One God, Two God, Old God, New God

Dara 9, 6639 - A'chiad 4, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper (retired)
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

In Dimhaven, Rig, Crolack, Laurita, and Caranthir (and henchbeings) explored the museum for a while, learning a little more about this strange new world. Specifically, they learned a little about the old gods: one that looked rather a lot like Thor; another that looked like a 6-legged cow (named Old Mother, and still worshiped today); one known as the Unseen One, or Görünmez (also still worshiped, with a surprisingly large following); and finally, a fragment of one that was only ever represented as a disembodied hand. They also learned a little of the surrounding area, including where a few ancient ruins were: one at the end of the long river (a great citadel), one in the far north (rumored to have great riches), and one in the middle of the plains, once a great city.

After the museum, they went looking for a ship, hoping to get out into international waters and do a bit of teleporting. They found a merchant-adventurer, one Captain Alphonse Calleel, who agreed to take them out to sea. The journey was fairly easy, as the Captain's ship (a huge galleon named the Etcetera) was outfitted with strange, fire-spitting weapons. They encountered some pirates early on, and easily blasted them to pieces.

Their first stop, still within the bounds of the weird magic-eating area, was to an island a couple hundred miles off the shore. As the ship restocked and the captain made a few purchases, the adventurers went exploring again. Crolack got in an arm wrestling contest with another lizardman, and lost. They found a church, and attended the rather generic service, then spoke with a Father Lorden about his order. The Order, actually, as that was the name of his religion; he refused (though not unkindly) to explain too much, as his was a fairly secretive religion, and only those who were members could join. As they left, one of the Order pressed a religions icon into Rig's hand - a stone toad.

After much more traveling, they were finally in safe waters, and teleported south, to warmer climates - but not before asking Bear a few questions:

• Are the cataclysms related to the old gods? No, but yes (Bear sounded as if the question could, perhaps, be asked a different way)
• Does anyone in Lushea have knowledge of the nature of the cataclysms? Yes! (emphatically)
• Does anyone in the Dark Continent have knowledge of the nature of the cataclysms. Yes... (much less emphatically)

Their next visit was to Dinas Masnach, the City of Trade of Lushiea; Crolak got high on red fish, and the party learned that these people were far more magical than those up north. The people were a group of tribal, blue-skinned Elves, similar to the True Elves, but apparently much more violent and much less civilized, as they had recently attacked another tribe and returned with about 300 slaves!

The party asked about research opportunities, and were told to go to the capital. Dyffryn, capital of Lushea, turned out to be... essentially Las Vegas. Tall buildings, bright lights, and noisy people filled the streets. Rig found an information booth, and was able to get directions to the local Mage Guild (guild? Yep, guild, not college), which was in charge of much of the city's magical light display. After taking an elevator ride to the 5th floor, they met Elias Wibblethorn, Esq., Theological Archaeologist, and paid him 500 gp to research the old gods of Nobira. He was, of course, happy to oblige, and said he should have something by the next week. The party left to look at the temples of the city, and find out what they could about other gods. Their finding are detailed below:

• Old Mother, a six-legged cow, Old God of the earth, strength, and cattle
• Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), Old God of thieves, conmen, charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Moenga Moe, an islander god of ...?
• Sof Zamd, god of sand, feebleness, heatstroke, and dehydration - not so much worshiped as cursed, in the desert to the north
• Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.
• Oose Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, she's a gelatinous cube, draw your own conclusions. You can pet her for two copper pieces.

Along with the temples above, there was one further temple. Or rather... one missing temple. It was the Temple of Chaos; where it should have been, there was left only a placard, on which was engraved:

The Path to Chaos
Starts with the end of you
Continues with the first of nothing
Makes way for the eye
Places only the start of foundation
Appends that which is found inside you
And inscribes the cry of a pirate
To finish with the end of calm 

A series of letters and numbers followed the inscription:

123456qwerty
asdfghzxcvbn
7890uiopjklm

No XP was gained during this session; anyone starting a new character starts as King, with 620,000 XP and 815,000 gp, because that's how we roll.

Hex-Clearing for Fun and Profit

Cheathramh 23 - Còigeamh 21, 6639; next holiday, Summerfest, 6/1 (only a week away!).

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe

First off, the list of magical stuff! After doing a bit of their own discovery, and contacting a sage, the following stuff was identified:

• Crossbow Bolts +2 (Quantity: 4)
• Displacer Cloak
• Potion of Climbing
• Potion of Dragon control
• Potion of Extra-Healing
• Potion of Gaseous Form
• Ring of Command Plant
• Ring of Invisibility
• Ring of Spell Turning
• Rod of Cancellation
• Staff of Striking
• Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Ancient Zaharan): Polymorph Other (4th lvl), Detect Evil (2nd lvl)
• Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Dwarven): Haste reversed (3rd lvl)
• Scroll of Ward against Elementals
• Scroll of Ward against Magic
• Scroll of Ward against Undead
• Shield +1
• Shield +2
• Spear +1
• Sword +1
• Sword +1, +3 versus summoned creatures
• Sword +1, +3 versus undead
• Sword +1, Luck Blade
• Sword +3, Frost Brand
• Treasure Map (to 1d4x1000gp)
• Wand of Cold (2x)

Mor Gibs the wonder-fairy managed to scoop up all the gold he could carry from the Pointless Tower all those months ago, and ended up with 9,240 gp worth of platinum, gold, electrum, silver, copper, and assorted gems.

Also in the list of things-from-long-ago-I-forgot-to-write-down, Craydos's spell is "Craydos’s Hardening," which gives a target immunity to dispel magic, and +1 AC. Very handy, if you're a summoner!

Quetgar founded an assassin's guild in Wrapport, and hired some thugs to work for him.

Gróin tried to clear out a second hex, but after running into a huge tribe of trolls, decided to try the other side first. The team only managed to kill a single troll...

The second hex went somewhat more smoothly; Gróin and friends cleared a group of orcs, but were ambushed by some dragons - two young dragons, and two very young dragons. The dragons were killed, but not after destroying Craydos's pet shrew, and bringing Craydos down to 0 hp...

After clearing the hexes for Gróin, they team met back up with Caranthir, and together they killed 5 frost giants, scared off a warband of 20 bugbears, killed a chimera, a frost salamander, 2 remorhaz, 17 skeletons, and scared the ever-loving bejeebers out of a lone thogrin. Continuing to clear hexes, they went on to clear a further 3 frost salamanders and 19 zombies. Moving on, they hunted 24 moose, found the same 20 bugbears and killed 5 of them, before running the rest off, killed 2 caecilian, 8 direwolves, 3 wyvern, and 13 skeletons. All in all, a productive hex-clearing session.

Resting after a hard week fighting monsters, the team were surprised by a lich that suddenly appeared in Gróin's bag of holding! Freddy Bolger, gardener and terrible cook, accidentally became a lich while trying to create the world's most perfect scrambled eggs. He's travelled a bit, but has terrible memory. After insulting Gróin, hitting on Rhea, and summoning a singed spellbook from thin air, he vanished, leaving behind a pamphlet and the smell of old man socks.

• Experience from Encounters:
  • 1 troll (680)
  • 30 orcs (300)
  • 4 dragons (2x Young, 2x Very Young) (2020)
  • 5 frost giants (4250)
  • 14 dire wolves (1960)>/li>
  • 20 bugbears (1300)
  • 1 chimera (1300)
  • 4 frost salamanders (8400)
  • 2 Remorhaz (4500)
  • 30 skeleton (390)
  • 1 throgrin (80)
  • 19 zombies (552)
  • 24 moose (1920)
  • 2 Caecilian (1140)
  • 8 dire wolves (1120)
  • 3 wyvern (1140)
  • 1 sabre-tooth tiger (600)
• Experience from Treasure
  • 1,499 gp worth of silver, copper, electrum, and trinkets that easily sold at the Dwarven market from the orcs
  • 25,552 gp worth of all sorts of stuff from the giants
  • 25,200 gp worth of stuff from the remorhaz
  • 7,062 gp worth of stuff from the caecilians
• Total Experience: 4499 (without Caranthir, Elenora, and Quetgar), 86466 (with Caranthir, Elenora, and Quetgar)
• Experience for Caranthir and Quetgar: 14,411
• Experience for the other PCs (Gróin and Craydos): 15,696
• Experience for Elenora: 7206
• Experience for Rhea, Gimli, and Laurita: 7848

Additionally, there were two scrolls: a Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Elven): Light* (1st lvl), and a Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Draconic): Dispel Evil (5th lvl), Smite Undead* (4th lvl), Speak with Plants (4th lvl), and Delay Poison (2nd lvl).

Last but not least, Craydos hired a helper back when he was travelling: Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer (Male, level 4 Gnomish Beastmaster).

• Str: 13 (+1), Int: 12 (+0), Wis: 13 (+1), Dex: 7 (-1), Con: 9 (+0), Cha: 14 (+1)
• 18 HP
• Carrying: Chain Mail (AC 4), Composite Bow, Whip.
• General Proficiencies: Language; Class Proficiencies: Combat Trickery: incapacitate, Caving
• Languages spoken: Gnomish, Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, Kobold, Common, Extraplanar

Time Flies When You're Having Kingdoms

A'chiad 23-Cheathramh 23, 6639 (yes, that's month 4; we skipped right past Dragonning and King's Day); next holiday, Summerfest, 6/1.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe

Last week, we left Gróin and crew three days out from the yet-unnamed city founded by Caranthir, which I've decided to call Caranthopolis to save on typing. As it happens, they had just encountered three chimera, and said chimera were very, very hungry.

Gróin quickly made a stone structure as the chimera closed, then tossed some dust of disappearance onto himself, and laid out some heavy justice. Two chimera managed to roast some targets, but the battle was over before they could land more than a blow or two.

A single wyvern slowed them down not a whit, and soon they made it back to Caranthiropolis. After reorganizing some treasure, the group left Caranthir to his city-building, and set off to clear out another hex: that of Gróin! Unfortunately... Gróin's hex was much, much more difficult to deal with. Unlike Caranthir's "Oh, gosh, some moose, whatever shall we do," Gróin had to deal with a huge group of remorhaz (16, plus another enormous one!) and 310 kobolds (including both a high-level shaman and a witch doctor), two hunting dogs, and four giant ferrets. Which, after the shaman did some casting, became three giant ferrets and one frickin' enormous ferret.

Gróin attempted to talk to the leader; when things went badly, Quetgar attempted to assassinate him... only to find that he was an illusion! The throne dropped into a pit, leaving Quetgar to dive to the side, and battle was joined. As everyone else rushed in from the sidelines, Quetgar started cleaving through ten kobolds at a time. Gróin managed to nuke quite a few, and even Sorvald was shooting arrows into their midst, even managing to kill the witch doctor. Another kill after that, and the shaman had had enough; he dispelled the area around the magic carpet, causing Sorvald to reappear and the carpet to plummet out of the sky. Then, of course, forty kobolds crowded around to get their boots in, including one that suck-punched him between the legs and knocked him down. The shaman, expending the last of his tricks (he managed to cast Protection from Good on himself early on, which saved his life), cast Poison on his hands, then turned himself into a (non-fire-breathing) chimera. One of his poison-ladened claws slashed into Sorvald, instantly dropping him.

Meanwhile, Craydos' hydra was cleaving through any creatures who got close. Gróin blasted a line of kobolds with a horn; Quetgar managed to take out most of the back piece of the map. Gróin, seeing his friend fall, dashed to his side; the flames wreathing his body flared, scorching the 40 kobolds clustered around his body, burning them to death! Within moments, the remaining kobolds were dead. The few that tried to flee were run down and slaughtered. Gróin quickly cast Neutralize Poison on Sorvald, bringing him to life; unfortunately, he didn't have time to cut out his flames, and Sorvald, at a single hit point, was killed once again. Gróin stepped back, allowing others to heal him; this time, he woke unburnt.

The third encounter, fortunately, was the same caravan of nomads; they had passed the forest, and decided to keep going, to shelter in some caves in the mountains, as their shaman predicted some nasty winter weather. Gróin invited them in for a meal, and was able to feed most of them with a spell. A little smooth talking later, and he made some new friends who would be willing to trade - 14 wagons with ten times that many fighters, not to mention all the civilians.

The six mile hex around the entrance to the Plane of Earth cleared, Gróin and friends headed north to the dwarven cities of Dundrende Klippe, and the capital Stromsloja. They spent a month selling treasure, gathering knowledge, and in Gróin's case, speaking with the clerics of Thor. He desired a miracle, in two parts: first, that the effects of Vigor be cast upon him permanently, and second, that he be granted an Orb of Voice Transference - that is, a linked pair of orbs that allow one person to speak to another, even at vast distances. The clerics, after conferring amongst themselves, concluded that the time and effort to ask for a miracle may be better used in speaking with the wizards of Mareten, as they had created similar orbs before.

Gróin lead the party south and east, through the pass, and eventually made it to Mareten (I rolled encounters, and apart from a few animals, there weren't any problems!); Craydos, eager to set eyes on the Book of Holding Llarm has been using, uses it to research a new spell, which I forgot to write down, somehow. However, his attempt is a success! While he was studying, Gróin continued selling treasure, eventually pawning it all off.

The magical treasure gained from the remorhaz and kobolds is as follows: 4 Crossbow Bolts, 4 Potions, 7 Scrolls (2 detect as evil), 3 Rings, 1 Rod, 1 Staff, 2 Wands, 5 Swords, 2 Shields, 1 Spear, 1 Cloak, and 3 Treasure Maps.

But that's not all! Long ago, Faufe, Llarm, and Clench were left in Slowhaven. Llarm has been researching spells, but Faufe rounded up some treasure and left to make a lot of money. Only three days into his trip, he's already met a hydra and a group of sea dragons; the hydra was killed, and the dragons (luckily!) were freaked out by what they thought was a trap, and fled. Hopefully, the rest of his trip will be more serene!

Meanwhile, Caranthir continued to work on his land, improving it and attracting more people. The XP below doesn't include Caranthir, nor does it list the XP he earned from taxes. Additionally, Caranthir's kingdom is ahead; it's at 6/1, aka Summerfest, aka Siathamh 1st.

Gróin's new kingdom has begun, as well, at least the exterior area. New dwarves are showing up to build forts and homes, even in the dead of winter.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 3 Chimera (3900)
  • 1 wyvern (1140)
  • 16 remorhaz (36000)
  • 1 huge remorhaz (4800)
  • 272 kobolds (1360)
  • 28 leaders (196)
  • 8 sub-chieftains (80)
  • 1 very over-powerful witch (440)
  • 1 also too-powerful shaman (440)
  • 4 weasels (860)
  • 2 hunting dogs (30)
• XP from treasure (which was all sold, and I'm not going to bother listing it all)
  • 326,217gp, weighing 328 5/6 stone
• Total experience: 375,463 XP
• XP per PC (Gróin, Quetgar, Sorvald, Craydos): 68,266
• XP per Hench (Rhea, Gimli, Laurita): 34133
• Cash per PC: 81554 gp and 25 copper
• Additionally, the other items sold, which means:
  • Additional XP for Gróin, Sorvald, and Craydos: 22,022
  • Additional CP for Laurita, Rhea, and Gimli: 11,011
  • Additional cash for Gróin, Sorvald, and Craydos: 37533 and 33 copper (plus one more copper up for grabs)

Time is a little screwy right now. Rig, Llarm, and Clench are currently sitting at 12/24 of 6638, right after everyone got back from the Pointless Tower; Caranthir's kingdom just hit 6/1 of 6639, while Caranthir, Elenora, Luce, and his troops are waiting at 5/1 to start clearing some more land. Gróin and Laurita, Rhea and Gimli, Quetgar (and Zarc, though he's holding the fort elsewhere), Sorvald, and Craydos are parked in Slowhaven at 4/23, and Faufe is nearly a year behind, at 8/20 of 6638! Hopefully, everyone can synchronize in the next week or so.

To help with that, I'm going to start putting together an online kingdom-tracker, because there are a lot of numbers to crunch, and sometimes things like natural events play a part, but it's a huge pain to do all the kingdom stuff every week and ask everyone else to wait around. Automating it should make things go a lot faster.

You Got Worms

Dara 24 - A'chiad 23; next holiday, Dragonning, 3/25.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe

Elenora and Luce each had a birthday (1/14 and 1/18, respectively)

Meanwhile, Caranthir and Quetgar headed south, hoping to find some lizardmen to join their ranks. They moved from village to village, putting out the call, and managed to get a good few creatures to join up. Their trek back was uneventful as well, as they took a boat up the river. Luckily, the river is deep enough and flows well enough that there is little ice build-up. The final leg of their journey, they ran into a group of six dwarves and humans: a woman named Whispering Mouse, who seemed to have a pet tiger beetle that followed her around; Dolmen Rockharvest and Ori Barrelgut, both dwarves, and the only males in the party; and Ingeborg Månsson, Anna Patterson, and Berit Eriksson, who appear to be priestesses. Whispering Mouse told Caranthir that they were a party of emissaries from the dwarven realm, hoping to make peaceful contact with the new kingdom starting nearby. The group tagged along with Caranthir until they reached the base. Three days later, the second party with Gróin arrived, which gave Caranthir time to plan the first festival for his kingdom.

The journey for Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, and Sorvald was rather more eventful than Caranthir's trip. First, they ran into a caravan of 40 wagons - a group of traveling nomads, heading for the shelter of the arboreal forest to the east. They were interrupted one night by a remorhaz attack; they scared one, but the rest left when they realized their food had wings. Just outside the City of the Northern People, they waylaid a group of 9 thogrin, and nuked the lot of them, as is custom. They looted the corpses, and continued on.

In the city, Sorvald met with the leader of the local Thieves' Guild, who surprised him with his joviality. "So ya want to start a guild of your own, eh? Shoor! I got a few henchmen I could loan out, yah. How many do you want - aboot 10 do ya fine, eh?" Sorvald declined, as he was only information gathering, but left on good terms.

Gimli, meanwhile, looked for various troops to fill the new castle with. After a few weeks of looking, he managed to piece together quite the army; finally, it was time to return. They blasted through a msall group of skeletons without a problem, and waltzed on... and that's when disaster struck, in the form of not one, not two, but three purple worms. Luckily, they saw the worms from a good distance. Gróin immediately took to the air... and suddenly realized that the swordsmen and crossbowmen behind him were, unfortunately, land-bound, and soon to be worm food! He flew forward, and carpet-bombed the worms. Well, earth-bombed from his carpet, anyway. When the worms were in range, the crossbowmen took turns firing through the holes in the wall Gróin built. Just as the fight was concluding, a skinscribe stepped out of the swirling snow, lobbed a fireball at the worms, and introduced himself.

Gróin took an immediate liking to Craydos Silverskin; as Gold Skinscribe, he was lawful, and there were scant few lawful beings for the poor dwarf to talk with. Craydos, meanwhile, carefully wrote down all the information Gróin shared. As it turns out, Craydos is a Seeker! Until recently, he helped lead a small group of hermits in the northern mountains, scribing scrolls and gathering information from the heights of a mountain. He had heard about a group of adventurers who had come across some items of great knowledge and importance, and hoped to get a good look at them. Unfortunately, the Book of Holding was with Llarm.

Speaking of Llarm, he was holed up in Slowhaven, researching spells. His first spell, Dragonform, was an unmitigated disaster, but the second spell, Blue Dragon Breath, succeeds, and likely blows out a window. Luckily, the inn he was staying at has good insurance. You have to, with wizards around!

Meanwhile (well, I say meanwhile; this actually is a bit behind time), Faufe purchased a small troop transport, named the "Total Bullship," a retired military vessel (it used to be the "HMS BS"). He loaded it with merchandise (and got a pretty good deal), sailors, and the troops he hired, and headed south the 3rd week of Ochdamh, around day 23, hoping to reach Cliffport by the end of the week.

As we closed last time, Gróin's team (only 3 days from the new city) ran into a trio of chimeras...

The magical items discovered include: a Potion of Plant Control (on the thoghrin), plus 3 potions, 5 swords, 1 war hammer, 3 crossbow bolts, and two scrolls.

• 1,000 Copper
• 1,000 Silver
• 1,000 Gold
• 2,000 Platinum
• 3,577 gp from selling:
  • 1 Glass trinkets (120 gp - sold)
  • 1 hematite (10 gp - sold)
  • 1 obsidian (10 gp - sold)
  • 1 porcelain trinkets (500 gp - sold)
  • 1 turquoise (25 gp - sold)
  • 1 wrought copper trinkets (90 gp - sold)
  • 1 crystal geode (2,000 gp - sold)
  • 1 ruby (1,000 gp - sold)
• 112,600 gp yet to sell, to be split between Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, Sorvald, and Craydos:
  • 1 topaz (500 gp)
  • 1 crystal geode (2,000 gp)
  • 1 flawless diamond (4,000 gp)
  • 1 roll of silk (400 gp, 4 stone)
  • 20 ingots of precious metals (6,000 gp, 40 stone)
  • 34 typical fur capes (3,400gp, 34 stone)
  • 3 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (3,600 gp)
  • 3 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux (2,400 gp)
  • 11 alabaster and jet game pieces with jeweled eyes (7,700 gp)
  • 103 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods (20,600 gp)
  • 3 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes (3,000 gp)
  • 4 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes (28,000 gp)
  • 1 Platinum studded with diamond regalia (3,000 gp)
  • 1 ruby regalia (5,000 gp)
  • 1 Gold studded with topaz regalia (6,000 gp)
  • 1 jacinth regalia (6,000 gp)
  • 1 jacinth regalia (11,000 gp)
• Experience from Encounters:
  • 40-wagon caravan (peaceful)
  • 8 remorhaz (1 was panicked, 7 escaped: 2250)
  • 9 thogrin (720)
  • 10 skeletons (130)
  • 3 purple worms (12,600)
• Experience for Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, Sorvald: 6,787
• Experience for Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, Sorvald, Craydos (not counting unsold treasure): 12,600
• Total experience for Caranthir and Quetgar: 0
• Total experience for Gróin and Sorvald: 5412
• Total experience for Laurita and Gimli: 2706
• Total experience for Craydos: 3150

Additional experience: once a stronghold is complete, the builder receives 1 XP per 2 gp spent on it. This XP is lost if the stronghold is ever lost. Spell research also gains XP, if the research succeeds: the cost of the spell and extra components, divided by the number of months of research (min. 1), minus your gp threshold, multiplied by the number of months of research (again, min. 1). What, you expected magic to be straightforward?

As a final additional note: as of this adventure, the starting XP (for a new character) is 131,000 XP and 16,000gp. Retired characters and starting a new one will net you 20,000 XP, plus whatever gold you've "wasted", and whatever gold and stuff you're willing to dole out.

Settling Down

Dara 15-24; next holiday, Darkest Day, Dara 35.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker

Sorvald, meanwhile, was back at the tower. While everyone else was leaning of dead gods and fighting various creatures, he was whiling away his time lifting items from low-level mages as they wandered past. He managed to swipe 18 +1 arrows, 1500 silver pieces, and 3 sardonyx worth 225. After two days of boredom, he received a rather garbled message from Quetgar - the party was in Mareten! Sighing, he went upstairs to talk with the mages, and managed to find someone who was willing to teleport him, his friendly lizardman, and the carts to Mareten. Luckily, he made it in one piece - and where he was supposed to be, too! On his way inside, he met a strange fellow who called him by name, and handed him a coin - silver on one side, electrum on the other (as it turned out, that man was Loki, keeping an eye on the party; the coin would grant Sorvald either +5 or -5 to all his actions for the rest of the day).

While Quetgar sent a message, the others worked on finding what items they had gathered. Apart from a ring and a staff, the items were:

• Potion of Gaseous Form
• Oil of Slipperiness (Sorvald grabbed it)
• Potion of Undead Control
• Potion of Water Breathing
• 2 Potions of ESP
• Potion of Extra-Healing (Caranthir took it)
• Potion of Flying (Caranthir took it)
• Potion of Healing
• Potion of Healing (Caranthir took it)
• Scroll of Ward against Elementals
• Scroll of Ward against Lycanthropes
• Scroll of Ward against Undead
• Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Elven): Protection from Evil* (1st lvl), Create Water (4th lvl)
• Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Elven): Purify Food and Water (1st lvl), Augury (2nd lvl)
• Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Dwarven): Confusion (4th lvl), Ventriloquism (1st lvl)
• Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Elven): Charm Monster (4th lvl)
• Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Common): Hold Person (2nd lvl), Protection from Evil* (1st lvl), Bless* (2nd lvl)
• Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Elven): Resist Cold (1st lvl), Delay Poison (2nd lvl), Cure Light Wounds* (1st lvl)
• Three treasure maps
• Ring of Invisibility
• Ring of Invisibility
• Ring of Protection +2
• Ring of Command Human
• Rod of Cancellation
• Staff of Healing
• Wand of Fear
• Wand of Device Negation
• Wand of Illusion
• Boots of Levitation
• Cube of Frost Resistance
• Elven Cloak
• Helm of Teleportation
• Apparatus of the Crab
• Necklace of Adaptation
• Sword +1
• Sword +1, +3 versus undead
• Sword +2
• Sword +3
• Sling +1
• Spear +1
• Axe +2
• Leather Armor +3
• Plate Armor +2
• Plate Armor +3
• Shield +1
• Shield +3
• Arrows +2 (Quantity: 6)
• Crossbow Bolts +1 (Quantity: 7)
• Crossbow Bolts +3 (Quantity: 4)

Additionally, they tested the god's shoes, which appear to be boots of speed, yet cause no tiredness from walking; they also seem to prevent missteps. The staff, when Elenora tested it, caused a great glowing angel to appear in the sky; she could control it, but it didn't seem to do any healing. They decided to wait until they were out of town to do any more testing. Caranthir ordered room service, then started working on getting some funds together, by selling swords and so forth.

The group split up, one (with Caranthir) to look for treasure, and one (with Quetgar) to check on his hideout. Quetgar had no trouble getting there, and found his base cleared and clean. He paid his henchman, and named his golem Zud.

Caranthir caused a little consternation by transforming into a dragon, but managed to make it to a pirate treasure: a set of +4 bracers, and a cube of force. Flying on, they came to the Airwalker Tower; deciding to forgo a show of force, Caranthir, Rhea, Elanora, Luce, Gróin, Laurita, and Mor Gibs met with Brother Bartimaeus, leader of the Airwalkers.

He seemed to know why they were there, and did not stop them when they attempted to destroy the stone. They found the stone was light as a feather, but unaffected by gravity. Gróin Communed with Thor; busy as he was, it took a while, but eventually, Gróin was able to ask, "Will the airwalkers lose their powers if the stone is destroyed?"

The answer came back: No. Luce, holding the stone, attempted to leave, and the stone shattered into dust, and vanished. The first scale was destroyed!

Caranthir wondered aloud if perhaps the good Brother was more than he seemed. With a wink, Bartimaeus shapeshifted into that of a bronze dragon, and back again. He bid them farewell, as the team flew to meet the others. They passed a few creatures, but nothing that gave them so much as a fight.

Caranthir chose a plot of ground north of the Winter Fae for his domain, and began at once planning and clearing ground. The party cleared out a small team of bugbears, as well as a barrow full of three wights; however, Caranthir found a small cave, home to four gold dragons who were not terribly pleased to have him nearby. Eventually, a diplomatic solution was reached, and the dragons agreed to leave Caranthir alone.

The team also found a few more magical items and treasure, among them a Scroll of Ward against Lycanthropes, some +1 Ring Mail armor, a potion, a ring, a sword, a Scroll of Ward against Magic, and a Scroll of Ward against Undead.

Finally, the land was surveyed to be worth 7gp per family; the entire 24 mile hex was claimed as Caranthir's land (6 6-mile hexes), and as such requires a fortress worth 480,000 gp to protect the area. 50 mercenaries, a level 1 fighter, and a level 3 fighter volunteered to join them.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 307 brigands (passed)
  • 6 pegasus (passed)
  • 13 Hippogriphs (fled)
  • 1 Wyvern (fled)
  • 4 purple worms (ran away)
  • 4 Gold Dragons (peaceful... so far)
  • 7 bugbears (455)
  • 3 wights (240)
• XP from Treasure:
  • 2,000 Electrum (1,000 gp)
  • 2 barrels of fine spirits or liquor (400gp, 32 stone)
  • 8 crates of armor and weapons, (1800gp, 80 stone)
  • 6 crates of glassware (1200gp, 30 stone)
  • 9 crates of monster parts (2700gp, 45 stone)
  • 2 sets of engraved teeth (140gp)
  • 6 glass eyes (360gp)
  • 13 bone fetishes and figurines (247gp)
  • 1 bronze trinket (30 gp)
  • 1 Glass trinket (130 gp)
• Total XP: 1695
• Additional XP once items are sold: 7007 (187 stone)
• XP per PC: 161
• XP per Henchthing: 81

Treasure, Really Big Orcs, and Chaos

Deug 6-28, 6638; next holiday, Wintermas, Dara 1

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

After managing to store all their treasure, the party moved on, flying to the Mejastan city of Cuidado Mercado. They identified some of their magic items (a Cloak of Protection +2, Eyes of the Eagle, Ring of Protection +1, Ring of Water Walking, Scarab of Protection (5), and an interesting Brooch of Number Confusion). Taking off alone, Caranthir and Gróin, with Princess Maedhe in tow, went from treasure to treasure, picking up money and magical items.

Finally, picking up Quetgar and Sorvald on the way, the trio (and their henchmen) ended at a large, ruined castle - the location marked Not Worth It on the Fae treasure map. The outer rings of the castle were, indeed, ruined, but inside was something else altogether. As they passed through a doorway, they felt a magical field pass over them. Oddly, a map of the place seemed to fill their heads. Cautiously, they picked their way forward. Caranthir sent Gimli into a pool of water, where he retrieved a strange box. Gróin, using one of many wands of Detect Magic, noted it didn't seem magical. However, when an invisible servant opened the box, it seemed to be filled with a delicious meat-and-gravy-filled loaf of Dwarven Bread! Gimli, his mouth watering, ate a large slice, and declared it the best bread he'd ever eaten. After waiting to see if anything went wrong, Caranthir also took a bite. The bread was indeed delicious - and filling, too!

Further inside, Sorvald padded ahead. Suddenly, he could no longer hear the party behind him! He turned and retreated, reappearing before them. The doorway seemed to be a teleport of some kind; the party progressed, trying to follow the map in their heads, and teleporting around. They found a room full of magical treasure, blocked by a magic field, though little else of worth. In a far room, they found a gibbering Chaos Beast, though were able to destroy it without injury. And upon doing so, they heard a rasping voice calling out a challenge. They shouted back, and the voice merely laughed at them. Further on, they found a series of locked rooms, holding various nasty creatures: a hellhound, a dire ogre, a dire troll, and a creature none of them recognized - a snake, with a woman's head. The creatures were dealt with, and the party moved on, though the voice continued to call challenges to them.

Finally, the party came face to face with the creature. It was a huge monster, towering over their heads, and wielding a massive sword. Over the throne it sat on was a statue of a creature with long arms and a loose, slavering mouth. The monster on the throne - an orc, though larger than any orc they had ever seen - introduced itself as Skadge the Terrible, the Mage-Killer, the Curse-Bringer, and demanded single combat with a member of the group. Sorvald tried to get out, but it seems the teleporters only go one way. He did find a room full of corpses, however. There was quite a bit of conversation, more than Skadge was used to; Laurita contacted her deity, and asked three questions: Can we get out? (Yes.) Without anyone dying? (No.) Can we kill the orc and not get cursed? (Yes.)

Still, the party wasn't terribly interested in a fair fight. First, they attempted to un-curse the orc with Dispel Magic. Skadge burst into flame and burned to nothing, leaving only a glowing orange ring; then, a moment later, he reappeared on the throne, grinning, the ring on his finger. Caranthir attempted to Cancel the ring... and things went sideways, into the Chaos Plane, where the castle was originally from, it seems.

Skadge, the immortal, fearless orc, began to freak out. He grabbed a bundle of items from near his throne, and headed for the room that had the Chaos Hulk in it, the party not far behind. They barricaded themselves in the room as the air began to turn stale and heavy. A feeling of dread seemed to wash over them... and then the skittering started. Scratching at the door, then pounding, and finally, a piercing scream in their minds, followed by a sicking, oily feeling, radiating into their minds. There was a pull on their very consciousness...

While most of the party resisted, Rhea and Elenora suddenly broke into smiles. "There's nothing to worry about!" Rhea cried, heading for the door. She began trying to pry it open, and Elenora jumped up to help. Caranthir, realizing this was likely Not A Good Thing immediately grabbed Elenora, and the Princess grabbed Rhea. The two struggled, but eventually, were knocked out. After some time, the oily feeling eventually pulled away, followed by the skittering claws. The air cleared, and Skadge roused himself. The party followed him back to his throne room. Finally, Caranthir decided that he would step forward to fight the huge creature. Skadge grinned, picking up a huge helmet and slamming it onto his oversized head. The face-cover creaked open, and he slammed his head onto the side of the throne, bending the face-cover back in place. A green energy field surrounded them. With a roar, Skadge charged forward; Caranthir, in dragon form, breathed his icy breath onto him. The two traded breath and blows; though he was magically enhanced, Caranthir was fading quickly. Skadge was well-armored, well-armed, and wearing quite a few magical items; for once, it was a fair fight. Down to the last blows, the two were evenly matched, but Caranthir finally managed to bring Skadge down. The green energy field sparked and arced to the ground, and Caranthir, as Skadge's body burst into white-hot flame. Moments later, Skadge reappeared, laughing. "It's been 200 years sine anyone defeated me! Well fought, dragon-man!"

Quetgar, meanwhile, was camped outside the castle. He was minding his own business, watching the flying carpets and such, when suddenly... the castle vanished. One moment, it was there, towering against the backdrop of the ocean, and the next, it was gone! He waited all night, and in the morning, it finally reappeared with a wet "thup" sound. Curious, he wandered in, through the teleport maze, nodding appreciatively at the corpses of the fallen monsters, and eventually ending up in the throne room, just as Caranthir was finishing off Skadge.

The party was treated to a magical buffet, full of delicacies from home. After their repast, Quetgar asked if he could face Skadge, who accepted immediately. Again, the fight was close, though ultimately, Quetgar was the winner. Skadge, pleased at having found two able to best him, handed the party a bulging sack of gold - 20,000 gold, in fact, with some loose gems in the bottom. He implored them to find him a worthy foe, something that he could battle forever, and offered them incredible treasures if they could do so.

Bidding the orc farewell, they returned to Cuidado Mercado and sold their last treasures.

• Magical treasure:
  • Cube of Illusion
  • Amulet versus Crystal Balls and ESP
  • Box of Create Food (10 meals, once a day)
• Treasure:
  • 79,000 gp
  • 20,000 gp
  • 28 rare books, worth 150gp each (1 stone per 2 books)
  • 10 crates of armor and weapons, worth 225gp each (10 stone each)
  • 1 emerald regalia (6,000 gp)
  • 1 Flawless facet cut diamond (8,000 gp)
• Encounters
  • chaos hulk (3650)
  • dire ogre (790)
  • dire troll (1300)
  • hellhound, greater (790)
  • Child of nasga (3100)
  • Skadge (2700)
• Treasure sold: 175,200 gp
• Because this XP is combining a lot, here is each individually:
  • Rig: 16686
  • Midnight and Noona: 8343
  • Caranthir: 45609
  • Rhea, Elenora, and Laurita: 21454
  • Gimli: 12677
  • Gróin: 42909
  • Quetgar: 42333
  • Zarc: 8343
  • Sorvald: 25353
  • Mor Gibs and Gianna: 16686

And, because it's the new year, and some of these quests may be getting long in the tooth: a list!

• The dragon-people of the desert: destroy the scales
• The Seekers: protect knowledge and... well, actually they haven't said a lot. Huh.
• Gutsack's "friend" the Efreeti: find the fire plane
• Artemis' other things
• Elrik's other things
• A disturbance in the mountains of the north
• Skadge: find a fearsome opponent he can battle forever, without having to leave his castle

Redcaps Are Not Very Nice

Deicheamh 4-11, 6638; next holiday, Wintermas, Dara 1

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

Ok, well, I haven't done a write-up, so here's what you get. I'll update this later. Meanwhile, the party got inundated by Redcaps, ran away, and eventually made it to the planet of the dwarves - the ancient homeland. From there, they managed to get to the dwarven city Dundrende Klippe. On the bright side, they managed to sell everything else.

Treasure yet to sell:

• platinum regalia encrusted with flawless blue diamonds (1 stone, 20000 gold)
• platinum regalia encrusted with flawless black sapphires (1 stone, 60000 gold)
• emerald regalia (13000 gp)
• platinum reliquaries with crystal panes (24000 gp)

• Experience from treasure sold in the City of the Winter Fey:
  • Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, Sorvald: 5333
  • Rig, GQ, Gianna: 3133
  • Midnight, Faufe: 1567
  • Elenora, Laurita: 2667
• Experience from treasure sold in Dundrende Klippe:
  • Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, Sorvald: 18449
  • Rig, GQ, Gianna: 8889
  • Midnight, Faufe: 4444
  • Elenora, Laurita: 9224
• Experience from treasure found: N/A
• Experience from encounters:
  • 292 Red Caps (2 defeated, ran from the rest: 76)
  • 9 giant centipedes (72)
  • 6 Gargoyles (810)
• Total experience from encounters: 938
• XP per PC: 125
• XP per henchman: 63
• Gold per PC (from sales): 18257 gp, 1 silver, 4 copper

Fairy Firing

Naoidheamh 29 - Deicheamh 4, 6638; next holiday, Wintermas, Dara 1

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

In the City of the Northern People, the group sold rather a lot of their stuff; while they were waiting, they spoke with a rather large paladin, who agreed to hunt the undead Kraken and its vampire master come the spring. They also bought a few items from a certain gnomish marketeer, though once again opted to forego the Staff of Staff.

Finally, it was time to go. The party hurried straight to the Court of the Winter Fae, to hand over the letter given to them by the king. They left on Beastnight, avoiding most of the merriment.

Upon arriving in Fae territory, they were, indeed, given safe passage, and a place to sleep. The next morning, they were awoken by a knocking on the door. A messenger brought them something he claimed they ordered - a coat of chainmail. But such chainmail! The links were so small, it felt like cloth; it was so light, even a thief like Sorvald could wear it. Which he did. As he was putting it on, a letter fell out; on it was written, "Go to the Court of the Winter Fae, and accept the offer presented to you by the Queen."

Sorvald, however, saw the paper a bit differently; to him, while wearing the armor, the paper read, "You must keep this paper. Trust!"

In the "o" in the world "you" was a familiar symbol - that of the Seekers.

When they were summoned to the court, they company gave the letter to the Queen, who read it carefully, then handed it off to a courtier. Looking over the group carefully, she said, "Many seek power from the Queen of Elves; others seek revenge, or mercy, or redemption. I can grant all of those, of course, and more... but what is it you seek?" She looked from one to the other, listing off their inner desires: "Power, of course; battle... a nice ale... hmm. Perhaps I could offer a choice, then. A game?"

She gestured, and a form rose lazily out of the pile of rugs on the throne beside her. "Mmm... plaything, mother?"

The princess of the Winter Fae was, like her mother, radiantly beautiful. Playfully, she tiptoed down the steps. "Hmm... a game... I will grant you a thing of Power, in trade for... a life. Yes! Such a pretty thing, life. I will kill one of you, instantly, irreversibly; in trade, you will be granted a thing of Power, a object of Worth, one without equal. Do you agree to this bargain?"

As the others considered the offer, Sorvald saw the scrap of paper change, this time reading, "Accept. Sacrifice. TRUST." A different cortier brought out a scroll to sign, the bargain written upon it in triplicate: "In trade for instantly and irreversibly killing a member of your party, the Princess of the Winter Fae will bestow an item of Power upon the remaining members of said party." The courtier offered a slender knife, with which to prick the finger of the sacrifice, and bind the agreement in blood...

Sorvald volunteered (though, as Caranthir noted, he would have been picked anyway, poor fellow). After he pricked his finger to sign in blood, the princess did the same. And then, with a giggle, blasted him with a ray of death, instantly killing him. With a lick of cold flame, his body disintegrates until nothing remains. The armor fell, empty. The princess laughed, turning to her mother... who was already on her feet. She hissed, "Foolish girl!"

As the princess stopped, confused, there came a sharp crack! A few yards away, the cold floor creaked and groaned, then split open. A warm breeze drifted from the opening, and the sweet smell of summer flowers; suddenly, Sorvald stood up from the crack, completely whole (if somewhat exposed)!

The princess gasped, turning back to her mother, her eyes wild. "No... no! You... they cheated!"

The beautiful Winter Queen stood, and the room grew dark at the corners. A sharp blast of chill blew through the room. She gestured at her daughter, sending her from her presence, then with a bow, addressed the party in a calm, if somewhat frigid, voice. "My daughter has broken her promise. Her power is gone, and she is yours to do with as you will, her and her things, for 33 and 1/3 days. Her life is yours."

Slowly, the queen sat. A courtier came to escort the party to the princess's chambers. Inside, they found the princess, still lying where she flung herself on her bed. Around the room were a collection of magical items, which the party gleefully helped themselves to:

• A necklace of adaptation
• Elrik's Cloak: provides total immunity to cold/cold-based magic; additionally, leave no footprints in snow, and does not slip on ice.
• The Graystaff: a narrow staff of granite and iron, it functions as a +1 staff, and allows casting of Unseen Servant at will, and Mass Invisibility and Nondetection once a day. Merely holding the staff causes detection spells, ESP, Scry, etc. targeting the user to fail, though the scry-er will know that the wielder is shielded. However, when using the staff, you will not be able to remember your dreams. The staff is flat on two sides, and rounded on the third. Usable by divine casters only. It grows and shrinks to fit its master.
• Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Elven): Conjure Elemental (5th lvl), Magic Missile (1st lvl), Locate Object (2nd lvl), Control Weather (6th lvl)
• A map to a "treasure hoard", found along the cliffs in the Wild Plains. A note written on the map in Fae reads, "Not worth the effort."
• Potion of Shrinking
• Potion of Sweet Water
• Potion of Oil of Slipperiness
• Wand of Fear, with 8 charges left in it.
• A plain looking knife +4
• A very, very nice looking woman's undergarment, casually hanging on a hook labeled, "Wonderbra."

Additionally, the wooden mail is +2, for a total of 2 stones at AC 6. The spell within has been used.

No XP or non-magical treasure was earned this time.

• Remaining gp from treasure hauls, as yet unsold: 167000 XP
  • Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, Sorvald: 23782
  • Rig, GQ, Gianna: 12022
  • Elenora and Laurita: 11891
  • Midnight and Faufe: 6011

Dragon Me Down

Naoidheamh 18-24, 6638; next holiday, Beastnight, 9/35

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Good Question, the Wonderworker
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

The party flew onward... two flying characters, a mage and a thief, crossed their path; they also broke bread (well, whale blubber) with a caravan of 30 men. Later, a group of 21 skeletons was quickly turned. A group of bugbears wandered past, but didn't see their camp. 15 hoarfrost zombies were destroyed, and finally, they reached the edge of the blasted wasteland around the tower.

They were able to fly a good way in, close enough to see the tower... but a raging storm kept them earthbound. Gróin, with his fancy wind-proof hat, managed to get a little farther, but in the end, even he had to turn back. That meant traveling through the maze on foot...

Inside the maze, they found 15 mastodons; a cheerful conversation with Rig convinced them the party was no harm to them, and they were able to get a general idea of how to get out of the maze. They warned the group of a huge dragon, and a "bitey bat man". Rig thanked them, and they once again moved on.

A group of 10 thoghrin were camped in the maze; they were put down quickly, leaving a fair amount of treasure behind. Continuing on, they fought two frost salamanders, a pair of cave bears, and found the tunnels of a number of remorhaz. Finally, their trek was complete - they had made it to the tower.

Inside was nothing but a winding stair; up and up it went, finally coming to a stop in a room full of illusionary treasure. A huge stair lead upwards, and a door opened to the outdoors. The stair, unlike the others, was well-worn. And at the top... waited a dragon. A massive, 120 foot long, white dragon. Giana, alarmed at the creature, immediately went for her go-to, and tried to seduce the beast. Unfortunately, her finger-guns must have misfired, as the dragon was absolutely unimpressed. It probably didn't help that the dragon was female, either...

After some whispered conversation, the party decided that they could take the beast. They began their assault; the dragon breathed a blast of frosty breath at them, and Giana fell! The thief fired an arrow of dragon killing... and missed. Quetgar, being Quetgar, dashed around to the back of the beast and dug under its massive scales, trying to destroy it from behind. The dragon turned, raining down blows, but managed to land only one. The party pressed their advantage, and in only two rounds of combat, the monster lay dead atop its treasure.

Of course... that wasn't the only thing in the room. Caranthir, wondering at the lowly amount of gold, asked everyone to search for hidden doors; and, indeed, a door was found in the ceiling. Quetgar leaped up, caught the latch, and opened it, causing a ladder to extend. At the top, he found piles of dusty boxes. Turning to tell the others, he barely missed being shoved out of the loft! He spun to see a man in a tattered cloak, sporting some rather interesting teeth... a vampire!

Quetgar had a bit of experience with vampires, and quickly slid down the ladder to the ground...

• Experience from treasure:
  • 2,000 Silver (2 st, 200gp)
  • 1,000 Platinum (1 st, 2000gp)
  • 1 crates of monster parts (5 st, 300gp)
  • 1 crates of terra-cotta pottery (5 st, 100gp)
  • 2 pouches of saffron (30gp)
  • 3 crates of armor and weapons (30st, 675gp)
  • 3 crates of glassware (15 st, 600gp)
  • 6 pouches of wolfsbane (60gp)
  • 12 rolls of garishly dyed cloth (48st, 120gp)
  • 208 animal horns (42st, 3160gp)
  • 6 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (7,200gp)
  • 63 typical fur capes (63st, 6300gp)
  • 1 jar of dye (5st, 50gp)
  • 30 bundles of bear pelts (90st, 450gp)
  • 1 Agate (25 gp)
  • 1 citrine (50 gp)
  • 1 lapis lazuli (25 gp)
  • 1 malachite (10 gp)
  • 1 Facet cut imperial topaz (4,000 gp)
  • 1 flawless diamond (4,000 gp)
  • 1 topaz (500 gp)
  • 1 alexandrite (500 gp)
  • 1 bronze jewelry (160 gp)
  • 1 jacinth (1,000 gp)
  • 2 lapis lazuli (50 gp)
• Total experience from treasure (once sold): 31,565 XP (which is 4,509 XP each for Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, Sorvald, GQ, and Gianna, and 2,255 XP for Elenora and Laurita.)
• Additional treasure from before: 80,916 (which is 16,183 each for Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, and Sorvald, and 8,092 for Elenora and Laurita.)
• Total weight of treasure (not counting magical treasure, counting previously gained treasure): 322 st
• Experience from encounters:
  • 2 NPCs (ignored)
  • caravan of 30 men (traded)
  • 21 skeletons (273)
  • 17 bugbears (ignored)
  • 15 hoarfrost (1200)
  • 15 mastodons (friendly)
  • 10 throghrin (800)
  • 2 frost salamanders (4200)
  • 2 cave bear (640)
  • 1 massive, venerable, white dragon (20250)
• Total experience from encounters: 27366
• XP per PC: 4561
• XP per henchman: 2280

As a note, a Bag of Holding: is large enough to fit an object that is 10' x 5' x 3'. Regardless of what is put into the bag, it weighs a maximum of 6 stone but holds up to 100 stone. I'm going to assume the 10' x 5' x 3' measurement is the size of the object that can be placed into the bag; nothing that doesn't fit within that space can fit into a bag of holding. However, any amount of treasure can fit, up to 100 stone. At the moment, the treasure available is 322 stone; while the original amount (66 stone) fit in the bag just fine, the new treasure just isn't going to fit, unless you can source two more bags of holding.

Next, magical treasure! Not all of it has been identified; one item was identified as cursed, and all items are magical.

• 3x Treasure Maps; one to a cliffside in the Wild Plains, one near the Mountain Dwarves, and one in the desert, just over the Ridge.
• 7 potions, yet to be tested
• Scroll of Ward against Elementals
• Scroll of Ward against Undead
• 3x Rings, untested
• 2x staffs, untested
• A bag, untested
• Boots of Traveling and Springing
• A shiny helmet, untested
• 3 swords, one of which is cursed, untested
• 3 arrows, likely +1
• 1 dagger, untested
• Ring Mail Armor, untested
• 2x shields, untested
• Leather Armor, untested
• A black box, wrapped in cloth; locked and untested

Last but not least, new characters starting at this point will begin with 64294 XP and 160,000 gp, which can be traded for magical items. Remember that you can "frivolously spend" gold (donating it, burying it, throwing it in the river, burning it as an offering, sending it home to your family, etc. - anything that essentially wastes it to no benefit to yourself) to build up bonus XP for your next character.

Shenanigans

Seachdamh 16 - Ochdamh 2, 6638; next holiday, Guard's Day, 8/3 - tomorrow!

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Good Question, the Wonderworker

While making their way through Roundrock, the party ran into two interesting people - the young man Sorvald, a thief who had recently definitely not run away from home, and Good Question, a Nobirian Wonderworker, servant of Coyote. Having heard of their exploits, the two newcomers were interested in joining the party. The Nobirian happened to own a map, which she happily offered to share; Caranthir, his dragon-like greed bubbling to the surface, offered to fly the two of them to the site of the treasure, while the rest of the party, fueled by Gróin's pleading, headed to the Mareten Wall to buy some more of those amazing mini-potions.

Zaharan Thieves and Grek Trieb

Siathamh 9 - Seachdamh 8, 6638; next holiday, Guard's Day, 8/3!

Special intro: Sorry for the late writeup - I've been very busy working and writing other blogs!

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator

The party elected to continue their journey by sea, without stopping to repair the ships. After avoiding two octopodes, they reached the southern port of Cehennem Limani. Selling the treasures they had pilfered from the pirates, they decided again to not keep their ships. They remained docked, but aboard the ships; the city seemed somewhat hostile...

It was a good decision. During the first watch, two dwarves and a human, all thieves, boarded the ship. They were successfully intimidated by the dragon, realized they "were on the wrong ship," and left the way they came.

During the second watch, a second group of thieves arrived; two elves, two humans, and a dwarf. The elves and humans were killed quickly, and the dwarf was pinned by Caranthir in dragon-form, and surrendered.

After a bit of discussion, Caranthir suggested the ships cast off immediately. The four pirate ships (manned by ex-slaves) were able to oar their way out quickly, but the sailing ship was a little slower to leave port. As it was creeping away, a voice called out of the darkness. A group of four men and women stood on the dock. The leader called, "No one escapes from Semih Iravani!", and the fight was on.

These men and women were much stronger than the others; as the leader walked out onto the water, another vanished, and a third took to the air on a broom! The fourth began fiddling with something in his hand. The nightblade on the broom flew over the ship and tossed a bottle of military oil onto the deck, then pulled out a bow. The leader stepped forward and flung a stone at the spellcasters, ending the priestess's spell before she could cast it. The man on the shore finished his ritual, summoning a djinni! Caranthir, in dragon form, took to the air, making it as far as the nightblade and loosing a breath of freezing air. On the deck, the priestess took an arrow from the shore, while Gróin took a slingstone to the helmet, losing his spell!

The party was beginning to get worried as the high-level thieves took them on. Suddenly, a figure appeared on the bow - the man who went invisible! With a grin, he swung his sword! The white mage fled for safety, injured by yet more sling stones, as the thief battled it out with Gróin. The djinni turned into a whirlwind, hurting Gróin and the others, but of course, Luce was unharmed by the magical wind. Caranthir managed to down the flying nightblade, and grabbed her broom as she fell; Gróin injured the thief on the boat, and he dived overboard. The leader took a Dispel Magic to the face, which turned off his water walking - he fell into the water with a splash.The djinni, meanwhile, was destroyed by Gróin's magical attack.

Even as the leader reactivated his water-walking (as it turned out, he had a ring), Caranthir flew down and blasted him with his freezing breath, killing him on the spot. He returned to the ship and reverted to human form, only to be chopped to within a single hit point by the invisible, back-stabbing thief! He turned and cut him down. Back on the shore, the lone survivor drank a potion of Gaseous form and fled, leaving his stuff behind.

As it turned out, the thieves were quite well-armed, with plenty of magical items; most of them were identified on the spot, with others being identified at Cliffport later.

Two days later, the party landed again in Pueblo de Puerto, then continued on. A day after leaving the port city, Caranthir and Rhea split off from the party to fly due east, towards the islands. They landed on Fuega, a tiny island with a tribal nation on it; the natives welcomed the visitors, especially when they learned that they wouldn't be stealing from them. The next day, Caranthir and Rhea circled Vulka, an inhospitable island littered with sharp rocks. Invisible, they swooped over the island... and found a dragon turtle! The creature lived on the island; it fired a cloud of steam at them, but they were too high to be touched. After spending a few more hours searching the opposite side of the island, the duo found a treasure, and carted it back to the ship.

Meanwhile, the ships encountered yet another two octopi, which fled, and four giant squid, which were quickly killed by well-aimed catapults. Finally, they landed in Cliffport, just in time for the Brightest Day celebrations (for those that weren't there, any light or healing-based spells were 3/4 the price, so a Healing potion was 187 gold instead of 250). Arnborg Anvilaxe, the dwarf Caranthir restrained, left the party here, to continue on her own way.

As the celebration ended, a skinny, dirty ogre walked up to Caranthir and handed him a letter! While somewhat difficult to read - the entire letter was written in what looked like a child's handwriting, and was also stained with something somewhat greasy - it turned out that the party was summoned to aid a tribe near the river, who were being harshly treated, accused of a crime they didn't commit. They were willing to give an artifact of some power in trade for assistance. So, Gróin, Caranthir, Rhea, and Laurita flew to their aid.

First, however, Caranthir wanted to make a wish; he found a wish, and did so, meeting 6 clerics along the way.

As luck would have it, they were off by a few miles, and happened to land near the home of none other than Lady Dracull! As long as they were in the neighborhood, they decided to drop in. The Lady was pleased to see them, and offered them a meal; interestingly, the Lady also seemed to be quite pregnant. Hmm...

After leaving the Lady with an offer of help, should she ever need it, they party once again journied toward the river, and the Grek, er, Trieb. As it turned out, the tribe was a tribe of ogres! They seemed friendly enough, though, and Caranthir was happy to help in trade for magical items. They went to visit the "bad guys"...

...Who turned out to be human. A cleric, a mage, a thief, and a fighter had banded together to drive the "evil" from the land. The cleric, Brother Dellus, is on the warpath to recover a holy relic of great significance for his order; it was stolen from their temple not long before, supposedly by a group of rampaging ogres. The fighter, Sir Tainly, was possibly even more obnoxiously full of his abilities than Caranthir; the two did not hit it off well. In fact, that evening, Caranthir sent Rhea to assassinate the knight in his sleep; she only managed to awaken the mage, a dour, gaunt man by the name of Graybeak, and learned that he was really, really powerful. As the four were leaving the camp, they met a rogue named Wag Lightfoot, presumably the leader of the thieves. The camp seemed to be about 75% fighters, a handful of mages and clerics, and the rest thieves. An odd lot, to be sure.

The next morning, Gróin and Laurita flew off to find the cleric's temple, while Caranthir and Rhea left to confront the knight. Caranthir demanded a trial by combat - if he won, the knight would leave; if the knight won, Caranthir would leave. The knight snubbed him into accepting a duel "to the death" (or close enough), and the fight began. As the two hacked at each other, the knight managed to land several blows, doing considerable damage; Caranthir, however, had the better armor, and eventually knocked out the knight. Clerics rushed in to save him, and Sir Tainly was able to recover after a night of bedrest. Brother Dellus, however, flew into a rage; his holy mission was to save the relic, the promise of a knight be damned! The mage, somewhat eager for a rematch, backed him up. Caranthir left the camp, irritated that the knight reneged on his word.

Meanwhile, Gróin was having much better luck. He found the temple - a tiny building with barely a path near it - and was invited in for bread and water. Brother Al explained the real story of the holy item:

Some time before, the old cleric had left on vacation, and had taken Brother Dellus with him. As the old cleric left, Brother Al and Brother Bodh made a bet. Brother Al said, "I bet you thirty silver that every time the old relic [meaning the head cleric] wobbles out the door, everybody freaks out, and nothing gets done until he gets back. Write that down, Brother Bodh!"

Brother Bodh, having the flowery language of someone with too much time and ink on his hands, wrote the following: "When the holy relic leaves its seat of power, chaos will grip this place, and all tasks will fail until the relic is returned."

When Dellus and the "old relic" returned, Bodh and Al were out drinking. Apparently, the old cleric went to town to pick up some supplies, just as Sir Tainly arrived, invited himself in, and asked if anything valuable had gone missing, as there were ogres in the area. Brother Dellus checked, and indeed, a sacred cup was missing! Dellus panicked. He tried to look up what the chalice was for, but only managed to find the pages Bodh had written, which drove him into an even worse panic as he put one and one together to make twenty five, and thought the missing chalice spelled the end of the world for heir monastery. Just as he was having a breakdown, Al and Bodh arrived. Seeing Dellus upset over the missing chalice, Al nudged Bodh and muttered, "Thirty silver."

While this remark was intended as a means of settling their bet, Dellus took it to mean that he was a traitor and had sold out his friends. Dellus swore not to return without the relic, and took off with the knight.

The holy relic, however, was nothing more than a gilt-covered cup with fake gemstones on it. The holy words written on the bottom of the chalice, "In campis feram", meant nothing more than "Made in the Wild Plains", poorly translated into Nobiran.

Gróin and Laurita found the nearby village that sold the chalices, and bought six of them. The shopkeeper immediately shut and locked his doors, and fled out the back, holding more gold than he had ever seen in his life. Six pieces! They returned to the knight's camp, and Laurita discovered the true thief - one of the thieves under the employ of Mr. Lightfoot, in fact. They guided Brother Dellus to the room, and managed to catch the nimble (if quite smelly) thief moving it around a few times. It's hard to pocket a chalice when someone is watching its location, magically. Mr. Lightfoot persuaded the fellow to give it up, and Brother Dellus nearly broke down in tears. Ignoring the rest of the camp, he immediately fled home, to restore the, er, cheap knockoff trinket to its rightful place. Next to the magnet in the shape of Mejasta, the shot glass with a picture of the King on it, the spoon with a painting of Cliffport, and other trinkets collected by the old cleric on his journeys.

The ogres, meanwhile, were jubilant, and true to their word, they offered the party two magical items. The first was a helmet; the ogres let the children play with it. The children would climb a tree and leap off, floating to the ground like a feather. When Gróin tried it on, he was rewarded with a vision! He watched Elrik, the world's greatest explorer, climbing a cliff; he lost his footing, but somehow, he managed to land on the ground unharmed. His back to a howling wind, he dusted himself off and kept going. The helmet, it seems, not only allows the wearer to cast Feather Fall at will, but is also immune to all wind-based damage! Additionally, there is no penalty to attacks when levitating or "gyrating" in the air (Elrik, as you recall, is the owner of your magical map, and the world's most famous explorer).

However, that wasn't all. The ogres began chanting, something that sounded like "Ooga Chaka, Ooga chaka!", and the town elder slowly walked towards the group, holding a ring. As it turned out, the ogres were actually chanting "Ogre Chakrum", a heavy throwing blade. This chakrum was blessed by many shamans, resulting in a magical +1 bonus. The heavy blade can be used by anyone with strength +0 or better, and the ability to throw darts or knives. The blade is quite heavy, and thus deals 1d8 damage, but requires two hands to throw.

Whew! What an adventure!

• Experience from selling stuff, from last time: 1504 for PCs, 752 for henchmen
• Experience from encounters:
  • 2 octopi (escaped)
  • Level 3 Dwarven Delver, level 4 Dwarven Delver, level 1 thief (283 xp)
  • Level 6 Dwarven Delver, level 5 Nightblade, level 4 Nightblade, 1x level 1 thief (1523 xp)
  Semih Iravani, lvl 10 thief (1550 xp)
  • Juan-Pablo Aguilar, lvl 9 thief (1300 xp)
  • Eluned Melruth, lvl 9 nightblade (1900 xp)
  • Brin Eveningfall, lvl 6 nightblade (820 xp) (fled)
  • 2 octopi (fled)
  • 6 roc, ignored
  • 4 giant squid (2280 xp)
  • 6 clerics (passed)
  • 3 werebears (avoided)
  • Sir Tainly, lvl 10 knight (2250 xp)
• Experience from treasure: 6834 xp
  • Total experience (give or take): 18740
  • Experience per PC (Gróin and Caranthir): 4685
  • Experience per henchman (Luce, Rhea, Elenora, Laurita): 2342
  • Special experience:
    • Caranthir: 10000 (stealing gold!)
    • Rhea: 5000 (helping steal gold!)

  • Mundane weapons: 33 arrows, 19 bolts, 28 bullets, 1 Arbalest, 2 Battle Axe, 1 Bola, 1 Composite Bow, 1 Dagger, 3 Leather Armor, 3 Nets, 1 Sap, 1 Shortbow, 1 Sling, 2 Staffs, 2 Swords, 3 Whips
  • Mundane stuff: 2 pints Ale/Beer, 3 Backpacks, 1 lb Belladonna, 4 Blankets (wool, thick), 2 lb Candles (tallow), 1 lb Candles (wax), 1 lb Comfrey, 2 pairs Dice, 3 Flasks of Oil (common, 1 pint), 2 lbs Garlic, 2 lbs Goldenrod, 1 Grappling Hook, 1 Hammer(small), 1 Lantern, 1 Rations (Iron), 3 Sacks (large), 1 Sack (small), 3 Thieves’ Tools, 6 Torches, 1 Water/Wine Skin, 5 lb Wolfsbane
  • Magical stuff:
    • -2 Leather Armor (cursed)
    • Arrows +1 (quantity 24)
    • Broom of Flying
    • Elven Library scroll
    • Gauntlets of Ogre Power
    • 2 Holy Water(1 pint)
    • Horn of Blasting
    • Ring of Invisibility
    • Ring of Water Walking
    • 2 Shield +1
    • Shield +2
    • Spell Book (Burning Hands, Hold Portal; Continual Light, Alter Self)
    • Spell Book (Choking Grip, Floating Disc, Hold Portal, Magic Mouth, Protection from Evil; Continual Light, Deathless Minion, Detect Evil, Detect Good)
    • Spell Book (Darkness, Burning Hands)
    • Spell Book (Light, Magic Missile)
    • Sword +1 / +3 versus summoned creatures
    • Sword +1 / light 30' radius
    • Wand of Detecting Enemies (11)
    • War Hammer +2
    • Ogre Chakram (+1 throwing chakram; 1d8 damage)
    • Elrik's Air Helm: Immune to wind-based magic; additionally, wind does not affect the wearer, there is no penalty from levitation/gyration and the wearer may feather-fall at will.

Plains, Wagon Trains, and... Sailing Ships?

Còigeamh 23 - Siathamh 9, 6638; next holiday: Brightest Night, Siathamh 35 (the Summer Solstice; Lawful characters receive a +1 to all rolls!)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Grogg, the White Mage

The journey from the elves back to civilization was fraught with peril - give or take. On the first day, they encountered either terrifying antelope, which Quetgar was unable to capture. Two days later, they shot down three giant flies, hovering over the decomposing corpse of an ox.

Two days after that, as the party was setting up camp, two figures entered - a witch named Quiet Heart, and her companion Serkan Soroush, a Zaharan Ruinguard. They camped with the party, and left before dawn.

Finally on the road, the party encountered four terrible beasts - gorgons! The battle was fierce, and Zarc was turned to stone, but eventually the creatures were slaughtered. The next evening, the gang encountered - or rather, was encountered by - a gang of desert ogres. The ogres, none too bright, couldn't figure out how to make their way around the stone camp, until Quetgar eventually managed to convince them to walk around. Even then, it took much experimentation before they believed him.

Summerset passed with little fanfare; out here in the wilds, few are around to celebrate such civilized holidays.

Not much later, they ran into a medium sized warband of orcs, headed north; the orcs, feeling generous, suggested a minor tax of 3,000 gp. Caranthir offered one of the gang leaders a +1 sword, worth 5,000 gp; the leader graciously accepted, then turned and told the other leaders that he had decided to let them pass with no tax at all. Orcs aren't super smart, but the other leaders guessed something was up; as the party strolled past, a rather uncivil war broke out between the various gangs. Hopefully that won't come back to bite them later.

Finally, they made it to Kanka Sehir, one of the twin cities of the Shining Sea, the only human cities apart from Mareten that survived the Age of the Beastmen. Though over a hundred miles away, they could still see the enormous mountains to the south, and the gap that leads between them. After un-stoning Zarc and purchasing a few useful items, including some things from a rather shady shopkeeper, they chartered a small sailing ship.

They set off in the morning with a brisk breeze at their back; they had hardly gone half a day's journey before they spotted the writhing tenticals of two octopi. Unwilling to fight such monsters, they avoided them handily. The next day, however, they had no such luck. They were spotted by four galleys - pirate ships!

As the lead galleys opened fire with their catapults, Zarc and Quetgar dove into the water, and Caranthir shifted into his dragon form. The sailing ship had but one catapult. As the boulders crashed into the ship, Quetgar began shredding the outer planking on one of the rear ships. While the ships traded catapult fire, Zarc and Quetgar punched holes into two of the ships, eventually gaining access to the ship! Caranthir, meanwhile, wiped out the entire above-board crew of one of the ships, then turned and wiped out half of another.

By the end of the battle, only one of the ships was undamaged - the one Caranthir had wiped out. The others were listing in the water, gaping holes letting in the ocean... Caranthir, meanwhile, after tossing the last of the pirates overboard, asked the slaves to stay on; the slaves responded affirmatively, pledging their lives to the creatures that rescued them from slavery. 216 slaves survived.

The pirate ships, meanwhile, contained quite the treasure haul; the party had plenty of time to count their treasure while the crew of the sailing ship and the ex-slaves from the galleys enacted repairs. A little over two hours later, the ships were ready to sail again. The ships are as follows:

• Singing Maiden (chartered): 77 max shp, 71 current shp (max until repaired in drydock)
• The Lusty Wench (captured): 76 max shp, 67 current shp (max until repaired in drydock)
• Thunder Bucket (captured): 76 max shp, 64 current shp (max until repaired in drydock)
• The Angry Strumpet (captured): 76 max shp
• Sea Scourge (captured): 76 max shp, 70 current shp (max until repaired in drydock)

The ships need repairs, and there is enough treasure that it would be fairly dangerous to attempt the high seas... so, now what?

• Experience from Encounters:
  • 8 antelope (escaped)
  • 3 Fly, Giant Carnivorous (60 xp)
  • Quiet Heart, level 11 Witch, and Serkan Soroush, level 9 Zaharan Ruinguard (avoided)
  • 4 gorgons (1600 XP)
  • 12 desert ogres (avoided?)
  • 57 Orcs, 11 leaders (bought off, fought each other: 790 xp)
  • 2 octopus (avoided)
  • Pirate Fleet: 4 Small Galleys with 40 sailors, 80 marines, and 240 slaves (2400 xp)
• Treasure:
  • 2000 Electrum, 3000 Silver, 2000 Copper (820gp)
  • 1 Bone jewelry (9gp)
  • 1 shell jewelry (90gp)
  • 1 onyx (50gp)
  • 1 jade (100gp)
  • 1 jet (100gp)
  • 1 Aquamarine (500gp)
  • 1 diamond (1,000gp)
  • 106 animal horns (2120gp, 21.2 st)
  • 9 bags of loose tea (675gp, 45 st)
  • 7 barrels of fine spirits or liquor (1400gp, 112 st)
  • 24 bottles of fine wine (120gp, 4.8 st)
  • 20 bundles of fur pelts (300gp, 60 st)
  • 3 crates of armor and weapons (675gp, 90 st)
  • 6 crates of monster parts (1800gp, 30 st)
  • 5 crates of terra-cotta pottery (500gp, 125 st)
  • 5 gallons of lamp oil (10gp, 2.5 st)
  • 8 ingots of common metals (8gp, 4 st)
  • 1 jars of dyes and pigments (50gp, 5 st)
  • 12 jars of lamp oil (240gp, 72 st)
  • 1 rich fur cape (1800gp, 1 st)
  • 40 rolls of garishly dyed cloth (400gp, 160 st)
  • 5 rugs or tapestries (25gp, 24 st)
  • 3 sets of engraved teeth (210gp, 0.03 st)
  • 33 sticks of rare incense (588gp, 0.33 st)
  • 3 vials of rare perfume (225gp, 0.03 st)
  • Total weight: 756.89 stone
• Total experience from treasure: 820 (now), 12995 (when items are sold)
• Total experience: 5670 xp (plus 12995 xp when items are sold)
• XP per PC: 667
• XP per henchthing: 334 (all henchmen)
• Treasure per PC: 205gp (plus 3248.75gp each when items are sold)

Additional treasure: Potion of Extra-Healing, 2x Potion of Speed, Scroll of Ward against Lycanthropes, Sword +1.

Luce In The Sky With Giants

Treas 27 - Còigeamh 10, 6638; next holiday: Summerset, Siathamh 1 (the celebration before the Summer Solstice on the 35th)

It took a while for me to come up with the title - or rather, to narrow it down. Other contenders were "All's Fae In Love And War" and "If You Can Dodge An Encounter, You Can Dodge A Fae Sword". I tried, and failed, to come up with a title-worthy pun on the fact that the storm giants could host them because their castle had mushroom.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Grogg, the White Mage

After spending a day in Sao Agua - and running into Grogg, a which mage who had somehow become very lost - the party decided to strike off towards the far west, to investigate the crystal scale, and the lost home of the ancient elves.

The going wasn't easy; along the way, they came across a village of trolls, and were able to make the canny trade of two pieces of meat for 500 electrum pieces. Later, they came across a storm giant, who was pulling a thunderstorm behind him and obliterating random objects with lightning bolts. He had a pleasant chat with them, and went on his merry way. He mentioned that he had a brother out in the plains, and recommended visiting the magical mushroom forest, if the party had the chance.

The party edged around a village of orcs, and barely managed to flee from a large village of troglodytes. Several days into their journey, they came across another storm; this storm was much larger, and hidden in a thick fog. Suddenly, the fog cleared, revealing an enormous castle! The party moved forward cautiously, and soon ran into two huge figures - more storm giants! These giants, Choka and Hrooma, invited the tired travelers in for food, drink, and rest (and to meet their son, Chat). The party gratefully accepted. After a Mary-Poppins-esque accent via cloud-walking to the castle itself, the party settled in to trade stories with the giants. The main course was an entire elephant, cooked over a huge fire like a roast pig, complete with a trunk full of apples. Eventually, the party headed to bed.

In the morning, the party debated about using the giants to travel safely to their destination, but the giants declined; it was a family vacation, and they were planning on moving in a different direction.

It wasn't but a day later, however, that the party ran into an army - the remnants of a Winter Fae scouting party! Caranthir attempted to intimidate them, but the paltry force of the party was not enough to match the fair riders, at least in their captain's eye. Even Rig was unable to keep them out of combat. The sylphs fanned out, with a line of cavalry in front of a line of archers; the archers immediately fired on the mercenaries, and destroyed the entirety of Rig's archers. Gróin, meanwhile, charmed the commander; while he wouldn't attack his friends, and the lieutenants refused to stand down, he would not use his considerable magic to assist them. And then... Quetgar. First leaping in front of the second line, then vaulting over their heads, his claws and teeth - hastened by Gróin - tearing through them like blood-soaked tissue. In the blink of an eye, he had shredded half the squad.

After two rounds of combat, Rig's mercenaries were decimated, but still holding their own. The Fae forces were shattered; Quetgar chewed through three squads himself. The others slashed through the haughty faerie-folk, cutting them to ribbons, and receiving few wounds themselves. Two unharmed squads fled, high-tailing it back to Fae lands. The rest were slaughtered. In fact, Quetgar leaped away from the squad he was attacking, snapped the neck of the captain, then returned to bring down an entire squad. His actions terrified the Fae; those who fled will return will tales of horror... whether that is good or bad is yet to be seen.

The Fae dealt with, the party healed their few wounds and moved on...

• Experience from Encounters:
  • 71 Trolls (avoided)
  • 174 Orcs (evaded)
  • 297 Troglodytes (evaded)
  • 4 Storm Giants (befriended)
  • 134 sylphs, 56 sargents, 9 lieutenants, 1 captain (6625 XP)
• Experience from treasure: none
• Total experience: 6625
• Treasure:
  • 500 electrum (traded for 2 pieces of meat)
  • 1 set of silvered banded plate armor (150 gp)
  • 3 sets of silvered chain mail (360 gp)
  • 59 sets of silvered scale armor (5310 gp)
  • Silvered scrap (1455 gp)
  • 80 light horses
• Total worth once sold: 7275
• Total weight: 333 stone
• XP per PC: 697
• XP per Henchman: 349
• The Metal Man refunded 349 in copper.

Speedrun

A'Chiad 15-Treas 1, 6638; next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator

Rig, as noted, headed to Forreston, to sell his wares; Caranthir and Quetgar stayed in Wallace, while Gróin and Llarm headed to Riverbend to study the books (and learn new spells). Quetgar learned what his ring does (finally), and took down a rather angry woolly rhinoceros that the ring summoned. Eventually, the party regrouped in Wallace, then headed out into the chilly winter. Due to luck or cold, there were few travelers on the road, apart from some chilly snakes. Once they reached the forest of the Winter Court of the Fae, however, they began running into quite a number of other creatures. They met - and avoided - an 8-headed hydra, and were greeted by five Sylphs, who sneeringly took their money as tax. The sylphs seemed very much on edge, however, and not in a mood to fight. Others had already told the party that the fae were all abuzz; why, however, they did not know. Something about a hunt?

Luce and Elenora's birthdays went by; Luce, offhandedly, mentioned that she finally turned 18.

Don't Eat That

Dara 27 - A'Chiad 7, 6638

Next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Gottes Segen, Cleric
  • Betül Tirmizi, Ectomancer

With the godmurder dealt with and the pockets stuffed, the party made one last shopping trip before leaving town, picking up a strange ring that seemed to be a +1 Ring, a Duck of Many Things, a Bag of Banking, and a Tankard of Theft. All handy items in their own right. The duck (currently in the form of a cat) seemed ambivalent about the party, but that may simply be because it's in the form of a cat. Gróin, meanwhile, opened a bank account at the nearest Gnomish Bank, which immediately linked it to his Bag of Banking.

The Godkiller Part I: Meet the God Squad

Dara 22-24

Next holiday: Darkest Night, Dara 35th, the winter solstice.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Gottes Segen, Cleric
  • Betül Tirmizi, Ectomancer

After doing some shopping for magical items and selling Caranthir's ring of fire resistance, the party was accosted by a city guard. He asked that they accompany him - he needed their help. Or rather, the Guard needed their help; they were led to the entrance of the Street of the Gods.

Merry Wintermas and A Stolen Song II

Wintermas, Dara the 1st - 21st

Next holiday: Darkest Night, Dara 35th, the winter solstice.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
  • The Metal Man, construct
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Gottes Segen, Cleric

The night before Wintermas, the various members of the party went shopping for gifts; Caranthir bought some restorative spells and good alcohol, Gróin bought a fancy staff from a quirky gnome, and the others purchased a few trinkets here and there. Caranthir also found a new host-body for their trapped nightblade friend - a convict on death row. After placing the soul of a murderous ranger into a stone in the jail, her body was left in trade for the nightblade to inhabit. He wasn't particularly pleased to be inhabiting the body of a female, but it was better than being trapped for all eternity. He introduced himself as Elidyr Eyriendor, but turned down Caranthir's offer to stay with the party. He had been gone a long time, and needed to renew contact with the world. However, if the party needed his assistance, they needed only call and he would come as soon as he was able.