(G315 20/05/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) WA4

(G315 20/05/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) WA4


DAY 289 (24th Nightal)(December) cont...

Now, as a druid I am always fascinated by all aspects of nature as you can imagine. Over the years I have seen many strange and wonderful creatures of nature and heard of many more.

In the Cheron Forest there is a very rare creature indeed, known locally as a 'Tree Climbing Shambling Mound'. There is said to be no more than a handful of breeding pairs left in the forest.

They are aggressive and territorial so when Fenrir encountered two of them on his next scouting trip forward of the others they set upon him at once. Fenrir being Fenrir started blasting at them and took to the sky, or the upper branches of the trees anyway.

To his surprise though, they don't call them 'tree climbing' for nothing and using their tentacles they swung after him. They even managed to use their slam attacks on him a couple of times before he blasted them to death, but in the end they did not last long.

Back at where he had left them, Harvel and Arahel played hide and seek, thinking that they could lay an ambush, but it was not required.

Now that both Harvel and Fenrir were injured they decided to camp and Arahel found them a good site not far away, a few hundred yards down the track.

They decided not to light a fire, but Harvel (the only one without a magic bedroll) found he was soon shivering with cold. It was winter after all and even in his own regular bedroll he felt the low temperature.

A few hours after the sun had set, they heard whistling back up the track, a noise that slowly came towards them.

Arahel was still in the form of a snow owl (from her camp scouting trip) so she flapped down the path a bit to take a look. She saw an animated skeleton wearing plate armour and carrying a two handed sword. How it was whistling she didn't know, in that it had no lips, but she flew back and warned the others.

He was not a threat though, when he arrived he asked them about what they were doing in the forest and when they said, 'To see Nexelmode,' he offered to take them to her.

Nexelmode's cave was no more than half a mile away. It was large and warm, being lit by several fires. It was divided into two main areas. The area by the entrance had about fifty goblins in it, some were warriors but a good portion of them were females and young ones.
A chasm divided the cave and Nexelmode inhabited the portions of the cavern beyond it. There were also several beings that looked like hags or witches.

At first Nexelmode was indifferent to their presence but when Arahel revealed here true form to be a kiloren, she was delighted.
So much so, that Arahel grew a little concerned about all the hugs and kisses the strange women gave to her as she said, 'What have they done to you? You are cursed? Why do you hang around with these nasty humans? You should be in the forest where you belong, with me!'

The skeleton warrior, whose name was 'Mr Rattles' was not very friendly but was willing to answer questions from Harvel and Fenrir while Nexelmode examined Arahel.

Harvel asked about the goblins and Nexelmode answered;

''
This lot just turned up. There are hundreds of them all camped out in the upper reaches. What am I supposed to do with them? They are a pest, but I'm not a butcher. If they kill a few poachers then that's fine by me. Those stinking humans from Ferbone are always hunting in my forest. If a goblin gets one and puts him in a cooking pot that's a good thing for me. Go ask they chief if you want. I just get confused gibberings when I ask him why his tribe just turned up here.
''

Harvel could see, looking across the chasm, a goblin that looked like the chief, taller than the others and treated with reverence.

Nexelmode removed the curse from Arahel. It had been the side effects from being resurrected by Es Sarch back in Pedestal and the tough little kiloren was strong enough to throw it off with the help of the other druid's magic.

Fenrir asked a few questions of Nexelmode also and turned on the charm. He got the feeling that she warmed to him.

Finally, the witches (or whatever they were) brought food and they settled down to sleep in  the 'guest area' of the cave.

DAY 290 (25th Nightal)(December)

In the morning Nexelmode's servants brought them their breakfast.

Then the final part of the magic that was required, a Break Enchantment spell, was cast on Arahel and she was completely free of Es Sarch's curse.

Arahel bowed to Nexelmode and thanked her, but then said she needed to be going. As Nexelmode tried to convince her to at least to stay for lunch, Fenrir and Harvel went to talk to the chief.

It was impossible at first, as they shared no common tongue with the goblins, but then Fenrir remembered he had heard Mr Rattles talk to them so he called him over.

With the skeleton translating the chief named himself as Chief Redfeather of the Blue Cloud Tribe  and said;

''
We here. We travel old ways. We come from east. Black cloaked men come. They kill us. Drive us out. We here now. We stay. Green lady is good to us. She tell us that humans are good for eating. She is correct. Humans are good for eating. Black cloaked men come from old castle. Old castle was empty. Not empty now.
''

Fenrir tried his best to convince the chief to stop attacking the humans. The chief said he would try but pointed out that as often as not the humans attacked the goblins, 'We have lost many of our number.'

Things were getting a bit tense elsewhere in the cave. Harvel was skulking about in the goblin cave and making some of the warriors so nervous that one of them struck him with his sword.

And then Arahel suddenly decided she didn't want lunch, turned into an owl and flew out the cave. As Nexelmode turned into a giant bat, the two men ran for it.

Harvel was first out and hid amongst the trees. Fenrir flew into the upper branches and Arahel was next out. Then a giant bat flew out and assuming (correctly) it was Nexelmode, Harvel loosed off a psychic blast that injured her enough to make her flap back into the cave.

For a few heart beats there was silence, then howls and screeches as dire wolves and giant bats streamed out of the mouth of the cavern.

Harvel had awakened the wrath of Nexelmode.

(G314 29/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) WA3

(G314 29/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) WA3

DAY 288 (23th Nightal)(December) cont ...

Grumbling to himself over the lack of success with the Night Masks Fenrir considered joining the city watch and discussed how this could be done with Harvel.

In the morning Arahel felt sick again and coughed up blood. She decided to go see Weynay back down in Ferbone to see if she could help. It was just five miles away so she turned into a bird and  flew down.

Meanwhile, a young lady called Gelly was at the door and representing the Night Masks offered to give information on the Night Parade for 300 gold coins. Fenrir accepted and was told;

''
I have the name of a being that describes herself as the leader of the Night Parade. There is a house on Snip Street that can only be found by those that really look for it. It is said by some that this is the dwelling of the last members of the Night Parade in Westgate. Her name is Bezebelle and she is said  to be unspeakably evil.
However, I have heard from a usually trustworthy source that she knows the location of a Snake Gate.
How I don't know, I suppose you can ask her, but if I was to guess I would say that creatures that are essentially nightmares made flesh have skill in moving between Planes.
''

Fenrir liked the look of young Gelly and opened a bottle of wine. She stayed and chatted for a while.

In Ferbone Arahel initially confused Weynay by not turning back into her true form. Weynay was not overly concerned about a talking bird but her diagnosis was improved by Arahel revealing her kiloren nature.
'Oh, I think you have been cursed Arahel,' said the cleric. 'There is a woman not far from here called Nexelmode who can remove curses, but she is not very nice and the forest she lives in is dangerous. Perhaps you should gather your friends before looking for her.'

Arahel saw the sense in this and flew back to Westgate. She landed on the kitchen table back at the cottage and asked Fenrir, 'Have you mated with this female yet?'
'Not yet..oops!' replied Fenrir, forgetting for an instant that Gelly was still present.

After lunch Fenrir, Arahel and Harvel set off for the short walk to Ferbone.

At the Westgate city gates they saw that a merchant's cart had spilled its load. Rather than wait for it to be cleared Fenrir and Harvel helped to move all the bales of cloth that were lying everywhere.

Harvel earned them a silver, all the while Fenrir pretending he was Harvel's servant. Fenrir presumably wanting people to think he was not the one in charge (laying the foundation for excuses that may be required later perhaps?).

They arrived at Ferbone, by cab, at three o'clock. Weynay told them she could arrange someone to take them part of the way to Nexelmode and that the could also do her a favour as she explained;

''
For some reason there are goblins in the forest south of here. They seemed to arrive a few months ago. Well, the locals hunt the forest for rabbits and deer and such and a few of them have either gone missing or been found dead now. That area of forest is Nexelmode's domain. She will know what is going on. Perhaps you could find out while you are there and either put a stop to it or let me know? Be very diplomatic with her, she is quick to anger and very powerful.
''

Harvel dismissed the cab driver and Weynay arranged them rooms at 'The Dead Badger Inn'. Now, the landlord's daughter was young and very pretty and Fenrir's eyes caught her's very quickly.
The landlord was a tall and strong man called Kreggen, while his daughter was named Tweppy.

Fenrir tried his best to woo her, but in the end was stymied (or to use a coarser term - 'cock-blocked') by Arahel once more. She turned into a human lady and loudly proclaimed that Fenrir was her husband and that he should leave the tavern wenches alone!

Fenrir did his best to smooth everything over and succeeded, but went to bed alone that night.


DAY 289 (24th Nightal)(December)

They set off the next morning, Weynay having arranged a man called Hew the Archer to take them most of the way to Nexelmode's domain.

It was two miles to the edge of the forest, then another five to an old stone bridge over a fairly large
river. Hew informed them that they only had to follow the path another mile or so and they would be at their destination. Hew himself dared not go any further.

It was about noon when they were attacked by a pack of wolves. There were a few dire wolves running with the pack and they were quite strong. Fenrir attacked from above the trees and Arahel saw some of them off when she turned into a rhino. Harvel was badly injured in the fight and fell into a bush, bloody and  unconscious. Luckily for him though, his friends saw off the last of the wolves before they had a chance to eat him.

(G313 22/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) 57

(G313 22/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) 57


DAY 141 (sun) continued ...

The Caco returned to Voyager.


DAY 142 (mon)

On their return to Voyager it turned out that strange phenomenon had been occurring in the system and Ensign Kim had vanished into what they thought may be a Subspace Vacuole.

This had occurred on an asteroid in the ring of the planet Voyager was orbiting. On the asteroid were many bodies of aliens that appeared to have been prepared for burial. Every so often one more would appear.

The Caco was ordered to go scan a nearby moon. Kirk pointed out that the Caco's scanners were vastly inferior to those of Voyagers, but the Captain told him that the Voyager would concentrate on this  planet and everything else while Caco pitched in at the moon.

On arrival the Caco orbited and scanned the moon and read feint electronic signals from caves under its surface. Kirk formed an Away Team and once they were in their EV suits they went down to take a look.

They followed the signals into a network of caves and discovered an area that was full of what looked like Vidiian equipment. In the caves were also the mysterious shrouded corpses of aliens.

Kirk and the others scanned everything and gathered data. Just as he was finishing up and thinking of moving on, suddenly everything went black for Kirk. He then found himself lying down in a coffin.

He sat up and declared, 'I'm not dead yet!'

An alien male in priestly robes came over to him and attempted to communicate but the UT of Kirk's comms badge was having trouble with this new language.

As he tried to talk to the priest he observed that the coffin he had arrived in was one of many in a wide circular room that appeared to be at the top of a tall tower in a well built-up night time city.

Their attempts to talk were suddenly cut short when there was a loud bang from several stories below.
The priest made motions to Kirk to make a run for it and together they head for the stairs and up onto the roof where a hover car was parked.

The priest and Kirk jumped in and the driver took them off at speed. The UT was beginning to pick up the language and he understood from the aliens that they were a species known as the Vhnori, the tower was known as the Temple of Ascendancy where the bodies of dead Vhnori were sent on to their afterlife.
The Temple was under attack from heretics.
'Did you come from the next Emanation?' asked the priest.
Kirk replied that he didn't think so, probably he had just arrived from somewhere else in the galaxy.

As the priest formulated his next theological question the hover car was shot out of the sky by another car, presumably piloted by heretics, and the driver crash landed them in an alley.

Kirk was the only one conscious once all the crashing had ended and thinking it was probably best just to make a run for it he climbed up a six storey fire escape onto the roof of a building.

He must have been dazed from the crash and forgotten about the heretic's hover car because they saw him and did a fly-by. He jumped over to the next building then went back down to street level.

In this new alley he saw a parked car and attempted to boot in the window. A man came through a door in the alley and shouted, 'I'm calling the cops!'

Kirk smashed the window anyway and grabbed some tools out the back as the alarm went off. He then made a run for it, then seeing what looked like a police car, abandoned the tools and gave himself up to the cops.

He was hustled into the police hover car that then flew to another city skyscraper and into a landing bay on a high upper floor.

Kirk was dumped in an interview room, then half an hour later a Vhnori man in blue robes arrived.
He introduced himself as Nerel and called himself a chief investigator.

'Where are you from, alien?' was his first question.
'I'm not from around here...' replied Kirk enigmatically.
'Did you come from the next Emanation?'
Kirk replied he had come from a moon full of corpses.

The investigator called him a liar and left.

Half an hour later another alien male arrived and introduced himself as Dr Hruna.
After some more questions, the doctor then declared to the investigator.
'He's nothing more than an alien anarchist - do with him as you will!'

Nerel nodded and chucked Kirk in a cell.

Kirk had to admit though, it was a nice cell, with an en suite bathroom and view-screen with access to lots of alien entertainment and information services.

He lay down on the double bed and picking up the remote control began to flick through the channels.


DAY 143 (tue)

It was still dark outside, but Kirk felt like a day had passed.

He was taken to another room and interrogated for twelve hours by Nerel and a female called Grute.
He just stuck to his story though.

After that he was dumped in his cell again.

Kirk stuck the TV back on.


DAY 144 (wed)

Kirk woke up on the second day of his imprisonment finding that it was still dark outside. The planet that he was on seemed to have a very long day/night cycle.

At the next interrogation he was told to co-operate or that they would get the judge to execute him.
Kirk decided to start lying and told them what they wanted to hear, that he was an alien heretic who had arrived in 'Space Port 3' a few days ago.

After 12 hours his confession was worked up and they took a DNA sample in the form of a signature.


DAY 145 (thu)

Kirk, with apparently no desire to escape and every faith in the justice system of an alien planet he knew nothing about spent another day lying on the bed in his pants while watching TV.


DAY 146 (fri)

Kirk woke up on the fourth day of his imprisonment and decided he as getting bored of this new life.
He knocked on the door and two fairly friendly looking guards answered.
'What?'
'When do I get out of here?'
'When it's your trial'
'And when's that?'
'It will be about six to eight months.'
'What?! Uh... how about those coffin things? Can't you just put me in one of them?'
'That's up to the judge!'

The door closed in his face and Kirk went back to the bed. He didn't want to miss his soaps!

DAY 147 (sat)

Waking on his fifth day of confinement he decided enough was enough.

Luckily they had not taken his comms badge off him and he used it to 'hack' the TV terminal and easily gained access to lots of interesting parts of the planet's Internet.

He easily hid what he was doing from the security systems of the prison and began to look for heretic groups that he could make contact with.

This took him all day.


DAY 148 (sun)

Kirk grabbed a few hours sleep on the morning of his sixth day in pokey.

Using the UT in his comms badge to translate the alien text into English he made contact with an alien heretic named 'RenegadeX'.

Kirk sends his 'police hack' to the heretic and then some more info he stole from an establishment  church on the 'Scrolls of Abala' (Something akin to the Dead Sea Scrolls on Earth).

Kirk wanted to get RenegadeX to send a message to Voyager, but he had not realised that the aliens knew nothing about Subspace comms and the ship was unlikely to be with radio range.
Also note that Subspace has a range of 40 LY only and Kirk could have been anywhere.

After more talk with the heretic, RenegadeX agreed to help Kirk escape if somehow the human could get to the roof of the building. Kirk, who did not have a plan yet, agreed.

Outside, dawn was breaking.

Trump on his way to an Appointment in Samara

Trump on his way to an Appointment in Samara

The Trump stuff has really kicked off! Just when you think it can't get any more fever pitched than it already is, it gets ten times worse!

It sounds like he miscalculated though. I'm sure he had no idea just how big a deal sacking James Comey  was going to be. I am sure he thought that the Dems would be happy about it and that he was being super clever about the whole thing.
'Haha! No one will expect that I have an ulterior motive! I'm so clever.'
What an idiot.

And as if it couldn't get any more bizarre, the next day he has two Russian diplomats in the WH. One of  whom was Sergey Kislyak. You know - that guy. That guy that is at the centre of everything and is very familiar to anyone that watches Rachel Maddow every day.

And not only that -!!! - but the US media was not allowed to the meeting while the Russians were!
Unbelievable. The pictures came from TASS. TASS for god's sake!

Well, he's certainly bought his impeachment a lot closer, which is a good thing. He rage-fired the FBI director and maybe he thought this will shut down the Trump-Russia thing but it was like throwing petrol on a fire - FWOOMPH!

He's really on the road to Samara, the more he tries to escape his fate the closer he gets to it.

If you have not read it, Appointment in Samara is a book by American writer John O'Hara that tells the story of a man on a path of suicidal self-destruction.

The book opens with this ancient quote:

Death speaks: There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me.
The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

(G312 15/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) WA2

(G312 15/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) WA2


DAY 284 (19th Nightal)(December)

Arahel spent the day in the tavern as she was not prepared to do anything until her armour was ready.

Fenrir went into town to do some clothes shopping as he only had the outfit he had arrived in and wished to present a more dashing figure around Westgate. Among other things he bought a very fashionable hat. In Westgate the height of fashion was a wide soft hat with feathers around it.


DAY 285 (20th Nightal)(December)

Today Arahel's armour was ready to be picked up and the cottage they had rented was also ready for habitation.

The cottage was close to Thessar's House. Thessar was a retired mercenary who now spent his time telling stories and drinking beer on his porch as well as acting as an agent for sellswords.

Fenrir wisely arranged with a local locksmith to get new locks fitted of the most excellent quality on the front and back doors.

The moved in the gear they had taken with them from Pedestal, including a magical 'Field Provisions Box' which could feed up to fifteen people and several horses a day.

They spent the rest of the evening settling into the cottage. Harvel would not be moving in with them.

DAY 286 (21th Nightal)(December)

Today Harvel decided to earn his fee and start looking into getting Fenrir and Arahel 'in' with the
Night Masks.

To that end he went to look for someone known as 'Rudolph the Snitch' (asking a friendly watchman that he knew called Lushyr Myan) and eventually found him in a crows cage hanging from a gibbet on the  southern road into town.

Harvel tried to bargain with Rudolph - a good word with the watch in return for help contacting the
Night Masks. Rudolph only wanted out of the cage though. Harvel walked away, probably expecting to be shouted at to come back, but in this case his bluff was called and Rudolph remained silent.

What he didn't know was the Fenrir had followed him, with Arahel as a wee puppy in his pocket. Invisible and flying they witnessed the whole exchange. When no one was looking Fenrir turned visible then walked up to Rudolph and agreed to come back and release him that night in return for his help. Rudolph readily agreed.

Meanwhile Harvel went to the Bent Mermaid and tried another of his informers, a man known as  Shady Doug. He arranged for Doug to meet his 'clients' then returned with Fenrir and Arahel who were back at the cottage.

After some haggling they agreed to pay 200 gold for an introduction to a mid-level Night Mask and a 'Red hot tip' for the noon race at Bleth Track tomorrow - a horse called 'Two In the Pink'.

They next located Yntar Shieldblazon, a bard, in another tavern and Fenrir asked him a few questions about Yuan-ti in the city. Yntar remembered some trouble with them about ten years ago, involving the Fire Knives (an assassin's guild) and activity in the 'crypts', but said he would  need a bit more time to gather more detailed information. They agreed to meet again the next day.

They went back to the cottage after that and in the evening Fenrir went and rescued Rudolph. When you can fly and be invisible this is no task of great difficulty, although it was noticed by people on the street. Westgate does have an aerial 'Giant Owl Patrol' but they were not called out.

Back at the cottage Rudolph was very grateful to Fenrir for saving his skin. He went on to say he would gladly help get them friendly with the Night Masks and that he just needed to go sort out a few things and he would meet them the next day at the Bent Mermaid.
He left the cottage, skulking out into the dark night.

All this time Arahel had been in bed.

DAY 287 (22th Nightal)(December)

Fenrir spent the morning at the race track and was delighted that when he bet 1000 gold on his horse it came in first! Since it looked like the race had probably been fixed though he had trouble with the bookies, but did get all his winnings in the end. He made an enemy of one of them though, a tough fellow called Hrumkle the Bookie.

At the Bent Mermaid, Shady Doug had also made a packet so when they met him he had a girl on each knee, a cigar in his mouth and a feather boa around his neck.
'Good day at the races lads?' he called as they came in.

They talked for a while and Fenrir asked if Doug had seen Rudolph the Snitch. He then hinted that he, Fenrir, had rescued him. Doug then said,
'Well, if Rudolph was in a crows cage then he was there because the Masks wanted him there. They would have rescued him if they wanted to. He wasn't called "The Snitch" for nothing you know. He'll have legged it, be well away from the city by now. Next time use the old noodle eh?'

Doug then went on to tell them to meet a man called Tormstar the Scarred at the Spitting Cockatrice at midnight that night. It was just down the road from their cottage in fact.
Doug also warned Fenrir to make sure and give Tormstar a good reason for why he wanted to join the Night Masks as they would be highly suspicious of someone from out of town.

On the way back they located Yntar Shieldblazon again and in exchange for a few coins learned that the yuan-ti had been seen around a place on the docks known as The Silver Star warehouse.
This had been ten years ago though.

Harvel spent the rest of the day 'doing the rounds' then found a good spot to watch the  Spitting Cockatrice from.

DAY 288 (23th Nightal)(December)

Fenrir and Arahel walked down the road to the inn they were to meet Tormstar at. Arahel was in the form of a weasel.

One of the guards at the door said, 'Here mate, no weasels.'
Fenrir replied, 'Ahh, I'll just put it round the corner...'
He then went around the corner and Arahel jumped into his hat.
It also took a small bribe to get in after that.

While he had a drink at the bar a very attractive woman came to him and said, 'Follow me.' Fenrir did as he was bid and was lead to a private room upstairs where he was met by Tormstar.

Perhaps the ale he had been drinking was stronger than he had thought, because if he had had a plan at all, it evaporated into beer fumes.
He told Tormstar that he and his two companions wanted to join the Night Masks and Tormstar asked, 'Where are your companions tonight?'
He replied, 'If you don't mind I'll keep that under my hat.'
Arahel giggled a tiny weasel laugh from her hiding place.

Fenrir then said he had come from Waterdeep and was on the look out for new ventures. He then went on to display his ability to fly and to turn invisible.
'All very good,' said Tormstar. 'But this isn't a knitting circle. If you're companions want to join then I have to meet them.'
'Well,' said Fenrir lifting his hat. 'This is Arahel.'

Arahel hopped down, then turned into her normal form of a green skinned girl.
'Ah, a kiloren, I see,' said Tormstar. 'And your other companion?'
'...wishes to remain anonymous.'
Fenrir went on to explain about Harvel and wishing to be helpful wanted to inform Tormstar that Harvel now worked for him and anything he had done in the past against the Night Masks could  perhaps be forgotten about. Tormstar hadn't heard of him, but did say,
'Bring him here, and your other friend. Then we can talk again.'
Fenrir realised he had put his foot in it. He had meant that Cavu was the "third man" but he had no idea who he was. Also, he pondered later, it might have been best not to mention Harvel at all.
'Well...' he said. 'Our third member is out of the city, perhaps I should have mentioned him...'
'You seem like powerful people, you look more like adventurers than thieves to me. Find a crypt and raid if for treasure. That's my advice.'

Fenrir then went on to talk in terms of an alliance, rather than joining the guild and Tormstar said, 'You can hire the guild if you need something stolen, or something killed.'
'What about information?'
'Yes, that too.'
'What can you tell me about Snake Gates?'

At this point, dear reader, you may be forgiven for letting your jaw drop open as Fenrir casually revealed one of the main reasons he was in the city to a powerful member of the local thieves' guild!
Be that as it may, Tormstar did reply, 'I'll see what I can do. Come back tomorrow.'

Fenrir and Arahel walked back to the cottage, the young warlock thinking to himself that if Ozborne had been around he would be getting a telling off by now. That wily rogue was much better at this sort of thing, Fenrir reflected.

And so, obviously, he unwittingly led the Night Masks right back to his house. Harvel, who had waited outside the Cockatrice in the shadows observed a stealthy figure follow the warlock and druid all the way back.

Harvel snuck up on the figure who lurked in the trees by the cottage. He noted it was a female.
'See anything interesting?' he asked.
'I don't know what you are talking about,' she said, but she did leave.
Harvel noted that she was dressed in leather armour and had a knife on each hip.

He then went inside to talk to Fenrir who told him that he'd made rather a mess of everything. Harvel was not too happy about his name being dragged into things but did realise that while he
had the protection of Nebulus he was safe from the Masks.

It seemed that Fenrir was off to his usual rocky start, but perhaps, like in Waterdeep, he would find a way. Gertrude always seemed to have faith in him to not necessarily do the right thing when it came to it, but to at least do the thing that moved things in the direction that she was hoping for.
What was her plan? Who knew? Not even Cavu at this stage. Gertrude played the long game and she did  indeed move in mysterious ways, her wonders to perform.

(G311 01/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) SS19/WA1

(G311 01/04/2017 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK) SS19/WA1
 Meanwhile back in Pedestal.

DAY 280 (15th Nightal)(December) continued ...

[Merlock Tomes continues his report]

This is the conclusion of my report. The group of adventurers known as the 'Buffalo Bunch' entered the chamber occupied by Fadheela and her cohorts and a melee ensued.

At the same time as they entered Dwerry Gentile finally revealed her true evil nature and turned on the others. I did not know this while I was in the Spike, but I have since learned that she was in fact a Vanguard of Sertrous agent known as Wathuss.

Fenrir had had previous dealing with her I am lead to believe, back in Waterdeep. Back then she had been the chief Vanguard agent and in a war of nerves and intermittent raids on each other's hide outs she had battled to keep Fenrir and his friends following the trail to Pedestal.

She, of course, had failed in that, but had at least infiltrated their group and in one last throw of the dice attacked them in the rear while they were occupied with Fadheela and her minions.

It was a brutal combat. To begin with, sensing that now was no time for messing about, Arahel for once used her head and summoned up a bunch of crocodiles (and a single wolf). They went in and engaged the grimlocks that surged forward in the first few moments of the battle.

Dwerry, or Wathuss rather, fire off two fireballs that blasted Arahel dead and Durz nearly so. Fenrir was injured too, they were all crammed in too tightly. Durz tried to get at her, but she avoided his blows as she fled down the corridor back to the stairs. When he was overcome with a torrent of magic missiles he chose to flee before he too was killed.

Meanwhile, in Fadheela's chamber Billi and Fenrir battled a bloodhulk. These things are immensely strong and it killed many of the crocodiles. Fenrir blasted at it and Billi shot it until it had taken so much damage it could hardly stand. At that moment, the wolf, which had been skulking about trying simply to stay alive nipped in and bit the bloodhulk in the leg and killed it.

While all this was going on Fadheela, who was a medusa, was trying to petrify Billi and Fenrir but she had no luck with that at all. Fenrir then blasted her once and Billi killed her with a single arrow through the heart.

The room cleared Fenrir rushed into the corridor to discover Arahel was dead. Enraged. he blasted at Dwerry with his magic, channeling everything he had into it. It knocked her down onto her knees, exhausted and badly injured. As she opened her mouth to plead for mercy he killed her off with another dreadful blast.

As they got their breath back, unexpectedly Maaril the Dragonmage (of Waterdeep) teleported in with four sellswords and two large gargoyles. Fenrir recognised him and took a step back as Maaril ordered his men to loot the corpse of Fadheela and to gather up the body of Dwerry.
From Fadheela he took a key and a staff, then without a word of farewell they all teleported out of the room once more.

Not entirely sure what all that had been about they then looted the chamber of all its treasure, gathered up Arahel's corpse and exited the Spike through Fadheela's secret door.

Next they went back to the Dripstone Inn where I gather Es Sarch brought Arahel back to life by some  mysterious means. From what I heard, the process that he uses is rarely pleasant and falls a long way short of being what a cleric would call a Resurrection.

That night, from what I gather, the Bunch arranged selling the massive amount of treasure they had  looted from the various places they had raided, again with Es Sarch.

They then spent the night in the Inn. The next day they left town.

I saw no need to confront them as they had essentially done us a huge service by clearing the  Necromancer's Spike and proved themselves to be pretty tough customers. Despite the fact they had much money and valuable magic items about their persons an attack on them would require so much resource to hardly be worth it.

They certainly killed Elessarwa Nledoor, but it may be better to let Es Sarch think for now that his little plan worked. It will require careful thought before moving against him.

Billitoppe, Durz, Arahel and Fenrir should certainly be punished for their crime, however I  recommend subtlety and not a direct attack.

Dwerry is dead and will most likely stay dead.

Here ends my report.

DAY 281 (16th Nightal)(December)

[Back to Rollo's Journal]

That's all I managed to get a hold of from the report by Merlock Tomes of Pedestal.

From what I gather though, Billi and Durz decided to head back to their mercenary company where they probably planned to have a six month bender with their newfound wealth. Berum went with Durz, her husband.

Fenrir and Arahel, an odd couple of travelling companions, left Pedestal and went across the Oceanbrigde to the Earth Node where they teleported back to the King's Barrow. From here they once more emerged at the Kingsholm Cemetery and walked back down into the town and went to get some food and drink at the Coronet and Cabbage. Cavu was waiting for them.

While they ate in his room he said,

'Well, I guess mixed success there. We knew Maaril was an interested party but rather hoped he'd stay out of it. Getting the staff back from him will require subtlety, so I think we'll try a few diplomatic approaches before resorting to .. ahem .. brute force and ignorance.
If you want a job in the mean time though I can give you one. Sort of... all a bit vague at the moment, but Gerty, bless the old girl, has got a real bee in her bonnet about a place called Westgate. She hasn't told me what's what, all I know is that she wants a base established there initially. I can provide transport and some funds to get you there and a contact. Interested?'

They shrugged and agreed, 'Why not?'

Within a few hours Cavu had organised some transport, a female human wizard called Thjodhild who teleported them to just outside of Westgate.

As instructed they first headed to the village of Ferbone that lay about five miles south of the city. Here they asked for and found a lady cleric of Sylvanus known as Weynay the Worrisome.

She was the cleric of a temple on the edge of the village and when they explained who had sent them she said,

'Oh right. Cavu sent you? I've never met with him, but a friend of mine vouches for him. My friend said that he can be trusted up to a point and that he aligns with Sylvanus generally. Very well, I can help you. Go to the Purple Lady and ask for Nebulus the Rascal. He's an old friend of mine and owes me a huge favour. Tell him you are calling it in. He can help you. Don't let him fob you off or give just a little bit of help. He owes me big time and he is stinking rich. Get him to help you
with advice and such in Westgate. He'll be a big help getting to know the place and making contacts, he has a finger in every pie in the city. He's a good enough sort really, but don't trust him, not to begin with anyway and don't flash any obvious wealth or magical items in front of him, he's a terrible crook and you'll only put temptation in his way. Other than that, good luck and let me know how you get on! And come back any time if you need any restorations or such like!'


Although they could both fly if the wanted to, for perhaps no other reason than to enjoy a nice walk through the snowy fields and copses of the Dragon Coast they arrived at Westgate again as it grew dark. They had no great problem with gaining entrance and after asking around for a shop that dealt in magic items, headed to Gondeth's Magery and arranged to spend some of their money.

Once that was all done they went to the Purple Lady Tavern and 'Festhall' to meet their next contact a merchant known as Nebulus the Rascal.

He was signing documents as they entered. Two scantily clad wenchs also reclined on couches at the back  of the room. The rear windows were open and the sound of the street and the docks gently wafted inside on the icy winter breeze. Despite this though the room was warm from the well banked fire in the stone fireplace.
Nebulus was a short fat man with a bald head. He was well dressed, as you would expect from a rich merchant in fine furs and with a gold chain around his neck. He seems pleased to see them.

'Come in, come in! Have you eaten? Are you hungry? I've got in a shipment of spices from Calimsham. I've been cooking with it ever since! Some lamb? Some chicken? Girls, bring up some food and wine for my guest!'
He eyed up then said to Fenrir,
'Can I also offer anything for your, servant? Pet? ...Daughter..?'
He sounded serious, but Fenrir wasn't so sure,
'My name is ... ah, Raziel Lightningrod. My companion is a young lady of independence and intellect  known as Arahel.'
'Does she speak?' asked the merchant.

They talked for a while longer, Fenrir was in no huge hurry to start Cavu's mission just yet and preferred to go back down and arrange his dinner and a room.
He opted for the luxury version with all the 'extras' while Arahel went for a more basic arrangement.

Here now I will introduce someone new, a man called Harvel who had lived in Westgate after arriving from the Dale Lands about a year ago. He was a middle aged man who sported a red beard that was peppered with grey. He was watching Fenrir and Arahel, not just because he was the sort of fellow that watched strangers out of habit, but also because he was employed by Nebulus to do so.
He'll be playing a prominent role in this tale as it moves forward.

DAY 282 (17th Nightal)(December)

Having now established a 'base' in the Purple Lady and after a night of having relations with the tavern prostitutes Fenrir ate his breakfast that morning with a sense of achievement.

Both he and Arahel spent the day relaxing. They certainly could not be blamed for doing so as they were still tired from all the fighting back at the Spike and the travelling the day before.

Meanwhile Harvel did some asking around town and discovered that they had arrived by teleportation.
He past this information on to Nebulus.

DAY 283 (18th Nightal)(December)

Fenrir and Arahel went back to Gondeth's Magery to check up on their magical armour orders then wandered back to the Purple Lady.

Waiting to meet them was Cavu. He had a girl on his knee and was singing her a love song.

When they could talk in private he said,
'Oh, the whole Maaril thing was kind of Billi's fault. Well, I don't blame him. He was given a Stone of Sending by an agent of Maaril, probably that Jolly Underhill character and then he gave it to Dwerry. She used it to feed lies to Maaril, so who knows what he thought when he teleported in and grabbed the staff and key. If he uses magic to speak to her or bring her back I dare say he'll learn the truth. He is no friend of the Vanguard, but then, he's no friend of ours either. Next time, put your back into it Fenrir old chap, if you'd managed to bring her onto our side then we would have the staff, the key and a valuable asset in the form of Wathuss herself. You seem to think the only way to seduce a woman is to stick your spear in her, one day remind me to teach you how to treat a lady properly. Well, I suppose we dealt with Fadheela and are a step closer at least.'

He then gave them one thousand gold and told them to buy or rent a property then find a faction in Waterdeep they liked the look of and join it.

'This is the priority. She still hasn't told me what is going on, but it seems very important. One other thing, not quite so important but anyway...  Maybe you've figured this out and maybe you haven't but Gerty gets really excited about Snake Gates. All the time I've worked for her she's been on the look out for them and I suppose that's why she's up against the Vanguard so much.
Anyway, she think's there is one either in Westgate or near to it and she'd like you to find it. I've got no more information than that, but you are resourceful chaps. Make very very delicate enquiries, you don't want to draw the Vanguard down on you. After all, they will probably not be happy that you thwarted them in Pedestal. See if you can't find where it is and then report back.'

Fenrir tried not to giggle when Cavu described them as resourceful. Didn't Cavu realise they were idiots?

Harvel had managed to eavesdrop on this conversation and report it back to Nebulus. It didn't really matter though as it was not long before Fenrir and Arahel were back talking to the merchant, seeking his counsel.
They discussed the city and the factions that were in it to some extent then Nebulus told them to go downstairs and ask for his man Harvel who would be able to guide them around the city as and when required.

Harvel took them to his office, which was not too far from the tavern. It was a small terraced dwelling, a room downstairs he used as his office with a living area above it.
Harvel made his living as a sort of private investigator, a similar sort of role to Merlock Tomes I suppose.
He'd take any work he could get though and arranged a small fee to be paid to him much to Fenrir's displeasure.

After discussing the city factions (more on that later) they decided to look at  property in the city. Harvel introduced them to his own landlady, a woman known as Hildigunn. They settled on a cottage just outside the western walls and arranged it to be cleaned and staffed by a housekeeper.

They then went back to the tavern for the rest of the evening.

(G310 25/03/2017 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, MJ) RL5

(G310 25/03/2017 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, MJ) RL5

DAY 342 (9th Alturaik)(February)  cont ...

It was about two in the afternoon when we headed up to the church. After talking it over with  Ashlyn it appeared she really wanted to see how her pals were doing before tackling anything else.

At that time I was sort of thinking they were probably fine. If they were as tough as Ashlyn I  doubted they could have come to much harm.

On the way there we were attack by three of the tough sort of zombies you get in these parts and then a further set of nasties that we later identified as ghasts. They were unpleasant but a good dose of Searing Light, Magic Missiles, Fireballs and bears did away with them.

Towards the end of the fight, for reasons that I cannot guess at Tie Pie launched a Fireball into the melee just as my bears were finishing off the last of the undead. Result, three dead bears.
Those poor things. I summoned a monkey and made it follow Tie Pie around for a full minute with a  little sad monkey face.

After that small tussle, although just a couple of spells had been used the pestilential sorcerer next insisted that we go back to the inn and rest so he could recover his magical energy.
I suppose we had killed off quite a few undead today anyway and since Ashlyn had nothing to say on the matter we went back to the inn.

I spent the evening deep in thought. After all the bother we'd had in the Plane of Shadows here we were in another dark corner of the world.

DAY 343 (10th Alturaik)(February)

I can hardly bring myself to write down what happened today, but I owe it to he who has fallen to collect my thoughts and commit them to paper while they are fresh in my memory.

In the morning, after breakfast, we headed back up the road to the church. As we approached it we could hear chanting, some sort of nonsense prayer.

We entered through the front door and I saw a figure at the altar across the main chamber. Now, I must have been thinking of nothing other than trying to offer friendship to this fellow as I failed to notice the large hole in the floor. What I mean is, I did see it, but I mistook the dark patch on the floor, thinking it a carpet or something. I had cast a Light spell on my scimitar but the shadows and gloom worked against me.
Anyway, as I fell I made a quick decision and turned an inelegant scramble into a graceful dive. If I was falling to my doom I would at least do it in style. Also perhaps I would be able to fly back up as an eagle and declare it had all been part of my plan.

In hindsight it is perhaps just as well I fell as I could have been the one that died when the man at the alter turned and used a Zone of Death scroll on the others as they entered.

Some of them felt the effect of the spell but managed to fight it off. Poor Mr Badgerington  wasn't so lucky and dropped stone dead on the spot. I felt the magical link severe between us as he died.
Badger had been my animal companion since I had first become a druid and had been with me all the way to Sasserine and back, Waterdeep and all those troubles and then at my side all through the expedition into the Plane of Shadows. Now he was dead and I was hit with a tremendous sense of anguish and loss.

I was also immensely angry. I turned into and eagle and flew out of the hole and cast a Polymorph spell on the priest that had killed Badger, but it failed to get him. He then jumped down the hole and I followed after.

Undead gathered above and the others dealt with them while I pursued my prey. The room below was dark and full of undead but I cared not. I cast Inferno on him, but he dispelled it. I then cast Hypothermia but it missed.

Yli fired arrows down at the undead from above as the others finished off the enemies they were facing in the main chamber.

I cast Arc of Lighting at my foe and it hit him, just as Sylvia and Ashlyn jumped down to join the fight below. I summoned bears and sent them into the combat. One was killed by two swift strikes from a large skeleton. Yli saw his target and shot at it, arrow after arrow finding its target.

I swooped and soared around the melee, summoning bears. Sylvia turned some of the undead, skeletons and other stranger things while Ashlyn methodically hammered away at them with her mace. It was turning into a brutal battle, but I didn't want it to end until I had slaked my thirst for revenge!