The Campaign Journal

Session 1 (March 17th, 2002)

The Current Party...

Readying 5, CY 592

The party awakes in a mysterious spot in lonely Rakerville, The Pale. You wake up and meet the proprietor/innkeeper, one Ruskin Radire. He shows each of you to a table in the corner of the inn where you all introduce yourselves. A stranger walks in the front door to the inn and glances over to Ruskin, who then nods toward the newly established party in the corner. He appears to be a middle-aged human, about 6' tall medium build, with brown hair and brown eyes. His bronze skin tone may be proof of an Oeridian background. He approaches the table and stands at the end of it. 

"I know you have lots of questions, but I'm afraid I can't give you too many answers," he said.

"My name is Mortimor, and I'm merely a messenger. You have been gathered together because you are all very special," he continued.

"As of yesterday you were all either coerced or had planned on your own to head off and adventure, to find your own destinies, in other words. Your loving parents have agreed to let you take this path. At this time, or any other you may return home or go your own way. Let's just say your lineage, or bloodlines, puts you all in a special group that may serve a greater purpose. Each of you have "inherited" a 1000 gps. You'll find it in the chests at the front of each of your beds. You may come here at anytime and recieve free room and board. That's all I have for you now, except to say that WE are watching you and will check on your progress from time to time. Now, hang out here and get to know each other, and good luck."

With that Mortimor walks to the bar and says something to Ruskin, then heads out the door of the inn.

The party gets to know each other, spends the day chatting and running around the town. You get a few leads on what appear to be adventures of some sort. You here about the Sunless Citadel, a ancient ruin that sunk into a huge crevice ages ago that nearly stayed intact because it was built so well. This lies near the city of Oakhurst which lies about 20 miles south of Rakerville. Then you here of the little hamlet of  Tristor, which is being ravaged by animal mutilations and raiding orcs coming out of the Troll Fens. 

You decide to bypass the Sunless Citadel and head over to Tristor to help the poor hamlet, a noble deed indeed! You ride for a day (Readying 6), spend the night in Oakhurst and continue on the next day (Readying 7) arriving on the outskirts of the Tristor's lands in the late afternoon. You come across a "mad" owlbear attacking a couple of people and their cart. You dispatch of the beast with a hail of arrows and melee (Thanks to the DM rolling a "1" on his first attack roll in the new campaign!). The party saves Geren Aramis and his daughter Brynn, and are invited to the Aramis farm for dinner and a bed for the night. You learn of the animal mutilations, and that it appears that the farm animals are killed by some large beast. Geren doesn't believe it was the owlbear either. Laurana and Shazari sleep on the main floor of the Aramis farmhouse. Bruttor, Tibble, and Vlgar stake out the barn, which was attacked the night before. The farmhouse is broken into by four orcs who have drifted away from the Troll Fens. One runs up the stairs and kills the farmer Geren. The three others attack the two women in their sleeping quarters on the main floor. The orcs make such a racket that the three men of the party easily here them shouting something in Orcish: "WE DIE FOR THE WATCHER!" Laurana is hit severely and falls unconscious, but the party is able to dispatch the orcs. Vlgar runs up the stairs just in time to save Brynn, who is being attack by the Barbarian orc leader! With both the orc and Vlgar enraged, Vlgar takes him out with two blows! Brynn asks the party to take her into Tristor, where her uncle runs the local grain mill. Of course, you honor her request.

Readying 8, CY 592

As you near Tristor, the town gate opens as you pass by a large tree. A "wild" looking man on horseback bursts through the gates. He appears to dragging a couple of animal carcasses. You have to move quickly to get out of his way, as he runs right through the middle of the party screaming, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!". You enter the town and after a little confrontation with the town guards and the temporary in command  Sgt. Rontil Athone, you take Brynn to her uncle's house. You find out through Athone and Brynn's uncle that there has been a reward put out for anyone who can stop the animal mutilations, although no one knows what the heck it is. The Constable of the town is out investigating one of the nearby farms and won't be back until the following day, he supposedly is offering the reward, or at the least knows what it is. 

You decide to head of to the Church of Pholtus, and meet a couple of the clerics there. A blind man, who took his own eyesight so that he would not be distracted by his vision and could better serve Pholtus. He's an elderly human around 50 years old. A slightly younger cleric is also there, appeared to have a chip on his shoulder. You ask them about the "Watcher". They tell you he is a mysterious being who runs some kind of orc camp out of the Troll Fens. 

The party heads over to the Sagenford Inn, the only inn in town. There you meet Anders Sogenford and his family. They run the and own the inn. He's another Nordic type, and could be the brother of Raskin (in Rakerville), but he isn't. You meet a drunken halfling, from who Tibble lifts a gem. The halfling, one Finney Goodbarrel,  gets a little angry when he finds his gem missing and is rather rude to Vlgar, calling him a big oaf and such. 

You also talk to three of the town garrison, who happen to be off duty, and are drinking heavily. You offer to buy them drinks and after a few rounds some information starts a flowing. You learn that Bine Corris (farmer), lost two cattle and five goats the previous night. The goats throats had been cut, and the cow was ravaged by some wild beast. Another guard (half-elf) claims that the mutilations are part of the "dirty Rhenee curse". Everything gets real quiet after that and the guards leave the Inn. Tibble attempts to follow them, but the half-elf hears him and they nearly hall him off to jail for breaking the "Martial Law" that has been put into place. No one allowed out after dark. Tibble returns to the inn, and the party heads to their rooms. See you next session...

Session II (April 14th, 2002)

* Died during this session.

Readying 9, CY 592

The party is awaken very early in the morning with the sounds of a large number of people gathering outside the gate house. You get up and investigate. You find a boy from a local farm has brought his father in to town. The family farm was attacked only hours ago. You meet Constable Parsons who has been away investigating the mutilations at another farm in the area. You tell him that you are eager to help, thus he sends you to the Selford farm to investigate what has happened and to collect as many clues as you can. You ramble around and follow tracks of what appear to be a bear around three farms in the area. You kill the Selford family bull when he charges you around their property. You decide to head back toward town and tell Constable Parsons what you've discovered. On the road back to town you meet a familiar robed figure, Jagadis Deadknife. He basically tells you to stay away from the bear or else. You all don't take to kindly to that and you kill him! He also let you know he saw Parsons waiting for you around a copse of trees down the road a ways. You head toward the tree line and fine the constable a complete mental wreck! He's bleeding profusely from what used to be his fingers, all ten are cut off! Shazari stops the bleeding and you all take him back to Tristor for some healing by the priests of Pholtus. You spend the night at the Burren Farm, a farm that hasn't been attacked yet. As night sets in and a deep, dense fog covers the entire area. You here something breakdown the back door of the farmhouse. You had all decided to set up a little surveillance operation in and around the barn. You rush into the house and find a distorted looking, huge bear-like creature ravaging the inside of the house. The battle is a tough one, but you kill the creature. After it's death it appears to change form, back to a normal bear. You follow the bear's tracks out to a copse of trees about 500 yards behind the house and discover that the bear tracks lead toward the forest north of the farm yard and toward the Troll Fens. You follow as long as you can, but loose the tracks after a while.

Readying 10, CY 592

After resting the remainder of the night you start out for the forest. You search for any paths or otherwise apparent entrances into the woods. After searching a while you find a path and begin to follow it. Following the path and taking whatever direction you feel like when coming to one of the many junctions, you stumble across a small cabin roofed with pine boughs. A root garden dominates the structures front yard, and an old fur hangs over the hut's door. You find Old Tadda, a elderly woman who spends most of her days making concoctions of herbs and spices. After convincing her you're looking for the culprits behind the mutilations she offers you healing salves. She tells you that she knows little of the mutilations and of course that there are lots of bears in the woods. She tells you of Hosk, the forester who she fell in love with years ago, still lives in these woods and maybe he could help them. She says a little further along past Hosk's, Old Kedder lives, and that he fancies himself as some sort of seer. She can attest to his powers though. You make your way a few miles through the woods from Tadda's directions, and find an ancient cairn of piled stone slabs and tree trunks stands at the center of a small clearing. A dark entrance marks the fron of the cairn. As you approach it you step on sticks that crackle as your weight presses on them. Almost immediately a man with a full head of black hair, with a beard and mustache exits the cairn with a bag in one hand and a pile of furs in the other. He introduces himself as Husk, but can't recall the name Tadda when you mention it to him. He also doesn't seem to have a deep scar that Tadda mentions he supposed to have. He attacks that party when he realizes you figured out he is NOT who he claims to be. You kill him after a little bit of a struggle. You find a 1000gp ruby, among other things in his little cave. You head on and journey to old Kedder's place, a dilapidated old hovel that is barely standing, and resembles a pile of beaten up lumber. You knock on his door, and he asks you to open the door for him. The overly cautious party refuses to do so, and soon the door comes barreling over with old Kedder atop it. He drags himself out by his hands as he no longer has the use of his legs. You ask him about it and he tells you the story of a young lad who took a potion from some Rhenee boat people. He was ill and thought the potions would help him. Well, two people died from the potion and another lost the use of his legs permanently. You guys figure out he's talking about himself. All the Rhenee, save one, were strung up and hung outside the town gate at the big tree. Kedder hoped the Rhenee boy that was let go was able to put the tragedy behind him, as Kedder did.  After talking to old Kedder you head up to the edge of the Troll Fens and search for orc tracks. You find plenty of them and they lead you to an orc encampment near the Blue Dragon's Tusk, a large 10' tall blue wooden object that protrudes from the ground. You decide to camp as evening approaches.

Readying 11, CY 592

After a good night's rest you wake up to a beautiful brisk morning with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. You decide to attack the orc camp. You should have went back to Tristor for reinforcements. After a tough battle you defeat the orcs and their bugbear leader, but not until both Bruttor and Vlgar lie dead. You do rescue three captives who were locked in a cage. A paladin and a monk, who were both looking for the Tristor, but got caught before they ever reached there. There was also a trapper who was just trying to make a living trapping, but got too close to an orc patrol. You head back to Tristor with dead bodies of your fallen comrades and with the paladin and  the monk, who now want to join your now somewhat undermanned adventuring party. See you next session...

Session III (April 28, 2002)

Readying 12, CY 592

Upon reaching Tristor you attend the funerals of Bruttor and Vlgar, after which Abbott Bartho requests a meeting with you. He asks (for 200gps each) if you'd accompany the mentally unstable Constable Parsons to Wintershiven to have his fingers regenerated, and then further on into the Rakers for the to the Rakers Asylum for the Mad. reportedly one of the best places for the mentally insane in all of the Flanaess. You agree to take on the mission. Joining the group are two new members that were rescued from the Orc camp; Tarintha, a female human monk, and Norin Silvanril, a male human Paladin of Heironeous. You pack up your supplies, buy a wagon and a horse for Norin, and bed down for the evening.

Readying 13, CY 592

You start out and have little or no problems until around midday. Tarintha notices a large four legged wolf-like creature off in the woods about 50' moving with the group. She jumps from the wagon and heads off towards the creature. She quickly does an about face as the creature starts heading toward her. She angles herself back toward the front of the still moving caravan. She pops out of the woods about 50' in front of the party, just as the creature lunges for her. It misses with it's huge bite. The creature is some kind of white wolf that  you've never seen before. The wolf takes a bite out of Zarx, but he's the only one injured before the creature is put down. You make it to Wintershiven by sundown.

The party enters the town gates and with the help of a vendor finds the Dragonhead Inn. Across from the inn, which happens to set in the town square is the huge Temple of Pholtus. You take Constable Parsons their and drop him off. The cleric (greeter) tells you to come by and pick him up in the morning and then you can continue on to the asylum. Tibble takes a little side trek to a gemologist who gives him 30gps for the gem he lifted from the halfling back in Tristor. He's not happy with his treatment, and goes as far as to stake out the place, but realizes he probably can't pull of the job by himself. It's late by the time Tibble gets back and everyone hits the sack.

Readying 14, CY 592

The next morning you are greeted by a freezing drizzle that numbs you to the bone. You pick up Parsons from the temple and after an interview from the bishop about the conditions in Tristor, you head out. You pass back through Tristor and spend the night there. Then on to Oakhurst where you again, stop for the night. The next morning you wake to snow falling hard. You head over to the local trader and beef up on winter clothing and blankets. You head northeast into the Rakers hoping to find the asylum around midday, and you do. By the time you reach the Rakers Asylum a full blown blizzard has developed. You knock on the door and are greeted by Dr. Jonathan Asworth and his assistant Shaver. You're treated to a meal, hot soup, and get a tour of the place. Everything seems alright, but you have a sneaking suspicion that all is not right here at the Rakers Asylum for the Mad.

You enter the two rooms off the kitchen that the doctor said you would be sleeping in. Dr. Jonathan heads toward the area the patients were living. You wait anxiously hoping he'll return soon so that you can do a little investigating. Two hours pass and he doesn't return. Tibble heads out and into the common room (patient room), and finds nobody there. He heads down stairs and into the sewer system below the Asylum, the  nausea and vomiting overtake him. He does find evidence of a group of people leaving by way of the sewer system. Tibble goes back to the rooms you're in and you investigate the laboratory, the doctors room, the pantry. You find the a couple documents and the remains of some unknown creature that the doctor evidently dissected. Some black slimy creature with the body of a frog. It's head however was a lump of tentacles that shout out from it's neck! By the time you're through with the investigation of the asylum the morning sun is rising.

Readying 17, CY 592

You follow the river north that runs into the sewer system of the asylum. The sun is shining, but the snow is knee deep from the blizzard of the previous few days. You follow the river north to it's origin deeper into the Rakers. You come to the top of a huge precipice which overlooks a glacial covered valley below. The center of the valley is covered in mist. Tarintha spots a rope walk way that heads down to the glacier and you follow it easily. You reach the glacier and find it full of huge crevices. Tibble rides on Zarx's shoulders and leads the party across the glacier in single file. You rope yourselves together at 20' intervals (very smart as you will see!). Zarx misses a hidden crevice and he and Tibble fall in, Tibble loses his grip on Zarx and he falls a further 20'. Luckily, the party is able to hold the heavy load and keep them from falling into the 600' deep hole! Somebody, Tibble?, sees a small white creature (ice mephit) flying around the glacier just ahead of the party. Zarx takes it down with one blow as it flies in to attack the party! (Nice shot!) You get to the mist as the sun starts to set. You find that the mist freezes to everything they have including your faces! All of the sudden you come upon a huge black zigguarut. It's huge, octagonal, and 200' by 200' at it's widest points around the base. It's so tall you can't see the top of it through the mists. You do notice an easily accessible stairway that leads to an opening about 20' off the ground. The doorway is so tall, again you can't see it through the mists. You enter the tower and descend a long ramp into what is an old ancient city with humongous buildings made of the same black obsidian! You head south down a road that is 100' wide toward a red glow. You pass what appears to be a huge temple. It's has to large statues outside that are so horrid looking you can't even describe them. You enter the temple and notice a mosaic floor that sort of tell the history of the place and what creatures built this place 1000's of years ago. (See Faranth History). In the center of the temple is a stone on a dais. It's 20' high, and resembles nothing as much as a great obsidian arrowhead jutting from the ground. You leave the area and head toward what you now see plainly as fires in the south. You see what appear to be people from the asylum bringing wood to stoke the fires that are melting the ice around the huge buildings. A large chunk of ice falls away revealing an opening into a large building, albeit blocked by more ice. A faranth moves it's hideous form over to investigate the opening, then places some large piercing sounds from this pipe-like instrument it has. The creature moves away and the asylum workers go back to work, as if controlled by the pipes. The party moves in and starts attacking the faranth with a few arrows. It immediately blows on the pipes and the asylum workers come to it's defense. You are able to subdue the workers, including Dr. Jonathan, and Shaver the custodian. You kill the faranth and save all of Oerth! Not so fast! Even with the faranth dead the people from the asylum still try to kill you! You know from reading the mosaic on the floor that the black stone in the temple, known as the slave stone, is probably the culprit. Tibble fails a will save as he approaches the stone within 20' and goes right up to it and touch the stone. He then turns on the party and has to be subdued! Zarx, with his big axe, fails the will save, walks up and touches the stone, turns on the party and has to be subdued! Norin, the paladin, overcomes the suggestion spell and after a hour or so of hacking the tough stone destroys the Slave Stone! You search the rest of the humongous buildings that had had the ice melted from in and around. You find a large landing pad for the creatures airships. A hanger that was so large you couldn't see the ceiling in, where they apparently built the airships. A bathhouse, a garden with unknown dead vegetation, and a generator room of some kind that must have powered the place. You find evidence of the place where the two faranths must have been trapped, when the big freeze occurred to the city, in the generator room. The feeling of how small everything on Oerth is now is hard to overcome. When these creatures ruled the planet they were so much more advanced than anyone today, and that was 1000's of years ago!  You help Dr. Jonathan and Shavers take the loonies back to the bin and another good deed is done! What should we do now with the information we've discovered?  See you next session... 

Session IV (June 9th, 2002)

Readying 19, 592...

The party decides to return to Wintershiven and report their findings of the strange encounters with the Faranth. The Archbishop thanks the party and says he will decide a course of action. 

Readying 22, 592...

The Challenge of Champions is held in Wintershiven and Norin, Zarx, Laurana, and Tarintha decide to form a team and take part. The party does well and finishes tied for 5th place out of 15 teams. Better luck next year! After spending the whole day solving mind bending puzzles the party is eager for action and decides to head back to Oakhurst and kill some supposed baddies in the rumored Sunless Citadel.

Readying 24, 592...

You enter Oakhurst in the early evening and head to the local Inn. Asking around about the Sunless Citadel gives root to many rumors and a basic idea of where it could be. You head out the next morning and search for it.

Readying 25, 592...

Around noon time you discover a huge crevice in the Oerth that seems to runs for thousands of feet. At one point you actually find a rope that hangs off a post and heads down toward a ledge into the crevice. Rumors have it that the Sunless Citadel was once the home of the Ancient Dragon Ashardon that was sunk in an oerthquake centuries ago. No knows who actually built the keep, but again rumors have it as Dwarven in construction. It almost survived completely intact after being swallowed by the Oerth. Of course, others say that Dwarves would never have built the keep on unstable ground, but no one knows for sure. You head into the hole.

You enter and immediately find that a tribe of Kobolds have taken refuge in part of the citadel. They seem to be looking for a lost young dragon. See you next session...

Session V (June 23, 2002)

The Kobold Queen tries to strike a deal with the party to help her find her stolen white dragon, but a certain Tibble ruffles some feathers and an all out fight breaks out. The party slays the kobolds, but the queen escapes.

You encounter four captured (by the kobolds) goblins. One of them speaks common and begs you to let them go. He promises to lead you to the Goblin leader, actually a hobgoblin, and to help you find the white dragon, which Tibble points out is highly valuable if captured alive. An all out fight breaks out against the goblin tribe, and again the party prevails. You decide to rest for the night...

Readying 26, 592...

You stumble upon the white dragon sleeping in a room, the Queen Kobold, a sorcerer and the dragon's master, comes to it's aid. She casts a sphere of fire, and attempts, AGAIN, to cut a deal with the party. Tibble fires a crossbow bolt at the sorceress and ticks the dragon off. Tibble dodges the dragon's breath weapon though and lives to fight on. Norin deals a critical and lops of the head of the kobold. The party then piles onto the white dragon with everyone getting their shot in. Norin falls unconscious, but lives to fight another day. The same can't be said for the white dragon, who finally goes down after yet another magic missile by Laurana. The party skins the dragon and rests again...See you next session...

Session VI (July 7, 2002)

Readying 27, 592...

Another rest period invigorates the party...You go about clearing the entire ground level of the Sunless Citadel. A couple of the creatures you find, a water mephit and a quasit give the party all they can handle. You also rescue a gnome, one Erky Timbers, and he hangs around the group for a awhile not doing much. Of course, no one offers to give him a weapon or some armor either! The party rests another 2 days after the quasit battle. Both Tibble and Tarintha take hard hits to their DEX!

Coldeven 1, 592...

You defeat a troll, albeit  somewhat diminished in strength, and decide to enter the lower levels...

You descend the vines into the lower level caverns of the Citadel. You immediately do battle with two skeletons, which Shazari destroys, and two twig blights (strange treant-like trees that can plant or unplant themselves at will)! You head into a huge cavern, where Tibble burns a couple of rats nests! The bugbear and his two dire rats come out to do battle, but the party dispatches of them quickly. You come across some strange holes that are all over the cavern floors. You suspect that they could be made by some sort of creature, but you're not sure. Tibble sticks his head into one the holes that has a light in it. A worm-like creature (a thoqqua) 5' long and 1' around lunges out of the hole at him. He takes some big damage from the creature that is strong and too hot to touch. Tarintha punches? another one of the creatures, does some damage, but take some herself for touching the creature. You kill the two creatures and decide to rest again...See you next session!

Session VII (July 21, 2002)

Coldeven 2, 592

The party continues through the grove level of the ruins. You come upon a couple bugbears, some goblins, a couple thoqqua, and a bunch of twig blights, and lay then to waste. You finally enter the cavern of the Gulthias Tree. The tree that bears the semi-annual fruit. One the cures and one that kills. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you look at it, the tree is not bearing fruit at this time. It is guarded by a Druid, a bunch of twig blights, a wizard and a ex-paladin of Pelor. The wizard and the paladin are part of the missing adventuring party from Oakhurst and are now supplicants of the Gulthias tree. The adventurers were transformed by the tree into zombie-like creatures. They're actually part of the tree in a way. After a long, hard battle, actually the best one you've had in a while, you kill all the enemies and lay waste to the Gulthias tree. You head back out of the Sunless Citadel and and make the have day journey back to Oakhurst. You receive a hero's welcome when bringing news of the defeat of Belak (the Druid), and the Gulthias tree. You report to the Hucrele family on the remains of their family members lost there. What's next for our band of daring do????

Session VIII (August 4, 2002)

Coldeven 3, 592

The group decides to trade in a some of their loot for cold hard gold, and do so at the local merchant. They also sell a spell book to "Willie the Wizard", a local resident and collector of all things magical. They look to buy some platemail armor for Zarx, but there is none to be found. They head back to the Inn and ask about the bone scroll and map they found in the Citadel. The tale of the famous dwarven smith of Durgeddein the Black and how he was driven from his ancestral home (by orcs) only to build a secret stronghold known as "Khundrukar" or the Glitterhame (in common). Here he forged magical weapons and became the bane of orcs all over the Rakers Mountains. After many years the orcs captured one of his comrades and through agonizing torture forced the secret location of Khundrukar from him. The orcs amassed a large army and invaded the Glitterhame. Durgeddin held them off for months, but the orcs finally tunneled in and gained access. After this it was a matter of pure numbers, and all the dwarves were slaughtered. After hearing this tale, told by Baskil Baggers, a bard of some local renown, Tibble lets loose about how the party has slayed two dragons, although he fails to mention the apparent size and age of the dragons. Another patron says that a blue dragon has been seen a mere ten miles west near the village of Gross Fell. He has a cousin Jimy, a shepard, who takes his herd into the local hills everyday, and has seen the dragon flying out of the mountains every evening. The party decides to head out the next day toward Gross Fell...

Coldeven 4, 592

Around noon the party reaches the town. They head to the local Gross Fell Inn and ask about the dragon. It's early evening before the party starts heading toward the place where cousin Jimy is watching over his sheep. They meet Jimy and before everyone is even done with the introductions everyone here's a big "woosh" over head. All look up to see a young blue dragon circling the area. The dragon heads off...The party heads toward the mountains in the apparent direction the young blue came from hoping to fine signs of it's lair. They come to a sheer mountain face that climbs several hundred feet nearly straight up.  Tibble finds dragon tracks around the area, but no apparent entrance to any lair. The party knowing how tricky dragons can be casts a detect magic and fine an illusion covering a cave entrance. The party readies weapons and their everburning torches heads into the lair of the young blue dragon. After searching around the dragon's lair and finding his treasure Norin alerts the party that the dragon has returned. The battle ensues with the party killing the dragon. They find an entrance to another passageway that the dragon had blocked off. Tibble takes a potion of reduce and his small self gets even smaller. He climbs through a small entrance in the debris that is blocking the passageway. With his torch in hand he sees a cavern covered in moss, slime, and other plant-like debris. The party clears the passageway completely and enters. They find two shambling mounds and are put to test during the battle with these very strong plant-like creatures. With it being very late in the evening now, the party camps here for the night. The next day and the next room the party finds a flesh golem, a very nasty creature that nearly kills Zarx with two tremendous blows. The fun continues with two wraiths, and both Shazari and Tarintha take hits from the creatures and still fill "drained"! They kill two lion-like creatures that take great use at hiding in shadows (Shadow Mastiff). The next area finds a deadly Bodak, but Tibble survives it's killer gaze! The next area finds Xorns plotting to steal the dragon hoard, which the party has already taken. The Xorns smell the treasure on the party and attack. Again, Zarx almost perishes...They come down to the end of a long tunnel. There is a door with the symbol of Heironeous etched into it. It looks like it was rather hastily done too. The party opens the door to find a pale-thin middle aged man who immediately thanks the party for his rescue. He has blond hair and blue eyes, and obviously has a suloise heritage. He claims to have been accidentally trapped in the room while adventuring, and doesn't know how long he's been here for sure. He shakes Norin's hand and gazes into his eyes, Tarintha notices this and asks Shazari to detect evil. Shaz doesn't believe it's necessary  and refuses to do it. The "man" than attacks Norin with a blow to his head and the battle is on. The man, who is actually a Vampire Wizard never really has a chance and misses with a couple more slam attacks. The party through a combination of spells from Laurana (magic missiles) and magical weapons are able to make the vampire dematerialize into a mist. Laurana tries to shut the door and trap the vampire in the room, but it is too late and he escapes. Unfortunately, she still slams the door and traps the party in the room. They spend the next three hours beating on the door with magical weapons and finally escape. They look for the Vampire, but find no signs...

Session IX (August 11, 2002)

Coldeven 5, 592...

The party bangs the door down and cautiously makes their way back through the tomb. They stop to skin the blue dragon, the only problem is that somebody else has already dragged the beast out of the tomb. Tibble finds horse tracks and tracks of a wagon, which apparently hauled the dragon body away. The tracks are over two hours old. They follow the tracks heading back toward Gross Fell, but they seem to skirt the town and continue past it into a more mountainous region. The party decides to stop in town real quick and resupply (it's 8pm or so and the sun has been down for a couple hours already.) The party finds all the businesses closed and the streets bare. The smell of garlic is heavy in the air. They knock on the door of a townsperson and he telsl them to go away until morning. The party gets the story (albeit through a wooden door) that the vampire has killed twenty people this evening and had promised to come back. The party makes their way over to the Inn, which should be jumping with activity, but instead is closed. They beat on the door, and the Inn Keeper gives the party the keys to the stables so they can get their horses out. They head out of town on the north road and enter a heavily forested area, with deep pines flanking both sides of the trail. Zarx notices some movement 100 ft. off the off to the west. Tarintha hears something off to the east side of the trail, although she can't pinpoint it's exact location. Then maybe 100 yards ahead of the group on the trail, they see what appears to be a horse surrounded by flames. It's hard to tell, but their is apparently a rider on the beast too. The nightmare (and rider) moves off the trail. The party then sees two fireballs come out of the forest from the northwest, it's too late...Laurana, Shazari, Norin, and all the horses fall from the resulting damage. Tibble and Tarintha are unscathed while Zarx is really hurting, but still conscious. Four people come out of the woods and immediately surround the three "surviving" party members. The rider on the nightmare approaches quickly and is soon on the remaining party members too. The rider is wearing red platemail, with the sign of Hextor (a fist holding a handful of arrows), emblazoned on his breastplate. What appears to be a female elf with black/dark grey skin wearing leather armor and brandishing a rapier makes her move toward the party. The man in the red plate stops her and says to the remaining party members, "Drop your weapons and no one else will die. You have a piece of property that belongs to our master and he simply wants it back." Tibble and company don't know exactly what to think at first, and then decide to attack. A person in a black robe backs out of melee against Tarintha and lets loose four magic missiles from a wand right into her belly. A human woman in leather armor, using a battle axe and a shield jumps into the fray. She goes after Zarx. A balding dwarf with dark grey skin wearing platemail and carrying a longsword heads after Tibble. The dark elf heads toward Tarintha and the robed figure. After only a few seconds Tibble, Zarx, and Tarintha know they are severely overmatched and surrender. The attackers take back the spellbook that belonged to the vampire and a couple of "random" items that are laying around. The red plated man gets back on his impressive steed, and the others disappear into the words as quickly as they appeared. Before he turns to ride away, he yells out, "Until we meet again, and we will!" with sort of a laugh. He rides back down the trail. The party applies healing to Shazari, Norin, and Laurana and walk back to Gross Fell. They go to the Inn and beat on the door again. The Innkeeper lets them in. Shaz provides the proper healing and the group hatches a plan. They'll head back to Wintershiven resupply and purchase a few needed items and come back to the Gross Fell area and look for the Vampire and his crew.

Coldeven 6, 592

The party wakes up and heads over to the stables to purchase new horses. It's a chilly morning and the area is covered in a dense fog. After breakfast they're on their way to Wintershiven....They arrive in the early evening and head for the Quivering Quail. They get rooms and grub, along with info on where the best weaponsmith and armorer is in town. They hit the sack...

Coldeven 7, 592

The party spends most of the day wheeling and dealing. They purchase masterwork platemail and  a greatsword for Zarx. They purchase the necessary supplies and put Shazari to work on making them magical. She locks herself up in her room for the next few days, only coming out for slight breaks and to eat a little something every once in a while. Norin heads over to the shantytown area and donates to a some gold to the  food kitchens for the poor. Tarintha discovers Chuk's Magic Shoppe! She inquires about Boots of Striding and something, and a big bugbear running the place tries to pass off some boots that aren't quite what she's looking for. She leaves and tells Tibble of the place and he comes back later that afternoon. Tibble inquires about anything magical and soon finds himself in trouble. A minute or so passes, and after a little conversation with Chuk the front door closes (by itself) behind Tibble. He goes to open it and finds it locked. Chuck calls out from behind the counter Crusher, Skinner, and Boyle! Three more bugbears appear and Chuck tells Tibble to drop all his magic items. Tibble says what magic items and Skinner and Crusher begin beating up on poor little Tibble. After taking quite a pummeling from the big bullies he surrenders all his magic items to them. Chuk hits a button behind the counter and the front door pops open. Tibble leaves and heads back to the Inn and finds Shazari, but the rest of the group is bopping around town somewhere. After a while Tibble is able to round up Norin, Tarintha, and Laurana and they go back to Chuk's Magic Shoppe! The only problem is that Chuk and company have skipped town already! The party heads out of town asking passersby whether they've seen a group of bugears and their wagon. They follow the trail for a hour or two down the road. They find a wagon dumped over and hidden fairly well off the side of the road. A number of Bugbear trails are immediately around the wagon, and a number of horse trails head off into different directions. Tibble is pissed and wants to get his magical items back so they decide to take a chance and follow the trail of two horses that go off in the same direction. After about an hour they come across a bugbear camp and slaughter the whole lot of them, including Skinner and Crusher, but no Chuk! Tibble did recover his magical dagger from Skinner though! They head back to town and call it a day...and what a day it had been.

Coldeven 8, 592

Early the next morning a familiar face pops in for breakfast, it's Mortimer (originally met at the Boar's Head Inn in Rakerville). He says that Laurana's mother is not in good shape, and may very soon pass to the other side. He will take her their rather quickly if that is what she wants. She says her good byes and that hopefully she'll be back soon. (Like around Xmas time!) Another day to run around town, as Shazari continues her work on the greatsword and armor. Norin suspects the group that attacked them in the woods may be apart of Hextor's Blackguard, he decides to do a little research on it. The party gains audience with Ogon Tillet, the Supreme Prelate of the Pale. They had talked to him on another occasion regarding matters in Tristor. He agreed to grant the party a couple of Restoration Spells for half off the going price, a mere $4750 gps...

Session X (September 14, 2002)

Coldeven 9-13, 582...

The party hangs out in Wintershiven for a few days. They resupply and Shazari turns a couple of does her magic on a few MW items. Then, in a bit of a surprise, Shaz decides to head back to Rakerville to see her family. From the sounds of it, she may not return to the adventuring life style. It seems it didn't suit her too well. The party asks around about the Blackguard but it doesn't really amount to too much information. The party goes to the Wizards College and recruits a new mage to replace Laurana, her name is Jeserel.

Coldeven 14, 582...  

The party heads back to Gross Fell, bypassing a bawling ettin who is grieving over it's dead mother. Once in Gross Fell they meet a Cleric of Heironeous who has been sent from Nyrond at the request of Norin and the Prelate himself. He quickly acclimates himself into the party, and fills the party in on what he knows about the Blackguard of Hextor.

Coldeven 15, 582...

The party heads for the ruins of a tower about five miles out of town. It's the old homestead of the Brandedhand family, built by the Elizir's (the vampire) father. Once they arrive they do a thorough search of the place and find two items of note. One, is a trap door under a the spiral staircase, which is the home of some acidic jelly-like creature. No one is hurt to badly in the encounter, and the other is a door which they can not seem to open. As it nears dark the party decides to return to Gross Fell, as they've had a bad experience with fighting a vampire at night! As they enter Gross Fell they here that bat of Dragon wings over their heads. They rush into the Inn and attempt to devise a plan. It seems the Blue Dragon, which they've supposedly slain once before (he's missing his horn), is again on the prowl. Tibble gets out the horn and taunts the creature with it! He soon pays for it with his life though, as the dragon swoops down and attacks him, while he is alone outside the Inn firing arrows at it. The rest of the party had went back inside to get missile weapons from the Innkeeper's stash. Tibble goes limp after the attack and the dragon carries him away in his mouth. Jeserel's familiar, an eagle, follows the dragon at a safe distance and watches it return to the tower, and enter the "locked door!".

Coldeven 16, 582...

The party waits until the next morning and heads back to the tower. Jeserel opens the "locked" door with a knock spell. Upon opening the door and looking inside, they see a lavish sitting room. It appears to be a gate to another place, as the inside of this place obviously not in a part of the ruins. After entering the tower, the door slams behind them. On a door directly across from the one they've entered is some strange script which they can not decipher. They later find out that the script reads "Welcome to Hell!" They open the door with the script on it, and enter a square chamber that is 40' by 40' in size. In the center of the room is a huge cylinder 20' in diameter mad of stone. There are no apparent entrances into the cylinder. There are three others door at the midpoint of the respective walls. They choose one which again has some strange script on it. They later find out it reads "Battle of the Bones!", and for a good reason... They open the door and see a dim landscape of dark brown earth and fiery red skies. In the distance can be seen volcano blasting lava high into the air. Immediately in front of our adventurers is a graveyard. After a moment, they see movement. Skeletons are digging themselves out of their graves. The battle ensues. 20 something Skeletons later after finally entering the door and allowing it to shut behind them, the door reappears. As they go back into the tower, a grinding can be heard both above and below them. A door appears in the cylinder and a spiral staircase leading both up and down one level is revealed. Upon the next level the party finds four mummies, and on the level above that they have their first encounter with a hellcat. Now they rest for the night, waiting to go up yet another level of the tower...

Session XI (October 12th, 2002)

Coldeven 17, 592

The party goes up to the fourth level of the tower. As they enter the main room, directly in front of them is a large opening. They see the landscape around them, similar to some of the "rooms" they've been in. Large volcanoes lie in the distance. They also see something else...A familiar outline in the distance...The Blue Dragon is flying towards the opening. Jeserel gets off two fireballs, and gets herself blasted by a bolt of electricity from the dragon. The dragon flies in and perches itself on the window seal and begins attacking. After a lengthy exchange the dragon flies away and the party takes time to retreat into the 3rd level of the tower, and rest awhile...A whole day actually....

Coldeven 18, 592

The part ascends to the top of the tower again to find the dragon has brought a couple of his buddies with him from the Blackguard. A female fighter/barbarian and a Deep Dwarf Ranger. Taritha comes flying around the corner and is hit by an arrow that pierces her heart. She goes down immediately. Zarx rages and takes on the two Blackguard, with Jeserel supporting him with magic. Tyris and Zarx head around to flank the Blackguard, but run into the dragon. The battle is intense and Tyris and Norin force the dragon into bat form, but it gets away. Zarx, while taking a beating from the two opponents slays the dwarf, but then dies himself. Tyris falls dead soon after. Norin and Jeserel finish off the fighter. Norin and Jeserel drag the bodies to the lowest level of the tower, where they find the gate back to Greyhawk. They take the bodies back to Wintershiven hoping for divine intervention.

Coldeven 21, 592

While back in Wintershiven and going over their booty, Norin and Jeserel discover that one of the weapons they've confiscated has the capability to hold wish spells. They take a chance and wish three times for the resurrection of Zarx, Tyris, and Tarintha; luckily the wishes are granted. They spend a few days in the city resting up, and are called by Ogen Tillet, for a meeting. He's heard about the group's adventure and their transport to another plane. He believes a tower over in Tenh, not too far from the Pale border, may itself be going back and forth between planes. It disappears every three minutes. He gives the party each a potion of cure moderate wounds, with the promise they will investigate the tower when they're done with their Blackguard inquiries. Norin and company vow to do so. On the way back to Gross Fell a Celestial Lion appears from a patch of woods, Norin's mount has arrived.

Coldeven 24-26, 593...

The group make there way back to Gross Fell, spend the night and head out toward the Branded-Hands tower ruins.

Coldeven 27, 592...

They enter the tower, fight the skeletons and ghouls on the ground level, ghasts on the second level and a destrachan on the third level. A strange beast with no eyes, that has a sonic roar that does major damage. They head up to the fourth level and find nothing of note. They wait a while, and look out on the plane for the dragon, but find nothing. They head down to the first level and out on the plane...

Session XII (October 26th, 2002)

Coldeven 27, 592 cont...

They head out on the plane and find out that with the help of Jeserel's eagle familiar, that they are on an island seemingly floating in the air. It appears to be moving around a mountain in front of them. They watch other floating islands around them including one that crashes into the big central mountain. They walk out a few hundred yards and see a 10 round hole that descends nearly straight down. As they investigate gate the whole, three creatures appear in front of them and they hear voices in their heads to follow him and they won't get hurt. Well that party attacks because Norin detects evil and he just can't help himself these days. The have come upon a race known as the Yugoloths. There are different kinds of this creature. They kill a Mezzoloth and two Canoloths.

They drop Zarx on a rope into the hole. He gets down about 80' and disappears. The rest of the crew realizing this is some sort of portal jump in and they are all transported to a place beside a huge Palace. They are surrounded by 20 Mezzoloths and are told they will not be harmed and that they have also captured the Black Guard members. They are taken to a room with cots, are fed and told to rest. Another kind of Yugoloth, called the Ultroloth enters the room later. He answers any questions that the party has about the Plane they're on. He tells the party there will be a gladiatorial type combat tomorrow against the Blackguard.

Coldeven 28, 592...

The party defeats the Blackguard, including the Vampires Kracolides & Branded-Hand. The guy in the red armor, and a drow! It's a tough battle but they survive. Upon going back to the "island" the tower is on, they meet another dragon. This one like to swim in magma. It's called a Pyroclastic Dragon, and because of a stunning blow by Tarintha, the party kills it off rather easily. They transport back to Oerth and head to the village of Gross Fell for the night. They throw a huge party for the Vampire/Dragon slayers and party into the night.

Growfest 1-2, 592...

The party travels to Wintershiven...

Growfest 3-5, 592...

The party gets some odd and ends done around the city, including going to the armorer, weaponsmith, seeing Willie the Wizard, and Odgen Tillet. The Heironeous twins both have dreams about the Elder Elemental God, and Tillet helps them out with a little info about him. The party decides to head toward the infamous Village of Homlet, near Verbobonc.

Session XIII (November 9th, 2002)

Growfest 6, 592...

The party leaves on their very long journey...

Growfest 7, 592...

Halfway to Hatherleigh and an Ogre attacks the mounts during the night. Unfortunately for the Ogre, Selaris (Norin's mount) is the first to meet the creature. It tears the Ogre apart with little problem. The party stands back in awe of the creatures first action in battle. A truly remarkable creature...

Planting 1-2 592...

Party rides into Hatherleigh...Do the Inn thing...Leave the next morning...

Planting 3-4, 592...

Uneventful riding although the weather is horrible. You can tell it's spring, because it's been raining a majority of the trip so far...

Planting 5, 592...

A huge thunderstorm hits around noon time and the party heads toward a hill that a few hundred feet off the road that appears to have an overhang. The get to the hill and see a pair of huge bronze doors with pictures of vile sacrifices and funeral practices. The doors are ajar. Garrett enters and gets caught in a claw trap, he escapes, but not easily. The party has entered some kind of tomb. The find a live elf caught in one of the claw traps. They figure out how the traps work and are attacked by two will-o-wisps as they attempt to free the elf. They kill the wisps with little difficulty. They enter the second room of the tomb and find nothing but a group of 11 coins on an alter. Garrett takes the coins, releasing an efreeti who was trapped in the alter. The party kills the efreeti! They head into Hawkburgh as evening approaches. The party unwinds after the rough day in the local Inn. The owner and bartender, one Crazy Ernie gets Zarx's attention and asks him to enter his bear wrasslin' tournament tomorrow. Norin, Zarx, & Tarintha vow to wrassle!

Planting 6, 592...

The party ate a good breakfast at the Inn and headed out to the arena. The three contestants paid their 5gp entrance fees...Zarx was up first and he took on "Butch", a massive female Black Bear. It was quite the fight, but the bear pinned Zarx.

Next up was Tarintha. She put her martial arts to work, and nearly pulled of the upset against "Grinder", a big brown bear. The bear had trouble getting a hold of her, but he finally did and pinned her.

Then Norin took on Grinder. He was cake for the big brown bear...

Finally, the party suggested that Ernie wrestle Selaris, the celestial lion. Crazy Ernie is "crazy" after all! He is known to wrestle bears himself, and even other people who change themselves into bears. He said the party would have to put up 100gp though. Crazy Ernie struck right away and  pinned the big white lion almost immediately! Today was quite the eye opener for the party...

Planting 7-11, 592...

Except for the attack by the werewolves, nothing much happened on the way to Midmeadow. The arrive safely though, and uninfected by lycanthropy!

Planting 12, 592...

Party heads off the main road, down a secondary road toward Jedbridge...

Session XIV (November 23, 2002)

Planting 13, 592 - Flocktime 7, 592...The Summary....

The party travels to Jedbridge, then cuts cross country through the heart of the County of Urnst to get to Radigast City, they hire a ship to take them and their mounts across the Nyr Dyv and to Dyvers. They board the boat and hit the port cities of High Maldreth and Nystrand and head out across the heart of the Dyv. They encounter a pirate ship full of halflings and kill them all. This is where they are now. A few days out from the port of Willip...A few interesting encounters did occur along the way. Xanakor, the lone remaining member of the Blackguard Unit that the party annihilated on Gehenna, sent some undead Carrion Birds to harass the party. Jeserel bites it, and Zarx comes close to dying too. The Luck Blade brings Jeserel back with its last wish. The party then meets an undead Warrior that has to be defeated in "fair" one-on-one combat to send his soul to the outer planes. Norin gets hit hard at the beginning of combat the combat, (he was the one chosen by the warrior), and is nearly killed. Zarx offers to take on the creature and defeats him in battle. The warrior leaves some nice magical items behind as a reward. A great sword, a ring, some horseshoes, and a bag (of holding). Next creature encounter is known as a Polar, it has a Psionic attack that affected half the party, confusing them terribly. Garrett kept attacking Tarintha among other things. They did finally kill the creature. Next they meet a pack of blink dogs, which the party feeds a nice meal too. Then they're attacked by a pack of dire wolves, a tough battle, but again no one really gets hurt. In Radigast City, Garrett and Zarx go gambling, and Garrett gets pissed off because he thinks the "house" is cheating. Garrett and G'lann go back that evening and get into a battle with the owner of the place, who turns out to be a doppleganger who has two invisible bodyguards. They kill the owner, but the city militia interferes and everyone else scatters and gets away. After finally heading out on the Nyr Dyv, and traveling for almost two weeks a ship full of halfling pirates attack the boat. This after an exchange of fireballs by the wizards on both ships. A Wizard is also with the Halflings, but he gets away after firing another fireball at the end of the battle.

Session XV (January 4th, 2003)

Flocktime 8, 592...

After the battle with the Halflings our daring adventurers try their hand at ship rowing, unfortunately their inability to maneuver the ship costs them a fatal run-in with an Aquatic Black Pudding. The pudding attacks the bottom of the ship. Jeserel runs down in to the bowels of the ship and gets enveloped by the creature. Norin loses Shatterspike (his magic sword) as he attacked the creature. The party bails out and saves themselves, while letting Jeserel die, and take herself to the Outer Planes. They party and crew members jump into the two life boats and watch the ship sink. G'Lann sets off a flaming arrow and alerts the Capt. Tarik's ship, which turns around and picks up the occupants of the two life boats...Another day on the Nyr Dyv and the ship comes into the port of Willip...Tyris and Norin head to a church of Heironeous and report to the elders there. Norin purchases a replacement longsword. Garrett sells his "Ring of Blinking" and purchase 50 Flaming and 50 Frost Arrows. Tarintha. Zarx, and G'Lann head out to the local adventurers guild and to find the services of a mage. The come across a sorcerer and coerce him into the party. The party decides to travel by "horse?" and follow the highway south to Dyvers...

Flocktime 9-10, 592...

Everything goes fine for the fist day or so, until Zarx hears a couple of monsters fighting. A Xorn had burrowed its way into the cave of an Earth Mephit, who had a large cache of gold. The Mephit also had a large Grey Render as a friend... The Xorn and Grey Render go at it for a few minutes with the Xorn winning the battle. The Xorn then attacks the party and Zarx tears it up killing the creature with a few blows...The party recovers 9000 gp in the cave of the Mephit.

Flocktime 11-12, 592...

Another day of travel goes well...During the night a large pack of Worgs attacks the party...The battle does not go well for our daring adventurers. The "trip" feat used by the Worgs keeps the multiple attacks to a minimum. The Worgs overwhelm the party. Solaris and Tarintha go unconscious, and Zarx survives the battle with one hit point. Norin also takes a beating! Everyone survives though, thanks to Norin's Mass Stabilize Spell...The party rests the whole next day recovering from the battle (Flocktime 12)...

Flocktime 13-14, 592

Another day and a half of travel gets the group to Dyvers. The rest in the luxurious Inn on the Nyr Dyv and divvy up their 9000gps... \

Session XVI (February 1st, 2003)

Flocktime 15-20, 592

The party heads out for Verbobonc through the Gnarley woods. They stick close to the river for there five day journey. They pass a Treant along the way and do battle with a giant, but arrive safely in Verbobonc five days later. They get a little info about Hommlet and the TOEE and travel on toward Hommlet. Two days later they arrive. That evening they delve right into listening for aany info at the Welcome Wench. They follow a gnome in a robe to the Terrigans (another Inn), but settle on going to the Mill. A strange figure leaves the house at the mill and Tarintha attempts to subdue the man, but he gets away. Norin sends Selaris after him attempting to find his trail. Selaris gets separated from the group and is found dead with his throat cut. Norin is devastated...

Flocktime 21, 592...

Without sleep the party continues to the Mill...They find a cult hidden in the basement of the place. Zarx is charmed and immediately joins the cults side. He attacks Norin and nearly kills Tarintha before he is subdued by the rest of the party. They kill the rest of the cult members and loot their bodies and chest. They head to the Church of St. Cuthbert and have Tarintha healed. The party goes to see Elmo, head of the town militia, and explain what's been going on. He asks the party to check out the moathouse and see if anything is going on...Here's a copy of the an important note found in the cults' locked chest...

Master Dunrat,

      You are to set up a secret base in the town of Hommlet and uncover an ancient shrine in the moathouse. Find whatever treasures of the DARK GOD you can, and bring the 0bjects to the Temple of All-Consumption. A wagon can be obtained from Tal Chamish in the nearby city of Rastor to haul whatever you can back to the crater. May the Dark One arise soon...

                                                                                    Naquent

                                                                                Chuck's Session I

Session XVII (February 15th, 2003)

Flocktime 22, 592...

The  party gets side-tracked on their way to the moathouse by a Hawk who has a message tied to his leg. It's from a cleric of Heironeous who says that a High Priest is going to be sacrificed. Tarintha and Garret go back to Hommlet to further research info about the ToEE and the priesthood of Tharizdun. The rest of the party begins a two day journey of following the hawk! Early on the second morning a pair of Dire Lions attack the horses as the group is just about to break camp. A strange elven fellow comes flying out of the woods with a javelin of lightning that nearly fells one of the beasts. The party dispatches of the creatures and they continue on their journey into the Kron Hills....

Flocktime 23, 592...

The party with its newest member Ehryn, are led to the mouth of a cave just as the sun sets. The party enters the cave system and finds the cleric who sent the message cowering in a corner. He joins the party and directs them to a secret door which teleports the group deep into the underdark. They enter a series of passages and battle a few drow. Ehryn is killed in a battle with four dire apes and a wizard. The party rests for eight hours after having a hard time of it. Then they battle a group of 23 something or another, slaves of the drow...So ends Chuck the DM volume I!