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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:41:30 GMT -5
These are the Character Journals since the beginning of the campaign
By Dragonbait (Now deceased)
11th Day of Belot, the Month of Death
I took a job today to earn a few extra coins...normally i would never do such a thing, but the cause seems worthy. We will travel into the sewers to on the marrow to clean out the vermin population.
12th day of Belot, the month of Death
We have killed several rats as well as odds and ends of other cruel creatures. I think this cause is worthy of my time. I have to keep an eye on Mylad more than normal, don't want him drinking any of that foul water.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:43:21 GMT -5
By Kelly, the Priest of Corean, god of Law and Justice
(11th day of Belot, the Month of Death through the present).
This journal will be my private journal recorded so that I may from time to time make reports to the Main Temple of Corean in Mithral.
Participated in the annual "sewer sweep." Encountered many unsavory monsters down there, but one particularly disturbing. A black sphere which seems to be a form of undead. I am not experienced nor knowledgeable of this type of entity, and I am not sure whether our attacks destroyed it or not. After cleaning out our section of the sewer, I recommended to the individuals that I was adventuring with to go to the "heal tents" and have cure disease cast on them just in case. Then I reported the matter concerning the undead entity to the Temple and its' Priests. My fellow adventurers are a lively sort and I am beginning to consider them to be trustworthy friends, time will see. They are as follows: Grimnor (half-orc monk), Mylo (halfling ranger), Meleguant (human druid and his dog), and later we met up with a rogue named Narin. We also found several items of value down in the sewers which must be investigated further.
Well we are out of the sewers and I think we successfully cleaned out our assigned area. A further investigation into the items we found revealed that many were valuable. One ring in particular was identified by a friendly knight of Mithral, Larus Mortrue. It supposedly belongs to a local merchant Tobias Asuras. Further investigation is warranted, but for now we accompany the knight to his favorite inn for dinner and drinking. This is more fun than the temple, but I must be careful to keep my wits about me tonight. After dinner, Mylo got up and told the story of our adventure in the sewers. He really captured the attention of the crowd with his "story." While slightly exaggerated, I think that his style bears worth remembering to liven up some of the sermons I am called forth to deliver from time to time. It seems as if we have made a new friend in Knight Larus Mortrue, and he has recommended that we seek a license from the local mercenary guild. It has been a long night, and I am off to bed here at the priest's dormitory.
The next day brings about a conclusion in our investigation into the ring. We tracked down the owner's wife, but found that he had been missing for several weeks. What his body was doing down in the sewers is quite a mystery, for it was away from any hole leading to the surface from which it could have been easily dumped. Another mystery that we should investigate over time. I comforted and prayed with the widow and we returned Tobias' ring to her. She rewarded us with a gift of a pearl of power. This item will allow me to cast an extra first level clerical spell once per day, and it could come in quite handy as my cure light wound spells were exhausted by the romp through the sewers. I have agreed to carry it and use it as a party asset, but it still belongs to the party and is not mine to dispose of.
I also returned a piece of jewelry marked with the sign of Corean to the priests at the Temple. My new friends were more than gracious when I asked them to part with this piece of valuable jewelry. They did not question me or demand compensation for it. I think these are good people, and I should become good friends with them. After I presented the jewelry to the Temple, I was given a reward for its' return of 500 GP. I immediately shared this bounty with my new friends, and they seemed quite pleased with the entire experience. I also cast a detect magic spell on the items we found, but they were mundane alibiet valuable items.
Since the items we found were mundane, we have decided to sell them at a local pawn shop that deals with such items. The price negotiated was unbelievably low and funds are still hard to come by. However, our negotiator was able to outfox the buyer and he garned almost double what the man would normally pay. One member of our party bought a MW silver dagger from the lot before we sold it to the broker. We have been asking each person we deal with for more information about Tobias Asuras in our continued attempt to get to the bottom of his mysterious death. Upon dividing up the gold, the party went with me to purchase a MW Long Sword and MW Chain Shirt. I also went to the temple and have donated 20 GP to the order and god for the good fortune I have been blessed with so far.
These two items have been in my mind for quite some time. I really wanted the sword and fortunately it was available right away. However, I have to be fitted for the MW Chain Shirt and it won't be available for two weeks from now. I have made arrangements to trade in my breast plate armor as part of the payment, but the smith would only give me half-price for it. It has only been used a few times, but there were some claw marks on it by being battered by monsters in the sewers. One thing that I had not counted on was that these items would cost a premium price, but I was lucky enough to borrow 100 GP from the giant (half-orc) of a monk I travel with. In the priesthood, some of the fathers looked down on the monastic order, but I think this hulk of a half-man half-beast is quickly becoming a good friend of mine. I have promised to pay Grimnor back at the first opportunity. Funds are very tight right now, but at least I am better armed and my new armor lets me move freely like I am not wearing any at all.
We have headed over to the Mercenary Guild to apply for our permit as suggested by the knight Laurs Mortrue. He was so impressed with our abilities that this should be a snap. How wrong I was; we have encounter the most horrific beast that any party of adventurers could ever face ------- a bureaucrat. I have tagged him with the nickname Mr. B. Crat; everyone chuckled at the thought and I think the name is going to stick. I have asked him if there is any other things we need to do to get our permit, but he just said no, complete your training. But I know bureaucrats, the Temple is full of them and they think it is god's work to make everyone's lives overburdened with paperwork, mundane details and outright illogic. I hope this does not turn out that way. Mr. Crat has sent us over to the Combat Training Guild for weapon training, etc. At the Training Facility we met our trainer, Oyay, a gruff old man but obviously a battle tested warrior.
Grimnor has us all rolling with his wit and deeds at the training facility. WHen Oyay asked him what he would do to an undead and then pointed at a training dummy, Grimnor let out a war cry and kicked the thing's fake head completely off. Then he proceeded to bust the dummy over his back completely in half. I nearly choked because I laughed so hard. I do not think that Oyay was impressed with us during our intial meeting, but we have to train for 2 more weeks. Over the course of our training, we all began to respect Oyay more, even Grimnor once we got into non-weapon training. This monk is a curious man, but I am glad he is our ally. Mylo displayed an almost "ungodly" talent with the shortbow; I am not sure where he was trained, but it is amazing. I think Narin, Meleguant and myself also picked up a few pointers along the way and we are better off for the training. Armed with our certificate of completion, we headed back over to the office of Mr. B. Crat at the Mercenary Guild.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:43:49 GMT -5
Continued
Of course, just like the temple, Mr. B. Crat had a million other things for us to complete to qualify for a permit. I knew it and if he is ever out of work here, then he can surely work for the offices at the Temple. Well we have been run around all day gathering things for the permit. We even went and received the blessing of Corean from Father Generic at one of the local temples. I donated 5 GP for the blessing, which represents one half of my current funds (and I still owe Grimmy 100 GP on top of that). All of the other members of my party but one followed my lead and also donated. I am glad that I am able to influence them in the ways of Corean; afterall, that is one of my main tasks in life is to bring people to my god and to strenghten the order. Upon our return to Mr. Crat's office, we are now informed that we need to wait several weeks more on background checks. This nickname is more accurate that I could have ever imagined. But he did tell us that a well-known citizen of Mithral could vouch for us all. I thought of the Temple, but they only know me, but then we remembered Larus Mortrue and have gone to seek him out for his endorsement.
We have also found out quite a bit of information on Tobias Asuras and his family during the last few weeks. He lived on moonstreet near the shrine of the lost. He is a member of the Merchant House Asuras, which was exiled from the city a long time ago. The rumor is that they were exiled for selling to both sides during the Titan War. The head of the family is Telos Asuras and he is more that 100 years old and has more than 200 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The current rumor is that this house is again up to its' old tricks and is selling now to Casastian agents (a dictatorship to the south bent on the overthrow of the government in Mithral - they also have enslaved the halflings and are bent on the destruction of the dwarves - they also have the grandiose goal of taking over all of Scarn). All we have after two weeks of investigation are rumors and more mysteries, but all we can do it keep our eyes and ears open for more clues on this matter.
The city has been besieged with a mysterious plague recently, focused in the western end primarily. Even the powerful healing and cure spells of my order have been completely ineffective with curing this plague. Rumors persist that it is not an ordinary plague and we are taking precautions to try and avoid it. When we arrived at the room of our friend Lazrus Moretrue, I was distressed to learn that he has been beset by the plague as well. We did manage to get his signature on the paper we need for the Guild permit in a moment of lucidity, but he quickly collapsed back into a fever-induced stupor. While we were there Larus told us a strange story about dreams of trees and being in the Rabbit Woods outside of town where he played as a child. Upon the further questioning of a nurse who has been taking care of many plague victims, this dream is commonly displayed by the afflicted.
We returned to the Guild for our permit, then agreed to set off to investigate the Rabbit Woods. In the woods, we were attacked by a half naked and crazed man with a spear. We subdued him and left him under guard with Narin while the rest of us proceeded to investigate the trail I discovered using my tracking skill. This trail took us deeper into the woods until we came across a patch of strange dying weeds. Mylo and Meleguant seemed to become infected or altered when they made contact with the weeds. They claimed to be hearing voices but neither me nor Grimnor could hear anything. We became distrustful of them, especially when they started to eat the berries from these plant and encouraged us to do the same.
After long arguments and attempts to convince us to eat the berries, Grimnor and I reached a compromise with them. If they were unaffected for 3 hours after eating the berries, then we too would eat the berries. Their argument was that this plant is sentient and needs our help to return home. Since the plants do not communicate well, the information is cryptic to say the least. Here is what we know about home: They were carried there by the winds, home is a hole, home is dark, home is not so heavy (here heavy, home not so heavy). We have also observed many wolf tracks around the strange plants.
Several hours passed and our comrades did not seem changed by eating the berries, only that they hear voices. So Grimmy and I ate of the berries. We were drawn into a crazy swoon, which upon ending we realized that we carry some type of creature now inside our heads behind our eyes. The creatures sleep, but I am anxious to return them to their home and get it out of my head. As I predicted secretly to Mylo, the plague did end as soon as we ate the berries. Also, the strange weeds dried up and turned to dust in seconds. We returned to where we left Narin and the half-naked man turned out to be a local druid from this forest. We are now following him to his home for the night.
The druid feed us a good meal at his home and let us spend the night there, although I am not too sure that Narin did not do the bulk of the work (hehehehe). I had a theory I privately discussed with the members of our party; that "home" could be a cave up in the mountains. My theory is as follows: a cave is a hole in a mountain, it can be exposed to breezes, it is dark, and since it is up in the mountains and air pressure would be lower, then home would seem less heavy than the forest floor. When the druid was questioned, he said that there were several caves up in the mountains, one of which is the home to an "odd biatch wolf." These wolf tracks near the strange weeds also fit in with my theory of the cave as well. Upon further questioning, the druid began to steer us back to the city and seemed to not want us to go to the cave of the odd biatch wolf, but I still think that this is a good place to check out. Besides I am not in favor of carrying these plague creatures into the city inside of our heads; we assumed the risk voluntarily, but we should not potentially expose the entire city or my Temple or its' followers.
We do have Narin in the party who is unaffected and could go into town without fear of exposing others to the brain creatures. Basically the druid gave us these references for people to see who might be able to provide us with information regarding the creatures inside of our heads: 1. Veshian Scholar Kobla Mythorius - near the wall off of Gul Street (hard to get an appointment), 2. Guild of Shadows (which is a wizard guild), 3. Nyaella of the Druids Guild (whom we have already met and whom Meleguant knows), and 4. Chel Azatan at Rare Books in Mithral.
Right now we just finished eating at the druid's home, and I imagine he will ask Narin to clean up the dishes. I would like to question him more and see if he would submit to a zone of truth spell (or secretly cast it). I also think that casting an augury spell is a good idea and to ask questions related to going to the city for information and going to the cave of the odd wolf could be in order. For some strange reason, I think this druid is intentionally steering us away from the most logical place to investigate (the cave).
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:44:29 GMT -5
We woke up and had breakfast with the local druid. He stated that the cave of the she wolf in not up in the mountains, so we have decided to head to Mithral to get more information. First, we went to visit Nyaella at the druid's grove in the city. She was very receptive to us and gave what little information she could. We all made small donations to her cause, and pursuant to her advice headed to see the Sage Kobla Mythorius.
The visit to the sage did not go so well. He is booked up for most of the year and we could not get in to see him. There was a little trouble involving Meleguant there when he grabbed the sage's schedule. As a result, we left rather quickly. Further attempts to contact the sage were unsuccessful, and I had to try to talk some members of the party out of breaking into his building. Had to avoid this due to the teachings of Corean.
Next we went to see Chel Azatan at the Rare Book Store. He was very helpful, and showed us a old book which disclosed that the mysterious plant is from the erethal plane. He also invited to come back and sell him any old books we may find. There are primarily two ways we can get to this plane, getting the help of wizards or priests. Fortunately, the party all agreed to try the priestly route first.
We travelled to the main temple of Corean in Mithral and met with a high-level priest named Harvard Karl. We fully explained the situation and how these creatures and plants relate to the plague. He agreed to take this matter to the highest levels and let us know within a few days whether he can help us travel to the plane we seek. At this point, the priest asked us to assist the church with a private matter.
It seems a local halfling stole a valuable diamond from the merchant house Asuras and later sold it to a traveling wizard. We are to recover the stone and to try to avoid the coming bloodshed by bounty hunters who are seeking the halfling. I talked to my mentor in the local temple to let him know of the assignment and what I was doing, then the entire party set off in search of the halfling.
He was reported to be in Harbor Town, specifically shanty town in the "little people" section. We finally located his whereabouts and talked to him to get information regarding the missing jewel, whom he took it from, whom he sold it to, and where the money from the sale is. Of course, the money is gone. The halfling begs us to help protect him and we are considering taking him with us. I am not too sure of the feasibility or wisdom of such a decision, but will leave that to the majority of the party to decide. I am going to send notice to Harvard that we must travel ruins in the East Forest in order to track down the mage.
Here is what we know for sure now: It was a large, clear diamond about the size of a halfling's hand, it was taked from a merchant from the house Asuras in Temple City near the Golem, it was sold by the halfling to a wandering human mage wearing mage robes with a pointy hat. The mage is now exploring ruins in the East Forest about 2 1/2 days away.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:44:59 GMT -5
Well the bounty hunters captured the halfling thief, but we cut a deal with them to spare his life and release him if we could bring them and their employer the stolen gem within 7 days. They agreed, so I sent messages to Harvard (the assigning priest) and to my mentor at the Temple. These messages told them what happened, what deal we cut, where we were going, and what we were going to try to do.
We have set off in search of the wizard with the stolen diamond. He is rumored to be in the eastern woods. At the end of the first day, we encountered a nasty wyvern that flew in and attacked us repeatedly. Grimnor was poisoned and paralyzed for quite a few hours. After Mylo killed the beast (with a little help from us), Melegaunt the druid harvested the poison gland from it. We came up with 4 vials of Wyvern poison, but Mylo is nearly out of arrows.
The next morning, we broke camp and set off to find the ruins the wizard and his companions are supposedly exploring. The plant creatures in our heads talked to us again. They want to go home and said that our branches cannot sustain them a long time. We found the ruins of a castle and Melegaunt searched for tracks. He found a set of three human tracks going into one of the towers of the castle. We will next likely check out these ruins and footprints; hope all goes well.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:45:28 GMT -5
Well we are investigating the first level of the castle ruins. It is only midday and we have fought off dire rats and a choker who almost killed two party members. My cure light wound spells are almost all gone, and would be if I did not carry the pearl of power. I am down to my 0-level spells, one 1st level spell, and 3 2nd level spells. Hope things get better or it is time to sleep and recover spells soon. So far footprints are the only clues about the mage with the diamond that we seek. We are still following them around these ruins, but I imagine that him and his party are long underground. We have 5.5 days remaining to recover the diamond and rescue the halfling thief who stole it from the Aszure merchant family.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:46:00 GMT -5
The party has continued its' exploration of the first level of the castle ruins. We are still following the human tracks, hopefully of the wizard we seek. We encountered several strange creatures during our search, all of whom were very deadly.
Melegaunt lost another animal companion. This time his wolf was killed by an assasin vine. While the party was fighting it from long range with ranged weapons, we were suddenly attacked by a carrion crawler from behind. The first to go down was our large friend, Grimnor the half-orc monk. Next was Melegaunt followed by Mylo.
Finally, I was the only one left, but fortunately the party had inflicted some damage on the foul creature before they were paralyzed by its' poison. When everyone was laying on the ground, it opened up an opportunity for me to use my burning hands spell. Thank Corean I had it as my domain spell. The carrion crawler was instantly killed in the burning blast. As I awaited the party to awaken, I killed the assasin vine from a distance with my crossbow. Once it was dead, I made the party members comfortable and stood guard until they slowly awakened.
We then investigated several rooms and found various treasures in them. Some were found on corpses of the fairly recent dead. We found various weapons, over 900 CP, alot of SP, a magic mace, a MW rapier, several daggers, and some magic silver dust. Right now we have no idea what the magic dust is or can do for us.
Finally, after many battles and injuries to my comrades, my spells and the spells of the druid are all but exhausted. I only have my 0-level spells remaining, so we decided to get a little rest in a safe room and wait for dawn to arrive so we can pray for new spells.
After getting about one hour sleep, we were awoken by a strange singing. Fortunately everyone made their Will saves and we discovered that a foul harpy was trying to enspell us with her music. I attacked the harpy and hit it with my crossbow, but then she headed quickly to her nest and escaped us. Upon investigating the nest, we discovered that she took an object with her and had fled.
After investigating this all we could, we returned to sleep and had an uneventful night. We have awoke in the morning, eaten, and prayed for new spells and are ready to continue our search for the mage and the investigation of this ancient castle which now stands in ruins. _________________
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:46:33 GMT -5
We searched the remaining portions of the ruined castle and found several treasures, some of which are magical and must be identified in town. Then we decided to set a trap for the harpy, but before we could do that Melegaunt discovered that the body of his dead wolf companion had been dug up during the night and carried away.
Melegaunt tracked the blood and fur trail into the woods where we found the harpy that had fled from us the day before. This harpy had killed the mage and his companions we sought and it seemed logical that she might have the diamond we were after.
Me and my companions formulated a plan. We placed cotton balls made solid with candle wax in our ears for the assualt on the harpy. Then I cast a Bless spell, then cast a Shield of Faith on Melegaunt, and cast a silence spell on Melegaunt who moved away and another silence spell on Mylo. Melegaunt previously cast summon hawks who proceeded to fly to the harpy on the attack to prevent her from flying away.
Melegaunt removed the cotton balls and proceeded to walk toward the harpy as if he were enchanted by her singing. The rest of us moved at double speed to get into position to attack the harpy. First the hawks attacked, then Melegaunt headed toward the harpy. As Mylo, Grimnor and me moved into range, a blue dragon came crashing out of the forest and attacked us from behind. Likely it was under the control of the evil harpy.
Melegaunt charged the tree the harpy was in and attacked. Grimnor did the same, but was hit by the dragon in an attack of opportunity as he ran. Mylo attacked the dragon with his bow multiple times, and I cast burning hands at the dragon then moved away. The dragon missed me during its' attack of opportunity. I then moved toward range of the harpy who appeared to be ready to flee.
The next round Mylo again attacked the dragon, while Melegaunt and Grimnor were attempting to bring down the harpy we sought. During my turn, I cast hold person on the harpy and she failed her saving throw and fell to the ground. Then I moved away from the dragon again, but this time it hit me for 20 points of damage during its' attack of opportunity. Fortunately I made my concentration saving throw so the spell was not lost. My movement put me by the harpy so I was temporarily safe from the dragon's attacks, but down to 12 hit points now.
The next round, Melegaunt charged the dragon and attacked. Fortunately the Shield of Faith saved him from being hit during the dragon's attack of opportunity and during all of the dragon's attacks on him. Grimnor searched the harpy and found a bag tied to her leg with the diamond that we sought as well as some other miscellaneous gems. He handed me the bag and charged into the fray of the battle with the dragon. Mylo kept making multiple bow attacks from his position.
I then moved toward the fight so that my bless spell would help the fighters (50' radius). I also cast a spritual weapon spell at the dragon, but it never hit once in three rounds. During the ensuing battle, Mylo was dropped by the dragon and lay dying. Melegaunt and Grimnor continued their assualt on the beast. During the next several rounds, I moved to assist the dying Mylo.
As I moved into position to assist the dying halfling, Melegaunt and Grimnor delivered the final blows to the dragon with Grimnor connecting on the ultimate death blow. I healed Mylo and brought him back to his feet from death's door. I used my pearl of power to regenerate one of my first level spells and cast cure light wounds on Grimnor to cure his wounds. I am still at only 12 hit points, but did not use any cure spells on myself. Melegaunt used his last cure spell to add a few additional points to Mylo who was severely wounded.
We cut up parts of the dragon to haul away. Melegaunt was able to track the dragon's tracks to its' lair, and we searched its lair where we found some more treasure and some magic items. Since my spells are all gone except for a few 0 level spells and Melegaunt's are mostly gone as well, the party decided to hole up in a safe room in the castle ruins for the night. In the morning we shall begin our trip back to the city of Mithral.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:47:08 GMT -5
We broke camp at the old castle ruins and headed back to the City of Mithral dragging our loot behind us on a makeshift sled. Most of the way to the city was uneventful, but when we broke out of the forest to where the trees were more sparse we were attacked. Attacked by the strangest creature I have ever seen. It travelled beneath the earth as fast as I walk above it. It was slug-like with several appendages (or tentacles) and it's body was so tough that is was virtually impossible to hit with weapons. Only spells or the absolutely perfect weapon hit could penetrate its skin. We finally killed it and began to leave when its' mate showed up and again we were engaged in a battle.
Melegaunt held one of the creatures using his entangle spell. While held, we were attacking it from a distance with ranged weapons. For some reason, Melegaunt closed in to attack the creature and it was able to reach him (10' reach) for an attack. During this multiple appendage attack, Melegaunt was overwhelmed with damage and was virtually shreaded into a million pieces. It was horrifying to see my friend killed in such a fashion. I have prayed for him and his soul since the incident, and will keep him in my quiet prayers for a long, long time.
We did make it to town, but since I had to make some reports I do not know what, if anything, happened after we reached Mithral. I will ask my comrades to tell me what happened after this entry in my journal, then will decide what reports (if any) to file with my superiors. For now, I am reporting the prior information to my immediate superior and mentor.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:47:53 GMT -5
We have returned to Mithral with the stolen diamond. Fletcher reports to his superior and his mentor at the Temple regarding the adventure and recovery of the diamond. With diamond in hand, the party exchanges the missing gem with the representatives of its' owner, and in exchange these individuals release their halfling hostage.
After the exchange is made, the party retires for some rest and food. We find that Melegaunt (whom we had raised from the dead) has left the city to search for a new animal companion. While he is gone, the creatures in our heads inform us that "one of the branches" (PC) is no more. We now believe Melegaunt to be dead (in fact, unbeknownst to the party, he was killed by an ogre when he was outside of town).
The creatures in our heads are causing us much pain and are demanding to go home, so we proced to the temple for see if we can get access to a portal to the ertheral plane. With the head cleric, we travel to that plane and return the creatures to their home. They tell us that we have a "new friend" should we ever need them, and they help us locate some treasures at the base of their home.
Upon returning to the material world, the party (less Melegaunt) travels to various shops in town where we pay to have several magic items identified and eventually sold. We keep 2 cure light wound potions, 1 cure medium wound potion and a wand of detect magic as party assets; the rest of our treasure is sold. Several party members buy or order different items to be made for them. I have ordered a pair of +2 gloves of dexterity. This will help increase my AC, improve my dexerity skills and improve my ability to use a bow. We also picked up our charter from the city and we met a person who appears to desire to join our group of adventurers. He is quite a skilled bard from what little I have heard of his music.
I would like to also buy a +3 MW Composite Longbow at this point, but funds are short right now. I do have about 200 GPs and would like to try to convince the party to sell the cure potions and use that money plus each of us kick in an equal share to buy a cure light wounds wand. We can get the wand for 750 GP and it has 50d8. The potions total are only worth 3d8 in total curing. It would be a great party asset to have such a wand, so I hope that my efforts at diplomacy are successful. For now, we restock and rest before our next adventure.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:48:35 GMT -5
We spent most of the last few weeks in Mithral training and doing some shopping (buying, selling and trading). The Gloves of Dexerity I have been longing for are done, and I have ordered a MW Composite Longbow +4 which will be ready within the month.
Activity in the Mercenary Guild has been slow, but recently we were hired by the owner of the rare book store to investigate a man named Birtil. He apparently wants a book related to a Titan of old so badly that he leveled threats at the store owner in an attempt to get it.
During our investigation, we obtained a description of the man from the store owner. We also talked to a ship's captain who was familar with this man and matter as the starting point of our investigation. This lead us to the public markets, where Birtil supposedly sells illegal lotus.
Elias agreed to stay in the bookstore to help protect it, while Kelly, Grimnor and Mylo conduct the investigation. We three each separately staked out the marketplace and located our quarry. Mylo observed him from afar and will tail the man all day. I shopped in the area and asked different merchants for information about him. After a few bribes, I learned a rumor indicating that our quarry supposedly has a secret cave (hideout) and that he uses a rowboat to reach it. Finally, Grimnor talked to the man under the pretext of buying lotus.
After the purchase, Grimnor and I left the market and met up at the bookstore. Mylo is currently tailing Birtil and is casing the Silver Couch bordello where he is at. Grimnor and I are investigating the rowboat rumor. I came up with the idea to scry upon the man when he goes to visit the cave, so Grimnor and I approached the local Druid's Temple to seek their help. They agreed to help us if we retrieved the body of Melegaunt whom they confirm was killed in the forest outside the city by an ogre.
An agreement was reached, and Grimnor and I travelled to the designated location and found the ogre's cave. We snuck in on him and Grimnor attacked with his unarmed attacks and I used a Spiritual Weapon spell to quickly dispatch the ogre. We searched the cave and found Melegaunt's belongings as well as some miscellaneous treasure. Scooping up the remains of Melegaunt, we plan to return his body to the Druid as requested. We are ready to return to Mithral.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:49:15 GMT -5
Grimnor and I have returned Melegaunt's dead body to his affiliates at the Druid Temple in Mithral. In exchange for this service, the Druids have agreed to scry on Birtis, the man we are investigating on behalf of the rare bookstore owner. So far we have not found any clues connecting Birtil up with any Titan worshipping cults.
Mylo has been following Birtis all day. Finally, the entire party meets up after darkwhen Mylo returns. Mylo announces that Birtil left the harbor in a row boat a few minutes ago. We contact the Druid's guild and they cast the scry spell for us. This spell revealed that the rowboat travelled south down along the coast and that it entered a small cave open to the sea. It seems that this cave would be engulfed in water during high tide and out of the water during low tide. We also see Birtil give a latern signal to enter the cave, so presumably there is a watch in place just inside the mouth of the cave.
Mylo agrees to guard and stake out the rare bookstore tonight since he is particulary adept at hiding and sneaking around. The rest of the party rents a rowboat and travels down the southern shoreline in search of the cave. I make listening checks because the tide was coming in and when it reaches a certain height, it should make a distinctive sound as it enters and leaves the mouth of the cave. Sure enough, that is how we found the cave in the dark.
We took the rowboat a distance beyond the mouth of the cave until we found a beach where we could easily go ashore. Pulling the boat fairly high up on to land, we covered it with branches in the nearby forested area and headed toward the cave on foot. Once at the cave, we decide to stake out the cave enterance to see if and when the rowboat with Birtis will depart and how many people will be in it. During this time, we discussed various options related to entering the cave and developed our strategy.
By morning, the rowboat with Birtis and 4 other men headed out of the cave and toward Mithral. When they were long out of sight and when the tides were lower, I suggested that we tie knots in the rope and lower two ropes down to enter the mouth of the cave. First Elias and Grimnor went down the ropes, followed by me. We snuck up on 3 guards playing dice in part of the cave near the enterance. Prior to the attack, I cast a bless spell.
Grimnor climbed up a small grade and attacked both guards at the same time. Just prior to that attack, Elias initiated an attack with his bow from a distance against one of the closet guards. I immediately cast a hold person spell on the guard who was the farthest away. The attacks of Grimnor and Elias killed the two closest guards. Kelly then asked that the "held" guard be tied up and not killed. It is best not to kill, and we may also need information from him or a witness to Birtil's activities in the cave. We securely bound the hands and feet of the guard and gagged him. For good measure and so he is not a bother, Grimnor hit the guard on the head which knocked him out.
We searched the bodies of the guards and the general area, and now we are ready to begin our exploration and investigation of this cave of secrets. We have taken a few quiet steps down a cave tunnel we found and have frozen in our tracks; ahead are the sounds of many men talking while they seem to be moving heavy crates. We are quickly preparing our strategy. Initially I will cast shield of faith on each of my companions before we proceed.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:50:08 GMT -5
Our party has seemingly cleaned out the secret cave in a running fight that seemed to last forever. Most of us are severely wounded and one of our allies is dead. My spells are mostly gone. Some of the creatures we fought are clearly tied into the Titan cult that we seek information about. Further investigation appears warranted. We will quickly search this cave, then depart. 3 - 4 thieves escaped, so it is a very good thing that we carefully hid our boat in the edge of the forest under a bunch of leaf-covered limbs. I strongly feel the urge to leave this place following our search.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:50:35 GMT -5
We cleaned out the cave and returned to Mithral. In Mithral, we hired a boat captain who owned a local fishing boat to return to the cave and load out the goods we captured. These goods were returned to Mithral and processed through the customs house. This turned a tidy profit for each of us. We also turned in the illegal lotus that we had acquired during our adventure and were praised for our community service. It appears that the captain of the fishing boat will join our motley crew on our next adventure.
During the next few weeks in Mithral, we rented a stone house in a decent section of town, purchased supplies and new weapons and armor and attempted to secure work. Most of the members of our group trained during this time and have become more powerful. Our efforts to locate new work paid off and we have been retained to clean out an area up the coast of pirates who have been raiding local shipping. We are currently planning the expedition and will soon leave for the adventure.
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Post by Hussar on Sept 25, 2003 2:51:31 GMT -5
We have left Mithral and the friendly confines of the comfortable house that we rented. We set off by ship for several days and now are marching overland to reach the pirates lair we were hired to destroy. During our travels overland, a huge storm blew up around us forcing us to make camp for the night. During the early evening, our camp was attacked by a mis-shapened giant with unbelievable strength.
This giant hit me just one time and injured to 1/2 my normal strength, while Grimnor was put on death's doorstep by a single blow. We managed to defeat the giant but only with a lot of luck. During our initial turn in the battle, we had already lost our monk companion but fortunately the halfling crited with his bow inflicting double damage. Next I double crited and inflicted triple damage. This massive amount of damage staggered the giant and it still took several more attacks to subdue him. The luck of the gods smiled upon us that day.
Our resident bard was able to provide us with some information on the giant. Apparently this creature was grossly mis-shapened and modified to have incredible strength by the titan who blood now forms the blood red sea around the coastlines. The strength and muscles of this creature are so powerful that it has been known to snap its own bones like twigs just from moving around. It was likely after food when it attacked us, but with our recent entanglement with the cult of the titans and the hideous creature's untimely appearance could bode evil for us all. We were lucky to survive. I was able to cast cure wound spells on Grimnor and bring him back from death's door, however, it took most of every other spell that I had to cure the entire party back to full strength.
We slept throughout the night undisturbed and in the morning awoke fresh. After praying my morning prayers to Heironeous, we set forth once again to the pirates lair. Mylo has been scouting ahead for the party while we travel behind him on horseback. We seem to be making good progress. During our day's travel, the surrounding forest boiled up in humanoids all around us. There were 20 orcs lead by a very large orc surrounding us. A huge fight appeared to be on the horizon until Grimnor (our resident 1/2 orc monk) took charge.
Grimnor began speaking to the leader of the orcs. Soon this lead to shouting and before we knew it Grimnor had challenged the orc leader to a one-on-one duel. There was little that the rest of us could do at that point, or so it would seem to the orcs. Elias (our resident bard) hummed a light song rather innocously thus benefiting Grimnor slightly in the upcoming duel. I offered a prayer (by using the Bluff skill) to Grimnor and patted him on he back for good luck (secretly casting shield of faith on him). Our ruses worked and went unnoticed; we had given Grimnor all the help he was going to get from anyone. The rest was up to him.
The giant of an orc leader and Grimnor began to circle each other. Hurling blows as well as orcish insults (so we later learned). Grimnor connected on the majority of the blows and seemed to be at the top of his game this battle. To me, it seemed that he knew all our lives were on the line this time, especially his own. Finally, after what seemed to be an enternity, Grimnor administered the death blow; a spinning kick that snapped the orc leader's neck like a dry twig. We were all relieved that the duel was over and that our compatriot had won.
Or was it over? Suddenly all the other orcs roared and charged Grimnor all at once. They began making the most fiercesome noises and beating him to a pulp. We soon realized (before any mistakes were made such as us counterattacking) that this was some sort of bizzare orc leader initiation ritual. Likely one rarely witnessed by non-orcs such as ourselves. After each orc had admininstered several blows to Grimnor, he stood before them as their new leader. With pride he took the bone necklace from the neck of their dead leader and placed it on his own neck. This was the sign that he had accepted his role as their leader. The orcs soon began celebrating with the consumption of massive amounts of alcohol, fist fights and wrestling contests.
After the celebration ended, we all moved out together. The orcs seemed to want to kill humans and were highly motivated to raid the pirates lair with Grimnor as their leader. He cautioned them that we were their friends and allies in this and instructed them not to attack members of our party. I am not sure how much we can trust these orcs, especially since even Grimnor secretly told us to keep an eye on them. We travelled hard for several days and finally drew near to the pirates lair. When we had to slow down due to the terrain and lead our horses, Mylo took off on his own to scout the pirate's den. He returned hours later with a detailed map he drew of their compound and with general knowledge of their compliment and positions.
Now it was time to form our battle plan. After some objections, we finally settled on a plan of my own design. There are three primary targets in the pirates lair: a barracks, an officer's building and a cave. We realize that the orcs will not be stealthy in their attack which likely will be combined with many battle cries. Therefore, we have decided to divide our forces somewhat as follows:
1. We all will sneak up to the pirate's camp together using the darkvision abilities of our halfling Mylo and Grimnor and the orcs.
2. Mylo, Elias, Shadowdragon and myself will (possibly under the cover of invisibility or using other spells) enter the officer's building an attempt to subdue them quietly. Before we do this, I will cast a silence spell on a stone and give it to Grimnor to keep the orcs quiet.
3. The orcs and Grimnor (to keep them under control and quiet) will position themselves where they can see the cave entrance, the barracks and the outside of the officers building. Their duties will be to only observe and to kill any pirates who might try to flee the officer's building or who attempt to counterattack from the other two locations.
4. After we subdue the officers, then Mylo, Shadowdragon and Elias will watch the entrance of the cave, while Grimnor, the orcs and me attack the barracks.
5. Finally, all of us will then investigate the cave.
We are ready to move into place and execute our plan. Sure hope this works.
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