More Documents of the Stone Soules

Summaries

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VIII  IX  IXb  X  Xb  XI  XIb  XIc  XId  XII  XIIb  XIII  XIV  XV  XVI  XVII  XVIII  XVIIIb  XIX  XX  XXI  XXII  XXIII  XXIV  XXV  XXVI  XXVII

Summary VIII:  Death and Taxes

The scores on this week's game:

Little People 5
Lesser Ones O
(some unspecified number were still left even after they killed 'em)

Stone Soules 2
Little People 4
(that is, taxes:
we did taxes without identifying the items.  The LP took the magic arrows
as a lot as their choice and our second choice got a magic scimitar; we
also got a potion but they got a magic long sword and a token and potion

Note that previously we traded our +3 SMALL shield to the LP for +1 Long
sword for Ceydric and +1 Chain for Cassana)

Little People 0
Faranyn 1
(the Scimitar turned out to be a +2 Intelligent Scimitar that strikes fear
into the hearts of your enemies, written in Archaeic, this Neutral Good
sword's name is Baneful)

Bugbears 0
Stone Soules 5 or so

Owl Bear 0
Stone Soules 1

(over 500 HP and 11 wounds later....)

Kyle (top)

Summary IX: Finding Something Useful to Do

Beginning 12 July 2174 with healing after the Owl Bear attack.

Despite some minor incidents with wild animals on the way back, we arrived
at Middle safely and planned our next move.  It was agreed that we should
find out if there any monsters plaguing the nearby elven village, Sert.  If
this proved unsuccessful, we would journey to the Wild Wood Inn for some
more adventure possibilities.  If these proved unfruitful, we would move on
and decide when the time arrived where we would go.  The splinter party
consisted of myself, Theo, Faranyn and his squire, Pap, Cassana, Ludo, Eli,
Claude, his bodyguard, Jerem the archer, and Xavier.  Faranyn and Pap
brought along their warhorses, Lochinvar and Thymine.

Cassana and Dari journeyed to the elven village to seek out information.
Most of the elven villages' problems were to the south and west near the
'Dark Wood,' inhabited by weird 'demons' and other minions of evil.  There
were no particular local monsters which caused this village trouble.

Meanwhile, Faranyn's armor was patched up and I learned the light crossbow.
Aria's magical crossbow was given into my possession and I agreed to use it
at least for the duration of the trip.

We then headed on to the Wild Wood Inn to the south a good distance.
Nothing really happened except when we came upon someone climbing into a
tree.  We scared him away and followed his trail.  We later learned his name
was Harvey but he escaped unscathed.

He did, however, lead us right into the bandit camp, which we easily
surprised, even with our metal armor and horses.  With a few key spells, we
managed to easily acquire the surrender of the 22 bandits.  We tied them up
and marched them to the road.  There, Pap began having the prisoners sing
cadence as they marched.  My particular favorites were when he had them sing
some Dunadorian work-camp songs.  Of course, this wore on your nerves very
quickly.  They didn't seem to enjoy it either, especially when he yelled at
them for not singing.

A few days later we same upon a cart covered with bones near a bridge.
Faranyn and Cassana investigated and were attacked by giant ticks, who were
killed by them easily.  Later, Cassana contracted a disease, we think, and
the cure disease button was used on him.  Also, I buried the bones of the
cart-driver, hidden under the cart, the next day.

A couple of days after that, Ludo noticed ogres hiding up ahead, an unusual
thing to notice from the middle ranks of the party.  We scared them off.
They threw a boulder at Hawk as he swooped over and Hawk fell.  He did not
appear to have been actually hit by the boulder, but a weird scrape was
across his wing.  I healed him.

A good distance later we turned in the bandits at Capel Tower.  A few days
after that we stayed and relaxed at the Draken Castle Inn.  Pap got the
half-day off, even.

A few days later we reached Montinelle.  Apparently there was some confusion
at the gate, but we got in and sold the bandits' stuff for a good bit of
money, though time was wasted in the bartering.  While in the market, a boy
tried to pickpocket Faranyn but Ludo noticed him somehow and easily grabbed
the boy.  The guards were called, who acted obnoxious and acted like none of
the rest of us in the party were trustworthy.  Eventually, they extracted 5
g.p. Faranyn was missing from the boy, but could not press charges because
none of the passersby who clearly saw the incident were willing to admit to
having seen it.  Faranyn looked pretty steamed that day and insisted that we
leave Montinelle as soon as possible.
They annoyed us again on the way out when we had sold the bandits' horses we
didn't intend to sell, but Faranyn appeared in no mood to argue.  We payed
the "double taxes" for our "offense" of selling the horses.

Anyway, we then headed north and bore right towards the Wild Wood.  We
encountered another group of adventurers on the road and we were both
spooked and clearly dismayed when Ludo suddenly attacked and hit one in the
scrub nearby.  This prompted an attack from us, because Ludo had attacked,
but not really understanding why.  We easily took several captive and talked
to Ludo sternly.  We determined that Ludo could see some kind of blob shape
with the other party, and he thought it might be evil.  It was determined
that Ludo's vision had become more acute and he could see the other party
members even if he wasn't facing them.  We determined from the situation
that it was all a misunderstanding and freed the other folks without harming
them.  The mage (ludo's 'blob' -- apparently appeared that way to Ludo when
it was invisible) and an archer cautiously withdrew and expressed our
regrets.  We then accosted Ludo with what he had done, briefly, and then
moved on.

During that encounter we had seen a camouflaged lizard like creature with
wings hanging on Ludo's belongings, but it flew up and away.  Still, Ludo
could see slightly from above the party or nearby any time he cared to.  We
could not find the lizard shape again but clearly Hawk was disturbed by it
when I talked to him.  He said he looked like a tasty dragonfly but that it
had bitten him back at the ogres when he had tried to eat it.  Eli had
hypothesized it might be a little demon "Quasit" but since he hadn't seen it
he didn't know.

Ludo's gear, much to my dismay did not detect as magical, despite the fact
that he clearly still felt its benefits.  When transferred to other folks it
was perfectly magical.  When I concentrated on the fact that no mortal
creature could possibly deceive Phaulkon, all his gear appeared magical or
normal as it was originally.

This was all very strange, but then Ludo tried to communicate with the
creature.  It said its name was Thurmond and that it was the familiar of a
wizard we had recently been eaten by a 'blue lizard as big as a bridge,' the
Behir.  It liked Ludo because he was "little."

This got me to wondering whether it might be a member of the Little People
who might have been eaten by the Behir, but we really don't know.  We are
too far away from Middle to check, and it doesn't appear to have happened so
we don't know.

Later, we arrived at the Wild Wood Inn.

Alegra (top)

Summary IXb:  Answers to the Stone Soules Quiz (devised by Kyle) on People We've Met

SS:  PEOPLE WE'VE MET:
----------------------
1.Hawk Fist-Slam   U.Hack-and-slash brief member of the SS
                      -> Y.Former Ranger member of the SS, not Alegra's friend
2.Vidannallos           BB.Cleric near Southern Waste, fought a Beholder
3.Laird the Druid*       DD.Helped Kergul
4.Fyar the Druid*        CC.Took care of Dranigh at one point
5.Antarcus               EE.Renegade Ranger "wanted for questioning"
6.Demitrius              AA.Frazzled old guy delivered to on Turney's journey
7.Fenn*                  M.Caravan leader after Turney
8.Finn                   T.Assassin worshipper of Sharkaas
9.Sobair                 O.Champion of End, fought anarchists
10.Jonias                II.Knight at Anchor Rock
11.Grien          G.Alegra's former Falcon.
12.Jana Marina Bendallis H.Former thief member of the SS
13.Turkonis*             X.Half-elf cleric, former member of the SS
14.Turkaneous*           F.Alegra's horse
15.Derek Blackstone      D.Ranger leader of The Knife
16.Alvin                 E.Started an adventuring group March 15, 2167
17.Alexis                I.Traitor at Molehill's
18.Bruce                 P.Our friendly anarchist insurgent
19.Norall                J.Champion of Dunador, jousted on Dunthrane Day
20.Kirkroy               N.Champion of Andevar, jousted on Dunthrane Day
21.Laura of Baranar      S.Cleric who left the party due to Alegra's cowardice
     in battle
22.Zhrogruckz            Z.Bugbear chief killed by the Lesser Ones
23.Ghizorak              R.Enemy of Ceydric, member of Fleshrenders clan
24.Zaras                 Q.Half-elf we saved in Tan-El
25.Mierin*               FF.Merchant who thinks he's a snake
26.Milf                  GG.Zaras' mage companion
27.Rat                   C.Borin's henchman
28.Eunice                B.Kid Ludo pretended to be
29.Kendall               Y.Former Ranger member of the SS, not Alegra's friend
                      -> U.Hack-and-slash brief member of the SS
                         X.Half-elf cleric, former member of the SS
30.Bernard Hemps         HH.Possessed by Kergul
31.Dranigh Cye           A.Former Ranger member of the SS, Alegra's friend
32.Tap*                  V.Sergeant hired in Teft on our first "Independent
33.Spencer*              K.Guy who ran a timber caravan Dranigh was on
     Adventure"
34.Keefan                W.Ranger who came to Dranigh's funeral
35.Geranth*              L.Guy who trained Borin the final time he was a member
     of the SS

* are the ones Edwin got wrong.  (top)

Summary X:  The Capture of Earl Belzar

Here's a brief summary of our quest --

A Dunadorian Earl, Earl Belzar, and others are being held by a cloud giant
named Borglin on the edge of the Indicara, near Fort Halfred, at Corner
Rock.  The Earl was captured by bandits on the old wilderness road.  Special
delivery bards have been  through the Wild Wood Inn 4 times in the three
weeks he's been captive with deliveries to the giant.

Friends of some bandits we took captive on the way to the WWI arranged to
bring back the Earl from the giant (a ransom).  What is not commonly known
is that the Earl is to be brought back dead.  (We however don't know the
Court intrigue here, etc.).

The directions to "where the Earl is" are:
Big mountain to right--cave
        Cave is disguised as a building.
Borglin is there, expecting trouble, expecting the ransom.
Around past the Mountain in the Haunted Place.
Something other than what is obvious is going on.
"At the Corner" -- Corner Rock near Folt Halfred.

People in Fort Halfred know and deal with Borglin on a regular basis --
"normal guy."  Borglin rides a Roc.

Corner Rock is a volcano, active.  The jungles surround it.  Tuzloi natives
live in area around Fort.

Grey figure on back of giant wasp seen in trek toward rock.

Alegra (top)

Summary Xb:  Ludo's Take on the Situation

Some additional information and thoughts --

Some people (Ludo at least) suspect that the people at Fort Halfred are
in on the plot to capture the Duke or are aiding Borglin for some reason.
They've acted very suspiciously:

When we arrive, and ask to see the General, we are put off for several hours
until supper-time, then the General falls asleep, at the table, before
answering any of our questions. Ludo had Thurmond spy on him, and he "woke
up" about 15 minutes after we left the room.

I think the whole buisness at the fort was a delaying action. They
managed to delay us for 2 whole days there!

The giant Borglin is supposed to be expecting and prepared for trouble,
and I think the fort is his first warning and line of defense.
 

Also, on the way to the fort, we spent the night in a creepy swamp.
Thurmond was scared the whole night long, and Ludo didn't get much sleep.
Ludo thinks that swamp might be the haunted place -- the place where
Borglin is supposed to exchange the Duke with his ransomers. It has
several things going for it as the site of the exchange: It's near the
road/trail, and its not a very nice place, so perhaps Borglin would
expect the ransomers wouldn't want to stay there long enough to set up a
trap or ambush for him.
 

The creature on the giant wasp could be a messanger for Borglin, didn't
similar creatures carry messages for G.O. in the Indacara jungle?
 

What we need to decide is, how much time do we have before the Duke is due
to be exchanged? Will be be able to make it to Borglin's home and
overpower him before then? If not what are we going to do?

As I remember, Broglin wasn't the one who was going to kill the Duke, the
Duke's ransomers are (but we can't really be sure..). If Borglin is just
trying to get money for his prisoner, we could try to emiminate the
ransomers from the picture (by ambush?), and then deal with getting the
Duke back from Borglin without having to worry about him being killed.

Ludo (Joey) (top)

Summary XI:  The Pre-Summary Summary

Well, well, well...

"All is not as it appears to be."

Let's just say that Edwin's mind is at times a sick and twisted playground
(but we like it that way).  Short:  way cool adventure.  Long:  All was not
as it appeared to be.

End result:  the party split, but everyone's alive, and no one knows what's
going on, but we have cool new items and took on some pretty fierce fighting.

If any desire to write a summary, do so.
Kyle (top)

Summary XIb:  A Sick and Twisted Playground

Telvar is now alot more interesting than what it appeared to be before
yesterday. I read alot of weird fantasy, spy thrillers, and sci-fi
suspense, so I like sick and twisted playgrounds. The element of intrigue
is a welcome alternative to the tradition adventure of killing monsters and
getting treasure.

Of course we did that too. Killed 10 fire giants and a party of adventures
of respectible skill. We did this with only half the party, but of course
we did have help and the element of surprise.

Let me go back to the beginning of the evening yesterday as the party
continued through the jungle of the Tusloa (sp). While heading towards the
volcano, hawk spotted many people. Ludo investagated and found a city
of Tusloa. We decided not to remain in the area, and we continued towards
the volcano (corner rock). After crossing a river the next day, we were
attacked that evening by Tuslow. From above they attacked with javelins
coated with powerful poison. Eli's sleep spell caused five of them to fall
to their death- this broke up the attack. We continued traveling.

After a day or so, after passing tusloa totems facing the direction we
were going, we came upon an old road. This road led to an old temple
sacrificial place and led further on to the lair of Borglin. We decided to
pull the a rope which turned out to be the doorbell. After fleeing to
consider our course of action, we later returned with a negotiating group
of Faranyn, Pap, Xavier, Eli, and (invisible) Ludo. We then proclaimed to
the orge answering the door that we wished to discuss the ransum of Earl
Belzar. We were then led in to talk to Borglin himself.

Borglin had agreed to turn the Earl and his bodyguard to a group at this
stone palace 4 hours away (by roc- 14 days by land) for 10,000 gp. He was
suposed to meet them tomorrow at 10:00. For 3,500 gp, he agreed to make
one trip prior to the meeting and carry up to five of the party. The party
ultimately accepted this offer and Faranyn, Cassana, Xavier, Eli and Ludo
were eventually carried close to the meeting site where they could ambush
the group retrieving the Earl.

For another 3,500 gp, Borglin gave us some very interesting additional
information. The information of interest is as follows:

The Earl paid Borglin to kidnap him and kill all the merchants, drovers,
and guards except the Earl's personal bodyguard.

The caravan the Earl was with was carrying weapons for the fire giants
around the End area (enough for 200). These giants were the unfriendly
ones which besieged the fire giant city near middle. This city rebelled
against the central fire giant clan rule and the latter wishes to attack
and defeat the city. They also may have hostile intentions against End and
Middle and 200 of them can definitly do alot of damage (Middle would be
overrun, probably End as well)

The Earl decided to fake a kidnapping and sell the weapons to someone
else. He did not have the proper payments for Borglin, who took the Earl,
his bodyguard, the weapons, and the head merchant, which may have
important political ties and may be of great help to political enemies of
the Earl.

Borglin wishes to ransom the merchant as well. We discussed her ransom,
but were unable/unwilling to pay the 8,000 gp he requested.

The area near the lair of Borglin is infested with undead at night.

Borglin's roc is nested high above Borglin's lair.

The Earl believed that he was being rescued from Borglin's lair. He
doesn't know about the transfer at Stone Palace.

While Borglin was flying to the meeting the next morning, a group of 10
fire giants from the central fire giant clan as well as a party of
adventures (cleric, mage, invisible dwarf fighter or thief, and two other
fighters) came to Borglin's lair and started to overwhelm the
defenses/pets. There objective was to ransack the lair and retrieve the
weapons which everybody believed to be in Borglin's lair.

While the remaining party of five: Allegra, Theo, Claude, Jerem, and Pap
were leaving the area, they were approached by a party of four fire giants
from the fire giant city. They sought aid in an attempt to ambush the
another fire giant party. Our party agreed and set up for an ambush.

We ambushed the other fire giants and attacked them from the rear as they
were advancing into Borglin's lair and overwhelming his defenses.

We were completely successful. We killed the fire giant Shaman, the
party mage and cleric during the first few segments. Attacking them from
the rear as well as the distraction of Borglin's pets in the lair proved
to be decisive. One of the four fire giants helping us is unconscious, and
claude was badly wounded as well as the other three fire giants. All ten
enemy giants was well as the humanoid party were killed.

This is where we ended (at 0400 saturday morning!)

This is all the time I can spare for this now. Everyone feel free to add
information that I left out.

Jack (top)

Summary XIc:  Clarifications on a Theme

Let me clarify the following points a little:
>The caravan the Earl was with was carrying weapons for the fire giants
>around the End area (enough for 200). These giants were the unfriendly
>ones which besieged the fire giant city near middle. This city rebelled
>against the central fire giant clan rule and the latter wishes to attack
>and defeat the city. They also may have hostile intentions against End and
>Middle and 200 of them can definitly do alot of damage (Middle would be
>overrun, probably End as well)
>The Earl decided to fake a kidnapping and sell the weapons to someone
>else. He did not have the proper payments for Borglin, who took the Earl,
>his bodyguard, the weapons, and the head merchant, which may have
>important political ties and may be of great help to political enemies of
>the Earl.

The giantish weapons were of Realmish make, supplied to the giants of
Cromwell during the war.  These were captured and fell into other hands.
Ultimately, the fell to the Earl who decided to sell them illicitly to some
folks who could use them.

Well, the Fire Giants are in a funny situation.  The Fire Giant Colony, near
End (what we call the Fire Giant City) is in rebellion against the Fire
Giant Empire (Central Fire Giant Government).  This rebellion was to be
squashed by the group of Fire Giants that attacked the City and marauded
near Middle.  When we assisted the City, the attackers were repelled.
Neither of these groups likes the humans who live nearby, but the Fire Giant
City (rebels) appear to be (more) willing to coexist.  Basically, if the
weapons fall into the Central FG Government's hands, they will come to
attack the city again, which may eventually fall, and then those Giants will
attack End and Middle, without a doubt, at some point.  If the attack is
repelled or never advanced because the weapons are destroyed or captured,
then the FG City will not (at least right away) attack us.

These Fire Giants we encountered near Borglin's (the ones who we joined)
were familiar with us from the siege incident or other incidents and
enlisted our aid.  They wished to prevent the Central Govt FG from getting
the weapons and were prepared to destroy them if necessary (they have a
mining outpost and can make weapons).  In return for our help, we would get
all the booty from the adventure and would help prevent the destruction of
Middle and End.

>From a standpoint of other matters, if we left them alone they would
probably die or not fully accomplish their goal, the merchant (who was the
one person who could testify against the treasonous Earl) would be dead, and
all correspondence about the deal with the FG destroyed, leaving us with one
expensive, disloyal but irreproachable Earl and nothing to show for it.  We
didn't have much of a choice, actually, despite the safe passage the FG
promised us.

>but were unable/unwilling to pay the 8,000 gp he requested.

This was an initial haggling price, mind you! :)

>The area near the lair of Borglin is infested with undead at night.

According to Borglin, if we remained past dusk, we would fairly
instantanously become "permanent residents of Ashen Rock."  Ashen Rock is a
tomb of an ancient civilization of grand proportions.  Also, the "Haunted
Place" of which the Fool spoke.  You can "feel" the unnaturalness.

>The Earl believed that he was being rescued from Borglin's lair. He
>doesn't know about the transfer at Stone Palace.

Yup.  Are there two bandit/ransomer groups or one?  We'll find out next week!

>We were completely successful. We killed the fire giant Shaman, the
>party mage and cleric during the first few segments. Attacking them from
>the rear as well as the distraction of Borglin's pets in the lair proved
>to be decisive. One of the four fire giants helping us is unconscious, and
>claude was badly wounded as well as the other three fire giants. All ten
>enemy giants was well as the humanoid party were killed.

Let's just say a few things:
Theo and Claude ripped the giants apart.  It was quite humorous.  Theo was
blinded, but had blindfighting and the benefit of a _Prayer_ and so was
virtually unaffected by the blindness.

Surprise was the decisive factor here.

Note:  None of the Central Govt FG or helpers got beyond the central
entranceway, which indicates that further resistance may be found inside.
Perhaps leaving the Merchant wouldn't be bad if we could ransom her safely
later without risking Borglin's wrath.  Otherwise, I suggest we take all the
booty we can carry and HIT THE ROAD!  (only hours before Borglin arrives home).

BTW, We could also help the FG destroy the weapons/carry them and bargain a
mutually beneficial guard for the trek out of the Jungle.  If they stay too
long, though, we have got to leave.

Kyle/Alegra (top)

Summary XId:  Summary of a Summary

GROUP A: Faranyn, Eli, Xavier, Cassana, and Ludo
        At the Stone Giant ruin
GROUP B: Alegra, Theo, Jerem, Pap, and Claude
        At Borglin's

GROUP A was disappointed, the deal was a hoax, and had to hike home.
HIGHLIGHT: Eli's Sleep-spell Hunting Technique

GROUP B made a deal with Borglin and the Fire Giants.  They got the
Merchant, some cash, all the magic items, transportation to Fort Halfred,
and the destruction of the Giantish weapons.

HIGHLIGHT: The two spell books, the wand, and other cool items, and everyone
surviving.
LOWLIGHT: Discovering the party we encountered and thrashed included a
_Nevronian_ cleric.  We also failed to save the mage before he died.
At first we had to look at ourselves and say, "Well, what kind of group were they
for working with FIRE GIANTS, anyway?! ... ... Wait a minute, WE were
working with Fire Giants, too... uh..."

Basically:  We lost a couple of months, got some cool items, lots of XP, and
involved in political intrigue we didn't want to be in, gave Middle and End
a little breathing room from Fire Giants, saved a hostage, and are otherwise
in the same position we were in last year.

The word of the Year is: TRAINING.

Alegra/Kyle (top)

Summary XII:  The Meaning of the Message

Well, well, well.

The situation was bad enough as it was with the Nevronian cleric, etc.
The political situation was sticky and confusing and we weren't sure WHAT
was going on.  Now, get this...

It seems that Ser, the Steward of Middle, was sent express mail before we
arrived back in Middle giving him a 100 g.p. gem, and offering him a sum
100 times that if he poisoned the entire party.  He had merely to meet an
agent for the poison.  [question to Edwin:  where was the meeting place?]
Luckily for us, he refused to meet anyone.

As if this weren't bad enough, it appears that the Duke of Andevar is one
of the co-conspirators of Earl Belzar, and the letters came from the
office of the Chief Steward of Andevar, with the Duke's signatures.  The
letters indicate a definite exchange of illegal weapons (a 10,000 g.p.
fine) but do not specify parties involved.  If it could be proven that the
Duke was aiming to send weapons to the Central Government Fire Giants with
the hope of destabilizing the End frontier of Dunador, it would be
treason.  And the penalties are best case banishment, worse case death.

As such, we are in, as they say, over our heads.  Though it is unlikely
that the Duke of Andevar will admit that the party we killed were his
agents, if it were to come out the wrong way, the party might be tried for
their murders.  If so, Ceydric or Faranyn could be the Champion and choose
trail by combat, but if the Duke of Andevar pressed the issue, he would
have to fight Kirkroy, the Champion of Andevar, who on a recent Dunthrane
Day, even beat the great Norall during the tournament (Norall is an even
worse case scenario if Hollend becamse involved).  And if we were found
guilty, execution for most of us, and burning at the stake for Alegra,
would be a most unhappy end to our adventuring careers.

Reason #1 why Dunadorian politics is bad:  Dying is always an option.
Reason #2: if you are a non-Nevronian cleric (read: unwashed cultist) it
is even more likely.

Kyle/Alegra (top)

Summary XIIb:  Comments from the Gallery

Folks, I don't know how to tell you this but I've been waiting for this
sort of information for a long time.  A couple of years ago, a group of
characters, under the leadership of a character of mine, entered Sark
determining to infiltrate it and send intelligence back to Koralgesh and
the Sarkian royal faction.  At the time we were seeking the aid of some
bigger players and half of our party went to Andevar to see his aid.

Needless to say, the half that went to Sark were ambushed and the entire
operation flushed down the toilet.

Seems that the World Empire had been informed that a party of massive force
was approaching Runk(sp?) intending to destroy everything.

I have, for some time now, thought the informant was a member of the
Sarkian royal faction as we discussed our plans with them before we left
Koralgesh.  Now I believe otherwise.

-Sean Paus

rodger@ac.wfu.edu said:
Damn damn damn.
 

These people NEED to contact Konrad with whatever proof they have!!!!  Damn!!!!

Who's maintaining the list???  I need to be added...

time to go take over the f***ing country.  wonder if Keith would help?

-Rodger

> Duke was aiming to send weapons to the Central Government Fire Giants with
> the hope of destabilizing the End frontier of Dunador, it would be
> treason.  And the penalties are best case banishment, worse case death.

As is normal for me nowadays, this message is out-of-character:

If you ask somone who knows about recent politics, then I THINK (could be
wrong) that you would be told that Andevar has recently been acting like a
country independent of Dunador.  Thus, while the inhabitants of Dunthrane
might consider it treason, the Duke himself probably would not.  That is not
to say that Dunthrane wouldn't put political pressure on the Duke, but it
would be more on the lines of international politics than an internal affair.

There are also rumors that the Duke of Andevar allied himself with the World
Empire troops.

I am intentionally not endorsing any of these rumors but merely reporting them.
Treat them as you will.

-David Chappell

>I don't know if you guys have already discussed this, but in case you haven't,
>perhaps we should start calling back on some old friendships.  It may be a
good
>idea to mail Koral Gesh and find out if we have any chance of political
>protection in that avenue.  I think that we should generally look into our
>options of escape and basically find out which avenues we can use, by mailing
>people of power located at each of those options.
>
>Regardless, we should be ready to ship the "cultists" out of Dunador at a
>moments notice, as they sound to be in the gravest danger.  We should also try
>to find out who are allies are in Dunador...   Shouldn't we at the very least
>have Ceydric and Faranyn's family as allies?  The other people who I think we
>should attempt to ally ourselves with are the leader of End (I forget his
name)
>and his family.  He might decide to back us based on the fact that this Duke
>we are afraid will press charges against us was trying to do something that
>would have greatly harmed End in particular.
>
>As I said, you guys probably thought about all this, but just in case, I
>decided to mail.

-Sean Guarino

Here's our information:

1.  Word of Borglin that he was paid by the Earl to kidnap him, kill the
merchant caravan, but save his bodyguard and him while they were
transporting the illegal Giantish weapons secretly (the caravan thought they
were some other items).  Then he and Borglin would arrange for the sale of
the weapons, in what otherwise looked like a kidnapping and ransom.  When
the Earl did not provide the necessary monies, he kept the Merchant leader
(Johanna) alive to put pressure on the Earl.

2.  We have documents from the Duke of Andevar ordering the sale of illegal
weapons.

3.  We have the Merchant and her witness to the total destruction of the
caravan at a word from the Earl.  He pointed out, apparently, which people
should be killed first, etc.

4.  We passed an Andevarian patrol a couple of days south of Fort Halfred,
looking for a "lost patrol," that could have been the human party we bested.
They were WEEKS north of Andevar's border and had no real good reason for
being there.  They looked nervous but there was no way could put the pieces
together at the time.

5.  We witnessed the breaking of contract of the Central Government Fire
Giants and the human party in trying to seize the weapons.

6.  We have the knowledge that if the CGFG got their hands on the weapons
the FG colony near Middle would fall easily, and the assurance that these
CGFG would come after Middle and End in short order.  Our experience
verifies that the the FG near Middle are not friendly but are not going to
be attacking us; a rough truce of sorts has been worked out over years, with
somewhat mutually satisfying efforts in collaboration (against the lesser
demonspawn, against the Central Government Fire Giants, etc.).

7.  Andevar has never treated us well on any of our trips to Montinelle, and
frankly this doesn't surprise us.  But, as they say that is "hearsay."

Kyle/Alegra (top)

Summary XIII:  Who Said 13 Was an Unlucky Number?

Well,

here' some further information you might all consider interesting.  During
our party's New Years Party in Middle, an assassination attempt was made.
It was foiled chiefly by the use of the magic Bell near the War Room in the
Tower.  When a "riot" broke out during the party, we suspected a trap and
fled into the War Room while a patrol took care of the riot.  Shortly after
arriving in the War Room, a loud crash was heard outside.  Upon opening the
door, Faranyn glimpsed the remains of someone apparently killed by the Bell
creature.  Later, we discovered that this was the assassin's plan:

To cause the riot, then sneak into the tower and locate everyone.  Kill
sleeping people if necessary, then he was going to through these fire stops
(evacuate all air from a sealed room like the War Room) into the room, and
seal the door with a couple of Wall of Ice tokens and then use a Dimension
Door token to escape.  Luckily for us, the Bell stopped him, but only
barely.  He hadn't even had time to consider anything else since he had just
entered the corridor and was listening at another door.

Upon _Speaking with Dead_, we discovered that the assassin was sent directly
from the Duchess of Andevar and the Citadel Commander of Montinelle (Sir
Bracken)'s Chief Agent, Menlow.  The Duchess has had the assassin kill
several other people which he listed, none of which really rang a bell.
Then, we got the Head of the Church (Nevronian), Farrah, in End to witness
these questions along with the record-keeping of a Bard.

Isn't that interesting?

Well, later, Holland visited us, but that's a story for another time, and as
the rest of this, confidential (though comments are welcome).

Kyle/Alegra

and some more...

Well,

In addition to the assassination plot discussed on my Sat. morning message,
the group played again on Saturday afternoon to plan so that the next game
will be challenging and ready to go.  They took their job quite seriously,
and so we are poised at the edge of a quite exciting adventure, the location
of which is familiar to some of you.

We decided to make our case (against the Duke of Andevar) we need a little
more evidence that he trafficks in contraband goods, etc.  Holland "happened
to mention" a castle to the north of Andevar's territory, called Griffin
Castle (something some of you should be familiar with).  Therein, much
contraband and perhaps some of the Duke's evidence (journals, etc.) is
(probably) held.  We are about 9 days away from attacking it.  On the 9th
day, several Dunadorian Council people will be "happening to pass nearby on
the way to a meeting in End."  On that 9th day, we are going to take the castle.

We have already been observing it for some number of days, and we have some
information from Holland's group that went there searching for the Prince(?)
some years ago (including some of you, I think).  Much future intelligence
will be gathered but we are hoping to be at least somewhat successful.
Helping to oust the Duke of Andevar would be the least we could do for
Dunador...

Kyle/Alegra/Faranyn

(BTW, I wasn't actually at this game)  (top)

Summary XIV:  Griffon Castle and other Mysteries

A griffin is a cross between a lion and an eagle:

...Later that afternoon we found a castle with a griffin on top and
attacked it.

We fought long and hard and eventually we won and captured the Duke and
rescued the Prince.

Lowar cast Knock on the Gate and reduce was cast at the Porculus to create
a door through it.

These are essentially a part of a logbook that we received from Holland.
Our scouting has revealed that Griffin castle is similiar to what was
described except we see no Griffin. There is a Gate and porculus.

The castle is approx. 200ft x 200ft square- with gate houses in the middle
of the N and S walls and Bastion towers in the middle of the E and W
walls. The Four corners have a circular tower about 50ft high and 30 in
diameter. Next to the bastion tower on one side are two buildings believed
to be the stables. in the center is a well. Next to the other Bastion
tower are two buildings with wooden roofs. There is a separate building in
the courtyard with a wooden roof.

We estimate 4 watch shifts of 6 crossbowmen each and 2-3 cavalry patrols
of 6 each, so the estimate of guards is around 40-50. We anticipate
magical traps and guardians around the areas where the records would be.
The illegal goods are probably themselves untrapped, but the area they are
kept in may be.

The lack of a griffin anywhere in sight leads us to believe that the Duke
is now present at this time.

What do we want to know before we attack?

(1) the presence of enemy spellcasters - clerics in particular- try to
identify armoured guards without edged weapons.

(2) the presence and relative location of the Duke's records and the
illegal goods

(3) the presence magical guardians or creatures which aid the guards when
the castle is attacked.

(4) Who and where is the commander of the castle, assuming the Duke is
away- In a combined sneak/frontal assault if the commander is
incapacitated or killed quickly then the defenses of the castle may be
more easily overcome.

(5) is there extensive dungeons- or significant areas underground?

I suggest we send Ludo in deeper with a potion of flying and a token of
dimension door ready to use to escape. Ludo could identify the building
used as the barracks for the guards and the identity and location of the
castle headquarters. He may also observe and identify possible
spellcasters and the castle commander.

After this important info has been gained, we should think about covertly
exploring areas of the castle. Closely before the our assault, I could use
a dose of the flying potion to fly invisible over the walls. I could meet
Ludo, also invisible, close to the buildings to be explored. With Find
Trap and Detect Magic cast before, we would have a small amount of time to
try to find the areas where the goods/records are kept and where the traps
are. Once this area is identified, we would leave the building, and Ludo
would return to inform the rest of the party. I could hide invisible in a
area specified by Ludo and would remain in the castle until the party
attacks. If discovered, I would have a dose of the flying portion or the
dimension door token to use to escape.

When the party does decide to attack, I suggests that Ludo climb over the
walls invisible again and find me. Together we would wait close the the
castle headquarters and wait for the party's attack signal. When the
attack begins, Ludo and I could attempt to backstab, hold, command, or
otherwise kill or incapacitate the commander and the headquarters area.

The party's attack could go as follows: Theo or Faranyn or Cassana uses the
potion of climbing to climb up and attach a rope somewhere on top of the
wall while invisible. As he lowers the rope, the rest of the party will
see the rope visible and begin to start climbing on the wall while the
clerics command or hold the crossbowmen. Once the party is on the walls
they start assaulting the towers. The few guards on the walls will be
overwhelmed quickly and the larger force awakening around the castle will
be leaderless.

Should the castle's guards and forces be defeated easily, then we will
bound survivors and go about exploring the castle expediently. If the
defenses prove to be initially overwhelmed but reinforcements are coming,
then the party could try to dispel the traps around the records, kill
whatever beasts guard the records, and try to escape. If the party is
clearly facing difficulty defeating the castle forces, then a retreat may
be necessary.

Overall, the castle's defenses look too easily overcome, so I suspect
there is more to this than we are led to believe. Could be that there are
significant guardian forces within the castle other than the guards. Could
be that the party was set up and the Duke is suspecting this attack- We
could succeed in breaking into the castle but be trapped inside by his massive
reinforcements awaiting nearby the castle. Almost certainly the Duke has
an added precaution to take if the castle is attacked, particularly since
the castle was attacked and taken before. The Duke may have manupulated
Holland to attempt to get the party to try this.

I fear for the worse, so despite a clearly thought out attack, I believe
risk to the party is immense. I predict a 50/50 chance of either
succeeding to overthrow the Duke or total party annihilation, with very
little middle ground.

Xavier (top)

Summary XV:  Griffon Castle Is Taken

After much arguing and debating we finished the castle attack plans.  Ludo
had discovered that the Duke was gone but would soon be returning with more
troops about the time the Councilors passed on through.  Due to this
concern, we decided a quick attack staged as soon as possible was best.

Then, Faranyn was contacted magically by a member of the Democratic Front
who made it plain that he did not like Faranyn as a Royalist, but that we
had mutual enemies in the Duke.  He assured Faranyn that the "Duke would not
be going anywhere any time soon."  He claimed that the Duke was beside him
and could not do anything to stop our plans.  He then proceded to tell him
to make sure the mission was done "right."  He urged us to get every piece
of evidence we could.

Other than the common soldiers, we knew that a Dwarf was in command.  No
spellcasters of any kind had been sighted.  We formulated a plan.

We captured the patrol, with relative ease.  Then, we moved into position
and Claude stood guard over the patrol.  We attacked the keep. The wall
guards were for the most part taken out instantly, with _Holds_.  Faranyn
flew in ready to confront people in the courtyard but no one came out.
Xavier observed, waiting for people to come out when the alarm was sounded,
with spells.  Xavier got the Dwarf and his Crossbowman, before Faranyn could
really deal any damage to them.  Faranyn's sword Baleful did the rest of the
work, along with the spells, cajoling the rest into surrendering very quickly.

The Dwarf was annoying to us, but the rest were cooperative.  A full search
and magic check were undertaken.  All this while, Nym had gone to get the
Councilors.  A couple of days of searching revealed a few things among the
trap removal:

1.  A box of letters from Eldrin was in the Duke's room.  These were
extremely incriminating, but all references to the Duke had been removed.

2.  A set of symbols and so on from the Archbishop's garb.

3.  A magical (level 5) book, which Eli immediately reached for when we
looked at the shelf in the Study, causing the shelf to burst into flame.
The other magic theory books were destroyed and Eli had to read the title
page.  The title page vanished as he managed to close the book.  Thinking
this might be a book of vast magic, Alegra used an _Augury_ to determine
whether Eli should read further (would the book's magic be lost if he did
not continue to read it?).  The question was whether it was to the party's
advantage to have Eli keep reading.  The answer was, "Short term losses will
be offset."  So, Eli began reading and could not stop but to eat and sleep.
We placed him out of the way and continued searching.

4.  Ludo found a cleverly hidden secret door in the study.  It contained a
high magic Nevronian symbol.  It was the Archbishop's Badge of Office.  It
was a turning point in the case against the Duke.

4a.  We had noted that the Dwarf had a magic head but could not identify
why.  The mystery (unfortunately) did not resolve itself until later.

5.  Also, we found a complete set of journals of the Duke, written in a
runic code we could not understand.  The Badge was given to Sir Barnaby,
Paladin, when he arrived, for safe-keeping, and the books were loaded on the
horses of the councilors.

The Councilors arrived with Sir Barnaby and shown around.  After the study,
we came to show them the room in which the prisoners were kept. We did not
anticipate trouble, and the Dwarf laughed when we entered and his head
exploded.  Simultaneously the Andevarian banner, and the secret door
compartment also exploded (the books and symbol had already been removed).
The blast however, levelled the councilors, affecting the rest of us little.
3 of the 5 died instantly.  Alegra _Death's Doored_ one of them, along with
Ludo.  Sir Barnaby _laid hands_ on one that it was possible to save.  Alegra
then used her _Raise Dead_ scroll on the Sectone councilman, since he was
Faranyn's closest relative.

This provided all of the ammunition necessary for the conviction of the
Duke.  A forty-person Central Government detachment came to assist us and
take the keep.  We left once Eli had finished the book, advancing through 2
possible levels instantly and gaining another Magic Theory proficiency.  He
couldn't remember exactly who wrote the book though.  The book was True Neutral.

The keep was prepared for turning over to the government of Kelburn after we
left.

Later, the Duke and some associates were convicted and executed.  The Duke
had arrived earlier in Blue Crystal, probably from our Democratic "friends."
A new Duke was appointed earlier than the usual Founders Day.  Previously
the High General of Dunador had occupied Andevar.  No real resistance was
found.  Kirkroy pledged allegiance to the new Duke.

We received money from the Sectone family for saving the councilor and from
Kelburn for returning the keep.  We were put up in Dunthrane for the
duration of the trial.  Ceydric was sent for for Founders Day and Theo
returned to Middle so Ceydric could come.  Jerem was sent to be trained and
Cassana went along to return to Middle.

Canstin planned to enter the archery contest during the largest festival
Faranyn or Ceydric had ever seen.  Dignitaries from EVERYWHERE (except
Drake) arrived (Gram was there, too).  It was then that King Maynell I was
crowned King of Dunador.  He had been picked by the Pope of Nevron from the
ORIGINAL founding royal family of Old Dunador.  He had been living among
nomads as his family had for generations.  He spoke only dialectical Human
and Nomad.

Aria and Xavier, near-native speakers of Human, noted that the translation
of the King's speech was made up to be even MORE fanatical than the Human
version of his speech (i.e. "Infidels" was changed to "Non-Nevronians," etc.).

And so, much still has to be straightened out from that entire time...
Thursday we will play a shorter game to help do that.

Kyle/Alegra (top)

Summary XVI:  Review of Tan-El Forces

The Forces of Tan-El by the Sphinx
----------------------------------

The Undead         everywhere, loosely aligned
Giant Ants            major in some aspects (NE in city)
                            you WILL DIE if you continue investigating
Demonspawn       The Castle -- "control" (LE force is in
                            control)
Behir                    Doesn't live in city -- visits
Bugbears              Many more than you would guess--
                            some like us, some hate us
                            (Tower, some elsewhere)
Golems                 not coordinated unless city-disrupting force
                            most dormant
Mites                   Many tribes (old ogre territory, castle, tribe
                            in Temple District, main gate house, southern tribes)
Fire Giants            Don't live in city
Lots of hidden dormant things

Alegra (top)

Summary XVII:  Rounding Up Party Resources

After looking through the sheets given me, I have compiled the new Revised
Miscellaneous Party Equipment Sheet.  I will bring a printout to the game.

The House in End
----------------
E. Round Road #3
45' x 15' with 7' x 7' cellar and a loft.
Bedroom, living room, kitchen, 2 chimneys, door into living room with either
room flanking.  It has been improved by the work of Normabrahms and now has
meager furnishings.  The 14 g.p./year tax is on the yearly budget.  The
armory shed and carpentry set have moved to the Soulestone.  The cart has
been moved to the stable at Middle.
Pack Horse #3 (22 HP) has been moved to the stable as well.

The Revised Miscellaneous Party Equipment Sheet
-----------------------------------------------
Key:    H = House in End   T = Tower (Soulestone)
Recommendation: K = Keep  S = Sell  I = ID
                G = Put in general store  A = Armory
                M = Move to Tower

H K 1 heavy padlock
H K 1 heavy chest
H M 2 sets bit and bridle, lg. saddle bags, tack for riding horses
H K 17 mod weather bedrolls
H A 1 heavy lance
H K 1 cook kit
H K 4 pewter eating sets
H K 6 large sacks
H M 10 pints std. oil
H A 2 medium lances
H M 4 horse picks and brushes
H M 1 set barbed wire with iron spikes
H A 1 hammer
H K 1 canteen with leather cover
H M 1 pulley and hook
H M 75' rope
H A 4 20 capacity light bolt cases
H A 1 light crossbow
H K 5 iron spikes, hammer
H A 1 set banded mail from SMART guy arik
H M 1 set cool Eli clothes
H A 1 small helmet
H M 1 frame pack
H A 1 dagger
H K 1 tinderbox
H A 4 pikes
H G 2 bulls eye lantern
H G 1 hooded lantern
H G 17 lamp oil
H M 4 10'x10' oilskins
H K 6 torches
H K 87 man days iron rations
H M 30 g.p. worth of Teak wood
H M 12 keys from Molehill
H M 122 shingles
H M 2 window frames
H M 4 lg. squares sheet metal
H M 2 doors
H M 1 2-person saw
H M 1 sharpening stone
H M 1 giant pewter dishware set
H A 650' of rope
H M 1 giant frame pack
H M 1 fire giant cook kit
H A 20 uses resin
H A 6 barbed spear heads
H M 1 ivory horn from Molehill
H M 1 wax board
H M 1 inked waterskin
H A 1 horseman's flail
H M 150' wire
H M Molehill's giant bow
H M 4 large shields: Knaves of Clubs, Andevar, Realmish, Sarkian
H A 2 crested helmets: 1 Dunadorian Cent Gvt, 1 Old world
H M 1 pavilion (excellent quality)
H M 5 metal goods crates
H M 5000 nails
H M 4000 g.p. lumber credit in End (exchange)

T K 1 metal mirror
T K 2 sm. silver mirrors
T K 13 copper mirrors
T K 4 wooden dice
T K 5 std. oil
T K 12 lamp oil
T K 70' double weight rope
T K 1 sm. wooden box
T K 1 giantish pouch
T K 1 thin silver necklace with fire giantish characters
T A Bluebear's banded mail
T K 1 leather backpack
T A 1 bastard sword
T A 1 ogre sword
T A 1 Cassana-fitting leather armor
T A 1 Canstin-fitting studded leather
T K 1 lg. box of white tiles
T A 12 battle axes
T A 6 short swords
T A 4 bastard swords
T A 1 footman's flail
T A 2 two-handed swords
T A 2 light crossbows
T A 21 light bolts
T A 18 daggers, 1 silver dagger
T A 2 large shields
T K 20 person pewter eating ware (in use at tower)
T K Stone Soules wood carving
T K 3 troll skulls

items of some importance:
-------------------------
2 complete sets of fire giantish battle armor
1 set Full Plate Armor with Sarkian insignia, currently with 11 HP

and the items no one knew about (and I even forgot about):
4 magic rings, unidentified, that have been on Star's person for over
two game years

--The Governor's Administration

Kyle (top)

Summary XVIII:  What Magic Rings?!!

The Rings
---------
-Ring of Warmth
-Ring of Alignment Shielding
-Ring of Swimming
-Ring of Storage (Actually a token):
        -Holding (one use) up to 10,000 coin weights

These rings were from Kergul, the Possessor.
We prepared and open the ring behind the Ridge.
Ceydric read the Death Symbol on the side of the Coffin-like box that
appeared before Xavier could complete his Find Traps.  Ceydric died and we
sent him off to get raised.  Alegra dispelled the traps, then Theo opened
it.  From the dispelling, we knew the caster was at least 17th level.
Inside was a man, who was spontaneously animated.  The Detect Life Alegra
cast did not reveal him moments before.  He picked up his Rod of Enslavement
that acted every segment.  He enslaved Theo right away, while Eli blasted
Kergul with a Lightning bolt.  Then, Alegra released her Called Lightning
and hit both Kergul and Theo, who she knocked down from the damage that
Kergul saved from.  Alegra then tried to save Theo while Gram defended her.
Kergul enslaved Claude who made Eli's life annoying, and tried with Gram but
failed.  Xavier Held Kergul (against all odds -- rolling a 3 on the dice at
a -2 penalty for a total of a 1, and he needed a 2, I believe).  Gram killed
Kergul, which resulted in the Rod being keyed to explode on his death,
delivering a good deal of damage to Gram and some to Alegra, and destroying
a lot of Kergul's body.  Simultaneously, Faranyn's adviser Leah had a
Wish-level Raise cast on him, the wearer of the Alignment Shielding ring,
which had no effect.  The Ring was locked up and put away from everyone to
avoid it being a possible Magic Jar, because obviously it did more than
expected, and shielded its own abilities.
We spoke with Dead with Kergul and then had him Rest Eternaled by Dari.

The Mites
---------
We went to a lair of Hide-behinds, attracted a bunch of them, then Slept a
whole bunch of them, while Ludo pointed them out to us through Thurmond so
we could kill them all.  Then, we blocked the holes in the tunneled building
and smoke-killed the ones inside the building.  Then, Claude and Ludo crept
into the building's secret tunnel and found their treasure store, which was
vast and built up obviously over a long time. There were many magic items

The Behir
---------
Gram, Ludo, and Jerem scouted the Behir when we headed back and happened to
meet him on the path.  He used his voice-mimicry tricks all over the place
to try to confuse us.  He then made the entire area on the path on that side
of the city messed up so we couldn't tell which way he went.  He made it
look like in places he went in and in others he went out, using his
inch-worm like abilities.  Later, he waited down the trail and tried to
attract us down the trail by making sounds of battle, appealing to our more
noble sides, but we checked it out, and Ludo of course spotted the Behir
waiting for us about 300 yards ahead. When we decided to leave, the Behir
tried to convince us to stay with the voice mimicry, but then blasted a 20'
wide lightning bolt through the trees to scare us or whatever, but it wasn't
right at us.  We fled.
We then relied on Alegra's Eagle, Guile, for scouting.  When we did not see
the Behir for a couple of days, we checked further down the path and did not
see him and so we entered the city.

The Spider
----------
Checking out the Hexagonal Area in Tan-El, a blink-type Wolf-like Spider
tried to capture us, and used a very potent poison.  It clearly showed
intelligence in its prey capture and its placement when it would blink.  It
placed itself so that Eli could not lightning bolt it when it appeared.  We
left, because we had poisoned people who were Slowed and we needed to
Neutralize.  We headed to Base Camp.

Kyle/Alegra (top)

Summary XVIIIb:  Eli Shoots... Eli Misses!
(reminding us all that "Elves don't play basketball." --Edwin)

Well, Eli tried his best but he failed to learn Knock by 2%.

That is right, just 2%.  Essentially Eli went to End and found
that the boyfriend of the general valued his spells far too
much and Eli's hardly at all so Eli went elsewhere.  The
mage of the Daring Dozen had knock on a scroll (bad news) so
Eli traded a couple of useful but not detrimental spells to
attempt to learn the knock.  He failed.

The good news is that if we find a text of knock in our adventuring
and if Eli converts one of his magic theories to a specific (read
as 2-3k GP and 4-5 months) then he will have that 2%.  Or we could wait
200 years for his brain to mature.

Sorry guys but Eli just plain sucks at 2nd level spells.

Some good news is that he was able to try a technique whereby
he is guaranteed to hit a small compact group of people
with his pool ball about three times.  Will have to try it against the
next lesser one we face.

One last note, I did note use any of the parties resources, just many of
my own for no return.  Eli is contemplating a life of criminal
mischief.  He could kill Hildebrandt and the dozen with a clever trap
and then take all their stuff!!!  Bwaahaaha (maniacal laughter)!

Ciao!

 -Zack Hubert- (top)

Summary XIX:  Spiders and Undead: More Tan-El Fun

Here's the game in brief.  If possible, we are going to play more again on
Saturday since Edwin didn't feel well enough to play too late tonight.

1.  The Spider.  We were prepared and tried to kill it.  It was above animal
intelligence.  It at one point dropped a mummified body to us as we were
trying to get to it.  The body had magical gear, including a mage spell with
a 9th, 8th, and 7th level spell on it, cast at the 19th level.  This was a
serious treasure.  We tried to get up further into its lair, but could not.
We tried to communicate vocally but could not, though it did speak in its
weird language to us.

2.  On the way to the spider we found a weird area of the city where the
entire vegetation was dead and a dull haze hung over the depression in the
city.  It was eerie.  We came back later to find:  it got progressively
darker and more evil.  The weather in the area was quite perverted.  Gram
took out his sun coin, and it was then that we noticed a number of black
ribbon shapes flying quickly through the air, homing in on us.  Henry ID'd
this as an attack form of the Grey Philosopher undead monster.  We knew this
was bad news.  Each of two ribbons hit Gram, despite destroying some with
missile weapons.  They each had a _cause light wounds_ effect on him, in
fact directly on his face.  We tried to shoot some more, but were forced to
retreat.  The light did reveal though that we were near a gate house in the
city from which the attacks came.  As we retreated, the ribbons following us
homed in on Ceydric and delivered him a friendly 8X wound, and brought him
instantly to 0 hit points.  Luckily he could still function at 0, but the
turning had been unsuccessful up to this point.  Alegra managed (barely) to
hold them off as we retreated out of the area.  Some hands reached up out of
the ground to grab us as we retreated, but we were unable to stick around
and examine things.  The attack took everyone of Eli's offensive spells to
stall, and most of the clerics could not even affect the things.  Alegra was
the only one who could turn them at all, and even then some managed to get
through and tried to come at her, but were destroyed by missile weapons
before they reached her.  All the while we were healing Ceydric and trying
to get out of the area of evil.

Any ideas?  We probably play saturday night so suggestions before then could
be useful!

kyle/alegra

Other things from the game I did not mention:

1.  We cast a Divination on the library:
        Very powerful creatures there (no dominant alignment)
        Rich treasure is there
        "To shatter the retardation of the powers there is beyond your
reach."
        (There was much speculation on this last phrase.  Ultimately we
could not get inside without breaking a window, something we         did not
look forward to the consequences of.  For now we have         given up on
the Library.)
        (From before : The castle had "vastly powerful creatures" with
both LE and CE, with LE "vastly" dominant.  Chances of         disturbing
CE/Demons were moderate.  Chances of disturbing LE         mod to high.
[none of this kind of info was gained from out         recent Div,
specifically showing us that either Golems or         creatures of
negligible alignment or varied alignments are in         the Libe.  I
suspect there are Golems no matter what])

2.  We checked out the general aspect of the other Hexagonal Area (HA)
buildings.  The other HA buildings were all varied and some had obviously
been hit by SMART (i.e. School of Magical Arts).

3.  One of the HA buildings contained a Giant Troll which we trashed but
nearly killed Jerem and Canstin (all the more reason to train them).  We
killed it and got a little bit out of its nest but not much. Giant Trolls
where clothes and build a large bird-like nest but were otherwise uninteresting.

4.  Despite our scouting, the Behir appeared to leave the city when we
thought the Behir was gone already.  This was somewhat disturbing.

4a. Alegra does not want to kill the spider.

5.  The GP appears to control a relatively large section of the city.  To
quote the Sphinx, the Undead "are everywhere and are loosely aligned" in the
GOC.

Alegra/Kyle (top)

Summary XX:  Further Explorations of  Tan-El

Things that happened in the second game for the weekend:

1.  Dari was trained as a thief to prevent her play rating from getting too
bad.  We will train her as a thief and Canstin as a fighter after a couple
more excursions into the city.

2.  Exploring Tan-El
        a.  Finally encountered the Giant Ants in the city in the NE.
                Xavier talked to them and we retreated.
        b.  Encountered a Fire Giant exile (from the FG central gvt) who was
a Chelsean cleric (he learned from a Cloud Giant outpost) and believed
strongly in cities and societies of all kinds and races, which led to his
exile for blasphemy from the FGCG.  We talked with him and swapped
information and took him to the rebel FG colony near Middle/Tan-El.  He had
a fire mastiff giant Bassett Hound for a pet.
He provided a lot of interesting information for us and we for him,
especially about the lies propagated by the FGCG.
His name was Tarrence.  Ashen Rock, where Borglin lives (Gram might find
this interesting), was where the "ancients cremated their dead."  A people
known as the Grey People (humans with predominantly grey hair probably)
lived and traded with the FG and Stone Giants who once lived in End before
Tan-El's collapse and the destruction of a great human empire, which
produced a wasteland to the east. (there's lots more information).

Terrence has basic info about the FGCG.  And some info about ancient history of cities (like a good Chelsean) in the area.  He did mention that FG do not keep great records.  He's from the Ashen Valley, where there are volcanoes, where most of the FG empire is located; it is located in mountains far to the east from Tan-El.  Ashen Rock is a separate place far away.  Tan-el was a human civilization; the Ruins of End were a Stone Giant civilization.
 Tan-El (Tunnel) was built by humans to trade with the Grey People, Stone Giants (where End is), and Fire Giants to the east.  humans once lived north of the FG Empire, but started a war with the FG and SG and were destroyed.  Nothing was left of the empire of the humans, only a wasteland where NOTHING lives.  It is to the north of Skalrag, a FG village on the edge of the mountains in the Ashen Valley, at the north of the FG empire.  Tarrence thought that the giants would have to have been much more powerful than modern giants.
 Tan-El was spared but collapsed, since it was a breakaway city.  The tunnel in Tan-El, definitely leads to the City to the north (of Gold, the Eagles, etc.).  Who the Grey People are  is a mystery, though they were as big as humans but had grey hair and Tarrence did not think they were elves.
 [The Grey People, also known as the Old Race, were the original human inhabitants of this area of the New World.  They include Coastlanders, Karg, etc.]

        c.  The building next to Tarrence's building in Tan-El (Institute of
Military Studies) contained some ancient Sparring Golems that would produce
the correct weapon and spar with you.  The golems seem to lose their magic
when removed from the building, though.

        d.  We took another route and found a huge wasp's nest near the
Temple district, with at least 24 wasps/hornets.  Eli bagged a large number
of them while we retreated.  They were going to "go for help go for help go
for help" so we retreated when they did not follow us.

        e.  The same day as the wasps, we investigated the basement of the
Military Institute, in which were hiding a large number of ghouls (and
ghasts, we later determined).  We retreated initially (sun-coin, turning,
and retreating from the large number that included an overpowering ghast
stench that drained strength from our fighters).  We then went down with
some spell and other preparation.  Xavier, Star, and Aria held off some of
the ghouls (they came at us from behind as well) while Alegra and Eli
destroyed them.  Alegra destroyed a bunch with turning and Eli with magic
missiles and lightning bolts.  Not much treasure was found however.

That's all folks!

kyle (top)

Summary XXI:  Tan-El Again

May 17- It is a nice sunny day for the dynamic weirdos to check if the
behir is in the city.  He is not, so we enter.  Our plan is to check out
huge portions of the city with relatively cursory searching.  We start in
an area that we are familiar with and find the old mite building still
empty, the Constabulary with its teleporter, and then a room full of
bats.  Well, so they were stirges in mass numbers.  We killed them.
Inside this building was a dead fire giant wearing a symbol we had not
seen before, but carrying cash that we are quite familiar with.  Easy
money, not much pain.  Nothing else found this day.

May 18-Continuing our search, the day is relatively uneventful...and then
something terribly bad happens.  A very large beetle (15') appears in
front of the party at close range due to exceptional camouflage.  We
prepare to attack, I begin Lightning Bolt and then it emits a sonic
disaster.  A loud shriek comes from the beetle and almost the whole party
drops, as if they were dead.  Standing is Claude, Xavier, Alegra, Aria,
Ludo, and myself.  Ah, the mule was still standing as well, was Canstil
still up, I can't recall.  With my spell ruined I sought to further the
distance to get out of his breath attack but not my spell range.  Other
party members closed, attacked whatever.  It took significant damage from
lots of sources but before I could even finish my lightning bolt, it took
lethal damage from a kick by the mule, and it dropped.  Permanently dead
were Ampere, Ceydric's standard bearer, and Latte, Xavier's cavalier.
The rest of the party was just stunned.  There was no treasure recovered,
just a bad day with a Banshee Beetle.  We return to Middle for much
needed rest.

May 20- Searching through more buildings, Ludo finds a rather difficult
to see trap door on the ground in one building.  As he touches it a
glowing orb jumps through the trap door and hovers in place, it shocks
Ludo with some lightning bolt type thing.  We weren't really sure if this
was intelligent or some automated defense so while we studied our options
it went on the offensive.  Attacking Ludo and then myself (once I started
casting a spell) the party was in dire straights.  It was VERY difficult
to hit with weapons (but could be hit by any weapon, not just magic)  and
I was knocked unconscious before the battle was through.  I awoke moments
later only to be attacked again by the creature, apparently it knew I was
a magic user and a threat to its existence.  Luck brought us several hits
against the creature with Gram scoring the most...I had to act like I was
dead to avoid it becoming a reality.  Its attacks were just too fast for
me to get a spell off.  But, eventually the battle was brought outside
and the Will-o-the-wisp decided that it had taken enough punishment and
must now relinquish the treasure but not its life so it fled at top speed
over the city.  Not to let a creature like that live to see another day,
Lowar's Improved Magic Missiles scored near maximum damage and
obliterated the beast even though it was far away.  What a great spell!
The treasure was vast...the party was rich. We return to Middle.

May 22-June 25th

The party decides to have a minor down time.  Dari, Canstin, Henry,
Jerem, Star, and Claude all train!  Gram, Xavier, Aria, Theo, and Ludo
all travel to End to speak with Beck the sage.  [research findings noted
later].

We also decide to speak with the dead body of the person bearing the
scroll of immense power.  He was Maverick, an 11th level wizard believing
in some conspiracy that spiders will take over the world.  He used to
adventure with SMART but was rejected.  He then returned to Tan-Eli,
ahem, Tan-El to destory the ethereal spider.  His plan was to cast Phase
Door on the spider...just to kill it, yes, he went insane.  He told us
SMART limited its activity in the city, and didn't go to the library
because it was scatterblocked!  I am sure am glad none of us tried to
Dimension Door in! Anyway here is his comments on the conspiracy,

"apprentices didn't believe me.  It became clear when I as reading about
a power paladin...there was a lizardman, salamander, and fuzzy blue
critter [volt] all chanting "gee whiz", that was the connection"

I personally believe he was reading some historical documents and that
the above should tell us something.  I am still trying to figure out what.
Anyway, he authored several interesting spells including _Rain of
Razorblades_, and told us how SMART recovered the volts.

June 25-26  Back to base camp, the down time is over (still no responses
from Wicker, Evard, or Skylltor).  Not much of note, kill a couple of ogres.

June 27-  Today we discovered what the LE force in the city is.  We were
exploring a block right next to the mountain, when we found a nice iron
bound wooden door.  We did all the usual procedures and opened it up.
Continual lights made a nice little tunnel visible that extended past our
vision.  We could hear a windchime within.  Our invisible friend Thurmond
scouts for us and returns with bad news.  He saw a creature in a very
large room up ahead that matches the description of a Kobold.  We have
every reason to believe this tunnel a Kobold trap (the kobold was
screaming for help)...we leave and think about our options.  Wonder if
Halt is free?

We bag a couple of giant minks for even more cash, although it could have
been even more than that if Jerem and Canstin obeyed direct orders.

June 29-
A couple of giant toads killed, we return to base camp.
-----------------

-Zack Hubert-

We researched the Stone Giant civilization at End (which also coincides with
our researched history of the Stone Giant Hammer, as we found out).  We also
tried to research the Library, but Beck could find no information, other
than that it was used by all factions in the city (public, private, etc.
were not clear but it was not a sage or magic library).  He found a couple
of pretty strong possible sources, but he had to order them.  We will have
the info in a month or less (the training month was included in the 1-2
month expected time to receive the books).  He expected them to be very good
sources...

kyle/alegra (top)

Summary XXII: Little Was Ultimately Accomplished...

First of all, everyone got back from their travels.  Xavier brought back
lots of disposable items from Lorm for our attack against the
abominations.  Eli brought back Slow, Ruben's Warriors, Monster Summoning
I, Rope Trick, 27k sage credit, Amulet of Protection from
Detection:Golems, Ioun Stone of Protection +1, grey Ioun Stone that makes
you tired (enigma value), and the ever disappointing Chime of Opening.
Ceydric takes Kergul's items to be identified.  The only item that is
wacky is the ring of alignment obscurement, it has a Feeblemind
contingency in it that will go off when the condition is met.  What fun.
We sell the nerve poison etc.  Party has 40k in credit and cash.

With the Chime of Opening we decide to go to the library, the enigma that
has beaten us so many times before.  I will make a long story short, Gram
plays the chimes, 5 charges used (13 left), doors open, some people go
in.  Doors disappear and reappear shut.  Inside is a guy (Tellah) that
Eli identifies as a Lich or a Shade (he rolled really well too).  Grey
hair, pitted skin, solid blue eyes.  Invisibly he has chains around his
wrists anchored to the center of the room.  He was Zardis, a ridiculously
powerful wizard that lived a life of infamy.  A hero sacrificed himself
so Zardis would put on a ring that arrested his power.  He was then
brought before the "Council" and in their "infinite wisdom" cast a REALLY
powerful spell/ceremony that bound him to be the keeper of the library,
it also limited his ability so he was no longer as much of a threat
(yeah, right).  So we ended up asking him a million questions wasting the
entire evening, everything was circular.  We couldn't go in the basement
where the bindery was, the golems there have no power, and the following
things would provoke Tellah :taking his spell books, taking his items (he
radiated level 5 magic, Enchantment, Evocation), going down stairs,
breaking windows etc.  Augurys gave us the impression that provoking
Tellah probably released him and he would then destroy 1000's of
innocents.  Fun eh?

We went through a ridiculous number of ideas to try and do something here
and everything had the same results.  The only cool thing is we can stay
here in the city overnight (if only someone was inside to open the door
for us).
 

Eli Comments
------------

Personally I am worried.  There are lots of adventurers that fool around
in Tan-El.  If one of the others provoked Tellah, Middle would be in
serious trouble.  If Konrad is only a month away, I think we should wait
for him and kill this Lich.  The the treasure isn't the reason but the
peace of mind is.  We also should infer that Tyner could have been
imprisoned in the same way.  Let's avoid both places.
 

Player Comments
---------------

As a side note, the game sucked.  What this means is that all of us here
are incredibly frustrated and will probably have a short fuse about any
comments about the library.  I was telling this to Jack on the way home
last night, but I personally am to the point where I don't care how much
magic and treasure we recover...I want to get something done in the
city.  I want to kill the abominations, Tellah, Grey philosopher,
kobolds, whatever.  To this end I don't want to do any more puzzles, I
just want to start thrashing bozos.  Maybe that will give us some more
experience so we can handle ridiculous deity level magics.
--

> We couldn't go to the basement, but could we get to the books?  Could we

The books were once on the main floor.  Some worms got to the books a
while ago, all that is left is covers.  All the information was
destroyed.  The covers were in Runic I and had a wide variety of topics.
None were magical.  Tellah was pissed that the council in their infinite
wisdom did not grant him the power to prevent the infestation.

ALL the books were worm food.  There was a book called "A Life of Infamy"
that gave us all the information about Tellah/Zardis (left by the council
as part of his indignity) and a dictionary on the local language.  I am
trying to get info from edwin about the dictionary.

We asked lots of questions.

The comment on breaking the retardation is, in my opinion, referring to
the Disjunction (9th level) necessary to free Zardis.

-Zack Hubert- (top)

Summary XXIII:  More Information about Tellah

Some auguries to keep in mind:
To attempt to steal the spell books:
"Vast disappointment will surround any unlikely survivors."
        [pretty bummin', I'd say!]
To try to test Tellah's powers with a monster summoning:
"Wounds will be nursed with the small comfort of disturbing answers."
        [hmmmm, not exactly making us jump at it]
To try to pick-pocket or remove any of Tellah's rings, etc.:
"Only vast disaster will result."
        [duh!]
To try to attack Tellah:
"Partial success could kill thousands of innocents."

Other things of note:
Spells or magical items cannot be used in the library (though latent
protections devices and so on were not prevented, and neither were spells
cast through the open door into the library).

We happened to mention the Tangg-Lord and he said that he "could only aspire
to ever reach such a position."  He stated that Tangg-Lord was a proper name
and so we could not find it in the dictionary.

Tellah might have been stated in Xavier's Astrology reading:
"The tall, dark figure will fail to threaten you."

Trying to enter through the basement level would have resulted in:
"Certain disappointment will result."

The front door (before we used the chime):
"Faith in others abilities will rise."  (This certainly makes me feel both
that Tellah is much more powerful than I expected)

Baleful is about as smart as dog, and has only the powers we have already
attributed to him.  To look on the brightside, Edwin did say that Faranyn
would practically have to be feebleminded and on the brink fo death for
Baleful to take him over.  :)

He is not a friend of Tyner.

He has heard of the Codex of Defense but has never seen it (random ?)

One book was found in the tongue of the Yavad, which I believe was something
like dwarven.  The Runic I found here is somewhat dialectical.

Tan-El is not his civilization.

Zardos' "Life of Infamy":
        Killed, tortured, and maimed many people.
        Good clerics went to try to stop his rampage and summoned Devas
to their aid.  Zardos killed the devas (ouch!) and made a
headress from their feathers (Alegra would like to smack him            for
this, among other much worse things).  At the end of the book, the vastly
powerful warrior-champion of the civilization ruled by a council on a
mountain-plateau attempts to stop Zardos.  He died fighting Zardos and
Zardos uses the magical sword of the warrior to kill his compatriots.  At
the end, Zardos takes the vast magical ring of the warrior and puts it on,
which causes something that results in his imprisonment and capture.

The council then 'addled his powers' greatly.  They used much type 5 magic
to hold him to the library.  he cannot leave.  he cannot remember much of
himself, where he would go if he were free for instance.  He does not deny
the facts of "A life of infamy," only the stated reasons for Zardos'
actions.  [We didn't get a lot of his reasons on the original flip-through,
though more information is still avaible to get as we ended the adventure in
the library]

Tellah will attempt to restrain, and then destroy anything that violates his
conditions.  But he cannot ever leave the library, so he cannot be drawn
outside.

He has black, dark hair, grey, pitted, not-quite-rotting looking skin, and
uniform blue eyes.  No white no anything different in them.

He considers himself to be a "greatly crippled human."

He is 7 feet tall.

The binding facilities in the basement are not functioning (no visitors are
allowed in the basement!), due to some external problem (like SMART took the
battery for instance).  The only golems in the library are in the bindery.
They have not worked in a long time, though Tellah seems unable to
distinguish much about time.

An attempt to enter one of Star's poems into the collection required the
approval of the "proper authorities," who are all dead probably.
 
>The name change is obvious, he is a new person now.  With the powerful
>magic on him, he has to be Tellah the librarian, instead of Zardis the
>destroyer of worlds.

It is worth noting that the Council did give him his new name.

The Council has also changing in number and power over years.

---

Beck had some of the following info (which would have been useful
beforehand but somehow it slipped all of our minds that night):

Zardos was captured using the ring of the great warrior (as mentioned
before):  it was a +6 ring of protection that had masked in its power a
spell that would addle/imprison the wearer that consumed the +6 ring as
its material component.

The people who captured him thought that to waste his mind by killing him
or putting him in a hole in the ground was criminal and so he was instead
chained to the library.  He was considered to be one of the greatest minds
of his generation.  But, actually, he couldn't be killed anyway...

The Council had determined that he could not be killed and was in fact
almost totally invulnerable to physical and magical attacks of all kinds.
This is why they needed to make an item that he would voluntarily accept.
The reason he was invulnerable/immortal was because he was "sponsored"
more or less by the evil deity who shall remain nameless because it is
dangerous to speak his name.  Whether this is a devil or demon is also not
clear.  Until that "sponsorship" was removed he would be totally invulnerable.

The Council had the power to demand answers of all kinds from him but this
was dangerous as he then could retain cognition of said things
potentially.  (i.e.  "How do you cast lightning bolt?"  "ZAP!")
Others merely had the authorized answers of the Council.

Whether the sponsorship has been removed is not clear.  However,
Zardos/Tellah IS still alive.  Whether this is due to the holding magic or
the original effect is not clear.

All of the jewelry on Tellah's person is part of the enchantment: DO NOT
REMOVE!  However, he has one item not mentioned in the sources:  The key
to the front door.  This item cannot be removed.  "It is [his] charge to
retain possession of the key."

There may be more but this is all I can remember at the moment...

---

I agree that dealing with Zardos at this point is futile.
However, we can still come up with questions to ask him and things to try
over the week, if folks get bright ideas over the week.

kyle/alegra (top)

Summary XVIV: Finishing Some Easy Tasks

Greetings one and all, we have an interesting story to relate today, one
of fame and fortune, but also of infamy and loss.

We started the evening in the library.  There were a couple of things
that were brought up in email to try but both Jack and I didn't want to
get bogged down in the library again, so we took off to explore the city.

In one of the blocks, was a rather run down old Inn.  Ludo detected a
secret panel in one of the walls, fairly well hidden.  Xavier checked to
insure that Ludo was successful in determining there was no traps.  Since
there were none, Ceydric opened up the panel.  TAKE TWO.  Out of the
panel flies a purple glowing ball, another Will-o-the-wisp.  Being the
sturdy cavalier that he is Ceydric pummels the thing, while everyone else
is readying the weapons they will need to hit it.  Eli leaves the
building (so he can cast a spell without him seeing it) and lets off a
Limm, near max damage.  Canstin hits, Jerem hits, lots of 20's rolled.
Eli tries a burning hands and slow, both have no effect.  The clerics are
busy healing and aiding Ceydric, the target of all its attacks.  Eli
blasts it with another Limm and the thing takes off into the city.
Unfortunately, due to Eli's 4 segments recovery, it got away.  So Ceydric
goes back over to the panel and some skeletal hand reaches out and starts
grabbing for his throat.  He begins to pummel it, Eli limms it, the
clerics try to turn it (no avail).  It is muttering in a very old dialect
of dwarven that Claude understands..'stay away from my money'.  So,
eventually it hits Ceydric, grabs his neck, it proceeds to drain hit
points from Ceydric's total, kind of sucked but we managed to kill it.
The hit points returned.  The skeleton had +1 leather armor (dwarven
sized), a Ring of Feather Falling, and a Bucknard's Everful Purse.  We
grabbed those, and then, thanks to Jerem, we decided to grab the
nonmagical stuff too.  Amongst the nonmagical stuff were 100 realmish
platinum and ... about 65000 in assorted jewelry.  We return to Middle to
store away such treasures.  At this point, the party is worth 100k :)

We again venture into the city, but as we leave Middle, marked on one of
the barn's is, "give me back my treasure - the behir", damn will-o-wisp,
we should have finished the job.  The people are panicked but we assure
Faranyn that it is just a will-o-wisp.

We go to the plaza area (right next to the library) and explore the
central over grown portion.  There are a couple of fountains and then in
the middle, a rather cool little building.  Outside of it is a large
statue of a man on a big platform...non magical.  We go inside the
building, brass pipes, wheels, gears, a mess of engineering, a water
runoff ramp, oh, and SMART stenciled in big letters on a huge cylinder.
We descend down some stairs and find a huge room with a stone cylinder
rising through the center.  This, Eli guessed correctly, is a battery.
On the ground were two fuzzy, grey things.  We weren't sure what they
were so brave Xavier went down with speak with animals and got within
30'.  Ludo threw a rock to wake one of them up.  It started to quiver,
slowly rise up, extend a huge hairless tail, open these big insect like
eyes and make straight for Xavier, it was a Volt.  Several sleep magicks
went off and the things hit the floor.  We left.

We decide to destroy the hornets.  We go to Temple street and Ice Storm
their nest.  A couple dozen fly out of the building and act confused,
they complain about high winds (thanks to 4 dust devils) and then
eventually notice our party.  The swarm comes out...too many to count but
on the order of 40 or so.  Xavier in his ultimate charm manages to
convince them that we didn't cause the winds.  We take off, and decide on
a war of attrition against these guys.

I think the same day, but I could be wrong, we are heading back to the
library when Jerem fails to alert the party of a closing monster (Jen was
rolling terrible surprise checks, unfortunately it mattered this time),
trundling out of its camouflaged location, a Banshee Beetle gets within
range of the party and shreiks.  Ludo, thanks to his insane dex, gets out
of the way (negated all three surprise segments) and is unaffected.
Unfortunately almost everyone drops.  Standing is Claude, Henry, Canstin,
Ludo, and Jerem.  Ludo hurls the dart of the hornet's nest (yes, it
looked that bad) and pummeled the beetle with 12 +2 darts, Canstin starts
attacking, Jerem attacks, Claude administers potion to Eli, Henry gets in
its face and starts thrashing it.  Henry deals the killing blow and then,
oh, Gram was up too, Gram assesses the damage.  Deirdre is worked and in
need of serious attention, potions are administered left and right to
prevent permanent shock damage.  In the end, everyone is dandy except
Deirdre (Xavier's magic user buddy), she needs a month of bed rest.

We return to the library, Eli asks everyone to cover their wounds as they
head back to Middle so we don't look toasted.  Unfortunately it didn't
work, at base camp we are attacked during first shift by the
will-o-wisp.  Ceydric hits several times, Henry yells for the party to
awake.  Henry gets toasted and runs with negative function to awaken
Alegra.  Eli wakes up and hammers it with a 23 point Limm.  Naturally, it
goes for him.  Eli gets hit and falls over as if he were dead.  Canstin
tags it, Eli rolls out of combat.  Ludo hits, Xavier hits, Eli stands and
Limms it again.  Max damage.  Eli runs towards the party as it goes for
him.  Within the next 3 segments someone hits it and causes it to flee
again, due to the night cover, it gets away.

We get back to middle, Eli acquires Magic Missile (limm is too slow
against the will-o-wisp).  And then we head back to Tan-El.

The behir is in the city and we have a difficult time getting to the
people in the library but we do.

That is all!

Questions, comments, omissions?

-Zack Hubert- (top)
 
Summary XV:  Castle Bah Nareth, the Great Ones, and other menaces

Divination on the Castle:
Creatures there are vastly powerful.
Very rich treasure in the area
The forces of chaotic evil are present and the chance of disturbing them are
high
The forces of lawful evil and vastly dominant, but dormant, the chance of disturbing is moderate to high under the special circumstances
---
Two days after back in town - in the war room -
  "I WILL KILL YOU ALL IN YOUR SLEEP IF YOU DO NOT RETURN MY TREASURE"
Just some cud to chew on.
    E-
---
Results of the Commune spell:

1)  Does the LE force in the castle consist of Kobolds   NO

2)  Are there 2 abominations                YES

3)  Do they intend to assist each other    NO

4)  Is the second GO in the same room as last time  YES

5)  Is there large numbers of pets, guardians, and automata
    in the castle that we should expect to fight  YES

6)  Can we expect to be attacked by the above pets etc.  on the
    way to attack the second go     NO

7)  Is the LE force undead     NO

8)  Is the LE force confined     YES

9)  Will killing the GO free the LE force   NO

10)  Does the LE force consist largely of beings of supernatural
     evil       YES
 

Hmmm.  Looks like you might be right David, a friendly devil in a bottle
perhaps?

-Zack Hubert-

We should remember with these questions that the point was Power or
Control over the castle, not numbers.  If a confined Devil controls Undead
in the castle this would be perfectly consistent, for instance.

kyle/alegra

Since you obviously have some idea what his party consists of, I'll clear
things up a little bit so you can incorporate it into your planning.

Konrad  Paladin, magical full plate,large shield and scimitar. rides a
 pegasus.  He almost qualifies as a GAT (God Awful Thing)

Memphis Fighter/Mage

Muriel  Fighter/Cleric/Mage

Vit Mage/Linguist

Daria Fighter, magical khopesh.  Konrad's daughter.

Konrad will also be bringing various magic items to distribute for party
use while he is there.  We can possibly arrange permanent trades if there
is something you want to keep.  Spells are also available for trade.

If you want levels or more information I'll provide what I can.

 Rodger Henson (top)

Summary XXVI:  The Final Steps in the Inevitable Defeat of the Great Old Ones (or Great Ones)

Hello, all!

Konrad & co. arrived with some fanfare, we killed the WOTW (see Zack's note below),
and prepared for the GOO attack.  We prepared the party by dividing it into teams Alpha,
Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Foxtrot and Tango.  Echo was dissolved since its
mission was not entirely clear.  Tango's mission was to stay at the Transporter.

A,B,C checked out the courtyard and Theo and Konrad killed the 2 giant
poisonous snakes there before they could react.

We then executed the Plan, and entered the building, sleeping and killing
the guardian snakes in the Entranceway and burning the contact poison off
the handle (that Ludo discovered).

We opened the door to the GOO's quarters and entered its room, Ceydric and
Faranyn, with team A ready to fly in.  It retreated out of a back door, past
a glyph, throwing lightning bolts.  Xavier dispelled the glyph and the wall
of ice that sprung up.  We chased it around corners and up stairs, getting
an occasional shot at it with arrows and by Konrad and Theo.  It went over
another glyph and the rest of B piled up behind while A went forward.  It
failed to open a door and they wailed it; Faranyn crashed over the glyph and
was Blinded.  It ducked through a secret door and kept being hit by Konrad
and Theo.

The small corridor it slithered down could only be rushed one at a time, or
slightly more.  It tried several times to lightning bolt, even though we
were Protected.  Several times it reflected its attacks back at itself.
Once it even smashed itself with its own lightning bolt and was affected by it.

It slipped through the end and slammed the door behind, and Konrad failed to
keep it open.  A Blade Barrier cutting down the corridor gave significant
trouble to A + Ceydric and Janthro (Jerem's brother).  Konrad caught the
catch and he and Ceydric jumped through and we Flame Struck (ouch!).  Konrad
managed to keep after it (and destroy the scroll it was using to do this
stuff) but Ceydric had to retreat.  Faranyn kept after it, as did Janthro
after healing, Cassana, and Jerem.  Theo and Ceydric returned to the surgeon
Gilthanus.  Xavier was busy running every which way healing and pondering
the situation.

About this time, Alegra had rearranged the deployment of Delta once again
(after first accounting for the move by the GOO to cover our backs).  She
heard noises from Konrad coming from behind the Glyphed area in the northern
corridor.  She set the archers ready to attack and prepared a Dispel.

Konrad chased the GOO into the room beyond the Glyph and the archers let
loose.  Alegra attempted to dispel the Glyph but failed.  Star threw a Wall
of Ice in front of it to prevent it from getting out of that room through
the door it again failed to get through.

Several volleys of missile weapons, Konrad's continued attacks, and Jerem's
final attack, levelled the GOO, which had been healing itself all along but
could no longer withstand the persistent attacks of the forces of Good.

Its head was removed.

The Glyph remains in place, a Bell begins ringing in the Towers above us.

------------------This is where we ended until tomorrow ----------

kyle/alegra

We started out the game by defeating the Will-o-the-Wisp.  We decided to
write a couple of scrolls with Magic Missile x2 on them and when the WOTW
showed up next, Eli and Deirdre hammered it and defeated it in 3
segments.  This was after a great deal of time wasted, waiting for the
WOTW to show up.

Needless to say, base camp on the ridge probably looks like a lived in
apartment now...(we were there for over 60 days).

-Zack Hubert-

The attack of the third and final GOO came right after the second one's
defeat.  Teams A and B were strung out still from the first kill and had not
yet regrouped when a bell rang.  When Alegra regrouped part of D and C to
cover the corridors we had not covered well to the sides, bolts raked team D
in the great hall (coming from arrow slits around and above).  Team D was
separated from A and B by a large glyph and from C by a large part of the
great hall.

Just as Henry and Daria came into place, the third GOO came from a side
corridor at them and they turned to engage it.  It wielded a huge battleaxe
and a lance in its human arms.  When the lance could not reach them when
they ducked out of the way, the lance shortened to spear size.  A large
guardian serpent-man came from behind them at the same time, with a Lesser
One.  Star Ice-walled them.

The ensuing chaos was long and hard-fought.  Multiple volleys of bolts
rained down, though sporadic and some times poisoned.  Eli and Claude ducked
into a side room where Eli summoned powerful warriors from another Plane.
Aria eventually ended up in this room as bugbears and LO tried to break in.
The doors held at first which saved Aria, then the Warriors arrived and held
off the line of bugbears and LO.  Archers arrived and several LO were
plugged by team D remnants and some from team B.  Eli lightning bolted the
lot of them and killed almost all of the bugbears instantly and one of the
LO.  The other LO here was clearly insane.  Short work was made of the
remaining.

In the great hall, Memphis plugged and knocked unconscious the LO who
stepped out onto a balcony with a couple bugbears.  They retreated.

Teams A and B and party of team F converged on the battle with the GOO and
the serpent-man when he broke through the wall.  It took a long time but
once the whole group was in place the sustained damage of Theo and Konrad
and Ceydric along with the new damage from Faranyn and Daria killed it,
setting off another bell, but no other people responded.

We retrieved all of the gear, healed people, killed the unconscious LO, and
explored and found treasure.  All told, the adventure for the SS was not
hugely profitable, but the treasure was more than acceptable, and a huge
goal was accomplished.

Konrad's party took a good amount of treasure and the following magic items
(every body got treasure, the greatest portions going to, in this order, the
SS (includes exemptions from Middle), the Auroran Church, Konrad, followed
by the rest):
The +1 lance that changes from any size between a heavy lance and a spear.
The bastard sword +3 vs. troglydytes (I have no idea how to spell that).
[this was from the first GOO that we never recovered]
A potion of invisibility.

The SS got (using one of its tax-exemptions from Middle):
The Battleaxe +3
The earrings of lightning bolts (30 charges)
a clerical scroll at 12th level
several potions and tokens

The colony of Middle (and Faranyn) got:
The bastard sword +3 vs. bugbears
A potion of climbing and clairaudience.

Gor got:
A potion of water breathing

Gilthanus got:
A potion of cure disease
 

Still to come (but probably not until next semester):
The Grey Philosopher

perhaps other evil-monster killing in Tan-El.

--------------
This was the last SS game of the semester.  There may be games in the summer
but we do not yet know.  Stay tuned!

Yes, this summary was abbreviated but the details are not terribly important
to overall understanding ( but were very important to the battle ).  Fill in
anything I forgot at your leisure, guys...

kyle (top)

Summary XXVII:  The Grey Philosopher and Sacrol:  Reconn and Divination

A Divination of the Zone of the GP: (2000 + 2000 from Konrad's diamond +
Ring of Alignment Shielding)

The Forces of XXXXXX are prevalent in the area
The strength of the forces are only strong, but inspiringly resilient.
There is vast immobile irrecoverable treasure in the area.
Moderate wealth is also in the area.

XXXXXX is the name of the/an infernal power who's name should not be
invoked.  We went to get the name researched from Beck, and Eli invoked the
name the second time.  It summoned a weird abyssling-like creature with
weird abilities (Eli, Sahrak, Yorlik, Xavier, Claude went to End for this).
Yorlik was eaten.  Eli escaped with a dimension door.  Beck saved Xavier in
the end.  Eli, before leaving, dropped some vitrioli which nearly killed the
first creature, sending it back to its plane, and ultimately killing the
second, which did not make it back.  A third, small, fanged, winged,
cat-like being appeared and touched Eli. Eli then had many black traceries
all over his skin.  This turned out to be "Tainting," that is, Eli could be
_Turned_ by good clerics, detected as a point of Evil (Malignant), and could
not in fact be affected by clerical healing magics (since clerics can't
touch him).  An _Atonement_ would be necessary to help him.

When they arrived back in Middle, Eli was _Dispel Magic_ed/Remove Curse_d.
This temporarily (for 10 days) removed the Taint, which then allowed us to
attack the GP.

Kyle (top)
 

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All pages copyright Kyle Scott MacLea, 1994-2004, excepting works cited by others and artwork, which are copyright of the respective individual.