Our first day's journey was uneventful until lunch. As we were mounting up to
leave our lunch site we were beset upon by 50 gnolls. (
Rex tallied the
bodies
after the battle) Panic ensued and our fighting style broke down into disarray.
The mages cast off mighty magics at first, but later engaged the enemy in
hand-to-hand combat, outnumbered more than 6 to 1.
Pip
handled herself splendidly as usual.
Brand
and Rex were
able to aid the mages early enough
to save them from the fatal blows. Myself, I remained mounted and ran the
gnolls down with my lance. My mistake came when I switched to my warbow. The
ranged fire was effective downing a number of gnolls in a short time, but one
of my sheaf arrows (probably cursed!) flew off course and struck
Ivy in the head!
How can I make up for that? Poor elf. I'm surprised she lived through the shot.
With the gnolls defeated I set off to find out how they could have encircled us without our knowledge. I backtracked them effortlessly, finding a leather scroll case along the way (spell casting gnolls? or is the scroll still within?).
END OF SESSION
When I came to the origin of the gnoll tracks I found scorch marks where the
footprints began. I also found horse tracks leading off towards the Northeast,
which was the opposite direction that the gnolls went. Additionally I found a
scrap of paper carelessly discarded, presumably by
the rider. It was after sunset and time to return to protect the group.I returned to find the party in a sorry state. I told them about the tracks and passed the scrap of paper around to the literate members of the party while I worked on shoring-up the campsite. I took time out to bow down on one knee before Ivy (to see eye to eye with the tiny elf) and sincerely apologize for striking her in the head with my stray arrow shot. I vowed never to fire a volley in her direction again. Soon it was time to set up a watch and turn in for the night.
Now one thing I'd like to point out is that fighting Drow is no picnic particularly when outnumbered 5 to 1. I would have to advise that the task actually requires two highly skilled fighters. A person has to worry not only about normal weapon attacks but also a wide variety of magical attacks. A knowledge of magic is invaluable when fighting Drow, but this time it did not help.
After battling the Drow for a short time I became the victim of a barrage of magical arrows as well as a spell of holding. Unsurprisingly, that was the end of my struggles for the time being. I was dragged of into some deep dark hole. They hastily removed my weapons, tied me up, and tossed me in a cell. Shortly thereafter Pip was also tossed into the cell. When the spell of holding wore off I was easily able (with some help from Pip) to remove my gauntlets thus freeing my hands to untie the both of us. A note to would-be captors: Always remove a captive's armor. We plotted our escape.
We took the time to examine the cell by the light of a coin that Jonas had cast his everlasting light spell on. We found a sliding door, which after pushing on with all our might, we realized it was wizard locked. This brings two comments to mind. First, I've noted that mages toss spells around like there is no effort to them at all, which goes against what I know of spell casting. It seems many mages rely too heavily on magic. Were it to short-out or not work for a while all there plans would fall to dust. The second thing that pushing on the door made me notice was that Pip wasn't really as strong as I thought she was. I've always known her to be the strongest woman I've ever met, but surprisingly she was somewhat weaker than myself. I wonder how she generates the power to do so much damage. I'll have to inquire some time. Finally, we formulated a plan based on a few magic beads that Pip had hidden on her person. Although I was somewhat sceptical that these so called 'magic beads' would actually do anything I figured the plan was better than any alternative I could come up with based on our limited resources, so we waited for the Drow to return.
Later that night, we heard some commotion outside our cell. One of the Drow opened the door very slightly and, at crossbow point, ordered us to move out of the corner we were in. We obliged, and when the Drow opened the door fully Pip threw a bead at our guard. The bead expanded in an amazing display of magic force and trapped the Drow woman inside a bizzare magical sphere. Five other Drow waited behind the sphere. They were unable to attack us and we were still trapped in the room, so we waited. I wondered for a moment why the Drow did not attempt to cast spells through the magical sphere. It's possible that the sphere would inhibit certain spells, but I suspect something like the holding spell they used earlier would work fine. Anyhow, the effects of the bead eventually wore off and Pip threw two more beads, which encased a few more Drow and trapped away all but the closest one. The closest Drow ran towards us, but I stepped up and downed her with a solid punch to the gut. She collapsed with the wind knocked out of her. I think she might have been in the middle of saying something, but I wasted no time pinning her. When she regained her breath she spat out something in broken common about how she had come in friendship.
Should I trust her? Sure - why not? It would explain why the Drow hadn't cast any spells yet, and plus she sounded pathetic. I helped her up and as I was dusting her off she told me that if I ever punched her like that again she'd kill me. I had to laugh. I'd probably broken a rib or two with that punch. She probably wouldn't survive another of those punches.
Well, to make a long story short, they explained that they had learned of our quest, and thanks to their dislike of Lord Krill they would let us go. They blindfolded us and led us outside where we found our equipment and met up with our compatriots.
Evidently, our friends had broken into the Drow lair a had some sort of run-in
with them. I met a mysterious new member of our party, an elf named
Dvym. I also
showed Shalorin the scroll case I had found
earlier. As we gathered up to head on our way I found myself wondering about
a sentence on the scrap I found after
the gnoll encounter.
"They must not... drow."
END OF SESSION
Early in the morning, as I rode ahead of the group, I spotted what I thought might've been some sort of a guard or scout. I had worked out a code of horn calls with Jonas, but figured I could handle this one alone. I decided not to bother the party. I rode to about a half mile from the guard and peered through my distance lenses. A was a little surprised to find it was just a gnarled stump of a dead tree. It's strange how few people we've met out here. Come to think of it, elves aside, we haven't come across anyone but those gnolls.
At lunch today I mixed some garlic into Brand's tea and he didn't even notice! Another perfectly good practical joke wasted. My luck has just been terrible this whole trip. What's the story there? Maybe a little extra praying tomorrow will help. I might want to talk to Rex to see if his god can place some sort of minor blessing on me. Until then I should make an attempt to stay away from games of chance. Oh yeah, one more thing. Jonas gave me another glowing coin to replace the one I gave away a few days ago. It might come in handy. I'm considering gathering a kit of small useful items that I can hide on my person in case I get captured again.
We made good time today. I think I may have found a wagon trail ahead. I pulled the party up short of the start of the trail, figuring that we'd be better off not camping where we might be stumbled upon by travelers. I didn't tell the group this, however, I instead suggested that we should make camp early in order to make up for a short night of sleep last night. Everyone seemed to agree with this.
I lead the party onto the trail I had seen the day before. As the trail grew more and more defined I couldn't help but notice that despite being well formed and presumably well traveled it had no tracks as fresh as a week old. Maybe this was due to the weather that was on the way. I could see seemingly harmless rain clouds in the distance. Could that be an approaching storm bad enough to deter travel? I doubted it. Eventually the trail led right to the edge of a very large and fast river. It was possible my horse could swim the river unencumbered, but it was risky. I weighed the fact that others in the party had weaker and more poorly trained horses and dismissed the notion of swimming the horses across. Then it dawned on me. What happened to the bridge? There was simply no way a trail like this could have been laid down by merchants and travelers without a bridge to cross a river this wide. It was madness. Well, I guess there was another choice. If the trail had been laid down by an army that could explain it, but the tracks did not match those of an army. It made no sense, so I cast the puzzle from my mind and set about to find a fjord. It was a fruitless search. When I return the party was milling about at the river's edge. They were discussing how to cross. I was about to point out that the whole situation made no sense (possibly an illusion?) when two creatures came to the surface of the river.
The creatures were large green serpents, possibly river Nagas. They spoke to us
in unison, asking us first if we would like to cross their river and then explaining
that they would take us across for the price of 10 gold pieces per being. That came
out to 20gp for each of us since we also had to transport our horses across.
Outrageous! So I tossed my gold into the river one at a time, counting it out.
Was I making a point? I'm not sure. What use have Nagas for money? I have no idea. Now that I reflect back I'll bet those serpents knocked out whatever bridge was there just so they could toll. If I didn't have bigger fish to fry... Well anyhow, we all made it across the river safely. Upon crossing, the Nagas offered us either a gift or a tip. I argued long and hard for the gift. I love gifts, and I'm telling you we had one coming after shelling out over 100gp! Sadly, the party's 'intellectuals' saw things differently. Jonas and Shalorin wanted the advice. Brand argued that knowledge was more powerful than possessions. That may be true in some limited cases, but I've seen to many sages who blunder around barely able to accomplish anything despite their heads full of knowledge. It all came down to Dvym casting our final vote. Alas, he chose the tip. You could hardly blame him with all the big brains stacked up on one side and only us practical folks arguing for the gift. So the Naga's gave of this 'gem' of advice
We rode onward. A rainstorm hit sometime in the middle of the afternoon. It rained only lightly on into the evening. The trail was reasonably well made and drained enough that my horse's footing was not effected. Near the end of the day I found suitable campsite on a bluff. It was shielded from one side by a rocky outcropping and was not visible from the trail. I waited, on a small cliff overlooking the trail, for the party to catch up, and signalled them. While we were setting up camp in an orderly fashion I heard horses on the trail. Man, do I have good hearing! Brand could so scarcely believe that I could hear horses at this distance that he accompanied me to the cliff to see for himself. Sure enough, there were three riders hastily charging down from the mountains. I told Brand to go back and tell the others while I rode to intercept them.
Using a superior approach angle I arrived on the trail before the fleeing riders. Their horses were frothed over with sweat. The travellers were bedraggled and looked confused. I eyed the horses carefully. Evil? I wondered. How could a horse be evil? Some sort of supernatural hell-spawn of a horse I suppose, but normal horses don't really have it in them. And if these were evil horses, then they were about to be dead evil horses. Damn those Nagas and their stupid tip. I closed to within 40 feet of the riders, knowing 30 feet to be a standard maximum range for certain spells. Seeing me, the travelers stop and began dismounting. I questioned them, asking them pointless, but time consuming questions. They blathered on about 3-headed chimera and giants or some other such non-sense, but by then the party had arrived. I suggested that we surround them, all the time assuring the travelers that anything that might be following them would have to come through us first. This gave them little comfort. Just when I was suspecting they were truly in need of our assistance merely to return their wits to them Shalorin shouted out that this was an ambush.
I ran back to my horse and readied a lance charge. By this time all sort of chaos had
broken loose. The only reasonable target I could pick out was the lone hidden
ambusher. He had downed Shalorin with some sort of
a wand and was now battling
Brand.
I charged him, but he skillfully avoided being run through. Just as I was dismounting
to engage him with the mighty blade, Justice Bringer, I felt a soothing calm fall over
me. Pleasant, but not particularly beautiful music came from I know not where. The
remained of the battle is sort of hazy in my mind (cursed mages!), but I do remember
leaping on and subduing one of the enemies who promptly made his escape via a magic
portal of Lord Krill's creation.
After the battle we returned to camp. Shalorin was in grave shape I helped build a large fire for her to warm herself by. Dvym was preparing to test our opponents' equipment for magic, so I tossed him the scroll case I'd found near the gnolls. Then I set out building decoy fires at various locations miles from out campsite. While I was gone the party questioned our sole prisoner.
END OF SESSION
We rode through the hills and up into the mountains. By lunch the rain broke and I found a nice valley to eat in. I saw a big old pile of equipment and treasure lying off to the side of the trail. Strange, I thought, had someone discarded it, or was it bait for a trap? Either way I thought little of it. Let it be, I figured. Let the rest of the party handle it. I set up camp near a stream and began making lunch. Before the party arrived I heard a bellowing from them hills. As I looked around I saw four twenty foot tall, grey giants. They were insisting we surrender, and Dvym, who I could not see, was discussing matters with them. I didn't think the giants had spotted me, so I pulled my cloak up over my helmet and proceeded to sneak up on the nearest one. I stopped and knelt not 20 feet from him and waited. The giants demanded that the party give them 2 humans in exchange for passage out of the pass. I think the party actually considered it for they did not answer immediately. Surely they were cooking up some sort of plan. They probably thought that I'd been captured or had ridden on ahead since I had not blown my horn to warn them. Next thing I heard was Ivy offering to tell them a story. I kept the giant in my sights as it tossed a large rock from hand to hand, and that caused my to miss what happened next, but soon Dvym was bounding at unnatural speed towards the giant I had snuck up on. I took this chance to leap from cover and attack the giant. The two of us made quick work of the giant. Close to death, the giant set down his club and gave up. While Dvym lectured him I surveyed the valley and choose another giant to cover. I snuck over to another giant. Rex was battling 2 giants from some kind of dome of darkness. A bolt of lightning struck down from the slightly overcast sky and felled one of the giants. Dvym joined the battle and soon the final giant had surrendered.
I was all set to depart. It looked like the party had ridden to safety and taken my horse with them. I had no further quarrel with the defeated giants and as far I was concerned we were done here, but Dvym had Rex collect the treasure, and the giant took exception. I bargained with them and eventually we came to the agreement that we would take the equipment and 2000 gold while leaving them most of the money. Once again I was ready to leave, but when Dvym picked up a sword from the pile it said "Do not forget my master" The sword was not much for communicating useful information to us, but eventually it did explain that it's owner was still around someplace. I blew my horn 3 times to signalled the rest of the party to return. The giants wandered off with their money and I began an expanding spiral search. Sure enough, by the time the party arrived I had found 10 corpses of recently dead and hastily buried nobles under a rosebush. The sword told us we must return the bodies to Karad, so we loaded the bodies on to the horses and continued on our way.
Shortly thereafter Jonas laid out the items we had gained in our last two encounters and cast an identifying spell on the entire lot, but before he cast the spell Rex opened a scroll case we had found with the giants. A voice said "This is the final trap." I leapt away and there was a flash of light which left Rex blinded. He didn't seem to upset say that he would merely cure himself in the morning. Jonas' spell informed him of the enchantment on many of the items. I had some use for a magic sword and shield, and since no one else requested their use I strapped on the sword and lashed the shield to my horse. Jonas looked worse that ever. I fear he may not fare well. We may have to leave him in Karad.
I had no interest in riding into Karad
with dead nobles in tow, for they would surely
string us up into the gallows for murder with no trial if
Karad was anything like the
accursed town of Jarad. So I crafted a plan and shared it with the group. I
suggested that Ivy
ride ahead and tell the townspeople and officials what had happened.
If she did not return we would destroy the bodies and attack
Karad to rescue her.
Otherwise the way would be paved for a peaceful resolution that would benefit us
all.I rode to a spot where I could locate the tower of Karad through my distance lenses and set up camp. When the party arrived they had decided to send Rex along with Ivy. The two of them departed. If they did not return in 3 days we would come after them to rescue them and extract vengeance on the wicked town of Karad.
END OF SESSION
When I met up with the riders I greeted them and introduced myself. They claimed to be on patrol from Karad in search of the 10 nobles. I told them that we had the nobles' bodies back at our camp, and after stalling them a bit with small talk, I lead them to our camp. Dvym explained to them that as a knight he had the duty, bestowed upon him by the magic sword he had found, to return these men in person to their families. The patrolmen accepted this, but were anxious to return to Karad. This is when we learn that the patrolmen and even all of Karad has a dislike of elves. This struck me as odd - elves being at least as likable as humans in general. We informed them that we would wait for our remaining two party members to return unharmed before leaving for Karad. The patrolmen gave us one hour to wait and set off a few hundred yards, presumably because of their distaste for Dvym. It seemed a smart move since they'd run the risk of catching the shakes were they to stay at our camp. I followed the patrolmen to talk with them and keep an eye on them. Just a our hour was coming to a close I spotted Ivy and Rex on the horizon. We all met up and headed for Karad.
The walls of Karad
were very impressive towering 50 feet into the sky. The
guards asked our business in town which seemed absurd to me, since we were
accompanied by 4 guards already. Surely we had business in town. I shouted
to them that we were returning bodies and that seemed to be good enough.
We were met at the entrance to Karad
by Justice Gawarth and 8 more guards.
We turned over the bodies, sword, and magic shield to the people of
Karad.
Gawarth told us that we would be put up for the night at the Purple
(I-forget-what) Inn and that the council would meet later to determine
what would be done with the nobles' bodies. The party split up into groups to
attend to various business around town.I brought Jonas and Brand to the Inn and stabled our horses. I wandered through the merchant section of town in search of a winery and an apothicary. I found my way into an alchemical shop where I met up with Rex, and spoke for a short time with an old secretive man. When I asked about the old woman illusionist he asked me in turn if I was adventuring with a couple of ladies. Evidently Ivy and Pip had already been there. He told us to speak with the other members of the party about the illusionist. I bargained with the man for a bit over the price of some healing potions, noticing that the man was not truly as old as he portrayed himself to be. When Rex asked about aphrodesiacs the alchemist gave him a small vial. Satisfied, we left. I picked up a large quantity of excellent peach brandy at a reasonable price while Rex told me of a curiosity shop. Evidently he'd found an un-openable box there which contained a very valuable item. We went to the curio shop and were greeted by a lovely young brown haired lady. She told me that I could have the contents of the box if I could open it. I tried, first my hatchet, then my pick, and finally iron spikes, but I could not force the box open. Rex tried his magic spells, but to no avail. I even tried random combinations, but the box would not open. The curio lady appeared a little disappointed that I couldn't open the box. I told her that it had been great fun. I fetched a rose from my pack and gave it to her saying that I would return tomorrow.
The party met back at the Inn.
Ivy told us that
we could meet the alchemist in a
side room of the inn an hour after dusk. Meet him we did. Evidently, the alchemist
was not an old man, but was in fact an elf. He told us that the illusionist was his
wife and that she had been murdered a mere one day ago. When I mentioned the names
of Durental and Dardaran he said that he had heard of them. He also broke into a long
winded explaination of what we need to do on our quest. The speech was as vague as it
was long, containing bits of reheased non-sense such as "The path is the way to The
Tower. The Tower is the way to Krill. Krill is the way to the Sword. The Sword is
the way through the ages." so forth and on and on and on. If there's one thing my
travels have taught me about quest is that those who are bound to them tend to lapse
into riddles and secrets. Do they do this to hide their ignorance, or is it a sort
of madness? I vow that I will not let the mysteries that surround me cloud my speach
so. The alchemist would not give us his name, but he did give me a piece of
information that I believe will come in very handy. He told me how to open the box!
He also sold us 5 potions of healing for 2,000 gold.
Before departing, the alchemist said he would leave us a scroll that night with
information on how to enter the tower.
We each retired to our private rooms. I noticed that we retained all the rooms on the second floor but one. I took to knocking upon that door. Jovially I informed the lone inhabitant of the room that he was on the quest floor and must either join our quest or find a new room. To my surprise he argeed to join us. He said he was a mighty mage. Wouldn't that be fine? We'll just have to see if he's on the level or just joking around as I was.
That night I had a vivid dream. In this dream a tunnel lead me inside the iron fence that surrounds the Star Tower. It was night time. I looked about me to orient myself. There, ten feet off the ground, was a glowing doorway, and within the tower was a long spiral staircase with no rail and doors of to the sides. When I awoke I held in my hand a scroll.
END OF SESSION