Meet 110, Adv 7, 2/1/20

The group had a chance to enter their 2nd Glyph Gate. In the Terror Dungeon there are small pocket areas that need an additional "token" to get into - and there is typically a reward to be gotten. For the 1st Level, the items are important for use later in the dungeon - and don't typically need to resort to combat although it is certainly a viable option.

Write up follows:

Icemonth the 1st, almost 8 PM, and we left the Terror Dungeon swiftly. From there we went back to the Barrack’s Hall where we saw the wounded dwarf was now along with his own adventuring group. Friendly waves were given back and forth and their leader, a half-orc with a red and grey set of leather clothing identified himself as Duragond, leader of Duragond and company. They were about 9 of them, a mix between orcish, dwarven, and humans.

There was much talking about our foray and theirs (they had been in 4 days) and the revealed they had picked up a second Chime some time ago – to be used for any party member that is badly wounded and needs to leave, they can get out of the dungeon and the rest of the party can stay. Good to know!

We talked about bugbears, lower levels, and the Vault of Lathandar and getting a weapon there – supposedly real important. We thanked them for being so open and eventually we rested. The next day Darius talked about the charter, what our goals in the dungeon should be, getting to the Glyph gate by Entrance one and then eventually mapping out where and how all the entrances touch each other. The thought was NOT to go through Grue Alley unless we had no choice – and if so to press on with lights blazing next time.

If we’re going to find treasure, we will need to eventually get off the beaten bath and/or risk going deeper – but that led us back to not going deeper until we know roughly how the upper level plays out. We studied and prayed, Sybil bartered for more food for the group and we all got back together heading back to the entrance by 8:30 in the morning; Duragond and Company commenting they would be entering about 10:30 or so and wished us well.

At the gate, Kara Farmer took our names again, and at some prompting from Sybil, flirted with Darius who was surprised and flirted back. From there we made our way down into the gloom and eventually came to the bottom of the steps in a large room with a “1” by the entrance. Two torches lit we looked around. Times were scratched on the wall with chalk, echoing the period that Darius had been tracking. There were some other small helpful hints and a door to the south and east (with the lock drilled out).

We assumed South the way we wanted to go and made our way there, checking to portal briefly before daring to open it. It showed a long passage heading south with a slow burn torch on the west wall. It seemed similar to what we had the Lizardman run through when we summoned him yesterday. Confident we made our way through until we arrived @ the corner which indeed did lead us to the room just outside the Bugbear lair.

Alright!

We travelled west to the slope, and Connal took the run up there where he once again set grapple and had the rope run down slope. He guarded the corner while we shuttled our way up slope until we were all outside the door with the dents along the bottom. Listening, we heard nothing, and then opened the door – revealing the same 20’x10’ room with the glyph gate at the far end – but only 2 bodies in here dried and dead! One missing since yesterday.

Hmm. Only a few of us entered as we made our way to the door here. After listening and confident that there are not enemies nearby, most everyone hid around the corner and Connal held aloft a vial of pig’s blood and touched the glyph. Red light flared out, crushed the vial and absorbed the blood, went out past the door and into the hall – and then all swooped back in to the gem – pulling along with it loose stones, gravel, and grit from the floor which hit the door with a heavy staccato beat. Aha, that explains the dents.

We followed Connal back and the gem above was red, but light was leaking out the op slowly. Two doors beyond here, right and left. The right door had written in chalk upon it. “This door. No joke, Open this door first.” We debated only a few seconds and then Connal touched the door to open it – and it flew open to reveal a mid-sized chamber with 5 animated dead ogrish sized zombies and 3 gossamer clad decaying women beyond who were beginning to keen loudly. Shrill and loud.

Fuck shit fuck damn it.

The party ran back, sliding out of the chamber and cutting around the corner while Asher, Sybil, and Connal held off last, Connal getting clubbed terribly for the effort by the closest zombie. But we backed up and turned the corner, door slammed closed behind us until after the glyph gate gem finished bleeding its color free – and the door slammed closed and the one lone Ogrish zombie fell over.

Ok…we took a moment to regroup and decided that whoever wrote on the door is a dick, and we should go left. Taking another vial of pig’s blood, we once again enacted the glyph and then enmasse made our way westward through the door to what could be best described as a Seraglio. Reddish curtains, gauze, pillows, harp music coming from somewhere, door on the north wall closed, large central column going up 15’, symbols of Lathandar, elvish god of sunshine and life quite prevalent. The door on the north wall had a series of wheeled tumblers face out to the group, all set to “0”. Hjalgrim and Percy gave Sybil a leg up to look them over and she was convinced they turn and would unlock the door – but need a 3 digit code to do it.

Asher let us know what he could about Lathandar while the group looked around for secret doors as well as listening where they could. Although nice, nothing really jumped out until we gave the central column a once over. It had depictions of elves carved from the bottom to the top, all of them cavorting happily. But they had had chiseled marks over their eyes, blinding them.

It was after some time that the group discovered that near the top of the column, about 8’ off the ground was an elf without his eyes gouged. Hoisting Shim on his shoulders he looked through the eyes and saw the number “1”. Alright. We looked over the column and found 2 more elves without eyes gouged, getting two other numbers. But what order? Looked at the elves that had the eyes whole, we did note that one had 7 fingers up, one had 8, and the last had 9.

But on further contemplation, instead of running up the total 7, 8, 9 as the order – we looked instead at fingers down, getting a reverse order or 1, 2, and 3. Sybil adjusted the dial and the tumblers slid into place, the door opening towards us.

Showing a hallway CHOKED with over 2 dozen skeletal figures with spears, shields, and helms. And only a barely wide enough path running through the mess of them further into the place.

We looked around and through, and Sybil was sure he saw a cotton tailed rabbit just at the edge of her vision, amidst the skeletal feet, but it hopped away. No one else saw it. So we decided to sneak our way through, the larger people forced to drop shields and backpacks off their shoulders in order to get through. There was a door on the right hand side past the room of skeletons with a metal locking bar down across it on our side to keep whatever was within…in.

Beyond that the passage eventually turned to the left and showed 2 doors and a painted area of the wall indicating this way to the Sun Vault of Lathandar, Key of Light needed, see Priest Alorn. The last door was fancifully carved and showed a depiction of the elven god amidst a pastoral forest scene with a number of reverse carved animals…except for the rabbit – that carving was smooth.

We listened to the doors and the middle door we felt was cool, almost cold to the touch. So we began discussing our options on which way to go – cold door or latched door and we noticed that we heard faint noises behind the latched door and sparking lights that faded – except when we tries talking in elvish – then the light stayed. But nothing on the other side replied.

We were getting closer to just opening it when Sybil saw the rabbit again, this time hopping into the Seraglio. So she went in and was moving pillows around, hoping to find in when the party noticed she was gone, again. So we corralled her back and the group decided to go to the cold door instead.

We opened the door and it was COLD – like 40 degrees cooler than the rest of the place – there was a round table with 12 chairs about it, 11 of them empty the last one had a beautiful elven woman sitting there just staring, her hands on the table top. One by one we all sat down and relaxed, looking at her and then she spoke saying we can each ask her a question once and only once, and then we were free to go.

So we sat and looked about and then Shim started the questioning off, where is the Key of Light. We went through everyone, eventually learning the Key of Light is with Priest Alorn who was here and cursed eternal for the crime of murder, locked behind the barred door and the key is around his neck but you would need to be unseen by the dead and or the living to get in and remove the key without issue.

As she answered the questions she became more drawn and wane, skin paling and eyes sinking in, seeming more like a Banshee than not. So once the last question was asked we got up from our chairs and left the room with a thank you and Lathandar’s Blessing on our lips. Ok, so we went to the barred door and it was going to be Asher and Shim going in – Asher can cast Invisibility to Undead and Shim was small, light, and the light inside responded to him already.

The entered the room – 8 steamer sized trunks, 3 had light flittering in between the cracks, a dwarf chained to the back wall of the chamber his guts torn open and roped around his lap, various desks and office furnishings jammed in the corners. The two of them entered and a trunk popped open…and a Ghoul appeared, sniffing the air and looking around.

The hid against the north wall as it sniffed about, and then set up by the open door in order to snatch someone coming in. Then another trunk popped open, and a zombie staggered out and the ghoul and zombie looked each other up and down and then went back to watching the open door. Asher and Shim went to the wrecked furnishings and then around the room to the dead dwarf. The key was on his neck, faintly glowing, on a thin gold chain.

Another zombie appeared and milled about, but nothing more happened. Asher carefully picked the key off the figure’s chest…and yanked – the chain broke and he had the key in his hand. Another ghoul appeared and the ghouls seemed happy to see one another, literally hugging and licking one another. Ugh. We snuck, around the room while a ghoul lunged forward at the door and snatched what seemed to be a rabbit from the ground and ate it.

Not wanting to be caught here any longer, they made it to the door, and then slammed it closed and latched it, trapping the undead inside. Hooray!

From there we went to the vault door, inserted the key and entered the Sun Vault of Lathandar. It was cool and red and blues, a few weapon racks and armor stands that look like it had been picked over, some shields, helms, spears, hammers and the like. Looking them over, we decided to take a spear first for Asher, the half elf taking one when there was a loud buzzing and we all then found ourselves outside the glyph gate in the narrow room with the 3 dead dried out bodies.

From outside the door we heard some echoing voices and laughter and carefully stepped out, hearing to the south, the voices of Duragond and Company. We went down to see them and they saw us, wishing us well and congratulations on the Glyph Gate and Vault of Lathandar. They did let us know that any item left on the racks would be silver blessed by Lathandar the next time we went in. Good to know! They were taking advantage of the ogre woodcutting tribe who had left yesterday to sell/barter their cuttings to make their way right to the stairs down. Where? Not too far, 3 or 4 rooms away.

We were talking about the 3rd glyph gate and thinking it was by Entrance 3 when they laughed and said nope…not too far from here and the stairs down…maybe 5 or so rooms away.

We wished them well and it was about noon when we were discussing either going on to the Glyph Gate again, or somewhere else.

Meet 109, Adv 7, 1/18/20

There are certain traps that I like to use and because of that I make certain that I don't overplay my hand. One that I like is pit trap right after a pit trap. I don't know where it came from, but I've used it before and my current group, especially the long term 11+year players are always on guard for it because it IS such a nasty neat surprise.

I did use a pit trap INSIDE a pit trap once - and that was fun - but have to hold that one in my back pocket for at least another 5 years before I pull it back out.

Write up follows:

Connal navigated the slope up with little issue, rope trailing down the slope, grappling hook set up at the top. He had a torch up with him and one by one, the group made their way up the slope. There was the faintest smell of earth or top soil nearby but nothing showed. From here it was a passage south, west, east where we came, or a door to the north. The base of the door had a number of dents in it and the door needed to be forced open.

Once done so though, the next room was small, 10 x 20, a glyph gate on the far end of the room, and three desiccated bodies in here, dead at least half a year or more. The words above the glyph gate read: One eight a cup of, a dram, a quaff. Not rich but…This plaque be…Crimson Flowing Veining Stuff. The gem had three pairs of radiant lines around it (the one with the Chime had 4).

Shit…did we really want to do this and now? The 1st part was an ounce, and the last part was blood. But the party went back and forth before deciding that the matter didn’t need to be addressed at this time and we should continue on.

From here we went south, passing a door on the right that looked in very poor condition, and then an opening to the left that lead to a room where 8 pale barked oak trees were growing right out of the ground, twisting the flagstones, growing right to the ceiling where branches curled and twisted amongst themselves. Room was pretty big, and there was a slow burn torch right when we walked in.

A look about showed the dirt around the flagstones was disturbed and had some pretty big foot prints there – Ogre sized was our thought. Ugh. We tried tossing rocks at the trees and branches, dirt and stones – nothing happened. Eventually Vulwulf dared to enter and drew close enough to touch the trunk. It felt…like it was vibrating. He took out his water skin and poured some of it on the ground.

And the tree groaned and thrummed, and the branches above GREW, twisting even more amongst each other and making some noise for a few minutes until it finally stopped. The rest of the party was in the hall watching.

And the watched as he bent down and prayed to Idun, where the everspring goddess answered his blessing and the ground gave forth water between 4 of the trees. Which started growing. A lot. The ceiling was groaning as the trees pushed upwards and thickened and branched curled and grew denser and thicker and worked down from the 20’ tall ceiling. The other 4 trees also began to grow, although at a reduced rate since their roots were not directly where the water was churning.

The noise was echoing off in the distance and the party was really feeling uncomfortable. Vulwulf managed to get a twig broken off from the tree branches above and then the group made their way BACK down the hall to the top of the slope, and then turned west down the dark corridor. And it was a good thing as we heard ogrish voices in the distance walking around, many of them, getting closer – most likely to investigate the tree growth.

From here we went down the long dark hall to the end where it turned south, and then went that direction – the passage going on into the gloom. As we went along we could see a reflective surface ahead – a puddle on the floor – maybe 3’ wide, perhaps 7’ long, crudely oval shaped. There was no discolored water anywhere on the walls or ceiling. We tossed a few rocks at it, but the puddle was literally just a coating on the stone floor.

That’s when we saw the red eyes in the gloom ahead. Squeaking and staring at us. They crept closer and showed a number of giant and gargantuan sized rats. Fuuuuuuck.

Ogres sort of behind us, many giant rats ahead of us. We tossed some food and the rats were watching and then ate it, still watching. And then Shim called on his innate gnomish ability and spoke with the rats. Who were excited to speak with him. They had run into adventurers MANY times in the past and spoke of them as if expecting some enslaving or the like and Shim assured them we wanted to pass. He was surprised to learn on the rats was called “Frank”. So for the price of more food and then some cheese, we were allowed passage past the … 13 giant and gargantuan rats. Crap – that would have been a shitty fight.

Oh, and we could tell that the puddle…was rat urine. Lovely.

We did see a section of the … stone wall that they ate through, perhaps a foot tall, twice as wide. Connal commented..ok, Giant rats ATE the walls of the Terror Dungeon!?! Yeah, let’s keep going. Sybil led the way as we traveled through the gloom to another puddle. And the thought was to get some of the rat urine. Whose thought? God only knows, but it was the thought.

So we wanted to pick up the urine in a vial, but not touch it. But without tongs we ended up using Sybil’s pliers. But when we tried to dip the vial in we ended up crushing the glass and then dropping the vial in the urine. So we took it out, washed it off and handed it back to Sybil who was frowning at this. Luckily one of the hirelings took the pliers and wiped it down with her cloak and then oiled it, explaining that Sybil would have a rusty paperweight in a few days if that was how we treated tools.

We travelled on to the first corner and could hear rhythmic chopping in the distance and some Ogrish voices. Seemed they had come to investigate the growth and then were harvesting the wood. We continued south to the next crossing and were far enough away to consider moving on from here. The group could smell old cooking scents and grease but when we came around a few turns, we say a room with an old water barrel, some burn marks, areas where sleeping rolls had been laid, a door on the far side of the room with a few auger holes in it, and a sizable spear rack on the south wall with perhaps a dozen spears in it and a dozen spots without spears.

We looked over the chamber with care. The rack with the spears was locked and the spears did not come out. There was a brass plaque on the bottom that read: Compliments of the Odinian League Collective, Always willing to help. Come see our representative in Erylond with a valid charter from the Greater Rand Sellsword and Adventurers Guild for other things the League can do for you.

This really pissed off the party, League of Odin doing this? But we couldn’t figure out how to open the rack so we fiddled with the empty slots for a while and then ate dinner. A few more of the Giant Rats had followed us to here and we gave up the hard cheese to them, and they ran off satisfied. It was about 6:30 and we thought to keep going.

The door out of here was closed and the lock had been bored out some time ago. We listened, heard nothing, and then opened the passage with care. A few very large bare foot prints were on the other side – we assumed Grue, and not much else. So we drew up, passed through the door, and closed it behind us as we pressed on.

The passage traveled for a bit, turning one direction then the other. We thought we heard a door close in the distance as we were walking. We hadn’t passed a slowburn torch in some time so we were on high alert. Eventually the passage opened up to a room with a sloping passage down on the far end. Rough table with busted legs, splintered chairs, numerous rough kinky foot long hairs caught in various cracks and pinch points, old blood smears, splintered shields, shattered lanterns, and maybe a dozen brass bits loose on the floor.

We assumed the hairs were from Grues and were getting concerned. Something smashed up a bunch of adventurers in here and coins were just left lying about. The slope went down to over a dozen loping paces and ended at a “T” intersection. Sybil and Connal went down to the bottom with care and saw chalked on the wall the word “Pits” with an arrow pointing south, and “Scythe” and an arrow pointing north.

Ok, trap area. We were going to check out the pit side first. Shim cast Summon Monster and got a fairly large and beefy lizardman. He was instructed to head south so he went down the slope, looked at the floor, and used his long hunting spear to hit the floor just down the passage – opening up to a pit going down with spikes. Nice.

So he stepped back up the slope, ran, and pole vaulted over the pit with his spear where he skittered to a stop and then looked carefully again. And again he hit the ground and opened another pit. When this one opened, the other one closed. Alright. So he jumped/pole vaulted over this one and went down to a door. Gave a listen and a smell and listen, and mimed a large hairy creature behind it..and then repeated the gesture. Grue…maybe 2?

Before the spell’s time ran out, we had him jump back and then it ended. We looked down the other passage and saw a long passage, with a handled farming scythe right in the middle of the hall, leaning against the wall, with a pile of small rocks scattered around it and two very dead rats.

Um…not a scythe trap? Is this it? Not trusting it, we had Shim call another spell and got a troglodyte. It was ordered to go down the hall and when it got to the scythe it tried to move it…and couldn’t! It tried pushing it, pulling it, nothing it did had it move it was as if rooted there…until it tried to lever it away from the wall with its spear – and the scythe fell to the floor. But now he couldn’t lift it off the floor…again unless he used his spear as a lever.

We assumed the scythe was some sort of Weighty Chest issue item and chuckled at it. The Trog was then sent further down the hall to the door there where it listened and then cracked it open a bit.

While all this was going on, the group all excited in the room and getting the feedback from Connal and Sybil as to what was going on, the group failed to hear the sound of a distant door opening and creatures sneaking down, closer, and closer, and closer…

As for the lone trog, a long arm snaked out of the darkness and grabbed him, followed by a gurgling leonine roar. Grue!!!

Connal and Sybil backed up to the slope, dropped oil, and lit it to make a line of fire at the base of the slope – and keep the Grue back…And we could see it was two of them!

And at that point we heard the cry to “Charge” and arrows flew into the party as almost a dozen bugbears, at least 4 giant spiders, and a swarm of smaller one filled the hall behind us and pressed the advantage home to close and attack.

Vulwulf and our shieldbearer took the brunt of the immediate attacks as the bugbears charged in and filled the hall, then the spiders came, with the swarm hitting Wulfulf. Shim was concentrating and fired off a globe of darkness but it encompassed part of the party however it did prevent more arrow fire. Hjalgrim swapped positions and with two Grues on one side and host of foes hitting us on the unprepared back ranks, we wanted to flee but had nowhere to go.

Darius strongly suggested to Asher that we get the hell out of here now and to use one of our precious few Dimensional Folding scrolls – and open a portal to the Entrance Two – and then we’ll use the Chime and get the hell out of here. So Asher unfurled the scroll, read the words which turned to fire, and a 10’ diameter hole opened in time and space just ahead of him on the slope where we could see the Entrance Two room. Where we could see inquisitive fire beetles milling about.

Fuck it, time to go – passage is only open for 1 minute. So we all reached out into the darkness, grabbed arms with the next person while spiders attacked and bugbears swung. Hjalgrim tossed Shim to Percy and we all broke, running for the portal and hopefully leaving some chaos behind us as beetles and spiders clashed with one another.

Getting to the Entrance room, the stairs went up 10’…to a blank ceiling. So it was the Chime rung and it was a harmonizing reverberation that shook the entire room, and the ceiling spun crazily a moment before it opened up to the stairs spiraling to the world above. With only a 2 minute window we ran, yelling ahead of us to “Open the doors! Open the doors!” while fire beetles and giant spiders tore into one another and bugbear voice echoed behind us. The great iron doors lifted and the party burst through them just before 8 PM and emerged once again at Bork Keep.

Meet 108, Adv 7, 1/11/20

It had been planned the the party would meet an important person of the Terror Dungeon somewhere in the first long foray. And they did, he introduced himself as Anton, a stylized merchant with a cart bulging with tarped supplied and pulled by a giant slug.

He doesn't sell whatevers, but always does have what the party "needs", but at a cost. In this case Sybil took advantage of Anton's spiel and the group got a chance to get a leg up in a direction that would get them through the Bugbear Warren.

Write up follows:

Icemonth the 1st, roughly noon. The group talked about heading west into the next area but there was a body just inside the passageway. Humanoid, tall (maybe 7’), goblin like in his bones, and his skull and collar bones smashed. Been dead at least 9 months, mostly just bones with some thin skin. No clothes, no belongings. With torch light we could see the room was perhaps 20 x 30, at least a 15’ tall ceiling, and numerous stalactites and stalagmites again, like the hall and the prior room we came from. Some broken stone on the floor and little else. There was another passage on the opposite side of the chamber along the north wall.

Sybil went back and forth and the thought was to sneak slightly into the room so she could look down the passage. So she crept forward slowly…slowly…making it to the nearest stalagmite…

When some dropped from the ceiling, smashed into the back of the halfling’s head, and smashed her to the ground. It was a damned stalactite! And as we watched, it slowly turned itself around like a mollusk or some sort. Looking up, we could see LOTS of other stones hanging above shuffle about. Thalin charged in, grabbed her ankle and one tried to fall on him, but he reared back and gave it a punch – and it was like hitting a damned rock!

But he did run out of the room with her and we spent 10 minutes waking her up, patching up her head, and coming up with another plan. We wanted past here – but do we go back to the straw room? Discussed the matter for a bit and eventually decided that if we hugged the wall in here, we might avoid any more of the piercers.

That’s when we thought about dousing the torches and once dark – we could easily see 20 of the piercers on the ceiling and 5 on the floor radiated heat and visible to infravision. But not everyone had it so we had to link hands and pick our way through the room without delay, watching above and dodging the slow moving piercers. Once through though Sybil grew alarmed that we had NO light’s lit and that meant we were ripe for a Gru attack so we lit torches quickly and regrouped.

The passage here went north to what seemed to be a former camp of some sort. Torn bedrolls, smashed brazier, bloody (very dried) blanket. Door to the left and passage leading to the gloom to the right. We looked around and discussed options for a while until the vote was to go check out the door. It was here that we heard a voice coming from the side passage say, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that. But I’m willing to watch and see how this plays out.”

Human (?) male about late 20’s/early 30’s, handsome, oiled hair slicked back into a pony tail, wearing a bulging backpack, short sword at his side. Had a giant slug toting a cart laden with covered bundles. Identified himself as Anton, he’s a trader down here, always looking around for a good deal. The group spoke to him and he had an acerbic wit and a biting retorts but wasn’t fazed by the group and was willing to trade. Like for magic items? No, you don’t NEED magic items, do you? I’ll trade what you need. And I’ll always be fair.

About a third of the group had a feel that he was honest but we should be careful. But it was Sybil that he did his dealing with – and she was looking for the best way through. Well he was visiting his friend who was out, had a place just around the corner. He might have a way to get you through that door – because there are over 200 bugbears in that warren. And they were going to come out that door very soon.

What did he want for the trade of information? Simple Sybil, just a little bit of that baby fat you were carrying. And Sybil took the deal – shaking his hand that was a HOT flash and Sybil was sweating madly as 10 lbs boiled away – she looked flush and tired and wild all at once as 1/6th of her body weight slid away.

Anton honored the deal, gave her the information that the wizard was not at home but did have disguises to get the group through. He then thanks the party and let them know he might see them again at some point in the future, or he might not. But wished them good luck!

We went down the hall to the door, it was locked and Sybil worked the lock until it snapped open – and we all entered. It was a fairly large chamber – 30 x 30, that had been retrofitted as living and working quarters for a single someone. Bed, armoires, table, pantry, chairs, library, some robes. Robes were wizard looking , black and chased in silver and gold. There was a feeling that the person here was elvish, but the furnishing were “whatever” – touched up and bedecked after the fact.

There was a door on the other side of the room, also locked (twist lock from this side). We locked the door and looked around a bit. At some point we had cast for magic and found a few places that had some glowing – but no one wanted to risk touching anything just in case. During all this Shim had parked himself at the wizard’s writing desk and once we came to the conclusion we were going to take nothing and just go out the other door, Shim figured he’d leave the wizard a note detailing that they had come to do some trading but he wasn’t here. And they’d like to try again to get some disguises.

And then as he put the pen down, right below where he had written, SOMEONE else was writing a reply! No pen, just the letters appearing. It was the wizard and he was Busy right now, but wanted to know what they wanted so he can help. Identified himself as “V”.

Shim said this was so damned cool.

What followed was a slow conversation back and forth with some wizard somewhere else and Shim where he did identify he did have some bugbear disguise potions. Would last 3 hours – and should be long enough to get them through the warren. Thought the group was pretty ballsy for doing it. Would also give them the ability to understand and speak Bugbear if need be. We dickered a bit but the wizard was Busy and the more we asked him things, the more curt his replies got.

Shim didn’t want to piss him off and the party elected to buy the potions over Darius’ serious concerns – the bugbear warren was massive and we were sitting ducks there. But being outvoted we all took out coins, paid the wizard (just laid it on the table and the coins disappeared!). He thanked Shim, gave him some Falser rootbeer candy as a thanks once he learned Shim was a gnome, and a hidden compartment under the table opened and we saw about 60 small vials – 3 groups of 20, each marked with a B, a D, or an L. V had told us to take the “B” potions so we did.

From there we drank them down and one by one, we all changed outwardly to bugbears. Our heights remained the same, appearances changed. So the Halfling and gnome appeared as if children. But when you looked at yourself, you saw yourself!

We went to the north door, left, was in a small 10x10 room that had been used as a portal, and then beyond that was a larger room with a DIRT floor – not stone, various bones sticking out. On the walls were some commendation to Hel. We went beyond it to the far door and opened it – to see 9 bugbears here.

And this led to our 3rd wacky conversation of the night. The bugbears were under the impression we were a group that had gotten lost and at some point we turned to Asher and acted as if he knew what this happened. Which then had the bugbears remember that we were Asher and the Runts. Yeah..we know you. What did you do Asher? Why were you gone so long?

And then it got weird. There was a brothel beyond here that we were taken to after some good natured dueling in the hall where first blow landed wins the fight. Asher had to have sex with three of the Bugbears as demanded by the silent gods and he gamely did what we could. But Darius was trying to fill in the “fake” missing gaps and couldn’t come up with a reason for some of the questions – saying that his memory was foggy.

And he was asked How do the silent gods get rid of fog? They blow it away. So he needs to get blown to remember. And one of the women came forward and there was some back and forth and Darius really got into the bugbear mindset, punched the girl in the face for too much talking and demanded a different priestess to the silent gods blow him. And she did.

Sybil and Shim were looked at as the kids of the group, Sybil being the chatty of the two and Shim making growling noises. They were given some candied rat to nibble on and the legend of Asher’s Troupe continued to grow as we fielded other odd and leading questions.

Eventually guards from King Zandark came in and waited from Asher to finish. From here they took us further into the Warrens past some store areas and a smithy until we arrived at a throne room. King Zandark was a giant of a bugbear, bare chested, dressed in pinks and yellow puffy pantaloons, and sporting a 5’ tall black sword against his throne.

He welcomed Asher back, asked how his parents were doing, and then wanted to know about the barrels. Where were they? Asher was very ready and we quickly put together a plan where we would follow a war party out against the Ogres who took the barrels and then bring it back to the King. There were some threads lost in the conversation and King Zandark had to be reset a few times, but we took the mission to…return with the ogre stolen barrels with the mystery stuff inside. Yeah, we’re on it.

The King then beat Asher for a bit until the half-elf admitted he didn’t want to be hit anymore and was not ok, and then he did the same to Darius who also eventually relented. The king was satisfied and we made our way out of here following some guards who lead us through a number of large corridors, a massive chamber well over a hundred feet long with a 30’ tall arched ceiling, with bugbear homes mounted against the ceiling in places. We saw other passages and even a room with some ogres, liazrdmen, and a human..a fucking GHOUL in a cage. Why a ghoul?? According to the bugbear’s there, if someone is badly hurt and needs to have their skin sewed or a spear dug out of them, the cage is lowered and the ghoul scratches that person, paralyzing them so the bugbear Chirurgeon’s can operate.

How…dreadful.

We did get out of the warren and found ourselves in a passage beyond that we then followed to a room with a door on the north wall and a passage that led to a sloping corridor to the left. Rotten bunks, old straw, rancid smell. According to our guess we had under an hour on the potions until it ended . Which way to go?

Sybil seemed hungry and was nibbling a lot. We looked up slope, it was a good 30 degree angle and there was grit, rocks, and … teeth at the base of the slope! Like over a dozen of them – and all canines and molars. … Ok.? Top of the slope was lost in the gloom. Door on the north led to a passage and wound a bit, some light down the hall, and then eventually a long hall going north.

We then decided to summon a monster to check out both halls as we didn’t like either one. So Shim called out and got…a lizard man! But unlike any lizard man we had seen before. Almost 7 1/2’ tall, 400 lbs, plates running down its back, strong and terrible looking. It looked at the group and Shim had it go down the long hall. Before it went, Darius pulled out the lizardman disk we’ve had forever and it was a holy symbol to some lizard god – and the sign was two fingers on one hand and pinky thumb on the other!

The lizardman called Shim “Little food” and did trundle down the hall, calling out what it saw. Long hall, some 80 plus feet, ended at a door, opened to a room with some torch light and a set of stairs going up next to a large number “1”. Hot damned – another way out!!

We then had it come back and then go up the sloped passage (which it did with its clawed feet). 4 way intersection, door on the north. Went through door, small room, Glyph gate here. Um,..Touch glyph – light shot out, but nothing happened.

And then spell ended.

Ok, we decided we were going to work our way up the slope and see what the Glyph gate had for us, knowing that our illusion was only going to last another half hour tops.

Meet 107, Adv 7, 1/4/20

This is the group's first trip back to the Terror Dungeon for quite some time. It's also the 2 new guys at the table try in it as well. This adventure is pretty much them going in and out, with some plot moving on the outside for the rest of the group. There will be a few tweaks along the way, but it should be a dungeon delve from the word go.

Write up follows:

The other group returned from up north where we all discussed what happened, shared stories, swapped information, and met the new recruits. There was training to be taken care of, moneys to be divided up, and eventually – our trip to Bork Keep and the Terror Dungeon.

As the days passed on we discussed who would be going in and who would not, on the assumption that half the group would remain here in Erylond and do what short work we can for the Adventurer’s Guild. It was here that we came to the conclusion that we were going to be short some spots on out roster.

The party wanted to hire a porter and that also meant they wanted to hire a Shieldbearer as well. So we put an ad in with Pha-Iyr Carom and the Facilitator lined up a group for us to interview – 3 of each. We met with the all, asked questions, and came to the conclusion on 2. For the porter we hired a 40 year old woman named Silk Valour. She had a hard and rough life and has portered on and off for a number of years but had been badly wounded on the recent trip in.

She got healthy but without her Journeyman papers as a Cobbler or a Barrelmaker, she could only get menial jobs. So only now that she’s on the last half dozen coppers in her pouch, she put her hat back in the ring and is looking to lend her skills to a group that can use her. She took an advance of 2 nobles for 1 days pay to outfit herself on a few items and would be ready to go on the 30th.

As for the Shieldbearer we hired Menaria Roses, a large and imposing figure of a woman and warrior who came dressed for the job in breastplate, tower shield, and two braces of axes. She had been in the dungeon some 6 times. She had been friends with a leader of another adventuring group for 7 years, actively travelling with them for 4.

She had a falling out with them after things had gotten tense and outright torture was performed on some captured people in the Dungeon. She had words, and there was a parting of ways. Since then she’s been looking for another group to join and we were happy to have her.

Once everyone was in place, we decided who was going to the Terror Dungeon: Sybil, Darius, Connal, Rhygar, Shimlagesh, Asher, Vulwulf, Hjalgrim, Percy, Silk, and Menaria – 11 of us. We then went shopping, loading up on whatever gear we needed or thought we’d need and on the 30th of Deathmonth, loaded out sleighs in the morning and set off in the cold 10 degree temperature on our way.

We passed through Canaslan, deciding NOT to stop for now, and pushed on, making it to the far end of the border and thenceward to Bork Keep. The knight’s brigade rode out to make sure all was good, and we made our way to the Keep itself. There were 5 other adventuring parties here right now from what we were told. We parked our belongings in Visitor’s Hall One and then made our presence known to Lord Corface Bork.

In the hall was a very battered and beaten dwarf, swaddled in bandages and resting. We slept well and the next morn woke up, loaded up provisions, and wanted to wait for the stairs to migrate to entrance “2”. It was 11:35 when we approached the doors, gave our name to the girl at the desk, and the two dwarves manning the portal pulled on the chains and revealed the passage going down into the dark.

One by one, we entered, an earthy dank smell coming out along with the faint inrushing of air. Torches lit we continued down until we arrived at long last down the spiraling steps to the entrance room. There were 4 main passages out, a slow burn torch, a side door, and looking down the southeast passage, a pile of loose off white rags.

Sybil made sure the place was clear before inviting the rest of the group down. The party staying together, weapons and spells at the ready. Not trusting the rags, she prodded them aside and seeing another small batch to the end of the side “T” junction (that we did NOT want to go down), the party all drew in close.

She informed us that we were going to pass through the room with the 4 armed ogre skeleton. Touch nothing, don’t dawdle, keep going. Do not stop – loiters will set off the noise trap. She checked the door, confident it was ready, and opened the door.

30’ square room, alcove on the other side with another door closed, 9’ tall 4 armed skeleton figure in the center. It was time to go. We ran through the chamber as she gave the other door the quickest of glances, threw it open, and we all pushed our way into the next chamber. Roughly the same size, there was a 7’ tall statue of a trout in here, made of brass, and had a half dozen bashes in it as if made by a battle axe. The ceiling rose to 15’ in height and there were 2’ tall stalactites and stalagmites.

As the last of us passed through we could feel the wind starting and we slammed the door and waited…and the wind died down – trap averted.

In the room we were in, there was a passage out to the north that led to a short hall going west and a single door on the north wall. But we could hear water dripping in here – but the area was dry. A Phosphorous fungi was growing on the walls that Vulwulf let us know needed moisture to thrive, but again, place had no visible water but we could HEAR water dripping.

We checked out the statue and even had Shim lifted up to peer in the mouth of the fish – in the back of the mouth was a hole about an inch and a half in diameter. We rapped on the fish, sounded thick walled but hollow. Eventually a brass bit was tossed into the mouth hole…it rattled down and we heard it stop with a faint jingle…and the dripping sound stopped.

Nice.

Sybil gave the north door a once over for traps, confident that there were none, and we opened the door with care.

Again, ceiling was still 15’, rough walls, some stalagmites, but growing from the ceiling down, about 6’ long, were waves and waves of rippling pale hay. Growing upside down. And there was a pile of the hay in the southwest corner, almost 5’ tall and covering a good 300 square feet easily. A door was on the opposite side of the room. Briefly we thought about going in, but the rippling hay growing overhead, dense and undulating, made the party uneasy so the decision was to shut the door.

We were talking about heading west to another large chamber, but Sybil let us know she could faintly see the skeletal remains of something on the floor in there.

Meet 106, Adv 7, 12/14/19

We had a truncated group at the table for the last meeting of the year so we ran a shorter "quest" than I had expected to do - but the principle members were all the same. Granmund is a name that will come up again and again on a going forward.

And he's tied in some way to the Ravenstone the party has in their possession.

Plus I got to use the moathouse from T1 again :)

Write up follows:

With the two new members in the party and still no word from the rest of the group working up north, the other half of the group weathered the first major snowstorm and made some serious headway on the house at this time. But there was the constant need to be aware of any issue coming up and eventually through conversation with the GRSAG and themselves, the group wanted to go and visit the middle ring of Erylond and pay some homage to the Grim Gauntlets and the church of Sif.

Connal, Dizzy, and Asher collectively want to make the visit so they took the time to pass through the northgate and see the higher elevated and more glorious center ring of Erylond. The streets were covered in snow but the guild halls through here were grand edifices covering huge areas. Cathedrals abounded and there were considerably more guards patrolling the area. We asked our way around and learned the Grim Gauntlets were on the east side of town.

Eventually making our way there we went to the temple to pray at first before being approached by a Novice who talked with us at length. After learning who we were, two touched priests and a monastic, he elevated us to the Prior Callius and then eventually we were taken to the Abbess Cala of Sif.

A middle aged woman of hidden strength she looked upon our presence here as a sign of providence and proof that the Norns are still at work.

Their Sacristsanct had been stolen from, a tube about 2’ long, brass, sealed, supposedly holds the dying words and breath a great prophet. And although a tube was still in the Sacristsanct, it was not exactly the same – a copy swapped out. There were some adherents, postulants who had been in the area and caught in the act BEFORE the copy was noted and the thought was these two had the tube and swapped it out – selling it to someone.

Wanted the tube returned, the thieves branded as apostates, and then killed. The adventuring guild was a place to go but the Temple has no idea on how to go about this, and the divining they had done let them know that they were holding up some 6 hours outside of town, west, at a riverside keep and would most likely be moving on soon.

And here we are, 3 adventurers, followers of Sif and Tyr, and touched priests to boot. So we 3 took the job and promised to leave immediately, taking a copy of the rough map and what to look for on the way.

There were a series of low keeps that lines the Enderlyn River, long ago outposts the Randari used to patrol the area and keep the barbaric tribes across the waterways in place. Since the fall of the Ympir, the keeps were abandoned one at a time and eventually have been used a way points for weary travelers out in the elements, or reclaimed by the water boggy ground.

There Trade Road ran west, northwest as we counted off the hours. There was a rough trail off the highway that ran along the river which was burbling along as it wound its way downstream. Some 600 yards separated the highway from the River and it was an ever choked bog of tangled vines and semi-stagnant pools. We could see the keep in question and even at this distance, there was a line of tramped snow from the drawbridge to the solid ground where someone(s) had walked up and down the river bank again and again and often over the last day.

Most likely our place.

There might have been some sign of life within and we proceeded with care, stepping off the highway and trailblazing our way through the tall snow to the keep. The croaking of frogs was constant, but it was deep and guttural, and Dizzy was unsure as its cold, snow on the ground, and frogs? Ice frogs? Um..do we want to risk it?

There were signs that someone had been back and forth across the 15’ long drawbridge a number of times, and some of them were hoof prints. So we made the decision to approach, and then summon a creature to charge the water and draw the frogs if any. The call went out and a gnoll appeared where it ran to the water…and a 10’ tall ice pale green/blue frog came out of the water, croaked once, and shot a tongue at it.

Followed by another and then 4 smaller frogs!

We ran across while the summoned creature engaged the amphibians for a bit, coming to the open gates of the keep and looked around the courtyard. Parts of a chopped up dead horse were here, tower immediately to the left, and the main home of the keep to the north and east. A few windows were there but open. Stairs led up and we could see some lights within. Lots of loose prints in the snow of people coming in and out of the keep and the area here.

We scouted a bit, Dizzy giving the all clear, and we climbed up the steps to the main foyer of the keep. Two main halls ran south and west, some older torches, a few doors, and a closed room to the northeast where we could hear voices talking. Alright.

Checked out the two passages first, no guards, some doors closed, nothing else of interest. So it was the main door. We wanted to be on the ready for them and either go in or have them come out to us – fighting in the door was not the way to go.

But at least 5 voices could be heard with the leader being Rerid and the next most spoken to person being Hrabbi. They were upset, their contact was late and the group wanted to get paid and gone from the area now. Rerid was adamant they needed to give “the wizard” one more day and then good or bad, they leave and make their way eventually to Sorton and then Thak.

The group was getting into place around the door, Dizzy was going to open it, when something made Connal turn around just in time to be leapt upon by an almost 175# wolf! It savaged the monk, ripping and tearing at him while the group was surprised. And then when they were in place, Connal turned with the wolf, back against the wall and began hammering at it as it continued to savage the monastic.

The voices inside grew excited and calls went out to “help my wolf!” and “They’ve found us!” It was weapons out and ready when the door opened and EIGHT young men between 17 and 25 came out with clubs and swords and cold weather clothes and padded armor and one of them had a damned crossbow!

We were beset almost immediately and the battle hit the three party members hard. Dizzy took two painful wounds, the wolf continued to assault Connal, others came about hitting Asher and the other two. We tried to group together but were quickly being overwhelmed. Swords swung, fists flew, and at the end of it, Asher called to Tyr and pointed and Rerid where he shouted, “In the name of Tyr, Hold!!”

And the thief leader froze in place. Along with the other wounds we had done, the poor state of the wolf, and the poor morale of the thieves, the second in command, Hrabbi, ordered the men to drop their weapons and “this has gotten WAY out of hand!”

We helped divest them of weapons, some healing was doled out, and we talked while Rerid was bound in place while held. They had been contacted months earlier by a wizard named Granmund who was looking for religious artifacts that have anything to do with the dead. He approached the pair (Rerid and Hrabbi) and arranged to give them a copy of the tube in question. He was supposed to meet them via boat this last day but hasn’t arrived.

The party had been charged in killing the thieves but Dizzy took a different stance and told them that they fought well and with skill, and Sif will judge them elsewhere, but they were to be spared and head west and away from Erylond, for if they do come back, the Church of Sif will exact a vengeance upon them then.

Hrabbi took the deal and the party was a bit bummed there was no profit for this, but they all agreed to head west and away. Handshakes were given and we tossed a “horse chunk” at the frogs who fought over it while we ran across the drawbridge and back to the Highway. Rerid, no longer held, was bent, but agreed this was for the best.

As for Granmund, they wanted to be long gone before the wizard showed up as he would not be pleased he did not get his tube and wasted time and money on this venture. Granmund is working out of one of the Stolen Kingdoms called Shadowthyrst and we thanked them and waited for them to leave before turning back around and heading back.

We arrived at the temple late at night where the Abbess met with s and was happy to get the piece back. We discussed how it happened and what we had learned. Someone had to have seen the tube for some time to make a copy of it, but it hadn’t been out of the Sacristsanct for years. Scrying? Possible. As for Shadowthyrst, its run by a sad Halfling figure and the entire land is one of misery and sadness, those who stay too long or have a weak will, often times just lie down and wait to die.

Lovely.

The Abbess offered the three of the party members a reduced rate on training in the future and a small reward for their efforts and we left feeling good with how it all played out so far.

Except…Why Granmund’s interest and how will this end up affecting us in the future?

History - Reetersbeard

The Third major clan of dwarves in this area is the Reetersbeard dwarves and a few of the party members have either ancestry or dealing with them. So their history, as known follows:

There is no single defined dwarven homeland, they have been around as far back as the gods have been, building the worlds and universes as required by Reorx, Moradin, Vulcan, Dunatis, or any of the other gods needed. By dint, although dwarves are clannish in nature they are not overtly so and don't assume that their clan or holdfast is the end all/be all.

The Reetersbeard Dwarves story is the tale of a homestead of dwarves who made the decision to move their entire civilization. Twice.

According to what few relics and tablets remain, the Reetersbeard dwarves were part of a larger collective called the Morati. Some 6 or so ages ago (again - VERY long time - almost 2,000 years) the collective split into two main family camps - The Giant Born (Jarlborrin) and the Right Beard (Reetersbeard). The Right Beard camp was growing ill with the constant barbaric attacks by roving tribes of orcs and humans, not wanting to be a part of the assault and "culling" of these surface dwelling raiders and pests - while the Giant Born camp was convinced that it was a noble effort to cull the barbaric tribes before they got too large and caused either starvation or warfare between them.

So 30,000 dwarves and their attendant gnomes, humans, and other followers dismantled their homes, forges, anvils, halls, and other items of value and decided to head east through the great forests and find the end of the world.

They came upon the Mastelic Ocean after many months of travel and then continued their travels south. For the better part of a year the dwarven nation made their way south until they came upon an area with many large hills and small mountains, as well as a single oversized defined peak that was so tall, it pierced the sky. The land was home to a number of elves who had not participated in the Kinslayer Wars and had no trouble or problems with the dwarven nation.

The Reetersbeard Dwarves settled the area and dug mines and homes into the earth. And things were well for a very long time. They multiplied, moved, and spread their teachings and children further south to the human lands and kingdoms in that direction. Eventually the human kingdoms expanded northward and in honor of the friendly dwarves they encountered there, offered them a space in the council of Lords and eventually folded them into the Kingdom of Daro - the High Thane also given the title of Duke and the land was referred to as the Duchy of Reet.

For the better part of 1500 years the Reetersbeard Dwarves lived and had their homes, their nation swelling to 45,000 dwarves and countless other friendly races. They had their lives here until their seers and rangers came back with disturbing news. The lands to the west were wild with many roving tribes of monstrous humanoids - that wasn't an issue. What was the issue was that the lands WEST of that were a blasted wasteland with little life still there - and the darkness was going to spread east.

The darkness of dragons.

The largest clutching of dragons had lived and grown unchecked for centuries and were approaching the stage when they would fight amongst themselves for dominance - sending the weaker dragons to go off and find new territory.

And the only territory was to the east and eventually the Duchy of Reet. Every skein, every runecasting, every divination the dwarves made said this was going to happen. Not now, not next year, maybe not even next decade - but it was going to happen and when hundreds and hundreds and maybe thousands of dragons take wing and spread - nothing on this earth was going to be able to withstand it.

The dwarves thought about it long and for 15 years sent runners and rangers as far as they could to confirm this - and it was going to be the case. Between the land of the dragons and Reet were the Homelands-  where ogres and bugbears and kobolds and other monsters held sway - hundreds of thousands of them - maybe even millions. When the dragons came - they would drive this horde before them and they would hit here first - and then the dragons would follow.

They Referred to this as the Odinstorm, the Murder of Ravens, The Flight. They tried to share this information with the human kingdoms to the south who were embroiled in civil war and didn't listen. They tried to share it with the surface dwelling elves and humans and halflings and whatnot who made up the Duchy of Reet and it was taken seriously. But not everyone wanted to leave - would it be this year, next, the following? A decade or two?

Where would they go??? Many dwarves thought they could stay here, pull the entrances to their mountains closed behind them, and weather the Odinstorm as long as possible - the thought of moving was just not in their bones.

Of those that agreed to leave, some 20,000 a bit less than half, the Reetersbeard clan decided they would again split into two - half would return back to the north and the Jarlborrin Lands, the rest would travel south as far as they could and try to find another place to settle down and live.

So almost 180 years ago almost 10,000 dwarves and another 12,000 other races once again performed their mass migration and traveled the ancient markings and maps north along the Mastelic Ocean and then eventually west - taking almost 2 years to make the journey.

But when they came "home" after some 1,500 years - things were different. The gnomes had a homeland to the east now called Nightwoods, the Jarlborrin had grown and expanded taking over many mountains to the west with the capital of their Thanedom being called Sorton, a group of Mountain Dwarves had emerged from their caves called Gorok - but the majority of the land was dominated by a sprawling orcish empire called Rand.

They were welcomed but the Randari Ympyr didn't want them en masse in their cities and asked the clan to break up (they didn't). The Nightwoods took some of the surface halflings, gnomes and elves and even a few dwarves who wanted to stay. The Gorokian Dwarves were rude and insulting to the wandering Reetersbeard and the Jarlborrin were uncomfortable with their return.

What was decided was that the Jarlborrin would "give up" one of their eastern (and poor) holdings called Ironcamp (which incidentally was one of the original holdings of the Reetersbeard dwarves) which they could "pay" for with 75% of the production of the land and the dwarves (and other races) living there being given to the Jarlborrin as lease and payments - with the land being deeded over to the Reetersbeard Dwarves at that time - it would be theirs free and clear.

The Reetersbeard dwarves thought about it and the concensus was they did not want to travel any further - this was their ancestral home. They took the deal.

And they worked hard for it. 3 coins of every 4 made went to the Jarlborrin's coffers. 3 sledges of marble or every 4 went west to Sorton. 3 gems of every 4 mined from the ground, 3 timbers of every 4 felled from the forests, 3 bags of grain of every 4 tilled from the earth went east to Jarlborrin while the Reetersbeard Dwarves subsisted on what remained. They bartered and traded and begged and scavenged from Tilani to Erylond for any job, any food, and resource they could help to extend their comfort and livelihood another year and get closer to fulfilling their lease without defaulting on it and losing their right to eventually live free again.

When the call to war came and the tribes of dwarves and gnomes struck out against the Randari Ympyr - the Reetersbeard Dwarves did not get involved - they were under no compunction to go to war and could not be enticed to do so by any means - instead they hunkered down and waited until it ended and then went back to paying off their debt.

Finally, almost 80 years ago - the last of the payments had been made the the Reeterbeard dwarves were free.

And they turned their industry and efforts to what they had been doing best for the last 3/4 of a century - acting as the middleman and merchant for the many dissimilar groups, cities, towns, clans, holdfasts, keeps, and despots that littered the now shattered Randari lands. They turned their minds to the best way to generate income and spawned huge caravans that traveled the busted roads and highways - sending hundreds of road repair crews ahead of the caravans to make sure the passage with safe and in good shape. Three times a year the great caravans made their way around the traderoads -the trip taking 75 to 80 days each cycle - and each cycle they pick up goods in one place and deliver them to another to be sold and take a small piece of the profits - which goes back to Ironcamp and helps improve the lives of the Reetersbeard dwarves and those who have stuck with them even in time of adversity.

Meet 105, Adv 6, 12/7/19

This was an interim meeting where the group had a chance to talk to and hire the 2 new guy's "B" character, and also meet with the Blue Boar - who will be a part of the mid part of the game - hunting for the Ravenstone around Barb's neck.

Write up follows:

The few party members still at the Council of Lords had the opportunity to see Lord Durcent go up to Baron Skuddrid and vent his intense displeasure over the verdict. Punishments? Fines? What about Sedition, and Murder and everything else? How the hell can you all three on the Council sit there and just LET him get away with it?!?

The Baron informed Lord Durcent that he has been a part of 35 of these Councils over his 60 plus years, sometimes as a junior member, lately as the head arbiter. And they are fraught with issues that plague everyone. We live in a feudal system – the line of support runs up and down the chain from Duke down to knight and eventually to serf and peasant. Each level taking from the level both above and below it – and offering support in each direction. Stratifying? Yes. But vital in order to maintain order and goodwill to all personages.

At any time evil forces are looking to disrupt any level of the system and everyone needs to work together to keep the fabric as a whole. And when you are Baron, you see so many more threads and buttresses and lines than the levels below – and it’s precarious because if any one part of society realizes that they can be supplanted – the system will break down.

So stripping a Lord of his name and titles needs to be done only at the UTMOST and 100% without a doubt reason where everyone can look at the crimes and nod their head in unison and say, Yes, THAT is a bad man and deserves to be taken apart and thrown down.

And the case against Lord Ostlerson is NOT that. Yes, it’s complete in its own fashion, and yes he did try to appoint his son as Sheriff, but his issues and plotting and crimes both minor and major do not rise to the level of removal of position. If other Lords, Knights, or gentry came to the realization that they can be punished accordingly for their 60% petty crimes and schemes – the system would quickly collapse. And Baron Skuddrid cannot let that happen – since the case was only somewhat compelling against Gregor.

BUT, his son is no longer possible to become Lord, and he is losing profit and freedom, there are investigators on his Demesne looking to his actions and activities looking to find and expose his lies. Lord Durcent will still have to work with Lord Ostlerson, but the other Lord will now be on an uneven footing and will be much more guarded in his dealings on a going forward.

While still in Stivil, Shim did go back and visit the Falser Confectionary where he had the chance to sit with Malted and Uke. They took him to their apartment where Shimlagesh had the opportunity to eat with them and some 20 other gnomes, hear from them their stories on escaping the Nightwoods, see how they live and are treated, and then went on a tour of the factory floor where he saw gnomes making a life for themselves and trying to find a place for themselves when their servitude is up after giving the Falser’s 15 years.

Upon completion they will have a marketable skill, journeyman papers on their trade, and the opportunity to stay on if need be. They were all happy, healthy, in good spirits, and although taken care of, also had their own funds for discretionary purchases if need be.

Not slaves. Not a part of the Theocracy. And being treated well and with dignity. Shim also learned that the Falsers felt that the contract work they had been doing on behalf of Rargitild of the Green Hills with the “boorish human” was about done. He is a blowhard, in some sort of trouble, and truthfully, although humans attacking other humans for a profit is funny to watch, the Falsers want nothing more to do with the tall folk and their stupid short sighted games in order to garner a profit.

Shim left feeling real good and the party proceeded back to the Durcent Province where Darius and Shim had many long discussions about Shim’s feelings regarding the Falsers. They are murderers – and that’s it. And Shim had a different feeling on it, and IT was a long round and round discussion on the matter that had the two of them feeling a strain in their normally bucolic friendship.

At the Durcent Province we did gather a reward from Lord Durcent for our efforts, a pile of the bark to return to Celeste Firesworn, and considerable foodstuffs as further appreciation for what we’ve done.

We then traveled back to Erylond where we arrived at long last on the evening of the 20th of Deathmonth. We took our sleighs and horses to the Mage’s District where we fulfilled the final part of our contract and were paid a bag of silver for doing our part. The party was going to head back to home at long last…

However, during the 3 plus weeks since we’ve been gone, the OTHER half of the group had many meetings with Pha-iyr Carom where after a week of waiting on the group’s return, decided to hold interviews on potential people to join our party. We know we needed some sort of front line fighting and possibly a cleric of some sort. Pha-iyr had 7 interviews for us and we met them the next day at the Adventuring Guild.

They were a mixed bunch. From the key handing lover dwarven bard named Flint, to the paladin who was so off putting about his skills or lack thereof that he effectively wrote himself out of consideration. There were a pair of monastic brothers, each one larger than the other, followers of Sif who although were enticing, didn’t have the skills the party needed at this time.

There was a Fighter Priest who certainly fit the bill although his experience was a bit lacking, and a half-orcish Druid to Idun that we felt would be a good mix to our party. But there was a knight with a squire, human, tall, that seemed to be above the party’s capability and skills. He was returning to the fold of adventuring after retiring a few years ago and doing bounty work finding criminals to bring in to justice.

Ozure Parson, he was a possibility but the group assumed he would be a no since we were not at his skill level but he thanked us for the interview and confided that he was following some visions he had of coming in and interviewing here. His latest bounty was going to take years to resolve and he was following the skein of the Norns at this time, going where he felt led.

When he got up he and his man unfurled their surcoats and we could see his personal sigil of a blue boar on his field of off white. He joked saying he had the nickname of the Blue Boar, Ozure Parson…Azure Porcine…that he took no offense to and was happy to known as.

And although this half of the group, the name Blue Boar meant nothing…the other half of the group currently out adventuring KNOWS that the Blue Boar is the name of the “being released” to hunt down Barb as warned to her in the seamstress’s shop  in a possessed vision regarding the Ravenstone.

Meet 104, Adv 6, 11/23/19

The party had the chance to try Lord Gregor Ostlerson in a Council of Lords - with half the group playing themselves, and the other half LARPing the officiating Lords. So half the group had to PROVE to the other half of the group about Big GO/Lord Gregor Ostlerson's crimes. Lord Gregor was able to defend himself and more importantly, bring doubt to the proceedings.

It was very satisfying but at the same time aggravating because although they knew he was dirty, they couldn't convict him on all 4 counts.

And they have established a nobleman who hates them and his darkly charismatic son as life long enemies.

Write up follows:

The two groups made their way east and southeast through the cold snow, the horses and sleighs turning the trip from a horrible slog to something decent. The two groups talked at length about what they had learned, Thalin and Shim at opposite ends of the spectrum regarding the Falsers. Shim had felt better but had the fear that the Falser Brothers were still acting in the Theocrat’s interests and enslaving gnomes outside of Nightwoods. If ever we got a chance to return to Stivil, he’d like the opportunity to look further throughout their factory.

The crux of it was the Falser’s were still criminals and murders – and to Shim they were and they were not. It was a tense conversation and the miles passed by slowly and over some time.

Darius, Barb, Thon, and Eoghan arrived at Durcent Province first. It had to be about 2 in the morning or so and there was no one around to talk with. After a brief conversation with the guards at the Demesne the group went off to stay at the Woodward (acting) Nagaf at the north end of the Province.

We went off and after some tense back and forth with Nagaf and Fain, the former wards of the original Woodward, we managed to arrange a place to stay (Fain was concerned we were here for sex, deviant or not, as the former Woodward often had late visitors come by) while Darius went back to the trail IN to the Province to await for Rhygar and the other sleigh which arrived some 40 minutes later.

We all slept well and the next late morning awoke, ate, and then made our way to the Manorhouse and Lord Durcent. From there we spent some time filling the Lord, Sheriff Thurbarn, and the Ranger’s assistant Sundar Longwalker of everything we had been a part off since we arrive almost 3 weeks earlier, the Wolf Skull Orcs, the raids, the hunt for the killer, Ixitch Barrowman and Canaslan, our problems there, the Bloodtusk tribe, the woodcutter’s cottage, Big GO, Thon, Stivil, the Falser’s, and eventually all the paperwork and books and disjointed pieces of evidence we had acquired which shows a long and winding trail leading everything back to Lord Gregor Ostlerson as the perpetrator behind everything.

Lord Durcent was stunned. As a fellow lord, he had to elevate this to the next step and that meant sending it off for a Council of Lords tribunal, where the case was being forwarded to Baron Skuddrid of Stivil, an older lord and statesmen, who had presided over 30 of these cases already.

The Baron agreed to the case and would convene the Council on the 16th of Deathmonth where all the parties would be able to come and present their case. So we laid low and then on the 15th, made our way back to Stivil where we found ourselves at the hospitality of the Baron himself. The Council was also going to be judged by Lord Dunthar Rockholm, a dwarven lord whose family has been part of the rebuild of Stivil since the Randari war over a century earlier, and Sir Agor Randari, an orcish lord who was folded into the nobility some time ago, his clan given the original lands they had owned long ago as their own Demesne.

Lord Gregor Ostlerson was here as well, along with his son Fersic Gregson, the applicant Sheriff. Tensions were high and tempers were strained, especially once the Council of Lords began and Gregor discovered that HE was the subject in question! A number of charges had been leveled against him and the Council’s job was to discover if his crimes were elevated to the state of no contest. If so, he could be stripped of land and titles.

Lord Durcent had three of the party members come forward and detail the crimes and the path lead: Barb, Darius, and Thon – as each of them had a specific point of direct knowledge of how the crimes were laid out.

Throughout the trial, Lord Ostlerson rebutted as need be, offered alternative points of views, and did succeed on many occasions to muddy the waters and cast doubt on the proceedings – even though the party knew what they were presenting was the truth.

It took many hours and Fersic was most upset with Thon who he had assumed was a friend. And Darius and the younger Sheriff applicant had little lost love for each other. Baron Skuddrid kept the trial moving along and with many prompts had the story come out. However, upon the end of all things, even though there were 4 charges leveled against the Lord, only one of them was found to be guilty enough to merit disciplinary action.

As punishment, Lord Gregor Ostlerson was responsible for 5% of the Net Profits of the Demesne to be paid to the Baron for 10 seasons and Fersic Gregson was to be stripped of hereditary titles for taking over the Demesne. That was it. And since Lord Gregor has not acknowledged any of his bastards and only had the one son from his 2nd wife, it meant that as of this moment, upon Lord Gregor’s death, the land would revert to Baron Skuddrid and the Baron could assign the 120 acre Demesne to another Lord as he sees fit.

The group was…disappointed at best. Lord Gregor effectively gets away with his crime and that was it. There was a bright point; Baron Skuddrid was dispatching an investigative team of 12 members to go over the Demesne to find signs of the drug manufacturing on the property. If that was to be found, there would be further punishment and fines levied at the benighted Lord.

Meet 103, Adv 6, 11/16/19

This was a meeting about expectations and how it doesn't always work out. Thon is a new player at our table and I am sure he had a certain idea about his family, but I was able to approach it from the side during a big LARP session and he had a chance to see the half-orc view of things here and how his character fits into it - from his history to his place in it today.

The same was for the Falser Confectionary. These are murdering gnome magic user assassins who we KNOW killed 7 people, and yet they have a factory where they make candy and are well liked and also free other gnomes from a crushing Theocracy from their ancestral homelands.

Again, its how things are assumed and how they turn out.

Write up follows:

Before we went to sleep, Darius wanted to talk about the plan for tomorrow a bit more. The thought went that we would need to get out of Stivil pretty quick upon completion, but we’d be in 2 different sections of the town. Half of us would be at the Falser’s Confectionary trying to steal the logs, and the other half would be at some restaurant talking to the Falsers with Shim.

His thought went that we should have 1 or better yet, 2, sleds and horses available to get us out. If the Falsers find out we were in their locale stealing from them, we’d be killed. And there was too much chance to have half the group “waiting around” for the other half to finish up their efforts and rejoin them.

So the plan for the next day was Darius to go and find Rhygar Halfman, hopefully at Cod Smithson’s place (where the two girls, Abarin and Gersy should have been taken after we freed them from Ixitch). From there he’d get the young half-orc to go with him and purchase two sleds and horses where they could practice, make sure they can handle them, and then situate them outside of town for a fast getaway. Darius would drive one, and Rhygar the other.

So the group was in agreement and we finally crashed. It was Deathmonth the 12th when we woke up to blue skies and cold air. In the eating room of the Unshackled Wolf we ate a hearty breakfast before we were going to break up for the day. Thon had written to his family earlier but had not gotten a response yet, so wanted to go and see if his mother was home (not his father). Shim offered to go with the half-orc.

Darius, Eoghan, and Barb were going to go and try to find Rhygar and Cods, and according to the waitress, the militia and watch lead, Captain Arsin, would be the best place to go and look – he could be found at the Armory and Militia Office on Empire Way just south of the Arena. Shim composed a letter to the Falsers asking them to meet him at 6 PM tonight at the Bread and Lake, an upscale restaurant in the Westhome district. Brading and Thalin were going to wait here in case a response came. And the group split up.

The party walked together until they arrive at Captain Arsin where Thon and Shim continued going. They passed into Leeward and then down First Tusk Avenue. The quality of homes dropped significantly and the place had a general unpleasant smell to it. Eventually they turned north and came around to Felt’s Road where Thon came to stop in front of his family home that he had not seen for over a year and a half.

It was a squat stone building like others in the area, the roof was a highly pitched thatched roof. An outhouse and semi-attached ramshackle shed attached by a breezeway completed the picture; the yard was small and was mostly mud and weeds but fresh herbs were growing in the many window boxes. With Shim at his side for support, Thon knocked on the door.

His elder brother by 4 years, Teclan, met him with a sneer and some snide remarks. After an awkward meeting, his mother Melwyn and sister Tarya came out, hugging the long missing Thon, and welcomed him inside. The place was simple, clean, yet still poor – especially to Thon’s more worldly eyes. He inquired about his father, learning the elder half-orc was in the shed and rather angry. Tarya had gotten word of Thon’s visit but being unable to read, didn’t get the note deciphered until last night and didn’t inform her parents until this morning a short while ago – hence the excitement.

Before he could get too deep into where he had been, his father Treeve Tarison came in. The meeting was…tense and stilted. Treeve never forgave his son for leaving, even though he told him to get out. His mother had missed him terribly and was worried about him, especially since his younger sister had passed on some 4 years ago from a bad sickness – it was rough seeing him go.

Shim was accorded respect and was confused with being a gnome from the Candy Factory, a fact he tried to correct but had little traction being able to do so. The conversation did get to his experiences and there was dismay that he had spent time with the Firvinir Orcs, or as Teclan referred them, Grubbers – not real Randari Orcs. Melwyn was concerned there was a pregnant girl, and then really wanted there to be a pregnant girl. Thon tried to downplay the situation and even offer money (crowns and nobles) which at first irritated Treeve. Doesn’t he work hard? Is this blood money? Did he kill someone to get this money?

Thon got the family to understand he’s doing a good thing right now trying to solve an orcish problem (and learned the here, where Scratch was first created 4 months ago, is NOT a problem for anyone local as no one knows about it at all!) and promised to come home or write more often. Treeve and his son did hug and the father reiterated his words about don’t come back, but he also rescinded them immediately. Thon was surprised to learn that his father actually worked for Loring! As did his mother and sister and brother!

Loring was a bottom feeder who sends orcs to their death fighting rabid wolves and bears? Um, no. Not according to the family – Loring actually is a pretty decent boss, runs the gladiator contracts pretty tightly, and always tries to get the best return for any orc fighting for him as well as a rapid resolution of his contract. Um…ok. Did not see that coming. The two of them left after much hugs and catching up, promising to be in touch before moving on and returning to the Unshackled Wolf.

As for Darius, Barb, and Eoghan, they managed to get a meeting with Captain Arsin who was coy about identifying anyone in town, assuming the party of three were some sort of bounty hunters. However when Darius said he was looking for Cods Smithson and the conversation turned to the others that might have come home to him, the Captain’s attitude changed completely. Apparently Abarin, Gersy, and Rhygar’s return 5 days ago had made some headway amongst the townsfolk and the story of their escape and liberators was spoken of with great admiration.

Darius and Barb seriously tried to downplay it and begged the Captain to just let it go, they were just doing what was right. Arsin led the three of them through the Trades to Smith Street where a collective of tradesmen were doing their work. In front of a nondescript forge where a half-orc smith was working an anvil and another one, the younger Rhygar, was working the bellows, The Captain announced to Cods to come out and upon seeing Darius, Rhygar ran out and met the fighter with a fierce hug and much back slapping.

Cods came out and pumped everyone’s hand firmly, referring to them as lord (Darius downplayed it) and promising them 100 nobles he had saved up from various jobs as thanks. It was returned and Darius wanted to get off the street as other smiths were out as well, also showing their admiration and thanks to the trio for saving their companion’s daughter and friends.

The Captain left us to our devices and we went with Cods to his home behind the Trades where Abarin and Gersy were outside needle pointing. On seeing the group, the two young women raced out and also added their hugs and tears, this time on Barb’s chest and waist. We did get off the street and inside the simple home where Rhygar caught the group up to what’s been going on and then ceremoniously returning the Cat Pillow to Darius as he promised he would.

We talked for a while, the two women pledging themselves to Barb as ladies in waiting for a period of 3 years but Barb was able to defer this by getting Abarin to admit she would wait here with Gersy until the dwarven girl is finally mentally sound – THAT was her current charge. Rhygar? He was a different matter and pledged himself right then and there to Darius who accepted the young half-orc with reservation. He gave him the layout for tonight and the need for horses and sleds. Rhygar who had been here for 5 days did let the group know that of the 4 procurers for the Arena games, it was word on the street that the Six Pickers and its headman, Tudar, would be the best choice as his animals were typically of the highest caliber.

So we gave the girls our love and thanks, told them we’d see them another time, and then made our way with Rhygar to Leeward section of town and 6-Pickers.

We talked with Tudar, and older male in his early 60’s, and his 2nd a 40’s year old name Vorod. Eventually we did settle on two Clydesdale nags and a pair of 4 person sleds that can be refitted to carts again in the spring (the pair of wheels were stored under the body of each cart). It cost us some coin, but the feeling was it would come in very handy as we expected to get much use out of them on a going forward.

We all met back up @ the Unshackled Wolf and bided our time. The Falser gnomes agreed to the meeting and Thalin began work on his Invisibility spells. Eoghan did make a side visit to his old farm where his wife and child had died, but it was long abandoned and a friendly neighbor didn’t make the place appealing to anyone to move back in (not recognizing Eoghan as his former neighbor).

By 5:30 we split up – Darius earlier had parked his sled west beyond the sight of Westhome while Rhygar situated himself and the wolf south and east of the Trades and the walls of Stivil and waited there. Shim Brading and Thalin when off to the Bread and Lake where they got a table and waited. Darius meanwhile with Barb, Thon, and Eoghan, all invisible, walked the streets, actually passing the two gnomes and their big half-ogre Fryld, as they went off to meet the rest of their friends!

Show time.

Entering the Falser Confectionary, leading the invisible line with hand to shoulder, Darius took a look around the room and made his way to the east side. There were only 8 half orcs/half ogres working the selling floor and one half-orc at the checkout table across the room. The curtain blocking the left door was still in place, but now was a bit pulled aside.

And the door behind it was only 2’ wide and 5’ tall. Perfect from gnomes, not so much for anyone else. Barb and Eoghan were going to straddle either side of the door and slowly pull the curtain away from the wall. This would give the illusion that straight on all was good, but only if you were looking at it at an angle, would see the unnatural shape.

Thon had fingered his lockpicks and withdrew 2 getting ready for the diversion. It was going well as they pulled the curtain back except Eoghan was too close to the nearest display table and was inadvertently pushing it “away” with the back of his thigh. Which had Darius strike into action.

By falling into a display of liquor hard candies and spilling over 300 of the rounded sugary snacks across the floor with an associated “Oh, my god! I am SOOO Sorry!” Various customers and sales floor employees were looking over, all eyes locked on the mess when Darius staggered to his feet, “slipped” on some candy, and plowed headfirst into another display table of sour fruits sugar balls, dropping another 300 plus candies onto the floor. “Oh! Oh! Oh my God!”

Yeah, that was a distraction.

Thon got behind the curtain and stuck the picks in, twisting left and right, catching the tumblers but the ends of the prongs falling free again and again. Um…shit.

Darius was helped up with some good natured “It’s alright, these things happen,” when he noticed the group still had NOT gotten into the door. So he lunged forward and twisted, free arm upsetting a table full of sarsaparilla candies and adding them to the mess growing amidst the floor. A nearby half ogre, helped Darius to stop flailing about by grabbing him from behind and holding him tight while the chaos was being contained.

Thon was muttering curses as the damned picks continued to slip off the ends of the tumblers, bouncing out and off again and again. The sweat on his brow was falling free from his forehead and nose, dripping visibly to the floor and making a wet stain. Barb and Eoghan were getting very concerned standing in one place and waiting…

Darius was helped to his feet and his leg spasmed out, sending at least 30 candies to fly like pin balls across the room and towards the checkout table. The half-orc there gave the half-ogre holding him a nod and nudge towards the door and Darius was firmly guided/manhandled in that direction…

And then Thon got the door open with a successful twist. In no time the three of them entered the narrow and short door, hunched over and twisting to gain entrance, the curtain falling flat in place and then the door closing behind them…

Darius seeing the curtain go flat relaxed and allowed himself to be led outside. The half-ogre, Hrelf, figured that Darius was from another candy factory and was here to cause trouble. He should never come back again. Darius tried to hand Hrelf some nobles and said he was here from Mr. Silver and this should just be forgotten.

Forgotten? Hrelf wasn’t going to forget this and was going to tell the Falsers about Darius and the Mr. Silver Candy Company. Darius just nodded and said, that was probably for the best and was let go, eventually making his way out of town and back to the sled and horse.

As for the other three, there were in a room with a 5 ½’ tall ceiling, a nice great room with gnome sized furnishing, a harpsichord, couches, hanging lights, long hall with two side rooms and ending a double door at the end of carpeted hall.

And four gnomes in decent clothing all staring at the door they just entered from and closed, in the process of dusting and wiping down the room. Fuck…we weren’t alone. They asked if Malted or Uke were here, no answer. We quietly made our way through the room while the gnomes talked about most likely they were here and were invisible. Was it a game? Why were they doing this? Is this a test?

We made our way down the hall, shoulder to hand. To the right was a kitchen where two gnomes were cooking and preparing a lot of food and pastries on the really nice overs and counters. And to the left was a dining room where 20 could sit, and 10 were there now, all gnomes, 6 of which were kids.

No slaves, no slave collars, no one looked beaten or messed up, no one was in rags. This was NOT was we expected to find. It was almost…familial.

There was some questioning if we, (the gnomes) were here, and some answering from the great room that maybe. Ugh. Fuck. The end of the hall was a double door and getting closer Barb was able to tell through the Ravenstone that each door had a wizardmark upon it- the left was an “M” the right was a “U”. The thought was we had seen no office or bedroom – so it was most likely behind here. And before the gnomes started figuring out where we were, we wanted to get in.

So Thon once again took out his picks and worked the lock on the “U” side, opening the lock. He turned the knob. Slowly. Pushed the door. It was dark in there and he pushed it a bit more when some candles flared to life inside and there was a chime like a cascading hard noise, and a spectral voice said, “Welcome home, Master Uke. Would you like a beverage?”

Which got every gnome in the place to come out and look around, looking down the hall and seeing…nothing – just the partially open door.

Gimme a damned break.

We all shoved ourselves inside and shut the door carefully as young gnomes were clamoring from the other side, “Master Uke? Master Uke?” We ignored everything and stood there, hearts hammering as the conversation meandered about on the other side with one of the gnomes saying, “Well, Master, if you want, there’s a brandy waiting for you when you’re ready.”

Gods, we were so boned.

We were again in a small ceilinged room, two large poster beds, tables, chairs, desks, curtains, shelves, knickknacks – obviously where the Falser brothers did their work and slept. We looked over the obvious large desk and although there were lots of books about their legitimate candy business, there were also at least 4 slim tomes that were about Sir Gregor Oslterson and deliveries to, from, and about the Demesne.

We agreed to take them and the disembodied voice said, “Master Uke, it sounds like you have guests, shall I fetch some snacks for all of them?” Fuck fuck fuck magic shit just SHUT UP… After a while, it grew quiet again. We swept all the books into Thon’s backpack, went shoulder to hand line up again, and went back to the door.

No more screwing around, we opened the door and again that damned chime went off and the voice said, “Farewell Master Uke, have a wonderful day!” And a bunch of 2’ tall or less gnome kids boiled out of the kitchen and ran down the hall towards our invisible selves. We grabbed the mug of brandy outside the door, dumped it over, and stayed to the sides as we dodged kids and gnomes milling about and others going, “I told you there were here. Master Uke?”

In the great room we wasted no time, opened the door and marched out quick to the selling floor and damn the curtains and who might see us. As we tried to dodge our way around the room, Barb was inadvertently clotheslined by a half-orc and a 7’ tall lollipop, the barbarian hitting the ground with a strangled gurgle. We felt around to locate her, helped her up and ran out of the place while the half-orc was talking to other half orcs about how something’s been weird today and he is sure he hit someone but no kid was hurt.

Out in the street we made it south and east to the wall and then relaxed the invisibility spell, going visible as we huffed through the cold night air to Darius waiting for us along with the sled. We showed him the backpack full of books, got on the sled, and drove away for the long ride back to Durcent Province.

As for Shim and his contingent, they got to the Bread and Lake early, procured a table near the back, and took to ordering some food and drink. He then asked Brading and Thalin if during the meal, they might want to get up and walk away as he had some private information to share with the Falser brothers about his time leaving the Nightwoods. Walk away? Why? Private. But, we’re all friends. Yeah, but it’s private to me – and maybe the Falsers might want it to be private as well.

At that point Malted and Uke Falser arrived along with the half-ogre Fryld. We all sat down to eat and the conversation meandered only a little bit while Shim was laying the ground work that he wanted to work with them to help free potential other gnomes.

It was at this point that whatever preconceived notions Shim had about the Falsers were slowly chipped away. They had been smuggled out some 12 years ago, shortly after the Theocrat came to power. It was easier then but still expensive. The Theocrat is not a forgiving gnome and his Defenders will often snag entire families and bring them back for re-education.

As for sending Thalin or Brading away, the Falsers felt no need as they would not send Fryld away. Too many gnome issues are shrouded and they need to be shone to the light or the Theocrat will continue to hold sway.

To gnomes it’s a big thing to leave the Nightwoods as it is their ancestral home, as far back as history goes, the gnomes had lived there. But when the Theocrat, in the guise of religious fascism, takes power and solidifies it, even the most ardent believer can’t make the case to stay.

Fryld was one of the half-ogres working with the Centaurs on smuggling gnomes free – and the Falsers took a liking to the half-ogre, especially once they learned he was a natural and untrained sorcerer. Once far away from the Nightwoods they set up shop here in Stivil at a defunct factory and rebuilt it to their needs. Since then they’ve been funding the freedom of various gnomes and their families – to the tune of 136 to date freed. They have a 15 year contract, food and board is provided free as well as education and a marketable skill here. They are free to leave or stay, but the Falsers feel an attachment to every one of them and consider them family.

As for Shim he did let know that he was a novitiate in the Arcane Academy and about 5 years or so ago, after a blistering tirade against the Theocrat to the wrong people, he was approached by smugglers who had been paid to get him free of Nightwoods. Following was a 3 week ordeal of smuggling inside tunnels, boxes, bolt hole to bolt hole, making his way out of the Nightwoods and terrified of being caught at any moment. In the clear thinking that follows, Shim realizes that if his unknown benefactors hadn’t smuggled him out when they did, a week or two tops later he’d have been snatched off the streets and taken away for reeducation and maybe even death.

The Falsers seemed honest and earnest, and they were truthful in their dealings. They have a vaunted interest in half-orcs, orcs, and half-ogres because they respect them and their dedication to clan and family. It’s a bit gnomish in their way of thinking and honor is an important part of most orc’s lives. As for gnomes? Too many humans just discount gnomes as…what? Friendly forest folk? Retarded elves?

Unnecessary?

They did talk about Rargitild of the Green Hills, a friend of their who died due to an alembic imbalance while working on some alchemical mixture. And they did admit that they did “contract” work for an odious human who was looking to fuck over the locals just so his son can get a good job. So…human.

The meal was an eye opener for everyone and it was around 8:30 when Shim and company ended the conversation and wished the Falsers the best. He’d be in touch in the next couple of days about working with them and getting someone out (or so he said). From there they left without haste and made their way eventually beyond the walls and to Rhygar who was waiting for them. They loaded up on the sled and turned to the south and east, their horse pushing forward on their long trip to Durcent Province.