells for a scroll of Water Breathing so that they could investigate the underwater lair, he was eager to help— and to deflect suspicion away. The party had ridden hard for the lake and was in communication with Wells by owl-post. Jorie further requested that Wells assist in defending the town— and again, it wasn’t prudent to refuse. Wells sent back his agreement to defend the town and included a scroll that Dria helped him craft.The players’ account of the underwater lair is accurate but for a few missed details. They failed to adequately remark on the complex engineering evident in the first and subsequent rooms—the air-locking system of the outer doors prevented them from flooding the place as they’d hoped. It wasn’t until their second (triumphant) trip that they discovered the complicated pump system that moved air throughout the place. They would have looked around a bit more, but the acidic green vapors that came bubbling up out of a darker, deeper pool (and with Maldrak’s insistence that “sister” would avenge him ringing in their minds), they soon scuttled out of the lair.Wulf</blockquote>

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