(G294 19/10/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS8

(G294 19/10/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS8

DAY 272 (7th Nightal)(December) cont ...

They were taken to a the Western Watchtower at the weset town gates. It was a not a big building but the guards managed to find each of them a cell.

Mia started by talking to Billi as he seemed the most interesting, having admitted while he was being arrested to being under the influence of a devil.

When Billi mentioned the Vanguard of Sertrous she blanched, this was a name she'd hoped never to hear again in Kingsholm and having heard it now she sent for 'the expert'.

Billi didn't know it of course, but the young cleric of Gond that arrived was Freddorick, one of the adventurers that had initially breached the Forgotten King's Barrow.

When the story began to come to light she stormed down to Fenrir's cell to demand the truth, but he was so silver tongued she came to think that Billi was lying or the gnome was simply mad.

Just then though, the interrogations stopped when a messenger arrived and she was called away.

'Just keep them quiet Sergeant!' she growled. 'And don't let them talk between the cells.'

About half an hour later Cavu, with a big supply of Gaseous Form potions went from cell to cell giving each of them a potion and saying,
'Take this and escape! Meet me inside the Cemetery gates, by the compost heaps! If you get lost follow the smell of the rotten flowers.'

Durz pretended to be a ghost and scared off a guard long enough to gather his gear and simply walk out the watchtower. He noticed that there was a big commotion going on in the poor quarter, something not far away from a riot and figured this was a diversion that Cavu  had somehow set. He got to the cemetery gates without incident.
Fenrir arrived by wing and Arahel by a hundred little legs in centipede form.
They were short one gnome though.

'Where is Billi?' hissed Cavu to the others.
'Er.. he may be meeting that devil slut of his,' grumbled Durz.

DAY 273 (8th Nightal)(December)

Fenrir was the first to arrive at the gate, he flew invisibly to the top of a tower and waited to see what would happen. The others walked up to the gate from outside and Arahel, still a centipede and scuttled in unseen by the guards.

Billi was waiting in the shadows and at the appointed time he was approached by an  old man. The man talked for a while, then revealed himself, or rather herself to be Erin and made to take the gnome away.

Arahel the centipede turned into Arahel the Beholder and once more she did her best to catch or kill the erinyes. Despite the efforts of Arahel, Billi and Fenrir though she flew beyond the range of the anti-magic field and teleported away.

When they returned to the Cemetery, Cavu gathered them close and said,
'Good, we are all ready to go then. Listen, Gertrude, well she speaks in riddles most of the time, but now she is clearly telling me that if it cannot be done quietly then at least do it quickly! It has to be done tonight. If we don't get out of here tonight all hell will break  loose and I mean that literally! The big players in this tend to drop dragons on each other  when they get excited. We could easily end up with Kingsholm in ruins! If the Vanguard work out we are after the Forgotten King's Barrow then they will drop and army of devils on the place.'

So, duly warned they go on with the task of grave robbing.

First, they arrived at the graves of Bokk, Wulfgar and Banjax. You may or may not remember who  these people were, but just as a reminder then.

Two years ago a band of adventurers came to Kingsholm, through a yuan-ti portal from Waterdeep.
They were met by the locals who had trouble in the graveyard and more or less defeated the evil yuan-ti that were breaking into the Barrow of the Forgotten king there.

Some of them died in the adventure though and they were buried here by the others. The Barrow was sealed magically by the ghost of the Forgotten King and the Sword and Ephod that would be required to open it again was buried in the graveyard. Now, no one knew exactly where they were buried, but each of the adventurers took a single clue to its location, for instance
'East Section' and 'Upper Yard'. For reasons that are not completely clear the three dead adventurers were each buried with a clue also.

Now Fenrir, Arahel, Durz and Billi found themselves, hired by Cavu the Cursed to gather the last of the clues and open the Barrow once more.
'Start with Bokk,' said Cavu, glancing around in the dark to check they were not being watched,
'Then Wulfgar. Leave Banjax to last. Make haste.'

They started by Arahel turning into a badger and digging down into Bokk's grave. She scratched through the wood and rooted around in the coffin. She soon sniffed out a piece of velum scroll that the corpse had laid on its chest and brought it up to the others.

'Row Twenty Six', said Cavu as he read it. He then folded it up and put it in his pocket.

Next was the grave of Wulfgar and Fenrir and Durz began digging with shovels that Fenrir had gone back to the tannery to get. Durz was a powerful digger and it did not take long. They opened the coffin and saw that the corpse of the dwarf also had a piece of scroll laid on it.
Durz handed it up to Cavu who read,
'Column Thirty-five.'
This too he folded up and put in his pocket.

Finally, all together, they dug up the grave of Banjax. It did not take long, but when the coffin was opened it was found to be empty. Cavu looked down at the exhumation and rubbed his chin, 'That's ok. We are done now.'

Durz shrugged and hoisted himself out of the grave then helped out Fenrir.

Cavu took six pieces of velum from his pocket and read them in the darkness.
'OK, North Range. East Section. Upper Yard. Row Twenty Six. Column Thirty-five. Five Stones.
And finally ... ah ... Eight Stones East. Let's go.'

The final grave, where the clues lead to, was marked simply with 'Unknown' and once more they dug up the coffin. To Cavu's utter amazement and horror though it was empty.
'The Sword? The Ephod?' What is going on? How can this be?'
'Found this,' said Durz and handed up a ring.
Cavu and Fenrir leaned in to take a look. It was a tiny ring, as if for a child. It had a symbol of a scroll on it that Fenrir felt was familiar.

It was Billi that worked out most of it though. The ring had a symbol of Ogma on it and was just the right size for a gnome. Cavu knew that their was a small temple to Ogma back in
Kingsholm and that the cleric there was a gnome and also known to be light fingered.
In all likelihood he had somehow got hold of the sword and the ephod.

Arahel, Billi and Durz stood and talked for a long while, on how best to get the items from the cleric. They took so long that Fenrir sidled off, flew back to town, located and broke into the temple (which was just a converted town house) before they had made a move.

As Fenrir was skulking around inside Arahel turned up as a bird, landed, then turned into a gnome and banged on the door.

The little fellow in his night gown and cap who answered the door was not interested in taking in random strangers, even if they were gnomes,
'It's the middle of the night! Go away!' he said as he slammed the door.
Arahel knocked again and showed the ring to the cleric. He may have known what it was but Arahel did not pick up on his reaction as he slammed the door once more.

She knocked a third time and turned into a tree. The gnome opened the door again and grew even more puzzled and concerned. Five minutes later he had his coat and boots on and was taking off into the night.

After he had gone, Fenrir skulked downstairs and checked out the main altar room. He detected magic coming from under the altar but before he could get at it he had to shoo off the little old lady gnome who was dotting about, an old servant of the cleric who was at a loss as to what was going on.
'Your honour?' she called, wondering where her master was, 'Where did he go? I'm all a flutter!'

Fenrir chanced his arm and from the altar, and still invisible he boomed,
'This is the voice of Ogma! Good and loyal old gnome, there is godly business transpiring this
night! Go to your room!'
She squeaked in awe and fear and fled to her room.

It was all too easy then for Fenrir (terror of old ladies everywhere) to move aside the  altar, retrieve the sword and ephod and fly back out the window he had broken in through.

Arahel, none the wiser, felt a waft of wind as the warlock swooped past, still invisible.
Spying the broken upstairs window she put everything together and realised her boreal services were no longer required. Only an alley cat noticed the tree eventually turn into a bird and  flap off.

With the Sword Merthuvial and the Ephod of Authority finally in his possession Cavu, with great reverence, took them to the entrance of the barrow and stood before the large iron bound stone doors.

He donned the ephod and held the sword aloft. There was a grinding of stone then a gasp of air as the doors opened and the Barrow was unsealed. The sword gave off a red glow, enough to light up the entrance and the upper barrow chamber.
'Finally,' whispered Cavu. 'You've no idea how much effort it took to get even this far.
And for you my friends, the adventure is just beginning...'

(G293 11/10/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS7

(G293 11/10/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS7

DAY 271 (6th Nightal)(December) cont ...

To continue then, the fellows from Waterdeep were comfortably ensconced in the Coronet and Cabbage. Berum, feeling rather out of place in a human tavern, pulled the hood of her cloak up and kept to the shadows.

Arahel was in the form of a dwarf, but let the imagine down by just ordering milk to drink from the bar.

Fenrir wandered over and talked to the owner, Ian Turband. Part of the plan that Cavu had concocted was that a house or similar would be found to use as a discrete base of operations. Fenrir did not really do discretion, but tried his best and gained from Ian the name of one Adrenin Boor, who apparently owned an old school house in the east side of town that was not being used.

Fenrir sauntered down to Adrenin's address and was met by a footman at the door. Adrenin was not in, but his son Terek was who explained his father was expected home the next day. Fenrir left his name and said he was at the Cabbage and if he wanted to strike a deal on the School House Adrenin would find him there.

He then went to the Stinky Ferret tavern, a tavern in the northern poor quarter of the town. Billi was also there, as they had both heard there was a disused tannery across from the tavern that may be for sale.

The proprietor of the Ferret was a larger than life fellow called Captain Varkin Shemlock who styled himself as a retired nautical cove. Fenrir talked to him, while Billi approached a quiet group of gnomes.

When they left they both had the name of Grannie Umpie as the lady that owned the deeds to the tannery. Fenrir also later discovered his pocket had been picked and he was lighter by twenty gold or so.

Fenrir went down the hospice where old Grannie Umpie resided and was so charming and urbane that she gave him the deeds to the tannery without asking for a penny.
'Oh young man! Take the deeds, I've no need of them!' she declared.

Meanwhile, Durz was back at the Cabbage making sweet orcish love to his new bride. So much so that the neighbours started to complain to the landlord and he sent one of his men up to request a little more decorum.

Durz answered the door naked, 'WOT?'
The person that had knocked was a fellow half orc who did not give his name but said,
'The boss says you've to make less noise. Understood? Less noise!'
Durz grumbled and slammed the door, but was a little less raucous from then on.

Later, around seven o'clock, they all met and went up to find Cavu in his room. It was the best one in the inn with a separate living area and bedroom. For his own reasons he was eating his meals here.

Once they were all in he said,
'Well, since you lost all the money I gave you, and your cleric to boot, things are going to go a bit differently. I'll have to hide out in the inn while you chaps do the things that need doing. Here is the plan then. Firstly, I have written down all the clues for where to find the graves you'll need for the final clues. Once you have the last clues, this will give the location where the sword and ephod has been put.
Dig them up and  bring them to me.
How you do this is up to you, but try not to draw attention to yourselves!
After that, we will start thinking about getting past the Forgotten King and down the rabbit hole that the Vanguard of Sertrous disappeared down two years ago! I'll deal with your cleric situation, in the mean time, here are some things that will help alleviate his loss'

He handed each of them a magical healing pine cone, that could be used to heal wounds once a day.

He carried on, 'What else do I need to tell you? Ah yes, there are agents of the Vanguard in Kingsholm so try and avoid them as much as possible. Keep a low profile. Also, Dwerry has just arrived, but she caught a cold out in the snow and is warming up in her room.'

An hour later Fenrir and Arahel flew out to the Kingsholm graveyard, a massive complex of graves, tombs and crypts, far larger than the town of Kingsholm required and of ancient origins.

Here they soon found the three graves, of Bokk, Wulfgar and Banjax, who were all buried together in a quiet section. All was as they expected. They noticed a single light, some distance away from a guards hut or somesuch but other than that the place was deserted.

Billi and Durz, good companions and wanting to help, but not always thinking things through went down to the tannery to check it out. It was dirty and full of junk. They borrowed some brooms from the Ferret and started to tidy it up.

Eventually they all met up back at the Cabbage. Billi was so taken with the idea of the hospice that looked after the old people in Kingsholm that he asked Iain about it. Since Iain was on the town council Billi gave him 200 gold (the gold he had received from Jolly Underdown you may recall) which Iain informed him would do a lot of good.

That night Fenrir talked to Iain some more about the old school house and revealed to Iain that he had the deeds to the Tannery.

Durz made yet more noise with his new bride but did calm it down a bit when he was told he would be asked to leave unless he was more considerate for the other guests.

DAY 272 (7th Nightal)(December)

That morning they had breakfast, then Billi went to the general store to get more equipment for the cleaning and repair of the tannery.

Both he and Durz then went there to fix it up. They brought Berum with them. Arahel turned into a donkey to help out (although in truth there was not much for a donkey to do) and mischievously Billi went to the store again and returned with a harness to put on her.
You can imagine that the sight of a gnome chasing a talking donkey with a head collar drew a crowd and it did. People from the Stinky Ferret and nearby houses all came to see what was going on at the tannery. So much for maintaining a low profile!

Back at the tavern Fenrir waited for and met Adrenin Boor and began preliminary talks on renting out the old school house. Having two hide-outs is not a bad idea, but it was a pointless exercise as will be proved later.

Dwerry meanwhile was recovering from a chill she had picked up while out on the Thar and after he'd finished with Boor Fenrir spent the rest of the morning tending to her and turning on the charm. This, he had been instructed to do by Cavu. It was all part of a plan cooked up by them both.

The workers at the tannery returned to the Cabbage for lunch, then went back and worked until nightfall.

That evening, Billi and Durz sat drinking and talking in the common room. Billi noticed a young gnome wench giving him the eye and went over to talk to her.

'Hello, what's your name? My name is Hilda,' she said.
They flirted a bit, but Billi was still in love with Erin. When he described her to Hilda she replied,
'Perhaps I can arrange for you to meet her...If you follow me outside...'
Billi willingly followed her, but was held back by Durz who sensed something amiss.

Needless to say, it all kicked off. Hilda turned into Erin, for of course it was her and made to fly off with Billi once again. The others reacted too quickly though. Durz held her up long enough for Arahel and Fenrir to come down from their rooms.
Arahel, not familiar with the word 'overkill' turned into a Beholder at the foot of the stairs and caused everyone in the common room to flee for the doors and jump out the windows.

Arahel used one of her eyeballs to cast Finger of Death and came close to killing Erin in one hit, but the erinyes survived and made a run for it. Before teleporting out she whispered in Billi's ear 'Meet me at the east gate at midnight.'

[A side note: As a druid I am, of course, very impressed at Arahel's ability to turn into such a powerful aberration. They don't call them aberrations for nothing though, these beasts go against nature and on hearing this story my first reaction was 'she is playing with powers beyond her ken'. I think though, as will be learned later, I was misjudging her.]

Arahel, opening her central eye hit the area before her in an anti-magic field. It came too late to stop Erin, but did make a seemingly innocent bar patron turn into Karhad.

He tried to flee into the street but was caught and beaten up by Durz, Billi and Fenrir. While the eye was on him Billi was free of the charm and Karhad could not fly off.

Before they could question Karhad though, the Mia Desarna and the town guard arrived arrested the lot of them.

(G292 04/10/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS6

(G292 04/10/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS6

DAY 267 (2nd Nightal)(December) cont ...

Arahel as you may not be aware was not only a druid of moderate power but also an even rarer thing, in that she was a Master of Many Forms.

These types of druids specialise in shape shifting and as such there was very little that she could not turn into. How one so young came to have such power I have no idea.

As a result of this though, she could change into a Horrid Umberhulk and in this form she attack the leading edge of the attacking bears. An Umberhulk is a sort of huge insectoid horror if you are unfamiliar with the beast.

She killed one, then another, but was then swamped. Although she had the power of an Umberhulk she lacked its endurance and so she retreated, changed into a giant owl and fled the combat.

Durz, who was near Arahel when she changed, stuck his arms up and she swooped down and grabbed him. Together the flew south away from the ogres and bears, abandoning Veddic to his fate.

Veddic had already gained a lot of ground on the bears, but in the sparse snowy terrain of the Thar there was nowhere to hide.

Dwerry stayed with him, but when they were about to be overrun she vanished to be replaced by two small snakes that slithered into a snow bank.

Veddic used every spell in his arsenal to try and keep the bears at bay and summoned a  cascade of rocks and fire, a mini volcano, with an Earth Reaver spell that killed two more bears and injured many more of them.

He cast a Briar Web spell to delay them further, but the end was inevitable, with Arahel and Durz long gone and Billi away in the snow he had nowhere to hide and no means of escape.

Exhausted he was eventually surrounded by the maddened and bloody bears.

Billi, who watched from a great distance and saw the poor cleric's end but could do nothing to help. Though they were mere specks from where he stood he saw the bears crowd in and savage Veddic as the ogres arrived to finish off the hunt.

Meanwhile, inexplicably, Arahel and Durz made camp in the snow, not much more than a mile away.
It was not even noon.

Billi did his best to try and find them, he was a good tracker, but since his companions had been flying and the snow had started coming on again his task was a difficult one.

Eventually though he found them and joined their camp. Together they made a shelter from the snow, tunnelling into a snowbank in a sheltered gully.

At around three o'clock though they discovered the bears had not been sitting idle, but were still on the hunt and one approached the camp, sniffing and snuffling.
When it sensed them, it gave a mighty roar and they heard a hunting horn answer in the distance.

They rushed up and killed the bear, Durz being injured in the fight, but it was too late to remain undetected and they fled west, pursued by the sound of horns echoing through the falling snow.

About an hour later they found a cave entrance and sheltered there. More by luck (the snow came on much more heavily as the day passed) than judgement they remained undetected by the bears for the rest of the day.

DAY 268 (3rd Nightal)(December)

At dawn they exited the cave and headed west. It was slow going through the snow so Arahel shape shifted into a giant owl and carried Durz and Billi on her back.

It was tiring on her wings though so they took a break at noon. By evening they spotted another camp in the distance to the north, a haze of black smoke on the white horizon.
They landed and approached to take a look.

It consisted of about twenty yurts and the people were human sized but rough in appearance. They also had a great many dogs or wolves with them.

Billi snuck forward, undetected and saw that these people were orcs and he estimated there were about a hundred of them. He also noticed that the adults all had marks of daggers on their  faces.

When a dog sniffed the air and started to come towards him, he returned to the others.

He told the others what he had seen and after a little discussion, Durz picked up his axe and headed  straight to the camp by himself, thinking by now that this was their last hope of getting out of the Thar alive.

He was spotted and surrounded as he approached the camp and was met by a large aggressive looking orc who introduced himself as Narbat the Red.

When Durz asked for directions to Kingsholm they all laughed at him.
'You are lost. And you stink of human, half breed!' said the leader, but he was still impressed by  Durz's size and weaponry.

They eyed each other up for a few more moments and when neither made a move to kill the other the haggling began.

In the end Durz found himself losing a bottle of expensive wine and one thousand gold's worth of gems, but gaining an orcish wife who would, apparently, guide him to Kingsholm!

The ceremony lasted no more than an hour and Durz was welcomed to the family, more or less. The priest was orcish, and of Kossuth. These orcs were part of the Burning Daggers, the most powerful orcish clan of the Thar and loyal worshippers of the Fire God. It was just bad luck for Veddic (a cleric of Kossuth) that the first camp they had stumbled into had not been orcs but ogres.

His new wife was a fine orcish female called Berum. A little too old for the average orc to take as a wife though and the warchief had been anxious to marry her off before she got too old.
She was a tracker by profession and had lived in the Thar all her life so taking Durz and his companions to Kingsholm would be trivially easy for her.

She spoke common as well as orcish so could answer for herself when Durz brought her back. They were astounded at the outcome, but pleased that they now knew where they were going!


DAY 269 (4th Nightal)(December)

Since there were now too many of them to carry on the back of an owl they spend the day walking towards Kingsholm.

Berum lead them to the south east.

Berum spent a lot of the day berating Durz for being incompetent and not knowing how to find is way around the wilderness. She soon shut her mouth though when he gave her a  black eye.

That little episode didn't stop her crawling into his bedroll that night though, and ever night there after. Such is the way of orcish love.


DAY 270 (5th Nightal)(December)

Another day of travel for the companions towards Kingsholm.

It was still snowing so it was slow going.


DAY 271 (6th Nightal)(December)

They arrived in Kingsholm by mid afternoon.

They were met at the gates by Fenrir who had arrived the day before with Cavu
(Having come directly from The Devil's Brew Tavern with no mucking about).

Fenrir saw Arahel had changed into a dwarf and recognised Durz and Billi. He wondered for a moment if Veddic had been turned into a female orc, but he was later to learn of the cleric's end.

The gate guards had their bows drawn at the sight of a group containing orcs, but Fenrir, the master of charm, soon had them all friends and with a wink and a smile to Mia Desarna the captain of the guard he lead the party into the town, explaining that they were all part of a expedition setting up a new trade route from .. 'oh you know, from here to there!'

Later in the Coronet and Cabbage (a local tavern) he met Mia again and turned on even more of his charm. Alas, Fenrir, for reasons I cannot begin to fathom, had given his really name to the people of Kingsholm and it was not long before  he was connected to Waterdeep and all his misadventures there.

Still, for that night at least, he was there to 'set the record straight' and paint himself in the best possible light. I presume he brushed aside all the murders and concentrated on incidents such as when he saved all of Waterdeep by using his wit, charm and guile to convince Obuld Many-Arrows and his northern horde to 'take the gold and bugger off'.

You could always count on Fenrir to work a room.

(G291 20/09/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS5

(G291 20/09/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS5


DAY 266 (1st Nightal)(December) cont ...

An observer out on the moor that morning would have seen, then, the most unusual sight of a naked gnome being carefully carried by a succubus flying high out across the snow.

If Billi was cold, he did not feel it, for he was warmed by the passions of desire that he felt for his new lover. Erin Ja too, looked fondly down on her new beau and licked her lips.

Perhaps the others suspected that Erin's desire for Billi was more culinary than carnal, because they gave chase immediately.

Arahel turned into a giant owl and swooped out of the bedroom window while Veddic made to leave the room and rush down the stairs. Durz simply leapt out into the snow and began trudging through it as fast as he could. The half-orc was not especially gifted at making friends and did not want to lose this one.

On the stairs Veddic was stopped by Karhad who was wondering what was going on. 'Your misses is a succubus, cant stop!'  explained Veddic as he tried to go past.

Arahel made good progress and it did not take her long to swoop down onto the evil temptress and her goosebumped cargo. As she dove she skilfully turned into a cloaker and engulfed both of them in her rubbery flaps.

All three of them then began to plummet to the ground, but by some magical means Erin removed herself from the situation and was gone, leaving Arahel to grab at the gnome as best she could and land them both in the snow safe and sound.

Durz arrived and gave him his clothes then dragged the sulking gnome back to the inn. Billi had the psionic ability to float above the snow so he was not slowed  down by it.

Billi then cried for an hour, still under the charm spell of Erin, wondering where his true love had gone. Veddic realised that this spell could last anything up to ten days so tried a Dispel Magic spell on the gnome. It failed.

Arahel still flew about outside, not wishing to 'waste' her Wild Shape, for a few hours and Billi, still sulking, went out and threw snowballs at her. She just moaned at him, but no harm was done by either to the other.

Veddic was getting more and more concerned about everything to do with this inn and sat down to question Karhad. He learned that he had been married to Erin Ja for a year.
Veddic had a hard time believing that Karhad had not known his wife was a demon,
'Are you impaired?'
'No!' cried the young man. 'I am as astounded as you! I'm devastated!'

They went on to discuss the surrounding lands and he mentioned that he had heard  that there were tribes of orcs to the north, but didn't know much more than that.
He then called over a hunter called Rinso who informed them that Kingsholm was ten miles to the north east.

It was about an hour before noon, so after more conversation they had some lunch. Billi refused to eat and went to cry into his pillow upstairs.

Durz, after a big meal, grew irritated at his friend going so soft over a girl and went upstairs to bring Billi down. The door was locked so Durz used his
'Orcish Master Key' (i.e. his axe!) and opened it.
Billi was there with his crossbow ready, but in the end Durz persuaded the gnome to come down for a drink.

Billi got the strongest drink he could find (something called 'Barbed Vile Delight') drank half a mug of it and passed out under the table, frothing at the mouth but smiling.

Arahel grew bored of flapping about above the inn and came in for some lunch.
She stayed in her Cloaker form and scared all the inn's patrons upstairs.

Veddic, the only one vaguely focused on the mission, went upstairs to look for Rinso to hire him as a guide but could not find the fellow anywhere. Durz helped by knocked down the doors of any locked rooms they found.
Karhad asked why they were wrecking all his doors but Veddic gave him enough gold
to keep him happy.

Veddic came back down and told Arahel to make herself useful and go see if she could find Rinso. When she returned she reported that she had not seen him, or indeed any tracks at all leading from the inn. Rinso, she was sure, had not left.

They both agreed that something very strange was going on.

Next Veddic went from room to room, searching all the wardrobes, beds and cases. He gave silver coins to the inn's patrons to stifle their complaints. It was odd, he thought, that the people here seemed to have no more clothes than those that they had on.

Finally he gave up trying to figure out what was going on and gathered up the others to leave.

With Arahel flying above them in owl form they headed north east for what they estimated to be ten miles. It was slow going in the snow, even though he had cast a magic snow shoe spell on everyone.

It was now night time, about eight o'clock, so they lit a fire and made camp.

It was a bitterly cold night and those that did not have magic bedrolls suffered greatly.

DAY 267 (2nd Nightal)(December)

In the morning they broke camp, having had no trouble in the night, and had a look around. Arahel flew up in the sky and scouted about. To the north she saw a campsite in the distance and taking a slightly closer look saw about ten yurts (large hide covered tents) with many large humanoids going about their business.

She flew back and reported this to Veddic who decided it was worth taking a look, reasoning they could run away on their magic snow shoes if need be.

It took a couple of hours to get within visual distance of the camp, but as they approached they heard the call of hunting horns and a group of the humanoids came towards them at the run, with bears ahead of them.

(Just to add dear reader, these were the famous Thar Hunting Bears that have white fur in the winter, but shed it in the summer for a grey or brown pelt.
They are fearsome, but tamable to a certain extent. Not that they knew this yet.)

They ran for it, but after ten minutes it was clear that the hunters were gaining on them. Billi dove into a snow bank, unnoticed by the others and four bears stopped and sniffed him out when they arrived.

Arahel and Durz, suddenly realising their companion was in danger turned to go help, not realising that the cunning fellow had a plan.

Using more of his psionic powers he teleported himself into another snow bank 500 feet away and safe from harm.

The others though, were not in such a good position...

(G290 13/09/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS4

(G290 13/09/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS4

DAY 265 (Feast of the Moon)(December) cont ...

Having defeated the strange statue creature, Veddic, Billi, Arahel and Durz then proceeded to loot the chests and gathered together a good quantity of coins and gemstones.

After such an exhausting fight they yet again settled down to recover for the rest of the day.

To pass the time Billi told stories of his mercenary days to entertain people. Durz did likewise but his tales mainly consisted of hitting people over the head and so fell a little flat.

Their chatting drew the interest of a denizen of the dungeon however who opened the door to the east and tried to make conversation. It was a dwarf like creature with a sinister look, but who was being friendly enough. Durz made to go after him, but the dwarf just closed and locked the  door and tried again later.

After some talk they learned his name was Zallater and he was the mason of the dungeon. He asked, 'How are you finding it so far? I'm sorry I had no budget to install any traps. The client ran out of money.'
'Who was the client?' asked Veddic, 'Was it Freddorick?'
He meant the cleric they had went to see in Hommlet in the summer when they had killed the two Bullettes.
Zallater would not be drawn on that subject though.

(Also, just to add some additional info dear reader. There was hardly any knowledge of anything at all in these brave companions. They were not scholars. However, I deduce from the description that Zallater was a half-fiend durzagon, the offspring of a deep dwarf and a devil, the same kin as Cavefoot, who was now working as an agent of the Thunderstaff family.)

Zallater said he had a pack of cards and offered to pass the time in a small game of skill with them and they agreed. He pulled up a chest to the table and sat down.

Money went back and forth as they played for a couple of hours. Then there was another knock at the door and a gargoyle poked its head in and asked if it could join in too.
Zallater looked at them and said, 'It's up to you, but gargoyles are cheating bastards.'

The gargoyle joined the game and won a few handfuls of gold from Durz. Durz began to think that the gargoyle might well be a cheating bastard and began to snarl.

Zallater took the hint and dragged off the gargoyle. Before he went though Veddic had the clever idea of bribing the durzagon 300 gold to escort them out the rest of the way.
The wily dungeon-maker agreed to take them through the 'maze' when they were ready but he would not enter the room at the end where the 'bad thing' was.
He said, 'When you are ready just come through this door and knock on the one to the right. That's my room. I'll take you from there.'

They spent the remainder of the day resting and talking about alcohol, which was the one subject on which Billi and Durz were experts.

DAY 265 (1st Nightal)(December)

At eight in the morning they set off and Zallater led them through a tight set of twisting corridors to the door where the 'bad thing' was. Veddic tried to pay in silver, but when Zallater saw the two big bags he said, 'Come on now, gold if you please' and Veddic grudgingly handed over gold instead.

The corridor they found themselves in terminated in another strong looking door. While heading for it, kitchen scraps and barbeque sauce fell on them from above, through small grills in the ceiling. They could also hear the noises of talking and laughter, the chinking of glasses and plates. In short, the sounds of a tavern.

The door was unlocked and when opened revealed a medium sized chamber full of rubbish and slime.
Durz crossed over to poke a suspicious looking pile and it rose up and attacked him, a large mass of ooze easily fifteen feet across.

It was none other than an infamous Black Pudding and it was eager to feast on them. Billi shot a well placed arrow at it, but this only made it split in half. Both halves then attacked them.
Durz found his weapons and armour being destroyed by the strong acid that formed part of its attack until Veddic cleverly cast Resist Elements on them all which made them immune to the acid.

Dwerry attacked with magic missiles from the back and Arahel turned into a troll. Her claws split the pudding even further, into four new parts, so she closed her fists and started punching it. Durz saw this as a good method and put down his weapons and also began to punch the creature.

Despite it doing damage to them, all the Puddings were finished off by magic missiles and punches, Durz and Arahel almost seeming to enjoy the experience.

There was a door in the other side of the room that opened onto some stairs that lead up to a trap door. They opened the trap door and found themselves in the common room of a tavern.

It had a dozen or so patrons in it and the usual complement of barmen and serving wenches.
The owner of the tavern, a well dressed young gentleman called Karhad, was astounded to  see theme arrive in such a fashion but was happy to feed them and arrange for them to have a bath (in order to wash off all the rubbish and sauce).

While Billi was the first to go up to get cleaned up, Veddic was rather skeptical about the whole set up and questioned Karhad.
He told them, 'I've only owned this place three months. I purchased the lease from an agent back in Melvaunt. We get trade from merchants travelling between Melvaunt and Glister. I had no idea there was a dungeon below here or who Zallater is or anything!'
Karhad also introduced his wife, a lady of great beauty called Erin Ja.

Arahel, although just a youngster, also picked up on the unease of Veddic and Durz and went to talk to a family at a table at the other end of the common room.
'Can we help you, little green person?' asked the only adult male in the group.

Arahel got a tale that seemed to back up the one told by Karhad.
'I am a merchant, this is my wife and children,' said the man, gesturing to the woman and the two young adults with him, 'I trade up and down all of this road. I like to stay here because they do good venison, you should try it.'

Billi too, was uneasy. As he went upstairs to where his bath was being prepared he looked out of the window at the snow covered moor and thought,
'This place is in the middle of nowhere! How can it still be in business?'

Despite his reservations he could not resist the hot bath and stripped off to his birthday suit and jumped it. He soaked for a bit, then Erin Ja entered with some towels.

At first Billi was shocked by her arrival, but then she cast a Charm spell on him and he became putty in her hands. She stripped naked, stepped into the bath then made passionate love to the lucky gnome.

Veddic, back in the common room, was getting worried about Billi when he had still not returned after an hour so he and Durz went up to check on him.

He entered the upstairs room and to his utter amazement saw an empty bath, an open window and in the distance Erin Ja now in her true form of an Erinyes (a more powerful type of Succubus) flying away with a naked gnome held lovingly in her arms!

'Come back with our gnome!' he bellowed out the window across the snowfields, but it was no use, Billi was still under her spell.

(G289 06/09/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS3

(G289 06/09/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS3


DAY 264 (30 Uktar)(November) continued ...

The Moathouse and its dungeons were still deserted so they had no problems finding the yuan-ti snake gate.

There was a sign placed beside it that Dwerry translated:

Mind how you go
Stone men have sore stomachs
Make signal to *gibberish*
In the maze follow the moon

Rather cryptic they all thought, but Durz an Veddic put their best foot forward and stepped through the gate ... and fell down a fifty foot shaft into a spiked pit.

Dwerry was next and managed to keep her footing and step to the side. Billi tumbled out of danger and Arahel simply turned into a gargoyle and flapped to safety.

She chose this form as she, and the others that hadn't fallen, noticed that their were six gargoyles watching the portal which then attacked them.

Gargoyles can be tough customers, but the party was much tougher, so despite their initial disadvantage they felled one gargoyle after the other. Arahel lifted Veddic out of the pit and he, thinking that perhaps these gargoyles had been left by good forces to attack yuan-ti, offered a parley. Durz was still alive as well after his fall but was having trouble getting out of the pit.

The fighting stopped and one of the gargoyles that remained on his feet said,
'Very well guv'ner. How about me and my mates just walk through that door through there and say no more about it eh?'
Veddic was unsure as he thought perhaps they would then just ambush them later. One by one he could see that some of the gargoyles were edging towards the southern door and scampering off anyway and in the end he just had one to deal with.
'How about I cast a zone of truth on you?'
'No problem guv'ner, I am a truthful fellow after all.'

Veddic however had not prepared Zone of Truth that day so he attempted to bluff the gargoyle into thinking that he had cast it.
The gargoyle didn't fall for it though and said,
'Oh I can do that sort of magic as well!' and wiggling his fingers he pointed at Arahel and said
'You are now a giraffe!'
To his utter amazement Arahel then turned into a giraffe (using her own abilities of course!) and the gargoyle looked down at his fingers and said, 'Bugger me! I didn't know I had it in me!'

Veddic, tiring of the pantomime just let the last one go. Two gargoyles were dead anyway and two more had been carried off unconscious. After a minute or two of the door closing tp the south they heard  rumbling from that direction.

The door had been locked by the gargoyles as they left the portal chamber but Durz applied his 'key' to it (his axe) and soon had it open.

They saw a ten foot wide corridor with a recent rockfall at the end of it. Two of the gargoyles were trapped here too, but the one healthy one picked up its injured mate and flapped through the portal as quickly as it could to avoid the party and Durz's angry snarls.

The area now reasonably secure they rested for the remainder of the day in the northern part of the corridor, mainly so the spell casters could get their magic back.

DAY 265 (Feast of the Moon)(December)

They were not entirely left to sleep though. One of the gargoyles that had gone through the portal returned to keep an eye on them and had to be chased off.

Later, fluids poured down near where they were resting from a grate in the ceiling the first of which was was urine.

An hour later about a barrel of beer came down the same way. Durz tried it and declared it was very good stuff!

Finally, a while after that a thick brown gloopy substance trickled down the grate into the pools of beer. Durz tried it and pronounced it to be barbecue sauce.

The corridor they were resting in now smelled like the alley behind a tavern in Waterdeep!

In the morning though, they were rested enough to move on and tackle the rock fall. This was done by the good old Druidic method, namely the Stone Shape spell and Arahel tunnelled a small passage through the top of the rocks big enough for everyone to scramble through.

They now found that the corridor ended in another set of double doors and Durz applied his 'key' to this one as well.

The next room was much larger, contained a table and chairs and many chests scattered about. There were also three of the gargoyles skulking around and a tall statue which came to life as they entered.

This statue was a real threat to them as they found out when attacked them. It had the power to turn people against their allies and this caused chaos, as you can imagine, as they party were suddenly fighting amongst themselves. This it did by spraying them with blood from the weeping runes on its head (it had no face).
Not only that, but anyone struck by it ran the risk of being confused.

Durz did battle with his axe, Veddic cast spells and healed people where it was needed and
Billi tumbled about and using his mental powers to fire arrows right into the most sensitive
areas of his enemies. Arahel turned into a rhinoceros and Dwerry used magic missiles.

[Dear reader, from the description above I have deduced that this thing was a Rogue Eidolon and luckily for Veddic and his fellows not a fully powered one which would have been much more deadly.]

The Eidolon couldn't take them all on though and once the cowardly gargoyles had once more exited through a door to the east, the weight of numbers of the party managed to beat it back. Arahel again over-reached herself in the fighting and brave though she was, was struck to  the floor and came within one more blow of being killed. She turned back to her normal form and  played dead and luckily for her the Eidolon ignored her to concentrate on the threats from Durz  and Billi.

It was struck down with one last mighty blow and the battle was over. Veddic healed them all with his clerical magic and they wiped the dreadful Eidolon blood from their arms and armour.

(G288 30/08/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS2

(G288 30/08/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS2

[To return to Waterdeep. You may remember, Veddic, Billitoppe, Ariel and Cavu had just finished laying some evil mummies at the Singing Sword Tavern]

DAY 260 (26 Uktar)(November) cont ...


Cavu did his best to organise the tidy up and had Ariel wrapped in a bed sheet and taken over to the Temple of Illmater which was not far away from the Tavern.

For the rest of the evening everyone went their separate ways, in order to prepare for their journey the next day.

Veddic went to the Temple with Cavu and had a long chat with him there while Ariel was resurrected. Ariel could only have been brought back to life by the mysterious personage known as Gertrude the White, but she did not talk about it when she came down the stairs from wherever it was she had been taken and revealed nothing of how she suddenly was back in the land of the living.

The Temple was a small affair, no more than a converted town house, with the front room serving as a nave and the dining room as the altar. The temple was served by a single cleric and an  acolyte.

Also this night Billitoppe ran into an old friend of his, a half orc barbarian known as Durz. Not only was he an old mercenary companion of Billi's, he was also the full brother (do half-orcs have half-brothers?) of recent adventuring partner Drashnag the Eye of Grummsh.

DAY 261 (27 Uktar)(November)

As Cavu had arranged the night before they all met at the Temple in the morning. Cavu had a chat with Durz, decided he was a good enough egg and welcomed him onboard.

After going over the plan once more (and several more times for Durz who was not the sharpest tool in the box) they set off on the first leg of the journey, which was to meet Corum and Fenrir at the South Gate.

Billi kept a good look out behind them and noticed that they were being followed down the busy Waterdeep streets by not one, but two human figures.

By stealth and cunning he managed to accost them both. It turned out one of them knew Billi from a mercenary company although Billi could not place him. His name was Turnus and all he said was that he was here in the street markets buying some ribbon.

Durz looked over and roared an intimidating demand along the lines of 'Get lost!' to Turnus and not only made the rogue scamper off sharply, but about ten other random people that were  also in the street!

While they continued on their way Rocky revealed to the party that he had been given a Stone of Sending by an agent of Maaril the Dragonmage the night before with which he was supposed to  report back the progress of the group. He said he wanted no part of this subterfuge and handed  the stone over to Dwerry who promptly pocketed it.

At the South Gate they were accosted by a crazy man that was familiar to anyone of the city passing this way in the last few months, 'Ware! Ware! Here come the brave souls! Away to seek the serpents! Away to seek the snake demon!'

Veddic was rather worried that this mad man seemed to know something of the nature of their quest, but the man was quickly carted off by the gate guards, saving him any further distress.

Fenrir and Corum met them at the gate as arranged along with a company of twenty or so city guard (Lead by a man called Captain Nardo) who were being sent out to calm the roads around  Waterdeep and to investigate abandoned dwellings along the way.

They made good progress, passing by the Byndraeth Estate and coming to an abandoned farm by nightfall.

The guards set up camp within the farmhouse and out buildings, but for reasons of their own Durz and Ariel slept outside of the safety of the farm walls.

Durz leaned up against a nearby tree and Ariel skulked about in a small copse. This made them targets, though, of one of the many bands of desperados that were around this area and three arrows were shot at Durz, none of which did him any damage.

He tromped up to the copse to see where the arrows had come from, but appeared to flush out a rhinoceros instead, much to his confusion, that charged off seemingly randomly into the night. To add even more to his confusion, the rhino spoke to him as it went by, saying,
'Don't worry, it's only me!'

Durz then squinted his eyes and saw three small humanoids running off at high speed over the fields and with a grunt decided the game was not worth the candle and went back to his sleeping tree.

Ariel too (for it was she!) gave up the chase and then tramped into the barn to find a place to sleep. As she stomped in, five guards ran out.


DAY 262 (28 Uktar)(November)

They spent another uneventful day on the road. A company of Waterdeep guards act as a very good escort under most circumstances and they arrived at the village of Amphaul unmolested.

They spent the night at the Stone Stallion Inn.

DAY 263 (29 Uktar)(November)

Once more their journey was unremarkable and sticking to the main road the found themselves in Hommlet that evening and wearily entered the Inn of the Welcoming Wench where the head of the Bullette slain by Oz and Alduin (with more than a little help from Jaroo the druid!) still hung over the bar.

They had been told to ask for Cavu's agent in Hommlet by the name of Mr Pin. He was not hard to find and it was none other than Mathmoss, my good friend and occasional crew member of the Sea Wyvern.

He said he would take them to the Portal on the morrow.

Ariel found she still had some energy left and while the others ate and drank in the tavern mshe went to the Druid's Grove and talked to Jaroo who was greatly interested to see such a young and unusual fey turn up at his doorstep. He offered her tea and they had a long chat.

Billi took the air as well and had a chat with a passing militia man who was patrolling the streets.

Back in the tavern Durz noticed that the bar maid known as Derndie seemed to have her eye on him. She perhaps was feeling that she had all but been abandoned by Alduin and was on the look out for another brave man (or half man) to take care of her.

They all spent the night in beds made up in the stable due to the Inn being full.

DAY 264 (30 Uktar)(November)

Durz, a gentleman who appears to often find himself in confusing situations, found that he had a large breakfast brought to him by Derndie while he was still abed. She seemed to know what to feed a half orc as it consisted mainly of bacon, pork chops and liver.

Ariel seemed upset by the amount of dead animal that Durz was consuming and the gnome and half orc treated her to some of their earthy barrack room humour on the subject of 'meat'.

Dwerry told her to ignore them and pointed out to Durz that Derndie had a soft spot for him.

Durz, apparently, couldn't have cared less though.

After breakfast Mathmoss lead them to the Moathouse, which was about an hours walk away and where the portal was situated.