Fee Fie Fae Fell?

Treas 6, 6640 + 111 days PTS (post time stop)

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 Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard

Treas 6, 5540, plus 111 days

Meanwhile, far away, a day's walk from the capital of the Summer Fae, a gnome named Aria Balakdo, riding on his dog Dewey and accompanied by his bodyguard Emily Emerald, came across a very large, very scary-looking clown named Wendy. Wendy, having just left a traveling circus, was willing to accompany the gnome on his trip to the city, to help organize the library. They had only traveled a few miles before they ran into a nest of beetles! After a quick skirmish, in which Emily Emerald was nearly taken down, and the clown mopped up nicely. Cleaning themselves off, they continued on.

Not long afterwards, Aria received a harried phone call from the Head Librarian, who was quickly pushed out of the way by the Queen's Army! Distraught, the gnome gave new orders to Aria - something had happened to the Winter Fae, and it was up to him to verify that it applied to the Summer Fae as well.

The party, meanwhile, felt the first few rays of sunlight strike their faces, and sighed in relief... right up until Alun, the Summer Fae Ranger, grabbed his boss's arm. "Miss Moonstone... I don’t feel so good!"

He stared down at his hands as they flickered, and in a moment, he vanished entirely! While everyone stared in shock, Alun suddenly flickered back into reality... but looked very different. His skin was red, and on inspection made of smooth scales - no longer a Fae, but a dragonborn! Wondering what was going on, they once again attempted to teleport with the staff - and this time, it worked. Instantly, they were zipped across the vast oceans (Caranthir stayed behind, to ferry Luce across the oceans), and they found themselves standing near the city of the Summer Fae, Alun's home. Not far off, Aria and Wendy stopped in shock, seeing the group of adventurers suddenly appear out of thin air. After some cautious introductions, they completed the journey to the Fae city together.

The Fae city seemed the same as when they saw it last, except that instead of Fae, there were naught but dragonborn! At the library, Aria found a distraught librarian, who showed him a book about the dragonborn - written by that same librarian, though he had no memory of it! It seems the Fae had becoem dragonborn overnight... somehow. Further investigation showed that the dragonborn believed they had always existed, but that neighboring cities somehow believed that they had changed. Oddly, it was only the larger cities that seemed to care; none of the smaller baronies had checked in. Nonetheless, Brenvull Crerthar, King of the Dragonborn, was too busy to be seen.

Oddly, Alun spoke Draconic now, but Saphira still speaks Fae; the librarian realized that what he was speaking wasn't Fae, but no longer understood Fae. Very strange...

After their investigation, the party settled into a decent tavern for the night. Saphira and Baelnor heard a few dragonbron talking: "The Kingpin is hiring new men." Saphira successfully seduced one of them, though his plans to take her upstairs were thwarted when she suggested that he arm-wrestle the clown... and worse, Emily. He lost both times, and left in shame.

That night, Saphira received a dream from a grumpy old woman, who introduced herself as the Old Mother, and crossly added that she was no three-legged cow, just because she was old and used a cane. She said that there was something dreadfully wrong, and that old magic had been awoken that was long laid to rest. The party must investigate, and get to the bottom of the problem - but first, they needed to return to the Old World; the ordeal with the clock was not finished. When Saphira awoke the next morning, she found a map tucked under her pillow...

It's obvious that the location is in the forest of the northern continent of the Old World...

• XP from encounters:
  • 8 bombardier beetles (20 XP each)
• XP from treasure: none
• Total XP for Wendy and Aria: 64
• Total XP for Emily: 32
• Special XP: 100 XP for Wendy and Emily, for beating a dragonborn arm-wrestling

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.

Golem Gala

Naoidheamh 23, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35 (only 12 days away!)

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
• (As-yet-unnnamed), Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin 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

After much debate, the party finally decided to go take on the great golem, protector of the Hill Dwarf kingdom. They spent nine days researching, building, and entrapping the golem: a hole 60x40 feet, 480' deep, and perfectly square; above, layers of hovering 60x40 iron plates, 6' thick; a stone wall, 40' high, 10' thick, and packed with loose dirt; and, finally, 4 berserkers standing nearby, with bags of devouring full of dirt, who will jump in and dispel themselves to fill in any loose cracks. Whew. Additionally, they made some bets, at 10 to 1 odds, and paid the 10,000 gp deposit the city required before their battle with the golem.

On the morning of the battle, a crowd had gathered, and an almost carnival atmosphere permeated the place. The battle began with Gróin and Baelnor, who removed the last 20' of stone holding up the golem. As the earth crumbled, a summoned berserker, standing on the top of the pile leapt down, slashing at a knob of metal designed to cause the plate to begin falling, then pushed off, screaming "Blood and glory!" on his way down. He was, technically, the first strike against the golem, as it crashed into the pit. Next, the iron plates and the stone and earth slammed into it, and finally the remaining berserkers jumped in, causing a massive blast of earth as the contents of their sacks were suddenly released.

The blast of dust took over a round to clear; just as everyone was beginning to wonder if maybe, just maybe, that had worked, there was a sudden tremble, and the ground began to smoke. As the dust and smoke swirled into the air, the ground began to glow red - something was melting it from underneath! A moment later, a massive hand reached out of the rubble, and the golem drug itself to the surface! It sported three shallow gashes on its arm, where the iron plates had hit it.

Saphira (once Craydos) sent her summoned pet to attack, but its claws only threw up sparks on the tough golem (because, as they later learned, only +2 or better weapons could damage it). She also fired a lightning bolt - which seemed to heal it! Gróin and his priestess, of course, threw earth spells at it, but it seemed it was only taking half damage at best from them. Caranthir blasted it with ice breath, but the third blast seemed to do no damage - the golem had raised a shield! The next round, it dropped its shield and blasted a laser beam of destruction, instantly dropping Rhea, and severely injuring Caranthir, as well as setting a swath of grass on fire. It turned to go after Rig, stomping his crab-apparatus, and nearly upending the few not flying. It swatted at the flying beasts nearby, but missed. Finally, the damaged golem was blasted, and fell into nothing but earth. The great green eye toppled out of place, shattering on the ground.

All was, finally, quiet. Until something crawled out of the rubble... a dwarf! "Ehhh... ¿Dónde estoy?"

The dwarf had, it seemed, touched scale long, long ago, and had been trapped within, powering the hulking creature until it was destroyed. He introduced himself as Grop Beardson (a lvl 8 dwarven vaultguard: 16 (+2) str, 6 (-2) int, 8 (-1) wis, 14 (+1) dex, 17 (+2) con, and 11 (+0) cha).

After a little drama, Te'a collected their winnings (a tidy sum!), and the party sold off the pieces of the eye - 61 emerals, worth 2,000 gp each! Normally, it would take a while to sell all that, but with the huge crowd, they were able to easily sell it all in a short period of time.

• XP from Encounters:
  • Scale Golem (1800)
• XP from Treasure:
  • 61 emeralds = 122,000
• Total XP: 123,800
• XP per PC (Rig, Caranthir, Gróin, Saphira, Te'a, Fayleen): 11,791
• XP per Henchthing (Noona, Midnight, Rhea, Laurita, Herman, Pentzkin, Alun, Harvey, Zai-car): 5895
• Gold per PC, not counting winnings: 20,333gp, 3 sp, 3 cp

Also of note, Saphira wanted to hire some mage-types to come and work for her. There were a surprising number of mage-types found who were willing to join up, from level 1 to level 4. I can show off their stats in person, because I can't be bothered to actually copy all the information and format it all today.

Starting experience: 143,564

Curses! (Foiled Again)

Naoidheamh 14, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35

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
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• (As-yet-unnnamed), Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the 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

Some of the party still having things to do, the remaining members decided to investigate the map they found. Incidentally, the map lead them to the same location that the Fae treasure map lead...

After some discussion, the group made an educated guess, and teleported to the vicinity of where they believed the treasure lay. It was a good guess; they landed in the correct hex, near a small village. A dusty farmer type wandered out to greet them. They asked if he knew where a certain hill was found; he laughed, and answered, "Well, it was nice meeting you, seniors, senioras, senioritas, but no one leaves that place alive. It's a tourist trap - literally. I wouldn't go in unless I had a deathwish!"

Still, the party pressed for the location, so he lead them to a low hill. Part had collapsed, leaving a low cliff of sorts; a bright red line was drawn in front of the entrance, and a fence surrounded the entire area. Several signs, in various languages, mentioned that stepping over that line will kill you, the local government can't be held responsible for you doing that, and if your religion or home country prohibits or regulates suicide, this counts if anything does. Shrugging, the party assured the man that they would be able to pass through the traps. Fayleen, using her new Gnomish Joke Book, summoned a bug, which was hit with a flurry of arrows as it entered. And then a scything blade, which bisected it. Following the traps in, and trying to disable or avoid them, the party slowly moved inside. They removed a high-powered Cancellation trap, avoided a pit full of yellow mold, dispelled an anti-magic shell and double lightning trap, blocked a slamming wall trap, crawled under a spinning blade trap, then dispelled yet another cancellation trap. The next slamming wall trap, though large, seemed poorly repaired; after that, there were only two pits, covered with blankets. Finally, a pile of stones were stacked over a trip wire; that trap didn't even reset after use.

At the end of the traps, they party reached four fearsome skeletons, clad for battle! Two skeletons held out their polearms, losing the head of one polearm, and the head of the other skeleton in the process. The first skeleton lost its armor; the fourth skeleton, already missing an arm and a leg, tried to raise its sword, but only managed to pivot a full 360 degrees. The priestess turned them easily, though frankly, a loud shout could have put those fellows down. They were a single hit point each, and likely would have killed themselves trying to wield their own weapons. Interestingly, the skeletons were not human, but orcish.

The wooden doorway was trapped with two magical sigils: a 12d6 fire trap, and an enervate trap, both of which were dispelled.

Inside was a somewhat homely room, with three occupants. First was what was obviously a mage of some sort, wearing rotting robes, sitting in a broken wooden chair, his feet propped on a casket. Second was a huge orc, crammed into a defensive position. The third, after some investigation, was inside the casket - a desiccated priestess. Additionally, there were a number of items in the room; a large rug, a fold-up table, and a huge pile of various items, from swords and armor to boxes, bags, and brooches. Most importantly, there was an anti-magic field that filled the entire room...

The entombed priestess was wrapped in some sort of ritual-level binding, a black rag with fine text written on it. The party attempted to communicate with her, but learned something else important: the Staff of the Dead has a 25% chance of raising the corpse as a zombie. The corpse stood, moaning, and began to lumber towards them. Laurita quickly Turned the corpse, and it was blasted into dust... or, rather, it started to blast into dust, but the magical bindings held the corpse together, so it was merely un-zombified. The second cast worked much better, and they asked the dead priestess three questions, which I should have written down but did not. The priestess answered Gróin's suspicions: she was Ajeela!

Meanwhile, the other party members managed to find a pair of secret exits, one of which was a deathtrap, and the other of which lead outside. After successfully triggering the deathtrap and plummeting to his doom, Harvey was rescued and healed by Gróin and company. Using Rhea's Gloves of Curse Prevention, the party gathered the various rings (including the two on the hands of the huge orc), dropped them into a bag, and lugged them through the secret tunnel. Gróin and Laurita, left in the room to talk with the corpse, found themselves suddenly very interested in some of the treasure; Gróin picked out a dashing pair of glasses, while Laurita picked a lovely amulet. After a bit of back and forth, the rest of the party returned, and found that they, too, wanted to grab some items for themselves. Rhea, still wearing the gloves, found that none of the items satisfied her; she picked through them all, finding nothing. Finally, irritated, she tried on a belt, and finally felt relief. Curious at what it did, she crawled out through the exit, stepped away from the anti-magic field. She read the word written on the belt, presumably the command word: "Behold!"

In an instant, the belt activated, and she found her clothes flung open! Startled, she quickly re-dressed, and looked up to see a small child staring open-mouthed, and a pair of very large rabbits rolling on the grass in laughter. Embarrassed, she rejoined the group. The belt, by the way, is enchanted with the Knock spell, self-targeting, usable three times per day. The others chose magic items as well: a scroll for the polydoctorate, a smooth rock for the ruinguard, and so forth.

In the chamber, Laurita had asked Ajeela's corpse if she wanted Atonement; she agreed. Laurita placed her hand on the corpse's forehead to begin the spell, but before she could even start, she found herself suddenly switched into Ajeela's body! And, worse, Ajeela herself was in the priestess's body! (As an aside, this was actually an ideal situation; Ajeela, being a 14th level priestess, and Laurita, being a 9th level priestess, were able to keep all their spells and such in each other's bodies.) After much consternation and accusation (from both sides), they figured out a possible method to return everyone to normal: go to Ajeela's church, and return her eyes, and from there cast the Atonement spell.

Gathering up the various magical items, they stuffed them all in a bag, sorted out which ring was the anti-magic field, and stuck it back into the chamber. Additionally, they added a few more traps, and re-hid the secret exit. They told the farmer, and he didn't seem as shocked as they expected... He rushed back to his house, and returned with simple NDAs for them to sign - non-disclosure agreements. Adventure-tourists frequently came by, and the village made a significant amount of money from them, from selling goods and from recovering their gear if they all snuffed it in the hill. The non-disclosure agreement ensured that the party wouldn't tell anyone that they actually managed to escape the traps... there had been a number of adventurers that had actually made it through, but it was much more mysterious if he could say that none had ever returned. The party was a little leery, until he explained that the signs were there to keep people out, and if anyone went it, it was their own dumb fault; he couldn't stop an adventurer if he tried. They agreed, and signed.

In Foreston, they visited a church of Alehim, and restored Ajeela's eyes; she and the priestess swapped back into their proper bodies, and she healed Gróin's eyes... though he did get a bird-foot out of the deal. Oh well. Ajeela decided to stay at the temple, for now, but said she would be willing to return if the party had a great need.

While that was happening, the rest of the party took their items to a sage, who looked them over. It was a fairly fast job - most of the items were cursed, and his great tome of reference material meant he didn't have to do much study. Here's the list he came up with:

• Cursed and evil:
  • Rug of Curse Attraction, which causes anyone who touches it to yearn for a cursed item.
  • Amulet of Infection: once per hour, curses a random item (this is what the priestess chose).
  • Deck of Many Thongs: cursed. Oh, gods. A deck of cards in the style of "nekkid lady" playing cards, except it's all pictures of men in thongs. And orcs. And ogres. And trolls. The curse is the after-effect of that image, burned into your brain...
  • Cursed coins: a bag of 1000 gold coins. Each one causes a point of (one of) STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, or CHA damage. Cumulatively.
  • Clown Doll: a freaky doll that always teleports to just ahead of the user any time it is discarded.
• Cursed, but not evil:
  • Ring of Flight: causes you to be weightless
  • Ring of Unebriation: immune to drunkeness... but not hangovers. May actually be evil.
  • Leather Armor of Hunger: +2 armor, but must eat 4 times a day.
  • Gauntlets of Meager Power: grants strength of 8 (-1) or -5 points, whichever is less.
  • Arrows of Returning: return upon being fired. Instantly. Before hitting the target.
  • Sword of Sarchasm: a sentient sword. "Oh yeah, great job, picked the cursed sword that can talk to you in your sleep, nice work, idiot."
  • Grind Stone: when used for any task, that task must be continued for the next 24 hrs. You will get an XP or stat boost from it, though!
  • Box of Fun: a brightly colored box. When opened, randomly tosses 1d6 cursed items at everyone within 15'.
  • Scroll of Chainmail: reader must make 10 copies and distribute them to his friends, or be at -4 for all actions.
  • Lenses of Powersight: you see everyone as lesser than yourself, and easily defeated.
  • Goggles of Science:
  • Mask of Misplaced Identification: causes anyone within 20' to hear the description of an item in the best light (if bad) or worst light (if good).
  • Belt of Opening: actually has a 3/day knock spell, self-target only, command word "Behold!" Oh, yeah.
• Evil, but not cursed:
  • Sword of Corruption: deals corruption points instead of damage
  • Bag of Glitter: as dust of appearance, except it curses everyone within 10', and anyone they touch, making invisibility and stealth impossible. Note that it isn't cursed, but casts curse when used.
  • Staff of the Greater Demon: command word 'destroy'. Nothing else is known about the object.
  • Packrat: a stuffed rat. Turns any object it is placed inside into a bad of devouring.
• Neither evil, nor cursed:
  • Ring of Unsleeping, aka Ring of Paranoia: (the second ring the orc was wearing) grants +2 bonus to AC and saves, and constantly warns you of danger
  • Amulet of Kitten Immunity: immune to all kitten- or cat-based magical effects.
  • Seven League Boots: each step carries you seven leagues*.
  • Helm of Allure: You are irresistibly attractive to anything even vaguely living; automatic success on seduction.
  • Sword of Decay: if it hits a target (0 AC regardless of armor), there is a 25% chance to cause rust as a rust monster.
  • Sword of Healing: causes 1d6 healing on the target. On top of the 1d6 damage it does as a sword. Handy against undead!
  • Sword of Retaliation: magical bonus equal to the number of times the creature hit you; does no damage if never hit.
  • Effreeti Lamp: rub to collect three wishes!
  • Potion of Age Reversal: causes the imbiber to age in reverse.
  • Bag of ???: looks like a normal bag. Has some sort of acid in it. If someone puts something into it, then hands it to another person, the object is gone; holding it again returns the object to the bag. It's magical, but the sage would need to do some intense study to actually figure out what it does.

While Rhea was interested in the corruption-causing sword, Fayleen was adamant that she destroy it. Luckily, the Packrat had caused the bag they stuffed it in to become a bag of devouring, so they stuffed all the cursed items and the sword into the bag, erasing them from existence. Handy, that! As a note: let me know if there were any uncursed items you got rid of, or cursed items that you kept.

*Seven leagues: a league is the distance a man can walk in an hour; in ACKS terms, seven-league boots essentially cause you to travel a full day's journey in a single step. I mean that literally - these boots are based on your normal (land-based) movement speed. You can take a step in the boots once per hour.

There wasn't any XP to be gained this time, from treasure or enemies, but the party did gain a powerful new friend, and a bunch of dubious magical items. As before, starting XP is 137,669 XP.

Win Some, Lose Some

Seachdamh 22 - Ochdamh 7, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35

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
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger

Wrapping up some business in the Fae lands, Craydos decided to hire a Fae of his own, a Sylph Ranger. He also began his tower - a 40' high, 20' diameter tower worth 22,500gp. Or rather, almost worth that, except Gróin opted to spend a good week and a half donating materials. Hey, what's a wizard tower that isn't made of magical rock, right? The tower itself will be finished 8/22, and the men that show up will need to roll to see if they stay on 10/22. Of course, as long as he was constructing a tower, Craydos decided to start building a dungeon, as well. Once it's complete (on 8/22), monsters will start showing up and moving in.

While he and Gróin were working on towers and dungeons, Caranthir decided to search around the city of the Summer Fae for a wish. He heard some evidence of a powerful... well, something... and finally summoned enough courage to go visit. The building he found was a strange place; it looked like a hunting cabin, just planks and animal skins, with bones and leather straps holding it all together, but it somehow managed to do all that and have towers and multiple floors, too. It had a very, very Fae feeling to it. Ducking through the animal-skin-door, he stepped into a dim, smoky room, easily 60 feet in diameter. At the far end, a blue-skinned man wearing nothing but an elaborate moose-antler headdress sat on a wood-and-bones throne. Around the campfire in the middle of the room - more of a bonfire, really - sat a dozen similarly undressed men, staring into the great flames, unstirring.

Oberon, Husband-King of the Fae, and SPOOKY-POWERFUL

Seeing them enter, the man on the throne - obviously a Fae - stood, and walked towards them. It was only then that those present realized how big this guy was... easily 12 feet tall, the man cleared the huge room in only a few steps. He greeted them, asking their names, which were provided readily. He, in turn, provided his: Oberon, Husband-King of the Fae. Not the Summer Fae, no, but all Fae. He was, in fact, the husband of both the Queen of the Winter Fae, and of the Summer Fae. Caranthir, suitably impressed, mentioned that he was looking for a map of the known world. Oberon smiled. "And would you be willing to trade for it? Perhaps... 12?"

Caranthir was a little confused. "12 gold pieces? Sure, I..."

"Ah, no. Twelve."

"Twelve... like the number?" Caranthir pulled out a sheet of parchment, and wrote the number 12 on it. "Like that?"

Oberon inclined his head. "The bargain is made."

In return, he pulled out a parchment of his own: a map. A really big map, in fact.

The World, where everything is big. Find Mor-Thir!

After handing over a few magical items for information on the world at large, the party decided it was through. Oberon, however, pointed at Sorvald. "And you. Have you anything to trade me for this bag? A... coin, perhaps?"

Sorvald shrugged. Why not? He handed the creature a random coin, but when Oberon tilted his hand towards Sorvald, Sorvald could see that it held his two-headed coin. "And is the bargain made?"

After a moment's hesitation, Sorvald shrugged again. "Sure. Why not."

When the others stepped out, he took a peek in the bag. Inside was a... kitten? Hmm.

Shopping over, it was time to visit some friends. And just in time, too; the party teleported to visit Lady Dracul, and found her armed with a sword, and holding her child. The boy looked fairly normal; there didn't seem to be anything to suggest he was anything other than a normal child. However, as Lady Dracul explained, the lords that had previously hired the party were certain this child was the product of an obscene union between human and dragon. Lord Dunstan Kirkhill and Lord Evan Elpus were already present, and Lady Christiana Vascelles and Lord Vincent Aldervat were due to arrive any day. Lady Dracul's father, Lord Tomas Cordova, was camped beside the manor, ready to provide what little assistance he could for his daughter. After a short parley with Kirkhill, it was quite obvious that the lords were willing to utterly destroy anyone who stood between them and the extermination of the "abomination" - the child.

The plan was formed: Reah and Sorvald would sneak into the camps of Kirkhill and Elpus, respectively. Reah, invisible and moving silently, crept into the tent of Lord Kirkhill. His snores echoed through the room. She checked for traps, and finding none, walked to his bed, and raised her dagger... only to realize that the lord was not in his bed! The covers were cunningly heaped over a pillow! Gritting her teeth, Reah searched the room, finally finding the lord, sleeping under his own bed, wearing full plate mail, and grasping a battleaxe in his hands. With a quick flip, Reah tilted the bed away, and slit the lord's throat. She slipped off into the night before the alarm was raised.

Meanwhile, Sorvald tip-toed (also invisibly) towards the tent of Lord Evan Elpus. Pausing outside, he could hear deep, rhythmic breathing from inside. Steeling himself, he ducked under the edge of the tent... and found himself staring at a grey dragon! Wait... grey? Those scrying on him scratched their heads. No one could remember any stories of grey dragons. How odd. Sorvald, meanwhile, heard the faintest cough behind him... as what he thought was the lord's armor revealed itself as a man in a pointy hat, wearing a robe! Sorvald quickly drew his arrow of dragon slaying, bounced it off the hide of the grey dragon, grabbed it off the ground, and noped out of the tent at high speed. By the time the wizard woke the dragon, he was on his magic carpet and headed out. The few crossbowmen that managed to get a shot off were too late, and missed.

The next morning, Kirkhill's army was in an uproar, but Elpus was on the warpath. He challenged Caranthir to a battle of champions (which was usually the way battles were decided in this area - armies were expensive to replace). Caranthir agreed, and soon, he was facing the grey dragon. Both were hastened, blessed, and variously magically protected; in an instant, they sprang at each other. Caranthir opted to slash and bite, while the other dragon breathed... stones? His breath was like a stream of gravel, blasting against Caranthir. However, in only two rounds, Caranthir destroyed the dragon. Elpus, true to his word, packed up and left, leaving the chest of battle-treasure for the victorious party.

While the party scoured the camp for additional resources, the other two lords - well, lord and lady - arrived. Their flag-bearer seemed rather more professional than that of the previous lords'; he didn't flinch when Caranthir turned into a dragon, and merely insisted that they be allowed to destroy the babe-in-arms. Refusing, Caranthir counter-offered the same terms, which were accepted: a pair of duelers, two from each side.

On the one side, Gróin and Craydos; on the other, a nautical-looking fellow, in a light (non-armor) leather jacket, and... the same mage that had the dragon! It appears that he had defected to the army of Lord Aldervat! The wizard cast some sort of protection shield on himself just before the battle. Gróin and Craydos, meanwhile, coated themselves with dust of disappearance. The battle began, and Gróin fired a cone of cold against the two. It seemed to bounce off the fighter! Craydos summoned a hydra, dropping it on the ground, and the fighter strode over to it, drawing his swords. Two quick slashes later, and the hydra was down three heads!

Gróin feather-fell to the ground, hoping to break through the wizard's defences, but the wizard blasted him with a cone of earth! The fighter, meanwhile, slashed and stabbed, destroying the hydra entirely. Gróin activated his flames, but only managed a few points of damage against the mage. Craydos fired lightning at the fighter, only to see it bounce back up against him! Luckily, he had protected himself from 1-3 level spells, and the bolt didn't hit him. Gróin, seeing that he was not long for this earth, took to his heels; the fighter, meanwhile, jogged over to the mage, who cast Fly on hi, just before Craydos zapped them both with yet more lightning. The wizard was shaken, but the fighter reflected the spell back once again. He flew to where those lightning bolts had been coming from, and with a single mighty punch, knocked Craydos out. Gróin, invisible and retreating, only made it so far... the mage cast "Find Object", and found Gróin. He directed the fighter to his position, and with two strikes, Gróin was laid out cold.

Defeated, Caranthir realized that the only way to keep the Lady and her son safe was to take them home. With Elenora using the god-staff, the party (sans Gróin and Craydos) teleported back to Caranthir's land. Gróin, once he and Craydos were (roughly) awakened, fled to the north, to the Summer Fae, and Craydos's tower. On the way, they found another of the trader's treasures - a scroll of light. Yay. Craydos did find a new friend, however - a Bluecap, who agreed to work for him.

Alun Tsornyl (Male, level 2 Elven Ranger), 15 hp, follows the Elven Ranger table, with the following differences: he has Knowledge: Fae, cannot wield steel or iron weapons (he has his own silvered blade and wooden bow), and hates the Winter Fae with a burning passion.

• XP from Encounters:
  • Lord Kirkhill, lvl 10 fighter (2250)
  • 10 HD Grey Dragon (2950)
  • Oberon (peaceful)
  • Bluecap (peaceful)
  • Earth Mage Shale Argillaceous (lvl 12; didn't lose!)
  • Monk Johnny Lightning (lvl 12; didn't lose!)
• XP from Treasure (spoils of war):
  • 1,000 gp
  • 2,000 sp (200 gp)
  • 1 opal (3,000 gp)
• Total XP: 9400
• XP for Caranthir, Gróin, Sorvald, and Craydos: 1175
• XP for Rhea, Elenora, Gimli, Laurita, Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, and Alun: 588
• Gold, each: 1050gp

Bone Head

Seachdamh 4-5, 6639; next holiday is Guard's Day, 8/3

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
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster

The undead kraken dead again, it was now up to the NPC cleric, Twych. He began casting the ritual spell he had prepared, and after casting almost all day (with a little help from Craydos and the others), he finally finished, and the pool of unholy water was cleansed - with a pop, the water vanished, leaving behind a fresh, minty odor.

Of course, everyone wanted to kick around in the dry pool for a while. They found a bunch of bones, ruined armor, weapons, and other junk, left from dead adventurers. At the bottom of the pool, a slight rise lead into a kraken-sized cave, and inside, a pile of lovely treasure! Along with some saber-tooth tiger tusks Craydos claimed and a pair of masterwork thieves tools for Sorvald and Rhea were a few magical items: a Wand, some chain mail, a shield, and a dagger. Even without testing, they were obviously magical - otherwise, they would have rusted away.

Their exploration done for now, the party set up camp and went to bed. On Craydos's watch, however, they ran into trouble - three frost salamanders! Craydos managed to awaken his friends, but he and his gnomish friend were dropped almost instantly. As Gróin fled the stone structure, one of the salamanders crept inside, and in a quick slash, the second sapper fell. Just as Paladin and Ham rushed to assist, Caranthir and Gróin managed to bring down the beasts. Craydos and the others were quickly healed.

In the morning, the group began exploring the tower; it was as they left it, with crushed golems aplenty, with the exception of the top floor... instead of a pile of smashed things, there was instead an enormous dragon! It rushed down the stairs after them, crashing against walls and letting out a shrill, screaming cry. Ham and the paladin lead the charge down the stairs, then immediately took up positions on either side of the door. Craydos flew up, and Gróin and Twych arrayed themselves in front. Caranthir... well, Caranthir took the coward's way out and fled. The dragon crashed through the doorway, and the paladin and barbarian attacked; as Gróin fired rocks and boulders at it, Craydos dropped a hydra in. The dragon clawed, bit, slashed, and tail-whacked those around it; the next round, it let loose a terrible breath attack, filling the area with a choking cloud of noxious fog. The hydra was destroyed; even the barbarian fell! The dragon whirled and bit, as the paladin stepped back to heal himself. Finally, Twych overcame his fear long enough to step in and blast the dragon with a whirling cloud of fire; the dragon fell, its scorched bones falling to the ground. Craydos, of course, quickly began scrounging for usable parts, while the cleric and sappers rushed to help their fallen friends. Even after a disastrous roll, the barbarian recovered immediately with no move than some gnarly scars for his troubles, which pleased him greatly anyway. Oh, and where was the gnomish wizard? Teleported away, actually. Probably accidentally.

After some decision-making, the group decided to leave the tower standing, and headed back to civilization, their treasure in tow. Paladin, Ham, and Twych did a little treasure hunting of their own, and found the lair of the earlier draugr; they claimed their treasure from that.

Craydos gained 420 XP worth of saber tooth tiger parts and 14,500 XP of dragon parts, as well as some processed dragon's blood poison (1,000 gp per phial).

• Experience from Encounters
  • 3 Frost Salamanders (6,300)
  • 1 Undead Bone Dragon (18,500)
• Experience from Treasure
  • 4,000 electrum pieces (2000 gp, 4 st)
  • 3,000 gold pieces (3000 gp, 3 st)
  • 3,200 platinum pieces (16000 gp, 3.2 st)
  • 1 chryselephantine (1,100 gp) (1100 gp, 0.08334 st)
  • 2 chryselephantine (800 gp) (1600 gp, 0.16668 st)
  • 1 ivory (700 gp) (700 gp, 0.08334 st)
  • 1 brass (160 gp) (160 gp, 0.08334 st)
  • 1 wrought silver (700 gp) (700 gp, 0.08334 st)
  • 7 sabre-tooth tiger tusks (1st/40gp, 60 gp each) (420 gp, 10.5 st) (claimed by Craydos)
  • 4 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes,each worth 1,200gp (1 item per 6 seals) (4800 gp, 0.1108 st)
  • 45 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods, each worth 200gp (1 item per 6 carvings) (9000 gp, 1.2465 st)
  • 11 opal cameo portraits, each worth 800gp (1 item per 6 portraits) (8800 gp, 0.333 st)
  • 4 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes, each worth 1,200gp (1 item per 6 seals) (4800 gp, 0.1108 st)
  • 2 sets of masterworks thieves tools, worth 1,600gp each (3200 gp, 0.3334 st) (claimed by Rhea and Sorvald)
• Experience for Caranthir: 3886
• Experience for Elenora: 1943
• Experience for Mor Gibs: 3231
• Experience for Gróin and Craydos: 8511
• Experience for Pentzkin, Laurita, Herman, and Baelnar: 4256
• Caranthir, Gróin, Craydos, and Mor Gibs will also receive 4745 XP when the treasure sells, and Elenora, Pentzkin, Laurita, Herman, and Baelnar will get 2373 XP.
• Also, 5250gp each for Caranthir, Gróin, Craydos, and Mor Gibs, plus 7810 once the treasure sells.

You really should sell this stuff off, you know. You've got a bunch of treasure back at Gróin's, along with this new stuff!

Simply Kraken, Old Sport

Siathamh 27 - Seachdamh, 6639; next holiday is Brightest Night, 6/35

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
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster

Having found the lair of the Draugr, the party swooped in to clear out the last of the baddies. After killing and/or turning a group of haugbui, the group went further in. Craydos illuminated the way, as Sorvald found and disarmed traps. After quite a bit of searching, they uncovered a strange map, and finally the way in to the draugr's lair. As they found later, the entrance to the lair was through solid stone - the draugr could cast passwall, and thus move a section of solid earth. Through a murder pit under a fake coffin, they discovered a secret entrance; following it, they finally found the undead creature's tomb. The turned haugbui were destroyed, Gróin walled the entrance off, and Laurita began casting Dispel Evil. A few minutes in, and the draugr's mist-form rose from the coffin and fled towards the door; finding it closed, he attempted to cast a spell, but was frozen by the light. Finally breaking free, the draugr managed to cast Passwall again, and fled into the passage; Gróin dispelled the passwall, but too late. Craydos dispelled Gróin's wall, and the group moved into the hall! Sorvald, thinking quickly, grabbed a bag off of Gróin and tried to catch the gaseous form as it slipped by, to no avail. Craydos, however, pulled one of his jars for monster parts out, heaved it over the cloud, and snapped the lid shut, trapping it!

Returning to the tomb, they waited until Laurita was nearly finished casting, then opened the container... and the spell failed. Luckily, the gas couldn't escape; the draugr was out of passwall spells. The second casting was enough, and the creature was instantly turned to ash. After collecting the ash, the party dumped it into the stream near the troll's camp, and the draugr was finally defeated.

The hex cleared, the group travelled back to Caranthir's land, for the midsummer feast. The golden dragons were invited; when the topic of the undead kraken came up, the male volunteered his services. When the festival was finished, the party set off to find the northern paladin and finish off the undead kraken once and for all.

Before that happened, however, Gróin needed to check his henchmen's loyalty... and the sapper decided not to stay with him. Luckily, he did choose to hang out with the Ectomancer, so he's still with the party.

The paladin was overjoyed to see them, and introduced his companions: Ham, a hide-clad barbarian with a saber-tooth tiger for a mount; Twych, the cleric; and Toxwell Dishthunder Galazooks, aka The Great Galazooks, Gnomish Wizard. They set off, with Galazooks accidentally teleporting himself there, Twych and the Paladin flying with the party, and Ham riding the saber-toothed tiger, who appeared to be wearing boots of speed. Or something.

Along the way, they ran into another draugr - not as high level as the previous - and watched with great interest when the barbarian killed it in a single round, hardly slowing down at all. Galazooks was waiting for them, having somehow managed to find sand to make a small beach with. Craydos summoned a 10-headed sea hydra, which dove towards the water... and was absolutely shredded before it ever touched the surface. Mor Gibs, laughing, summoned his battle kraken, dropping it towards the lake... and it managed to survive a round before being destroyed. Mor Gibs stopped laughing.

The two dragons dove for the lake, blasting it with frost and fire; Mor Gibs launched lightning bolts at the water, as Galazooks shot a cone of frost and Gróin blasted it with boulders. The cleric cast something on the barbarian and paladin, and the barbarian stepped forward, yelling a challenge to the undead monster. It accepted, slamming its great tentacles down... and sliding off, reflected by the cleric's Protection from Evil spell. Grinning, the barbarian slammed his mighty hammer into the creature, flattening a tentacle. The paladin rushed in, slicing at the beast - and destroying it! He continued forward, dumping a handful of holy water into its decaying beak, and the creature melted into a black ooze.

The cleric sat at the shore and began casting a ritual spell he had prepared, to cleanse the lake...

As a note: I assume most of what was taken from the first draugr was left in Gróin's stronghold. The draugr's lair contained two potions and a strange map, as well as a Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Draconic): Magic Mouth (1st lvl), Light* (1st lvl), 2 Scrolls of Ward against Elementals, a Scroll of Ward against Magic, a Sword +1, light 30' radius, and a Spear +1. Finally, Gróin's birthday was the 3rd.

• Experience from Encounters
  • 5 haugbui (325)
  • 1 draugr (9HD, 3100)
  • 1 cloud giant (peaceful)
  • 1 draugr (7HD, 1840)
  • 1 undead kraken (24100)
• Experience from Treasure
  • 1000 Electrum
  • 1000 Gold
  • 6 crates of armor and weapons (1350)
  • 2 crates of glassware (400)
  • 5 jars of spices (4000)
  • 3 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (3600)
  • 7 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux (5600)
  • 15 pieces of ivory (1500)
  • 26 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods (5200)
  • 400 monster feathers (400 - these were kept by Craydos for making magical stuff, and taken out of his share of the treasure)
  • 1 alexandrite (500)
  • 1 Bone jewelry (28)
  • 1 pearl jewelry (2000)
• XP sans Kraken-hunt: 4925, plus 24,178 once sold
• Kraken-hunt XP: 25,940
• XP for Caranthir, Craydos, Mor Gibs, Gróin, and Sorvald: 4253
• XP for Rhea, Luce, Gimli: 274
• XP for Elenora, Pentzkin, Herman, Laurita, and Baelnar: 2127

Battle Royale

Siathamh 12-27, 6639; next holiday is Brightest Night, 6/35

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
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe

Gimli, retroactively, was left behind to gather more troops; he encountered a few creatures on the way down, and negotiated as best as he could. The scariest were the two white dragons, certainly...

Caranthir, Gróin, and their henchmen lead their armies to battle. After Rhea did some spying, they managed to determine that there were about 60 trolls, and got the lay of the land - as well as a prisoner, who told them about the trolls, but didn't have much other information, apart from the trolls trying to get a spy into their camp, and failing.

The battle began some distance apart; the trolls knew they were coming (due to some spying of their own), and generally what to expect. Charging in, the two main groups of trolls did some heavy damage to the front lines; Gróin cast a wooden staircase to scale a cliff, and brought the battle to the next level (ha), though was slowed by a continual pelting by skeletal crossbowmen, which are *surprisingly* effective. Gróin's battle group was destroyed, and the ugly horde of troll women captured Gróin, dropping him into a flame-retardant bag and dropping a bunch of rocks on top to keep him still. The witch doctor probably helped too.

On the rocky plains below, Caranthir made headway against the trolls, and some new allies - troglodytes! They plinked some rocks off of Caranthir, who generally ignored them because he was immune to normal missiles. Both sides were facing heavy losses, when Caranthir called to the chief, asking for a fair fight, winner take all. The chief, liking his odds, took him up on his offer; Caranthir beat him easily, and set fire to his corpse. The trolls turned and fled, leaving Gróin behind (it was a near thing). At the top of the cliffs, a voice called down, offering the same terms; winner take all! Caranthir could make out a pale-skinned undead pushing to the front of the unit of zombies, his teeth bared. Laughing, Caranthir took him up on his offer.

This fight was not quite the same. Caranthir struck again and again, but the creature refused to go down. Due to very unfortunate luck, he only managed to get a single blow in, but Caranthir certainly felt that strike! Finally, he slashed through the creature... which turned into mist. Blinking, Caranthir could only watch the mist float up into the mountains.

The party mopped up the undead as the troggles escaped, but the hex is not yet clear; they need to find the lair of the draugr!

Treasure: Leather Armor, 3x Shields, 15 potions, 1 sword, a Scroll of Ward against Elementals, a Scroll of Ward against Magic, and a Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Elven): Magic Missile (1st lvl), Invisibility (2nd lvl). The draugr was equipped with a Spear, Ring Mail Armor, and a Shield; the troll chief had a magical sword.

• XP from Encounters (just Gimli)
  • 2 caecilian (1140)
  • 24 skeletons (312)
  • 2 white dragons (peaceful... eventually)
  • 13 zombies (377)
• XP from Mass Battle
  • 34 dwarven crossbowmen (-340)
  • 20 mounted bowmen (-260)
  • 88 heavy infantry (-880)
  • 4 ballista (-160)
  • 60 trolls (40800)
  • 30 troll women (4200)
  • 30 troll children (300)
  • 120 troglodytes (2400)
  • 60 skeletons (780)
  • 60 zombies (1740)
  • 1 draugr (escaped)
• Experience from Treasure
  • 1000 Copper, 4000 Silver, 5000 Electrum, and 6000 Gold worth 8910 instantly
  • Other treasure worth 75,313gp once sold:
    • 2 3HD monster carcasses worth 100 gp
    • 80 3HD monster horns worth 320 gp
    • 4 4HD monster carcasses worth 120 gp
    • 5 6HD monster carcasses worth 150 gp
    • 4 8HD monster carcasses worth 280 gp
    • 12 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes worth 14400 gp
    • 187 animal horns worth 20gp each worth 3740 gp
    • 6 bags of loose tea worth 450 gp
    • 7 barrels of fine spirits or liquor worth 1400 gp
    • 1 beast parts jewelry worth 31 gp
    • 67 bottles of fine wine worth 335 gp
    • 4 bundles of rare fur pelts (such as ermine, mink, or sable) worth 2000 gp
    • 1 Carved jade jewelry worth 1100 gp
    • 6 cord of hardwood log worth 30 gp
    • 15 crates of armor and weapons worth 3375 gp
    • 9 crates of glassware worth 1800 gp
    • 13 crates of monster parts worth 3900 gp
    • 2 crates of terra-cotta pottery worth 200 gp
    • 1 Fine wood jewelry worth 400 gp
    • 1 flawless diamond worth 4000 gp
    • 17 ingots of common metals worth 17 gp
    • 29 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods worth 5800 gp
    • 6 jars of dyes and pigments worth 300 gp
    • 3 jars of lamp oil worth 60 gp
    • 5 jars of spices worth 4000 gp
    • 100 monster feathers worth 200 gp
    • 350 monster feathers worth 1050 gp
    • 350 monster feathers worth 1750 gp
    • 150 monster feathers worth 900 gp
    • 10 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux worth 8000 gp
    • 1 rich fur cape worth 1100 gp
    • 1 rich fur cape worth 1700 gp
    • 1 rich fur cape worth 2000 gp
    • 18 rolls of garishly dyed cloth worth 180 gp
    • 12 rolls of silk worth 4800 gp
    • 5 rugs or tapestries worth 25 gp
    • 1 statuettes worth 300 gp
    • 1 whorled nephrite jade worth 1500 gp
    • 1 Wrought orichalcum jewelry worth 3000 gp
    • 1 wrought silver jewelry worth 500 gp
• Total XP from experience: 53,035, plus 37,657 when the treasure sells.
• XP for Gróin and Caranthir: 9643
• XP for Rhea, Luce, Elenora, Gimli, Laurita, Baelnar Grimtor, and Herman Thorpe: 4821
• Extra XP for Gimli: 915

Extra notes: since Gróin lost 4 ballista, with 4 conscripted peasants manning each ballista, that means his population drops by 16 people, which is roughly 3 families. Also, the remaining troops take half the treasure (and gain XP from it); 4,455 gp of coins and 37,657 gp of treasure (which means less you have to sell, personally), for a total of 42,112. As long as you have fewer than 421 individuals (counting the 4 each at the ballistas), all your surviving troops have gained veteran status!

Other notes: Ballista only fire once every other round, or less, depending on how many people are manning them. I let you get away with firing them every round, mostly because they missed the trolls every time, but only this time. Also, no more retroactive shopping. Also, if Caranthir lost more (or fewer) than 50 individuals, I'll just use that as an XP loss (or gain) next time.

Treaties and Tricky Traders

Còigeamh 23 - Siathamh 12, 6639; next holiday is Brightest Night, 6/35

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
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe

The group once again traveled to the Dwarven cities, selling their treasure and looking for people to hire. First, however, Caranthir decided on a name for his little kingdom: Whitescale, and its capital city, Quenls. Gróin called his new kingdom Jordland. Caranthir also made a deal with the golden dragons that, for 2,000 gp each, they are willing to help keep simple problems (like minor beastmen incursions) at bay, and for 20,000gp each, to fight in more dangerous battles.

Along the way, the party encountered a few ogres and some wildlife, but otherwise the journey was remarkably uneventful. Once in Dundrende Klippe, the party began searching for hirelings, and managed for find a number of dwarves willing to work. Caranthir spoke with the leaders, asking for assistance in defeating a large group of trolls; the leaders (a council of seven, the leaders of the Theocracy of the Mountain Dwarves) turned him down. Unlike their southern brethren, the mountain dwarves don't much like interacting with outsiders...

Caranthir headed north, taking the tunnel between the two dwarven cities, and Mor Gibs followed, while Gróin took the hired troops south to his base. Caranthir took an opportunity to snack when he was met by a stampede of horses; the wranglers were irritated, but weren't going to stop. Then, he ran into a rather unpleasant, drunken dwarf, who challenged him to a fight. The dwarf, though tough, wasn't tough enough to go toe-to-toe with an overpowered dragon, and soon was reduced to, well, another snack.

While Caranthir flew back to meet him, Gróin took on five dire wolves, and managed to score four cubs. He met a cloud giant, who waved him on his way.

Reunited, the party continued south. Five hippogriffs attacked, and while four were not so lucky, one managed to make off with an infantryman as a meal. Finally, they met a camp of orcs, and obliterated them. "I thought Orcs were supposed to be tough!" Well, sure, maybe at night, in a cave, with low level adventurers! Not with dragons and an army! Geez!

Meanwhile, months prior (I know, I know), Faufe managed to finally make his way south to Cliffport. Unfortunately, his bad luck with the weather turned into bad luck with sales, and he barely managed to sell a thing. He made it back to Slowhaven and sold one more item, leaving him barely making any profit at all.

Deciding to take the voyage again, Faufe hired Camilla Månsson, a level 2 Airwalker (Str: 10 (+0), Int: 9 (+0), Wis: 16 (+2), Dex: 10 (+0), Con: 18 (+3), Cha: 13 (+1), and 11 HP, carrying Leather Armor (AC 2), an Arbalest, a Silver Dagger, and a Composite Bow, with General Proficiencies: Animal Husbandry; Class Proficiencies: Swashbuckling; she speaks Common). He also hired Fátima Luna, a level 1 Bard (Str: 8 (-1), Int: 9 (+0), Wis: 13 (+1), Dex: 11 (+0), Con: 11 (+0), Cha: 14 (+1), and 6 HP, carrying Leather Armor (AC 2), a Longbow, a Dagger, 2 Slings, a Musical instrument, and Manacles; General Proficiencies: Engineering; Class Proficiencies: Mystic Aura, and she speaks Common as well).

Gróin, meanwhile, retroactively looked for help when he was in Slowhaven a few months ago (I really need to tone down this time travel), and ended up with Baelnar Grimtor, a level 1 Dwarven Sapper (Str: 17 (+2), Int: 14 (+1), Wis: 18 (+3), Dex: 11 (+0), Con: 9 (+0), Cha: 10 (+0), and 4 HP, carrying Banded Plate (AC 5), a Shield, a Mace, a Club, a Great Axe, a War Hammer, 2 pints of beer, Birthwort (1lb), a 10' pole, a journal, and Holy Water, all in a backpack - he's prepared! General Proficiencies: Performance, Craft; Class Proficiencies: Naturalism; Languages spoken: Dwarven, Goblin, Gnomish, Kobold, Mer, Orc). Gróin also hired Herman Thorpe, a dour-looking level 2 Ectomancer (Str: 13 (+1), Int: 11 (+0), Wis: 15 (+1), Dex: 12 (+0), Con: 13 (+1), Cha: 9 (+0), and 10 HP; carrying: Chain Mail (AC 4), a Shield, a Longbow, a Holy Book, a Journal, and Woundwart (1lb). General Proficiencies: Knowledge (undead/sinkholes); Class Proficiencies: Illusion Resistance; Languages spoken: Common).

Back at Gróin's kingdom, the travelers found a salesman waiting for them: Honest Steve! Which, if he was to be believed, was just an honorific. An adventurer, he picked up plenty of plunder, but had a lot of trouble selling it. In his cart was a badly-rotted dragon corpse, and a pile of various magical items. Caranthir purchased a Scarab of Protection (which, as he predicted, does indeed have a single charge on it). He produced a few items, one of which interested Craydos: a mirror of Life Trapping! Which was full of normal people. Once freed, they decided to follow Gróin loyally. Better than being trapped in some weird mirror! After some haggling, which resulted in Caranthir attempting to eat the fellow, he managed to escape through some kind of instant-resurrection or something. On the bright side, his cart seems to have gotten left behind, and apart from the black dragon corpse, some of the stuff in it might actually have some worth! Maybe!

The cart contains: 2 swords, a bundle of 20 arrows, a spear, a pure black arrow, leather armor, a "Shield of Reflection", two rings, a wand, a "Staff of Power", 3 potions (2 labeled 'poison'), and 3 treasure maps.

The vaultguard was carrying plate armor (mundane), a Composite Bow, Wolfsbane (1lb), a small sack with 3,000ep, 9,000gp, 1,000pp, 5 malachite worth 50gp, and 4 beast parts worth 4gp; a Divine scroll in Common with 5 spells (lvl 3 Growth of Animals; lvl 4 Skinchange; lvl 4 Speak with Plants; lvl 3 Curse; lvl 2 Righteous Wrath), a War Hammer +1, and a Shield +1.

Last but not least, the treasure the Orcs carried contained a magical bow.

• Treasure from Encounters:
  • Caranthir, Gibs, Gimli, Elenora:
    • 1 horse (20)
    • Telchar Barrelgut (lvl 13 Dwarven Vaultguard) (4400)
  • Gróin, Craydos, :
    • 5 wolves, 4 cubs (700)
    • 1 cloud giant (peaceful)
  • Together:
    • 2 hawks (escaped)
    • 15 ogres (2100)
    • 5 hippogriffs (1 escaped) (260)
    • 36 orcs, plus 8 gang leaders and a chief (600)
    • Honest Steve (lvl 10 Bard) (2250)
• Experience from Treasure:
  • 15566 (Caranthir, Gibs, Gimli, and Elenora)
  • 2216 gp (Craydos, Gróin, Laurita, and Rhea)
• Experience for Craydos and Gróin: 1471
• Experience for Caranthir and Gibs: 7900
• Experience for Gimli and Elenora: 3950
• Experience for Laurita and Rhea: 736
• Gold per PC: 1108 gp each for Craydos and Gróin; 7783 gp each for Caranthir and Gibs.

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.