Meet 26, Adv 10, 7/23/22

Captain Asher had a period of private introspection with Tyr, based upon the fact that he had a tattoo of another god prominently placed on his body. Specifically, Maglubiyet, the goblin god. He decided he was going to quietly pray to Tyr and try to explain the situation, when his god communed back with him.

And Maglubiyet as well.

Ah…nuts.

Maglubiyet was willing to play 2nd fiddle for now, and would help Captain Asher get in touch with his inner strength and sometimes behave in a more goblin manner. To the Captain, this dichotomy was just…horrible.

We discussed further options and decided that we wanted to head back to Erylond at some point. And then Stivil. There were a number of things the party wanted to do and we needed a bit of a break for now from the Terror Dungeon. But we did have time to make one more foray in. And with the time still allotted to us, we wanted to go back to the Vault of Lathandar.

So it was 9:30 on Restmonth the 26th when we travelled back to the Dungeon, and made our way without issue around the first part of Entrance one and along to the closed Vault. We had enough pig’s blood for 4 trips in, so we planned out: Shim gets a dagger, Brading gets a Battle Axe, Darius get’s Armor, and then Wilhelm gets a scimitar.

After going in many times, we had gotten to ways and wherefores of the area down without issue. Brading hit the group with a Hide from Undead for himself, Asher, Thon, and Connal. And then they made their way to the room with the dwarven priest. Thon and Connal were successful in getting the key and we made our way to the vault. We placed a Battle Axe on the rack and Shim took the dagger.

BAMPH!!

We were out of the Glyph gate with an outrushing of air and waited a few minutes. We then did the entire area again, and this time Darius placed his armor on the stand and Brading took his now silvered battle and…

BAMPH!!

We were once more back out of the zone. Darius was feeling less confident without armor but we went in again, Brading casting the spell once more to get everyone hidden. We then got the key, went to the Vault, placed Wilhelm’s sword in the rack and Darius took his armor. We heard what seemed to be an absent “sigh” and the rush of undead outside the vault was less intense than it had been but…

BAMPH!!!

We were again outside the zone. With our last vial of blood, we reentered and this time…things were different. The doors were open, no music from the Seraglio. Instead the door was open and there was a tray of wine for everyone to drink. We partook and moved through the throng of undead, most in weird poses. The room with the priest was open, a 4 count of ghouls were talking to one another, whispering, glancing at us. The key was in the priest’s hand, proffered for us. We took it and moved on, so disturbed to the vault.

Once inside, a good looking, tall blond elven male was standing there with a faint smile, motioning for us to come closer. The door closed and he introduced himself as an Aspect, and Avatar, of Lathandar. It seems our continuous entering and exiting of the Vault had attracted his attention and he came to see what was going on. He commented that there was a new adherent of his in this area now, the first in over a century and a half (Eoghan). But the continuous in and out of the zone had attracted him now.

We discussed what we were doing and he looked around. He asked if we could fill the racks a bit for now, it seems too many people have come in and taken and not replaced – making the vault seriously depleted. We went through our possessions and gave up as many duplicate metallic weapons we could. He indicated for Wilhelm to take the Scimitar we had placed earlier and wished us well on our way.

BAMPH!!!

We were out of the zone again. From there we left the Terror Dungeon and then made the 2 days journey back to Erylond. On arrival we took a small tour of the south section of town for Wilhelm and Grendel’s sake before arriving home. Sybil was there as she had a young girl on loan from the Orphanage that she was teaching “cooking” to. You can’t take a person from the Orphanage. She’s on loan! Ugh

We did shrug off our gear, talked about training, and figured on the next day we’d take care of whatever needed to be taken care of.

Meet 25, Adv 10, 7/16/22

Had a chance to introduce (and LARP) our latest new guy to the group, replacing the soon to be leaving TJ. He has never played any D&D but always wanted to, his experience has been limited to MMORPGs and the like. So he was very apologetic and clunky but the group was welcoming and accomodating to him. He went for elven druid.

Follows:

The group fell asleep, hoping to get an early enough rise to make our way down to the 1st entrance on the morrow. One of the things that had been forgotten since Thalin wasn’t with the group at this time was that elves didn’t need the full 8 hours of sleep. So when Grendel awoke at 11:30, the elven scion spent a little time checking out his new companions before getting dressed and deciding to walk the grounds of the keep.

Meanwhile a good 2 miles south of the keep proper on the icy shores of the Enderlyn River, a trio of Armigers had come upon a lean to that had been erected the last 3 days. On this day, they managed to find whoever was camping on the Lordship’s land. An elven traveler named Wilhelm was drinking some ale and eating some river trout he had caught and cooked. Inviting them closer, the trio of budding knight adherents, Hans, Fatts, and Brody, tried to inform Wilhelm that he was squatting on the Lord’s land and had to come with them.

They did take his ale…and his fish. But they all talked a bit, conferring back and forth as the 4 of them walked back to the keep. Drink was passed around and the armigers were convinced their shift ended at 12 and they were no longer drinking on the job so they shouldn’t get in trouble.  They did intercept some riders and passed on that they had an elf they were bringing in and who would be seeing him? The Rider rode off.

Grendel was approached by a valet of the Castle’s Herald, Thester Clantik, asking him to come and speak with the Herald. Eventually he made his way where the Herald expressed his concern. Two elves in the space of 2 days were here at Bork Keep, one of them a scion of an elven duke. Was everything ok? Was there any issues? He wanted to get both elves together and make sure that things were fine.

A herald went to the Keep’s Runesmith, a dwarf named Rogar Giantsbane. Rogar threatened to have the valet who interrupted him fired if he was bothered. There was an explanation that a new person was here and would need an amulet. Now? It’s weeks early. This is my quiet time. Do you know how much it drains me? I’m going to fire all of you.

Hans, Fatts, and Brody all came in with Wilhelm and the travelling elf explained he was from Borut, a major trading hub on the Borbuta Sea. He had a falling out with his family and after trying to divest himself from them, got advice to head east to Bork Keep and see if he could link up with an adventuring group to enter the Terror Dungeon. A follower of Frey, and a touched one as well, he hoped that it would be easy enough to find a group to join.

Hans, Fatts, and Brody tried to hide their increased inebriation but failed at one, threatened with stables duty for their dereliction. Wilhelm and Grendel spoke for a while with Grendel eventually greenlighting Wilhelm into the party. The two of them spoke at length about their lives, making their way back to the Visitor Hall. Once there, they continued their conversation until the party awoke.

We met up with Wilhelm and learned rather swiftly that Grendel had added him to the group! Oh…Really? Yep! Tell us about him. Well, he’s a good guy! I like ‘im! What does he do? Say, what do you…what’s your name again?

We had a 2nd interview with Wilhelm and filled him in on what we are and what we do. We then put together our trip down, taking our barrel with us, and at 5 AM, Restmonth the 26th, made our way to the Terror Dungeon. It was a cold morning, and fat snowflakes were falling. Lots of them. Lovely. We entered, barrel along, and made our way down, eventually hearing some sort of laughter echoing in the gloom.

We moved on through the entrance hall, the long hall south, and then around to the bunk room where Thon had us stop. Room was warm, at least 10 or so degrees warmer than expected. We eventually made our way in, and through the hall to the west, we could see an area down the hall where a huge bonfire had been lit. Estimation was that it had to be at least 5 hours ago, and it would have blocked the entire hall. We eventually knocked on the door to the east leading to the Bugbear area and Captain Asher did his talking to the denizens there. We made our way through and along to Zandark’s chamber where we presented him the barrel.

Excellent!

He offered the wheelbarrow again (we took it!) and to get past the bugbear circle, once more offered Captain Asher the permanent shape change potion. He demurred. So instead, they offered him the Mark of Maglubiyet, an 18” tattoo of a bloody double bitted battle axe on his stomach. The party all agreed for him.

So a bugbear witch tattooed the mark on Asher’s body, working fast until the half elven fighter cleric was treated. He could now pass any bugbear circle or glyph safely and so can anyone who was touching him or touching someone touching him, etc. Meanwhile Shim wanted some of the tattoo ink and was willing to be suckled by one of the witches, Thon volunteering the gnome for the job. So Shim drank bugbear witch milk straight from the source, growing weaker and more tired while doing so, eventually getting ill from the effects.

It was 6:30 when we eventually made our way out the east door and then through the bugbear cursed area. From there we had NO issues! We made our way through the entirety of the dungeon’s first level to the room beyond the gargoyles, wheelbarrow along for the ride, without any encounters! We then loaded up the barrow with the 5 barrels, and had a trip back – taking an hour – but at 8:35, were knocking on the door to the bugbear lair from the other side of the cursed circle and returned the 5 barrels to Zandark.

Mission Accomplished.

We were thanked, told to return when we wanted to, and wished well with the blessing of Maglubiyet at our back. So it was just before 9 AM when we emerged from the Terror Dungeon, feeling good and triumphant at our actions.

Youth Group! TOEE - Meet 3, 7/13/22

Elmo gave the place a good once over, walking back and forth in front of the Moathouse. The banks by the water were waterlogged and unsteady, the place stunk, and the bog had to be deep enough to suck anyone’s feet in. There was a drawbridge down that we could risk crossing, but the party was unsure. Ophelia called to Athena and the goddess of law gave her the ability to sense evil.

And she did. SIX spots of it! 2 in the nearest pool and 4 more by the drawbridge.

A further refinement let him know that 1 in the pool and 1 by the drawbridge had a larger evil signature. We discussed options and settled on coaxing them…if they were evil frogs…out of the pool. So Elmo hunted for a large log he could toss, took aim…and hurled it!

And two of the frogs emerged! One of them was the size of a small dog…and the other was closer to 6’! Sling stones flew and we decided NOT to enter the bog. Albert summoned a goblin which he named Ronnie…and Aredhel hurled a globe of acid at the amphibians, melting the skin off of them. They closed and we combated them, stabbing and slamming hard. And the combat seemed to go well as the smaller and then the larger one was slain.

“That wasn’t that bad,” Albert noted. The party was feeling pretty good so wanted to get right on the next group. So we went down the short road to the drawbridge and Elmo tossed another log in. This time 1 frog came out and he hit it lightly, scaring it back to the pond.

And then all 4 of them emerged – 1 really big one and 3 smaller ones. Quickly the combat got away from us, with Rowan and Ophelia getting multiple hits from the frogs. The cleric and druid were knocked back, hurt bad. Another one made a 25’ leap – landing right by the gnome, Pestle! And tried to eat her! The wizard dove low, just getting missed while the Cleric Opehlia was tossed into the mud, Rowan following. Magic Missile and another blast of acid followed and Elmo’s Axe helped clear the way, the ranger struggling to block any more attacks on the druid and the cleric.

Pestle had to dive again, just missed getting swallowed as Albert called out another summon spell – getting a kobold! Naming it “Jimmy”, he ordered it to shred the larger frog, blocking it from getting another attack on Pestle. “I eats?!?” it asked pointing at the frog, getting a bemused nod from the wizard.

And low and behold, Jimmy got a series of lucky blows, tearing the frog’s underside open. He reached in and started eating the guts as the frog was croaking and dying. More stones flew and Elmo dispatched another, with more acid being hurled. Finally Ophelia and Rowan were back in the fight and the last of the frogs was slain. We were dirty, but we grouped together and Pestle used her natural gnomish gifts, blowing all the dirt off and mud off of us, sending it in a 10’ diameter around us before it slipped down and fell into the mud.

We approached the bridge, where Elmo got low and we noted that someone…someone booted, had crossed here before. Given the moist ground, it had to be in the last day – and the prints went into the keep. Weapons ready, we crossed the bridge slowly and one at a time. It groaned beneath us, but no issues. Once through, there were 2 doors here, one wedged in place, the other open freely.

The courtyard beyond was empty…maybe 40x 50’. A set of stairs was to the northeast and went up into the moathouse proper. There was a tower on the southwest corner and the walls on the west side of the courtyard were in poor repair, slipped into the water outside. Elmo also pointed out that more than one set of tracks had gone into the manor proper, we could see them across the courtyard. The thought was that a few of us would check out the area and Albert, Pestle, and Aredhel would look into the tower. If it was safe enough, the 2 wizards would hope to get some of their spells back.

The courtyard showed signs that mules or ponies had been tied up here in the past. Not now, but spoor and stray hay and feed gave testament to it. The west wall had collapsed outward, taking at least a 10’ section of it down in the past. And the stairs? They went up to a door…but the door was not 100% closed. There were at least 4 windows we could see, narrow almost arrowslit type.

As for the tower, it was in poor condition. The upper floor had collapsed some time ago, crashing down to the lower floor, leaving only wreckage on the main level and open sky maybe 20’ up. Albert noted a few sparkling coins and they entered with care, scooping up 3 copper pieces they found in the dirt and rocks. “Neat!”

And then a 15# pale white Huntsman spider the size of a big cat dropped down from above, reared back, and bit the wizard on the neck! Who screamed, fell over, and began convulsing as the poison ran through his veins. “Help!” The group was running back at Albert who was spasming in agony.

“Don’t!” Rowan called out, pointing at the spider. “Don’t!!” He then called out a prayer to Demeter, forcing his will and spell energy into the spider…and it ceased its antagonistic stance, stepping over to the druid. He rubbed its head and Aredhel wanted to stab it. “No. It’s calm now.”

“It killed my brother!” she hollered back. Ophelia was on her knees casting some magic on the fallen wizard. “Let me stab it!”

“No. I can’t let you.”

“If that THING comes near me at any point, I’m going to stick my rapier in its guts.”

He rubbed its head and cooed, “Don’t worry, Winter. She won’t hurt you.”

“You named it?!?”

Albert was not happy but was awake and alive again. We decided to rest here for an hour to allow Pestle and Albert to get some spells back. While that was going on, the group managed to scour the tower where they found over 70 copper and almost 40 silver nobles. In addition, there was an Ivory box here as well! It was empty but we divided the coins and put a small handful in the box for a party fund if needed later.

It was about 2:30 when we finished our study and went up to the main house. The stairs led us to the door where we opened up to see the main foyer. It was sizable with 2 large halls going south and west to the other wings. There was a door on the northeast section of the room and we could see a set of stairs going up to the 2nd floor, but were impassable due to the collapsed 2nd floor.

The hall south had a few doors and there was something far down there moving about, wild animal? To the west they instead saw a pantry area with the squeal of rats..and a cool breeze coming through it. Maybe a set of stairs down? But it was the door to the northeast that had the group gather. There were voices behind. At least 4 or 5. All talking common, but their voices were pitched too low to identify what was being said. “No one should be here,” Elmo muttered and the group wanted to rip the door open and confront them.

Meet 24, Adv 10, 7/9/22

With some time at our back, we made sure we were ready once more and reentered the Terror Dungeon by 3 in the afternoon. We hoped to go and see about reclaiming any of the barrels that were at the base of Level 2 with the Carrion Crawlers. Grendel joined up, taking his place in the lineup and we bid our farewell to Kara.

The descent was without issue. We looked over the main entrance room and talked at length about how to go about getting down there as well what our options were on the barrels. All? Some? From there we made our way to the east and south, hoping to take the passage across the pit when we noted it was opened. A tossed bit of meat let us know that a cube was in there, and it reached up, took the meat…and devoured it.

We wanted to close the pit but the cube was too high. So they tied a rope to Connal and the monk leapt over the pit where he tried to shut the lever from the opposite side. It would not budge. Cube was too high. We had to drop it somehow. And our presence here was enticing it to stay up and high. Shim eventually cast a Summon monster spell THROUGH the Cube by riding on Thon’s shoulders to gain some height and vantage.

Three giant rats appears, immediately began squealing and thrashing around. Which enticed the cube to drop lower into the pit and eat them. Which took pressure off the side of the pit and allowed Thalin to close it up. We crossed the passage now without issue and kept going. There was a smell in the air here though. So we looked north to the door we never looked in before…and saw a horse. Dead. It looked like it had died of lack of water and food. The suspicion was that it was the horse that had been up on this floor 3 or 4 days ago and survived this long before just dying here.

We then went through the 1 way door and opened the secret passage with a finger pressed in the dwarf god’s eye. Passing along further we made our way around to the Gargoyle chamber, then south again to the lightning chamber and eventually…the stairs.

Going through our gear, we wanted the ability to keep the crawlers at bay. So eventually we settled on torches tied to spears, and Brading hit the torches with a Log of Everburning – extending the burn time and doubling the heat output. Ready as we were going to be, Shim was going to summon something to keep them busy and we would use fire to hold them back, snag a barrel and run for it.

Like all plans, it fell apart quickly. Heading down the stairs had a rising wind, blowing up from below – and it was tinged, somehow, with the scent of urine. Getting closer to the bottom, the spray was everywhere and the wind was an almost 40 mph. In fact if the torches were not enchanted, they would have gone out. The thought was…where were the Crawlers? We looked around the corner and did not see them. But there was a pool of urine some 20’ diameter and a few inches deep. And the barrels were in it.

Ok – we needed some help. Shim called out a Summon spell and a wild elf appeared. Raven haired and snarling, she felt put upon to be here. “I’m in love,” Grendel muttered on seeing her. She was not happy on being here but looked for the gnome. No, the Crawlers were NOT here. Already. Time for the barrels. She gathered them up one at a time, growling and bitching the entire time. Grendel tried to chat her up but Shim felt she was not deferential enough to him and dismissed her in a bit of pique. “I didn’t even get her name!” the fighter moaned.

We doubled up on hoisting the 200 lb plus barrels up the steps, storing them in the former lightning chambers, before heading back for another pair. And that also went without much issue. It was on the last batch that we saw at the base of the steps was a 4’ tall beetle with a pair of feathery antenna. “Oh, fuck no!” Darius groused. “Fucking Rust Monster.”

Shim came forward again and this time summoned an armored gnoll! It engaged with the monster, losing his armor and weapon quickly. But it ripped into and through the rust monster eventually killing it. Shim went to work its antenna off while he sent the gnoll to investigate the wind. It went into the hall and turned left as the gnome gathered the last of the antenna free.

And then the wind stopped. And the Crawlers returned. Grabbing the last 2 barrels we made our way back up the stairs and stowed them in the room for another day. Smelling, tired, and not wanting to stay any longer, we made our way through the dungeon back to Entrance two and left once more back to Bork Keep by 6 PM.

We showered, changed our clothes for this less reeking of urine, and then grabbed some food at the mess hall. The plan was to rest now early and study, hopefully back in the dungeon by 5 AM on the morrow.

Youth Group! TOEE - Meet 2, 7/6/22

They did some more investigation around Hommlet, eventually figuring out who was and who was not possibly on their side. They have nothing to particularly say that someone in the town is a bad guy, but they do feel that a few of them are liars. To flesh out their group, they ended up hiring Elmo, which will be pretty much their entire meat shield.

Follows:

The next morn, Birthmonth the 5th, Marketday, had the group up, dressed ,cleaned, prayed and studied, and then at the Common Room of the Welcome Wench for Breakfast. We discussed option for the day and wanted to tackle two of them: Meet with Jaroo the Druid and get his take on the situation around Hommlet and also go up to the north end of town and see the Miller and the millwheel – to get a sense if magic or demonic issues were a part of the situation.

Ophelia and Rowan would seek out Jaroo and the rest of the party would head north. It was 9 now, so we hoped to be back in 2 hours tops to pool our findings and then if pertinent, go and see the Village Elder, Auva. The Druid and Cleric left the Inn and went to the center area of town where a grove of tight trees and a path had been set up. Rowan felt pretty chill being in here. There was a mound of soil festooned with herbs, stones, and flowers, the path circled it, and then it ended at a low single story house.

A black bear was sleeping here. Curled up it snored softly at our approach before opening a single eye…and giving an inquisitive, “Hrrrff?” We announced ourselves and coming out of the house was a late 30’s something half elven man with one and a half legs, the shorter ending at the knee, hobbling out on a crutch. “Don’t mind, Snookies,” he said pointing to the bear, “At his age he prefers the sunlight and naps to problems. Jaroo Ashstaff of the Gnarley Wood, How may I help you?”

Turns out that Jaroo is not in agreement with Terjon regarding the strange phenomena that are occurring around Hommlet. Too many unexplained issues or just odd occurrences that don’t add up. The two of them had gotten too heated conversations about it again and again. He offered the other two a smoke of some pipe weed and then lit up and regaled the two friends about how he lost his leg.

There was an old temple ground not too far from here, somewhere to the north east. A moathouse sat before it before the land had flooded and whoever lived here abandoned the site. Burne and Rufus had been having some hired hands and workmen scavenge already worked stones from the area, using them in the foundation stones of not only the tower, but also the soon to be built keep.

Regarding any repository of evil that might be associated with Iuz would need a decent locale to center itself upon, and anyplace in Hommlet would be too obvious. So Jaroo believed that if there is a demonic entity nearby that was having an elemental effect on the town, the Moathouse was a viable locale. So he had set up a trip to go and explore it, however he was accosted by tremendous frogs; one of which literally tore his leg off! Fleeing for his life, he wrapped his stump in a tourniquet and made it to town the next day.

The Council along with Auva then decided that the road to and the area around the Moathouse was off limits. This means that Burne and Rufus would have to rely on quarried stones, instead of already finished and scavenged works. Jaroo feels that that location, besides being very dangerous, might hold the answer the party is looking for. He can no longer adventure but if the party did find themselves in need of healing, and could make it back, he would be able to help – as well as any poisons or diseases they might be afflicted with. He did say that if the group was able to find fresh aloe, he would help make some healing potions for the group. We thanked him and left.

Meanwhile Albert, Aredhel, and Pestle all went north. They made their way across the river, noted the presence of the Moneychanger, and then followed the road east from here until the loud noise of the turning Millwheel let them know they arrived. The Miller, Mytch, was working the great stones at this time, grinding grains while the water wheel turned slowly in the river.

He came down and we talked for a while. We did note that there were some symbols of the old gods present and he was not exactly well speaking of St Cuthbert. This led the group to be more confident in their questioning. A month or two ago, the water wheel slipped off its foundation and the townsfolk, especially Grove, worked on making bricks and stones, hoisting it back up and then building a new foundation housing for the center spoke. Mytch admitted this was not perfect and brick was not going to be the best long term solution. At some point the sluice and wheel would have to be dropped back to the main bedrock of the town.

We wanted to go and check it out so he led us past the big gears and to the wall. Advising us to be safe, the three friends spent time looking the site over. The stone in many places under the brick visibly looked melted. As if it had run. Mytch let the party know earlier that Terjon suspected that Sandstone was to blame and that was what the wheel had been built upon. But Albert and Pestle were convinced it was granite. And granite does not melt or run like that.

Once again magic might be to blame. Elemental. Too much presence of a demonic entity weakens the barrier between this world and the elemental planes. It seemed likely that Terjon was wrong. Albert did lose his balance at one point and had to be dragged back to safety or he would have fallen 12 feet to water and maybe been dragged under the wheel. That was when Albert let slip that he didn’t know how to swim which had Aredhel and Pestle question why the hell he was risking his life on the wall?

We gave Mytch a very soft overview of our findings, mindful of Auva's admonition not to upset the locals. From there we left and headed back to the Welcome Wench. The Cheese maker, a buxom woman named Martena was out selling her wares and Aredhel purchased two wedges of fresh cheddar, nibbling on it on the way.

Back at the Inn, Rowan and Ophelia were having an encounter with the local tradesman named Rannos Davi. He runs the Sword and Cheese Tradepost on the north end of town. He had a half dozen assorted fighting type men with him. They started off by having a deep conversation with Oslter Gundigroot on the party and what they were doing. He then pivoted to questioning the cleric and druid about their findings, nothing is going on here, and once they finish their investigation, they can safely go on and report back that everything is fine. He even offered to help sell us rations on our way out of town. The rest of the group came in in time to see Rannos and his men move on.

We ate lunch, tipped Ostler very well, and shared what we had learned. We were running out of commoner coin so we wanted to go to the Moneychanger first. So we stopped off and saw Melubb. His guard wouldn’t let more than one in at a time and the two guard dogs, big half mastiff beasts, growled to help drive that fact home. Pestle and then Aredhel did change coins, but only a few gold to silver, which had Melubb sigh at the low value of the transaction but still take his cut. Aredhel did make friends with the dogs though, eventually going through an entire wedge of the cheese! (still have 1 left!)

We talked about what to do and decided we wanted to talk to Auva and get his approval for us to go to the Moathouse and check it out. If we could find any definitive proof of foul magics or demonic presence, we could get closer to solving the problem.

We went to Auva where the Elder was meeting with the town Captain of the Militia, an older male in his 40’s named Peri. There was also a mountain of a man here, dark long hair, and so very muscular, eating dried beef from a bag. He was Elmo, Peri’s eldest son. Standing over 6’ 10 and easily 350 to 400, he was a veritable mountain. We talked about all we had learned and what we wanted to do. Auva was willing to call a council meeting on changing the law or allowing a dispensation for the group to go to the Moathouse. But we were going to be shy a fighter or two. We had 2 choices, Rannos Davi had a number of fighters available for hire at any time, or Peri could let some of his militia men go. Both had their pluses but the group did not want to trust Rannos.

Elmo did volunteer himself. His older brother, Otis, was a King’s man and should have some gear for him. “Get me a set of chainmail and honking big axe and I can deal with any problems for you.” He was willing to go with us for 1 gold per day and an equal share of any treasure found. He left, heading home to get what he needed and would meet us tonight at the Welcome wench because, “Any good adventure involves staying up late the night before getting shit faced and sleeping it off because who knows when you’ll get the chance to do that again!”

So an hour later the council convened in the Elder’s meeting room. Jaroo, Terjon, Peri, Oslter, Mytch, Burne, and Rufus. We then presented our desire to go and check out the moathouse. Lots of crosstalk and discussion followed. The most damning was that no one but Jaroo ever actually saw the giant frogs. No one, not before the attack or after. Burne blamed the druid for being high as a kite and losing his footing on the uneven ground or dropping into a hole. He was a solid no. Terjon was also against it. The site was off limits for everyone’s safety and we should not cause any problems.

He was willing to vote yes if the group committed to 50% of anything found goes to the Church of St. Cuthbert. And if that was not palatable, Allow Terjon to place one of his Adherents in with the party to help them out and act as an observer. We respectfully declined.

Mytch was all for us, commenting that the group was pretty respectful. Ostler had been treated well by us and he gave the green light. Jaroo felt it was worth it for us to go and look. Peri wanted all aspects checked out so was voting neutral – but yeah, go ahead. As for Rufus? He and Ophelia had been chatting and laughing most of the time and with her flirting with the fighting man, when pressed for an answer, he defied Burne and on seeing Ophelia wink at him and smile, said, “Yeah! Let them go look! Great idea!”

On finding out Elmo was going, Burne was pretty upset, feeling that Peri had a ulterior motive to letting it happen, but with 5 votes yes and 2 no – Auva allowed the group the chance to go to the Moathouse and investigate it for strange goings on and possible demonic influences.

We went back to the Welcome Wench and crank and laughed with Elmo. He was larger than life, liked by everyone, and Pestle noted he was willing to open his pouch often; paying for more than his share of drink. So much so that he pretty much spent whatever earnings he would make the next day and then some. We rested and on Birthmonth the 6th, got up early, ate breakfast, and were on our way by 8:30.

Scrub, thorn, and thistle barred our way. The track there was barely a winding path, overgrown and cluttered. In places it was just mud. Tall plants choked both sides and it was 3 hours later that we arrived. North of here was the ruins of the moathouse. A stinking bog surrounded it, vegetation appeared pale and sickly. A busted drawbridge seemed to cross the crumbling embankment and the entire place was just unsafe looking.