Ptolus:ReqConSum

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Contents 1 August 02, 2008 2 August 16, 2008 3 September 01, 2008 4 September 13, 2008 5 September 27, 2008 6 October 11, 2008 7 October 25, 2008 8 November 08, 2008 9 December 06, 2008 10 January 03, 2009 11 January 17, 2009 12 February 14, 2009 13 February 28, 2009 14 March 15, 2009 15 March 28, 2009 16 April 11, 2009 17 April 25, 2009 18 May 9, 2009 19 May 23, 2009 20 June 06, 2009 21 June 20, 2009 22 July 18, 2009 23 August 01, 2009 24 August 15, 2009 25 November 21, 2009

August 02, 2008

Another day dealing with the meatsacks, and their absurd festivals. Celebrating a new year day as though it were a surprise it came yet again. At least the meat on a stick is tasty.

Having left the home near King's River and Emerald Hill, on the east where the day's light is brightest, clearest and most appealing, I ventured back among the monkeys. Whilst wandering around town, I was 'discovered' by those who claimed I was sharing in their dreams. Personally I think they were victimized by their rather rambunctious gnome bard and their latest inventions for adding things to waking states and calling it dreaming. However, they all claimed the same, so it is perfectly possible that Phoebul pulled them to me for some inscrutable task. Or perhaps my prayers have been answered, in spades, by providing companions that will be able to help me reclaim the throne and set certain other wrongs right. We shall see.

Otto Liebnitz	The aforementioned Gnome Bard	Jerome
Kekitat	A large, rather curiously appealing half-lion	Mike
Cheval Vargus	Cleric of Tun	Adam
Mulwrit Sandhammer	Mercenary	Doug
Grundric Stonelocks	Grailwarden Dwarven Scout	Jeremy

It seems my good friend and former traveling companion has been sighted once again in Ptolus. Rullus Hobb. This time, I shall have to bide my time appropriately, waiting for the right moment to renegotiate our last business transaction. I can only hope my new found friends will be so gracious to stand outside the locked door, and keep away the riffraff as we discuss things, despite the screams and puddles from under the door.

Two larger men, in quite attractive armor happened to pass our little band of folk, and offered us pamphlets for the Order of Iron Might. They both wielded 2-handed swords, which while quite impressive would certainly be a hindrance in a city fight. The Order is a guild for mercenary and sell-swords. The fees are 20GP to join, with an annual renewal of 10GP. Someone is making money here, and I doubt it's the workers.

We arrived, with much debate and discussion and sidetrip at St. Gustav's (alas there was no German food to be found). There we met with Brother Fabitor Thisk, a human monk, a Brother of Lothien. He asked us to check in on Phon Quartermain as she was revealed in a vision to be without a husband, but to be with child. The child is purported to be of great importance, though to whom was very vague, and thus we needed to ensure the mother's safety. Upon arriving at her shop that night, after Kekitat strove to assure her of his pure, paladinic intentions, two assassins were discovered there, and both were beaten into submission, and then turned back to the streets. (Will definitely have to check the character of this "paladin"; they broke the law, and attempted murder, twice over. If anyone deserved a swift, righteous death, it was certainly them.) We discovered these were lackeys for the Pale Dogs, based on their rings that bound two fingers together.

The Pale Dogs work for Balacazar Family, who is the main organized crime family in the city. They will also occasionally work for Vai.

Currently, we are keeping an eye out for a 14YO girl who went missing on Year's End. She has long brown hair, blue eyes, tannish skin, and goes by the name of Danna. Further, we are seeking means of increasing the cash reserves for ourselves. Well, at least some of us are. Others still have a few remnant sources of income from .. better days.

August 16, 2008

{Not real language formatted yet, so just be aware of that}

{MetaGame: Decision made to do an 8 way split for treasures, 1 for each person plus party fund gets 2. All magical items get divvied up by those who will benefit the party with them first and foremost. Gems/Jewels stay in that form until needed, as part of party funds.}

Much like a knitting circle, my fellow travellers sought to talk more than work.

Pregnant 'chick' options

• A> Walk away - not mess with anyone else
• B> 'Investigate' Red Warehouse
• C> Join the Pale Dogs instead

B> seems to be the choice, foolishly. Crispin Close alley, pretending to be drunk. This will happen around the time of the meeting.

Visited the Delver's Guild first, from the tavern we had reconvened at. Went initially to the Office to discuss the options, fees and awesomeness. Otto asked Gorti Juergen (the floor whore for the Guild) about cost, benefits, and risks for joining the Guild. She fed us pamphlets regarding the Guild:

Name	Annual Price	Benefits
Associates Guildsman	10GP	Libraries with maps of underground, and research. 10% off at Merchant
Guildsman	20GP	As above, plus access to Members maps and libraries as well as Waystations
Master Delver	500GP	Guildsman for 1 year, As above, plus voting priveleges plus retrieval insurance
Grand Master	5000GP	Master Delvers for 3 years, As above, plus claimstaking priveleges.

In the undermarket:

The stall of Jinsa Hammerblight (dwarf) sells firearms.

The stall of Ursaon Brightfall (male 1/2 Elf) buys things, no questions asked.

Otto "Of Course" Von Liebnitz recalled that the Cult of the Ebon Hand emblem seems to resemble the hand in the Chamber of Longing. I recalled that the cult worships physical deformity, and their mark is a black hand print as though dipped into ink.

Wall of the Lost was searched to look for possible resemblance to the known names, just in case their was familial history of loss.

On the way to the warehouse while trying to covertly spy, encountered a female latorian with a panther companion. She was eating a leg of roasted meat and Otto and she exchanged food and pleasantries. Continued to investigate red warehouse, with all but myself feigning drunkenness, and then "Of Course" started banging on the door, demanding to be let in claiming that the warehouse is an inn that he has paid for the night's sleep. Male elf opened the door (Laucio) and demanded password to which Otto immediately responded 'Swordfish' and initiated the fight. Laucio has a friend, Vagger (a human), who was firing arrows from across the warehouse. {Spent 1 AP to not fuck up a magic missile spell.} Otto took a beatin' and kept on tickin' away at his mandolin. We were all grateful for the combat inspiration even at the arrows continually sprouted from his chest and shoulder. Both fighters were working for Toridan Cran (just recalled him to be a street thug) who paid 100 crowns each, but not a lot else was discovered. We removed their gear, traded out to what we didn't want and sold the balance (Ill-Gotten Gain List) and divided up the overall spoils.

Returned to undermarket to sell items, and then joined Delver's Guild at 2nd tier for entire party using 2 of the gems obtained.

10 Tips to New Delvers, from person we joined with:

1. Underground, you have to think in three dimensions.
2. The most valuable hauls come from areas not yet explored by anyone else.
3. Any chamber or passage you stand within may have had many inhabitants and many uses over the years.
4. When sleeping or resting below the city, spike the doors and post a watch.
5. Regarding Doors
   1. If you see a door that looks like a huge gear, that leads into Dwarvenhearth.
   2. If you see a door of blue steel, there's likely a chamber of great treasure behind it.
   3. If you see a door of bronze and glass, that will open up a whole new region to explore.
6. More often than not, others have gone where you're about to go, and others will afterward. Keep your own journals and maps.
7. Your membership will pay for itself right away.
8. Native creatures of the undercity have an ecology all their own. Learn it.
9. The dungeons are vast. Any location in the city may lead to them, any location in the dungeon may lead to the city.
10. There's safety in numbers.

Member library is at Dalenguard and Emporer's Road for Delvers.

Met with Kekitat on the way back to The Cockpit, he was on his way to St. Gustav's. Went to inquire about Carel who was last known associate of girl. Determined there was 'some strange magical aura' in the building, but couldn't deduce what. Turns out Krag, the Minotaur, is why Carel is winning so much money in the hall currently in the arena. Carel is in league with the Cult of the Tolling Bell. They worked up a scheme with manager of The Cockpit (Naosh - 1/2 Orc) and they are associated with the Balacazar Syndicate. Aggah-Shan is the owner of The Cockpit, very mysterious, no one is ever sure they've even seen him. Apparently he has nothing to do with the situation with Carel and Naosh.

All the party ended up in the arena area, and Otto starts chatting up Carel, for a 'proposition'. All else filter out, save for Carel and two associates: female elf and male human. Otto bluffed Carel with Fesamere 'moving in quickly' to get Danna back from him, or at least give the information where she's at. Girl's safe, at the "P" house, second level in the boudoir. Carel didn't want trouble with "The Family" (Probably Balacazar family) and gave up information relatively easily. Need the 'thing' to indicate we're allowed to retrieve her.

September 01, 2008

{Meta: Gained 1AP for submitting review from last session, even though it was horribly unformatted}

No "Of Course" to join us. As of yet, no one is facilitating my plan of getting him a Kaiser helmet and using him as a battering ram. We'll see how long that takes to make happen.

Upon entering the street areas out of The Cockpit, we hear babies squalling. Kekitat opted to try and investigate. 2 houses south, along Hyson from The Cockpit. We opted to then go to sleep, the rest at the hotel, me at my home. On the way home, ran into a pack of rabid dogs. They were chasing rats and chose to ignore me. Observed from atop a small house roof for the time it took to slaughter the rats and then continued on home after determining that the rats weren't the types that would generate returns for the public notice.

Rejoined the party in the morning. Had some 'food' courtesy of the paladin. Obviously religious charity clearly cascades down from the highers to the pawns. Then we went to St. G's, as Kekitat needed to speak with Brother Fabitor. Kekitat inquired about the two men that we encountered the night before prior to his arrival. Fabitor directed us to the Order of Dayra, which is the Sisterhood and ran the non-Church functions in the city. They have an orphanage in Guildsman District on Licorice Lane. Courtesy of the Paladin's unerring sense of direction we 'accidentally' wandered through Mane. Headed to the Order of Dayra following Kekitat's failed attempt to find names he had discovered thus far. Ran across many merchants and warehawkers but stopped at none as there wasn't any significant need to stop along the way yet.

Spoke with Sister Bruna at Orphanage who said that Cult of the Tolling Bell probably wanted the girl, Danna, for sacrifice. Probably the girl because they want a virgin sacrifice. Kekitat then inquired about Toridan Cran for the pregnant chick. Some of the street urchins that come into the orphanage have mentioned a ' Cran '. Kids doing jobs for Cran, mostly pickpocketing. She obtained Bob, the punk-ass who was a thief for Cran. Bob was convinced to disclose the area wherein Cran lived, Nar Street where it dead-ends.

Went into The Warrens to try and get information on what 'P' House could be, or where Danna might be. Two late teen boys {at #318}, one unnamed and one named Droga directed us to the drug house, to talk to Madame Kaethea {at #319}. 2 story stone building with tile roof. Kekitat knocked at the door, and got no answer immediately. He listened and found someone walking around upstairs. He boosted Grundric up to look in the upstairs windows, and he heard Elvish. He knocked again and got a Harrow Elf male to answer the door and told us to come back in an hour for the somehow non-existent offer to purchase Danna's favors. Kekitat wants to find a solution wherein we can monitor the house but we opted instead to wait it out at the tavern {at #321}. Couple of human males, couple more Harrow Elves, bartender (male human), in this seedy place (Nul's Tavern). I spoke with Harrow elves to try and determine why fellow elves would be gathering and offering favors of a girl. Bribed one of the Harrow elves (10GP) and he gave the name Lakimos aka Lackie aka The Beggar King. He gave the name of the abandoned Peyton House for where Lakimos is running scams, and probably using it for beggar housing. He runs a network of beggars throughout the city, with the beggars also doing some pickpocketing and thieving, but mostly information networking. Karetsan deals with The Beggar King, and he can be found at The Zar'At in the North Market. Anageo was the contact at the tavern, he has several tattoos, but not specifically elvish.

Passing the foundry at Smith St. and Vadarast St., we came to a tavern near Planter's St. while on Stable Ln. where a gnomish minstrel was playing a fiddle and collecting change. We then continued to Mane and stopped for spitted and fire kissed meats. Then we proceeded to Lower God Road and took that North to move toward North Market. We crossed at Blessed Bridge, where we encountered shrines on the bridge. We moved through and continued along the road, through the conclave of temples to the various ghods. We were stopped as the Procession of the Holy Emporer across Sunrise St.

We made it to St. Valiens Cathedral wherein Kekitat got information from one of the brothers about where to continue looking for information to retrieve Danna from the Peyton House. We went to the The Temple of Asche per the advice, and inquired of a random acolyte Mand Scheben for more information on The Zar'At or Danna. The Zar'At is the main conclave of Harrow Elves in the city. We, through the paladin, were warned to learn more of the Harrow Elves, before attempting to gain entry to the conclave. Karetsan fashions himself as the leader of the Harrow Elves here, and is heavily linked with the Necropolis. I inquired of Mand whether they were any upcoming holidays or days that would be sanctified by a human sacrifice. 5th of Rain is God's Day Festival, which is next festival for the City. Bright Father's Day, High Holy Day of Lothien on the 14th of Blessing, marks the ancient . Rumors of Chaos Cults calling something the Night of Dissolution, Runebearers are perhaps heavily involved; sacrifice of Runebearers will bring it about. Runebearers are born with the Mark of the Rune upon them. In Ancient Times, 1 in 4 were born with Mark of the Rune. With the disappearance of the Vallis Moon, the Mark disappeared almost completely. Lately a handful of children have been born again with the ancient marks. I asked about whether the Night of Dissolution might in some way bring about the return of the Vallis Moon. If the girl is found in time, return to this temple and speak with Mand again and he will put me in touch with the Lord Zavere and Lady Rill, of Castle Shard, to discuss the possibility of returning the Vallis Moon (a large crystal moon-like formation). He was then asked about Peyton House, where it might be located. Mand stated that he heard it might also be haunted, and was across the street from The Wagon Wheel on Passed Over Road. It's a popular site due to the lack of Haunted Houses in the City.

We then checked The Wagon Wheel to investigate whether there were available rooms or not. It is a wainwright shop with no rooms so the plan of renting rooms to watch the house is not going to happen.

September 13, 2008

{Meta: Got 1 AP for summary, and 1 rank in Knowledge: Local}

Later in day on Water Day, we regrouped at the Ghostly Minstrel. We arrived just at the end of Otto's set. He obtained a good deal of loose change per his performance for the evening. We headed down the stairs to the Under Market looking to garner information about the Night of Dissolution, the Harrow Elves and shopping for Otto.

Zar'At is a whole block against the Necropolis is on Veil Lane. Nearly all Harrow Elves live there (20), led by Karetsan and accompanied by Sulet a particularly muscled companion. This was divulged by Cheval.

Night of Dissolution: most didn't know what Kekitat was talking about. A couple fled the scene when it was brought up. One is a member of Church of Lothien. He said that 'Long Ago, there was The Creator, some times known as Praemus. There were evil beings known as Galchutt, also known as Lords of Chaos. The Creator devised a trap to hold them. The Vallis Moon is somehow the key to that trap.' He couldn't say what it is, but he heard that Chaos cults are still trying to bring it about.

I inquired of the operator of the Guild Room whether she knew of anything about the Night of Dissolution. She had little (none) information for the night. Two other Delvers were reporting to her at the same time, telling of fighting an army of skeletons in one of the caverns.

We (Kekitat) then discussed the options as we have them, and we (Kekitat) decided we should be heading over to Zar'At to get more information regarding Peyton Place. We (Kekitat) then decided I should be heading up the investigation at Zar'At. At the corner of Golden Elm Way and Veil Lane we found the 3 story tower which was the headquarters of Keepers of the Veil. This was right next to the gate to the Necropolis. Order is about 800 years old, knights dedicated to destruction of Undead. Founder is ancestor of current leader; it's inherited business. Sir Beck von Tibbitz is the current leader of the Keepers. The Keepers are often confused with the Knights of the Pale.

Zar'At seems to be the Harrow name for the neighborhood. Found Karetsan's home as the large house with stable attached. Knocked and was greeted by a stooped and bent Harrow Elf. Asked to speak with Karetsan and was eventually allowed inside. Went to the parlor, and met with Karetsan and Sulet. "No the humans of the city are not going to do anything about the rampant Vampirism. The Covenant of Blood is going to do as they please." Sulet cast Detect Thoughts on myself while I was offering the question regarding the Night of Dissolution. I corrected Otto after he made it abundantly clear he detected the same spell being cast by Sulet, as it was rude to our hosts. Karetsan gave me a pewter bell which should get through the door at the P House. She requested I 'surprise' her with the solution.

Otto wanted to find a Temple to Jode at which to worship. Couldn't find any so we all returned to the Inn. Otto then performed so very well (earning 9GP and donating 3GP to the party fund), that we were granted a free night's lodging there. I declined and instead went to Emerald Hill to find a random elf boi to determine who the leader of the Conclave was at the present time. Doraedian Mythlord was the name I was given. He speaks for Iridithil. Iridithil's Home is social and political center of Elven community in Ptolus.

In morning, breakfast was had by all and discussion ensued WRT what to do. Mulwrit opted to head to the Delver's Library. The rest of us went to investigate Toridan Cran. We returned to retrieve the augury. Verified Cran is involved. There would be incredible success and benefit to us if we pursue Toridan Cran and try and hunt him down. The seer can't see long-term repercussions to our actions. Otto then took us to the Temple to Jode to get his personal guild joined. He said his private prayer "Goddess give me health and strength; I'll steal the rest." and then headed into the Guildhall itself. We met up again with Mulwrit after his research right down the road from the temple.

At meeting at the Inn, we determined that we would use myself as a captive to gain entry to the house with the pretext that I alone was planning to capture and 'save' the girl. Then, when inside we were going to try and get the girl easily without the bloodshed if possible, but when that's not possible to attack. We started out by going to St. Gustav's to obtain a blessing from Brother Fabitor before heading in in an attempt to maximize benefits (bonuses) before heading out.

Kekitat was asked to kick in the door by Otto when there was only a moaning response to his attempted entry. We heard "There's someone here, move her downstairs." Upon kicking in the door, action ensued. Otto killed one, who had stunned himself after brutally showing how clever he was by attacking furniture around the room. Grundric slaughtered the one I had already struck twice but failed to annihilate as of yet. We headed downstairs in pursuit of the other rats, who had fled the upstairs area, and I was able to kill a basic ratman. Mulwrit killed the Radlord1 as well. I killed another ratman downstairs. Grundric moved into the secondary chamber and killed the Ratlord that Kekitat had already damaged. Grundric managed to kill yet another ratman in the second room. Kekitat then managed to finish the final visible ratman.

Grundric found the invisible door in the stone wall, and upon opening said door we found two 'rat brutes' trying to clear one wall that was dirt covered for a passage out of the underground chamber. They were definitely much more difficult than everything we've encountered to this point. Cheval put too much of himself into unconsciousness from healing Kekitat. Otto then took personal inspiration to use his Speak With Animals skill to scare the ratbrutes away and drop the girl, with Kekitat's assistance in the effort. They did indeed drop the girl and fled through the tunnel.

(Each player gained 600XP and 1AP). Looting the area yielded the following. 8 Rat Tails. clock in a golden case. silver handmirror with elaborate frame and handle. 6 sacks of coins. 10GP 89SP 240CP. 10 books. Discussion also made regarding claiming this house as our own. A couple of amusing notions were bandied around, but decision was held off until we could locate more information regarding the house and it's status in the city, beyond just being a 'haunted house'.

September 27, 2008

{Meta: 1 AP gained for having summary submitted}

We found a birthmark on the girl, in the shape to the right. Cheval checked and reported, also, that she was 'clean' (i.e. unmolested). We discussed the best solution for the girl, and returning her to her guardian that hired us. Kekitat discovered his ability to channel his St.'s power and heal others. Otto spoke with her, and ensured that this girl is indeed Danna. Her last name is Etherin, Toman is her father, and she was asked if she knew a Migos Foraeth, and she said no. The group opted, retardedly, to take her home. She knew where she lived based on the Spice Market, so we decided to start her there, so she could be returned from that point. A man graciously allowed me to make 2CP off Otto because a dog made off with his other shoe.

On Vadarast St. we found a group of guards questioning a male halfling, early middle age, with a cloth tunic. They were accusing him of thievery and patting him down. We then headed up Dead Orc Ln and at Hemp St. we found her house. Her father seemed happy to see her. 24SP and 5GP for reward. Kekitat gave the family the amount of the reward back out of his money to allow them to get out of town. The father said there were relatives SW that they could go live with and/or visit. Otto and Mulwrit are going to be disguising themselves as the girl and father to try and lure out more of this conspiracy. Otto got a 'receipt' from the father, to prove that the girl has been returned.

The night passed uneventfully, despite Otto's efforts. Apparently, we did see some large dogish faced beings with two bags over their shoulders. It is now the 6th of the month, as we head out. We found a centaur and a human female that were Fateweavers (as designated by a shaven head and an infinity symbol on their forehead). Most seem to believe that the Fateweavers are bogus and such, but a few believe they have links to actual powers. I offered 4CP to the centaur to read my fate. I asked 'Will I be able to return my family's prominence?' His answer was 'Your sails have caught the right wind, but this wind only blows South.' I gave him an additional 1SP as a tip, and we continued on toward the Black Swan to try and retrieve the reward offered.

On the way, we encountered Longdraught Bitter Ale brewery. It seems that the vats are fueled by alchemical fire. The rest of the group was far more interested in this building than I, so they simply wandered and I waited for them to get into trouble. Again. We then departed, and continued on toward the bar. On the way, we witnessed a silver dragon swooping overhead and heading off toward the Spire. We found the bar and inside were several dwarves that were singing merrily along. Otto confronted Migos, and we discovered that he was going to have to have us come back at closing to retrieve our reward. Otto ended up dragging Kekitat into it as well, to intimidate the bartender to get our reward. Closing of the bar theoretically happens at midnight.

Otto, Kekitat, Cheval and I went to the Administration Building to find out how owns the various buildings that are of interest to us in Ptolus (Toridan Cran owning the house at the end of Nar Rd., the 'Haunted House', and Tomin Etherain's house). Tomin's house is owned by himself. The Peyton House has no immediate owner and a claim of inheritance from Lack Peyton as of last month. The value of the Peyton House is 2500GP currently, listed as a 2BR with full basement. Re: Toridan Cran, he's listed as owning 3 home (on Nar St.) and 3 warehouses (5 of which are on Nar, with one warehouse on Able), has a minor criminal record. I submitted the paperwork for filing the claim for the Peyton House, using my full noble title, and bribed (15GP) to have it shoot to the upper stack of paperwork to be considered. We have to be at Inquest on 23rd of New Year to prove our claim, and if Lack doesn't show up our claim will be proven that much faster and easier.

Grundric took the rattails to St. Gustav's and received 6 Remove Disease potions and 24GP for the tails. He then relayed information to Kekitat that Phon had been released the previous day to go about her life again.

Mulwrit departed for the library.

We met up with Mulwrit at the library again, after his 'fruitless' search. We then agreed to go investigate the basement of Peyton House (soon to be my house), so we can start figuring out where the rats are coming from. We opted to go South, trying to find a means of reaching Delver's Guild. After about 100' we found a main channel area, with 5' ledges, 20' wide tunnel, with stone bridges across the sewer system proper every so often. We then found a rung series up and to a grate that opened up near the Temple of Melann, the goddess of farming at Chalice Rd. and Starchild St. We continued going South, and found a 30degree downangle where the sewage continues and falls over a cliff edge and falls into the river. We descended the stairs to continue exploring the area, going a total of about 300' of stairs and we encountered a door that was mostly rusted shut, and the lock was indeed rusted solid. Beyond was a room with 20' ceilings and 20' width, where Grundric is attacked by Green Slime. We survived the encounter after Grundric got his face cleaned off by Otto's scimitar and a Magic Missile from me, with Kekitat and Mulwrit and Grundric coming up with the solution of a Molatov Cocktail (?) on the ceiling to kill the upper slimes and the floor slime was killed by the drippings of fire.

Heading back to the Peyton (Reqqast) House to heal up and prepare better for future slime attacks. We spent a few hours cleaning the house and attempting to repair the front door. At a suitable time remaining, we headed back to the Black Swan. Upon talking with Migos, it became clear from his statement that 'The Bell Tolls' that the group are in fact The Tolling Bell Cult. Migos and Kekitat would not back down, and it was obvious that death was in fact in the air. Through only a few rounds, most of the bad folk died. Kekitat and Otto ended up on fire because of a Burning Hands spell cast by Migos. Spent 1AP to hit random baddie. Received 475XP for all the death and doom brought.

October 11, 2008

Kekitat gathered and stacked the bodies so Cheval could give them last rites. Searching behind the bar revealed beverages, cups, and a light crossbow. Kekitat fulfills his clepto nature, and takes one of the collars for its shiny nature. We exited out the back, trying to be stealthy. While escaping, ran into Lochen (another Assarai) who I talked out of attacking our party due to my wily wit and capable skill at word-smithing. Otto heard glass breaking behind us, and then we heard (as we were walking along) the fire bell ringing and turned to discover that the Black Swan had caught on fire 'somehow'. I determined that the fire was magically assisted, and was enough to consume the tavern in minutes.

We returned to the Ghostly Minstrel, and Otto played a final set for the evening, and managed to get himself 15SP out of it as well. We then decided to turn in for the night, and I returned to my home. It is now Queensday (7th), and I return to the tavern to meet with the group again. Upon arriving, found a letter addressed to us all, sort of. Cheval and Kekitat headed off to get Cheval a permit for his firearm at City Hall. The rest of us returned to Mand at the Temple of Asche, and spoke with Brother Mand (High Priest) to garner the introduction to Lord Zavere and Lady Rill. Brother Mand convinced us to move with haste to determine what's what, here, and then suggested that we return to our various homes to get more dressy clothes to meet in court.

We continued forward, after Otto unsubtly informed me that he heard the actual conversation last night with my brethren. We passed bills for New Republicans, and for Cloud Theater's new performance of The Boy Who Could Sing. The theater obviously captured Otto's attention, at least briefly enough for him to take said handbill. And the rest of the group bitches that I'm a bad man; I didn't steal something.

Passing through Dalenguard Keep, we entered the Noble's Quarter. We then traversed the path up to Castle Shard, and Brother Mand rang the bell. We were greeted by the door/footman and he went to inform the Lord and Lady. We were definitely introduced to how opulent the castle truly is. I recognized Lord Kirstol Dallimothan (colloquially known as house Dragon) in a portrait and Otto recognized the actress Yanalla Kadrein. We were finally given audience by Lord Zavere and went through the courtier rituals. It was revealed that a drug smuggler is giving the Lord issues. The smuggler's name is Linech Cran. He has a small operation out on an island north of the city, and then import it into the city. Shivvel. Something happened on the island recently, and they thought he was finished with production, but he wasn't. Now he's looking to hire a band of adventurers, which is unusual for him. He seems to be suffering from a sudden influx of resources, which is also contradictory to how it 'should' be based on the event.

He wishes us to become this band of adventurers, and then inform Lord Zavere of what was going on, and who was backing him. Additionally, if at all possible, find out if his operation is still in business. He offered 100 Gold Crowns but Otto piped up, in his no-longer-squeaky voice, and convinced the Lord to provide additional items to the party for the costs of sustaining this mission. Cheval received an enormous barrelled, long handled gun of some sort. It turned out to be a mortar of sorts. We got half the gold up front, and Otto stuck out his no-longer-tiny hand to receive them and then handed them over to Kekitat. Lord Zavere also mentioned that a Thoughtstone would be provided upon completion of the task in addition to the extra cash. Borther Mand mentioned that sometimes Lord Zavere is rather impatient in his dealings. He also mentioned that Linech lives somewhere in the Rivergate District but doesn't know precisely where.

We returned to Delver's Square, and returned to the Inn. The bartender responded to Otto's question about Linech, and was told about his borough in Rivergate, off Middle St. on the first western sidestreet. Grundric used his magical skill of scrounging to find a Shivvel dealer and then to browbeat the purveyor of addiction to reveal the home of the Linech. In Rivergate, many families with children living in houses that have low-level fences covered in ivy. We found the house of Linech Cran, the two story blue house on the rise at the back of the borough. Otto managed to get us in the door and to Linech in his usual knife-edge way.

We offered our services. Linech stated that his daughter was dead, and wanted her body back to bury her. She died on an island in the Whitewind Sea, and her body was on the way back and was lost in transit. The ship transporting her caught fire, and sank to the bottom of the bay. He wants us to retrieve her from the bottom of the bay, and to find out who sank the ship. He offered several sacks of coins, and 6 vials of liquid but insisted that Seanus (the halfling door-opener) accompany us to make sure everything is on the up and up.

October 25, 2008

Left the Cran household with Seanus. He's wearing a chain shirt and carrying sm. heavy mace and sm. light crossbow. Seanus said the island is about 10mi. NE of the coast. The party split, with half of it going to update Brother Mand on the status, and the rest of us going to the Docks District. We found several 'swarthy folk' moving around on the streets. We found the largest buildings in the District right on the edge and looking almost lighthouse-like, which read 'Dockmaster' over the door. Upon knocking on the door, I was invited on up, and accepted the invite. A couple of tapestries, moldy and torn showing ships at sea, and various other seamen inspirational garbage lined the spiral staircase up to the 3rd floor office area. The dockmaster claimed to manage and handle all manner of information, including shipping manifests and cargo/crew lists. After bribing the Dockmaster 3GP for a referral of a large ship, was recommended to see Capt. Sturm Slavent. The ghost Tyrus Green is said to haunt Piers 4, 5, and 6 as well. He then recommended Larel's Implements on Fisherman's St. for outfitting us for 'fishing'. We departed for Larel's Implements to talk to Larel regarding equipment necessary for salvaging.

Upon speaking with Larel, we purchased everything we'd need, and discovered that the water was about 100' deep. We purchased 300' rope, 2 block and tackle, 1 sun rod, and 2 jars of patch paste for 23GP. We then tried to locate Sailor's Rest to find our Capt. Seanus bought some anti-toxins before we left. Sailor's Rest (sometimes called Captain's Bar) is on Salt Spray St., non-descript and unmarked. Ordered some fish filets and spoke with the barkeep who then called Capt. Sturm over to our table. Careful discussion brought us out of the bar, and away from prying ears, to look at the boat and evaluate its worthiness. Seanus said he could help with the rigging, thus eliminating any extra sailors needed. We then negotiated the final cost which is 33GP plus leaving whatever we end up setting up on his boat. Seanus stated that we should leave immediately in case the competition opted to go fishing at the same time as well. So we set sail almost immediately to go start our salvage of The Arrowhead, in the Whitewind Sea.

Night has fallen, and clouds have rolled in, making any other navigation relatively difficult but Seanus declared we'd arrived. I dove down with the water breathing potion. After many moments, and having drank the potion, I found the shipwreck angled slightly upward. Found 2 Sahuagin and 2 sharks guarding/unloading the ship already. I tied off the rope that was around my waist to some of the portholes and made my way back to the ship, so I could describe the situation and enlist some aid in fighting off these creatures. {Jeremy made his knowledge check and gave us all info on Sahuagin}. Everyone else, aside from Otto the no-longer-tiny, drank their potion and accompanied back down. I led the way along the rope, and ultimately combat ensued against them all. We slew one Sahuagin and one shark, and the second shark carried off the soon-to-be-corpse of the second fishman as it went into a blood frenzy.

We then examined the innards of the ship, trying to determine if there is anything worthwhile to find/pillage/loot/salvage. We followed a trail of debris back to where the fishmen might have come from. We discovered two inlets into a mass of land (island) and took the south entry. On the way, turning south into another chamber, a massive snake ambushed us, ensnared me. The rest of the party moved to assist, and I ended up killing the snake to ensure it didn't attack us on the way out, and didn't bring any assistance to the party. We continued forward, found some airbubbles from the northern passage so we chose to investigate them after finding what looked to be a Sahuagin lair in the first southern passage chamber. I investigated what turned out to be a chimney type opening and that opened into a cavern with two slaves (one Southern male, and one Assarai) and at least 6 guards, some chests, crates, and a glass coffin with the lid smashed in. A wooden door leads out of the room to the NW with 2 of the guards guarding it.

{Was nominated for MVP, and got it, and was awarded 1 Swim rank for it}

November 08, 2008

Wisely, the group decided to pursue my plan; there need be no enslavement of the group at this time. We're successful in slaughtering them all, through various vicious means, including arming the slaves (thanks to Kekitat). On Guard A, 2 potions and 22GP and 8SP were in a coinpurse. Kekitat attempted to remove all the bells and collar off Sir Jingles (Alssan) but I convinced my fellow scaley that it was not yet time to be rid of the collar. Seanus went through Guard A's pockets, and handed me the key (most likely to the door). We found out from Sumar that the coffin shattered outward as 'someone' that was a girl when in the coffin, who according to Alssan ran to the South, and is not actually living. I sent Kekitat to investigate while I 'assisted' Alssan in something on his belt. Cheval, Seanus, and Grundric accompanied. While they were off, I spoke with Alssan, laying out the very high level of my plans for the Eastern area, and seeing where he might fit into the plan, aside from the obvious. Alssan and I were rooting through the boxes again to pass the time. I found a small chest with 20 little vials of 'liquid' (brown and sludgy) and I determined that the liquid is derived from blood magically but beyond that I could determine nothing else.

The party returned with Linele who is now apparently some sort of zombie. I suggested leaving Seanus, the zombie girl, and our two new friends there, to mind the area and the boat, and that the rest of the party then explore through the door and up to the surface to see if there's any way out that way. We happened upon an armory first, where I was able to undo most of the damage the family mace went through while swimming to the cavern and fighting the sharks and sahuagin. Grundric found some special arrows, and Kekitat listened at the door, to be determine that there were at least two people speaking outside the door. Grundric then opened a chest finding 2 vials of liquid, a 'very shiny' morningstar with writing along the handle. He couldn't decipher the script, so he asked me to do so, and I found it was called 'Elf Crusher'. I also discovered that the black fletched arrows were likely arrows of sleep.

Kekitat listened at the door, and there was a single phrase he made out 'We can always ransom her if she doesn't have it on her.' Grundric opened the door stealthily but was watched by an elven wizardess, who demanded our intention immediately. Grundric attempted to say that Linech Cran had sent us but failed to be convincing, even to himself. So, we had to fight the thugs, all of whom fell distressingly quickly. Then we had to manage Simon, a river troll. After many too many wounds that simply continued to heal save for the fire damage that I was able to inflict. Finally, after near deific heroic efforts from everyone, Simon also died. Kekitat then investigated the door where Simon emerged from, heard quiet sobbing, and continued to investigate. Mulwrit kicked in the door to discover a bunkhouse. Cheval looked for someone to heal, and I started to stack the bodies we created in the armory. Cheval also discovered what seems to be a demon altar. We investigated the rest of the area, and discovered many things. Kekitat managed to discover something that he felt appropriate to open. It turned out to be an iron maiden, as per Cheval, and they opened it to reveal a male human in his 50's that is dying from the wounds of the iron maiden. Cheval managed a rather decent prayer to Tun, and the human started to heal.

Loot: (Upper Echelon quarters) 3 potions, chain shirt, javelin; (thug 2) 11 very small pouches, each full of dust; (wizard) greenish brown gem, about palm sized, ring, wand; (wizard quarters) 4 scrolls and 2 tomes. 70GP. (Chests to be discussed at next session)

December 06, 2008

We agreed to pile the loot in the center of the room, so as to better figure out what we can and can't carry easily. There are also chests in the store room that need to be explored, so we opted to investigate them. One of the Wizard's tomes is a Book Magical Spells (need 'some' study time, and , the other being Ancient Dark Arts with a whole bunch of bookmarks, dogeared pages, and notes in margins and on slips of paper in the book. Scrolls are more traditional scrolls – one-shot spells. 3 scrolls have 2 spells each, final has one. Scroll 1 – Black Tentacles, and Cloud the Mind; Scroll 2 – Force Shaping, and Mage Armor; Scroll 3 – Arcane Lock, and Speak With Dead; Scroll 4 – Necromancy. Going through some of the correspondence by this mage, I noticed some bearing the name Balacazar (the premiere crime family in Ptolus). There isn't any specific naming in the documents that trigger other memories of any specific person within the family.

Chest 1	Locked with no trap. 4 small glass flasks of some kind of silvery oil – Oils of Dancing Weapon, one use each and the anointed weapon becomes Dancing.
Chest 2	Locked with no trap. Fine gold chain with a gold pendant with large red gem. Not immediately supernatural. Looks an awful lot like the one I had while dealing Rullus Hob. In theory it might give a +1 to fire resistance.
Chest 3	Locked with no trap. Pair of hard leather boots of fine Elvish quality, scroll work embroidery. Some ill-defined mystical quality.
Chest 4	Trapped with simple needle trap, and deactivated. Brass mug, inlaid with jade and embroidered silk and velvet cloak with moonstones set around the collar.
Chest 5	Trapped with spring bolt at lock but deactivated, containing small leather sack – Bag of Holding.
Chest 6	Trapped with firebolt, known by activation. Second trap, a magical one, evaded preliminary disable check. 2 gems – tiger eye turqouise, one star rose quartz; Elvish Longsword with silver blade; small green feather – feather token of the tree type, activated by planting in the ground causing a great oak to spring into existence at that point.

Kekitat got bored/frustrated so went exploring upstairs and found the dock with a rowboat and sailing boat (Can's Horror) tied up at the docks. We carried everything off into the boat, after having discovered a half submerged statue left behind by the Charad Titans who built boats and sailed around the islands, and were allied with Elves in the area. Assumed to be first settlers and explorers of fortress on site of Ptolus, they were about 10' tall. Legend has it that they all sailed out of the world one day. Grundric found a small stash of treasure in the rowboat; a small set of panpipes (very finely crafted) with a magical trait – if played properly, may create spellbinding tune (Pipes of Haunting). The Pipes are engraved 'CB'.

The zombie girl's vision was recounted from when she was found: Stormy rocky shoreline of an island (not the island we were just on), a pretty young girl was playing with a small black dog in the surf, with a compound of buildings and a ship in the background. The ship name is Arrowhead, the ship that sank. Suddenly the vision changes, the ship is gone and the buildings are all in flames. Figures in black move around compound, putting survivors to the sword. The dog is gone, the girl Linele holds a gold pocketwatch in an outstretched hand, asking the viewer plaintively 'Why?' and thus ends the vision.

While transferring cargo to our original chartered boat, another boat started to approach, so Kekitat opted to scuttle Can's Horror. (Ninth of New Year) We set off at a perpendicular course to the approaching ship, and arrived back at the dock's around midday. Cheval agreed to take the two slaves and the fisherman to healing, then to drop off Alssan at the 'rat house' so he can take residence. At the docks, we saw The Iron Mage on a dock, commanding people to unpack the crates off the ship. No one knows his real name or gender, but he is presumed to be most powerful mage in Ptolus. Armor is a patchwork of other suits of armor.

Kekitat, Grundric, and Reqqast headed off to Cran's home with the Linele and Seanus, while Otto went to <the noble> to inform him of our progress, and Cheval is still taking the various folk to the ones listed above. The main party made it to the borough at the end of the street. We presented Linele to Linech and upon his denial that she lives, she was revealed by Kekitat and then she immediately lunges toward him with claws extended. I touched Linele, and set her aflame (wherein she dropped the watch which I then snagged and pocketed immediately. Kekitat then opened the shutters to expose the sunlight to office; as the sunlight hit her Linele burst into a cloud of dust. We spoke with Linech a while finding that the girl was killed about a week ago. I asked if he had angered the Balacazar Family recently, but he didn't say anything about that. We received the 1200GP reward. I then Intimidated Cran into telling me the history of the watch. Apparently, the Balacazar Family moved in on his shivvel operation. He needs to offer the watch to the Balacazars in an effort to live. The watch tells how to make shivvel and he's going to offer that to the Balacazar Family since they have already been stealing the existing drugs and selling them themselves

After having intimidated Cran into allowing us to act as his bodyguard, I then also obtained the watch. On checking again to determine the function of the watch, a voice from the watch attempted to breach my Psychic Shield, and failed. From that point, I kept the watch closed and didn't try and figure out its function again. We arrived at the store (a leather tanning shop), at the back door, and Cran gave the password “Cry Me a River”. We found the contact, a rough and tumble guy with 4 guards. I spoke with the Balacazar representative, and arranged the life of Cran by exchanging the watch. I also mentioned the fact that the watch spoke with me, and wanted to ensure that the watch didn't find someone to possess.

A raven landed on my shoulder as we were leaving, sounding like Mand Schaben, and said “Gather your friends and come to Castle Shard immediately.”

January 03, 2009

We all met at Castle Shard after the raven visited those of us not with my group. Mand was waiting for us at the door. We found Otto waiting for us along with Lord Zavere and Lady Rill in the antechamber in Castle Shard. He mentioned that we are now to be given the task of obtaining the gold statue. Otto haggled with Lord Zavere over the reward, getting the pay to 4X's if we returned with Lord Abbercombe. I stayed behind and asked Lord Zavere about whether there was a notable watch with Lord Abbercombe. He said that there wasn't one, per se, but I promised to keep my eye out for the sentient watch which I also informed Lord Zavere was turned over to the Balacazar Family. As I left, I inquired who the other wizard was and he stated that the other wizard was unknown name but was a member of The Sorn.

We obtained a cart with 4 draft horses (with cool purple manes) from Lord Zavere to transport the statue. We chose the most direct routes possible to get to the house to obtain the statue and return. Upon traveling, Otto and I wagered on the short haired dog making it to the corner first, and lost the 1GP wager, annoyingly. I must find that long haired dog. Kekitat found that the Rivergate Bridge was closed for the evening already and so we opted to head through Middle Street bridge instead. The bridge was clogged because a wagon had broken down on the bridge from a lost wheel and goods having spilled out from the wagon as well. The rest of us went to the house, to try and get an impression of where the statue might be, and whether Linech Cran might still be around at all.

Upon arriving in the cul-de-sac I noticed 2 blue gnolls helping a robed figure over the wall at the northern side of the area. We all ended up in the house and Otto managed to do his usual of bullshitting through any semblance of rationality. And he managed to convince Seanus and Biesta (Cran's half sister) that the guards are arriving and Linech must be hastened out of the building. Managed to nab a silver goblet while checking for blue gnoll approaches. I distracted Biesta by making up a potential sighting of a 'blue cloak'. While she was distracted while looking out the window. Mulwrit then 'accidentally' helped her out the shuttered window when she was not expecting of the attack. When she made it through the window, I shouted out that I had lost sight of the blue cloak and she needed to run as fast as possible. She dropped her bag o' loot before being assisted out the window. We claimed the bag and loaded it on the cart.

We opted to lever the statue out of the upstairs window, and then lower it down onto the cart which Mulwrit backed up to the house. We got the statue onto the cart, and started to move it along back toward the castle, using Ridge Road, Vock Road, Emperor's Road, 4 Fountain Drive, to Dalenguard Road that will take us back to the castle. On the way past, the northern most side of the street had a warehouse that had burned down that I determined that it was assisted with magical means of burning down. After being challenged twice, we arrived at Castle Shard. Upon entering we were greeted by Lord Zavere who offered us our reward. Otto relayed our success in the statue. We each received 800GP of amethysts each for the successes we have achieved.

Biesta Cran dropped from personal: Masterwork Greatsword which is going up for sale, scroll (Charm Person), 3 vials of brown powder (same as powder as on the ship, per the insight from Grundric). Biestra's bag contained 70GP worth of silverware and assorted crap.

Linech's bag contained 400GP, 4 flasks of 'interesting' liquid (2 Alchemist Fire which went to Cheval) (1 Potion of Cure which went to Cheval, and 1 Potion of Invis. which went to Grundric), 96GP, 4 scrolls (Detect Secret Doors, 3 others), Masterwork club (to be sold), sling (normalish) (to be sold), 12 Masterwork bullets (to be sold), Ring (Protection +1) which went to Kekitat, Masterwork Thieves Tools (which went to Grundric).

Each person then also gets 150GP from Linech Cran. 100GP from Linech's sack, and 12GP per person from what Linech was carrying on himself.

Party dividing rewards: And for the gems we each gave 2 gems to the party pool for 1200GP donated to the party pool, 300GP from Linech's reward, 200GP from the sack Linech was carrying, and 24GP from the gold Linech had on his person. Feather token went to Otto. 4 flasks of Dancing Weapon go to the group pool.

The breastplate that Otto had found turned out to be a Breastplate of Ghost Ward. Mulwrit took it. +1 Magical bonus, +3 for armor, and a> can add +1 to defense against touch attacks; b> functions against non-corporeal opponents.

From there we retired for the evening, myself to our 'new' house and the rest of the party to Delver's Square. I spent most of the evening assisting my new friend with his recollections to determine that I'm his best friend, he's been fiercely devoted to the crown all his life, and he takes a good deal of pleasure in serving the nobility's desires and requirements.

January 17, 2009

13^th of New Year, Fireday

The morning after having spoken with the Lord and Lady, we split up partially, with myself and my new friend going to the formerly haunted house, with him staying to thoroughly clean the house, with my new found mental prowess helping him along to make the right decisions.

Met up with everyone at Delver's Square once more, to take care of some shopping necessities. We took care of various shopping needs, which are detailed by the others complete attention to detail and documentation standards. I found Tal Ingersol's shop for a custom leather armor outfit. I bribed 2GP to get the fitting and measuring today, the suit will be ready in one week. The suit will bear the familial crest, and have several hidden caches and pockets throughout, just in case. It will be secure and will be of thicker, better leather than my current. When it is complete, I will investigate the options of magical enchantment for inclement weather resistance as well as superior deflection and defense.

I then went to the Bull and Bear weapon shop to rent their forge and bellows for a couple of hours. The proprietors are Hirus and Sholum Feek. I managed to talk my way into the forge area with the 5GP that magically found their way to the counter. I spent a few hours securing a ruby, an emerald and an amethyst from my personal gains so far into the haft of the mace, per tradition. I then returned to Tal's shop to add in 6 leather armbands for the party with the party logo for additions.

The next day, Otto and Grundric went to the Undermarket, after purchasing our breakfasts, then purchased 3 Everburning Torches for 300GP out of the party pool. This is to assist with our delving which we're finally going to start this day. We 'chose' to pursue the Chamber of Longing corridor, with Mulwrit in the lead. Grundric and Kekitat revealed that there is a rumor that the Chamber was created by Kagrisos the Ghost-Lich. Mulwrit revealed that Kagrisos was, long ago, on the brink of releasing a plague that would certainly have killed off all of Ptolus, but he was stopped by the human Abesh Runihan (the First Delver) for whom Delver's Square was originally named.

Just after the Chamber of Longing, there is an unlocked iron door and beyond are stairs descending. There are branches off the main corridor, one going down, and one to the sewers, and one 'bunny slope' dungeon area. We chose to head downstairs, to encounter another iron door which we had a key for because of our standing in the Delver's Guild. Grundric opened the door to reveal a large hall with tables and cots. There are a bunch of people eating, and this is clearly a Guild resting area. There are 3 doors heading off from the hall. One leads to old crypts/catacombs, one leads eventually to the locked entry to Dwarvenhearth, and the third leads down to the Caverns of Chaos. Original site was Dwarvenhearth, and no dwarf will reveal why it was sealed and now no dwarf will return. After Kekitat discovered an adventurer that had to flee from a snake with a human head and magic wielding, we chose quite wisely to return to the 'bunny slope' passages. A sign declared this area as The Abandoned Catacombs and we ventured boldly down the hall. We found an entry into the Catacombs through a hole in the floor with a metal ladder descending into a square-ish room with broken tiles and two corridors running E-W out of the room.

After successfully attacking a rampantly attacking table, Kekitat returned Mulwrit's axe safely dulled down and we were able to proceed to the split to a corridor North and a doorway to the East. I checked the walls for pictures/writing and discovered some iconography that indicated some of the occupants are from the old Kingdom of Palastan. While doing this, Grundric found a trap on the door that Otto reported. He also discovered that the hinges were exposed and was able to remove them, and in the process helped the door to fall onto this side onto himself and in the process ringing the notification trap on the other side. We discovered two hobgoblins waiting happily for us in the room beyond. Mulwrit, upon sighting them, went into a killing frenzy, and whacked Hobgoblin #2 and knocked him into Disabled status. Kekitat used the door in his paws, charged at Hobgoblin #1 crushed his chest entirely with it (Natural 20, and then a C crush critical) and dealt enough damage to kill him nearly outright. Grundric dealt some damage to #2, as did Otto but neither could just kill it outright. Mulwrit struck again and left it dying, just as four of its friends opted to come up the corridor to the South. Kekitat used the door to barricade/stall the four in the hallway while he drew his swords, and did some minor damage to the first hobgoblin in the process.

<all further combats will not be as detailed in narration>

Kekitat killed 1 (#1 with door)

Reqqast killed 1 (#2 from damaging a nearly dead hobgoblin)

Mulwrit killed 1 (#6 with one stroke of the axe and decapitating in a single action)

Reqqast killed 1 (#4 from overdamage)

Kekitat killed 1 (#5 by jumping on the unconscious #3 and crushing him with the double body weight)

Cheval killed 1 (#3 with a killing blow)

We looted while Kekitat listened for more potential attackers from the south corridor.

14GP, 6 broadswords and shields, 6 suits of damaged and bloodied studded leather, 2 javelins.

February 14, 2009

We continued to explore the dungeon past the room of blood and gore. We discovered the lair the hobgoblins had attacked us out of. A corridor out of the south was clogged with debris, but we slowly, steadily cleared it to gain access to another room. This room had a hobgoblin that was dead, but only recently. Otto examined the body and determined the death had occurred within 2 hours. Further, he found what looked like whip marks throughout the hobgoblin's flesh, and those wounds seemed to have an odd green foamy substance with it, much as though it had been poisoned. Otto investigated the open door to the East, after stealthily approaching the entry as he seemed to think that the hobgoblin may have been partially eaten, and is thus approaching the situation with caution. Kekitat beheaded the corpse, 'just to be sure'.

We found that the door at the end of that hallway was closed, and had two bloody handprints on this side, as though being closed by someone already bleeding. Mulwrit, on Otto's advice, opened the door (while cowering behind his shield) and exposed something that immediately struck him with a tentacle. An Otyugh waited for us. Cheval fired his Alchemical Fire, I lit the corpse on fire and had Mulwrit fling the corpse down the hallway in an effort to entice the Otyugh to catch it for fire enhancement. However, the corpse fell short. Instead, I reignited the debris and trash, and caused some significant damage. Mulwrit then closed the door on this side of the hallway, and we opted to leave it be.

We started to explore the Western hallway out of the room we found with the corpse. Otto then found a side hallway that seemed to have been used primarily as a storage area. Upon examining carefully, he found 2 potions. One was an 'oil for rubbing' and one is a 'potion for drinking'. Mulwrit found a smallish room with 4 female hobgoblins and 8 children with their throats slit. Otto gave me the potions to determine the properties. The oil was for applying to a weapon; the potion is probably not poison. We debated it, Kekitat got impatient and unspiked the door and opened it. Otto gave support as well. He got hit with the blast of noxious fumes and gases and opened the door to let the smoke clear out of the hall. He saw into the room and didn't seem to see it. Otto and Kekitat gave a bit of examination to the room, and found bits and pieces of various hobgoblins scattered around. Otto went to investigate the hole in the SE corner of the room. Upon closing the doors, and then spiking the door on the opposite side of the hall from the bathroom area, Otto left a warning note on the door.

With our mighty party-deciding powers, we opted to hit the hallway North just prior to the Hobgoblin's first encounter room. We found evidence of large, bare feet having traversed the hallway but saw nothing else. A new section opened West. From that, a small corridor ended with a door to the South, and Otto found a room at the end of the Western passage that had partially collapsed on itself. Mulwrit discovered that this was in fact a trap that had been tripped and partially liquefied the person that set it off. The door seemed rather impassable. Otto opened the door to the South, in that small hallway. We discovered a mural on the West wall that seems to be mostly intact, in the room that is otherwise entirely empty. The mural depicts an ancient King and Queen of Palestan during their coronation as the first King and Queen.

Otto then listened at the door at the North hallway after clearing it away. Nothing was discovered, nor heard after Cheval heard the scratching behind that door. There was a piece of wood that had been spiked over the door, despite it opening away from us. Upon opening the door, we discovered 2 Hobgoblins that had been converted to Ghouls. Cheval did a turn undead attack on (G1), wounded it enough that it fled the scene entirely. Kekitat stepped forward and attacked with his javelin, pinned it through the brain, and sent it reeling. In retaliation, the ghoul exuded its stench and managed to make the mighty pussycat gag and hack. Poor kitty. He clearly needed his custom blouse to fend off the stench. I bashed (G2) and inflicted some damage as well, but he retaliated the same way against me. G3 lept over his friend to attack me, but failed. Cheval moved up and once more tried his Turning, this time chasing several off, and turning G3 and G4 to dust on impact of the Holy Light of Teun. Kekitat then stepped up and attacked G2 once more this time attacking quite savagely. He managed to cut it in half with both blades, turning it also to dust and ooze. I attacked G6 and botched horribly, but managed to hang on to my mace to retain the ability to redeem myself. Otto 'fast drew' his lute and inspired all of us that had been gassed by the ghouls. Mulwrit injured G6 to the point of death, but tried and failed to infect as a retaliatory action. Kekitat stepped forward again to attack G8 inflicting terrible wounds for a living creature but as it was undead it shrugged them off. I stepped up and attacked and caused significant damage to G8 as well. Otto shot at G8 then, and managed to turn it to dust.

We pursued the fleeing 3 ghouls, down into a room. In pursuit, Cheval used another Alchemical Fire round and incinerated G1 outright, with G5 and G7 burning a pretty orange. I also stepped forward and increased the fire for G5. Didn't manage to kill it outright, but the fire was indeed increased. Otto stepped forward and fired at G7, and damaged but didn't kill it. Mulwrit attacked G5 and managed to kill it outright. Kekitat strode forward, and bashed G7 with a single scimitar for some significant damage but not yet enough. I increased the burn rate, but also still couldn't manage to kill the creature. Otto then managed to shoot 'through' Kekitat and hit the ghoul. Mulwrit moved down and finally managed to remove the final threat. Upon examining the room, we determined that the remnants found in this room were the original ghouls, that then infected the hobgoblins. Apparently the hobgoblins managed to destroy the original ghouls, but were infected as well during the combat. Otto, on searching the remains, managed to find a waraxe of dwarven make. A 'very nice' axe in fact. 4 small clay jars, perfectly preserved. He also found a silver ring. I identified the axe to be +2 magical battle axe that can also be thrown. The ring turned out to be a Ring of Feather Falling. The four jars were Marvelous Pigments. (OOC: You can draw things with them and make those items real, such as doors.) I took the ring, Mulwrit took the axe, and Otto took the Pigments.

Upon examining the rooms to the West off the main entry, we determined that the original three rooms were cleared out. Instead, we decided to excavate through the wall to find a way through to a former burial ground. This was the original King and Queen as depicted in the mural.

(Level was gained for all our efforts thus far!)

February 28, 2009

We returned to the resting area after slaughtering all. It is now the 15^th of New Year. After considering the options, we chose to return to the Underground Market, and consider other options for Delving down other corridors and Labyrinths.

I made some inquiries into the Mirror Maze. Rumor has it the maze was made by the Archlich Kagrisos. It has 3 major paths leading out of it on the other side of the maze. The mirrors are polished steel and self-healing. I also discovered that Tasilicus Rhendron of the Pale Tower is doing some extra research and might be a good source of funding to continue exploring. I also made some inquiry concerning the Dark Market, a source of interest beyond the Potions and Elixirs office in the Underground Market. To gain entrance, first I have to speak with Travinor and offer him an appropriate tribute, and the name of someone who will vouch for me, and the current password which is regularly changed but is known to the various City's nefarious groups. We also spent a good 20 minutes or so listening to Otto spewing pure bullshit, and loving it.

While Otto, Mulwrit, and Cheval were off researching new ways to endanger our lives, Grundric, Kekitat, and I went to the Pale Tower to try and discuss the information on the Mirror Maze from the Undermarket. The Tower is indeed featureless except for the outline of a door. Kekitat noticed something, and pointed up above the Tower to show us. That light, which was far, far above the Tower, had 3 people come out of it, fade away and the three people seemed to just fly off. The door opens inward, and reveals the inner chamber. There is a young Assamar female with a white tunic present. She was talking with a male human wearing shiny metal armor. She greets us. I spoke with her and found out that he is in his study, on the 4^th floor (crossing over at the third floor), the door is the rightmost of the four doors. The second floor was a common area with a male elf meditating. With his gorgeous feathered wings keeping him safe. Yeah. We definitely left that guy to his business for the time being. The third floor revealed itself to be larger than the dimensions of the tower itself. The fourth floor, available from the tight spiral staircase from the third floor.

The study had windows (not visible from outside the tower) which looked out over the city. I spoke with Tasilicus at length to gain the information possible and to offer our services for getting through and exploring the three passages. He mentioned that there is pattern that repeats itself every 25 years; so maps that are 25 years old would be valid once again. The maze changes 'something' about every 30 seconds. There is a pocket dimension with the 'components' for the maze and the maze shifts among the options in the pocket dimension using and dismissing them as needed. Grundric asked how long he'd been studying the maze and was told about 10 years now. I asked and was told that he is also staying on the 4^th floor aside from doing his studies on that floor. We had no further questions for the Wizard so we headed back to the rendezvous point (!) and waited.

On the way out, we 'noticed' that it was Dark (WOW!). We then noticed a chapel that hasn't been obviously consecrated to a particular Deity, and atop a minaret we noticed a raven watching us. Grundric waved at it, and I motioned for it to land on my arm, but it chose to fly off instead. We rendezvous at the Ghostly Minstrel. Otto had a particularly good set, and bought us all dinner because of it. Yay! While we ate dinner, the boy (Iltumar Shon) from the blacksmith that was working the forge when I was there working on my mace sat with us to … engage us in conversation regarding Delving. Otto then had his particular brand of 'fun' at the boy's expense as well. I managed to convince the child to continue his efforts at the blacksmith without listening to Otto.

As I was walking back to my home, after the evening's entertainment with Iltumar, I noticed what could have been a raven watching me again. I tried once again to have it land and communicate if that was its intent, but a passing group of guards seemingly chased it away.

We awoke (16^th of New Year) to find an invitation to a luncheon at Castle Shard. Gathering the party, we killed some time by getting certain members of the party their good, meet the Nobles clothes. We took extra time to ensure that any formal blouses that were in evidence were pressed and cleaned as well. We were led into the dining hall to find a table of amethyst crystal, but the chairs are of oak with purple padding and accents. While on our way, we seem to have been accosted by a near-7' tall female satyr, with deer antlers and goat lower half. She seemed clearly to have had 'some' to drink and greeted Otto as though they knew each other.

We then arrived and found Lord and Lady Z. sitting before a repast of fine meats, cheeses and breads, with wine and spirits available as well for refreshment. The group partook of the refreshments, as Lord Z. announced that he had news. He said he received a strange message yesterday and said that someone had paid closer attention than he would have liked to our recent endeavors. He also said that several wizards had been by and were all unable to remove the enchantment on Lord Abercombe. Then yesterday a missive from Shilukar arrived by anonymous courier. He claims to know the problem, and has a solution. The payment requested is permanent hospitality in Castle Shard. Otto attempted to cover for the party's generosity in obtaining the statue. Grundric then blurted out the information about one of the persons escaping in the company of some Blue Gnolls. Otto examined the note handed over by Lord Z. I then inquired about links between Castle Shard and House Abanar. Lord Z. believes that the bounty comes from Shilukar having wronged Dered Abanar in some way (retcon -- Brian). Upon exiting Castle Shard, Otto gave Grundric an … ultimatum regarding speaking up in such a meeting.

The Pointy Hat, the wizard bar mentioned in the missive, is next to West Town Mixtures, an alchemists shop. Upon arriving, I set about to help lure Otto's lover Narasha back to the bar for the evening, after their near-tearful separation in Castle Shard earlier. The coach and good wine will be sure to help bring her here. Cheval spent the day inquiring of Tun his questions. We then prepared for Otto to have his set for the evening. We spoke with Nallis Deverini, the proprietor of the bar, to try and get Otto a spot in the evening's entertainment. He earned another few silver pieces before Narasha arrived for the evening's pinnacle of entertainment. Otto played her on stage with the Pipes of Haunting, thus chasing off several patrons and entering the evening's performance as one of the worst on record.

March 15, 2009

For the new day of the 18^th of New Year, we awoke to a beautiful, sunny day and found a note from Grundric excusing himself from our company. Kekitat and myself arrived at the Ghostly Minstrel and found only Otto there. He stated that he needed new clothes to manufacture a disguise for himself as his performance was indeed the worst on record for their bar and would need a new 'face' to gain entry again to meet our contact. I offered him some of father's older, rattier clothing, just for the amusement of having a human wearing noble clothing. As part of this shopping trip, I went spice shopping as well and found some herbs from the homeland and purchased it for 5GP.

Upon our return to The Ghostly Minstrel, we found Cheval reading the notice board but little else going on. After some idle chatting, and Otto showing the letter to Cheval and then Mulwrit when he arrived from wherever. There seemed to be limited sympathy or sorrow to the loss. Mulwrit also returned with news of Phon Quartermane that she was still involved with the Night of Dissolution and she was still in the city. Helmut, her boyfriend, is tied intrinsically to her being involved with the Night. He was rife with information, but the sacrifice is not within the next week. We spent a tremendous amount of time discussing options regarding The Night of Dissolution and options for stopping. So far, we determined that the best option now is to follow up with Torridan Cran, and finding the cure that Lord Z. requested we find to then garner as the reward for that work to get as much information on The Night as Lord Z. has.

We then proceeded to The Pointy Hat, where we had to look for the contact for Shilukar who would be wearing an Amulet of the Knights of Shadows (a white octopus) who also seemed to specialize in overthrowing governments. On the way, at the intersection of Emperor's Road, and Dalenguard Road there was a group singing some hymns that Otto took a sudden interest in. Once he was no longer interested we returned to the journey to The Pointy Hat. There, Otto and Cheval first noticed the contact, a fair elf sitting at a table by himself. Cheval noted some 'fans' that had two humans drinking and watching us over the mugs of drink they were drinking. Otto requested Mulwrit watch them to make sure we weren't backstabbed in the bad way.

Otto, in the clever disguise of pseudo-Grundric, however, managed to talk through the contact to threaten his life in very unsubtle way. After much more cajoling, the contact offered to give us the information on how to reach Shilukar directly. We heard, “In the guildsmans section of town, on Brandywine street, there is a empty lot with a small shack on it. Enter the shack and climb down the ladder. Per the agreement with Otto which said that he would attack us first, he started to fire off a psychic blast spell at us. I formed an ice ball of his mouth, and Kekitat lopped off his head. After we discussed moving on to 'ambush' Shilukar without his having knowledge of the death of his representative. On the way we once again were passed by The Iron Knight, and I determined it was some sort of 'elven thing' what's happening with the person in the armor.

{Bad summary ahead as I was idled to get the pizza action going.}

We met and fought several gnolls below the house, once we arrived and discovered the periscope from the basement. Otto slew the 'big' gnoll, I slew directly the spell caster (Nyatrah), and everyone else took down several other dog persons. He had full plate, flail, sling, potions, wand, and a scroll. I was also trapped under a LAME net with rope and barbs, which also afforded me opportunity to kill another. We continued to pursue the hallways in an effort to track down Shilukar before he had a chance to run away from all the noise. We found, in our explorations, a room with a wooden bed covered in animal furs and arcane writing all over the walls and floor. Further south, we found a pool with cool, clear water. Otto drank first, and offered it to everyone after he felt 'great' from his drink. Kekitat drank, and opted instead to attack Cheval, nearly slicing off his leg.

March 28, 2009

(Resuming our previous 'fun')

Upon taking drinks by Otto and Kekitat, and receiving various effects for either of them, we realized that taking extra drinks would be potentially bad news. Otto listened and heard what could be spiders down the west hallway, and Mulwrit attempted to tie off the doors to the south, and they flexed and then broke open despite being tied off. Coming through we 'discovered' our latest friend, that being a big blue Gnoll. (Angash). He stands approximately 9' tall, has cloven hooves, and wields what appears to be a gold battle axe. Mulwrit attacked the gnoll's battleaxe deftly, and Kekitat managed to swat at some flies that were a good 2 feet to the right of the gnoll. As a returned favor, Angash gave Kekitat a nice smacking with his own battleaxe.

After several more strokes and hits against Angash and getting and keeping him stunned with various feats of Awesome, a female blue gnoll finally broke through the Eastern doors wearing banded mail, a wooden shield, and carrying a huge wooden shield. She managed to fire off a Shield of Faith on the male. More and more scuffling prevailed with Kekitat starting a majestic display of entirely fucking up nearly every attack against this dog. Apparently the kitty has a problem attacking something looking more canine. Brugul managed to knock out both Cheval and Otto with her flail. With starting another combat rotation going, Shilukar came out of his spare room and called the combat to a temporary halt. Both the gnolls stopped, and I jumped over to aid Cheval to try and ensure he didn't die. Otto then pulled his gun and pointed it at Shilukar, bluffing with a 'If you surrender now, you might live through it.' I addressed Shilukar as well, to try and move the encounter to a non-violent type.

Shilukar then offered to host further discussion in his lah-bohr-uh-toh-ree. On entering, we found ourselves in the 20' tall room with many too many large glass cylinders of various fluids containing various creatures from human to not at all human. Otto and I discussed various points of interest with the dark elf, and he finally said that he wanted the device that would open any box in the city, and that the resolution we sought was within a box in his room. He then took us to his room, and it turned out to be a 3' cube of metal, with a circular impression on the top, but no other visible means of entering or opening the box. Otto dropped a copper coin on the surface in the ring. As it hit, the circular area turned mostly aerated, and the copper piece was sucked down into the box.

The box was revealed to be a Chaositech Storage Cube. He then mentioned that going to the finest keymaker in the City will potentially reveal what we seek. Otto then said that Neveran might be the person we wished to see. We left, escorted with the two remaining blue gnolls. We wandered back to The Ghostly Minstrel, and crashed for the evening. In the morning, we moved forward with the plan of attempting to obtain the original key and then getting a forgery made for it. We then headed to Hammer St. and Hammer Close after getting breakfast. On the way there, we found a trio of Delvers that were leading along a chained manticore. This is the 19^th of New Year, and it is partly cloudy and rainy.

We found the shop that had a large wooden key above the door, figured this was the correct shop to enter, and did so. Inside we found a human and a dwarf. The dwarf spoke up, and offered to help us in Neveran's absence. We took the back room to discuss the item we required, with the dwarf, and through the conversation, we discovered that the dwarf was available to help our cause. We brought him back to the house that we're 'caring for' on Dead Orc Lane. On the way, Otto compared 'notes' with the Dwarf on finger juggling caltrops/other items across knuckles and such. He then relayed that Neveran had been 'escorted' off once he had created the key by a group of Chaos cultists. It seems he is being held somewhere in the Pythoness Mansion. We returned to The Ghostly Minstrel to reconvene the group. The dwarf introduced himself as Côr D'wardal of Ptolus. We had lunch courtesy of Côr and then everyone went to sleep for a mid-day nap since we're going to launch the investigation after midnight tonight. We all reconvene downstairs at around 10P that evening. We made the decisions to head to the Mansion, and if investigated by the guards in the area, inform them that we're on the way to The Pale Tower.

4 persons in full armor, bearing the shield bearing the crest of Keepers of the Veil, ran up behind us as we were coming up along Emperor's Road. They raced past talking amongst themselves but had no interest in us. We continued through and ended up on Toner St which was the location of Pythoness Mansion. It turned out to be a rather impressive carved stone structure very reminiscent of a castle. I sensed there were HUGE auras of magic, but at least one of them was a Warding spell to ensure things didn't get out, rather than were kept out. Otto and Côr went up to the main gate, with Otto leading the way entirely unstealthily with the new guy doing a substantially better job. We started to enter the castle courtyard, and only encountered disused items, and debris. Côr tossed one of his juggling balls into the tapestry and heard an 'oomph' from behind it. Suddenly, 2 Ratlings up on the overhead bridge 12' above the area with powder bombs that they rained down on us. From behind the curtain, a 'Ratbrute' emerged as well, to take heavy damage. Côr managed to take out one of the Ratlings with his crossbow of lightning flinging. The Ratbrute turned out to be more of a challenge, but not nearly the same challenge as we faced with the blue Gnolls at least. After much brutality, Otto finally dispatched the Ratbrute. Mulwrit also took out a Ratling with a thrown axe attack.

April 11, 2009

{Continuing our fun once again; Mike and I both earned 3d6 to add to any one, two or three rolls, depending on how many dice we chose to add to any roll}

Upon checking the upstairs mezzanine areas, found the tail of one of the ratlings and captured it for cashing out with the posted rewards. Went back downstairs again, and started to investigate the downstairs area, so as to possibly force any further reinforcements upstairs before us in the hopes of keeping better track of them. Upon returning, Otto had moved aside part of the tapestries, and Kekitat started to hack the tapestry down so as to not have it trapping us. Côr opted to assist, so as to open the way to a spiral staircase set in a stone room. We then 'chose' to access the tower door instead. Côr checked out the door, and Mulwrit entered, discovering a ladder going upstairs, but we chose not to climb. Instead, I argued to get the two doors leading out of that chamber so as to ensure trapping any that try to use that escape hatch. Kekitat then opened the door under the bridge, and revealed a room with 4 beds and several destroyed pictures in wooden frames. We heard another voice in our minds, similar to one heard earlier, that Cheval seemed to feel was coming from the NE corner of the building.

Otto snuck to the corner, and checked to see if anyone was there waiting for us. Otto discovered a rather large statue of a rather rotund being. The chest/stomach area had a plate that was open, and exposing a small opening in the statue. The opening has a small indentation in it, 'donut like', that has is currently exposed by a panel sliding downward. Turns out the statue is magically locked to where it will slide forward 5' with the right key being used.

Côr then checked the northern door on the west wall, found nothing, and Otto opened the door after a valiant, if amusingly failed effort at kicking open the door. When opening it up, he stepped into the room and the vision of the room shifted to what the room was before, with 4 ladies of the night there. He tried to talk to them, and upon talking to them, the vision broke apart, and the 4 ladies transitioned into undead creatures all bent attacking Otto. Otto got hit twice by the women of the Night, and ended up stunned, so I spent a Conviction Point in the effort of pulling him back out of combat while setting Lady 3 on fire with a firebolt. This left Otto back and out of immediate danger, and myself without any further Conviction Points. Cheval then jumped to the foreground, and attempted to turn the Evil based on his false god. Lady 2 turned to dust, and Lady 3 and 4 both retreated from this. Lady 1 was entirely unaffected. Côr threw a Tanglefoot bag at Lady 1 and held her, allowing Kekitat to reach in and Cuisinart her quite nicely. (2 rounds and she was dust.) Lady 4 and I did a little dance of fire and frozen fists. She laid into me, and I ended up spending one of the d6's to avoid the fumble on the spell being cast. Côr and Cheval both shot the creature, adding to more of its damage at times (though she managed to save a GREAT deal, annoying myself and others greatly). Because she managed to keep resisting all damage, it took Kekitat to wander in and slaughter her. After this 'adventure' Otto and I required a good deal of rest to recover ourselves and our wits.

Côr entered the room and searched, to gather the various stuff off the corpses and from within the room. 5 gold rings, 5 gold bracelets and a gold necklace. He also found a wind up music box that he wished to keep. He also found 12 bottles with silver toppers holding various liquids. I checked the bottles and found them all to be 'mundane' liquids (perfumes and oils and lubricants). The silver stoppers are all tarnished but seem to be intact such that with a bit of care and cleaning, they could be reused with these bottles to hold other liquids.

Heading upstairs, we went across the bridge to the SE tower, and opened the door to find a wooden floor with an in-place built ladder heading downstairs and upstairs. Mulwrit found an old and grimy pair of leather boots in the room. I checked them and found them to be entirely un-magical or impressive. Côr opted to head up the ladder to find out what, if anything, was upstairs. He found nothing and invited us all up there, to find the things on the table. A glass jar with a dark yellow liquid and a brass lid, a short candle on a copper plate and a book. I verified that this setup was for someone to have sat here reading the book by candlelight. Checking the book cover for a name, with Otto and Cheval, I found it to be a Book of Thoughts. Cheval determined that the fluid was urine, and that the jar had something 'odd' about it. I found that the jar had two auras of magic beyond my own ken of Transmutation, and Conjuration. Cheval also determined that the jar had an aura of Blessing on it as well. After gathering the items we headed back downstairs to the second level, to try the other door.

Behind that door was a smallish room that looked like it was a rat's nest. Otto and Côr explored the room, and determined after a short time that there wasn't anything in the room worth searching for. We were left with only the spiral staircase, which Kekitat led the way to. Upon arriving in the upstairs area, we found a hallway with several paintings along the walls, some obviously ravaged by time, some not so much. I investigated them and found they had a transitory Clairvoyance effect on them. I took down all those paintings and set them down on the ground, and faced them to the walls, so they couldn't look at us anyway. In the small room, after some wonderful playtime trying to open a simple door, we found another ladder going up, this time in the core of the other tower. Otto took Côr with him upstairs. Opening the door to the south, we realized this was indeed the access to the stone walkway over the gate. A 'form' materialized behind Côr and attacked him from behind, but Mulwrit managed to kill the creature in a single stroke with the magical axe. I investigated the table and found molded and useless quarrels for the decayed crossbows on the table. Otto also found a 'secret' door under the table, and found that it was a murder hole over the main entryway at the ground level.

Moving forward we found another circular room, with a trap door leading down, and a ladder going upward. Côr also found 5 glaives sitting against the wall. Kekitat looked down the trap door, and found another room without any obvious doors out. Côr looked around down there, and discovered some false stones, to reveal a small hidden space that hid a lever. Upon pulling the lever, it shifted a section of the wall, revealing a small ledge about 12' off the ground. Côr also found a small copper key when he was searching around. We returned to the spiral staircase area, on the second level to continue exploring. Upon finding the decaying dining room, we found a room to the North of that, upon entering Cheval activated a set of clay/ceramic magically animated dolls which attacked and managed to shrug off the first two damage levels.

We gained a level for the 'fun' of the evening.

April 25, 2009

Met with a ghost, after he threatened 'Enemies of Lothian'. He died nearly 200 years ago. Cobbled man carrying one half of the spiral disc, the other half being hidden in the NE tower. He remembered the priests doing 'things' to the girls, not all of which were willing. He swore an oath to protect the house. He can only listen to the spirit of chaos that lives downstairs. His name is Taunell. Otto addressed him by name, and asked how he can assist in ridding the chaos from the house. He said there is a Lothianite prayerbook somewhere in the house, at his desk, where he used to pray. We opted to head upstairs to find the key. Or at least the half of it.

Upon arriving upstairs, we were accosted by two giant swarms of rats. With a mighty swipe of one of his blades, Kekitat dispersed one of the two swarms. Cheval managed to disperse the second swarm with a single shot of his hand-cannon. We continued forward, and found a room with some pillows and the remains of a wooden attachment to the building. Past that we found a spiral staircase which led us to Maquent Dellisaria's quarters. We know this because we found the remains of her journal, of which we found many pages still legible that all painted a rather bleak picture of her last year, or so, of life.

At the back of her desk, there was a locked door which Côr opened rather easily, revealing a small metal box, 30 potion vials with small cards to cross reference the vials for function. 2 potions of Awakening (awaken anyone from non/magical sleep), 2 Oils of Beauty (improve charming ability), 4 potions of Calming (Calms emotions), 4 potions of Concentration (bonus to concentration checks), 2 potions of Dead Nose, 4 potions of Love, 4 Oils of Animation (same effect as dancing weapons—oil of animate object), 4 oils of Slipperiness, 4 potions of Neutralization (remove the effects of any potions you're currently affected by). Metal box had 20GP and the pouch in the hidden bottom of the drawer 50GP of the chest of drawers. In the desk we also found an Olde Skool atomizer to make the potions take a 15' cone of effect.

Galchutt, as mentioned in the journal, were the first source of Evil in the universe. The Creator, Praemus, imprisoned them, and thus began the War of the Gods.

Upon opening the second door (past the door with a moldy tapestry covering the hole through the tower) we encountered six skeletons with Queen Bitch (Radanna) Skeleton. (I used the free force-reroll power to prevent a critical attack against Mulwrit.) I killed skeleton 1 by using my new-found Move Object to grab it and slam it into the back of Radanna to try and distract her. Unfortunately, though, she felt nothing by it, and skeleton 1 turned to dust from the impact. Oops. Lost my new puppet-toy. I then grabbed Radanna, and pushed her over into Skeleton 4, who also crumbled, and from the effort, she was also 'a little upset' that this happened and she got some damage. Cheval then took out skeletons 2 and 3 with his holy power, and damaged Radanna again. Radanna was knocked down and stunned, and then Mulwrit finished her off. Upon her demise, the other 2 skeletons crumbled to dust.

{Took a break to make some spring rolls and there was much exploring. Yayyy!}

After exploring upstairs and finding skeletal rats, we also found a suit of scale armor with every scale looking like a feather, and a large great eagle feather. The feather was a Feather Sword which normally acts as a +1 sword but gives a +3 if the wielder is flying, and is a Flying Creature Slaying sword as well. The scale mail is +2 and fly 3X's per day for 10 minutes per use which I got. I took the scale mail and feather token weapon.

Moving to the next door, after smoking the skeletal rats, we found the round tower area that opened up onto the garden. Moving back, we then ascended the stairs and followed a rampart upon which we discovered The Cobbled Man. We attempted to speak with him, which was it's own bundle of fun and excitement. Otto succeeded in driving him to attack, and thus we all had even more fun with that. He was defeated by Kekitat shoving him to Côr, who then vaulted him off the bridge. From this he didn't actually perish, so I flew down and allowed him Holy Combustion until he perished. Upon returning I flew up to the top of the tower next to the Cobbled Man's entry, while Otto and Côr explored this area.

From my vantage and my memory, determined that the square tower access would have to be through the trap door that Kekitat found before the battlements. Opening it with the key Côr found earlier, we then found the tower access. In the tower, there was a shelf with some items on it. There were some flasks of Unholy Water, and 2 bricks of Incense of Visions, and a small grey demonic idol of compressed ash. With the assistance of Cheval and Otto, Côr opened the chest and discovered several bags of coins, a golden candlestick, a silver headband and the other half of the Round Contrivance. A safe 'guess' for the amount of coin in the bags 6572SP, 1951GP.

Upon realizing that the demon statue was in fact the goat demon (got a conviction point for the awesome!), went to Taunell to verify the ritual that I wanted to perform (a big unsummon) in the summoning rune room. We then poured out the urine from the purifying jar (turned out to be demon urine), and it transformed back into an angel. The angel instructed “Strike the demon, and I shall do the same”, so I did with Mulwrit's help. After the building stopped shaking from a light explosion out of the tower which was reported by some in the party, but I missed somehow. However, we then hurried down to the statue once again, as we're relatively confident that the main Evil is beaten now.

Placing the ring, Mulwrit opened the passage down for us all. Otto led the way and revealed a nifty room down below that was empty but for a shaft down with a translucent cap over the top of it. Upon cutting it open, Otto set off the Alarm spell. I notified the group of that event, and we all dropped down into an ice cavern. Looking around, we found a passage of water to another ice cavern. The water, being so bitterly cold, caused several party members damage. I barely resisted at the last moment, and then swam swiftly to the other end, getting out and immediately forming a fire in my hands to help the party warm and dry out. They're still necessary and useful after all.

We also found 6 chests, one 8', all of which are bolted to the shelves they're on. Also, on the northwestern wall, we found what looked to be a book, a piece of paper, and a puddle of blood under the ice. Mulwrit cut the items out of the ice while Côr went to work on the locks. Otto translated the paper, with the bloody hand print, and read it to us. The book was definitely NOT a holy man's prayerbook. The chest contents were: “A Spear to Pierce the Heart of an Overwhelmed Tyrant” (a full spear, chaos, stuns anyone hit that is not already touched by chaos), “Twin Weapons Sure to Deal Death to the Oppressor Angels” (twin bastard swords, +1 and Bane to Outsiders; any time they are separated by more than 30' they lose the magic ability), “A Blade to Slice the Flesh of Any Foe of Freedom” (+1 longsword, bane to living creatures), “Hear the Word of Chaos, Fools, and Despair” (a rod with a ruby skull at the tip, chaos, Use is Word of Chaos which corrupts things with Chaos), “Tools of the Fearsome Chaos Priest” (scroll of Negative Energy Shaping, small bag of dust of chaotic warding, a skull with many designs across the surface, which was nonmagical), no chains can bind us, no lock can resist us (empty). The door out of the room bore the inscription in the steel “Vaiod the Slayer”.

Otto opened the door and opened to a large ice cavern with a 'Chaosomaton' crawling its way out from under the ice. It was … monstrous to say the least. However, Cheval noted the 'heart' is the gem at the chest. Neither he nor I could do much of anything to the gem, however Otto pulled something out of somewhere and managed to shoot the gem and crack and destroy it with the single shot. We then, after a few minutes, decided we needed the creature for our mascot eventually. It IS a hydra after all.

We then searched the rest of the ruins, and found no other books. Upon a heavier examination, it turned out that the Book of Thoughts (which allows a target a will save and if it fails then the page (blank to this point save for the person's name at the top) gets filled with their thoughts at the time, roughly equivalent to a scrying of the target) had the dead priest's thoughts and prayers from long ago. Kekitat set about freeing him with his prayers and the information out of the book.

May 9, 2009

{Continuing in the ice cave of hydra}

{Got a free 20 on any roll for the evening for updating Wiki, plus a +1 to Knowledge Supernatural}

We escaped the caverns as they started to collapse, after gathering the items and went upstairs. Kekitat dismissed Tannel with the Book of Thought's prayer. We entered the courtyard, and discovered that dawn was approaching rapidly, and we saw our next group of fun-ness. The leader (Lou Ferrigno meets Gollum) demanded the chaos weapons. It was pretty painfully obviously clear that he and his buddies were all followers of Chaos. His name is Wuntad, and he's associated with a powerful demon that came to town recently, and they are part of The Foresaken (interested in death and undeath). Wuntad is seeking to become Shigmaa of the Forsaken (living being that has touched death and returned). Otto managed to creatively generate more animal-offal and chased off the baddies for us, all while 'only' playing craps with our lives once more.

We realized after they departed, that we couldn't take the weapons to the house because of their HEAVY chaos taint. So we took them instead over to St. Gustav's for disenchantment. Corben Trollone talked to us as we traveled down Center St. Otto gave us some insight to this person, a crimelord of some note in Ptolus. The dawn broke for the 20^th of New Year. Kekitat spoke with Brother Fabitor again, and we finally convinced him to give us a letter of introduction to St. Valien's Cathedral to try and convince the higher-ups in the Church to try and disenchant all these items. Kekitat spoke with the ancient priest of ancientness, Archbishop Adlam Theobold, and he 'suggested' that we go to the Pale Tower, which had become our next contingency anyway in case the Temple options hadn't panned out.

On the way back Otto and Kekitat noticed some street toughs following us. And then The Bad happened. Mulwrit's memory was wiped for a while, and an attack on my mind failed courtesy of my Psychic Shield. I ended up using my free '20' to reshape Mulwrit's memory to be functional. Last time we saw Tasilicus Rhendron, who is studying the mirror maze. This time, the Graven is in the entryway reading a book, and thinking. Otto approached him and started laying out the requirements for his assistance. The Graven suggested the Observatory for some privacy to discuss our plight. He tried to break the spear directly, but failed. He then suggested speaking with Aoska, said to be the leader of The Malkuth (Angelic fighters of Evil). The 'actual' leader is Sepheros, The Winged King, said to be a true Celestial. Aoska arrived in all her Assamar beauty, and Otto started the talking for us (ghods help us all). She prayed at the altar, got 'most' of the party a protection sphere, and then tried to strike the Spear for destruction. After a couple of failed attacks, she suggested a different item. I put the rod up there, and she struck it to destroy it, causing a MASSIVE wave of Chaos. After healing Otto from his near-liquidation by this wave, she suggested instead the Inverted Pyramid. This is the arcane sanctuary and head of the city.

The pyramid is invisible and floating above the city. The best way to contact them from the Pointy Hat. Another good way is through the Dreaming Apothecary. This is the only sanctioned source of magic items sales in Ptolus. A particular token is required, and that is placed under the pillow of the requestor. They think of what they wish to purchase. The transaction takes place in dreams, and upon awakening the money has vanished, and the item is there under the pillow. I then informed Aoska of Wuntad's presence in the city, just to unleash a wave of war through the city's streets. I also had her destroy the skull, just to be sure. Upon that destruction, I strongly suggested that we depart, though Mulwrit and Kekitat remained for a time perhaps to muscle in on Otto's Unicorn Chick.

We proceeded to the Pointy Hat, with Otto, Mulwrit and Kekitat waiting outside while Cheval, Cor, and I went inside. I spoke with Nallis Deverini, the male gnome proprietor. Cor ended up convincing him to give us a black gem to access the I.P. at midnight at the center of Balance Walk. It also came out that Nallis was kicked out the Inverted Pyramid.

Upon arriving back on the street, the three of us happened upon the other three discussing 'things' with Trollone. A good deal of discussion ensued, and I concluded the conversations by offering one of the 12 pouches of dust from the Smuggler Island as the pouch of Law warding dust to try and misdirect some of the more obvious pursuit toward Trollone. We're to meet him tonight at 6PM at The Aristocrats Table he mentioned. We then decided to return to the P house to take the sewer entrance to try and further throw off pursuit. Kekitat arrived first, to speak with the Archbishop to spell out our plight and get us permission to stay at The Pale Tower. I checked my Psychic Shield as well and discovered that there had been scrying attempts made previously, though there weren't any currently. We spent the day at the Pale Tower resting, recovering and waiting through the day to make our appt. at 6PM.

We left in time to arrive at The Aristocrats Table. Corben was waiting for us at the Seat of Opulence. Over the course of dinner, Otto slipped a Love Potion into Corben's drink eventually, just to get more and more information out of things. Corben admitted that the Killravens were involved. Killraven Crime League, led by Kevris Killraven who only just arrived in the city a year ago but she has already built up a syndicate to rival the Balacazar. Also behind an Arcane Guild to replace the Inverted Pyramid, and an Assassin's Guild to replace the Vai. Otto earned himself a +1 to Diplomacy for 'taking one for the corps' by more than seducing Corben as well.

May 23, 2009

{Mike and I got 1conviction point each for having updated the wiki.}

We went to the Mystery Pub' in South Market, and obtained a room. The rest of the party are downstairs, while Otto is upstairs with Corben, working off the love potion. We found a variety of games of chance in the downstairs bar. One particular game, Mrathrach, has an enchanted board with spinners and squares, with tokens that reside on the squares. Cheval pointed out that the more the game is played, the more it is geared toward the players, but then after a certain point it resets itself and shifts toward favoring the house again. I tried to home in on the solutions for when to be in and when to be out, but so far I have only broken even.

We then made our way to the Balance Walk to speak with Jevvica Nor to determine some way to relieve ourselves of these wonderful weapons. Best feature: left arm of red glass. She mentioned, in the course of our asking for assistance in removing the Chaos Weapons from our possession, The Unmaker. This is a rumored disintegration chamber. It is essentially an oven: open the door, put something in it, close the door and the item is disintegrated. Otto recalled rumors of the same item where The Unmaker was created by non-humanoid races (dragon, medusa, manticore, etc.), the Pact Lords of the Quaan, to help remove the humanoid taint from the world. Jevvica had heard tell that the item is in the Chapel of St. Thessina, a chapel of Lothien. She is The Provider, the patron saint of food and necessities. Unfortunately some 'strange monsters' have started occupying the Chapel, and have driven off the followers. Cor worked out some means of communicating with her when we found The Unmaker.

We spent the night at the Red Stallion tavern. The evening passed without incident. It is now the 21^st of New Year. We then went on our way, heading back to the Chapel. First, however, we stopped off (right across the street) to talk to Brother Fabitor, to get a general layout of the Chapel, and to get some idea of what might be waiting for us. Then, armed with the vaguest of knowledge assets, we moved off to the Chapel, finding it and finding it boarded up entirely. Mulwrit opened the door, and we walked through and into the Capel. The Vestry was empty, and so we walked through into the Chapel proper, following Cor's lead of unstealth. We continued through, encountering nothing at all, back to the Vestry itself. Past the changing closet, we found an office, with a ledger and other papers. In the desk drawer, we found a scroll with 3 deific spells [At 10^th Level] (Imbue Life – Heal and Regenerate, Divine Sight, and Phase). We moved on into the next room and found 12 Holy Water vials. Beyond that, we found the 'final' door on this level, opening up onto the landing for a spiral staircase leading upward.

On the next floor, several party members heard voices from the second floor talking through the open doors. A female dwarf and a 'gruff male' voice, the latter of which was discussing the notion of having elf for lunch. We then proceeded to the second floor, found a half-orc and the female dwarf, offered to 'just' use the destroyer, and leave, but they made it clear that wasn't acceptable. They ended up bound and gagged as a direct result. We then opened another door on that floor, and found a barracks of sort with identical quadruplets inside, itchin' for a fight. We finally took them out in various unpleasant ways. In the other large room, there was only mundane storage options. On the quads, we found 4 MW two-bladed swords, 4 MW longbows, 4 banded mail, 3 potions of healing, and 4 bone rings. I investigated them (after returning from killing the half-orc with cold damage directly to the lungs) and found them to be real but magically created.

Cor returned from upstairs, and reported that there was a Basilisk on the next floor. Otto and I pooled our knowledge regarding the Basilisk and decided on an option. I interrogated the female dwarf on the basilisk control, and found out that Brother Heth hadn't told her how to do so. Kekitat determined that the clones could not speak. Otto took the three rings off the dead, and asked me to identify them. There is some mechanism by which a wearer of one of these rings can be located. I walked up to instigate the cold in the room with the Basilisk, and then deftly dodged a bite attack by fleeing up the stairs. Mulwrit walked up after me and cleaved the creature. Otto then butchered the corpse, Mulwrit took a fang, I took the eyes and the other main fang, and Otto took the skin. Upon examining this floor further, in the West room, we found a 'plump' human male that was badly bruised and bound hand and foot and gagged. Cor and I recognized him as Vesto Kama from around Ptolus. He's a loremaster. He and his assistant 'Ashara' to something called The Dream Probe to get information out of her. Cor and Otto opted to give him one of the potions of healing, which was then immediately consumed. I checked him in Supernatural, he seemed to be a powerful wizard in his own right, with powers similar to my own. He was kidnapped about a week prior to our releasing him.

Kekitat returned to the 4^th floor with Cor to investigate the doors and such. On the stairs, Otto stuck his loaded gun into the side of Vesto and demanded to know where he trained. In so doing, Otto helped Vesto drop his guise and reveal himself as a Dark Naga. We had a few attacks, and then Otto managed to take it out with a VERY good shot (20 and then 96 on the crit roll). Wow. Otto then took the poison stinger off to give to Cheval, and took the skin. Cor found a door with an incredibly complex lock that took many efforts to unlock, and found an old practice/sparring chamber beyond. Otto searched the room and discovered a potion Polymorph Self at 10^th Level, a bag of gems, and a book titled Fighting Techniques of the Pirate Kingdoms. The other door on this floor opened to a large, empty room that was covered in slime along the floor and part of the walls. It looks to be possibly the residue from a Phasm.

Otto then led the way up to the 5^th floor, where Kekitat had reported that the person up there knew we were there. Upon cresting into this former belfry, we found two large arcane devices/machines, which looked like they were likely The Unmaker and The Dream Probe. We found two creatures, one human one bugbear. The human wears a breastplate with the symbol of Lothian that has been defaced and destroyed. They were both literally bristling with weapons. The human has been protected with arcane magics, and the bugbear was protected with various divine magics. After a couple of rounds, Kekitat-Ginsu managed to simply slaughter the bugbear with a very well placed shot. I attempted to set Brother Heth on fire, but since he and all his gear is magical, it was less than successful. Brother Heth is turning out to be a rather difficult foe indeed. Otto hasn't been able to shot him in the slightest. I set him on fire, yet again, for serious damage. Then Mulwrit chopped him across the back, and Otto delivered the final stroke.

We then moved, in haste, to the Unmaker, to instigate how to destroy the Chaos Weapons. We went through the gyrations of figuring out the means of destroying the items. We managed to get the spear, the two bastard swords, and the 'dust' all destroyed, thus getting the pursuit off our asses.

June 06, 2009

{Mike and I got +1 to craft skill of our choice for updating the wiki}

Brother Heth had a suit of full plate +2 (Kekitat) with a damaged symbol of Lothien on the breastplate, longsword +2 (Kekitat) (Mulwrit took the silver longsword from Kekitat), light mace +1 (TBS), dagger of fine elven make (glowing ferociously in the pile, estimate it as though +1 but the power emanation is far greater than that) (Cheval), sm Chime of Interruption (Otto), bone ring (location known among other bone rings), 4 potions (cure (Otto), restoration (Otto), haste (Mulwrit), bull's strength (Mulwrit)), 1 thunder stone (Cor), gold pocket watch (non-magical 250GP) (Otto), 54GP, and a key to a very complicated lock. The male bugbear had a breastplate non-magical masterwork, Keen Morning Star +1 (Cheval), Wand of Cure (5^th level adept, 28 charges) (Cheval), bone ring, 4 potions (remove paralysis (Otto), sanctuary (Otto), cure @ 10^th level (Otto), sneakin' (1Hr +5 Stealth – Cor)), 2 javelins (TBS), 2 flasks (acid, alchemist's fire) (Cor), unholy symbol of Ravvan the Beast God (Destroyed in the Unmaker), and a silver bracer encrusted in jewels (TBS).

I took the dagger into the sky with me, and the dagger spoke with me after the imposed Evil Aura blasted through my psychic shield and suffused me with the warm relaxation of the aura. It reported its name as Yaeshla, the remains of the Staff of Shards. It reported that it belonged to Maeritha Moonrise who had fled back in the day with this and a second piece of the Staff. It then asked what the year was, and received a direct answer, and then asked if the Dread One was still alive. Upon asking, it reported the Dread One is Eslathagos Malkith. It was designed to destroy the Dread One and destroy the key forever, but it must be recombined to achieve this. It knows of a portal to the realm of the Quaan, which I asked about to see if the Dread One had to be summoned via the Night of Dissolution. Thurnuin, the apprentice of Maeritha (a dragon-elf chick) received Yaeshla. Her companions were Charch-Pahn, a beholder, Ilaprisarol, a mind flayer, and Father Claw, a black dragon. They swore a pact to eliminate the human infestation. Charch-Pahn is the only one that still is known to survive. The dagger was trapped and forced to be a spy for the Pact Lords, and ended up as a gift to Brother Heth though was in reality a point of checking up on Brother Heth. We then also shared that Father Claw is actually a demi-god among dragons; he has achieved the equivalent of apotheosis, so is quite likely not actually dead.

After returning to Brother Fabitor and returning the church to him directly, while warning him away from the belfry, we then inquired of Côr where we might be able to unload a good deal of our ill-gotten gains without attracting undue attentions. Ammel's on Ash Street turns out to be our best bet. I then suggested we gather everything that is unidentified to this point, and do another mass-identify. Gold ring (Vagger) (50GP), Vial (Laucio) is a potion of hearing (+5 notice for hearing checks, 1hr.), Spiderclimb and cure @1^st Level potions (Guard A), now-10 sm pouches of dust (Armory) of Dryness (thrown into water, 1yard cubed of water turns into a marble), brown-green gem (50GP), ring of Protection +1 (Otto), Wand of Slow (5^th level @ 17 charges), 3 potions (water breathing, bravery (+2 bonus against fear 30mins., and new save if suffering from fear effect), awakening), chain shirt and javelin are normal. 3 scrolls from Linech Cran (floating disc, mount, minor globe of invulnerability). Our total sales was 4515GP (564GP per person, 1131GP for party). Otto's declared his share to the party pool to help repay the 3000GP take-out for the BFG. We then went to the bank, to transfer the money script to ourselves, and most of us opened a bank account for 20GP annually. (We'll need to keep track of what's in the account vs. what's on us).

From there, Mulwrit paid for a VERY private room for us all at the Ghostly Minstrel so we could lay out the next steps to get our multitude of quests back under control.

1. Korben Trollone – meet with tonight, to “discuss” Chaos Weapons.
2. Shilukar and the Chaos/All key delivered to him or his simulacrum, gather the cure and deliver that to Lord Zavere to gain that reward and inform him that Shilukar is removed as a threat to the security of Castle Shard.
3. Find and rescue Phon Quartermain and 'slag another cult', find her a safe haven and lock her up there until after the Night of Dissolution.
4. Reassemble the Staff of Shards and close the portal to the Pact Lords.
5. Deal with Rellas Hob, and take the 5000GP reward

We went to the gambling hall to try and link up with Korben that evening, but after an hour of screwing around, Otto attempted to link up with Korben, and we found from Obnoxious Kid-thief #7 that he was elsewhere. The kid then led us to Edarth's Loans, which is where Korben's office is. The kid opened the doors for us, including a secret door. We then took a lift down and met with Korben and 5 thugs. We also saw to the south, in cages, a cockatrice and black bear. Otto managed to explain things away to Korben and we managed to escape completely unscathed. Also, Otto seemed to believe Korben will likely be hiring us to potentially take out Kevris Killraven.

While Côr was working on the faux key, Cheval and Mulwrit stood guard to assist, and I went to talk with Jevvica. The Inverted Pyramid has over 100 members, with 'quite a few' master spell casters. To join, there must be an invite from an existing member, pay the 2000GP annual dues, and pass an initiation test. If pass, Initiate for 2 years, Adept for 5 years, and then after meeting 'extremely strict' requirements, can become Master. Elaborate network and requirements for members. Benefits are full access to the greatest arcane library in the world, ask other members for advice and do research with them, full laboratories, membership discount for a Thought Stone and a 20% discount from The Dreaming Apothecary. Every member gets an Invisible Charm, which is an invisible pyramid that only other members can see. She then gave me a token to be visited by The Dreaming Apothecary this evening. Overnight, The Dreaming Apothecary delivered the Aura of Transmutation and Alteration to The Ghostly Minstrel and took 50GP out of my bank account. Today is the 24^th of New Year.

Otto decided to test the Key, with the agreement of all us. When he put the key on, it did indeed fuse up with his arm. He had to give more of his lifesblood to get through the locks at the Chapel. Cheval and Côr ended up coordinating efforts to remove the key from his forearm. We then started to head toward Shilukar's lair.

Otto received 1 conviction point for his heroic bullshitting of nearly everything that moved.

June 20, 2009

{Received a conviction point for updating the wiki.}

Upon reflection, via Mulwrit, we realized we had approximately one day to resolve Phon and her situation. So we set about to Limit St. to handle that tapestry thread that a certain pussy won't leave alone. Côr went to recon the house of Helmut and found two sentries around the doors. He saw a symbol on the foreheads of each (an 6 pointed asterisk inside a hexagon with the points touching the angles), and it indicated that these were Fate Weavers. Côr then relayed that there is some association between the Fate Weavers and the Urthon Aedar (Wandering Judges in Elvish).

We opted to approach the entrances split-party style. Côr and Kekitat to the South to deal with Jamila and the rest of us to deal with Menaster. From there we opted to once more use the 'We're Drunk! Ignore us!' distraction method. I obtained the key from Menaster while Mulwrit & Otto kept him covered, and inquired of him the password. Otto took the key and opened the door. However, in typical fashion, rather than use the password as given (Look out I have a key!), he chose to use 'Oh, Helmut! I'm Hoooommme!' I then inquired of the non-guarding guard whether we succeeded in our efforts, and then I asked what he knew of Phon Quartermain. He then mentioned that her child will be born. I then 'requested' he research Shilukar for his future and information on him as well. I then stood guard downstairs while most of the rest of the group pillaged/searched the house.

Otto found some notes upstairs, one of which said “meeting in Kartare... something happens in Dragonsbirth Mountains, but what?” Another said:

First of Newyear Vision –

The Golden Lord will be found by the Darkest Elf. But the Idol of Ravvan brings doom.

The stars point beneath a vacant lot on Brandywine St. in the Guildsman District.

Menaster finally awakened to relay the following regarding Shilukar. The 'real' Shilukar seems to be at the coast somewhere, and there is death all around him. I inquired what the plans for the Key are, and the plans were up in the sky; possibly a reference to the Inverted Pyramid. I then asked about the Cure, and was told that he has the cure and soon he wouldn't have the cure. The diviner wasn't sure if it was us that was going to remove the Cure from him or not. I then offered Menaster the position of Vizier for the resuscitated court; in the interim I sent him to the house with my other associate. We then headed toward The Pale Tower to drop off Phon. At the door, we met The Graven and Mulwrit asked Otto to request sanctuary for Phon. The Graven returned with Kadiradel to discuss the matter. As soon as it became clear that the Malkuth weren't actually going to protect her in the Tower without her assent, I suggested Kekitat remain with her to convince her to stay at the Tower for her own good.

I went back to the house, while everyone else returned to The Ghostly Minstrel. On the way home, I obtained two weeks of rations for Alssan and the new Vizier. I offered to keep him around for 30GP per month. I also offered Alssan further training in spear/javelin, with the longer term goal of making him a primary guard, or perhaps even lizard-at-arms. The following morning, the 25^th of New Year, I headed back with Cheval to the Ghostly Minstrel. I inquired of Mulwrit what was to be done with Phon and a 'plan' was set about with Mulwrit to keep her safe. Otto and I discussed the need to have a communication medium between the groups, lest we have problems on either side, and it was presumed the safe house was going to be primarily unknown to all but Kekitat and Mulwrit. I then went to Jevicca at the Inverted Pyramid with the reagents gathered, and the bag of bone rings to get a thought stone and the invite into the Inverted Pyramid. For this I got a Dreaming Apothecary token, I then got a ½ price offer on the Thoughtstone, which would be 5000GP with a 100GP monthly maintenance fee for keeping the stone operating on the network. Otto then piped up, offering counter-services with Hydra Co. to help cut the costs down. She then gifted him with a Mage Coin.

July 18, 2009

{Got a conviction point for updating the WIKI}

Evening of the 25th of New Year. I journeyed from the meeting with Jevvica to the house, to discover that Alssan had gone out to negotiate something with the Harrow Elves. I then continued to the Pale Tower to discover the status of Phon and what Kekitat had done to convince her to stay. We then proceeded to The Ghostly Minstrel.

As we were discussing the possibilities of Helmut's notes, I heard Cheval mention God's Day, it dawned on me that in 3 months, there will be a high Holy day to honor all the Gods. It is considered to be the holiest of days, when all Gods are closest to the planet and the peoples. We then spent the bulk of the evening and night discussing plans and goals. Then we went to sleep, with the only plan coming to investigate the rope maker that resides right over the key rooms in Shilukar's underground lair in the morning.

The 26th of New year. The wainwright chosen turned out to be Honest Abdul's and the rope shop turned out to be Jensen's Rope Shop. Around there was also a tannery, Terrosh the Tanner. On the corner of Brandywine St. and Ring Rd. (next to Shilukar's entry) was a common use warehouse that I waited for the rest of the party at. After Côr bought himself some rope, we convened at our local house to discuss things and see what Côr considered to be so critical about this paper he found. There doesn't seem to be any sort of access from there into the lab area. On the paper, Côr was able to uncover some of the previous scrawlings on the paper. We discussed The Shuul at some length, once again, and they are bastions of Order and Science. They might have been better people to bring the Chaos Weapons to, as they might well represent an opposition force to the Chaos Lords. Several words were unintelligible from the writings. It was suggested that we might need to find a follower of Locharit, Goddess of the Written Word.

Kekitat then got very impatient and decided we should descend the ladder and go handle Shilukar right then anyway. So, we descended and found goblins clearing out the area being worked previously. We also found Angash on our way through, who announced us to the simulacrum. The simulacrum then led us into the room, and opened the box with the key. As he did so, I read the Arcane Lock scroll to seal the door off. Kekitat attacked and slew the simulacrum with a single volley of blows to the arm. Inside the Chaos Storage Cube, there is a Large Iron Bottle, 31 small glass flasks all containing a bright orange liquid, a set of “items”: longsword, rod, small steel shield, morningstar all decorated the same way, all crimson and decorated with gold filigree flames and a small compartment in the haft where one of vials might well be installed. Gold goblet, MW dagger, thunderstone, gold ring set with large ruby, pearl (magical), wand (magical), 2 potions (magical), 4 scrolls (magic), 2 rings (magical) and some “odd devices”. 3 devices that look like tendril-laden spikes, which Kekitat gave to Côr, Otto, and Cheval. They seemed to be Chaositech explosives of some kind. Among the other mundane items in the room, a bag of gold and silver coins (TBD) and a book of Arcane Lore was found.

August 01, 2009

{Received another 3d6 to use in any combination to modify dice rolls for updating the WIKI}

Upon getting ready to try and talk ourselves out of the death of the simulacrum, Mulwrit heard gears and chain happening, so we threw open the door only to find multiple experiments of Shilukar's Simulacrum and Angash and Brugul waiting for us. Mass combat and hysteria ensued. Using a combination of Otto's Pipes of Haunting, my Move Object and intimidating demeanor, I was finally able to get Angash to drop his axe before he fled the room courtesy of the Pipes. Used a small pouch of the dessicating dust to try and take out the octopoid/rat combination. Used one more pouch to absorb a good deal of the goo, and made the way clear for the rest of the party to escape. Côr decided to investigate the spiderweb laden room, putting several of us in jeopardy. The pipes effects vanished, and Brugul started to pursue us. Angash was in the prayer room, praying something in Gnollish, and I closed the doors on him and Cheval used a Tanglefoot bag on the doors, locking Angash in the altar room from those doors. Much more silliness with his sister, knocking her unconscious and disabled.

I took her flail of knockback +2, if it hits it does a bull rush +4 on target with impact criticals, from the sister. Requires a strength bonus of +3 to wield, +6 required to wield it one handed. After rendering Angash helpless as well, we tied them up, and then decided to take them to the Brotherhood of Redemption, per Cheval's recollection. Naturally, we opted to consider this underground laboratory to be ours now, since there was no one to defend it directly.

We emerged in the morning of 27th of New Year, after helping Angash and Brugul up the ladder with ropes and big strong members of the party at the top of the hole. While we were hauling up, a group of thugs approached. They were intimidated away by a show of weaponry. We then took our captives over to the Monastery entry. The symbol at the door, two blue five pointed stars surmounted by a third, indicated it is definitely the Brotherhood of Redemption. We met with Fhomas Reen, and turned the critters on over to him – their problem now! I identified the ring Côr found – Totem Ring, allows wearer to transform 1X a day for up to an hour.

On the way up to Castle Shard to turn in the cure, we encountered 4 half elven men(?) in green robes standing in line at a bakery on the corner of Emperor's Rd., and Center St. They turned out to be the Viridian Lords (High Level Druids, in D&D parlance). According to legend, they gave up on the world and walked away from it hundreds of years ago. Otto gave them a card, just in case. We then proceeded to Castle Shard. Offering the 'cure' to Lord Zavere, we were taken to Lady Rill, and then down to the statue of Lord Abbercombe. Pouring the potion over the head of Lord Abbercombe, it brought him back to full animation, though didn't remove the gold. Oddly, Lord Abbercombe didn't seem to mind that part though. He said that the gold situation was brought about by a curse longer ago than the petrification, and was partially his fault. He thinks it was House Sadar, one of the main noble houses of Ptolus, known for a long line of mages. The current head of the house is Renn Sadar, he is one of the highest ranking members of the Inverted Pyramid, and one of the strongest mages in the city. There's a rumor they have a secret alliance with the Holy Emperor. They are also particularly at shadow magic. We were rewarded with 3000GP and a gold friendship band for Castle Shard.

August 15, 2009

After the month of downtime, on Birth 15th, when things got … silly for rewards and sales of recovered items, we traded in Brugul's flail to the Clerk's office to cover the back taxes on the Pythoness House. Upon arriving, we found that the Tolling Bell cult had once again taken up residence, those same Chaos Warriors that had demanded the Chaos Weapons we had found at the House. Upon demanding they vacate our rightful property, they attacked us. It was an ABSURD battle, but we eventually won out and killed all but two of the minor fighters. On checking the corpses we found … stuff.

Wuntad: Metal Breast Plate Mithril +1 (1500GP), Fingerless Gloves of Dexterity +1 (Otto), 1 potion of Aid L3, 31GP Ibard: Damaged MW Chain mail (300GP if repaired), Heavy Steel shield in shape of chaos symbol, MW Heavy mace (112GP), Heavy Crossbow w/ 12 bolts (51GP), Magic Bell (Kekitat) of Greater Sleep 5 charges; only members of Cult of Tolling Bell can activate it, Cloak of Magic Vestment +1 to Dodge and Parry (Otto) , Potion Owl's Wisdom (Cheval), 2 scrolls – Hold Person L5, bell shaped jeweled amulet (100GP), 19GP Saavia: Chain mail +1 (1150GP), MW Mighty +4 Composite long bow (Kekitat), 15 MW arrows (Kekitat), 2 potions; Cure L10 (Otto) & Magic Fangs, Gold ring Signet of House Kirzzaka (Assarai minor house) (Reqqast) (50GP), 20GP Warriors: 4 MW Breast plates (300GP each), 4 MW Longswords (115GP each), 2 Javelins (1GP), 16GP

Total Gold obtained is 4961GP

We then went on a shopping spree for various things, I obtained a very impressive Javelin +2 of Crippling for Alssan. Côr and Kekitat obtained 10 tickets for us and our '+1's' for the showing of The Boy Who Could Sing on opening night. With a few other small distractions, such as setting up the crews to clean out, clean up, and repair the Pythoness House to get it livable by our company once more.

November 21, 2009

{Received a free Conviction Point for having updated the WIKI}

As I started to return to the apt. door, Otto comes toddling on up, looking rather surprised. Upon examining the creatures, we determined they were semi-demonics called Dretch. General resistance to physical harm save from cold iron or celestial matters, and a general resistance to elemental damage. Generally kind of slow and stupid but can coordinate with others telepathically, and can summon fellow Dretches to appear from the aether. We also interviewed the 4 survivors found in one of the small rooms. Upon finding out all the information possible from the survivors, Kekitat and Cheval took them to the nearest hotel for meals, clothing, and bedding for the night.

We decided that Otto and Côr would be heading upstairs to find if anything is waiting for us. While they started that, I dropped into deep meditation to recover my exhaustion. Mulwrit unceremoniously grabbed me on the way past, and I was awakened to discover that 'somehow' the building had caught on fire without me. Apparently Côr and Otto were unaware of the advantages of sticking to the plan they themselves set for themselves. The fire brigade was arriving, so the body that was of some importance was brought along for searching. We then, after searching the corpse and dumping it off the ledge near Rivergate Bridge, went back to Pythoness Mansion to get some rest.

After we woke up, Côr informed us that Rhinnis was a fighter at the Cock Pit. We also examined various things that were plundered to determine what was in them. In the saddle bags, we found 9 handmade leaded glass vials with common-to-ultra rare spices. 15 pieces of silver cutlery with various levels of decay, the one with the giraffe head is of particularly good quality. MW Quarterstaff, chainmail is ordinary, potion of invisibility, rings are ordinary (70GP and 30GP), scroll of inflict serious wounds (L7) all came from the captured corpse. Otto ran off with Côr to discuss the whole ill-gotten gains issues with various merchants to negotiate more gains for us that are more useful.

Following this, a decision was made to head back to The Cock Pit to determine other information about the sewers and whether they might lead to the Ebon Hand Temple mentioned in the letter discovered on the corpse. Working with Cheval, we determined from the outbreak of Mrathrach (game with three spinners and tiles) here in The Cock Pit was related to the following: each time the game is played, the game stores a bit of the randomness by playing it as Pure Chaos. Since that randomness is removed for a temporary situation, the game is stilted toward the player slightly each time. So the player will win a small payout and thus keep playing more. The tiny storage of the Chaos is funneled away from the game, and stored somewhere else, somewhere down below the City. It seems almost like an artificial Lay Line goes from the gaming table down below somewhere.

Doing some gathering of information after Otto worked his tongue-magic with the Minotaur hunk, I determined with Côr's assistance that Mrathrach had become at least about 75% of the gaming industry thus far. We then headed to The Games House to determine if this game was able to do it's underhanded bidding in the seat of mages entertainment as well. A flyer outside the pub announced that the next Mage's Games was 3 months away from today, the 1st of Wind. This is located on Vock Row. We found only a couple of tables of Mrathrach being played currently. After polling my mind deeply (conv. Point for Concentration) to recall anything Jevvica might have worn to indicate her membership in the Inverted Pyramid. I realized she was wearing a charm to give this indication. I couldn't locate anyone in the bar at this time to relay the information about the game so I will simply have to inform Jevvica directly when next I see her.