Meet 13, Adv 1, 10/6/12

I have always loved Owlbears. As a monster - it is pretty stupid - I mean a bear - but with owl parts. But when you take a big assed bear and throw it at the group and make no pretense that it s a god damned monster and you better be either running of missile firing at it because the bastard is TOUGH. Plus, I use the ubiquitous "HROOO-HAAA" noise for the owlbear's cry (cribbed very much from the Goblins! comic) and in my mind, there are a terrible danger.

The group is still floundering a bit, but this wraps up the bandit piece for now. I need to guide them more on where to go and what to do next. I tried the sandbox - tons of stuff to do and go to idea but the party does not respond well to it. My bad, I tried it out. The only piece left for now (before a long rest/training time) is a short raid into a goblin cave nearby and get some info on the goblin water.

Adventure 2 (electric boogaloo) will have more rails and guide posts along the way to keep them in place and feel like they are getting something done.

Write up follows:

It was 12:15 on Plantmonth the 17^th and the group was trudging their way back through the forest westward to where they had originally crossed as well as to pick up Flimflam’s pony that had been left there. During the walk we talked about our charges (4 camp women and the 6 bandits that we had captured) and what our next course should be.

 

It was agreed upon that since we had momentum, we should direct it at the leader and 2^nd (Marganith and Betelmis the druid). We knew they were headed to Shakun to meet us and attempt to arrange a transfer of funds for the prisoners. We had learned they had horses and did some quick math. If they left shortly after our failed original attempt on the bandit camp, got to Shakun, stayed overnight, and left the next day – they would be back at the bandit camp around midday on the 18^th.

 

We opted to intercept them before they got back and use our overwhelming numbers and surprise to take them down. What we couldn’t do was achieve this while towing 6 tied up bandits and the 4 camp women with us. We would need to go someplace first.

 

The party decided to split up: Fergus and Chase would head to the Roaring Treant where they would rest the night and watch the comings and goings of the people there and try to get a bead on the bandit leaders first. The rest of the party would head to Timberton where they would bring the bandits to the local magistrate for incarceration, drop off the women at the Hospice, and then turn back around immediately. We agreed to meet up at the woodcutters cottage that we had stayed at some days ago assuming it was still not being used.

 

We crossed the ravine and split up, the majority of the party heading east-southeast through the trees, the line of roped together bandits taking up the rearmost position in the group. We were chatting and not paying much mind until we heard, “WHHRRROOO-HAAAA!” in the nearby distance. What the hell? We all looked at Flimflam who assured us that although it sounded like it, it was not a normal animal and we should move with haste. Now.

 

We picked up the pace and ran on as we noticed in the distance to the north shadows moving about. They parted to reveal not one, but two 9’ tall bristling brown feathered monstrous ursine apparitions. “Owlbears!”was the cry and we ran on faster. The owlbears swiftly kept pace and then began to overtake us. The bandits were yelling for help but we did not stop. Eventually they fell upon the bandits and killed 2 of them. The ropes had been split, one bandit was running free, two were tied together still, and the last was still tied to the 2 dead ones.

 

But the owlbears ran on again! Flimflam called out to Demeter and the forest squirmed around the ursines, slowing them both down as it entangled them and eventually stopping one. The 2^nd though was furious, made more so when Marcus and Fist’al sent a few arrows its way. It charged and we ran some more as the ursine tackled the two bound bandits and took them down.

 

The owlbears no longer seemingly following us the lone bandit then jogged to the left and tried to lose himself in the woods! Again arrows flew and he was hit hard and fell before more than 2 dozen paces. We bound him again and angry eventually made the road. We now had 4 terrified women with us, 1 very wounded bandit, Tempi and Enthir both barely alive, and the rest of us winded. We walked long on our dwindling supplies until we reached Timberton before the 9 PM curfew and gate closing.

 

We went to the magistrate and turned over the bandit and were then directed to the Hospice where we tended to some of our hurts and arranged some potions of rejuvenation for Tempi and Enthir. From there we went to the stablery, haggled for a bit on the price of a cart and horse, and then mounted up and road out of Timberton BACK towards the road and eventually the woodcutters cottage some 6 hours away.

 

Meanwhile Chase and Fergus arrived back at the road with no issue and then at the Roaring Treant by 2:30 PM. From there they procured sleeping arrangements at the Common Room and sat down for a good meal. Some walking about the grounds, visited the stabler and farrier, and took a good view of who was there rounded out the rest of the day. The two men took turns sitting outside and watching the road, hoping to catch sight of anyone who might be passing through and not stopping. About the only people of interest were a trio of travelers who came in about 11. The ate swiftly and two went to sleep in the Common Room while one was sitting up and reading.

 

Through conversation it was learned that his name was Glaris and he and his two friends were from Waterdale and looking for hireling work. Hoping to hook up with the Shakun Adventuring group they were dismayed to seem them not there. With little coin in their pouches they decided to head on to Timberton to get on a spring logging crew as it was something they all new well, and then eventually get back to the adventuring group in the fall and try again.

 

As for the other party members, there was a moment of terror on the road when they came up a wild boar but other than that they trundled along until arriving at the woodcutters hut at 3:30 in the morning where the elves took over watch and the rest of the party went to sleep.

 

Fergus and Chase awoke by 6, ate a fast meal of sausage and warm bread and were on the road, eventually finding the woodcutter’s cottage by 7:30 where the party all rejoined and we shared stories with what had occurred to date.

 

By 10:30 we had all rested well and a plan was devised. Chase and Fist’al would brace the 40’ wide road on opposite sides and well hidden. With arrows at the ready they would provide the initial attack which would be followed by a concentrated assault of Marcus and Enthir using Sleep spells, Flimflam and a his druidic powers , and finally Whosea, Tempi, and Fergus providing the needed melee assault should need arise.

 

Fist’al arranged a blind on the roof of the cottage, the thatch more than supportive enough for him. Meanwhile Chase used the cover of logs and vines to arrange a place for himself across the road. And then we waited. Other travelers did pass through now and again, some on horseback, but it wasn’t until sometime closer to 3 PM that we spied our probable targets.

 

Two men, riding swiftly from the west, clad in leather armor and showing some signs of long travel. Their descriptions matched what we had learned of Margarith and Betelmis and it was al some 30 paces or so that Chase fired at them, actually striking one of the riding men. He was pissed and Chase made believe that he was a bandit. The leader was chastising him for his stupidity as they rode closer.

 

Flimflam tried an entangle spell but they were too far from the actual side of the road. It alarmed them and then the two sleep spells went off – dropping the two men, their horses, and even the 45# very terrifying possum that as accompanying the druid. The group them went across and captured the two sleeping men. Gags and fingerlocks and binding ropes were the norm. The possum was slain. We took their gear, bags, belongings, and then marched them towards Timberton.

 

We arrived at 8:30 that evening, turned them over to the magistrate, got paid and some thanks, and then went off to the Flying Pegasus Inn to get some rest.

Meet 12, Adv 1, 9/22/12

Redemption.

The party had been taken down by a variety of circumstances that were within their control. Attitude, disprespect, uncontollability, and lastly shortsightedness. They were broken, demoralized, and needed to take control of the situation.

Most partys after awhile tend to think linearly - they see a problem and head towards it, solving the issues along the way. What they need to do is shake up the thinking - not talking about chaos - but just look OUTSIDE the problem and decide if there is another way to address it.

One of my friends, the eponimus Michael Curtis of Stonehell and DCC notoriety, had an on and off again relation to playing over the last 2 years since his life took on a growing ramp of writing and design. Even before that he had lowered his mantle of playing and took up the reins of running his own game for a year or so. So it was with tremendous surprise to me that he asked to roll up a character for the game this night. With 7 around the table playing already, an 8th might seem folly but I was happy to include him. Hence "Chase" the ranger was born (think Aragorn without the weight of history and backstory over his head).

And it was exactly what the party needed because the 3 remaining players not captured or dead at the table were circling the same situation and not having a solution in mind. Chase (and the paladin friend that came with him) took the floundering reins and thought of the problem outside the box.

We approached the bandit camp differently, assaulted it from a position of strength, and had a much easier time redeeming ourselves from the prior encounter with the bandits. No one wants their players to feel lost or ineffective - so whatever it takes, even if some tracks need to be laid down, get them thinking outside the linear progression and everyone will have a better time at the table.

Write up follows:

Flimflam, Marcus, and Fist’al trudged their way to the Roaring Treant Inn. The asked the proprietor for a space in the common room and something quick to eat. With weary steps they sat at a table, ate their stew, and talked about what had befallen them. Their companion’s fate was unknown and the three of them were unsure of what to do next. Return to Shakun? Storm the bandit encampment? Ransom? Were any of their 4 companions even alive? We do know that Ironboar had reported Device was dead and that some sort of rudimentary stabilization had been done for Tempi, but that was many hours ago? Enthir? He appeared to be killed? Ironboar? He too was at the bottom of the chasm. We just did not know.

 

It was then that we were approached by two men who had been sitting nearby. They introduced themselves as Chase and Fergus and were swords for hire. Currently they were waiting for their hairfoot friend, Bill, to show up with some map he was to purchase but seeing as he was not here the two men were willing to talk to the party and discuss their woes.

 

It seems they were both a king’s man and a knight from Gul and had already a disliking for bandits and banditry. Through some conversation we agreed to pool our talents together and that we would strike out for the bandit camp on the morning of tomorrow.

 

We awoke and by 8 AM on the 17^th were ready to head back to the bandit camp. We left the Roaring Treant, following the road for a few hours until after some discussion, left the road, heading east northeast. We traipsed through the densening forest for a while, watching carefully as we walked on. It was after some time walking that we did notice in the trees above us was a giant owl. Not a big owl, but a giant one! 9 ½ feet tall, 34’ wing span. And it was watching us.

 

Flimflam spoke to it in some strange tongue for a while and informed us it was “The Old One”. It was interested in where we were going and why we were here, but did not want us to harm any of the forest denizens. We agreed and it gave us a once over and then flew off. We let out a collective relieved sigh and moved on.

 

Eventually we did get to the chasm. In this area of the forest it was MUCH less deep as well as less wide. Chase informed us that it was an old water cut bed and if we kept going to the west, would come to an area where we could cross without issue. Taking the ranger’s advice we did so and eventually got to a place where we could cross without any problem. Once there, Chase and Fist’al ventured further on to check out the area while the party worked their way over. Finding nothing except a lack of fresh game trails as well as a lack of dead wood led them to believe that we were close to the bandit camp area.

 

All together once again we headed off to the east and kept a ready eye. After half a mile we came upon an area of the forest with punji stakes set in the ground. A black cord was run through them, a pair of brass bits strung along the cord to act as a chime should someone cross it. We cut a section of the cord and carefully wrapped it about the punji sticks as we crept through.

 

Getting closer we stopped some 200’ or less from the bandit camp and sent our sneakiest two up to spy. There were 5 or 6 that we could see. Two very large 4 man tents as well as a crudely build single story structure. There were 2 elevated platforms, one of which had an archer sitting in it. A central firepit was roasting some sort of meat and 3 of the bandits were hanging around it. A 5^th bandit was near the wooden structure and a 6^th bandit was walking south out of the camp in the direction of the ravine.

 

We set upon a plan and put ourselves in position to get the surprise on the bandits. The start was to be Marcus casting a sleep spell on the bandits but he was spotted before he could get into position. From where he was he snarled out the start of the spell while Fist’al and Chase shot the bandit in the elevated position out of the tree and then started peppering the ones around the fire. A moment later Marcus’ sleep spell went off and a few of the bandits dropped, one into the fire.

 

Whosea was sent forward and one of the bandits dodged into the building, slamming the door closed and barring it. A few arrows were shot back and forth while the group closed the gap. Fergus tried to assault the closed building but was having little luck in getting in. Meanwhile we suspected that other bandits from the south would be approaching so Marcus and Chase arranged themselves near the south part of the clearing, arrows drawn and ready.

 

Unknown to the group a side door opened and a bandit began shooting out of the building, trying to hit Chase and Marcus. This caused them to return fire while Fergus finished trying a grapple and rope the wall of the building and slapping the pony on the ass that had the other end of the rope tied to its saddlehorn. The wall ripped free and the melee followed right after wards.

 

Inside the building were a few bandits as well as a couple of camp girls…and Tempi! The half orc was freed, given a shield and a stolen sword and helped to free up the camp girls in the area. Meanwhile bandits were closing from the south and Marcus and Chase were forcing them to keep down with arrows. There was many volleys back and forth until one of them had closed enough to fire off a sleep spell of his own. Chase slept, Marcus didn’t.

 

Another one charged the party. There was an intense melee along the eastern end but Fergus and Whosea were able to put the cruel snarling bandit down. With the battle pretty much over we captured two of the bandits who gave up and dispensed healing to the others strewn about the battlefield, saving them from any further loss of blood and life. We then bound them up and asked questions of the two that had caved. We found Enthir in a tree above and brought him down and learned that the bandit leader and his 2^nd(druid) were on their way to Shakun to discuss ransom for Tempi and Enthir.

 

We salvaged what goods we could from the camp and dragged our trussed up captured towards the log bridge that Chase was watching over. He had discovered a thin metal box with some coinage in it, and a metallic plaque that had a painted symbol of a rainbow on it. From here we decided to head back to the crossing a few miles to the west where we first came over and then head on towards Shakun with our charges in tow.

Meet 11, Adv 1, 9/15/12

Reality vs. Red Herrings.

The party knew they were going to get someone come by today with a map for them and it would have been supplied by the bandits - its veracity was going to be suspect at best.

So I supplied them with two maps. Is one real? Both real? Both fake? Is this a con game where only the dealer wins or is there enough truth behind them both that they are both genuine in their own way?

Only way to find out is to actually GO THERE.

And that led us to the main resolution of the night - where half the party was killed or captured and the rest of us ran for the hills (or the trees as the case might be). It was not a TPK, but could have been. The approached an enemy position through the front door in day light with a force of 7-8 people making some noise and got hung up on crossing a dangerous bridge without rope when it mattered.

Write up follows:

We hung around the house for a while until sometime after 1 we had a knock at the door. A woman in her early 20’s was there and had an out of town/traveler look about her. Said her name was Martine Dodecius and wanted to know if she can come in and look around the Hall of Heroes. Turns out her father was a member of the 5 Sword Brothers and had died during an adventure many years ago. She had grown up with stories about her dad and wanted an opportunity to see where he had stayed.

It was after a bit that she revealed that she had some legacy items of his that she was going to sell to the town’s Consul (Zarik) that had been in the family since his death so long ago. Things like maps and some backup information. The group looked at one another and took it upon themselves to volunteer to escort Martine to Zarik’s and see about the selling of such maps. Maps that we suspected were part of the bandit’s attempt to lure us from more caravan guarding.

That left just Fist’al at home, and when the elven scout was going to go out there was another knock at the door – this time seeing another traveler looking for Flimflam and the adventuring group. Fist’al spent some time talking the man who had so many holes in his story about a map he won in a card game that he was not surprised to see a map come out. It was to some nebulous place north and west of Shakun to some cave. And someone had even written in 50,000,000 gold crowns as sitting there just waiting for an adventuring group to come and take it.

He dickered with the man on selling it, eventually offering 6 commons and getting the “map” for it. From then the traveler left to go to the Ogre Door Inn while Fist’al went on his way to Pelis the Rug Merchant to talk to him about Sern and ripping off the adventuring group. The conversation didn’t go the way Fist’al wanted it to and he was admonished to not rob from Sern even if he was price gouging the group – just shop somewhere else.

On the 15^th we left early after buying rations to go to the bandit camp. During the travel we decided NOT to stay at the Roaring Treant as we knew the bandits did stay there occasionally, and we should instead sleep out under the stars. After the entire day though we instead went past the Inn and found a little used Hunter’s hut. Fist’al forced the peasant’s lock open and we went in after taking care of the pony Flimflam had been riding.

We ate, lit a fire, and rested comfortably in some strangers home, eventually getting up the next day awake and very ready to find the bandit camp and bring them in and to justice. It was around 11:30 AM that Fist’al showed everyone the elm tree marker. The area was quiet and there were no obvious signs of the bandits here now. He then led us north through the trees – showing us the thin cuts in the bark and how to navigate the path in the trees.

It was some time later that we arrived at a chasm – maybe 20’ across, and 90’ down. It looked like the earth had split here some time ago. A number of logs had been knocked over the chasm, making a crude bridge for the group to cross. Ironboar went first, inching along until he arrived at the other side. Then Enthir was next, the mage tied to Device by a 30’ length of silken rope. The mage also made the trip without issue. It was when Device tried it that things went wrong.

First, the half-orc untied the rope from his waist so to not risk dropping Enthir. Then about 1/3 of the way across, the tree rolled and he slipped off. Scrambling he tried to grip the bark but it shredded and he fell…90’ down to land with a scream and the sound of breaking bones and then nothing. Tempi grew distraught and was screaming that he had to go down and save his brother. Taking a 50’ length of rope he tied it to the tree and slithered down to the end of the rope, still 40’ from the ravine bottom. Then he let go and attempt to climb down the side.

The hard packed dirt broken under his grip and he rolled, bounced, and also plummeted to the bottom with a crunch and the crack of busting bones. He was unmoving and the group was in shock. We were desperately trying to come up with a plan to get down there when Ironboar came back across the log, and went to go down the rope. His father cast “jump” on him and told him when he got to the bottom he had to jump from the bottom of the rope and it should help his landing. It did, the gnome barbarian was able to run to the two of them, able to use his own healing draught to stop Tempi from slipping any further but Device was too far gone.

When it came time to get out and the need to get Flimflam down to tend to the wounded Tempi, Ironboar used a nearby tree branch, propped up near the rope, climbed to the top and used the 2^nd of the 3 “jumps”he had to leap up and grab the rope. He climbed up, there was talk on how to get Flimflam down, and Ironboar went down again to get the rope from Device’s body. But at the bottom of the rope when he was climbing the wall he failed to get a good grip and dropped 20’ to land with a broken skull and internal bleeding.

It was then that we noticed that Enthir was very much missing from the other side, 3 party members dead and dying at the bottom of a ravine, and most of us were frozen with fear and indecision. Flimflam said that we needed the bandit’s help and withdrew his whistle, blowing it loudly.

A moment later 8 bandits came visible from the other side of the ravine, bows out and arrows pointing at us. Enthir was dropped at the feet of one of them, his shirt red, face pale, and throat cut. We were told to leave. We asked for help in getting to our companions at the bottom of the pit. We were told to leave again. And then they counted down from 5.

We turned and started walking away but after a few paces ducked behind trees. One of the bandits cursed and said, “I god damned KNEW it!”Then we heard chanting and the group ran. Luckily too because from where we were hiding a moment earlier the vines, trees, underbrush and everything started wrapping about and trying to tangle about one another, empowered by the bandit’s spell.

We fled as fast as we could; arrows were flying wildly through the trees at us. Fist’al was struck by an errant arrow and actually hit 0 hit points before Flimflam was able to draw it free and bring him back to positives. We stumbled to the road, mounted up on Flimflam’s pony, and ran away from the bandits, the ravine…and our companions – 4 of them either dead or dying. Ironboar, Tempi, Enthir, and Device. Eventually exhausted we arrived at the Roaring Treant Inn, weary and without direction – feeling lost and unsure of our next step.

Meet 10, Adv 1, 9/8/12

The group's big snafu this meeting was accosting a random walking dude gathering sticks in the forest. Convinced he was part of the bandit brigade they hit him and rooted through his belongings until realizing he really WASN'T part of the bad guy network.

What was funny was ANOTHER guy they had passed earlier was - the idea was right, but the target was very wrong.

Write up follows:

We spent the remainder of the 11th resting up around Timberton and getting ready for our return to Shakun tomorrow. The caravan master had been decent and fair to us the entire time, paying for our lodgings (Common Room space) and meals (usually simple peasant fare, but plenty of it and filling). On the morning of the 12th we helped get the wagons and horses at the ready, noted that at least one of the wagons was loaded with hardwoods to import back to Shakun, and trudged off just before 10 AM.

It was a rainy day and the road was a mess of mud and wagon ruts. We walked in the mess, our baladranas and cloaks pulled tight to keep off the worst of the soaking, but our boots, shoes, leggings, and other clothes swiftly became water logged and muddied. The horses were forced through the worse spots, water standing in puddles up to 8 inches deep in some places. By mid-day we were tired but the caravan master informed us that it would cold trail rations as we were going to be hard pressed to reach the Inn of the Roaring Treant by nightfall as it was. Within 20 minutes the party was back at it, walking the caravan of 3 wagons further along the road.

Traffic had been very light given the muddy road, rain, and general distance between Shakun and Timberton (2 days by caravan). Plus we had been passed on the way here by a random travelling trapper and didn’t trust the situation then. Ironboar had been feeling that we were being watched but had no definitive information to give us. We fanned out, encircling the caravan and placing our party members strategically all over the place. Fist’al opted to go into the forest some dozen paces or so from the road and shadow the group that way, hoping to spot the bandit group if there was one, before they saw us.

So when we saw some traveler coming down the road towards us roughly 20 minutes later we were on edge. He was dressed a woodcutter, heavy grey homespun clothing on his body, a large bundle of sticks and branches bundled up on his shoulder. As we grew closer we noticed that for all his being outside and far from any town/inn, he was relatively clean. We asked him what was going on, said he was going on to Timberton and was a good 6 hours hard walk from it. Ironboar didn’t wait; he jumped and tackled the guy.

We rooted through his stuff while he kicked and cursed at us. His sticks were sticks: Oak and walnut. He had no obvious weapons on him and we realized that we once again, made a mistake and accosted a relatively innocent personage. We fixed him up, apologized, and Marcus gave him a gold crown for his trouble and sent him on his way.

Meanwhile Fist’al, who was hiding in the forest, heard a conversation coming from people ABOVE him. There was apparently an archer’s blind in the tree line above and the bandits up there were talking about how hitting this group was not a good idea. We also learned that the trapper from the earlier trip WAS working with the bandits (the woolgatherer now was not). He listened in and stayed hidden as they talked about getting the group to stop escorting the caravans. They were going to get a map, treasure map, from one of the bandit’s brothers and meet up with the group in Shakun, sell them the map, and that would keep them off guard duty for a while, making it easier for the bandits to make their thefts possible.

They climbed down and went back to their camp, wending their way through the trees and following what Fist’al was able to deduce was a clever series of cuts on the trunks that guided the traveler onward. After a score of yards he turned back around and returned to the road, marked the entrance to this part of the forest as a specific looking elm tree, and ran down the road and rain to catch up with the group. He informed us of what he had learned and we took his words carefully to heart as we discussed the matter the rest of the trip to the Inn, during dinner, and again the next day as we returned to Shakun.

We arrived at the end of the day on the 13th, drier but tired from our trek. The stable master was pleased with our job and the caravan master concurred. Our due per person was 12 nobles each but for our efforts we were instead given 15. Coins in hand we thanks the stable master who informed up that another caravan would be leaving on the 21st (8 days) and if we wanted, we could have first spot as guards again. We thanked him and told him that we’d let him know a few days as we wanted to take care of some home issues first.

From there we did a little shopping, wanting to stock our Hall with foodstuffs. We went first to Sern’s General store and trading post but were turned off by the high prices and lack of respect (over 2 crowns a flask of oil! – Marcus was horrified). From there we went instead to the south end of town and paid a visit to the greengrocer. We paid for a number of bags of onions, potatoes, cabbage, and beans and then went on to the butcher and smokehouse. Once here we got a great deal on “assorted pork meats” – not bacon or chops, just assorted pig meat. Very salty as well. Delicious!

While here we asked for the most expensive meat available and learned that it was swan. And being that we were adventurers, if in our travels we should come across any swans, he would gladly buy them from us for 2 crowns each. We paused – this was 4 times the going rate for bringing in the bandits (at 5 nobles a head). What was the catch? Swan’s liked standing water and there wasn’t much around here, what there was was supposedly in the Green Grass Hills to the south and west of Shakun. This was the area that Mahr’s Tower was in, and as we were told, was also somewhat known to be dangerous as crawling with goblins.

Finally we went to Ungoth’s Distillery where we purchased a half cask of 110 proof whiskey (20 pints). We did manage to get a better price but entertaining the wildly inebriated Ungoth with elven singing, as well as gnome tossing between the two half orc brothers. There was a moment when we wanted to knock 2 crowns off the cost of the cask if at the space of 10 feet, one of the elves would shoot a potato off the other elf’s head with a bow and arrow – but the party was not nearly that drunk yet.

We then ended the night back at home, ate and drank, and discussed possible party names – settling on Swords of Shakun. Hooray – we exist! During the night Fist’al went to try and break into Sern’s Store to steal the oil but was daunted by what lights were in the area, then what witnesses might be about, and finally after he managed to get the northern door open – by the 2 (that he could see) guard dogs within.

Closing the door and locking it he turned around at the sound of footsteps closing and came face to face with Baron Ceril Taugis. Very fast talking had him out of the situation and then joining the nobleman at the Ogre Door Inn for some halfway decent ale and some song and story. After the Baron had left, Fist’al returned to the hall and rested.

The next day we knew we were going to have a bandit show up and try to sell us a map (real or not, didn’t matter). So we got our errands done early. Flimflam spoke with the magistrate and we learned that some of the bandits from Mahr’s Tower were given whipping and then indentured to the local Homesteads for a few months. As for Brandone, he was buried in the family plot. Falag and Thagorek were unable to stand trial as just being near them resulted in the prosecutors and guards to grow fatigued. They are now each in the lower sub-basement in Castle Canastal.

Fist’al went to the apothecist to find some sort of powder to add to a dog’s food to get it sleepy – but the cost was very high so he left. Device went to the Temple Grounds with Tempi to do some good will and works. And Enthir was going to go to Tanner’s Way and try to lift the spirits of the vagrants living there. Being as it was most likely not a safe place for the middle aged elf to wander about alone, Ironboar was going to keep him company.

As for Ironboar-isms, we had one. On talking about the assault and capture of the bandits when we did finally go after them, and knowing that we should be taking them alive, Ironboar said with enthusiasm, “Hopefully they won’t surrender” who giving his claymore a hefty shake.