their training and receiving their tearful send-off from master or =

parent each one arrives in Teft only a little worse for the wear, =

usually having ridden with a caravan as a paid guest.

They gather around the market, looking furtively at each other like =

youths at their first dance.  It's one of the most important days in =

their young lives.  Who they choose to trust with their life can make =

the difference between a long rich adventures and a glorious career or a =

quick pointless death.

Some had evidently arrived late, others hadn't found just what they =

wanted, but there seemed only half a dozen of sparsely equiped =

adventurers left in the square by mid afternoon.  Maybe it was fate, =

maybe just dumb luck, but these seemed to be the last team that would =

have the numbers to challenge the Petathalian wilds.

There was a youthful elven man, slim and haggard.  His horse was well =

cared for, and his sheild was polished.  However, you would expect a =

much higher quality of protection girding such a one having the crest of =

a noble elven family on his sheild.  What kind of folly is sending out =

your newly trained cavalier with not even a breastplate to protect his =

heart?  And only a riding horse, not one trained in battle?

And this stunningly handsome elven man, surely he would not choose to =

risk that perfect form in the fields?  He sported the symbol of his =

faith prominently, but it was practically written on his face.

The interested might look once on the dwarf, but would probably try not =

to look again.  It was a miserable looking creature, as far from the =

cleric's beauty as medicine is from chocolate.  But he looked strong, =

and dwarves are known for reliability.  His studded leather spoke to his =

willingness to take a beating.

The elven lady in hard leathers looked to have more usefulness in a town =

than in the fields, opening closed doors and boxes.  But there was =

something more about her, perhaps made evident by the large square =

object weighing down her pack and confident nature.

The half elven archer in hard leathers was obviously a woodsman from the =

stains on his boots.  His expertise with the bow was evident from the =

notches on his bow and carefully trimmed glove.

The spear standing twice as tall as the lady in leather put in question =

her profession until the unmistakable odor of oak leaves and mistletoe =

wafted from her direction.

The handsome pair in banded armor looked over the remaining crowd and =

pondered the possibility of waiting to set out until next year, and =

getting here a day early to get into the better pickings.  They each had =

a wooden sheild, one a long sword at his belt and a ranger's weathered =

half elven face, the human a war hammer.  The hammer made his profession =

cleric, but the lack of holy symbol left his status as more likely a =

warrior.

Well, with no others left this rag tag group got together, discussed =

their fortunes, and determined that they had none.  No money, that is.  =

So they signed up as scabs on a caravan bound for Latt, or Drake, or =

some such place.  Over the next few days they got to know each other a =

little better.  Some grew comfortable with the group, others got more =

nervous.

...

On the road one day the cavalier got jumped by a spider, and vaulted out =

of his saddle to land on his face.  The spider was quickly dispatched by =

crossbow bolts and the caravan continued on its way.

...

Late one night the group was kicked to wakefulness and realized that =

they were in a fight for their lives against an unknown number of =

dog-like humanoids which we for the sake of succinctness will call ... =

hmm how about gnolls for lack of a better single syllable term.  There =

were two lines of gnoll archers, one to each side, and a leader group in =

the middle.

The cavalier had charged the leader and already taken a bad cut when the =

rest of the party awoke.  The thief climbed a tree.  The druid rolled =

under the wagon.  The archer took a shot. The fighters got up, grabbed =

weapons and charged the leader.  The other caravan guards stood back and =

fired light crossbows.

The archer was downed by return fire.  The cavalier took another vicious =

cut and had to retreat.  The druid cast faerie fire on an archer.  The =

thief looked around and explained that there were 9 of them.  The =

fighters closed and took on the chief, getting hurt by his second in =

commands.  The chief got hit with crossbows.  The cleric attempted to =

heal the cavalier but his spell was interrupted by arrows.

The druid started another spell.  The thief got down and tried to sneak =

behind the chief.  The fighters wounded one second and one dropped from =

another archer barrage.  The cleric commanded the chief to die, and lo =

and behold he DID!

One second hit our remaining human fighter so he could run or swing at =

the chief.  The sickening thud was well worth the effort as his hammer =

hit the chief's head.  The next flight of arrows downed him in return.  =

Crossbow bolts finished the wounded second.

The druid's spell immobilized the chief and slowed the remaining second, =

who was pulling the chief's backpack off to escape with.  This =

demoralized the archers who ran in turn, all escaping.  The thief =

followed the remaining second off into the darkness and returned with =

his backpack.  Yeay thief!

All but the fighter with the hammer and the cavalier were quickly =

returned to health.  The cavalier needed significant rest from the =

terrible wounds he bore.  The fighter could not be saved from his =

wounds.  The chief gnoll never awoke from his death, the blow to the =

head relieved him of his senses.

At the next town the group was kicked off the caravan guard team.  It =

seems all the gnolls wanted was some dinner, but the cavalier provoked =

them unnecessarily.  Or in other words the cavalier's pride [and joy], =

his horse, would not become dinner (not on his watch, anyway) for a =

bunch of dirty gnolls. =20

The 25 gold expense to replace the horse became a 50 gold expense to =

ship the body home to KAG, and now the group had to find a new line of =

work.  What will they do next?  Will there be dissension in the ranks?

What is that dwarf's name anyway?

I don't know, you ask him.

Noooo, YOU ask him.  Or at least get him to pull his hood lower.

Man, I wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole.

We didn't have enough money to buy one of those.

Oh.  Well I wouldn't touch him with a 12 foot spear.

No, he'd probably take you out before you could.

Like Lorm's sister took out our cleric?  For dinner?

No, more like our thief took out that running gnoll, for money.

I think I went a bit too far, several inaccuracies there, mispellings, =

no names (I'm bad with names, I'll get a list next time).  I'm a bit =

biased toward my characters, but then what did you expect?

We meet again Oct. 7th.

leaving us with:

the ac on a couple are off by 1ish).

We continued on with the caravan but without Gilean.  He stayed with an =

honorable family for a month's rest in Depwood.

On the trip to Cromwell, Cromwell we were ambushed by four reasonably =

intelliget huge beetles.  After discussing their demands we bribed them =

off with ten pounds of dried apricots.  They would have been satisfied =

with 8 (2 pounds each) but we didn't want to be off by any amount so =

they got the whole 10 pound box.

In Cromwell city we spent one day during the unload and load turnaround =

and had only one incident.  Effred had a run-in with a couple of =

prejudiced [bleep]s and was knocked unconscious for a minute.  The store =

keeper of the store this happened in was also prejudiced and he was =

lucky to get back to our caravan with only the loss of his longsword.

The trip back to Depwood was uneventful.  At Depwood it was decided that =

Gilean would meet us back in Teft.  He would travel as extra unpaid help =

on another caravan.  His trip back to Teft 3 days after we left was =

uneventful too.

However during our trip back to Teft we ran across a troll on the track! =

 After the troll's first attack against Raybur Doyle moved forward and =

took a stab at him doing good damage.  The next troll attack put Doyle =

out of commision but luckily not thrown into the nearest tree.  The =

troll was tough but our new friend Raybur was brave and took the =

majority of the troll's attacks on either his shield, his sword, or over =

his head as he ducked.  Conrhia did a substantial amount of damage with =

help from others and the troll burnt to death under a 10 quart cask of =

normal lamp oil with the fire-tending help of Phyllis (or was that =

Effred, drat).

We finished our route with the caravan and arrived back in Teft still =

bewildered what to do.  But after receiving all 20 gold peices from our =

couple of month's work we sure knew what we didn't want to do.  We =

decided to set out toward the south east and Druidic Village, looking =

for trouble (cough, cough) I mean people to help along the way.

We started to Triad then took off on a ranger trail toward Druidic =

Village, hunting and foraging all the way to save money.  One day out we =

met a trader and his mule on the track, warned him off and had to turn =

back to report him back at Triad.  After doing that we headed back out.

Several days down the track while searching for our camp site one =

evening we stumbled upon a huge pit of half eaten animals and two large =

live lizards with a really big dumb ugly guy (9' tall) sitting near the =

lizards eating off of one of the carcasses.  Ger talked to him in the =

ogre language (he was indeed an ogre) and he seemed generally amiable =

(been relatively full).  But he still wanted at least one of us to eat =

though.  The battle started when we took offense to his sharing of one =

of his pet lizards with Ger.  Mostly because the lizard tried to drag =

his claw through Ger.

We all got in one good attack.  I think a couple arrows hit the ogre and =

Gil and Phyllis took one lizard each.  Then the ogre took his time =

setting up a "good one".

He backed up a ways, about 6 or 8 feet, then lifted his LONG club HIGH =

over his head.  He smiled at Ger and said, "Check this out, this cool."

WHAM the club hit Doyle coming straight down from above knocking him =

into the mostly dead state and a couple feet deep into the piles of half =

eaten carcasses.

Raybur tanked the ogre the rest of the combat taking no hits for any =

damage again while the rest of the party slowly took out the lizards and =

Conrhia took out the ogre.  Gilean did take a hit from the ogre as I =

recall, forcing him to retreat.  That poor ogre was REALLY frustrated =

that he couldn't hurt Raybur.  As he hit the ground he expressed his =

feelings to Ger, "This not cool.  This not fair."

Everyone in the party was revived with no terrible effects although Gil =

did lose a few percentage points on his dexterity.

Which is where we had to stop for the 2nd game on the 7th of October, =

2000.

I'll have to send the next summary Monday.

seek their fortunes that started on March 15th, (drat, 1983?) in Teft, =

Petethal, New World, Telvar.

disagreement with his pet lizard.  Or something like that.  His camp was =

thigh deep in decaying carcases.  Everyone was eager to have the rest of =

the group search for all the wonderful treasures that must have resulted =

from the ogre's evidently long term carnage.

During a day of rest and healing the group gathered anything that looked =

reasonably valuable from all the normal places and from very unlikely =

places including the stomach of the thing and all the holes he'd taken a =

dump in for the last month or more (eeeewwwww).  The things recovered =

included 3 garnets and some various coinage.  From inside the guy's =

stomach we retrieved a gold and garnet earring.  From one of the people =

we recovered 4 vials of Holy Water and a nice circlet that when worn =

sort of looks like a miner's helmet.  Also from one of the dump holes we =

recovered an intact silver spiked dog collar.

A detect magic showed the collar and circlet as low magical!  Raybur =

tried it on and concentrated on it and almost killed Phyllis =

(accidentally of course).  Oops.  Raybur's healing spells did at least =

prevent permanent damage.

The next day we kept going and eventually hit a small elven village.  =

After a short time of talking with them and paying our respects we =

reevaluated where we wanted to head.  One report we'd heard from the =

village was that there had previously been trouble with gnolls at a near =

village but that a group of adventurers had arrived and they hadn't =

heard about any further trouble from them.  We considered heading on =

toward other places but decided it was not out of our way and headed =

toward that village to see if there were any remaining gnolls we could =

take care of for them.

As we approached the village we made good use of a fortunate surprise =

roll to look at what was happening there and back way off before being =

noticed.  Conrhia helped set up a bit of a quick camoflaged blind and =

Ger sat watch observing the village until nightfall.

The village was not in the good repair we would expect and there were 6 =

human types in armor near the center village fire.  One of them was =

drinking the last of a bottle of elven wine.  There was a tarp-tent set =

up near the center of the village with two of the human types in armor =

standing as what might be inferred as guards standing near it.  There =

were no elves moving about the ground of the village.  None came back =

from hunting or foraging trips in the evening.

At night we sent in our Invisibility to Animals'd thief to the village =

who talked with the village leader and made it back out with Silence'd =

help from him.  The group had kept four of the wounded (1d) elves as =

captives to hold the rest of the village as their waiters and restaurant =

ever since they finished off the gnolls.  Our thoughtful thief even =

brought back a borrowed longsword for our attack.

The 6 adventuring types consisted of a H/E F/Mu leader in banded with =

owl night watchfowl, Human Cleric in Banded, Human SS specialist in NICE =

banded and NICE pajamas, H/E woman long comp. bow specialist in leather, =

some other Human woman with spear, and a Human longsword specialist.  =

The last night watch consisted of the cleric and bow specialist.

After packing up our camp we move off a ways and planned our assualt for =

the next dawn.  We did spell shifts of Speak with Animals to get a =

helpful raven with bribe to deliver a message there and back with the =

plan.  Just after it got light enough for the elven militia to see from =

above we attacked.

Effred and Ger sneaked near the camp (60') and Effred then sneaked all =

the way to the tarp.  This was the required precaution to have some =

measure of protection for the hostages.  At the attack moment our buddy =

raven brought down a silenced fork and the rest of the party charged the =

village in silence from as near as our metal-garbed dwarves could creep =

up.

Two segments later the guards noticed the charging party and started to =

shout an alarm.  The party still had 9 segments left to close.  Gil =

threw the fork into the camp and silenced the alarm shouts but not =

before all of they party started to wake.

Ger cast and held his magic missle spell.  Effred waited in the tarp to =

prevent any harm to the hostages.  Their bow specialist took a shot =

while the cleric moved to the tarp.  Ger shot the bow specialist's bow =

string and then charged the camp to help keep the hostages alive.

The first bow shots from the militia perma-killed the owl.  Kelso (sp?) =

the leader Mu was wracked with physical and mental pain from the loss of =

his familiar.  Our friendly cleric attempted to Hold Person three of =

them and succeded to hold Kelso and the bow specialist.

The Longblades continued to charge.  Effred withstood the attack from =

the cleric's footman's flail continuing to keep him engaged in combat =

and not hurting the hostages.  Bow shots from above hurt the cleric but =

did not take him down.

Our friendly cleric held two more on the ground leaving only the =

shortsword specialist and the cleric still endangering the hostages.  =

Ger realized his terrible mistake when he missed the shortsword =

specialist and was cut near in half across his middle while his =

opponent's muscles flexed impressively.  Bow shots from Conrhia and the =

elves above did him significant damage but left him active.

The shortsword specialist closed behind Effred and one slash took him =

out.  A blast from Raybur's circlet finished the cleric.  The party =

closed and moved to heal the downed party members while Gil and Conrhia =

attempted to finish the running swortsword specialist!!

Good loot, sorry I have to go now. :) More to come.

late.  A couple of arrows from elves above, and Conrhia below finally =

took him down.

All of the filthy American capitalists had their throats slit.  Sorry, =

that was human adventurers (same thing).  As leader of the local elven =

village the law had spoken - death was too good for them.  No elven =

hostages had gotten killed and all would recover from their grevious =

situations given time.  One of our two down needed a month's rest so we =

stayed on with the elves for a month planning how to split the treasure =

and how to handle salvage taxes.

The loot consisted of:

3 suits normal banded

2 suits of normal leather

many normal weapons

a quality composite longbow

a traveling spellbook

a suit of non magical banded armor that weighs 75% of normal weight

a bronzewood large sheild that weighs half of normal weight

4 sets of nice clothes

a personal hygiene kit

a potion

a broach, set of bracelets, and ring that show as low magic

a very nice quality shortsword

some money

Some methods of splitting things were decided but mainly it was decided =

that the salvage tax would certainly be paid here for the ogre and these =

guys too to help with the 450gp of wine the guys had eaten and the 350gp =

of food.  We would travel to Teft and back to get the items identified =

so that we'd know how we should split them.

Our travel to Teft was uneventful I think? :)  We got everything =

identified and traded the quality shortsword to have the signet of a =

Sarkian house removed from the banded armor and sheild.

The dog collar keeps a dog silenced while on the trail at the mental =

signal of the one who put it on him.

The circlet recharges to full with about 3 days exposure to sunlight and =

is Korian of manufacture.

The potion is of levitate.

The bracelets are of health +10 hp to the wearer! after a setting in =

period.

The ring is of swimming.

The broach is of undetectability to iron golems!?!?

We traded the broach to Dunstill for a couple of potions of fire =

breathing, one of healing, and something else for the elven fighter =

cleric for the future defense of his village.

We traded the ring of swimming for a longsword +0/+4 vs. trolls and 12 =

+1 first flight arrows to get us into the "hits magic" arena finally.  =

We had the choice of a +0/+2 vs. ettins or the trolls one and decided =

trolls are more common.

One the way back to the elven village one evening we were surpised to =

see a giant looking down the path toward us.  No, make that 2 giants.  =

Say your prayers boys.  They moved in perfect syncronicity towards us, =

the one on the right weilding a club in his left hand, the one on the =

left weilding a club in his right.  NOOO!! It's an Ettin.  Sheesh, just =

our luck too.

Unfortunately we couldn't get our dwarven wall of one Raybur up to the =

front in time so Doyle had to stand his ground.  Bam, Doyle down (I'm =

sensing some sort of a trend here).  Arrows fire, people stab, fighters =

hack, Phyllis hits solidly for what seems like the very first time ever =

and then hits again (It's not her fault, it's the dice, really.  A 1 =

just doesn't hit that often, and it's her favorite roll, 5s and 6s after =

that.)  Gil drops.  More damage done to it, Phyllis drops.  Ger drinks a =

potion of fire breathing.  Raybur hits and is missed!  Ger breathes for =

only 17 points of damage against it and he's still standing.  Conrhia =

finishes him off!  We had to 1d Gil again?  It wasn't pretty, like 3 of =

us down.  The giant was carrying 1700 gp!!

We arrived at the village with their money and items and a bunch of =

replacement iron rations.  They got the dog collar and potion of =

levitate and fire breathing and healing and money.  We got the rest.

Next game is December 2nd I think.

versions have yet come to light. Please feel free to correct any

mistakes. I'm sorry about any goofs, I didn't start writing until

long after I had forgotten some details. XXX flags details I need to

clarify on Saturday for my log.

-------------------------------

Just In the Nik of Time

This is the adventure log of Sputnik, Cleric of Labelas Enoreth.

This is my first log of adventures.

October 19, 2183

I arrive in Teft.  My journey here was uneventful, but now I need to

find a group of adventurers to join.  I hope to find a group of elves

(and maybe others) that I can show the benefits of Labelas' grace.

October 20, 2183

I am blessed by Labelas.  A group of eight adventurers are about to

leave for Spinning Maples, a village toward the South of Teft.  I

decide that they have potential.  Their names are Gilean Bluestream,

Elven Cavalier, Conrhia Applewhite, Half-Elven Woods-person, Serlisse

Reintar, Half-Elven Druid, Phyllis Sidebottom, Dwarven Fighter,

Effred George, Magic-User/Thief, Raybur Sidebottom, Elven

Fighter/Cleric, Geralniel, Elven Fighter/Magic-User and Doyle Staid,

Human Ranger.  Apparently they recently joined forces and have been

traveling the "wilds" of Petethal.  They helped Spinning Maples with

some problem.  I should be able to get details while we're on the

road.

November 7, 2183

We arrive in Spinning Maple, where the Longblades saved the

inhabitants from a band of selfish humans.  The humans and a couple

of misguided people took over the village, drinking and eating

through valuable supplies.  We approach the village at about

midnight.

November 8, 2183

About two in the morning, a couple of searchers arrive from Circle

of Elms, as we are about to settle in for some much-needed rest.  A

young boy has wandered off from the village.  Spinning Maple has two

dogs that the party gave them.  Serlisse Speaks with each dog to see

which one is the better tracker.  One boasts that he could kill the

boy, if we want.  He could rip his throat out.  We thank him, but

that isn't what we need.  The other dog is fairly confident that she

can find the boy.  We get directions from the searchers and head to

Circle of Elms.  A couple of hours later, we arrive at Circle of Elms

and speak with the Elders.  We find out that there is a river and

Glade to the north of the village.  The children frequently play

games in the glade.  Yesterday afternoon, at lunch time, the children

left the glade to go eat.  (XXX Child's Name XXX) didn't come home.

Most of the searchers are checking downstream from the usual swimming

area in the river, in case he drowned and has washed ashore.  We

decide to head upstream, since so many people have crossed any

potential tracks.  Labelas is with us and with the efforts of the

dog, Doyle and Conrhia, we find his trail.  It leads upstream.  We

follow it until we reach a spot where it appears that someone might

have crossed, but it doesn't look like an easy crossing.  While we

start to rig up some ropes to cross, someone on the other side of the

stream calls out "Hello."  We call back.  It's a raven speaking

Elvish.  Serlisse Speaks with the raven and finds out that the boy

followed the raven, which kept calling to the boy.  Then the raven

crossed the stream and the boy tried to follow.  (XXX Child's Name

XXX) fell in and was last seen struggling as he was swept around the

bend in the stream.  When the spell ends the raven attacks.

Evidently the raven thought he had been granted the power of true

speech, not just the mimicry he had practiced until now.  Some of us

cross the stream and we resume our search, this time looking for

where the boy might be stuck in the stream, or where he might have

come out.  Before too long, we find evidence of something coming out

of the stream and some extraordinarily large paw prints of a cat.

The only creature that I can think of that this might match is a

Displacer Beast.  I really hope that this is something a little

tamer.  It looks like the creature might have dragged the boy's body

out of the stream.  We follow the tracks and we find a clearing.  We

can see the boy in the middle with something else and there is blood

all over.  We decide to scout around the clearing before entering.

When we get half way around, we can see clearly that there is a deer

lying partially on the boy and blood is on both of the motionless

bodies.  We continue the circuit and finally decide to head in.  When

we get to the boy, I start to examine him.  Mercifully, most of the

blood appears to be from the deer, not him.  He does have

scrapes/bites on him shoulder and he seems to have a concussion.

While we are checking him out, the cat creature returns.  Serlisse

does not have a Speak with Animals ready, so we continue to tend the

boy as best we can, while Doyle chats with the cat and Serlisse

sleeps to be able to Speak with the cat.  The cat does not like any

of our attempts to move the boy, but he does let us tend him.  Four

hours and ten minutes later, Serlisse Speaks with the cat.  He says

that the boy needs to wake up and eat to get better.  Serlisse

responds that the boy will not get better unless we can help him.

She also finds out that the cat likes strawberry ice cream, does not

remember his name and does not like being questioned about his past.

One of my first thoughts is that maybe he was a wizard's familiar or

someone's pet.  Then we thought that maybe he was a person who was

polymorphed or reincarnated.  Both of which could account for his

"insanity."  Serlisse sends a message to the village to prepare for

our arrival, that we will be there soon.  We take him home.  He'll

need several days of rest with a special medicine to recover from his

concussion.  The villagers try to give us a reward, but we ask for a

place to sleep and a little food as our only reward.  We let them

know about the cat-creature and we ask if they know anyone with whom

we can speak about the cat.  They suggest the local druid, Dorlease.

November 9, 2183

We travel to and arrive in Dorlease's Grove.  She is a rumpled

appearing human.  We discussed the cat with her.  She suggests that

he could be one of a party that passed through a couple of years ago.

 Indrill was the leader of a party of XXX members.  She also suggests

that we consult with the Treantish druid nearby.

Serlisse has to translate for us.  We find out that there were XXX

party members and when they visited the Treant, they had a snake that

they called Indrill.  We figure out that the party was lead by

Indrill, a knight with the sun painted on his armor and shield and

Ohalla was a Silban cleric with the party.  Indrill was turned into a

snake, like someone was turned into the cat.  The druid tells us that

the party had been at this place in the woods, when Indrill was

turned into a snake.  She also said that she had to deal with some

humans and hobgoblins that were cutting down trees in that area.  She

diverted a stream to flood them out.  We get directions and head to

the flood site.

November 14, 2183

We arrive at the site and start exploring.  One of the first things

we discover is a hobgoblin skeleton attached to the remnants of a

tree, as if to warn others of the penalties for offenses against the

forest and its inhabitants.  We next discover nine more hobgoblin

skeletons in a tent under a huge tree.  In the remnants of the tent

we find a locked box.  It is partially damaged from the tree falling

on it.  Closer to the river is a landslide that covers a door into

the face of the hill.  We move some of the rocks and Doyle examines

the door.  He gets a Flame as his reward.  It might have been a Glyph

of Warding or something similar.  We decide to wait until tomorrow to

continue our explorations.

November 15, 2183

After we rest up a bit, we start to examine the "lair."  We take a

peek inside, through the crack in the top of the formerly secret

door.  It's dark inside so we cast Light on a stone and have an

Unseen Servant carry it in.  By the Light of the stone, we see a

large metal door, with writing on it and a figure in armor with eyes

like a person.  The floor is covered in water and there are some

skeletons lying partially underwater.  When the Servant taps on the

door with the stone, the figure turns into a slashing machine with

two swords from scabbards in its back until the stone is knocked into

the water.  We Detect Magic and the figure and door each are magical.

 We also cast Read Magic and the writing on the door says, "XXX

Brotherhood of Callistro."  We decide that we're not equipped to

tackle this quite yet, so we prepare to leave in the morning.

November 16, 2183

We leave the lair to head to Dorlease's to investigate the box,

where she can help us with any possible poisonings and then

eventually to Teft to see what we can find out about Indrill and

Ohalla.

November 21, 2183

We go to Spinning Maple to drop off the dog we had borrowed. We then

head to Dorlease's to open the box we found.  Inside we find a couple

of potions and a contract between the Brotherhood of Callistro and

the XXX tribe of hobgoblins.  The hobgoblins had agreed to assist in

the construction of a Teleport site for the Brotherhood.  Ten

hobgoblins were to assist and protect four members of the Brotherhood

and their four assistants.  Evidently the Brotherhood was planning an

assassination and they were going to use this location as a jump

point before or after the attempt.  Indrill's party must have

stumbled upon them during the early construction phase and then the

Brotherhood annoyed the treantish druid by cutting down trees and

digging, so she eliminated them before they could finish up.

November 27, 2183

While on the trail, we encounter Vince.  Vince seems to be a

ranger-type.  He says that he is visiting all of the local leaders.

I regret that we didn't ask him more about his "mission."

December 1, 2183

While we are traveling, we have a couple visitors jump onto the

path. The Ogre in front of the party demands gold or something else

that takes about three or four tries for us to understand that he

wants liquor.  Of course w don't oblige, so he revises his request to

gold OR liquor.  When we choose to decline again, he begs us to just

give him liquor.  Since we don't have any, both ogres start to exit

the scene, but the party has other plans.  Ger and another speedy

party member or two pursue the ogre to the rear, while Serlisse

Entangles the spokes-ogre.  Before long we dispatch them both and

turn the tables, we get the gold and liquor.  The liquor is Old Mill

whiskey, but it has a bit of ogre backwash in it.  The money isn't

very much, but every bit helps.

December 7, 2183

We arrive back in Teft.  We continue our investigation of the cat

creature mystery.  Several of us go into the Silban church to ask the

clerics about Ohalla.  We find out that Ohalla was a promising,

experienced human cleric.  He lived in End and Teft for at least ten

years.  The Silban cleric in Teft had tried to Scrye on Ohalla and

his holy symbol with no success.  Ohalla used to carry around a bag

of carrots to munch on.  The cleric offered us a reward for the

bodies or possessions of Ohalla and his friends. 

December 8, 2183

The Longblades confer and decide that Effred and Serlisse have time

to train, so they start training. We also visit Dunstill & Illic's

place.  Dunstill is in, so we discuss our plans with him.  He thinks

the armored figure could be a flesh golem.  He offers us the use of a

couple of long swords and a spear.  All are magical, of course, but

they come with a price tag, also of course.  We tell him we'll think

about it while we investigate Indrill and Ohalla.

December 9, 2183

The rest of the party keeps asking around about Indrill and friends.

 We find someone in a bar that knew Indrill.  He tells us that

Indrill had sponsors in Runk.  He was half-elven.  He had trained to

be a Korian Knight and was part of something called SMART, a Sarkian

adventuring guild.  He came back to Teft to get Ohalla, who had

become a Silban cleric.  The guy tells us that Indrill ordered

sausages and cheese quite often, but this doesn't help us determine

if the cat is Indrill or Ohalla.  We tried to speak with Indrill's

family, but they aren't interested in talking and slam the door in

our faces.

December 17, 2183

Effred ends his training.  Somewhen we learned that the Brotherhood

of Callistro is a group of mages who believe that Castanimir was a

good ruler and that mages should rule the world.  All of the most

powerful members are mages.  We decide we don't want to run afoul of

them, ever.

December 21, 2183

Serlisse ends her training.  We decide to take Dunstill up on his

offer of weapons.  The price tag is a quarter of the proceeds, before

salvage taxes, which leaves us half.  Since we clearly need magic

weapons, to fight a golem, we have two good choices, accept or wait

until we find magical weapons of our own.

December 22, 2183

The Longblades leave Teft to further pursue the mystery at Teleport

Point.

December 26, 2183

As we are heading to Triad, Doyle hears people fleeing, then

discovers blinds and tracks.  Evidently, some bandits were hoping to

ambush some unfortunates, but instead we came along.  We try to

follow the bandits, but they flee on horseback.  Since we are on

foot, we have only one chance to catch them - if they're dumb enough

to come back to their last camp.  We are very lucky - they are very

dumb.  They return to their camp.

December 27, 2183

We wait until most of them are asleep and we ambush them.  Ger and

Effred prepare Sleep spells to knock out the sentries.  All of the

sentries are sleeping after one Sleep spell.  Some of the horses are

sleeping too, but to make sure, Ger releases his spell as well.  We

take twelve captives and their six horses.  Bilge is the lead bandit.

 Throcko is one of his men.  Some of our party members thought that

they may be working for others, but I think they misunderstood a

comment about "digging new latrines" as "cleaning the boss'

latrines."  Our spies also had overheard them talking about their

most recent victims, so we check where they admit to dumping the

bodies and find a few remains.  Some of us want to try to find the

creatures that ate the bodies, but with twelve captives in tow,

others of us think we should just deliver the bandits to the

authorities and continue our grand feline quest.  Someone suggested

that Doyle ranger mark the road so that others will know that this

was the site of an ambush, but Doyle informs us that there are a

number of marks here already, just like in many areas that we have

been frequenting. 

December 29, 2183

When we arrive in Triad, we drop off the "bandits" and their stuff

with the authorities.  We are informed that without Doyle being able

to testify that he heard the bandits' "confession," there must be an

investigation into our allegations and if they are found guilty, we

will receive our small reward and their gear for our efforts.  We

agree to the terms and prepare to continue on our journey.  We

pondered remaining in town for the New Year party, but we can't

afford much more than a bottle of wine, so we decide to hunt for our

good meal to go with the wine. 

December 31, 2183

The Longblades celebrate a little with our one bottle of wine.

Raybur decides that he might as well sample the whiskey.  He says

We meet the treantish druid again.  We ask her permission to

as little as possible.  We are pondering burying the armored figure.

She suggests that we use the rock fall she created to bury it.  We

agree that is a good idea.  Even though Dunstill said that it might

be a golem, I'm not quite convinced that it is one, since I've never

heard of an armored flesh golem, but I'm no expert on these things.

January 9, 2184

We arrive back at Teleport Point.  We set up camp and start

construction of the pit in front of the door to the lair.  We also

start moving the rocks from the landslide to above the door.  Our

engineer, XXX Phyllis XXX, supervises all of the construction.