(G477 05/01/2022 via Roll20 - - AP, JF(GM), KT) WA92

 (G477 05/01/2022 via Roll20 -  - AP, JF(GM), KT) WA92

[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia.]


DAY 506(21th Flamerule)(july)

Having just seen Lord Bloodwurst angrily flap off into the gloom, Fenrir returned to where Reinward was hiding and together they decided what to do next.

They knew that they had to take a look around at least. They were here to fulfill a prophecy, how exactly they were not sure, their only clue being this line:

''
The ten-eyed crown found in a cavern lair,
Follow the flame to a light-shunned lake,
''

Doubting they would find any 'light-shunned lake' straight away they took to the air anyway, Fenrir carrying Reinward on his back. Fenrir could be invisible if he wished, but Reinward could not, although he was undetectable to eyes that saw in the dark.

They flew slowly over the underground city. It was dark, but not totally. Here and there small fires were burning or lanterns were lit, no more than specks of light in the pitch-black dark.

Large dark things seemed to flap above some parts of the city. Although it was difficult to tell exactly, some appeared to be bigger than others.

Fenrir paused for a moment, landing on the steep side of a stone pillar. One of the dark shapes flew towards them. It looked like and undead wyvern.
 
Another, much bigger shape, flew north, and Reinward was shaken by its looming size. Not liking the look of any of this, Fenrir landed on the closest roof.
From the darkness above, a line of acid burned its way through the tiles next to them.
Fenrir shot back blindly and another line of acid blasted more tiles from the roof. They jumped through the hole the monster above had made into the house below. There were zombies here, but they were no great threat.

They cleared the ground floor and sheltered in one of the ruined rooms. Zombies started to gather at the front door of the house though, so they flew to another house and hid there. The zombies soon gathered again, they were just not quick enough to throw them off the scent.

Reinward caught a glimpse of a small figure flitting from building to building ahead of them, seemingly doing a better job of them avoiding the horde. They could not take to the air, the monster was still up there, sending up dust clouds with its wings.

Fenrir remember he had a statue that could be turned into a quazit, so he dug it out his pack and summoned it.
'Hello boss!' it squeaked with a snappy salute.
'Cause a distraction down the street, please,' said Fenrir.
The quazit gulped, but did as it was told, flapping off and yelling at the zombies to follow it.
Meanwhile Fenrir and Reinward flew to the next house, mostly invisible and surrounded by a dark aura.

As they entered the building, the small figure they had seen before went up the stairs to the first floor. Dead zombies littered the hallway.

Fenrir dragged some ancient stone furniture in front of the door to block the  horde behind them, and then began to barricade the windows.

Meanwhile, Reinward headed upstairs and saw the short figure, hooded and pointing a crossbow at him from a doorway.
He had magic on him that made him harder to see in the dark (to those that can see in the dark) and as the figure stepped back into the room he followed and crept into a corner.
'Put the crossbow down, friend,' he said.
The figure pointed the weapon in his direction and demanded,
'Who the bloody hell are you?'
'Ben is my name!' he improvised. 'You currently can't see me, by design, we are hiding from the zombies, same as you.'
'Fenrir!' he then called downstairs, having remember to give himself a false name, but forgetting to do the same for his companion.
'If your pal comes up stairs I'll put a bolt in you,' said the figure.
'Oh all right!' groaned Reinward. 'I'm the silent partner though. Fenrir does the talking.'
'Don't talk then, just show yourself to me!'
Reinward could not bring himself to do so though.
The figure began to ease themselves out of the window.
Fenrir was making his way upstairs, invisible, and Reinward moved forward to try and attack the figure, but then thought twice;
'If I reveal myself you'd better not shoot me!'
'OK,' came the reply.
'One second,' he bluffed. 'I can't seem to find the off switch on this magic item...'
The figure saw through this ruse though, and realising Reinward was just trying to stall them, they jumped out of the window and fled to another house nearby.

They followed the figure from house to house until.
'I can pay you gold!' hissed Fenrir, as they struggled to keep up.
'Stop running away because it will just end badly for you!' said Reinward rather unnecessarily.
Eventually though the figure stopped at the top of another set of stairs and said;
'If you want to talk, then show yourselves!'
Fenrir became visible.
The figure looked him up and down, then after some consideration said;
'Is that... Fenrir Thunderstaff?'
Fenrir didn't know quite what to say.
'I think I recognise you from the chap books. I'm from Waterdeep too.'
'You heard the ballad?' asked Fenrir, suddenly rather pleased with himself.
'Oh sure,' came the reply. 'What are you doing down here?'
'I'm hear to .. ah .. advocate for the advantage of everybody...'
'Spare me!' they interrupted.
'Well, anyway, can we co-operate?'

The figure pulled back their hood to reveal a masked face. She was a female kobold called Ishi Snaggletooth.
'Well, I'll enquire no further as to what you are up to,' she said. 'But I'm trying to contact a local tribe of kobolds. Follow me if you want. I've learned some of the secret ways of this place, that avoid the undead.'

She led them to a small gave where some sort of magical device was cleaning the air for a few dozen feet around it. It was as tall of a man, made of copper and cylindrical  in shape.
Every so often some fresh air would puff out of vents in its upper portions, which was breathable. They all thankfully took their masks off for a while.

After a short while a some kobolds approached them. They were scouts from the Hider Tribe, a small tribe of kobolds that had made their home, against all odds, in the Lair of Queen Arachnia.

Fenrir offered them food from his magical provision box, and this pleased them greatly. They were taken to another cave where some more senior members of the tribe met them and over more shared food, a parley was had.

They talked to Ishi, but Fenrir could understand them too, and translated for Reinward.

They learned the following interesting facts;

- The Hider Tribe numbered 5000. They mainly kept to the magical air vents and tried to stay out of they way of the undead as much as possible.
- There were also 200 living dark elves hiding in the city, known as 'The Descendents of Addar'. They occasionally traded with the kobolds. They lived in their own part of the city near  another area of functioning vents.
- There were 40 or so functioning vents around the city, that the kobolds knew of.

Later, Fenrir explained his mission to Ishi, giving her the broad strokes of what was going on in Westgate, with the vampires, the prophecy et al.

When this was passed on to the other kobolds they said that for that sort of thing the best people to talk to would be the 'The Descendents of Addar'. The Hider could set them up with a meeting in return for more of that delicious food.

(G476 29/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR48

 

(G476 29/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR48

[Myself and Dak have been hired onto the crew of the 'The Reaper'. I was here to get revenge for the slaying of all my Lizardmen friends in the Vast Swamp.]

DAY 555  (10th  Eleint) (September)

We spend the day onboard the Reaper, although the ship was still in port. Acting as guards while the other members of the crew went about their business.

They are:
Captain Bertram Cuttleberry - who has a big red beard and seems pretty tough.
Derek Chiles - the bosun
Omya Hemp - a human sailor
Jack Proudfoot - a hafling sailor
Thokk - a Half-orc sailor
George - the quartermaster

I talked to the crew whenever I got a chance. From Thokk I learned that they were not really a pirate ship as such, although they would snap up any easy meat on the seas if given half a chance, but rather mercenaries for hire, specialising in speed and stealth.

Thokk said he had only been on board for six months. I learned later on though that all the others had been part of the raid on the lost refuge.

We settled our bill at the Pickle Inn tonight as we are sailing tomorrow!


DAY 556  (11th  Eleint) (September) (1st day at sea)

I love the sea and I love sailing ships. If it wasn't for the fact that I planned to kill all the crew at some point, sailing on the Reaper today would have been a lovely experience.

I managed to talk to Jack Proudfoot, who was chatty, but sharp-edged. I learned that we were headed north-east, not that it really mattered. Anything more detail than that, he told me was 'privileged info'.

At the mid-day meal I listened to them talk, and encouraged them to tell tales of their 'adventures.' They were fairly standard stories, and I felt they were keeping a lot of the details from me and Dak, perhaps waiting until they felt they trusted us more.

Anyway, I'd better get my head down for now. They just anchor in the evening, their is not enough crew to sail at night, so we only get a few hours sleep in the darkest part of the night.


DAY 557  (12th  Eleint) (September) (2nd day at sea)

Well, as they say - 'That escalated quickly!'

I had wanted to do all of this more slowly, to get more of an idea of the lay of the land (as it were) before striking.

At the mid-day meal I told (a true) story about my time in Sasserine when we had defended a farm against a tribe of lizardmen, hoping that this would stir their own memories of recent encounters of their own.

This worked, and Jack told me;

''We had to clear out this settlement of lizardmen once. It paid a pretty penny as I recall! They were really vicious, we had to kill them all. They killed one our guys too. That's when Thokk joined - as a replacement.''

This was enough for me. I perhaps hadn't thought I'd be so lucky to get a full confession so early on. Still, my luck was going to change soon enough.

I had a plan to 'take them out' one by one, and at nightfall, shortly after Jack went to the forward bunks I turned into a mouse and followed him down.
As he took his socks off I cast Baleful Polymorph. It failed, which sometimes happens, unlucky, but not unrecoverable.

He was startled and threw his knife at me, which hit and hurt. I cast again, and it failed again! Drat the randomness of magic and the strong wills of halflings.

I only had two of those spells, so I scampered off, jumped out of a porthole and turned  into a dolphin. Then I jumped out of the water on the other side of the ship and turned into a parrot, flew through another porthole and went back up onto deck.

It was all kicking off of course, with Jack telling them all about what had just happened to him. The Captain instantly suspected me and cried out to the crew,
'Secure that man! Take him below until we figure out what's going on!'

This was not going to plan at all.

(G475 08/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM8

 (G475 08/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM8



[The adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard, Fangorino the Barbarian are on a mission to follow Lady Partick.]

DAY 13

And so, after the lads had a good time under the OJB, and Sparkledingle had a good time at the Temple of Oghma, today was the day to board the Dementor.

Corum gathered them together and handed them their tickets, then sent them on their way, saying,
'Well, good luck fellows, but once you are on that ship, you are no longer my problem!'

They had two spare hours and driven either by the evil aura they picked up from Lady Partick or by some wild premonitions of things to come, they went to a grocers and purchased a good amount of garlic. Then in the market though bought mirrors.

Griffolk also bought 10 vials of cinnamon, for some reason.

After that they made their way to the docks and got their first sight of the Dementor. It was a large galleon, fitted out for passenger travel. From what I gather it mainly sailed up and down the Sword Coast, but had, on occasion gone into other seas.
It also traded in each port that it entered, and must have made a fair amount of coin. The passengers, I assume, preferred not to use Wizards and others who could cast the Teleport spells to get about.
I know myself that Teleport is not always reliable, and it was expensive if you could not do it yourself.

The captain was a handsome middle-aged half-halfling called Captain Pickles.
He welcomed them onboard and showed them to their well appointed cabins.

By the time the evening meal was served, the Dementor had set sail and was headed south towards Candlekeep. Bosun Bonefinger, a female human, seemed somewhat grumpy with the Captain and ever the diplomat Fang called it out.
The room went silent, the Bosun gave him an evil look and went back to her meal. Pickles tried to smooth it over.

Meanwhile, Griff was sat next to a man called Gingols, and he soon made friends with him. Sparkledingle talked to Supercargo Flinty 'Dog-gobble' Koople, the ships gnomish supercargo.

Fang made friends with no one.

Gingols was keen to inform Sparkledingle that he was perfectly sane, in fact he was known as Gingols the Sane. Sparkledingle could not help himself and began to tease the fellow.
'If you are sane, my good sir,' he piped up. 'Then what is the craziest thing you have ever done?'
'I'd rather not say,' replied Gingols mysteriously.
'Oh!', giggled the gnome. 'If you see the colour red, then you are wrong in the head!'
He then cast Prestidigitation and changed the man's robe red.
'You'll have to do better than that my little friend!' cried Gingols, leaping from his chair.
Gingols knew what had happened, but he was still upset.
'Why look!' taunted Sparkledingle. 'Now your face is red too!'
Gingols stepped back and cast a spell, but whatever it was, the gnome resisted it.
Sparkledingle cast Charm Person, but it didn't land either.
'That's it!' yelped Gingols and cast again.
This time the spell hit - it was Hideous Laughter - and the gnome began to writhe on the floor in shrieks of hilarity.

Finally Captain Pickles stepped in. 'Now now gentlemen,' he said. 'We don't approve of magical duels as after dinner entertainment.'
'Did your bosun approve?' swiped back Sparkledingle between fits of laughter.
It was all over though, Gingols dispelled his magic and took his dessert to his cabin.

Later Sparkledingle played cards with a roguish fellow in his cabin called Yoram Pelloto.
The gnome reckoned that Yoram was counting cards and tried to distract him by talking about numbers and royalty, but in the end he was down ten gold anyway.

As far as I can tell, none of them did anything useful at all in aid of their mission on the first day of their journey!

DAY 13 (Day 2 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

Breakfast, as with all meals, was served in the dining room.
Griff talked to the Bosun about the events of last night.
'Drama at the dinner table we could do without,' she said. 'Least of our worries right now though.'
She would not be drawn on what her big worry was, and Griff pushed her no further.

Sparkledingle, far from having learned his lesson, was still as giddy as a child with a new toy, and was out on deck causing chaos.

He used Silent Image to put a big skull and crossbones on the mainsail.
'Pirates! Look! Pirates!' he squeaked. 'Oh? Are we the pirates?'

The Captain came down to the main deck and dragged the naughty wizard down to the galley.
'It was a joke!' pleaded Sparkledingle. 'Everyone is so serious!'

Cookie Cook, in the galley, was a gnome too, but having lived with humans for longer was more sensible.
'Now just you sit down there and help me cut these carrots,' she told him sternly and he did as he was told.

Once he had finished his breakfast, Griff went around and talked to any of the crew that were willing to chat, gathering information and making contacts, a wiser course of action than being banished to the kitchen.

At dinner, Fang talked to First mate Mull-Master, who might have been  mistaken for a half-orc but who was of mixed gnomish-human-ogre parentage. He smelled of  cheese. Baroness Partick was at the table and Fang tried to bring her into the conversation.
'Where are you travelling to?' he asked.
'None of your business,' was the reply.

Later in the evening they all played cards again with Yoram. It was a good-natured game, but they all lost a few gold to him. Fang noticed that the cards were marked.

Griff, wanting to change the game, said;
'Has anyone heard of the cinnamon challenge?'

The challenge, in case you don't know is to put a spoon of cinnamon powder in your mouth and if possible, swallow it.

Fang and Griff managed to do so, with a struggle, while Sparkledingle and Yoramcoughed and sputtered it all over the place. Luckily they were on deck and not in one of the cabins.

Later still, when Fang was asleep in his cabin, he was awoken by knocking at his porthole window. He went to look, but saw nothing but the darkness of night and the white tips of the waves.

He was not long asleep when the whole ship was woken by a very loud bang from the hold. Everyone went to their cabin doors, but after nothing else happened the Captain managed to shepherd everyone back to their rooms.

Not Sparkledingle, as you might imagine, who snuck all the way down to the hold and to the back where a large aft section was behind a locked door.

Feeling no fear (yet!) he knocked on the door. He thought he heard a voice from the other side of it. Lacking paper and pen he ripped off a shipping label from a nearby crate and using grease from between the timbers he wrote;

'I'm deaf. Who are you? How can I help you?'

I'm still not sure why Sparkledingle was pretending to be deaf, something to do with the bang perhaps, as after he had passed the note under the door he put his fingers in his ears.

Not long after this, a piece of paper was passed back and written in blood was;

'Open the door my friend'

Other notes followed:

'Who are you? Remember I'm deaf.'

'I am a poor prisoner. Please free me.'

'I'll be back.'

Sparkledingle tried to get back to the stairs he had come down, but the door was locked! He was trapped in the hold. A sudden, potent, feeling of dread and fear washed over him, emanating from the locked door in the stern.

In a panic he passed another note;

'Please set fire to this and pass back.'

I don't know what Sparkledingle was trying to do, but the reply - written urgently in fresh blood - was passed back,

'RELEASE US!'

Sparkledingle then went to the aft door and knocked on it as loudly as he could. He then cast Invisibility and hid behind some crates.

Once more the whole ship was roused, and as sailors bearing lanterns searched the hold, Sparkledingle tried to make his way back up to his cabin.

This he did, but he had to scare a guard out of the way first.

Trembling, he entered his cabin, locked the door and without undressing crawled under the blankets and shut his eyes as tightly as he could. And here he remained for the rest of the night.

(G474 18/12/2021 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM7

(G474 18/12/2021 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM7

[The adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard, Fangorino the Barbarian are about to be given an entirely new job!]

DAY 5 continued ...

Feeling that they had done enough, and that the Moathouse was now totally cleared of baddies, except for whatever lay beyond the last door, the heroes returned to Hommlet and the Inn of the Welcoming Wench.

They noticed that Mr Pin was with another man, and he gestured for them to come and join him.
He introduced himself as Cavu, who you may remember is an agent for Gertrude the White and her battle against the yuan-ti and the Vanguard of Serterous.

He introduced himself and went on to say;

''
Been hearing great things about you! How do you fancy another job. One that will make you rich  beyond your wildest dreams and also do some good?
''

The heroes glanced amongst themselves then nodded for Cavu to go on;

''
Well, I've heard that you've already had a little run in with Baroness Partik. Good show. I need you to get to Waterdeep as quickly as possible, track her down, and follow her. I suspect she is getting on a ship bound for Westgate. If that is the case, then I'd like you fellows to also be on that ship.
''

After some further discussion he also mentioned;

''
If you're interested at all, on a regular ship, the journey will be about 30-40 days, weather permitting. Quicker if they have a druid onboard. You go through the canal that joins the Lake of Steam to the Nagawater.
''

He gave them 100 gold each for expenses and paid for their dinner. Later in the evening Cavu got out his lyre and started singing. He had a very fine voice. Even so, Sparkledingle soon retired to his room to study while the other two looked for ladies to spend their money on.

They didn't have much luck, but they did meet an elven maid called Danui who talked to them for a while.


DAY 6

In the morning they sold all the latest loot from the Moathouse to Cavu, who (unlike the shop) had enough gold to cover it.

On their way west they stopped in to see Oriuphis to give her her share, a whopping 2241 gold and three silver pieces! She was very happy with that, and thanked them profusely before the went on their way.

Danui travelled with them for safety, and they arrived at Goldenfields later that day without incident.
The elven maid said farewell to them as they entered the town, as she was there to visit her grandmother.

The heroes went to the Boar's Skull Inn on the recommendation of one of the gate guards and rented rooms there. As usual Sparkledingle went to his room while the other two spent their money on drink and the pursuit of wenches, and as usual they did not have much luck.


DAY 7

The heroes spent a day looking around Goldenfields and shopping. Griffolk invested in a magical chain shirt and shield. Sparkledingle found somewhere to buy a Wand of Mage Armour.

On their way back to their inn they saw Danui sat on the steps of a temple, looking sad.
They went to talk to her and it boiled down to this;
'It's 200 gold to heal my grandmother! The clerics of Chauntea wont do it for anything less as we are immigrants!'

They went to see the grandmother, who was still young enough looking elf, but she was certainly ill with something. They then went to the Temple and a cleric called Pamella Minister told them;
'She needs to pay the 200 gold like everyone else, the budget is blown already for freebies.'

In the end, each of them paid 66 gold each. Danui and her grandmother were delighted and very  grateful and treated them to a fine elven meal that evening.

Sparkledingle stayed up all night talking to the grandmother, and as she was well over a hundred years old he learned a great deal of local Swordcoast history from her.

While that was going on, Griff was in the tavern, and he made friends with a female half-orc called Narch the Mighty. She was a fighter, rough and unwashed, but young Griffolk decided that he could not afford to be so choosy and spent the night with her.

Fangorino met a young lady called Iris, who seemed to be quite adept at making coins disappear. It went nowhere beyond conversation though.

DAY 8

The brave heroes headed out to the city gates to catch the express to Waterdeep, a recently re-introduced service called the 'Goldenfields Flier'. Danui came to meet them and gave them an acorn medallion that appeared to have magical powers, but (she explained) they had to be unlocked by a druid in Waterdeep somehow.

She waved them goodbye as the coach took off to the west. Inside there were six seats and  one of the men they were sharing the coach with, but who was sat on the outside, and who looked  like a down-at-heel aristocrat, said to them,
'My wife is sat outside and she is rather ill, is there anyone here that would give up their seat for her?'
'I'll give up my seat for 200 gold!' said Fangorino, not understanding at all how coaches worked or how much they cost. Much laughter followed from all present.

In the end, Sparkledingle, ever the gallant, went to sit beside the driver and the  gentleman's young wife went to sit inside. She was sick with something though and the other two were treated to her coughing in their faces for the rest of the journey.

Stan the Driver found Sparkledingle a very interesting travelling companion and they talked at length.

In the evening they arrived at Amphail. Rooms at the local inn had already been arranged for all onboard.

DAY 9

In the morning the Flier set off for Govallen. It was half-burnt down and being rebuilt, having been sacked by orcs during the invasion.

From there they carried on to Waterdeep.

Griffolk talked to the aristocrat and his wife. He learned that they were Jelberan Thunderstaff and his wife Lady Hallormin Vallious-Thunderstaff. To Griffolk it sounded like they were headed into the city to try and sponge off their rich cousins that lived there.

It was a nice summer evening by the time the rolled through the southern gates of Waterdeep. Some guards asked them to come into the guard tower, where they were given cups of tea and pies. Later, when it was dark, they were taken somewhere else by covered wagon.

The wagon then rattled into an enclosed courtyard and they were ushered into a fine, but sparsely furnished house. A young man that looked like a high rank watchman was there to meet them.

'So you are the three that have been sent by Cavu?' he asked.
'Who wants to know?' countered Sparkledingle.
The man did not answer, but went on;
'You are to get on a ship called The Dementor. It sails in four days. All you need to do is stay in this house, eat the food, drink the wine, and stay out of trouble.'
'Oh!' cried Sparkledingle. 'But I want to have a look around!'
'Don't' said the man gruffly. 'I'm leaving now. The housekeeper will look after you.'

Sparkledingle contented himself with looking around the house. It was large, but most of the rooms were empty. The kitchen was well stocked though and the living room had some new looking furniture in it. The beds upstairs were freshly made.

The lads were bored stiff after a few hours though and decided to write a letter to give to the housekeeper to take to their host.

''
We have an amulet that we need to take to a druid. Can you do this for us? Cavu says it must be done! We trust your judgement and knowledge of the local area.
''

They gave the letter to the little old lady that was the housekeeper. She tucked it into her sleeve and wandered off muttering.

It was late though, and the two humans were used to drinking themselves to sleep, so they found their way down to the cellar and found that it was very well stocked with wine and cheese. Soon they were as drunk as lords.

Fangorino decided that he wanted to hit the town, but Griff was set against it.
He wrote a note to give to the housekeeper to bring some women to the house, but he only pretended to give it to her - reasoning sensibly - that a women in her eighties might not be the best person to go out and procure them some prostitutes at three in the morning.

Fangorino was frustrated though, and would broach no further delay. He left by the front door, singing loudly as he went. Griffolk went to bed.

There were watchmen outside though, evidently keeping an eye on the house, and they grabbed the barbarian and threw him into a cell in the local guardhouse.


DAY 10 (1 for boat)

Fangorino was dumped back at the house in the morning. The wine cellar was now under lock and key.

Bored once more, Griffolk penned another letter to their host. It asked again about getting their amulet to a druid.
Fangorino had Griffolk add a post-script;
'Send some wenches.'

At lunchtime the housekeeper cooked them some food. In the evening she allowed them three bottles of their choice and they went for wine, brandy and whisky.

As the others got sozzled once again, Sparkledingle retired to his room to study.


DAY 11 (2 for boat)

Bored, angry and frustrated Griff penned yet another letter in the morning. It
read;
'If we do not hear from you by this afternoon we are all leaving this house!'

The old lady left to do some shopping and returned to cook their lunch. She  brought with her no reply.

(I am sure my astute readers have realised that their host was my brother Corum.
He tells me that the housekeeper was not giving him any of these letters, most likely she was just feeding them into the stove fire. He would have done nothing with them anyway.)

Griff decided to disguise himself and leave the house. Fangorino decided to join him and letting his hair down he pulled on a large blue dress he had found in one of the wardrobes upstairs. I am told he looked surprisingly lady-like given his size. Sparkledingle was put into a pram - his disguise was to be that of their baby son.

As they left through the front door, Sparkledingle cast an Illusion spell at the  end of the street - a 20ft tall demon monster that drew the watchmen away.

With people screaming and running around them, they made their escape from the house. Shadows passed over them as they went. Looking up they saw a squadron of griffon cavalry flying towards the commotion. As they left the area though, the monster disappeared and after a while the city returned to normal.

They knew they needed to get to a place called the Shrines of Nature, but were not entirely sure how to get there. Sparkledingle leaned out of the pram to ask for directions, much to the surprise of passers-by.

In the end, they got there though and talked to an elven druid called Neldrelle who was rather alarmed to be addressed by a baby in a pram.
Once the situation was explained to him though, he took the amulet and placed it on a secluded altar. This, somehow, recharged the amulet.
'It's a powerful Acorn Amulet,' he explained. 'It casts Lesser Restoration. The good thing about it, is that when it runs out, you only need to bring it back here again.'

As they were thinking of leaving, they saw a group of ten or so watchmen heading  towards the shrine. Sparkledingle hid under the covers and another Illusion - of a sleeping baby.

Griff walked out, then started running. He aimed to get back to the house, but had neglected to remember the name of the street it was on and got lost. In the end he  handed himself over to the watch.

Fangorino, lifting up his skirts, ran off in the other direction. A female figure as large as him was easy to spot in a crowd though, and he too was soon apprehended.

As for Sparkledingle. he felt the pram moving, along some streets and eventually to a large building that smelt faintly of dung. The covers were pulled back and he sat up. He was in some kind of office overlooking a wagon-yard.
'A pram! Genius!' laughed the watchman (Corum my brother). 'I should be mad at you, but this will be a merry jest to retell one day.'

Corum had his friend Nestoone take Sparkledingle to the Temple of Ogmha were he hoped that the library would keep him occupied.
As for Griff and Fangorino, he introduced him to the genies Enlessa and Meshnosha who resided in the dungeon below the OJB.
The only problem now would be getting them out of there when it was time for them to go!

(G473 04/12/2021 via Roll20 - - AP(GM), JF, KT) WA92

 (G473 04/12/2021 via Roll20 -  - AP(GM), JF, KT) WA92

[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir, Reinward, Veddic, Raz and their guides - Dinkledonk  and Soledad.]

DAY 505(20th Flamerule)(july) continued ...

After having dealt with the gravecrawler, the adventure party moved onwards. After a while they reached an area of the dungeon familiar to Ugelbe and after another hour or so of  travel they arrived at his home, a network of four large caves that were full of dirt, rubbish and the smell of death.

It was late now, and they set up their bedrolls in the largest chamber of the caves while Ugelbe went into his own lair. They discussed cleaning out the caves, but in the end they decided it would be pointless as surely the minotaur did not care and they would not be staying long anyway.


DAY 506(21th Flamerule)(july)

After some discomfort, Fenrir decided to set up his folding boat and they all arranged themselves in that. This kept them about a foot off the ground and away from the worst of the miasma.
They ate, then set up watches.

On the third and last watch, Reinward was awake and heard sounds of a struggle from Ugelbe's lair. He snuck up to take a look and saw Dinkledonk lying dead, his arms having been torn off. Ugelbe the minotaur was in a rage and went to attack the others but Fenrir stopped him in his tracks with an evocation of Sleep of Painful Slumber.

On examining the scene, they deduced that Dinkledonk had tried to steal something, a magical charm that he must have thought valuable (I have since learned that it gives the bearer an extra 'rage' per day).

They threw the minotaur into the latrine cave and went back to sleep.

In the morning, they left Ugelbe to sleep, knowing that he would probably be awake in a day or to. Dinkledonk's remains were put into Veddic's bag.

Soledad led them onwards, following the direction that Ugelbe had been taking them in, hoping that she would know the Lair of Queen Arachnia when she found it.

They were following a long tunnel, a little used Underdark route, and passed a side tunnel where they saw lights and the sounds of two people haggling over something.

Fenrir went to take a look and saw a dwarf (or duergar, he wasn't an expert) talking to what looked like a black skinned half-orc (it may have been a mixed race orc/drow fellow). The chamber was full of trade goods, as well as a stone desk guarded by two big statues that lurked behind it.

Sensing this was a fairly save area, Fenrir revealed himself and called the others in. The orc-drow left and the dwarf gave them his full attention.
His name was Bargold and he had a surprisingly large amount of magical items for sale. Some of them were only half charged or faulty in some way, but he offered
these at reduced prices.
Both Fenrir and Reinward purchased a number of items.
'Ye'll need these,' said Bargold offering them two copper 'plague doctor' style masks. 'If ye are wanting to travel into the Lair of Arachnia. The air is foul and will kill anything that breaths after a while. These masks use magic to purify the air. I only have two though.'

It was decided that Fenrir and Reinward would continue onwards to the Lair, which was now not far away, while the others remained at the shop.

They followed the directions Bargold had given them and after two hours of travel along the same Underdark road they turned down a side tunnel and found the hidden entrance to the Lair.

They walked onwards, and as the air began to choke them, they donned the masks and continued. Next they reached a high terrace that looked down on the Lair. It was an impressive sight, even in the gloom, they could see it was a city as big as Westgate, or it had been many years ago as much of it now lay in ruins. Houses and halls lined the walls of a great cavern, while others were build up the side of vast stone pillars.

As they took it in, they watched some hooded figures go along a street below them, flanked by skeleton guards that pushed through the crowds of zombies that seemed to throng every lane and alley.

The terrace they stood on had several buildings on it. Fenrir's attention was drawn to three figures standing in the shadow of one of them. Two of them skulked out of sight while another approached. They recognised him as the vampire Lord Bloodwurst.

'You have done well to make it this far,' he said, evidently not in the mood for a fight.
'I suppose,' replied Fenrir.
'You may as well turn round now though,' smirked the vampire, who wore no mask.
'This is a city of undead. Home territory you might say.'
It began to dawn on Fenrir that Bloodwurst was here on the same quest that he was.
Did the vampires have someone like Reinward with them? Someone with the red bands on their arms? He had no idea, but his cunning mind decide to try some deception.
'You all up to date with the prophecy then?' he asked.
'Of course,' replied the vampire.
'And you've read the sacred runes on the obelisk?'
He uttered this complete humbug with such conviction that the vampire was completely take off guard.
'Of course!' cried Bloodwurst before turning into a bat and flying off angrily.

When it came to lies and trickery, it appeared that vampires meet their match when the come up against warlocks!

(G472 27/11/2021 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR47

 (G472 27/11/2021 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR47

[Myself and Dak are currently trying to get hired onto the crew of the 'The Reaper'.]

DAY 552  (7th  Eleint) (September)

Myself and Dak spent all morning at the dockside, surreptitiously watching The Reaper. After about five hours or so the ship became agitated as the two pirates we had  kidnapped were late for work.

Eventually the captain seemed to give up and then went over to the harbour master, presumably to either report them missing or hire new crew.

After lunch we did a wee tour of the taverns, doing the 'gentlemen of fortune' act, looking for work and trying to get noticed. In the evening we returned to watch the Reaper.

Not much was happening so we went back to the 'Pickle Inn' and during what was a good evening we both attempted the 'Pickle Jar Challenge', the challenge being to get the a very stubborn lid off a pickle jar.

Neither of us could do it, but a little halfling wizardy fellow after us could!  I took it in good humour, but Dak was made angry. When even a 10 year old girl could open it easily Dak was about to lose it.
I told the innkeeper he'd better stop taunting the heavily armed half-orc barbarian and the fellow admitted the jar was magical - basically the stronger a person was the harder it was to unseal.

Later on one of the pirates from the Reaper appeared, one of the middle rank guys. Myself and Dak acted all sailor-y in the hope of getting noticed.
I tried to teach Dak a complicated knot.

He left after a few drinks, so we just carried on and got wildly drunk, and ended up taking rooms in the place, too hammered to even make it back to our own inn.


DAY 553  (8th  Eleint) (September)

In the morning I had all our stuff moved to the Pickle Inn, as it was on the docks and suited our disguise.

As we ate our breakfast the barman, who we were on good terms with now told us that the Reaper was looking for crew.
'Tell them that Bart sent you!' he told us as I happily pressed a silver piece into his hand.

We promptly did so and talked to George the Quartermaster of the Reaper. We spun our yarns and he seemed willing enough to hire us then and there.
'We sail in three days,' he told us gruffly. 'Come back tomorrow and we'll put  you on the night watch.'

We went back to our usual place in the dockside taverns and this evening tried the 'Hot Foot Challenge'. It was two gold to play.

The challenge was to eat a plate of grilled pigs feet with hot sauce, then  balance the bones on the table. I ate the lot (I am a fan of spicy food) but only managed to balance two.

Dak completed the challenge, but as he had not wagered on it, he did not win anything for doing so!

Nice rooms in the Pickle, I've a good view across the harbour.

DAY 554  (9th  Eleint) (September)

Reported for work in the morning and we were given a little tour of the ship and shown our berths by the Quartermaster.

We then performed our duties as shown by the boatswain - a man called Derek Chiles.

Tonight we take the first part of the night watch.
So far so good!

(G471 20/11/2021 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM6

 (G471 20/11/2021 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM6

[As you may remember the adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard, Fangorino the Barbarian and Oriuphis the Druid had been back at the Moathouse and had a violent encounter with a gang of bugbears.
Also - a minor point, but I may have said Fangorino wields a falchion in the past. This is, I have been informed, incorrect. He carries a Great Axe. ]

DAY 5

Once more our heroes returned to the Moat House, and made their way all the way down to the door where they had fought the armed men.

There was a guard at the top of the corridor, watching out for intruders.
'They're back!' he shouted as he ran off, closing the door behind him.

Fangorino simply applied his axe to the door and chopped it down. At the next door Oriuphis cast Wood Shape and it fell to the floor in pieces.

The corridor beyond the ruined door was full of armed men (wearing black tabards with a golden eyes of fire emblem on the front) and skeletal warriors (in fact the raised dead of the men they had killed earlier) and they immediately attacked.
Griff used his flame breath attack to good affected in the confined area and Oriuphis summoned a crocodile into the enemies ranks.

Sparkledingle was hanging back, but two guards charged past the melee to get at him.
He cast glitterdust to make his escape from their evil clutches. More glitter and more crocodiles followed and one by one the enemies were slain until the last one was picked off with a crossbow bolt fired by Sparkledingle.

Some had fallen back, into the chambers beyond the entrance. There was also a cleric here, and as they approached he demanded;
'Begone! You do know not with what forces you meddle with! You are offending our dark lord Sertritous!'

They gave him short shrift though and pressed on, slaying the last of the guards and then the cleric himself with a combination of Grease and summoned wolves.

Once they had got their breath back, the heroes search the cleric's chamber. They found a letter that the cleric had been writing;

''
My Master,
I write to inform you of the latest developments in the Moat House. As expected we have been attacked by agents of Cavu the Cursed. They have so far not been of any serious threat.
A scout recently returned from the other side, and his report was not good.
I venture to say that the devil brew tavern needs to be kept in line, they are causing trouble again with their mischief and I would suggest sending a company of Golden Eyes to keep things in hand there.
There is other better news, the new dungeon is very nearly complete. Zallater has earned his  bonus...
''