11th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
By the time we’d returned to the guild hall, Jasper had set up room assignments. He said it was high time we moved outta the barracks and started actin’ like the leaders of the guild. No one had any major problems with their rooms. Jasper put me in Morgan’s old room because I’m the guild leader.
I gotta admit, I don’t know if I can live up to that title. Most of the time I feel like I’m leadin’ these folks through sheer force of will. The rest of the time, it’s like herdin’ cats! I just don’t know what I should be doin’ to really be a leader. Jasper seems to want me to be a military leader, but I don’t know if I can manage that. I’ve never been in the military and (to be completely honest) after dealin’ with my pa and brothers all those years – well, I just don’t wanna be like that.
Somewhere, I need to find my own leadership style and hope everyone can live with it.
12th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Hine brought home a prostitute. A dim-witted, self-centered Damaran whore who was obviously manipulatin’ Hine for her own benefit. Heh. I call her dim-witted, but Hine’s just as stupid. The idiot took Morgan’s horse (which later turned out to be Jasper’s horse) into town to “get some ‘tang” as he put it. Somehow he got emotionally attached to this Damaran after one bedroom tumble and she convinced him to “rescue” her from her fate. He carried her out the window of the Emporium, in broad daylight, and rode off with her on Jasper’s horse with the Emporium’s Half-Ogre bouncer in hot pursuit. And where do ya think Hine rode to? The guild house, of course!
Obviously, I was dead set against Hine keepin’ the whore here. I mean, really. We let Hine keep a filty, Damaran whore here and the next thing ya know, we become the Three Hills Adventurin’ Company and Whore House as every abused prostitute flocks to our door seekin’ solace. I wasn’t about to let that happen to the guild that I had so recently taken over. No sir!
Hine ended up takin’ the girl to his mother so she could be indoctrinated into the Cult of the Final Passage. (I can’t imagine that’s gonna work out, but at least she’s not here.) Then he went back to the Emporium to talk to Zalamandra. He basically bought the girl from Zalamndra (for a ridiculous sum) and she confiscated Jasper’s horse! Dolgun and I had to go to the Emporium to buy the horse back from her!
This town sucks.
In the midst of all this, a new person showed up to join our guild. His name is Justice (if you can believe that) and he’s a Cleric of Tyr. Seems kinda hard to think we could go wrong with another Cleric in the guild, so we welcomed him in as a probationary member. We’ll see how he does when we return ta the Whisperin’ Cairn.
We met with Allustan about that green worm we found at the observatory. He told us the thing is some sort of necromantic anomaly. It wasn’t Undead, but it is able to make somethin’ else Undead…or make an Undead stronger…I’m not real sure. A lot of what Allustan said went way over my head. I’m gonna have to get Carenthal to go talk to our old mentor. Carenthal’ll understand the complicated arcane stuff better than me. What I did understand, however, is what Allustan said about the center of the worm appearances bein’ the Dourstone mine.
This information gels with the letter from Smenk to Filge. Allustan was fairly concerned and his concern now has me concerned. Seems like we should look into activities in the mine sooner rather than later. Hopefully it’ll wait until after we get back from the Whisperin’ Cairn. (Allustan is very keen ta get a rubbin’ on this Zoseil – the Wind Duke this tomb was apparently built for. Even offered us 500 gold to get one.)
So we went back to the Whisperin’ Cairn (hopefully for the last time). We quickly found ourselves back in the room with the narrow beam and the iron spheres. No matter where they looked, Sparrow and Valcrist couldn’t find a way to disable the triggerin’ mechanism on the beam’s trap. So, we decided to go down, around, and back up to the (now) open iron door. Before we could carry out our plan, though, we got ambushed by another pair of Gricks! This pair seemed more robust that the previous Gricks we’d killed, but we were still able to deal with them. Sparrow managed to slice one open while it was grapplin’ with Justice. I killed the other one with a barrage of Magic Missiles. Sparrow got pretty torn up durin’ the fight and required a lot of healin’.
After a gaff with the beam trap (which saw Dolgun battered by three or four iron spheres and knocked off the beam), we all made it through the door into an entirely new section of the cairn. The circular room had intricate bas-reliefs on the walls in four sections:
1. Djinni at peace and then being attacked by fire monsters (Efreeti?).
2. A rod or staff created from seven parts.
3. The final battle between the Djinni and the Efreeti.
4. A rod or staff shattered into seven parts and the parts scattered.
There were also four bridges (2 broken) leading to a central area which was a roarin’ “tube” of wind. As soon as Sparrow moved up to the air tube, a trio of “creatures” appeared as if from out of thin air! They looked like shinnin’ suits of plate armor filled with swirlin’ currents of air. Each of these monsters also carried a pair of longswords of an archaic design. In the blink of an eye, the three monsters al stabbed Sparrow and she went down screamin’ in pain.
The things were fast and deadly effective with those swords. Hine, Storn, and Valcrist managed to kill one all by themselves. The other two kept the rest of busy for several tense moments. I did get to try out my new spell (I call it Persistent Blade), though. It doesn’t hit has hard as my Magic Missiles, but it served to distract and flank our assailants, so I think it was valuable. Justice struck the killin’ blow on both of the remainin’ wind creatures (provin’ his value to the guild in my mind), but we all played a role in their destruction, especially Dolgun with his fire and ice breath).
After much healin’ (Sparrow was miraculously still alive), we rode the current of air up to Zoseil’s tomb. There was a brief argument with Justice. He didn’t think it was appropriate – us breaking into the tomb and takin’ these ancient possessions. I explained ta him that if tomb raidin’ was distasteful to him, then membership in out guild probably wouldn’t be his cup of tea. He stopped talkin’ and helped us raid the tomb.
I got the rubbin’ Allustan wanted. We also found another animated bas-relief that apparently showed the demise of Zosiel at the hands of some demon that used a strange, black, metal loop to conjure a globe of darkness that utterly destroyed the Dhinni. Inside the sarcophagus were a pair of black-tipped red horns (the demon’s one would assume), the metal loop, and a magical amulet that apparently helps priests focus their power.
We were all set to start collectin’ Seeker remains when we got ambushed in the lantern chamber again! Another one of Nergal’s lieutenants (a female Cleric of Nerul named Mina [Mozar’s wife]) along with eight Gray Dwarves, a pair of archers, four Monks from the Long Death monastery, and her two personal bodyguards. It looked bad.
The fight that followed a brief but fruitless attempt at parley, was the toughest fight we have ever been in. There were just so many of ‘em and they managed to pin us under the blue lantern right away! The fight was long and I don’t think I have the energy to recount the thing blow-for-blow. I do want to mention a few things, however.
Hine almost redeemed himself. His bow was nearly singin’ and he killed most of them Gray Dwarves himself. Dolgun, Justice, and Storn did an amazing job of holding our line and not letting the Monks through to those of us in the back. Trogdor was instrumental in keeping us all alive – exhausting his spell energy and then skillfully using the wand to keep those guys in the front on their feet. Sparrow and Valcrist teamed up several times to bring down targets from afar with their bows.
I played a fairly critical role as well, if I do say so myself. Twice I stopped Mina from completing a spell by blasting her with Magic Missiles at just the right time. I even managed to get a kill with my crossbow. I am not pleased with how my new Blast of Force spell worked. I just couldn’t seem to land a blow! The only person I managed to hit was a fleeing archer. Now, granted, when I finally did hit someone it worked exactly as I thought it would. Knocked the guy right off his feet. Still, I was very disappointed how poor my accuracy was. I am gonna need to take target practice more often.
In the end, we were victorious. All the bandits were dead or captured. And, although Sparrow was nearly killed again, we all escaped with our lives. One thing’s for sure, with gold we’ll get sellin’ their gear and the reward we’ll get form the garrison we’re gonna be wealthier very soon. That should make up for the relatively disappointing haul from the main tomb of the Whisperin’ Cairn.
Session 07 - I Think I Filged My Pants
10th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
The door into the main portion of the observatory lead directly into the Dinner Party of Terror! Nine corpses, in varying stages of decomposition, were seated around a table as if they were guests at a fancy dinner party. Trogdor recognized them as simply corpses and not Undead. Dolgun took that information along with previous instructions to not burn down the observatory and came up with a clever solution to this non-problem.
He breathed fire all over the corpses!
The fire set off some sort of magical trap (a Magic Mouth perhaps) and set all the corpses to screamin’. The fire also started fillin’ the room with putrid, greasy, smoke that threatened to choke us all. At least Dolgun managed to provide some ventilation, buy smashing the priceless stained-glass window.
I would start referrin’ to Dolgun as “Brain Trust,” but I don’t want him spittin’ flamin’ snot all over me.
Aside from the charred (and now frozen) corpses, the only other things we found were a storage closet full of chairs and a kitchen. So, we headed up the stairs where we found a creepy bedroom. I wish I had Trogdor’s medical training. Then I may have noticed that Storn managed to contract the same mind-debilitatin’ disease that Dolgun was sufferin’ from. I, however, never received that kind of trainin’, and was therefore surprised to see the infection spread so fast.
Storn went up to the most disturbin’ part of the bedroom (a rag-wrapped corpse holdin’ a head on a silver platter; its blackened tongue sticking out with a platinum coin on it) and took the coin. Proof of his infected state, Storn was shocked that this resulted in another Magic Mouth alarm. We were basically givin’ Filge a room-by-room update of where we were and when we would be along to meet him.
As Sparrow (probably as annoyed at the Dwarves as I was) checked under the bed, she was attacked by another Tome Mote. Although it nibbled on Sparrow and Dolgun a bit, Storn managed to kill it and then proceeded to scream and howl like a blood-crazed barbarian as he jumped up and down on the remains of the Tome Mote until there was nothing left but a pile of bones and grit, which Dolgun then mixed into his keg of ale and drank.
Okay, that last part didn’t really happen, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if it did.
That’s when we heard the mad, cacklin’ laughter coming from upstairs and a voice (Filge, as it turns out) that said, “Arise! Arise!” We got up the stairs just in time to see four glass vats burst asunder, spillin’ yellowish green liquid all over the floor. Steppin’ out of the wreckage of the vats, four grotesque Zombies that were somehow…meatier what I would have expected. As if that weren’t bad enough, Filge himself had a ghostly hand hoverin’ near his head, a Tome Mote at his feat, and another Skeleton as a personal bodyguard!
Dolgun rushed into the room and spewed clingin’ ice all over the closest Zombie. That didn’t stop the Tome Mote from rushin’ in to bite him. Then Flige cast some kind of necromantic spell, the ghostly hand was suffused with a hellish, red glow and rushed forward to touch Dolgun’s throat. Dolgun groaned and visibly paled as the hand seemed to absorb somethin’ from the Dwarf and in pulse of blood red light, transmitted that somethin’ to Filge who was then suffused with a healthy glow. Hine grazed the Necromancer with an arrow, but Filge didn’t even flinch. I moved up the stairs and squeezed my way next to the blazin’ hot mirror that was focusin’ sunlight on Filge’s horrible operatin’ theatre (more on that later) – I wanted to be able to see him. The other Zombies converged on Dolgun, surroundin’ him in Undead flesh. Sparrow shot the nearest Zombie, but the arrow just stuck in the thing’s body with no visible effect. Storn’s great falchion strike, however, had a visible effect and nearly cleaved off the thing’s arm. Trogdor made it to the top of the stairs and called forth Lathander’s power upon the Undead.
Dolgun wisely disengaged from the fight, barely able to stay on his feet. The Tome Mote fled across the room away from Lathander’s holy light. Filge began to cast another Vampiric Touch spell, but I was waitin’ for him. Before he could complete the spell, I blasted him with a trio of Magic Missiles (reachin’ deep for my reserves). Filge’s powers of concentration were formidable and he managed to maintain concentration on the spell. The ghostly hand touched my chest and I felt a cold chill course through my body even as Filge seemed to grow stronger! That added strength was short-lived, however, as a pair of arrows from Hine whittled away the Necromancer’s magically reinforced life. Three of the four Zombies shambled away from Trogdor and his god, but the last one stuck around to flail uselessly at Hine. Sparrow moved up on the operatin’ theatre and got clawed by the Zombie when she got too close. She still managed to shoot Filge with an arrow. With the Zombies out of the way, Storn moved around the room towards Filge. As soon as he rounded the stairs, Filge’s Skeleton (the last member of the Land family as it turned out) charged Storn, its scimitar deflecting off the Dwarf’s armor. Trogdor moved to the stairs and started healin’ Dolgun.
Somewhat refreshed, Dolgun moved back into the room and breathed ice all over the only Zombie still fightin’. Filge started castin’ a Scare spell, I hammered him with another barrage of Magic Missiles, and again he managed to maintain his concentration enough to complete the magic words. Storn proved too brave to be scared off with such a simple spell, however (although he was noticeably shaken). A pair of Hine’s arrows flew wide of their marks. The Zombie shambled over a slammed into the archer. Sparrow shot Filge again. Storn dodged around the Skeleton and scored a glancin’ blow against the evil Wizard. We had finally gotten through all Filge’s stolen life energy and were finally spillin’ his blood. Trogdor cast another healin’ spell on Dolgun.
Dolgun moved to get an angle on Filge. Filge started castin’ another spell, but I was ready for him again. Although I’d expended my reserves on the first two spells, he was so hurt that this pair of Magic Missiles proved his undoin’. He collapsed on the floor unconscious or dead. Sparrow made sure he was dead a moment later with a fatal bow shot. We finished off the other Undead in short order and proceeded to loot the observatory.
On the operatin’ table was a man who had his tongue cut out and his chest opened up – flaps of skin pinned in place with large needles. Through some awful magic, the man was still alive! We put his chest back together as well as we could and Trogdor graced him with a lot of healin’ magic. Finally, the horrible wounds healed, but his tongue didn’t grow back and the man was clearly in shock. Frankly, I can’t see how he wasn’t reduced to a gibberin’ mess after such an ordeal.
Back to the guild house, we picked up Allistor, who was very happy Carenthal had been able to reassemble his family’s remains. We buried all the Lands. Allistor told us he had unlocked the large iron door for us. Then we went to the Cult of Final Passage to let ‘em know about the Necromancer and the fact that Smenk himself had set this villain up in Diamond Lake! Then we dropped the tongueless man off at the church if Ilmater. I figured they’d be able to help the poor soul after all the sufferin’ he’d been through.
I almost forgot! We found this note on Filge’s desk (along with some potions with strange, Undead worms in ‘em):
Filge,
I need you in Diamond Lake, my boy. The cult situation has grown worse. Deep within Dourstone Mine they’re studying things brought in from the southern hills. Green worms and unkillable Zombies. I nicked on of the worms for you to study.
I’ll put you up in the old observatory. Show this letter to the big white Half-Orc at the feral Dog. He’ll help you get settled. I trust you’ll find these coins sufficient to cover your travel from the free city.
S.
What cult? What’s goin’ on in the Dourstone Mine? What’s with these worms? Could these worms actually tie into the insane ramblins we’ve been hearin’ about an “Age of Worms?” And when the hell did Kullen learn to read?
That night, on the way back home, we were ambushed by a band of Grimlocks. We sustained some minor injuries but managed to kill most of them and drive away a pair of survivors.
11th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Dropped by Allustan’s today and left him the Undead worm in a bottle to study. I wonder if he can figure out what the thing is.
Then we delivered Kullen’s 25% and went to the garrison to deliver Filge’s body and let the garrison know what Smenk has been up to. They really appreciated our report and our decisive action and gave us a hefty sack of coins as a reward. Maybe another night of drinkin’ and stories with the garrison boys is forthcoming.
I have to say, all this action has really honed my spellcastin’ skills. I am findin’ I can conjure up more spell energy than ever before. My Magic Missiles are hittin’ harder and I can cast them more often before becomin’ exhausted. Best of all, I think I’ve figured out a new way to mold the force energy of the Magic Missiles. Now, instead of several thin bolts, I am combinin’ the power into one large bolt. It manifests as a green bolt of lightin’ about as thick as my arm and the front looks a bit like a clenched fist!
Unlike my beloved Magic Missiles, this thing don’t seem to home in on targets automatically. I have to aim it. But when it hits, it strikes like a hammer! Based on the little experimentation I’ve done, I’m sure I can knock a person off their feet if I can manage to hit ‘em right.
I can’t wait to try this thing out for real!
The door into the main portion of the observatory lead directly into the Dinner Party of Terror! Nine corpses, in varying stages of decomposition, were seated around a table as if they were guests at a fancy dinner party. Trogdor recognized them as simply corpses and not Undead. Dolgun took that information along with previous instructions to not burn down the observatory and came up with a clever solution to this non-problem.
He breathed fire all over the corpses!
The fire set off some sort of magical trap (a Magic Mouth perhaps) and set all the corpses to screamin’. The fire also started fillin’ the room with putrid, greasy, smoke that threatened to choke us all. At least Dolgun managed to provide some ventilation, buy smashing the priceless stained-glass window.
I would start referrin’ to Dolgun as “Brain Trust,” but I don’t want him spittin’ flamin’ snot all over me.
Aside from the charred (and now frozen) corpses, the only other things we found were a storage closet full of chairs and a kitchen. So, we headed up the stairs where we found a creepy bedroom. I wish I had Trogdor’s medical training. Then I may have noticed that Storn managed to contract the same mind-debilitatin’ disease that Dolgun was sufferin’ from. I, however, never received that kind of trainin’, and was therefore surprised to see the infection spread so fast.
Storn went up to the most disturbin’ part of the bedroom (a rag-wrapped corpse holdin’ a head on a silver platter; its blackened tongue sticking out with a platinum coin on it) and took the coin. Proof of his infected state, Storn was shocked that this resulted in another Magic Mouth alarm. We were basically givin’ Filge a room-by-room update of where we were and when we would be along to meet him.
As Sparrow (probably as annoyed at the Dwarves as I was) checked under the bed, she was attacked by another Tome Mote. Although it nibbled on Sparrow and Dolgun a bit, Storn managed to kill it and then proceeded to scream and howl like a blood-crazed barbarian as he jumped up and down on the remains of the Tome Mote until there was nothing left but a pile of bones and grit, which Dolgun then mixed into his keg of ale and drank.
Okay, that last part didn’t really happen, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if it did.
That’s when we heard the mad, cacklin’ laughter coming from upstairs and a voice (Filge, as it turns out) that said, “Arise! Arise!” We got up the stairs just in time to see four glass vats burst asunder, spillin’ yellowish green liquid all over the floor. Steppin’ out of the wreckage of the vats, four grotesque Zombies that were somehow…meatier what I would have expected. As if that weren’t bad enough, Filge himself had a ghostly hand hoverin’ near his head, a Tome Mote at his feat, and another Skeleton as a personal bodyguard!
Dolgun rushed into the room and spewed clingin’ ice all over the closest Zombie. That didn’t stop the Tome Mote from rushin’ in to bite him. Then Flige cast some kind of necromantic spell, the ghostly hand was suffused with a hellish, red glow and rushed forward to touch Dolgun’s throat. Dolgun groaned and visibly paled as the hand seemed to absorb somethin’ from the Dwarf and in pulse of blood red light, transmitted that somethin’ to Filge who was then suffused with a healthy glow. Hine grazed the Necromancer with an arrow, but Filge didn’t even flinch. I moved up the stairs and squeezed my way next to the blazin’ hot mirror that was focusin’ sunlight on Filge’s horrible operatin’ theatre (more on that later) – I wanted to be able to see him. The other Zombies converged on Dolgun, surroundin’ him in Undead flesh. Sparrow shot the nearest Zombie, but the arrow just stuck in the thing’s body with no visible effect. Storn’s great falchion strike, however, had a visible effect and nearly cleaved off the thing’s arm. Trogdor made it to the top of the stairs and called forth Lathander’s power upon the Undead.
Dolgun wisely disengaged from the fight, barely able to stay on his feet. The Tome Mote fled across the room away from Lathander’s holy light. Filge began to cast another Vampiric Touch spell, but I was waitin’ for him. Before he could complete the spell, I blasted him with a trio of Magic Missiles (reachin’ deep for my reserves). Filge’s powers of concentration were formidable and he managed to maintain concentration on the spell. The ghostly hand touched my chest and I felt a cold chill course through my body even as Filge seemed to grow stronger! That added strength was short-lived, however, as a pair of arrows from Hine whittled away the Necromancer’s magically reinforced life. Three of the four Zombies shambled away from Trogdor and his god, but the last one stuck around to flail uselessly at Hine. Sparrow moved up on the operatin’ theatre and got clawed by the Zombie when she got too close. She still managed to shoot Filge with an arrow. With the Zombies out of the way, Storn moved around the room towards Filge. As soon as he rounded the stairs, Filge’s Skeleton (the last member of the Land family as it turned out) charged Storn, its scimitar deflecting off the Dwarf’s armor. Trogdor moved to the stairs and started healin’ Dolgun.
Somewhat refreshed, Dolgun moved back into the room and breathed ice all over the only Zombie still fightin’. Filge started castin’ a Scare spell, I hammered him with another barrage of Magic Missiles, and again he managed to maintain his concentration enough to complete the magic words. Storn proved too brave to be scared off with such a simple spell, however (although he was noticeably shaken). A pair of Hine’s arrows flew wide of their marks. The Zombie shambled over a slammed into the archer. Sparrow shot Filge again. Storn dodged around the Skeleton and scored a glancin’ blow against the evil Wizard. We had finally gotten through all Filge’s stolen life energy and were finally spillin’ his blood. Trogdor cast another healin’ spell on Dolgun.
Dolgun moved to get an angle on Filge. Filge started castin’ another spell, but I was ready for him again. Although I’d expended my reserves on the first two spells, he was so hurt that this pair of Magic Missiles proved his undoin’. He collapsed on the floor unconscious or dead. Sparrow made sure he was dead a moment later with a fatal bow shot. We finished off the other Undead in short order and proceeded to loot the observatory.
On the operatin’ table was a man who had his tongue cut out and his chest opened up – flaps of skin pinned in place with large needles. Through some awful magic, the man was still alive! We put his chest back together as well as we could and Trogdor graced him with a lot of healin’ magic. Finally, the horrible wounds healed, but his tongue didn’t grow back and the man was clearly in shock. Frankly, I can’t see how he wasn’t reduced to a gibberin’ mess after such an ordeal.
Back to the guild house, we picked up Allistor, who was very happy Carenthal had been able to reassemble his family’s remains. We buried all the Lands. Allistor told us he had unlocked the large iron door for us. Then we went to the Cult of Final Passage to let ‘em know about the Necromancer and the fact that Smenk himself had set this villain up in Diamond Lake! Then we dropped the tongueless man off at the church if Ilmater. I figured they’d be able to help the poor soul after all the sufferin’ he’d been through.
I almost forgot! We found this note on Filge’s desk (along with some potions with strange, Undead worms in ‘em):
Filge,
I need you in Diamond Lake, my boy. The cult situation has grown worse. Deep within Dourstone Mine they’re studying things brought in from the southern hills. Green worms and unkillable Zombies. I nicked on of the worms for you to study.
I’ll put you up in the old observatory. Show this letter to the big white Half-Orc at the feral Dog. He’ll help you get settled. I trust you’ll find these coins sufficient to cover your travel from the free city.
S.
What cult? What’s goin’ on in the Dourstone Mine? What’s with these worms? Could these worms actually tie into the insane ramblins we’ve been hearin’ about an “Age of Worms?” And when the hell did Kullen learn to read?
That night, on the way back home, we were ambushed by a band of Grimlocks. We sustained some minor injuries but managed to kill most of them and drive away a pair of survivors.
11th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Dropped by Allustan’s today and left him the Undead worm in a bottle to study. I wonder if he can figure out what the thing is.
Then we delivered Kullen’s 25% and went to the garrison to deliver Filge’s body and let the garrison know what Smenk has been up to. They really appreciated our report and our decisive action and gave us a hefty sack of coins as a reward. Maybe another night of drinkin’ and stories with the garrison boys is forthcoming.
I have to say, all this action has really honed my spellcastin’ skills. I am findin’ I can conjure up more spell energy than ever before. My Magic Missiles are hittin’ harder and I can cast them more often before becomin’ exhausted. Best of all, I think I’ve figured out a new way to mold the force energy of the Magic Missiles. Now, instead of several thin bolts, I am combinin’ the power into one large bolt. It manifests as a green bolt of lightin’ about as thick as my arm and the front looks a bit like a clenched fist!
Unlike my beloved Magic Missiles, this thing don’t seem to home in on targets automatically. I have to aim it. But when it hits, it strikes like a hammer! Based on the little experimentation I’ve done, I’m sure I can knock a person off their feet if I can manage to hit ‘em right.
I can’t wait to try this thing out for real!
Session 06 - Helping a Dead Kid
9th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
So, most of us are crammed precariously on the 3’-wide beam while Storn is on the “floor” puttin’ iron spheres into his pack. All I can think of is that if he collects too many of them, we’ll never be able to pull him back up to the beam! Just as he’s debatin’ what he can dump out of his pack to make room for more iron spheres, this green, worm-like creature with four lashing tentacles sprung out at the pack-rat Dwarf!
The creature (later identified as a Grick by Carenthal) narrowly missed Storn with its initial onslaught, distracted by one of Hine’s arrows that barely missed it. Dolgun managed to catch the Grick in a blast of icy breath from his position up on the beam as Carenthal let loose with a pair of Magic Missiles. Then Storn screamed “Worms!” at the top of his lungs and started runnin’ away from the Grick only to run straight into a second Grick that burst from below the spheres!
Hine shot the first Grick, but his arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature’s rubbery hide. The two Gricks now had Storn (who was clearly panicked) flanked. Dolgun leapt off the beam, fell on his face in the iron spheres, but still managed to catch both Gricks and Storn in a line of fire. Somehow, Storn was unscathed while the two Gricks were covered in sticky fire.
I, apparently, am not the only member of our little guild to have learned a new trick. Dolgun is now able to cast a “spell” on us all (although he utters no magic words nor does he make any arcane gestures) that not only keeps us at a constant comfortable temperature, but also makes us impervious to his breath weapons. Fascinatin’.
Carenthal and I switched places on the beam so I could start rainin’ down Magic Missiles and killed the original Grick with my first barrage. Storn ran away from the remainin’ Grick (getting’ a nasty scratch just before he could get away) and the room was suddenly filled with creepy, unearthly laughter.
I only recount all this detail to paint a picture of the chaos goin’ on in the room. Storn runnin’ and screamin’. Dolgun fallin’ off the beam spewing fire. Eerie laughter comin’ from nowhere. That’s when Hine moved along the beam and set off a trap and suddenly, iron spheres were being fired out of the walls at us! Hine took a glancin’ blow, but managed to keep his balance. Luckily for me I had just stumbled and pitched forward to catch my own balance just as an iron sphere whizzed through the space where my head had been!
We ended up killin’ four of the Gricks. I killed two, Dolgun killed one (and hurt all of them), and Storn finally found his courage and killed the third.
After the last Grick had finished twitchin’, a ghostly apparition appeared at the end of the beam in front of the solid-lookin’ iron door. This ghost had been the source of the laughter and he introduced himself as Allister land. Seems the lad had been explorin’ the Whipserin’ Gain some years ago, somehow managed to make it to this very room, was knocked off the beam by an iron ball, and broke his neck. After an extended Q&A session, Allister explained that he could open the iron door for us, but we had to first bury his remains with the rest of his family.
Feelin’ glad to be out of the cairn, I decided to pull a couple of gags. While Hine was tellin’ us all about his childhood, I salted Dolgun’s ale. Magic Missile is still my favorite spell by far, but Prestidigitation is much better for jokes. I thought it would be funny, but he got really pissed off! It was all I could do not to laugh myself silly as he hurled the keg in the air and burned it!
After that, I tried to convince Storn that the iron spheres he was carrying around in his pack were probably Grick eggs. Big mouth Carenthal had to ruin it by assuring Storn they were not Grick eggs. So I used Prestidigitation again (almost modified to a Ghost Sound spell) to make Storn hear scratching comin’ from inside his pack. He rifled through it, but of course found nothin’.
We agreed, collected Allastor’s bones (along with some treasure off some other unfortunates), and headed off the Land farmstead. We found the farm in terrible condition. It had obviously been abandoned for some time and the local fauna was actively reclaiming the small house. When we went to investigate the small, personal graveyard near the ruined house we discovered that someone had recently dug up Allastor’s whole family!
Allastor was understandably upset and now asked us to find his family’s remains and rebury the lot of them. At this point, we really couldn’t refuse. Before leaving, we decided to investigate the ruined house to see if we could find any clues as to who would have dug up the Land’s bodies. Instead, we found a wounded mother Owlbear defending her cub. (Is it a cub or a chick?) The Owlbear put up a brief fight (nearly killin’ Dolgun in the process), but a horrifically powerful attack by Storn killed the enraged beast.
Ironically, the Owlbear cub/chick actually ended up bondin’ with Storn! Perhaps my makin’ him smell like bacon wasn’t the best of ideas. Now we have a trio of wolf cubs and a baby Owlbear at the guild house. Jasper doesn’t look too pleased. I don’t think Morgan and company kept pets.
Before leavin’ the house, we found an arm with a tattoo on it. The same tattoo Kullen has on his forehead as a scar.
Crap.
Looks like we are about to run afoul of Kullen and his gang.
Visited the Cult of Final Passage to ask about who might be stealin’ bodies. They were no help. Hine’s mom is kinda hot, though.
That night, we went to the Feral Dog in search of Kullen. We were hopin’ to tactfully gain some information. When we saw the group of strikin’ mine workers outside the tavern, however, we diverted down a side street and ran straight into Kullen and a dozen cronies (including’ Kullen’s pet mage and Todric).
Carenthal, Dolgun (who insisted), and I approached Kullen. I had intended to buy the information from Kullen, but then Dolgun started makin’ a mess of things. He started showin’ off for Kullen (gods know why), blowing fire and ice into the air. Then the other waitin’ in the back decided that was a “sign” and start charging down the street!
Kullen’s men beat Trogdor to within an inch of his life and stole everything he had on him while Storn ran off into the night howling about worms. Everythin’ almost fell apart right there, but I managed to salvage the situation and got Kullen to agree to give us the information we wanted for a sizeable amount of gold. Of course, then Kullen started talkin’ about old times and basically told Carenthal and Dolgun that I had help kill Tobias Flen!
Why was Kullen takin’ supplies out to the Dourstone Mine in the middle of the night? Is Kullen workin’ for Dourstone behind Smenk’s back? I may have to see if I can make some discreet inquiries about that.
Back at the house now. Dolgun has just confronted me about what he thinks he knows. I feel some responsibility to Dolgun (and the rest of them) even though he’s a drunk. I didn’t want to lie to him, so I told him the bare minimum I needed to in order to satisfy his curiosity. What does he care anyway? That was almost ten years ago!
10th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Ha ha! All my work is startin’ to pay off!
Over the last week or so, I have been methodically adding tiny slices of wood to Storn’s bed, his chair, and every other piece of furniture he uses. Now this mornin’, he showed up in the common room, lookin’ really worried and started measurin’ himself! I think I’ll try to keep this up all month, leave it that way for a bit, and then go the other way!
Kullen came through with the information this mornin’. Apparently Smenk had him and his boys move some guy into the old observatory. Kullen described a bunch of liquid-filled bottles and jars along with big vats of somethin’ else. Then this stranger tells Kullen and his boys to bring him bodies – bones, fresh corpses, whatever they can get their hands on. Kullen’s guys dig up the Lands, fight the Owlbear, and bring the bones back to the Observatory.
So, it now sounds like a Necromancer has moved into Diamond Lake. As if we don’t have enough problems already! And, it looks as if Smenk is sponsorin’ him! What is Smenk up to now? Maybe he’s thinkin’ of replacing all his “high-paid” miners with Undead slaves. More likely, he plans to kill all his employees and have this Necromancer animate them to work the mines forever!
After a quick vote, we decide that even though it is likely a stupid idea, we will storm the observatory with violence in our hearts. We intend to kill the Necromancer, destroy his Undead minions, and hopefully find some sort of evidence that connects his foul work to Smenk.
We found our first Undead creature under the observatory in the tool shed. I didn’t get a good look at it before Trogdor used Lathander’s holy power to force it to cower in a corner, but Carenthal claimed it was somethin’ called a Tome Mote. Nasty, but not overly dangerous.
We battered down the door to the observatory and ran smack dab into a barricade manned by the skeletons of the Land family! There was a brief scuffle and then Trogdor obliterated them with Lathander’s power again. Out in the hall, another pair of Skeletons put up a bit of a fight, but Storn crashed though their barricade and smashed them to bits. Another Tome Mote attacked us from a side room, but Dolgun killed it with his icy breath.
It’s funny. I thought I might be scared to fight Undead creatures, but it’s not so bad. The Skeletons are actually not that bad considerin’ Trogdor can blast them to pieces with a prayer. The Tome Mote is kind of creepy and too fast for comfort, but so far so good.
We now stand outside the main door to the observatory. This Necromancer is obviously prepared for us, but so far we have proven superior to his defenses.
So, most of us are crammed precariously on the 3’-wide beam while Storn is on the “floor” puttin’ iron spheres into his pack. All I can think of is that if he collects too many of them, we’ll never be able to pull him back up to the beam! Just as he’s debatin’ what he can dump out of his pack to make room for more iron spheres, this green, worm-like creature with four lashing tentacles sprung out at the pack-rat Dwarf!
The creature (later identified as a Grick by Carenthal) narrowly missed Storn with its initial onslaught, distracted by one of Hine’s arrows that barely missed it. Dolgun managed to catch the Grick in a blast of icy breath from his position up on the beam as Carenthal let loose with a pair of Magic Missiles. Then Storn screamed “Worms!” at the top of his lungs and started runnin’ away from the Grick only to run straight into a second Grick that burst from below the spheres!
Hine shot the first Grick, but his arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature’s rubbery hide. The two Gricks now had Storn (who was clearly panicked) flanked. Dolgun leapt off the beam, fell on his face in the iron spheres, but still managed to catch both Gricks and Storn in a line of fire. Somehow, Storn was unscathed while the two Gricks were covered in sticky fire.
I, apparently, am not the only member of our little guild to have learned a new trick. Dolgun is now able to cast a “spell” on us all (although he utters no magic words nor does he make any arcane gestures) that not only keeps us at a constant comfortable temperature, but also makes us impervious to his breath weapons. Fascinatin’.
Carenthal and I switched places on the beam so I could start rainin’ down Magic Missiles and killed the original Grick with my first barrage. Storn ran away from the remainin’ Grick (getting’ a nasty scratch just before he could get away) and the room was suddenly filled with creepy, unearthly laughter.
I only recount all this detail to paint a picture of the chaos goin’ on in the room. Storn runnin’ and screamin’. Dolgun fallin’ off the beam spewing fire. Eerie laughter comin’ from nowhere. That’s when Hine moved along the beam and set off a trap and suddenly, iron spheres were being fired out of the walls at us! Hine took a glancin’ blow, but managed to keep his balance. Luckily for me I had just stumbled and pitched forward to catch my own balance just as an iron sphere whizzed through the space where my head had been!
We ended up killin’ four of the Gricks. I killed two, Dolgun killed one (and hurt all of them), and Storn finally found his courage and killed the third.
After the last Grick had finished twitchin’, a ghostly apparition appeared at the end of the beam in front of the solid-lookin’ iron door. This ghost had been the source of the laughter and he introduced himself as Allister land. Seems the lad had been explorin’ the Whipserin’ Gain some years ago, somehow managed to make it to this very room, was knocked off the beam by an iron ball, and broke his neck. After an extended Q&A session, Allister explained that he could open the iron door for us, but we had to first bury his remains with the rest of his family.
Feelin’ glad to be out of the cairn, I decided to pull a couple of gags. While Hine was tellin’ us all about his childhood, I salted Dolgun’s ale. Magic Missile is still my favorite spell by far, but Prestidigitation is much better for jokes. I thought it would be funny, but he got really pissed off! It was all I could do not to laugh myself silly as he hurled the keg in the air and burned it!
After that, I tried to convince Storn that the iron spheres he was carrying around in his pack were probably Grick eggs. Big mouth Carenthal had to ruin it by assuring Storn they were not Grick eggs. So I used Prestidigitation again (almost modified to a Ghost Sound spell) to make Storn hear scratching comin’ from inside his pack. He rifled through it, but of course found nothin’.
We agreed, collected Allastor’s bones (along with some treasure off some other unfortunates), and headed off the Land farmstead. We found the farm in terrible condition. It had obviously been abandoned for some time and the local fauna was actively reclaiming the small house. When we went to investigate the small, personal graveyard near the ruined house we discovered that someone had recently dug up Allastor’s whole family!
Allastor was understandably upset and now asked us to find his family’s remains and rebury the lot of them. At this point, we really couldn’t refuse. Before leaving, we decided to investigate the ruined house to see if we could find any clues as to who would have dug up the Land’s bodies. Instead, we found a wounded mother Owlbear defending her cub. (Is it a cub or a chick?) The Owlbear put up a brief fight (nearly killin’ Dolgun in the process), but a horrifically powerful attack by Storn killed the enraged beast.
Ironically, the Owlbear cub/chick actually ended up bondin’ with Storn! Perhaps my makin’ him smell like bacon wasn’t the best of ideas. Now we have a trio of wolf cubs and a baby Owlbear at the guild house. Jasper doesn’t look too pleased. I don’t think Morgan and company kept pets.
Before leavin’ the house, we found an arm with a tattoo on it. The same tattoo Kullen has on his forehead as a scar.
Crap.
Looks like we are about to run afoul of Kullen and his gang.
Visited the Cult of Final Passage to ask about who might be stealin’ bodies. They were no help. Hine’s mom is kinda hot, though.
That night, we went to the Feral Dog in search of Kullen. We were hopin’ to tactfully gain some information. When we saw the group of strikin’ mine workers outside the tavern, however, we diverted down a side street and ran straight into Kullen and a dozen cronies (including’ Kullen’s pet mage and Todric).
Carenthal, Dolgun (who insisted), and I approached Kullen. I had intended to buy the information from Kullen, but then Dolgun started makin’ a mess of things. He started showin’ off for Kullen (gods know why), blowing fire and ice into the air. Then the other waitin’ in the back decided that was a “sign” and start charging down the street!
Kullen’s men beat Trogdor to within an inch of his life and stole everything he had on him while Storn ran off into the night howling about worms. Everythin’ almost fell apart right there, but I managed to salvage the situation and got Kullen to agree to give us the information we wanted for a sizeable amount of gold. Of course, then Kullen started talkin’ about old times and basically told Carenthal and Dolgun that I had help kill Tobias Flen!
Why was Kullen takin’ supplies out to the Dourstone Mine in the middle of the night? Is Kullen workin’ for Dourstone behind Smenk’s back? I may have to see if I can make some discreet inquiries about that.
Back at the house now. Dolgun has just confronted me about what he thinks he knows. I feel some responsibility to Dolgun (and the rest of them) even though he’s a drunk. I didn’t want to lie to him, so I told him the bare minimum I needed to in order to satisfy his curiosity. What does he care anyway? That was almost ten years ago!
10th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
Ha ha! All my work is startin’ to pay off!
Over the last week or so, I have been methodically adding tiny slices of wood to Storn’s bed, his chair, and every other piece of furniture he uses. Now this mornin’, he showed up in the common room, lookin’ really worried and started measurin’ himself! I think I’ll try to keep this up all month, leave it that way for a bit, and then go the other way!
Kullen came through with the information this mornin’. Apparently Smenk had him and his boys move some guy into the old observatory. Kullen described a bunch of liquid-filled bottles and jars along with big vats of somethin’ else. Then this stranger tells Kullen and his boys to bring him bodies – bones, fresh corpses, whatever they can get their hands on. Kullen’s guys dig up the Lands, fight the Owlbear, and bring the bones back to the Observatory.
So, it now sounds like a Necromancer has moved into Diamond Lake. As if we don’t have enough problems already! And, it looks as if Smenk is sponsorin’ him! What is Smenk up to now? Maybe he’s thinkin’ of replacing all his “high-paid” miners with Undead slaves. More likely, he plans to kill all his employees and have this Necromancer animate them to work the mines forever!
After a quick vote, we decide that even though it is likely a stupid idea, we will storm the observatory with violence in our hearts. We intend to kill the Necromancer, destroy his Undead minions, and hopefully find some sort of evidence that connects his foul work to Smenk.
We found our first Undead creature under the observatory in the tool shed. I didn’t get a good look at it before Trogdor used Lathander’s holy power to force it to cower in a corner, but Carenthal claimed it was somethin’ called a Tome Mote. Nasty, but not overly dangerous.
We battered down the door to the observatory and ran smack dab into a barricade manned by the skeletons of the Land family! There was a brief scuffle and then Trogdor obliterated them with Lathander’s power again. Out in the hall, another pair of Skeletons put up a bit of a fight, but Storn crashed though their barricade and smashed them to bits. Another Tome Mote attacked us from a side room, but Dolgun killed it with his icy breath.
It’s funny. I thought I might be scared to fight Undead creatures, but it’s not so bad. The Skeletons are actually not that bad considerin’ Trogdor can blast them to pieces with a prayer. The Tome Mote is kind of creepy and too fast for comfort, but so far so good.
We now stand outside the main door to the observatory. This Necromancer is obviously prepared for us, but so far we have proven superior to his defenses.
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