Blogger / Google Group Fixed

I fixed Blogger and our Google Group to work together again. You should again receive E-mails when a new blog post is published.

XP for last session

Each player gained 2400 experience for the session.

Congratulations! You have gained level 14. Please level up your character before the next session.

XP for last 2 sessions

Each player gained 3600 experience for the last two sessions.

Total XP: 44700 (level 14 at 47000 xp)

XP for last 2 sessions

Each player gained 6400 experience for the last two sessions.

Congratulations! You have gained level 13. Please level up your character before the next session.

Total XP: 41100 (level 14 at 47000 xp)

XP for last session

Each player gained 2550 experience for the 10/22/10 session.

Total XP: 34700 (level 13 at 39000 xp)

XP for last 2 sessions

Each player gained 1500 experience for the two sessions. This takes your characters to level 12.

Total XP: 32150 (level 13 at 39000 xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session 15

Each player gained 1600 experience for the session.

Total XP: 30650 (level 12 at 32000 xp)

The Dwarven Forge

After findin' the treasure in the room with the dwarven forge and inspectin' it, I could see that it would require significantly less resources to repair the mirror and the throne at the forge of their creation rather than to do it at my workshop back at the airship. I sent some of the others to start carrying some of the tools and materials up above, with instructions on where to take it. Aurora offered to stay behind with me and help clear out the area, and to offer her protection as I worked on the repairs.

That's when things got a little.... unexpected.

See, we were headin' 'round the corner from where the forge was, and a vampire appeared. He said that he was a follower of the vampire mistress Calderas, and that on her behalf he was offering to set up a mutually beneficial arrangement: we leave alone the lower level, containing the crypt, the treasures, and her minions, and they would leave us to have the top level of the city. When I hesitated, he threatened to beset their army against us immediately... a battle Aurora an' me weren't prepared to fight by ourselves, but reiterated that they would cause us no trouble, no harm, and would not trespass on our area for one year if we would agree to the same.

Now, I'm a reasonable sort. I don't believe in persecuting vampires just because they're undead like some of those divine folks do, and there's nothin' wrong in and of itself with making a nonaggression pact. And these guys don't follow an evil deity, they follow the Blood of Vol, an unaligned religion. So I was willing to consider it. It was better than gettin' killed immediately, and it could buy us valuable time to get the items repaired in the forge, savin' us a lot of money. But I made it clear to the vampire (we learned his name was Danlerna) that I couldn't speak for the other members of my team. He was persuasive, and tried hard to get me to commit, but I told him I couldn't speak for the rest of the lot and we'd talk to 'em about it. I also said I couldn't agree carte blanche to a year... that if his lot were preying on townspeople for example then we couldn't let that be. He did say that in the past that conditions were very poor in parts of the Lower City, and they had offered to convert some of the willing poor into undead, that the life they had under Calderas' care was better than they were being given in their own city. Again, I found it hard to become upset by letting the people choose their lot, as long as it was done willingly. So I told 'im that meantime, me an' Aurora were willing to leave the second level be and do what we came to do.

With this, Danlerna seemed pleased, and ... I have to say it was weird, he then asked us to do them a favor as part of our new agreement. He said his mistress had a history with a lich named Gath, and she wanted the lich killed in return for something of our choosing. We were free to choose riches, treasures, or a favor at a later date, but she wanted Gath to be ended. The vampire said that the lich, who follows the ways of the Keeper, haunts the City of the Dead. He explained that liches are undead wizards who store their soul in an object called a phylactery, but couldn't elaborate on what the phylactery was. He said that Gath trusts a tiefling necromancer, his second-in-command, named Freya Darkmane. Due to the history between Calderas and Gath (which we later learned was personal: Gath had killed Calderas' lover, years ago), it would be difficult for Calderas to go after him directly, which is why they were recruiting a team of adventurers to do it and letting us name our price.

I heard 'im out. An' I just wasn't sure. I'm not an assassin, or a vampire's errand-boy. But I told 'im I'd look into it. If the world has one less evil lich, that could be satisfactory for all parties concerned. At least it was worth learning more about. And with that, Danlerna was gone, and we saw a number of undead leaving the area. Aurora an' I looked around the rest of the place and found it vacant, just as Danlerna said. And with that, I set to work on the throne and the mirror.

They were beautiful, grand pieces once, and it was satisfying to see them restored to their previous grandeur. Aurora waited patiently as I toiled for hours, sweating in the hot forge (and these fires were the hottest I've ever worked at, but as I worked the flames seemed to bend and put the heat exactly where I wanted it... remarkable control). But at last, they were done. An' it was then that Aurora said she didn't want to bother me while I was concentratin', but now that I was done she wanted to bring to my attention that the others had never returned, and the throne and mirror together were more than the two of us could carry.

With items of such value, I was not keen on leaving them in Calderas' lair where they could be appropriated. So we looked in the newly-fixed mirror, thinkin' we might just ask the others to come back down. Through the mirror, we could see the airship, so at least they had made it that far... but there was no one there. Aurora offered to go check on things in the airship, so she did that... after awhile I saw her appear in the mirror and tell me there was no one there. We talked about it a bit and decided it would be worth her going to check in the brothel, which she found rummaged but empty with no sign of the others. And on her way back, she happened across Colvin and a mate of his, getting beat down by some thugs. While I was sorting through tools and materials, Aurora stepped in and gave Colvin an' 'is mate a hand, and brought 'em back. Lucky he had Colvin with 'im, so he could warn Colvin without letting on to Valance that the artificer down in the forge was a bugbear (to blend in better with the part of town that we used to access the forge).

Colvin's friend as a man named Valance Breen. In a set of weird coincidences, Colvin said that he had just been researching Calderas and Gath, but when we inquired he didn't know anything more than we did. In particular, I was trying to determine whether he had learned anything that would expose Calderas as evil, but he didn't know much about her other than that she was a vampire that followed the Blood of Vol. Valance was definitely a "Rah, kill the undead!" type for sure.

Anyhow, I wrapped the mirror and the throne, and the other 3 carried the throne while I carried the mirror topside to the airship. On our way, we found ourselves jumped (Colvin musta been havin' a bad day) by four bugbears, seven goblins, six ghouls, and two necromancers. Aurora fought most bravely, but there were a lot of guys on us and it started to look a little dicey. Towards the end of the battle I got the chance to sit on the Throne of Dominion. That was most satisfying, as I commanded the remaining ghouls to leave, and the bugbears and goblins to drop their weapons and leave, and the necromancers to drop their weapons and surrender. A few attacks later, we'd knocked one of the necromancers unconscious (the other had fled).

After havin' a bit o'fun in the throne, I decided to let Aurora have a turn, so she took the throne during the interrogation of the necromancer. Turns out that Gath had sent them to collect bodies for the lich. It turns out that they were trying to collect the wrong bodies, as it was about all the motivation that me an' Aurora needed to decide to track down the lich and destroy his phylactery. The necromancer didn't know anything about the phylactery itself, but did tell us that the lich resides in the dragon crypts in the City of the Dead, and that Freya was his lover and they both could be found together in the mausoleum. He told us about their meetings on Wednesdays and Fridays at midnight and gave us maps as well as telling us us about the traps and their forces. After he was no more use to us, we took the 300 gold and 40 silver from his pockets, and Colvin and Valance took him to the Temple of the Silver Flame.

Aurora an' I got a chance to talk then, and we decided that for now it'd be best not to mention Calderas to the group, not knowing how Oris and Colvin would react. So when our mates asked for our report, I told 'em the important part of the truth... the part they needed to know, which is that we cleared the area and repaired the items after determining that there weren't any threats.

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Sessions 12, 13, and 14

Session 12: 1200

Session 13: 650

Session 14: 1200

Total XP: 29050 (level 12 at 32000 xp)

Other Info about Session #11

As part of Session #11, the party visited Korranberg. Feel free to shop in Korranberg before next session. It is a decent-sized city, so you should be able to find most things that you might be looking for at the standard 20% markup rate. However, please send any purchases to me, so I can verify them and decide if they are rare enough to warrant extra mark-up or unavailability.

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #11

Each player gained 1800 experience for the session.

Congratulations! You have gained level 11, which is the beginning of the Paragon Tier.

Total XP: 26000 (level 12 at 32000 xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #10

Each player gained 1200 experience for the session.

Total XP: 24200 (level 11 at 26000 xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #9

Each player gained 1000 experience for the session.

Total XP: 23000 (level 11 at 26000 xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #8

Each player gained 1300 experience for the session.

Total XP: 22000 (level 11 at 26000 xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #7

Each player gained 800 experience for the session.

Total XP: 20700 (level 11 at 26000 xp)

Congratulations! You have gained level 10. Pick out your new utility power and feat, and start thinking about paragon paths!

XP for Slaves of the Old Prophecy Session #1

Each player gained 1100 experience for the session.

Total XP: 19900 (level 10 at 20500 xp)

XP for Recent Sessions

Derrick and Aurora Hunt Aaron Black (6/4/2010) - 500

Investigating the Brothel (6/18/2010) - 900

Beneath the Brothel (6/25/2010) - 1000

Defending the Crystal (7/2/2010) - 600

Rescuing Derrick and Finding the Forge (7/9/2010) - 500

Moving the Treasure (7/16/2010) - 850

Lich Hunting for Fun and Profit (7/23/2010) - 950

Total so far: 18800

Level 10 at 20500

My day as a kid

It's nice to be in Sharn again. We've spent several days here, and I've been working hard. I made a quickbeam staff for Colvin, and after that I didn't see 'im too much... best as I can figure, he got caught up in a quest for the Silver Flame, not that I've been spendin' much time lookin' 'round for 'im what with all the work I've been doing. Mostly I've been putting a lot of hours into this chest, and it's really coming along as a beautiful piece o' work. Of course, the enchantment itself never takes long, but you can't rush the process of really crafting a fine item down to the details. Having finished the outside and done all the inlay work, once I finish the lining, it should be complete. I've talked to Wynelle about setting up a business arrangement and I think we have agreed on terms that will be beneficial to both of us. It was great to meet up with her again, have a pint, catch up for old times' sake.

The others have set off on a small rescue mission to recover some slaves, and I stayed behind so as not to miss the convention at Morgrave University. I haven't been to one in years and couldn't really pass up the chance. Of course the others understood, as the better I get at my trade, the more beneficial it is to them as well. Anyhow, we also found out about a moneybroker behind the slaves that's here in town, so me an' Aurora are going to look into that in the meantime. Pr'aps my... other skills will come in handy in acquiring information or infiltrating if necessary. And it's always useful to have someone with ye who's handy with a weapon (or two!).

Thanks to my connections with House Cannith, the guards of the town hired us to track down the moneybroker, a man by the name of Aaron Black. We learned that he's rich, likely to be living in the Upper City or the Skyway under an alias. We were offered 10000 gold to capture him alive, and 6000 if we turned in his dead body. They said he was likely to have bodyguards.

With that, Aurora and I started asking around in the Lower City, where we learned that Black has dealings with the Black Market (no pun intended, I'm sure), where deals in slaves and drugs. We also learned that Aaron Black was a drug supplier in House Thurani. That led us to suspect that he was involved with darker deeds as well, given House Thurani's reputation as a house of assassins. From my previous travels to Sharn, I thought that maybe we should then look in House Thurani's group of estates in the Upper City. We went sightseeing around that area, and found ourselves confronted by three thugs (human-looking) who tried to extort 1500 gold from us in exchange for them not reporting our activities to Black. We didn't really want to pay them 1500 gold (first and foremost, I never carry that kind of money to begin with), so after a bit o' fast-talking, I decided that the best way to continue sightseeing without arousing their suspicion again was to pose as Aurora's son.

As Aurora an' I walked past a shop in the Middle City, we saw a man with a long mustache using some sort of device along with a stand consisting of a long tripod and a spyglass. He must've made it 'imself, as I've never seen anything quite like it. Taking advantage of the ability of the young to speak out-of-turn, I inquired about it in my new form as a young boy, but the man shushed me (though he did answer a couple of questions, saying that he could in fact see things up in the Upper City and Skyway through his lens). Then we heard a "pop," and the man went away. We followed the direction we best figured the spyglass was pointing at, and didn't see much but a scrap of rubbery substance that had been magical in the past. Aurora an' I figured it musta come from one of the flying things tied to an air elemental, as they have them all over the city carrying messages, advertisements, and so on. While we were looking, we saw two of the ruffians who had tried to extort us, but they seemed to take no notice of us.

We got to see a huge ship fight in the Upper City, where a ship of warforged were chased off by another ship carrying half-elves and one warforged. We saw a half-elf woman on the second ship shooting with her wand at the first, and the sky was filled with explosions. In the crowd watching, we learned that this isn't terribly uncommon here, where rogue warforged attack dragonmarked houses (usually House Cannith.. bah!), and House Lyrander defends.

None of this, however, was helping us to find Black, so we decided to go to the library and check out the genealogy records. Here we learned that the family had started out as an offshoot of the Phiarlan line, and had changed their name and joined House Thurani as it started out. The Black family had sought favor with the royalty of Breland but had been turned down. The long an' the short of it is that one of the Black ancestors had a residence in the Skyway, and we thought that'd be a good lead. We watched the house for a bit, and we saw ship come down from the house into the Lower City. We followed it and saw 3 elven men go into a circus. I learned that the bouncers at the circus don't like kids much. As we were leaving, we then found ourselves jumped by a dwarf-looking guy and two human-looking types, which we later learned were wererats. Anyway, they looked a little weirded out about attacking a kid, especially once I gave one of 'em a solid bolt with my crossbow. I think one of 'em figured it out, but it was too late for him and we took 'em down. Along the course we learned that they worship the Keeper among the Dark Six. We found an Adamantine Mace, some thieves' tools, two daggers, a short sword, and a card with the Thurani emblem on it. It said "Knock twice then thrice to gain entrance to the back of Black House." Hm, this made things easier. We followed the three elves out of the circus and watched them go into the Cogs. Aurora an' I decided that we had learned enough and didn't want to risk our cover by chasin' 'em, so the next day we went to Black House. I disguise myself as one of the human forms of one of the wererats we killed.

So we knock twice. Then thrice. They let us in, easy enough, and don't take much notice from there out. So we wander up some steps, there are hundreds of 'em it seems. We find a hidden door in the wall that leads to a hidden elevator shaft. Apparently Black was superstitious, as there is no floor 7 nor was there a 13, but there were 20 floors so maybe I wasn't so far off on my guess as to how many steps there were. Aurora an' I talk about it, not real sure where to start, but we figure the old man probably lives on one of the top two floors, so we stop at Floor 19. The elevator leads to a short hallway which dead-ends with another door, and we see a horn coming from the wall and goggles into the wall. I didn't find any traps an' Aurora's a pretty brave lady as she just put it on without even knowing what-all it did, but she told me she could see into the room from there, and this is how we learned that Black used the secret elevator and the equipment to spy on the servants and on the goings-on in the house. Aurora said the maids were getting ready for breakfast, and talking about how Lord Black had headed out in a huff earlier in the morning. She said she could see the two elves we'd followed into the Cogs, murmuring something about how there's an issue among the royalty in Breland relating to the King's health and the royal line. Apparently Black had received a letter from the Breland throne and had retired with it up to his room.

...and that's about all we needed to figure out that the next floor up is where Black's room would be found. Up we go, and this hall was also short but led to a corner, and we could see a foot stickin' out. Now we weren't sure if it was a guard or what, and also weren't too sure what else to do, so Aurora drew her weapons and got ready, while I shot at the foot with my crossbow. Well, what else would we do, eh? Anyway, the shoe goes flying off and we realize that the owner is long-since dead. We found 200 gold, a jeweled dagger, and a vial of poison on the skeleton.

We found a secret door leading into Black's quarters. He wasn't there, so we decided to look around. On his desk, I found an open envelope that contained a letter addressed to him. Enclosed was a picture of a young man, who Aurora said was Black, as she said she had seen a portrait of the same man, though much older, when she spied into the dining hall. The letter said,
"Dear Mr. Black,
Long ago your grandpa sought benefactors and was rudely rejected. If things happen as I desire with your assistance, things will be better. Also you can deal a devestating blow to Phiarlan. Lord breland has a daughter connected to the rival house, and I do not want to compete with her. Signed, "Uncle""
We were tryin' to figure out what all this meant when a man came in and shot at the wererat. Oh wait, that was me. Aurora an' I chased him down out of the house and he got into an airship. We got a taxi ship and followed, an' as we got close, Aurora leapt onto his ship. I'm not as fit as she is and wasn't about to go leapin' from ship to ship at high speeds thousands of feet into the air, since I don't have any sort o' a deathwish. But I shot from afar with my crossbow and when our driver managed to get us close enough, I walked carefully from one ship to the next. We learned from Black, as we exchanged shots, that the skeleton we had encountered was an assassin that House Tarkanen had hired to assassinate Aaron's father, who had failed. Little did he know that the same poison that was intended to kill his father would have an effect on him, as I animated the poisoned dagger and directed it to attack him from behind as Aurora attacked from the front.

Now poisons, if they aren't stored in the right environment can lose their efficacy over time. Certain environments are worse for 'em than others, of course, but still without the proper storage the generations had taken their toll, and the once-lethal poison merely made Black turn sickly. However, with Aurora swingin' 'er weapons all 'round in front of his face, it was a bad time for Black to become ill. We were just about to capture him when he... took a step off the ship, plummeting to the ground below.

Oh, I cursed. I didn't even want to look... bastard just cost us 4000 gold because now we'd have to deliver 'im to the guards scraped up off the pavement. But I did look, because we needed to know where he was goin' to land.

And I saw him, not plummeting, but floating gently down like the lightest of feathers. An' by now, of course, he was too far away for me to be able to shoot him. But then, we saw him get shot with somethin' else, and fall unconscious. We told our driver to go down, and we grabbed 'im where he was. We didn't find any bullets on his body, but we did find one of those rubber jobbies from before in his shirt. Yep, that old man with the long mustache had seen the whole chase and did 'im in.

We tipped our driver handsomely, for his skill and speed. 20 gold from us, and he was tremendously grateful. His name was Ralph, and he gave us a whistle which he said would be able to summon him to us from wherever we were. He said if we summoned him from afar, like a few days' travel, we'd have to pay handsomely for the service, but given how excited he was about the 20 gold, I think a hundred or two gold would make 'im a very happy man. I wonder what he'd think if we summoned him from a place as far as Cragwar?

Black had 6 platinum on 'im, and we turned 'im in to the guards. When we asked for our reward, they looked nervously at one another before a brave one admitted that they didn't have the funds to cover it. They offered us property in the Lower City instead, which they valued at 4000 gold. We have to choose between two places: a repossessed warehouse in Dura and and repossessed brothel in Cliffside. I like the idea of the Cliffside property since it has more rooms an' I like my privacy an' quiet for working. But I'll have to see what Aurora wants to do. Maybe we should even check the properties out first, make sure they're all clear like the guards say they are.

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #6

Each player gained 1000 experience for the session.

Congratulations! You have just gained level 8. Please level your character up before our next session.

Total XP: 13500 (level 9 at 16500 xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #5

Each player gained 700 experience for the session.

Total XP: 12500 (level 8 at 13000 xp)

Note, Prophecy

Here are the written materials from last session:

First, the note that we found on the Warforged we defeated in the Emerald Claw crew:
"Nash,

After you have had your fun in Breland, seek out the Hags in the Great Crag. Tell them of your valorous deeds against the Swine King's people. Present Sora Katra with her gift, and ask for an audience with her sister, Sora Teraza. I warn you: Do not approach the other Sisters before you gain Sora Katra's trust.

Once you have gained your audience, ask the Oracle the path forward for our Mistress and her goals. In particular, ask what must be done to rebirth the Bloodline of her Mark. After this, send to me what you have learned. Immediately!

Your next assignment will be to find the Settlement of Lost, and to recruit three shapeshifters. Then return to me. We shall have an interesting meeting with our old friend in the Mournland.

--Staunch."

Second, the bits of prophecy that our arcane friends relayed to us that they had heard (we don't know whether this segment of the prophecy comes before or after the one we already know, and should ask House Sivis about this if we care, when we get back to Korransberg).

"Ancient symbols old as stone
Marks of magic, twelve ascendant
Four aberrant, shunned and alone
Houses rise! Their bloodlines decant
And from their ranks shall come the One"

C+5561

Task "Find Valuables" (r14, T+781, 0.15 complete)
Status: OK

A person, recently unpetrified as a consequence of our ongoing task, has joined my traveling companions. He seems devious and untrustworthy. I will protect him regardless. I have acquired and assimilated a light. It makes me happy. I defended my companions overnight, no major injuries sustained. Minor progress made.

Medusa hunting for fun and profit?

At the Twilight Palace, I asked around and learned a little more about Brakenworth. While he didn't cross Xorchylic, he did cross Turakbar, who is one of Xorchylic's friends; therefore, Xorchylic used his connections with the medusae in town to get Brakenworth turned to stone. Among other things, Brakenworth stole the crown jewels of Carnath. We also learned that there are so many statues in that part of town, that it would be unlikely that one of them would be noticed should it mysteriously go... missing.

Bloodrush said he knew a shifter who might be able to help us, and led us to a shop. The shifter was called Worms, and while his shop smelled somewhat rank, I was a little surprised to see bloodworms writhing in the wound of his patient, an ogre with a deep gash. I hadn't seen that kind of healing done in cities before. Anyway, he told Bloodrush that he might be able to help him out, but that we would need to bring some medusa blood (from either a male or a female) for the ritual. Some of the others discussed where to find a medusa, preferably alone, before we left Worms' place. The smell was unpleasant there, and the worms were not a pretty sight; but the worst part of our visit there was when the ogre grabbed my thigh. Ugh.

Once we were out, I expressed to the rest of the group my discomfort with the idea of medusa hunting. To my surprise, I was the only one who wasn't ready to clobber the next medusa we managed to catch alone and unawares. Bloodrush, I could understand. He made some argument about how they are all authority figures in this town and how he has never met a medusa who was good. And Clangor, I don't know that well. But I was a little surprised that Elaira was in favor. I admit that I told the others that I feared I might have to protect the medusa from them. But Bloodrush came up with a plan to investigate around town and see if any medusae were posing a threat to the populace, and I agreed that we could inquire into this area.

We learned about a kobold named Karol who was apparently turned to stone for no reason. We went to Little Graywall, a section of the town where most everything was very small, to find his family. Elaira talked his wife into letting us in, and I crouched down in their house as I heard her tell about her brother, Shamash (most decidedly the one we had been travelling with until just recently) the adventurer, in whose footsteps Karol had decided to follow. She told us that a male and a female medusa had turned Karol into stone while he was drinking in a tavern. She told us their names, and begged us to bring him back from stone. Her pleas really pulled at the heart, and while we did not know whether we would ultimately be successful in reversing his petrification, I vowed at least to return his statue to her and place it in a more dignified spot than the refuse pile.

We tracked the story to the tavern in which it occurred, Black Bahiri's, a tavern run by goblins. Bloodrush muttered something when we entered about how the food smelled especially good and that it must've come from the Skin Factory, a place at which I'm not sure I'd eat. The expensive lodgings at Twilight Palace are all of a sudden seeming more worthwhile. Bloodrush ordered a drink, and while he drank he chatted with the bartender. Bahiri told Bloodrush that Karol came in, and sat alone, and two medusae came in off of the street and took an interest in him; and that the lady turned him to stone after the man roughed him up. He described the medusae to us as well, with the man being bald with tattoos, and the lady was missing a head of one of the snakes in her hair. When we left the place, Bloodrush seemed a little happier than normal... it must have been the drink. He must've liked it, too, because he bought a bunch more when Bloodrush offered up a stash of substances that he kept behind the bar for sale.

Elaira asked around, and found that the medusae we were searching for would be living in the hydrahalls, next door to each other. We stood around watching the place for a few days... we got noticed but then again we weren't making a very good effort to be inconspicuous. We ended up talking to their neighbor, a Githzerai by the name of Greth. He said he'd gotten his house from one of the medusae who had turned the previous tenant to stone... he didn't say much but I guess I got the impression that he tries to lay low so that nothing happens to him, either. We watched another day or so, waiting until we would be able to get one of the medusae alone to talk to them, and I was still opposed to the idea of ambushing anyone without getting the whole story. So one day the woman left in the morning, and as the man left his house, Bloodrush approached him and asked if he knew Karol. Immediately Makarn attacked us all, which made our course of action very clear.

It was a messy battle. Makarn was hard to hit, and somehow was very easily able to overcome our defenses. Furthermore, with almost every opportunity he had, he would glare at us with his venomous gaze, causing us to become disoriented and weakened... so that even if we did manage to hit, our blows were not very strong. It was only through sheer numbers and perseverance that we managed to prevail. We didn't really walk away feeling like victors, but we were thankful for our survival.

We entered Makarn's residence and found a lockbox containing 20 platinum and 3400 gold pieces. It was only once the battle died down that I noticed my armor seemed a little more supple. Bloodrush wrapped the body in a carpet and carried it back to Worms' place. Worms did some quick calculations and said he would have more than enough for the potions for us, of which we purchased 5 (one for Karol, one for Brakenworth, and the other three for safekeeping). Even above that, though, he paid us 7000 gold.

We took Karol's family to the refuge heap to find out if Worms' potion would work, and it did. His family was most grateful, even if Karol himself was a little disoriented, expecting his wife to be some 20 or 30 pounds lighter. We advised them not to advertise the miracle that had just happened to their family; rather, to find Shamash and leave the area. Once we got Karol alone, Bloodrush asked him what really happened; he said that he was doing work on the side for Kethelrax the Cunning, a kobold warlock to the south in Sharack Cole. He said he learned a rumor about some medusae making an allegiance with a warlord, but didn't know any more than that. However, the medusae found out about it and turned him to stone.

After resting, we bought a cart and took the statue away from midtown where we turned Brakenworth back to his human form. He had an unfamiliar accent and gave us lots of useful information about infiltrating Turakbar's Fist. He said that Nym had a permanent room there on the fourth floor, and pointed out lots of areas on a map he drew. He did however, deny stealing the Chalice of Breland. It looks like it's time to sit down and figure out tactics so we can catch Nym while the trail is hot.

Unraveling the Prophecy: A Glossary

Here is a listing to aid us in keeping straight all the information we've learned about Unraveling the Prophecy.

Aelwyn: The addressee of the letter that Valyn carried.
Alvian: A gnome of House Sivis. An intellectual type, who spoke in depth with Keh'r about "Tasker's Dream."
Barth: Bloodrush's contact at the Bloody Tooth. He provides information in exchange for gold.
Black Bahiri's: A tavern in Little Graywall where Karol was turned to stone.
bloodgin: A powerful ale sold at Black Bahiri's.
Bjornhelm: a dwarf cleric working in House Sivis.
Blood of Vol: The Emerald Claw people belonged to the Blood of Vol, an unaligned religious organization.
Bloody Tooth: A tavern in Graywall whose customers are primarily monstrous humanoids, but where the rest of us are unlikely to be harmed. Bloodrush has some contacts here for getting information.
Brakenworth: A human thief who was turned to stone by the guard for stealing the Chalice of Breland from Turakbar. We turned him back into flesh to get intelligence on how to infiltrate Castle Turakbar.
Broken Sword: A tavern in Graywall whose customers are primarily mercenaries.
Caradhas: A legendary Orc warden, also known as the Lady in Green.
Varagga Chala: The name of the Oni that was Brakenworth's associate.
Chalice of Breland: The artifact that got Brakenworth in so much trouble. It's nonmagical as far as we know. Brakenworth claims he didn't take it.
The Great Crag: one of the minotaurs we defeated in the Labyrinth had instructions to go to the Crag to find Sora Teraza to ask about the prophecy relating to the Deep Door; also Nash's note instructed him to seek out the Hags in the Great Crag.
Cyrus: a skinny, old goblin who used primal magic to try to recover Horadric's memory. He was turned into a dog and travels with us.
Deep Door: A minotaur was carrying instructions to go to the Crag to ask Sora Teraza about the prophecy relating to the Deep Door.
Dor'alla: This is the name in the note in the changeling assassin's pocket from the scuffle on the lightning rail. The note said to "convince Dor'alla."
Droam: the country we are currently in. Sora Katra is said to be the voice of Droam.
Elwood: The sender of the letter that Valyn carried, containing an interpreted piece of the prophecy.
Emerald Claw: The sect of people we defeated along our journey to Turakbar's Fist. Horadric said they were an extremist sect of the "Blood of Vol" and are led by a necromancer called the "Queen of Death."
Ephraim: This is the name of the changeling assassin who committed suicide after the scuffle on the lightning rail. He had murdered a high-ranking elder of House Sivis, according to Reader.
Fangrin: The gnoll mage that Bloodrush fought in the challenge circle.
Graywall: A city to the west of Korranberg. We tracked Nym here and also trying to uncover the meaning of the section of the prophecy that relates to this city ("wall of red stone").
The Hags: Sora Katra, Sora Teraza, and Sora Maenya, daughters of Sora Kel.
Karol: A kobold; Shamash's brother-in-law; we turned him from stone to flesh and reunited him with his family before suggesting that they find Shamash in town and flee. Karol had learned a rumor about the medusae making an allegiance with a warlord.
Karrnath: Brakenworth stole the crown jewels of Karrnath. Also, the Emerald Claw sect were from Karrnath.
Kethelrax the Cunning: A kobold warlord who lives to the south in Sharack Cole; he has lots of kobolds in his employ.
Khadrous: The owner of the Labyrinth.
Korranberg: the location of House Sivis. There is a lightning rail station here.
The Labyrinth: an underground hotel run by minotaurs that specializes in harboring fugitives. We followed Nym's trail here, but were led to Turakbar instead.
Makarn: The male medusa who attacked us and we subsequently killed (and sold his blood to Worms, in exchange for some stone-to-flesh potions).
Mordac: This is also a name mentioned in the note in the assassin's pocket from the scuffle on the lightning rail. The note said to talk to some folks including Mordac.
Mror Holds: The current lands comprising Clangor's former home.
Mournland: Nash and Staunch were to meet their old friend in the Mournland after Nash's instructions were completed. Reader Thrane has also gone to the Mournland.
Narath: Clangor's former home.
Nash: The warforged who was a member of the Emerald Claw; we defeated him and found on his body a note carrying instructions.
Nym: A gnome, betrayer of House Sivis. We tracked him to Turakbar's Castle in our successful attempt to recover Reader's memory unit. We returned him to House Sivis.
Oni: We heard tell of an oni who was a possible enemy of Xorchylic, named Varagga Chala. Can probably be found at the Venomous Voice.
Orcus: "Prince of Undeath," a demon, an anomaly in the Pantheon.
Prize of Caradhas: Caradhas' legendary weapon.
Prophecy: See below for the portion of the prophecy that we already have learned. We also know there is a prophecy relating to the Deep Door.
Queen of Death: The leader of the Order of the Emerald Claw and a powerful necromancer. The note that Nash was carrying instructed him to ask the Oracle what must be done to rebirth the Bloodline of her Mark.
Rattigan: A gnome with glasses, who is convinced that all of the people who have experienced memory loss are part of a prophecy.
Reader Thrane: A warforged we found in Rivenroar, who had his memory unit stolen by Nym. He has reportedly left for the Mournland.
Rivenroar: A dragonmark appeared here also.
Settlement of Lost: Nash was to find the Settlement of Lost and recruit three shapeshifters.
Sharack Cole: a place to the south where Kethelrax the Cunning holds his operations.
Sora Katra: one of the hags, known as the voice of Droam (the country). Nash's note warns to gain her favor first by offering her a gift (in this case, a warhorse artifact).
Sora Kel: The mother of the hags, apparently.
Sora Maenya: one of the hags, known as the iron fist.
Sora Teraza: one of the hags, known as a powerful oracle. Our leads indicate that she would be found at "The Crag."
Staunch: The author of the letter to Nash; seemingly the planner behind Nash's actions.
Street of Shadows: The street harboring the church of gnoll mercenaries is located here. This is where our information on Fangrin leads.
Swine King: Nash had apparently committed some "valorous deeds" against the Swine King's people.
"Tasker's Dream": This involved compression rates to send data quickly through the speaking stones.
Talia: a kind apprentice gnome who helped take care of Reader in Korranberg. Nym said he had given her the information from the memory card. She has disappeared.
Rhesh Turakbar: A minotaur warlord who works for the daughters of Sora Kel. His castle is called Turakbar's Fist. We have followed Nym's trail to his castle.
Twilight Palace: The expensive hotel we stayed at in Graywall.
Venomous Voice: a tavern in Graywall featuring harpy singers; Varagga Chala has a stake in the establishment.
Warden Keep: Valyn has delivered a letter there. The first dragonmark appeared here.
Worms: A shifter running a healing shop in Graywall. He pays handsomely for medusa blood.
Xorchylic: The Illithid (mind-flayer) who runs Graywall.

Memory Card: Here are the images that Rattigan retrieved from the memory unit; Nym said they were pieces of prophecy:
- A swirling sea of golden dust floats in the dark room in the depths below Rivenroar castle. It forms into an image of an airship, flying over jungle. There are large warforged with heavy armor on the ship. (He thinks the jungle is Xen'Drik)
- Next image: A picture of a half-elven woman holding a map in her hand. Other men and women wearing the green armor of the Lyrander house stand behind her.
- Next image: A woman with elven features and a pale complexion except for the golden scales on her neck and the backs of her hands. She seems to be beckoning to a black portal ringed with silver, and a skeletal hand reaches through.
- Next image: What appears to be Ke'hr blazing with electricity. The marks on his face are similar, but also slightly augmented with other, subtler lines. He looks older. He stands before a door that snakes forth tendrils of glittery darkness.
- Next image: A party of warforged wandering through the Mournland. Reader Thrane is holding onto another, larger warforged, shaking him and appearing to shout. [Signs point to this image being of a time after the memory card was removed, as Reader looks damaged.]

Prophecy: Here is the prophecy we know so far:
"The fall of one nation,
Erased from the great between,
Shall herald an open door,
A break in the armor between,
A dragon and its dreams,

A wall of red stone,
A huffing bull provokes,
Let him charge against a crimson brother,
Let him break against a charging oak
And give his wisdom to another."

We learned a new section of prophecy as we swam in the tunnels beneath Turakbar's Fist:
"Ancient symbols old as stone
Marks of magic, twelve ascendant
Four aberrant, shunned and alone
Houses rise! Their bloodlines decant
And from their ranks shall come the One"

The letter Valyn was carrying also held a piece of the Prophecy:
"Converging darknesses to heroes give rise,
When terror, madness, contagion,
and death fly upon these skies,
Look to your Lady, and to another,
Do not ye hesitate! Pass on the Prize!"

Aelwyn told of two stanzas of prophecy that appeared when the dragonmark first appeared at Warden Keep.
"The missing child, hiding in plain sight,
Can heal a kingdom or break a throne.
In the City of Knives, in absence while she doth sing,
Skirmishes spark, which rivals nurture to flame,
For if her death they invoke, then one shall rise to be King.

And as a King, what of his fellows?
When he arriveth, the flame's past spread afar
And wide, and with the ships of the half-bred,
and the self-forged, and storm-born,
Khorvaire shall be broken, its Treaty stained red."

In the Labyrinth

We went shopping and met for dinner in front of the Twilight Palace, where Elaira performed. When we met, I was a little surprised to see that in such a short time, Bloodrush had managed to acquire a tattoo. It's on his face, right on his cheek. I can't really make out what the symbol is. I think if I ever get a tattoo, I will probably ask around so I can get it done by someone different. The next morning, we went to the Labyrinth, located in the quarry in the caves. We found a barred hole; an entrance to the caverns. Though no one approached when we entered, I could see a minotaur guard within, and Elaira and Horadric talked to him and convinced him to give us rooms at 3 gold a night. Expensive by most metrics, but a bargain for us given what we've been paying at Twilight Palace! Bloodrush paid for the rooms and the guard showed us the dining hall and our rooms. What I liked best about this place was how vast the hallways and rooms were. Easily large enough for me to stretch out, unlike the close quarters on the lightning rail and at House Sivis.

After checking out our rooms, we decided to go to the dining hall and try to gather information about Nym. What we learned is that we are apparently horrible at this. The only highlights were that Bloodrush intimidated an orc into mumbling something about a gnome who wasn't a gnome (I can't put together what's going on here, but it seems like it might be related to a changeling like the one we saw on the lightning rail); and Elaira overheard someone talking about the daughters of Sora Kel: Sora Katya, Sora Teraza, and Sora Maenya. Before we knew it, a fight broke out. I think Horadric started it, but I can't be sure because our efforts were poor all around and there were people getting angry with us all over the place. In the end the ones who actually resorted to violence were six minotaurs and two rogues. At first, this battle was somewhat frustrating for me: I positioned myself near the front lines only to find myself slid across the entire room and almost bull-rushed twenty feet straight down. However, I was able to open a breach in the earth and the resulting vent of chaos let me get back into the fray. At some point their mage activated some kind of gloves that caused a great hedge to sprout forth, and it looked like this was going to be a significant impediment to us; however, the fellow didn't last long and when he perished, the wall disappeared. After all of our foes had been defeated, we found some thieves' tools, 1300 gold, and the Green Thumbs gloves. We also had ourselves a couple of prisoners to interrogate. Horadric said he thought he could figure out how to work the gloves, so we let him have them.

We learned that these fellows worked for a minotaur warlord named Rhesh Turakbar, who worked for the daughters of Sora Kel. One of them knew a gnome who worked for Turakbar also, who had a dragonmark. We suspect this was Nym. He said he'd last seen Nym at Turakbar's castle, and he vaguely gestured in the direction we would find it. They said their job was to collect pay from Khadrous, the owner of the Labyrinth, for their "protection." We also learned that there was a guy named Brakenworth who was captured by the guard in Graywall, who knew a secret way into the castle. However, he was turned to stone outside the last tower in the city, so getting the information from him would prove to be difficult. As we continued our interrogation, the minotaurs claimed that the castle had a sizable fighting force with archers and over 500 fighting men, with traps everywhere. I suspect that they were exaggerating, or perhaps I should say I hope so at least.

The rogue we had captured was a mercenary. He said he knew about an associate of Brakenworth's that was an Oni; that the Oni might be a possible enemy of Turakbar. He did tell us that Brakenworth had crossed the law and possibly had crossed Xorchylic, the Illithid who runs Graywall. He said that Brakenworth had stolen something of great value from Turakbar which was never recovered. We learned that Turakbar rarely leaves his castle, excepting the occasional hunting party; and we learned a little more about the three hags: Sora Katra, the voice of Droam; Sora Maenya, the iron fist; and Sora Teraza, the powerful oracle.

Upon a search of the rooms of the foes we had defeated, we found a paper instructing the group to go to The Crag to ask Sora Teraza about the prophecy relating to the Deep Door. We suspect that the Deep Door is underneath Graywall, but don't know much else about it.

When we finished with our business and went back into the public areas to try to gather information, we found the minotaur guard rather strongly encouraging us to leave due to the trouble that had ensued so soon after our arrival. On our way out, Bloodrush started blabbing loudly about how the owner of the labyrinth didn't pay the protection fees. Judging by the shocked reactions he got, if his rumor spreads, I don't think that Khadrous will have a good time of it.

Our plans are to head back to Twilight Palace and regroup, but I think overall there is interest in finding out more about Brakenworth and whether we can acquire any useful information from him before heading after Turakbar's Castle to try to nab Nym.

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #4

Each player gained 600 experience for the session.

Total XP: 11800 (level 8 at 13000xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #3

Each player gained 700 experience for the session.

Total XP: 11200 (level 8 at 13000xp)

C+5548

Task "Find Valuables" (r14, T+778, 0.14 complete)
Status: OK

A newly created canine has joined my traveling companions. My companions have embarked on a task. I will continue with them. In service of that task they required an organic material component, which was acquired with some difficulty but no major injuries. Contact initiated by master, but was refused. Minor progress made.

Brawling - The More the Merrier

Where was I...oh right. So the gnolls all charge in like the cowards they are, ten against one. Then this elf lady...or maybe she's a half-elf, they all kind of look the same to me, starts singing this song about me (can you believe that, this random lady starts singing about me, I'm like, famous) that rallies the other orcs hanging around to attack the gnolls. Then the goblins passing by think it'd be funny to shoot a few arrows into the fray from the safety of the other side of the street. Dumb as goblins are (well, most are, Stewirk being an exceptional exception) one of them decided to shoot a ogre. As ogre's are even dumber than goblins, he had no clue where that shot came from, so he just attacked the nearest living creature (which happened to be that lady singing about me). The trolls never pass up an opportunity to bash some heads so they jumped in too. Like a spark on a dry day on the Scorching Plains, the entire street exploded into mayhem...it was totally awesome! There must have been like 200 monsters in this brawl making it probably the biggest one I'd been a part of, well except for that one at Hanging Man Tavern that resulted in the entire block burning down...oh and the one last month where I chased that minotaur, Haggir, all the way across Bloodstone and triggered dozens of brawls. Bastard only got away because the dozen guys chasing me finally caught up...can't believe that chamber pot merchant was actually trafficking drugs. Brawling while stoned, everything moving in slow motion...but that's a different story.

Anyway, I was pretty beat up before I had a chance to react but a dog runs up to me and heals me up. Feeling better, I swung my hammer in a great arc that bloodied or killed all of the gnolls surrounding me. Since some giant lady and a metal statue had most of the surviving gnolls pinned down, I charged Liveroil and hit him with everything I had but it barely phased him. Actually, my big power move where I descend on him like a comet of inevitability and bring my hammer around at his head like this while bringing my knee up like that would have totally missed except that elf lady again pegged him with an arrow at just the right moment and distracted him. I was going one-on-one with the gnoll leader when a pack of medusas shows up to put a stop to the fighting. Liveroil takes off running, and boy was I seriously tempted to chase after him, but I was barely hanging on and needed to catch my breath. After that, I figured it would be better to continue this battle another day so I made a strategic retreat around the side of a house to wait for the medusas to move on. The rest of the combatants either fled or were turned to stone.

As soon as the medusas left I returned to the scene to collect my winnings including a magical tattoo from one of the dead ogres. I'd been thinking about getting one lately, but hadn't had the funds to get the one I wanted. Fortuitously, the dead ogre's tattoo was one of the two I was contemplating. That metal guy returned and the two of us went about collecting our winnings from the bodies of the losers. I knew it was only a matter of minutes before scavengers showed up and given that everything is first-come-first-serve in this town if I wanted to collect what those bastard gnolls owed me I had to hurry.

It wasn't long before others from the battle returned. Actually, they were all travelling together and apparently looking for me, being led by a dog who was actually Cyrus! (Funny thing, when I asked about how the hell Cyrus became a dog they all started pointing fingers and blaming each other. There's got to be a good story in there but I'd have to get it another time.) Apparently, they had followed a gnome here by the name of Nym and were looking to hire a local to help them find him and I was the only one they knew, which was a good idea considering that most of them were pretty out of place in this town. But what followed was the oddest proposal for hire I'd ever heard. They wanted to hire me for an equal share of the loot they came across (which was fine by me, I was getting pretty bored with the challenge circles and would have gone with them for the excitement and food in my belly) but then they wanted me to start out by paying them. I sort of figured that they were broke and really needed the money, plus they were friends of Cyrus so I offered 200 gold but they wanted a lot more. I obviously refused, I mean, they came to me to hire me and I'm not exactly wealthy myself. But then the elf lady came up with this very complicated explanation and she put it so eloquently about how they...no wait, I needed to...no, I don't know. Well, it somehow made sense at the time so I paid them a full third of my life's savings, but I couldn't explain it to you now if my life depended on it (I really wish Stewirk was around, this is what I pay him for). Well, it isn't the first time I've been swindled but I have my doubts that I'll get a fair cut of the loot...and they turned Cyrus into a dog. These guys could be trouble.

Financial matters taken care of, I turned my attention to the matter of tracking down this gnome. After tossing about several possibilities, I settled on going to the Bloody Tooth. Barth knows a lot and he hangs out there. Turns out Barth had even met this Nym before. This Nym character has got some big allies, mostly minotaurs and an oni, and also some big enemies, though Barth didn't know any details about them. He often stays in the Labyrinth (maybe I'll find Haggir there too), and may be friends with the minotaur that runs the place. We should definitely try to learn more about his enemies since if we are going after him, they may be able to help.

Before I left, I also asked Barth about the gnoll shaman. Fangren, his name is, and he is most likely staying in Karda. However, I've only got a month to settle the score before he disappears into gnoll territory for a festival. I'll be going after him with or without the others before then. I thanked Barth and tipped him for the info and headed back to the others to share what I'd learned.

A new travelling companion

It looked like Bloodrush was not going to be able to fend off all those gnolls by himself, and to make matters worse, a bunch of orcs, trolls, ogres, goblins, wolves, and so on all joined the fray--so we rushed in to help. Early in the battle I managed to land a smashing blow on one of the gnolls, and he didn't last too much longer after that. Some of the ogres were attacking any visible target, while the goblins and trolls seemed to take on the side of the gnolls. All of the orcs, including some warden brethren, seemed to be fighting as our allies. Blows were being traded every which way, and people were dropping all over the battlefield. There must've been close to 50 creatures taking part in the battle, including one gnoll mage that was raining serious damage on Bloodrush and I found that he easily avoided most of the blows we tried to return. For a moment, things also looked bad for Clangor, Elaira, and Horadric, but they retreated a bit to safety and just as things were starting to turn in our favor, five creatures with snake hair came upon the battlefield. I heard some of the other creatures murmuring about "the medusae," and as they removed their blindfolds and gazed upon the crowd, some creatures became slowed, and others turned to stone. Clearly a serious threat, as the battlefield quickly cleared as many began running away. Our party tried to regroup, but an ogre was impeding Horadric's path to the rest of us. I used my weapon to urge him along, which he didn't take kindly to, as he started deliberately attacking my allies, which raised my ire. In his haste to attack my allies, he was sloppy, giving me several opportunities to freely attack him, and I brought him down just as he was going after (already-bloodied) Horadric in earnest. Horadric looked somewhat relieved.

I do have to say here that my esteem of Clangor rose dramatically during this battle. I wasn't really certain of his competence from the things he'd told us on the lightning rail, but now that I have seen him in action, I think I will be glad to fight alongside him. Although he is not a warden, he showed himself to be an honorable sort who risked his own life to protect his allies in battle, and I have high respect for individuals of that character. His priorities seem kindred to my own, and I think we will make a good team of allies together.

The ogre was the last combatant on the battlefield, and after he fell and we continued to vacate the area, the medusae must have perceived that the threats were gone, and they re-covered their eyes and started to go away. I was following Cyrus, who doubled back around to the challenge circle where it had all started, and there we found Bloodrush and Clangor looting the bodies. Cyrus greeted Bloodrush and re-introduced himself, as Bloodrush wasn't expecting Cyrus to be in the form of a dog.

What happened next was a really uncomfortable situation for me, in which we were pooling the gold (5 Platinum, 1000 gold, and 300 silver) and Bloodrush said he'd found 200 gold, but Clangor reported that he'd seen Bloodrush pick up more than that by about another 8 platinum. The atmosphere became somewhat tense, as Elaira and Cyrus suggested that we all share the loot equally, while Bloodrush resisted claiming that it was his due for winning in the challenge circle. It was pointed out to him that he likely wouldn't have won in the challenge circle without our help, and that his bookie (who I guess is the one who holds the bets? I don't really know much about the process) had fled with the money that was part of the challenge. Cyrus offered to Bloodrush to hire him to join our party and take an even share of the loot as he adventured with us, terms to which Bloodrush somewhat reluctantly agreed now that he was hired. I found myself quiet and really tense throughout the whole discussion, as conflict over material possessions is entirely alien to me. In my village, we all worked hard and shared equally, all to the benefit of the village, as without everyone's full investment, we all would have fallen in those conditions. But I see through experiences like these that this is an area that is really different culturally in the world outside. I doubt I'll ever be as comfortable as Elaira seems to be resolving conflicts in this type of situation, so in these kinds of situations I tend to defer to her judgment to negotiate what's best for the party. In any event, hopefully the matter is settled for good.

Anyhow, once that was resolved, I was able to look around the city properly as we walked, noting how vast the buildings were in Graywall, presumably to accommodate the ogres and trolls. Bloodrush suggested that we go either to the Bloody Tooth, a tavern of monstrous humanoids in which we wouldn't be welcomed, but nor would we be harmed; or to the Broken Sword, a mercenary tavern of primarily humans, in which we'd be likely to learn less, but would fit in better. It was agreed that we would go first to the Bloody Tooth, where the rest of us would try to look unobtrusive as Bloodrush asked around.

In the tavern, Bloodrush was talking to a hobgoblin named Barth. I was sitting near enough that their conversation was easy to overhear, and I was somewhat surprised that they were speaking the language of my people. I hadn't heard it spoken since I left the village. Barth told Bloodrush that he'd heard of Nym, and that he hangs out with the minotaurs in The Labyrinth, an underground hotel-type area that specializes in harboring fugitives.

Then, as he turned to leave, Bloodrush turned back and asked about where he could find that gnoll mage (I think he called him "Liver oil"?) from the group that had rushed him in the challenge circle. Barth nodded knowingly and said that that one was called "Fangrin," and that he would be found with the mercenaries in a church on the Street of Shadows. He said Bloodrush should check there if he wanted to find him, but warned that most of them were gnolls and would be unfriendly especially given the events that had just transpired. He said they were mostly all from the same particular town, but I didn't quite catch the name--probably because I'm not from the local parts, so it didn't ring a bell.

Afterwards we separated for a bit, with plans to rejoin each other later. If Bloodrush really starts travelling with our party, then I am looking forward to the opportunity to speak with him in the language of my people. I found a street vendor, where I was able to learn a ritual to create a trap, and gather the necessary nature components. Maybe it'll come in handy as we go along our way.

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #2

Each player gained 550 experience for the session.

Total XP: 10500 (level 8 at 13000xp)

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #1

Each player gained 400 experience for the session.

Total XP: 9950 (level 7 at 10000xp)

C+5546

Task "Find Valuables" (r14, T+776, 0.1 complete)
Status: OK

A large battle took place. I defended my companions, and no major injuries were sustained. An additional person has joined my traveling companions. He seems hostile and untrustworthy. I will protect him regardless. No further progress.

Smashing Gnolls, For Fun and Profit

It was another boring day looking for real work. No decent jobs to be had in the entire town...assuming I don't want to work the quarries, mines or fields. I'm back to beating up some unsuspecting gnolls in a circle challenge. Hey, it pays the bills.

Stewirk, my little goblin bookie, handles all my bets while I'm fighting. He's really smart and knows how to play the odds. He's also good for starting the fights, as he gets picked on quite a bit being a goblin in Bloodstone. The bullies picking on the little guys are usually cowards and wimps. Not much fun to fight but great for bringing in the money as they look tough

Today's first challenge is a gang of gnolls. They've been hanging around here most evenings for the past week causing trouble. Their leader, whose name sounds like a cross between a hacking cough and a dog bark (we just call him Liveroil, because that's what he smells like) was too chicken to be the first to challenge me. He made his lieutenant go first. Doesn't matter, I can take them all one by one no problem....hahaha, they think 1 on 10 will be better odds for them. Now it's a fair fight. Bring It On Baby Rrrrowwggh!!!

The Lightning Rail to House Sivis

There are so many things out here the likes of which I had never even imagined that they existed. First we took a floating carriage on the branch line to the lightning rail. Then, we waited at the station and a huge train of coaches appeared. I was overwhelmed and a little afraid since they distinctly smelled of fire, but Elaira said that it was normal and we shouldn't be concerned. We had to ride for several days to get to Korranberg.

On the second day, I overheard Elaira talking in her compartment. I checked to make sure everything was okay, and found her talking to a mechanical person, a warforged like Reader. She was scolding him and telling him that it was somewhat rude to peer into people's compartments on the train. He clanked a lot, and was much noisier than Reader. He also had these attachments that must serve some purpose... he called them "doodads." He wasn't terribly eloquent, so I couldn't piece together entirely what he was doing. He kept saying he was looking for "stuff" to take to his master, Robert, to sell. He did manage to tell us some of his story, telling us that his name was Stalwart, but that we could call him "Clangor." He said he is from the region that used to be called Narath. Horadric said that his former land is now the Mror Holds in Karrnath, very far away. He said he has been travelling for awhile, and it's been over a year since he has been back. So, I asked where he was keeping all the other items he had acquired for his master, and he said he hadn't managed to collect anything really in all that time. Then, Clangor said that his master is not a very nice master and does not make him proud. He did say he was the only servant of his master, and that he was commissioned to serve the master and help the house. I came away from this discussion feeling somewhat confused, as to why he is serving this master, and why he has not been competent enough to find any "stuff" in over a year that would be suitable, and exactly what "stuff" he was looking for, and why not just to sell the items and take the money to his master instead as that seems easier. I think Elaira felt sorry for him, as she offered to let him travel with us.

The next night, there was a horrible thunderstorm. I worried that it would interfere with the rail, but still the train carried us forward. I awoke in the middle of the night, not really sure why. I saw a flash of black cloth pass by my window, and I felt a little uneasy... I reached for my weapon and stood, quiet and vigilant, ready for trouble. And trouble ensued. Very shortly thereafter I heard Elaira trying to fend someone off. In the hallway I saw a female elf and an eladrin, and in Elaira's compartment I could see her scuffling with another elf, upon whom I landed a crushing blow. Clangor came out, too, and grappled with the eladrin. Before I knew it, we were all out there: Horadric shouting out that he could see their dragonmarks and that there was a kobold scurrying around; and Reader for some inexplicable reason not remaining safe in his cubicle but instead running around in the hall doing a poor job of hiding and subsequently being punched and carried off. Clangor and I went after him and got him back (but the would-be captors somehow leapt off the moving train and got away), while Keh'r had stopped an assassin in Elaira's room who subsequently committed suicide. In the guy's pockets we found some of Elaira's belongings--just personal stuff. Obviously she was targeted, as any number of compartments were closer to the doors than hers. Elaira, Horadric, and Keh'r talked about it at some length as they checked over the items they had found on our foes: five coins, a "to-do" list, a Chinese flute, a Bag of Holding containing another 300 coins, an Amulet of Resilience, and a Wand of Vicious Mockery +2. They came to the conclusion that Elaira was being targeted for some kind of scrying ritual. Creepy. The "to-do" list listed some arcane components that my arcane allies believed were going to be used for some kind of scrying and/or long-range teleportation ritual; also a note to "convince Dor'alla" and to "be creative in town," a reminder to write to Mom, and a note to talk to folks including Mordac. As we watched, the man's form changed to a whitish creature with purple hair. The others decided that he was a race called a changeling, and that he could assume other forms. Lastly, it's worth noting that the money he had left was not regular money like I've seen before, but somewhat different money. I asked the others about where that kind of money was from and Elaira said it was money from Breland. Reader had told us that he had recognized the assassin; he said it was a man named Ephraim who had assassinated an elder of House Sivis and that it was the man who Nym had been speaking with, in the event that had revealed to him Nym's treachery.

Fortunately, the rest of our trip was uneventful. At Korranberg, we were welcomed by House Sivis. We relayed information to them and did our best to learn useful information from them as well. I overheard Keh'r talking to one of the gnomes named Alvian about "Tasker's Dream"... I got the impression it had to do with developing the "ultimate language" to use to send information quickly through the speaking stones. Keh'r, however, seemed fascinated and the two had a long, in-depth conversation... something about compression rates? Moving on... Elaira was deeply involved in a conversation about the Prophecy. I didn't hear much of it, but I did hear the gonmes talking to her about some anomaly in the Pantheon, some demon type god named Orkus who is also called the "Prince of Undeath." It was around then that I noticed that although all the people there were very small, one of them was a dwarf while the others were gnomes. The dwarf was wearing a holy symbol; I later learn that he is a cleric named Bjornhelm working for the gnomes. Another gnome was overheard saying that Reader was a useless slacker. Poor guy. A sweet apprentice named Talia looked him over with Elaira. I heard her say that some of the damage would be permanent.

Then, the gnomes started telling us how dragonmarks were showing up all over the land, with the first having appeared in Warden Keep. They had already sent a party out to investigate. If I could only have gone, I could have gotten two tasks completed! But Elwood's letter will have to wait, as some surprising turns of events in House Sivis have settled our path in another direction for the near future.

A gnome with glasses named Rattigan had begun calling out Horadric, and asking him about his past. This caught my interest, so I listened in a little more carefully. Horadric said he had been working with the Silver Flame, and said how he kind of just found himself somewhere without any memory of his past. He tried to make a joke about wanting a new memory unit, like Reader, but a hush fell over the House and it quickly became clear that this was no joking matter to the gnomes. Rattigan said that 66.358 percent of people with memory loss are important to a prophecy. Elaira asked more about the prophecy, and the gnomes started getting all sorts of books out. The dwarf cleric said he could not heal Horadric, but that he knew someone who could help. A skinny, old goblin named Cyrus came in. He told Horadric to come take part in a primal ritual to unlock his memory. I offered to help with the ritual and suggested that Reader should be healed too, but was told that Reader's memory loss being physical would prevent the magical ritual from restoring him, while the ritual may help break down the walls in Horadric's memory. All of us save for Keh'r went to do the ritual, while Keh'r decided to try his hand at gambling. Overall I don't have much skill with magic, but thought a ritual using primal energy might be a useful application of my skills.

I should have gambled, instead. Perhaps the way that I channel the primal energy only works for me personally, and isn't something that I can lend to others. Or maybe I was so unnerved by the group setting that I wasn't able to direct the energy appropriately. In any event, I think I might have killed a couple of birds. Cyrus seemed to be having quite a bit of luck, though, and he said he could see the Silver Flame moving away, that Horadric was not a member of the church, though possibly in a past life he could have been. He said that someone does not want Horadric to get his memory back; that he saw giants stomping the ground creating earthquakes, stone columns and orcs bowing before him; that then there was a view from the floor, with broken columns around and a plume of smoke, a corpse burning. He said he saw red flickering shadows, that there was a tigerlike creature called a rokshacka, a demonlike creature from the darkest areas of the world, stalking Horadric.

Then, the energy went awry, the glass ceiling of the House broke and earthquakes shook the very ground beneath us. A necrotic ooze began flowing down the shelves and among the hundreds of thousands of books in this place. A tiny lizard fell to its death, dropping at Horadric's feet. And Cyrus began screaming out, and as lightning flashed, a black dog appeared in Cyrus' place, the vision ended. We rejoined with Keh'r, who looked a bit dejected at the outcome of his night as well, and the next morning we spoke more to the gnomes about the next step.

They had managed to track down the portion of the prophecy that they had deciphered that they believed may be relevant to us now. It reads:
"The fall of one nation,
Erased from the great between,
Shall herald an open door,
A break in the armor between,
A dragon and its dreams,

A wall of red stone,
A huffing bull provokes,
Let him charge against a crimson brother,
Let him break against a charging oak
And give his wisdom to another."

It sounds like a bunch of gibberish to me and I am not sure I believe in Prophecy, but these lots are serious about it and I am willing to go along to help watch over them and to help try to restore Reader's memory. The gnomes said that the dragonmarks had begun appearing near Rivenroar, too, and that these along with the one at Warden Keep portrayed a dark future, that they should be studied to give us hints on how to help and stop the evil. They asked that the first thing we should do is to find Nym. They promised to pay us handsomely to track him to Graywall to the west. Cyrus (still a dog, the next morning) spoke up then, saying that the "wall of red stone" mentioned in the prophecy might refer to Graywall, a poorly-named city whose walls are in fact made of red clay. At this the gnomes became excited, saying that if we can bring any hints about the prophecy from this city, that they will give us extra money for any information we find.

Cyrus said he had a contact in Graywall named Bloodrush, who he spoke of as a useful, resilient, dependable sort. Elaira said she had heard of him as a great champion of the gladiator arena there, and Cyrus confirmed that it was the same. The gnomes asked Keh'r if he would be willing to delay his trip to Graywall to take a broken item back to Derrick in Brindol for repair. He agreed, and the rest of us set off with Cyrus toward Graywall. On the road, two interesting things happened. First, a weird glowy mark started appearing on my arm. I guess it must be a dragonmark? Elaira saw it one night while I was dressing into nightclothes. She told me with concern that I should keep it covered up when I was in public. I don't understand it much myself, so I certainly plan to follow her advice in this. Second, I had a dream about the letter I am carrying for Aelwyn. This has the letter on my mind... I probably dreamed about it because of all the talk about dragonmarks in Warden Keep. Hopefully this business in Graywall can get wrapped up quickly so that I can do the task that was set before me by Elwood.

We arrived in Graywall. It is an amazing place, with all sorts of kinds of people and creatures I have never seen before. I could just sit there and stare in wonder for hours at all the new things that await here. On the other hand, I received a few wayward stares myself, so I tried to hide in the middle of our group as best as I could. We walked around, seeing creatures dueling in challenge circles, lovers, musicians, shopkeepers... all manners of things. We stopped to watch one challenge circle, as an orc dueled with a gnoll. As we watched, Cyrus told us that we had come upon Bloodrush, the contact we were seeking. Bloodrush attacked the gnoll, and then a bunch of his friends rushed into the circle and all came upon Bloodrush at the same time, mobbing him. There must have been ten of them altogether. Cyrus said that we should help. I was a little wary, not being sure about the politics involved, but Cyrus told us that Bloodrush was a sportsman and would not do anything to provoke this attack justly. Clangor proclaimed that if Bloodrush was our ally, then he would fight. I am with Clangor on this one... if Bloodrush needs protection so that he can help us, I am willing to protect him.

C+5545

Task "Find Valuables" (r14, T+775, 0.1 complete)
Status: OK

I have found several people in distress. They seem to need my help, so I will help. They will be traveling companions. No further progress.

Catacombs cleared... and a new quest.

We found a treasure chest containing 2260 gold, 400 silver, and two potions. As we walked through the ruins of the catacombs, in one room we walked past a defaced and broken altar, and saw some movement from behind it. I saw Treble reach for his dagger, but fortunately before he threw it he noticed that the shadow there was a warforged, lying with his back against the massive throne in the room. We could see the gears moving in the poor soul's head, and it was clear that something was not right. Some of the gears were missing teeth; obviously he had met with a match greater than he could face alone.

He spoke in a weak voice, telling us he was beyond help. As he spoke, Elaira healed him, and we could hear more strength in his voice. He said that he was from House Sivis, and that his name was Reader Thrane. He said he was from the House of Scribing, brought here to help decipher the dragonmarks detailling the Prophecy of the world. When we inquired about what he had learned from the dragonmarks, he looked a little confused for a moment, as he tried to regain his bearings. He said that he didn't know what the dragonmarks said; that he was acting as a servant of the gnomes of the same House; and that when he quit helping them, they took the information card from him and hurt him.

I wish we had gotten here sooner so that we could help him fight against those who attacked him, but the only thing we can help him for now is to ensure that justice is served. Reader told us that he quit helping because of Nym, the leader of the group deciphering the dragonmarks. He said he saw Nym consorting with goblins and talking to a known enemy of House Sivis, and a member of House Thuranni--an assassin. From this he learned that the assassin's mission was sanctioned by his House, and he decided not to aid the perpetrator of the treachery any longer.

At that point, he looked around, and focused his gaze on Keh'r with surprise evident on his face. He said that he remembered seeing another man of fire like Keh'r... one of Keh'r's kind... in his vision of the dragonmark. This comment really spurred Keh'r into action, and he said he wanted to start by finding the gnome that had gotten away, in case he had been among the group that took the information from Reader. Reader found a wand, and volunteered to join us. He said if he could make it to his main House, that they would take him back and he could relay to them the information about Nym's betrayal.

So we scouted the rest of the catacombs, looking for the gnome and the rest of the treasures we were to find, and of course to find Adronsias as well. In the whirlpool room, we saw a picture of the symbol of the Silver Flame on the floor, and there was a mechanism that activated the emblem to glow with radiant energy. Horadric just wandered right into it, but nothing happened. It was a trap, but not one meant for us, and Keh'r and Elaira ascertained that it affected only undead.

We entered another room, with a deep scrying pool and a(n apparently nonmagical) face carved into the wall. As Keh'r approached the middle of the room, he felt the floor shift, and all the doors closed, trapping us in there. There was no response when Elaira talked to the face (and while I'm sure she felt silly talking to a stone face, you just never know with those arcane arts what might happen). Keh'r waded into the water, and as the pool rippled we could see a picture of the throne room we had just left, and it was empty. Apparently, however, he had stood on a pressure plate and the mouth on the face dropped down and water came pouring out, fast. Treble worked double-time trying to unlock the three locks on the door behind him, and Shamash helped; meanwhile Rhogar and I had gone to use brute force on the other door in the room and succeeded in making only a small hole in it. As we worked, waist-deep in water, we could see the picture in the scrying pool change to display the room with the silver flame emblem. We were able to see then that the pool's scrying was activated by ripples in the water. Keh'r saw a chest in the water, with chains on it, 30 feet down. He swam down to try to get it, but found it chained to the floor at the bottom of the pool. Elaira was studying the scrying pool, and she saw a gnome go into the flame room. She pointed him out to us, and Reader told us that it was Nym, as we watched him cross the room and go out the opposite door. Shortly thereafter, Rhogar could see him through the hole we had punched in the door where we were, and Nym looked more than a little surprised to be suddenly covered with acidic dragonborn bile... that is, until he disappeared at least. This time we had lost him for sure.

Meanwhile, the room was still filling with water. I checked out the drains and noticed that they had been sealed by the trap when it was activated and were now covered by a metal sheet. I'm not much for finesse so I just started whacking on it with my flail. Elaira told us she could see in the scrying pool a shadowy figure looting all the recesses along the walls in one of the rooms of their treasure. With renewed vigor, Rhogar burst through the door. By now the water had risen enough that it began pouring out of the doors. As Rhogar got out, he saw a goblin who froze upon seeing him. Shamash used his wand to kill it.

Finally I busted the drain and the water started to subside. In the meanwhile, Keh'r was still struggling with the treasure, and enlisted Treble's help to teleport it out of the water. As they managed to bring the chest up, I smashed the rest of the drains so that the water all drained out more quickly. Rhogar and Shamash had managed to find a blanket--a protective shroud--among the recesses. Inside the chest, we found 14 platinum pieces, and about 5000 silver. The scrying pool then showed an image of a dwarf tied up... almost certainly Adronsias, and he was still alive!

I used my tracking skills to follow Nym's blood trail to the entrance of the catacombs, but after that the trail ended again. We listened carefully, but could not hear him, either. Definitely lost him. Rhogar placed the shroud over Kartenix's body, and carried it to the foyer, where we left it as we went to search for Adronsias. We entered the van Jallach tombs, where we found a room with a square of runes on the floor. Horadric examined the runes, proclaiming that they spelled "van Jallach" in wizard's script. Keh'r touched them, and said he felt a little lightning jolt. Otherwise, they seemed to be harmless and we avoided them anyway as we proceeded to the next area, where we encountered Adronsias. Immediately I untied him and Rhogar healed him, and we gave him a moment to collect himself before we asked him about the things he had seen. He said he had seen some gnomes a few days ago, but none since then. He said he did know of a fancy-type stone of some sort that Reader could use to call his House. He said he would show us a speaking rock in the woods after we were finished with our business in Brindol.

We found the rest of the treasures from the Hall of Great Valor, so we took them back to Brindol and took Kartenix's body to the Temple of the Silver Flame. Councillor Troyas seemed very pleased with the resolution we provided, and gave us 500 gold for completion, as promised. (But the best part was the meal he provided to us. I could eat there every day. We sure never had food like that back home.) We also examined our shroud, and found it to be a Shroud of Revival. The others agreed that I should be the one to carry it for now. We went back to Derrick's shop to buy potions of healing to stock us up for the journey ahead.

After that, we followed Adronsias to the woods, and he led the way to the speaking stone. He showed Reader how to use it to call his House in Korranberg, in Zilargo. Reader used the rock, and it was really somewhat amazing to see how he could use a rock to talk to someone so far away. I can see how something like that would be useful. After he was finished, Reader told us that he made us an appointment with his House, and that he learned that Nym was not there.

We rested and went to board the lightning rail to take us to Zilargo. I will have to check the map to see if Warden Keep is along the way, so that I might deliver the message I have for Aelwyn if time permits.

Success on the second attempt

We returned to the catacombs, to the place from which we had been forced to retreat the day prior, this time determined to be victorious. This time we were better prepared, with the potions we had bought from Derrick's shop and a new set of magic items surreptitiously provided to us by Agathor and Balthazar of the Silver Flame. Those two agreed to come with us as well, to reinforce our ranks, and this time we were ready; as soon as we entered, Elaira bolstered my defenses and I drew upon the power of winter.

Our foes again put forth a good showing, but this time they would not drive us back. The wight summoned some archer skeletons and we also found ourselves fighting a runespiral demon, two wererats, and two evistros, as well as the bone shard skeleton and some of the blazing skeletons from last time. Not only did I find myself immobilized for part of the battle, but I had the most difficult time making my hits connect as I thought they should. Fortunately the others were up to the task, and I was still useful tactically speaking. Perhaps I was somewhat unrattled by the wight's horrific visage, or perhaps I lost my resolve somewhat when I found myself struggling to stay in the fray after taking a bunch of hits. Either way, I think the turning point in this battle for me was when Elaira encouraged me to attack one of the guys and I heard my flail connect with a resounding "whack." One last thing worth mentioning: a gnome appeared during the battle and shot some pot-shots at us before running away before we could stop him. After this we went deeper into the temple to try to rescue Adronsias.

XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #11

Each player gained 800 experience for the final session.

Total XP: 9550 (level 7 at 10000xp)

Thorn returns

So Aurora's hidin' on the barge, and I'm crackin' the whip an' shoutin' at the slaves, when we all see the airship appear on the far opposite side of the courtyard. There were too many enemies between me an' them, so there wasn't much we could do for 'em, and Aurora and I decided to hold our cover. I could see that our guys on the airship disembarked and were met with somethin' of a welcoming committee, as a whipmaster, a zombie, and a ghoul greeted them. A skirmish ensued and they managed to not die, which was about all I was hopin' for.

After, they freed 35 of the slaves as they ran around the cathedral. When they were upon us, chaos ensued at our camp. Brogar took 35 slaves they freed on the way (now armed, thanks to the armaments we'd hidden on the ship) and another five from our loggers, and headed to the east to liberate more slaves. Aurora came out from hiding, and some of our slaves armed themselves too, and we found ourselves setting upon a whipmaster, a cultist, and two zombies. As the battle was underway, a ghoul came from behind and began eating the slaves. It was a scuffle, that's for sure, as I shot at the ghoul before running up onto the scaffolding so he couldn't charge at me. The slaves fought bravely although several of them lost their lives. After we had taken care of the foes in our immediate mist, Colvin pointed out that we could shoot at the death priests guarding the doors of the inner sanctum of the cathedral. He must've shouted it out loud or something, because as soon as he said so, they shot at us instead. Colvin maneuvered forward so he could attack 'em both, and when the double doors burst open, he found himself uncomfortably close to a newly-undead Thorn, who immediately started swinging at him. Colvin barely managed to stay standing, being the only one of us close enough to take the full brunt of Thorn's rage. So we found ourselves set upon by Thorn and two death priests.

The death priests in particular tried to curse us in an attempt to make Colvin & me fall from the scaffolding, but in this they were unsuccessful. Thorn, having lost Colvin as a target, raced into melee combat with Aurora. Morangan managed to inflict a very devastating blow on one of the death priests, while Treble in the end was the one who finished Thorn off (and kill-thiefed the death priest that Colvin, Morangan, and I had been attacking).

In the end, from this we had gained the following: mundane hide armor, a greataxe, Thorn's Ring of Orkus, some magical Gauntlets of the Ram (which Colvin snatched up and put on before hardly anyone'd gotten a chance to look at 'em), a set of Iron Armbands of Power (likewise which Aurora quickly claimed) and two amulets from the death priests: an Amulet of Mental Resolve and an Amulet of Physical Resolve, which Aurora volunteered to hold in the meantime in case they may come in handy. Brogar rejoined us, along with the slaves, saying they had cleared out the remainder of the enemies from the courtyard. Several of the slaves seemed to recognize Morangan, but I don't know the whole story there.

Now we're tryin' ta decide whether or not to rest up before confronting Alhunder. I have plenty of resources left, myself, but some of the others don't, as they used some against Thorn. Either way, I'd quite enjoy Alhunder believing he was betrayed by Leshna, and this might be my last chance to pose as her, so I might see if Phelaia still has that dress handy........

XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #10

Each player gained 700 experience for the session.

Total XP: 8750 (level 7 at 10000xp)

Ghouls, ghouls everywhere

We had a few moments to retreat and prepare for the onslaught of ghouls that we saw advancing on us. About fifteen it was, and we all did various preparations to be sure that we wouldn't be caught unawares by 'em. In the distance we could see another group of slaves taking on a whipmaster and a cultist, and as our own battle waged on, we could see them winning the fight. Fortunately for us, the ghouls didn't all arrive at once, and rather were spread out in four waves. The ones that did arrive, we did our best to hit swiftly and hard to increase our chances of success. A bunch of ours in the front line were caught immobilized by 'em, but that didn't hinder 'em from holdin' the line so that those of us in the back could keep doin' our jobs. Somehow Aurora seemed to take on most of the attacks, but she didn't do too bad for herself.

After the battle was over, a quick search of the battlefield yielded some nonmagical weapons. Some of the slaves agreed to come with us and help free those who were being held at the cathedral. The group told us that we should expect to find some whipmasters at the cathedral and some undead as guards of the approximately 100 slaves remaining; as well as some death priests ad zombies. Like the others, they suggested that Alhunder could be found in the inner chamber. They told us that the town contains about 200 citizens, mostly farmers and hunters, who are forced to worship Orkus under the looming threat of the undead. After a bunch of discussion, a plan started to form: I would pose as a whipmaster, with Aurora hiding aboard my ship. The slaves were willing to spend the day loading one boat full of lumber so that we could all get down there safely. I would take about ten of them aboard my ship, and another ten or so would go with the others, followin' behind in the airship. Three on our ship were willing to man the ballista, at Brogar's suggestion. They would arrive a bit behind, and then Aurora, myself, and the slaves would be in position to flank from the other side. Let's hope it works out for us.

Before we rested, we finished analyzing the journal we had found on the death priest at the excavation camp. The journal contained a bunch of prayers, death poetry, and much expounding on his personal beliefs and convictions about his commitment to Orkus. It only mentioned Alhunder briefly, and we didn't find anything of tactical use. We did find three rituals in the book: one ritual for desecrating ground, and two ways to raise the undead (one to be used on helpless living people to turn them into ghouls like those we faced earlier, and one to be used on ancient skeletons to turn them into a weaker zombie-like version). Upon reading the rituals, Colvin became somewhat agitated and enraged, and insisted vehemently that the book be immediately burned. He was probably even too fired up to hear Phelaia's faint protestations, for before we knew it, he had set it aflame in a trash can aboard the ship, with him muttering about "unholy rituals" and "vile, evil magics." I had no use for the rituals myself, and don't sell things of the sort in the shop, so I had no objections.

Anyhow, we all slept through the night, in shifts, and the next day started implementing the rudiments of our plan after dawn approached. We had plenty of time during the journey down for me to ask the slaves to give me clear detail about the best way to fit in, so I've been updated on the usual routine, schedule, mannerisms of the whipmasters, and so on. Wearing the chainmail and clothing of the deceased, and brandishing a whip, I feel prepared to do the part. As we sailed down toward the dock, I could see about 20 slaves and 1 whipmaster near the docks; and another 35 slaves, a whipmaster, and a couple of zombies towards the back of the cathedral. As we docked, I could see two death priests standing guard outside the inner sanctum where Alhunder more than likely is (for if he was not there, why would it be guarded?). I hailed those on shore and shouted at my slaves, every once in awhile covertly looking skyward for signs of an airship. My guess is that we have another couple of hours before Aurora's hiding place will be revealed to the others on land, so hopefully we can find a good tactical time to get this party started before we find ourselves in trouble.

XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #9

Each player gained 450 experience for the session.

Total XP: 8050 (level 7 at 10000xp)

Taking out the slave camps

We tied Charles and George together and left them near the river. Then we flew up and scouted the area around the town. We found the church on the outskirts of town, and after a bit more searching, we found a grave site northwest of town where about 40 slaves were digging out mass graves from the great Battle of Dragonwood Forest in the Hundred Years' War about 40 years back. A great pile of skeletal bodies were piled up near the excavation pit... poor souls, so much for "rest in peace."

The slaves and their masters spotted us as we flew over, so we had to engage them. I leaned over the railing and hailed them, telling them that we'd brought more cargo. After we disembarked, Treble stuck a dagger into one and battle ensued: us against three human cultists, two dragonborn whipmasters, one dragonborn death priest wielding a sceptre, and four zombies. The whipmasters were skilled in wrapping their whips around our ankles, grabbing us and knocking us prone. The death priest shot bolts of black ice at us, and the zombies were weaker, though still they charged at us and protected the others. It was a skirmish, for sure--especially for Aurora, who took a lot o' heat.

Afterwards, we searched the tents and the bodies of the fallen, finding a False Blood Amulet (which will help with my disguises) and Luckbender Gloves, which Treble put on. We found a journal that the death priest was keeping, whose code we have already made good progress in deciphering (I think we're a little more than half done with it). We also found 200 gold worth of gold, gems, and so on. We freed the slaves and talked to them, advising them not to return to the town. We found that there wasn't much else in the way of viable alternatives, so they agreed to wait at the camp until we cleanse the town of the slavery operation when we plan to return and tell them that it's safe. Many of them, however, had worked around the facilities, and they had a lot of useful information about the various operations. We learned that there are two kinds of undead that the slavers are using: zombies, raised from the ages-old skeletons and relatively mindless; and ghouls, turned from misbehaving slaves as a threat to keep the other ones in line (these have some level of intelligence and use their claws to immobilize a target before biting).

The others all agreed it would be best for the bodies at the mass graves here to be burned, which the slaves agreed to do after nightfall so as not to attract attention from the church. They said that the slavers go in rotation, and they weren't expecting a shift change until another day or so, so we had some time. We also learned that this is the only mass grave that was currently being excavated; others having been excavated in the past.

Some of 'em drew us a most useful map of the cathedral itself and the surrounding area. I found it interesting that they are shipping slaves from the mass graves while the graveyard right in front of the church had not yet been emptied, though the slaves said that they were already excavating slaves beyond their capabilities to raise them so far. On the map, they pointed out the inner structure of the old church and the new inner chamber constructed where Alhunder spends most of his time. They pointed out the two docks where slaves bring lumber from upriver on the barges (giving us a rough heading so we could pursue this remote camp as well), and a bunch of sleeping tents on the opposite sides for the slaves who are working on the cathedral itself.

The slaves told us we should expect to encounter scores of undead, a couple of whipmasters in the logging operation and a couple in the cathedral, three more death priests, and another six or so cultists. They also told us something new about Alhunder: that he is human, but one of his arms and hands is skeletal. It sounds like he has had the necrotic skin grafted onto his body, which we suspect should grant him some of the abilities of the undead.

We went along the river up to the logging camp, which was easy to find thanks to the trees felling in plain sight. We saw two whipmasters and about 70 slaves, as well as a couple of barges onto which the slaves were loading the lumber. We also saw three cultists, as well as some ghouls and zombies. The slaves had told us to be prepared for more undead at the logging camp because the slaves were armed with axes, so the ghouls would be used to help keep them in line. We landed near the smaller group, consisting of one whipmaster, one cultist, two ghouls, and three zombies. I told 'em we were bringing more cargo and should be unloading, and after we disembarked, Aurora attacked the whipmaster, stirring up a battle. We did a little better this time, though again somehow Aurora ended up in the thick of things. It was really tense for her there for a few moments before she regained her composure and helped to defeat the foes flanking her on all sides. One exciting turn in the battle happened once we had most of the enemies under control: while many of the slaves understandably ran for their lives, five brave ones came and fought against their captors alongside us! We cheered them on, and they seemed to have regained some vigor! Although once their immediate masters were dispatched, they thanked us and ran as well before the second wind of foes was upon us.

Aye, a huge ruckus arose and the rest of the enemies rushed across the battlefield towards us. We're ready to finish them!