The Godsmite

Naoidheamh 35-36, 6639 (yes, you repeated a day)

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
  • 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

The final scale destroyed, a mage suddenly showed up, teleporting in with a CRACK. Gróin recognized him immediately - it was Chancellor Lucious! Though he seemed about 20 years older than last they had met, only a year and a half before. He waved it off as "something about time travel," and suggested that the group "meet some friends of his." A wave of steam washed over the plains, and when it cleared, the party found themselves standing in a dark, spacious, indoor amphitheater. On the stage are twelve podioums, grouped in sets of three, dark apart from a light that glowed over Chancellor Lucious's head. Interestingly, the entire party was there, including those that had teleported away to destroy the scale. He introduced the Council of 12:

• Human: Chancellor Lucious, lvl 14 Mage; middle-aged fellow, looks familiar, because he's the time-traveling fellow that killed a dragon turtle.
• Nobiran: Evelyn Archiater, lvl 12 Nobiran Wonderworker, one of the head Instrumentalists, with an obvious Instrumentalist brand on her forehead.
• Zaharan: Emir Yazdi, lvl 12 Zaharan Ruinguard, one of the head Seekers, obvious from the symbols on his gear.
• True Elf: Dwyn Vispasial, lvl 12 Elven Courtier; one of the newly-risen True Elves.
• Dwarf: Thorfridh Oakenback, lvl 13 Dwarven Vaultguard, a member of the Ruling Council of the Dwarves (she waved at Gróin).
• Dragon: Angura Whitefang, Venerable Amphithere; demigod of Lawful Dragons.
• Beastwere: Standing Bear, lvl 9 Wolfwere; aka Mother Bear, granddaughter of Bear (the god).
• Treant: Larch Hardwood, 14 HD Treant; last of the First Trees (though he spent thousands of years in a valley, and didn't really see much during that time).
• Magic: The Phares, a sentient +4 sword.
• Thrassian: Filesh Toggrodh, level 11 Thrassian Gladiator; descendant of the original Thrassians.
• Fae: Prince Fenix and Princess Maedhe (Fall/Winter), of the Summer and Winter Fae, respectively; they are sharing the podium, since it is Beastnight, the Fall Equinox.
• Gnome: Panderick Rumblefine Monkeybloomer, lvl 12 Gnomish Trickster, a deadly serious Gnome with a scar over his left eye.

Once the introductions were finished, the Nobiran explained the reason they were brought: "We called you here for a grave matter, of the utmost importance. You've come... rather highly recommended, actually, by Mannanan. And Loki. And Coyote, though you can never be too sure of what he's actually saying. They say that you... assisted them before. And that you are the ideal force for good, regardless of your... er... inclinations. Coyote said something about it being otherwise impossible, because you are the 'player characters', or something?"

The Zaharan interrupted. "Ignoring Coyote's mad ramblings, we have been lead to believe that you are the last, best hope for Mareten, and indeed all of Mor-Thir."

Nodding, the Elf took up the narrative: "Indeed - most telling is that you, and you alone, have managed to destroy the seven scales. Ah - when the sixth scale was destroyed, the Faultless Diamond fell to dust - and thus this meeting was convened."

The Thrassian adjusted his glasses, and finished, "We cannot interfere directly; our power as Council forbids it. We can, however, convey messages, and so gather any willing to assist you. We can only do so at your bidding, however; is this your desire?"

Caranthir managed to get out a "Ye-" before the Thrassian cut him off. "Ah, good, we already did. I hope you will find the people we summoned to your liking:"

• The Bardbarians, recently having finished their second Beyond The Wall tour.
• The silver dragon of Mareten Tower
• The three gargoyles from what is now Quetgar's base
• Flynn, the mage Arkus, and the cleric Clarence Silverbeak, from the God Squad
• Grek Trieb ("Grek Trieb! Member Grek Trieb? Yeah!")
• Hjalmar Greathearth the paladin, Ham the barbarian, Twych the cleric, and Toxwell Dishthunder Galazooks, Gnomish Wizard.
• The Original Nightblade, who has taken the name Du Ryst
• Mabel the goat and Winklestem Eustache Bottomwobbler, proprieter of "Another Man's Treasure" (& some of his more... potent items)
• Ajeela, of course
• The Airwalkers of the Tower, as well as the Blue Dragon there

The group were given a single day to prepare... the same day, in fact, as they were fighting the battle for the scale! The council transported them back in time...

Ready as they would ever be, the party and their friends were transported to a dim, misty battlefield. The Lawful and Neutral gods were arrayed on one side, with the most devout of their followers at their feet, ready for battle. Soon, across the shallow valley, a horde of chaotic creatures charged down; behind them, great shapes stepped out of the fog: Erklik, Jörmungandr, Serpent, Balor, and Ysbaddaden. Each lead its own group of evil minions. As the edges of the two armies met, and battle began, the party moved to assist Kai-Ra; they quickly cut through the massive war elephant and the men and scorpions arrayed against them.

Moving on, they assisted Thor, though during the battle Loki and many of his followers lost hope and fled. Next, while Caranthir and Aingeal tried to rally Loki's followers, the rest of the party took on Ysbaddaden's minions - Rakshasa and Dao - trying to divert focus from Danu. They succeeded, thanks to Quetgar's quick claws, and Manannán's horde of summoned undead. Manannán fought Ysbaddaden, throwing him into a suddenly-appearing swamp.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the valley, the shape of the Wyrm was taking form. With each chaotic god that fell, the Wyrm seemed less translucent. Indeed, it was the Wyrm who had killed the god in the Pointless Tower; he took that power and split it into the forms of the other chaotic gods, traveling here to there in a soul jar.

The party paused for a moment to watch Bear rip the skull from a stegosaurus, and use it to crush a number of enemies, while Coyote giggled and made trees sprout from the chests of charging men. They didn't seem to need much help... However, Lleu and Kai-Ra seemed to be struggling against Balor; they quickly came to their aid, carving through redcaps and trolls, while trying to avoid Balor's horrible death-ray eye. As they finished off the last of the enemies, Gwydion charged up from behind, his twin swords flashing in the weak sunlight; in a moment, Balor was dead.

The last of the chaotic gods destroyed, Alehim stepped onto the field. He approached the Wyrm, his massive sword at the ready, his golden armor flashing in the sunlight. The Wyrm, with a dark cry of rage, hurled itself at Alehim; Calmly, the god raised his sword, and caught the Wyrm on the tip, the sword stabbing into its throat and all the way down its insides. The Wyrm's mouth began to close over the god's arms, but a crack of light shone through the creature, then another, and in a sudden, blinding explosion of light, the Wyrm was destroyed. Good had triumphed! The Wyrm was no more, and its followers were routed, fleeing the battlefield.

Speaking of the battlefield... now that the mist had cleared, the party could see the sun, a dim light, far in the distance. A massive shape was rising on the horizon - the Devourer, also known as Yiyen Biri, or Devorat, a massive gas giant! They were no longer on Terrarum, but one of the great planet's moons; Daelna, in fact.

Danu came to speak with the party - in part, to ask why Gróin only ever used the teleportation aspect of his god-staff. The staff has, as he knew, greater planar teleport once per turn with no downside. It also can (temporarily) turn stones to gems (and vice versa), and can cast illusion spells at will, similar to phantasmal image or illusory terrain, except they are permanent until dispelled. Caranthir wondered what their reward would be for all this; Danu replied that while the gods had little use for treasure, magical or otherwise, she would see that the party were aptly rewarded for their role in the battle.

Indeed, the party had played a pivotal role; had they not assisted Kai-Ra, he would have fallen before Erklik. Of course, had they assisted Loki, he would not have fled; but in helping Lleu, they saved him from destruction by Balor.

---

I pondered how, exactly, I would award experience. While the party did, in fact, destroy 14 men, 5 scorpions, 1 elephant, 6 wyverns, 6 fire giants, 3 hags, 3 rakshasa, 3 dao, 40 redcaps, and 10 trolls, they also assisted in what was essentially a mass battle. Assuming each was treated, technically, as an independent hero in a mass battle, everyone would get a cut of the entire battle's XP. To that end, I present the XP gained from killing a single chaotic god: as a roughly 68,600 hit dice creature, a god such as Balor would have in the vicinity of 154,321,750 XP. Assuming an epic-scale battle with groups of 10 HD or more creatures, single units would have nearly a million XP. To that end...

Each PC and NPC will gain enough XP to be within 1 XP of their next level. Additionally, each PC present in the battle will receive the following, free except for upkeep, plus 150,000 gp:

• Rig Bigny: 1 unit of 120 trained battleshrews battlebadgers, and a Cloak of Protection +3
• Caranthir: 1 unit of 120 dwarven mounted crossbowmen, and a Ring of Spell Turning, with 10 charges
• Gróin: 1 unit of 120 dwarven mounted crossbowmen, and a Ring of Djinni Calling
• Crolack: 1 unit of 120 heavy infantry lizardmen, and Boots of Levitation
• Mor Gibs: 1 wonderworker of each level from 1 to 5, and Eyes of Petrification
• Saphira Moonstone: 1 skinscribe of each level from 1 to 5,
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi: 1 polydoctorate of each level from 1 to 5, and a Ring of Command Animal
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord: 1 unit of 120 Heavy Infantry Hobgoblins, and Eyes of Charming
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara: 1 witch of each level from 1 to 5, and a +3 Vorpal Sword (while she can't use it in her usual form, a polymorphed form certainly could!)

Of special note, Sorvald managed to actually hit Balor with an arrow; for that, he is rewarded his own thieves' guild, in the city of his choice, for free.

And thus ends this chapter of The Fourth Age; we will be taking a break from ACKs for a while, to go through a new, unrelated campaign - LeTourneau: East Texas University!

The Final Scale

Naoidheamh 35, 6639: Beastnight!

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
  • 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

Their armies teleported in, the party quickly organized both the battle and the strike team. With Rig Bigny commanding the battle, they launched their attack...

The units under Rig's command destroyed a unit of bloodhounds, a (terrifying) unit of death chargers, a unit of zombies, two skeleton units, and a flight of wyverns. The dwarven troops, a unit of archers, and a unit of infantry were lost.

The units under Ajeela's command destroyed a unit of bloodhouds, a unit of necropedes, a unit of ghouls, a unit of zombies, and a bone dragon (carrying a commander). She lost her barbarian troops.

Fayleen Ross, commanding the lizardmen, destroyed three units of skeletons.

The war raged back and forth, until Herman Thorpe managed to Hold the majority of the skeleton armies. Shortly afterward, the strike team entered the tower, and quickly (through Locate Object, Detect Traps, and a pile of other spells, wands, and magical objects) managed to race through the magical maze with little effort. They arrived at the scale, and quickly dumped more magic (and holy water) onto the black altar holding the evil scale; those on the battlefield felt its powers weaken. After some quick thinking, Te'a cast Remove Curse on the scale, Saphira quickly wrapped it in a temporary Bag of Holding, and Gróin teleported the lot of them to the main temple to Thor, in the Mountain Dwarf capital.

The evil sinkhole removed, the remaining undead were quickly cut down, while the living creatures routed, fleeing to the hills and forests. Even the general and his unit of manticores fled.

XP is a little weird, so bear with me. Hopefully this isn't too unbalanced.

• XP from destroyed units
  • 1200 Skeletons (15600)
  • 240 Ghouls (6960)
  • 240 Zombies (6960)
  • 120 Chaos-zombies (9600)
  • 120 Wights (9600)
  • 20 Necropedes (16400)
  • 240 Bloodhounds (11280)
  • 60 Death chargers (8100)
  • 1 Bone Dragon (12800)
  • 60 Wraiths (11400)
  • 240 Harpys (75 of the 240 killed, the rest routed: 15600)
  • 20 Wyverns (22800)
  • 60 Manticores (5 killed; the rest routed: 40800)
• Total XP from units: 187,900
• XP lost from friendly losses
  • Berserkers (60 died) (2520)
  • Paladins (0 died) (0)
  • Green Men (2 died) (0)
  • Bladedancers (4 died) (0)
  • Clerics (11 died) (0)
  • Heavy Infantry (98 died) (600)
  • Longbowmen (60 died) (600)
  • Dwarven Heavy Infantry (60 died) (1200)
  • Lizardmen (40 died) (0)
  • Gnomes (0 died) (0)
  • Roc Lobbers (1 died) (0)
• Total XP lost: 4920
• XP for Rig Bigny (General): 91,490
• XP for Rig Bigny (Commander): 22,110
• XP for Fayleen Ross (Commander): 2,340
• XP for Mor Gibs (independent hero): 5115
• XP for Llarm, Ffaufe, Alun, Herman (commanders/lieutenants): 2557

Of course, that's not all. There is also treasure! Hooray! The surviving troops collected 1/2 of the battlefield treasure as payment (or final gifts for the family of the dead); the rest, as well as the treasure in the tower proper, will be split up as desired. With a little bartering, I'm sure you can trade items for cash, so I'll just tally it all as if you got 100% gold.

• 1,231,200 gp worth of supplies, equipment, and other battlefield treasure was recovered
• The tower contained the following (well-labeled!) treasure:
  • 81,700 gp in silver, electrum, gold, and platinum
  • 12 jasper (600gp)
  • 8 shells (240gp)
  • 6 citrine (300gp)
  • 4 onyx (200gp)
  • 5 wrought silver studded with moonstone (25,000gp)
  • 23 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods (4600gp)
  • 1 wrought gold necklace (100gp)
  • 1 porcelain curio (200gp)
  • 1 Bone curio (24gp)
  • 1 wrought copper curio (110gp)
  • 1 moonstone curio (3000gp)
  • 1 Fine wood curio (600gp)
  • 6 jars of spices (4800 gp, 6 st)
  • 2 vials of rare poison (2200gp)
  • 1 coat of chimera fur (19,000 gp)
  • 4 rolls of silk (1600 gp, 16 st)
  • 33 rugs of wolf hide (990 gp, 6.534 st)
  • 24 pieces of elephant ivory (1152gp, 11.52 st)
  • 1 metamphora of preserved special components (600 gp, 99.6 st)
• XP from captured/killed commanders:
  • Hakan Soroush, Zaharan Ruinguard/Mummy Lord: 8200
  • Chulcx Bloodbather, Thrassian Assassin/Vampire: 6600
  • Abigail Rojas, Bladedancer: 3900
  • Geoffrey Wells, Mage: 4800
  • Kharajit, Rakshasa: 3650
  • Porco Chefe, Demon Boar: 2000
  • Sisskt, Arane: escaped
• XP from treasure: 762616
• XP from enemy heroes: 29150
• XP for destroying the final scales: 10000
• Total character XP: 801,766
• Total gold for Rig, Caranthir, Gróin, Mor Gibs, Saphira, Te'a, and Fayleen: 108,945 gp
• XP for Rig, Caranthir, Gróin, Mor Gibs, Saphira, Te'a, and Fayleen: 66,814
• XP for Faufe, Llarm, Rhea, Gimli, Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, Alun, Harvey, and Zai-car: 33,407

Also recovered were the following well-labeled items: Leather Armor +1, Potion of Climbing, Oil of Slipperiness, Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Old Zaharan): Invisibility (2nd lvl), Scroll of Ward against Elementals, 2 Short Sword +1, Potion of Sweet Water, Ring of Protection +3, 15', Ring of Wishes (1 wish remaining), Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Old Nobiran): Angelic Choir (1st lvl), and a Treasure Map to 20,000gp. Additionally, the mage's library was rigged to explode if he ever left the area; the dark knowledge within was lost.

Along with the magical items in the tower, there were some found on those killed or captured: Hakan Soroush (captured) was carrying a greatsword, four bone-vials, a crystal ball, and a wand. Chulcx Bloodbather (dead) was wearing chain armor. Abigail Rojas (captured) was wearing a helm, leather armor, and a cloak, and carrying a sword, a knife, and a scroll. Geoffrey Wells (captured) was carrying a staff, a rod, and a wand. The Rakshasa and the Demon Boar had no special items, and were both killed. The only survivor was the arane...

That's a LOT of XP, so I will remind you that you can only advance one level at a time; if you got enough experience to level up more than once, you must cut it off one XP below the next level. However, the XP for the final scales trumps that, so if you're about to go over, you can keep at most 833 over the next level for PCs, or 417 over the next level for henchmen.

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.

Don't Help Women In Trouble?

Dara 1 - 13; 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
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

The party resumed their journey (skipping town on Wintermas - but happy birthday, Zarc!) to find treasure, portals, and plotlines. In the desert, they came across an upturned wagon; Gimli and Rhea approached to lend aid, but found themselves under the control of another Child of Nasga! Charmed, they began refusing orders, and freed the creature. Caranthir quickly attacked, and the group finished off the lone threat... then chased down the two hench-people, as they had been sent running into the desert. Thankfully, no one got lost!

After meeting up with Gutsack and his Efreeti "friend", the party split, with Sorvald and Gróin and the henchmen heading south to some treasure, and Caranthir and Rig heading north, to find the portal to the Fire Plane. On their way, the two avoided a group of mummies and some horses; they found a recently-active volcano, and climbed inside. After navigating for miles underground, they came across a huge red dragon, sleeping on a pile of treasure. Being just two, they opted to turn back. However, they then ran into a group of morlocks; Caranthir, in dragon form, froze all but two in a single blast. The living morlocks began weeping and pleading for their lives. They weren't sure of where the fire portal was, but knew that dread creatures sometimes came from behind the red dragon's chambers. Rig and Caranthir turned back, and crept past the dragon, who only snored louder.

Following the tunnel, they found a narrow crevice, and inside a pair of obviously magical gloves. Finally, they reached the fire portal, and verified it was, indeed, the plane of fire. Retracing their steps, they once again slipped past the dragon, and exited into the cool night air. During the night, a group of four stone giants passed by their camp, but never noticed them.

The next morning, they began their trek back. On their way, they saw two statues below them... statues that suddenly lifted on great wings and caught up to them - it was a pair of Sphinx! Sphinxes? Sphincter... no. Let's go with Sphinx. After some banter, the first sphinx asked a simple riddle:

What comes in pairs,
And rarely flies
Is eaten by men
And brings life when it dies?

The answer, of course, was seeds - pear seeds. The second Sphinx asked another simple riddle:

Nodding, Waving, Head in the Sun
Daytime done, head is hung
Who am I?

Which Rig immediately guessed, correctly, was a flower - a sunflower, of course. As a reward, the pair were gifted a ruby, and a bit of information about the surroundings. Over the next few days, they encountered a few vultures, but not much else.

The second party of adventurers, on their way to find some treasure, ran into a woman, fighting a scorpion! After a moment of indecision, they landed to help... only to find the creature was, in reality, a Lamia, and had tricked them with illusions! They drove her off, however, and returned to their quest. In the desert, after much searching, they found a buried room, containing the corpse of a somewhat famous mage, some gold and jewels, and a +1 sword. They returned to the fire temple without further incident. While waiting for the others to catch up to them, they spent their time hunting down the tribe of gingerbread orcs that Gutsac had baked.

Finally, the party reunited, and the Efreeti granted two wishes. Caranthir wished to be a full dragon, with the power to polymorph; he is now a full level 9 dragon, with the polymorph ability, his original stats, and advances in saves, proficiencies, attack throws, and damage bonus as a Fighter. When transforming into a human, he is a normal human fighter.

Rig, meanwhile, wished for a way to move his pets with him more easily, and was granted a Ball of Pet Summoning. The well-chewed leather ball seems to have a strap wrapped around it; once per week, a strap can be removed and put on a tame creature. Any creature with a collar can be summoned for 1 hour (6 turns) within 1d4 rounds, and be dismissed at will to return to its original location. Removing a collar from a creature will cause that collar to be re-absorbed by the ball.

The magical gloves were, of course, the Fire Gauntlets of Elrik the Wanderer. Gróin tried them on, and was immediately rewarded with a vision of Elrick, fleeing a tide of rising magma inside the volcano; coming upon a crevice, Elrick leaped over it, pushing himself over a red-hot boulder with his leather gauntlets. For a moment, the gloves glowed blue...

The Flame Gauntlets provide immunity to heat and fire-based magic; additionally, they can be activated once a day to wreath the wearer in flames for 1d6 rounds, doing 1d4 damage to enemies within melee range.

Bidding farewell to Gutsack and the Efreeti, the party decided to head to the Pointless Tower, as the Princess decided to inform them she knew the way inside. On the way, the party was nearly drowned by a pair of thieves... and, the party gained a Ring of Invisibility, Sword +1, two vials of Holy Water, a silver dagger, Leather armor +3, yet another Decanter of Endless Water, a Ring of Fire Resistance, and a Ward against Elementals.

They made their way past a large Orc encampment, and finally found the tower. Sorvald was nearly roped into being a test dummy, but they managed to extricate themselves, and the princess lead the way to the real opening of the Pointless Tower...

As the party split up, I'll make two lists for XP.

• Caranthir and Rig
  • Encounters
    • Child of Nasga (3100)
    • 9 mummies (avoided)
    • 50 horses (skipped)
    • 30 morlocks (killed and/or captured, 300)
    • 4 stone giants (ignored)
    • 2 rocs (ignored)
    • 2 sphinx (answered their riddles, 6000)
    • 3 vultures (ignored)
    • Pterodactyl (avoided)
    • Martín Robles (lvl 8; 1600)
    • Johan Månsson (lvl 8; 1600)
    • 429 orcs (avoided)
  • Treasure
    • 5,000 gp ruby with setting
  • XP for Rig and Caranthir, each: 5142 (plus 2500 each once the ruby sells)
• Everyone Else
  • Encounters
    • Lamia (2500)
    • Martín Robles (lvl 8; 1600)
    • Johan Månsson (lvl 8; 1600)
    • 429 orcs (avoided)
  • Treasure
    • 1,000 Gold
    • 1 flawless diamond (4,000 gp)
    • 1 Glass jewelry (130 gp)
    • 1 ivory jewelry (300 gp)
    • 2 wrought gold jewelry (800 gp)
  • XP for Sorvald and Gróin: 1659 (plus 1743 each once the treasure sells)
  • XP for Laurita and Zarc: 830 (plus 871 each once the treasure sells)
• XP for Rhea, Elenora, and Gimli: 246

GM Note: I paused the session so I could make up the maps for the Pointless Tower in advance. I ended up shortcutting a different adventure by combining the two, and in the process, thoroughly creeped myself out. This should be a fun adventure! :-D

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

Hark, A Quest!

Ochdamh 2 - Naoidheamh 6, 6638; next holiday, Beastnight, 9/25

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

The party bought some supplies at the Guard's Day celebration, then moved on to visit the King, hoping to destroy the Scale in his keeping...

Upon visiting the king, Caranthir noticed Luce was acting strangely. He had a suspicion... and it was confirmed. Luce was, in fact, a princess, the daughter of the king. Hypothetically, she was staying at some resort, but surely that ruse wouldn't last much longer. Her 18th birthday is in January, and quite a lot of important stuff happens then. Caranthir promised to keep her secret.

The king refused to allow them access to the scale. He did, however, mention a quest that may strengthen his trust... a quest to the Queen of the Winter Fey. However, the party was given a letter of passage; no Winter Fey were allowed to harm them, as long as they did not harm any Winter Fey.

Along the way, they met and killed three wyverns, avoided a couple of basilisks, and found an 8 headed Hydra, which Quetgar decided to bomb. While his aim was true, the hydra was, unfortunately, a regenerating hydra! Beheaded in a single round, only a couple rounds later, it sported new noggins, and continued sprouting replacements until it had a total of 12 heads! After many rounds of combat, and a few lucky strikes by the bothersome beast, Caranthir decided to call it a day. He and Quetgar took off, leaving the now 12-headed hydra alive.

The next night, they were attacked by another fearsome creature - a frost salamander! Its intense cold aura injured several of the party, but it was eventually vanquished. Not long after, they came across 16 zombies, trudging wearily through the snow, and ended them quickly. They camped near a village of trolls, but parted peacefully.

• Experience from treasure: none
• Experience from encounters:
  • 3 wyverns (4800)
  • 2 basilisks (avoided)
  • 1 8 12 headed hydra (escaped)
  • 1 frost salamander (2100)
  • 16 zombies (464)
• Total experience: 7364
• XP per PC: 921
• XP per henchman (excluding those that remained behind): 460
• XP for new players: 64557

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.

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.

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.