Keld Denar
2013-05-28, 10:12 PM
So, after it was requested, here is the text version of the notes kept by the party. There are still some chapters that have been played that haven't made it into this document. Forgive some of the spelling and shorthand, it was written by the players without reference to the books and spelling. Also, some of the notes are VERY sparse at the start, but get better.
Players - Characters:
Clay - Bosch Human Cleric, XO Human Fighter/Cleric, Keev Gnome Archivist
Darvie - Snork 1/2 Orc Barbarian, Zenda Dwarf Paladin, Mohrda 1/2 Orc Fighter/Barb (sister of Snork), Molo 1/2 Orc Barbarian (brother of Snork and Mohrda), Toodles Whisper Gnome Beguiler
Lisa - Javalis Star Elf Sorceress/Force Missile Mage
Jason - Mavaris Human Ranger/Scout
Jaxsen - Dwarf Duskblade
Sameer - Human Rogue blend (currently Rogue/Wiz/USS)
Game 2
8-28-11
New Mire
Count Parlfrey does not hire us to see into New Mire, but says if we get results, he will compensate us.
Cleansing of Blessed Wood occurred 10 yrs ago.
Old Grizzler, dwarf resident of Milborne, has little info for us.
Game 3
9-11-11
We return to goblin cave to recup. We go to Milborne to see Semheis in our investigation of the missing Jelenneth. On the way we are attacked by 6 ferel dogs who we kill without losing any points ourselves. Semheis, who has been in the area for 6 months, investigated and found no residual magic in the area. Andren, the boyfriend, has no additional info. Shiraz is the ranger that patrols the northern area, around the mines.
Grizzler’s info ; Count is negotiating with stone giants of Half-Cut Hills to supply and build addition to the castle. Count has had 6 wives. No sons were born until the last one and the son is Lintern., 18 yrs old. There was an evil cleric and a band of assassins in the Harlow Woods 140 yrs back. The old Count led a company in and fought the cleric at Glimmer Glade. The co. lost all but a few and the cleric was killed, but set a curse that may still be potent. A priest with the co. , called Nerule, died in an inky pit of quicksand.
Tauster trades magic item identifying for our magical short sword. The potion is “cure light wounds” (Lisa), the bracers are called “arcane freedom” and allow the caster to suspend somatics on spells twice a day(Lisa), the ring is a portal to the elemental plane of water and is broken. It is the cause of the New Mire’s creation. It’s brake has opened up portals, placed in random locations around the area of the ring, allowing water to seep from the plane to here. The wand “of lesser vigor” heals +1 hp for 11 straight rounds and has 43 charges. You have to touch your target and say “tome”(Lisa). The shield could not be done for lack of pearls, but it is protective and I will use it.
We return to the Count to tell him we have solved the New Mire mystery. I ask for possession of Harlow Woods as our reward. He agrees if we give him the ring to help water his northern area. It’s agreed and we will take the ring to Shiraz to seal the deal. First we go to the stone giants and deliver their payment. On the way to see Shiraz, we are attacked by two ogres. One of the ogres kills Snork! The other runs from a fear spell. We take all of Snork’s possessions. The Harlow Woods is about 250 sq.mi.
Darvie rolls up new character – 2nd level dwarf paladin Zenda.
New Mire #5
11/6/11
The group, Bosch, Javalis, Zenda and her dog Ripper, traveled to the Carman Mines to question the miners on the missing girl, Jelenneth, and other things. The mines are dug by about 6 miners, supervised by dwarven Foreman Darris, has semi-precious gems and has made Mr. Carman the richest man in the Haranshire area. He lives in Milborne.
We learn that there is an old abandoned mine to the NE called Garlstone, named after a gem that is unknown to us. On the way there, we are ambushed by 9 goblins from high ground. We attack and defeat them, taking minimum damage and gaining minimum rewards (1gp, 2sp, 4cp, to Bosch). We spot boot tracks moving in and out of the cave and decide to spend the night outside and enter it in the morning. Entering the mine, we find that it is of dwarven design, but not of dwarven labor. Javalis notices that there is a slight breeze coming from inside of the cave to the outside. We suspect that there may be more openings than just this one. After a few minutes of walking, we see a smaller cave to the right and go in. It widens out and leads to a pool of water spanning the opening to the next cavern, a natural cavern. The water is cold and deep, but safe enough to swim; which we do. We find a large cavern with one remarkable feature; it has a “naturally” formed stalagmite statue of a dwarven goddess. A search of the cavern produces nothing and we leave to continue down the main cave. Suddenly, we are attacked by two invisible Halflings. Bosch takes 10, 9 and 8 hp in the first three rds.-he’s out. Zenda, Ripper and Javalis capture the Halflings. They are stripped (masterwork studded leather(2) to Zenda, short swords(2) to Zenda, a topaz-in-silver ring, non-magical, assessed at ___?____ to Javalis and 86 gp to Bosch) and questioned. Their black-robed, zombie controlling boss is Shillick. Shillick’s 2nd in command may be Rammer.
We set a trap for Shillick, who was due to show up in a day or two, but he did not. We return to Milborne, turn the Halflings over to Gerald. We then find Mr. Carmen to let him know of the evil activities in the old mine. We also check to see if he has an aura of evil; he does not. He tells us that Grizzler helped dig the Garlstone mine and we decide to go to Thurmaster to see him. Mr. Carmen advances us each 100 gp for a contract to clear the mine of the zombies and Shillick. We still need to sell the 2 MW studded leathers and the 2 s. swords.
New Mire #6
12/18/11
We are going to Thurmaster to see Grizzler and ask about the garlstone mine. We take the barge and are attacked about where the Hog Brook empties in to the Churnett River. We are attacked by a high level evil cleric and a band of six fighters. The evil cleric is in “golden robes”, has red hair and a red goatee. He has a medallion with a skull seated inside the image of a sickle; the symbol of Nerule, god of death. This must be the same golden robed person that hire a band to stop us from bringing “necromancy to the area”. It may be this was a ruse to stop us early in the game.
The attack was an ambush with ranged weapons and spells. We countered with crossbows and spells. Two of the fighters boarded the barge and a few rounds later, Bosch and Zenda took the fight to the evil cleric. 52 points were put to the evil cleric when he had had enough and flew away. We finished off the other fighters, capturing 3 of them. The evil cleric was last sighted traveling south almost directly into the middle of the Thornwood.
We took the prisoners to Thurmaster to Squire Marlon. They all refused to tell us anything because of their fear of the evil cleric. They fear being turned into zombies. They will be hanged.
We make it to Thurmaster and find Grizzler. Grizzler told us a few things about the cave. The bottom level runs north-south to the upper cave. The air flow indicates there is another opening and that it is not likely to be at the back of the cave because the cave runs into a hillside, not through it. More likely the flow is caused by a “chimney”. The connecting shaft between levels is about 40’. The golden robed cleric may be Rammer; we never did get any description from the halflings! We see Tauster to trade/buy items.
New Mire #7
2/12/2012
Javalis and Mavaris return to Milborne after our first try to enter the Garlstone mine. They report the failure to Mr. Carmen whereupon he berates them for their ineptitude. He tells them “not to return until the job is finished”. Javalis and Mavaris retire to the Baron of Muton to wash away they cowardice. In the tavern, they meet Mohrda and X.O. and discover that Mohrda is the sister of the late Snork. X.O. and Mohrda hear all the stories of the duo’s recent adventures and are encouraged to volunteer their skills to the group and another assault of the cave. Jelenneth’s mother, Parellis, works at the Baron of Mutton along with Andreth (Jelenneth’s fiancé). Javalis has Andreth identified a ring captured in the last encounter as one he had given to Jelenneth. We now know that she was taken by the one-eyed evil cleric and that she was brought to the Garlstone cave.
We agree to make another attempt to clear the cave and after some planning decide to focus all missile weapons on the sniper, Rammer while the cleric tries to turn the Zombies. Using “lighted “ arrows, we see a group of Zombies and Rammer. There are 5 zombies; three previously slain guards(2hd), Zenda(6hd) and Ripper the dog(6hd). Over the next few rds., the zombie guards are turned and Rammer is hit a few times. The 6hd zombies are too high for me to turn and melee is for these two. Rammer makes the mistake of staying too long and a magic missile from Javalis puts him down. The zombies are all killed, but in the time it takes, Rammer bleeds out.
A close look at Rammer gives the impression that he was not fully human, but that is all we can discern.
We will spend the night right at the shaft/hole, healing ourselves with help from the wand and sleep.
Third level characters gain 900 XP and 4th level characters gain 850XP
New Mire #8
2/26/12
Javalis cuts off Rammer’s head before we rest for 8 hrs. Mavaris finds some glowing blue mushrooms that are eaten by all but X.O. The night is uneventful. We decide to descend to the second level to fight whatever is still there. We go into the “Blue Garl Cave” and see an old shed and something shiny at the bottom of the cave’s pond. We leave that until later and move into the “Dome” cave. It is almost all pond and has a body floating in it. We decide this also can wait to investigate until later. We pass “Fairyland”; an enlargement in the passage that has another shack. Both shacks turn out to be unremarkable. We go to the “Crab Petals” cave and almost trip a Cave Fisher’s trap, a long, stringy, sticky and very strong web. Again, we move on. At the Chamber of the All-Hearing Gods we discover a natural formation that looks like a human ear. We should ask Grizzler about it. The final cave is the Grand Cavern and it is empty. There is a smoothed area, 20’x20’, that may have sat an alter. Javalis finds a secret stone door in the backwall. It is of magical construction with a lock that we do not have the key.
We return to the Dome Cave and Mavaris dives in to get the body. He is attacked by two big and mean catfish. He is bitten enough to necessitate his retreat. X.O. goes fishing with his fishing net and manages to land both catfish. The body is retrieved (human male), but found to be without ID or wealth and is curiously little eaten by the two catfish. Our next stop is the Blue Garl Cave. It is Mohrda’s chance to go swimming and she is immediately attacked by a large eel. We pull her out and begin a bow and arrow attack on the eel and kill it. Mohrda gets the shiny object which turns out to be 2 gold rings (non-magical) on a severed hafling’s hand worth about 75gp for both. Now we return to the cave with the webs and Mavaris ID’s the monsters as Cave Fishers. Crab-like monsters. X.O. tries to pass through the opening, but gets stuck by a web line. The fight entails trying to hold on to X.O. with a rope, cutting the DR web and hitting the Fisher that has come down to get us. We kill the one on the ground. Mohrad and Mavaris climb up to kill the other in its den, but find their dice cool and must retreat. An oil flask finally chases the fisher from its den and we retrieve this treasure:
A quartz-like gem with a speck of light in its center. It may be a “Weapon Crystal”: a device that can be attached magically, by just touching it to a magical weapon, giving it an additional power. (Give to Mohrda to attach to +2 bastard sword?)
A cloak. Non-evil. Cloaks of Resistance are common.
The group returns to Milborne and presents Rammer’s head to Mr. Carmen. We tell him the story of how we cleared out his mine and he complains that we should have opened the secret door. He shows his displeasure by giving us only 150 gp each as payment. We visit Tauster in Thurmaster next. We recount our adventure and show him Rammer’s head. He says that Rammer may have been a Tiefling. A descendent of the demon race. For 100 gp (25gp plus the two rings from the hafling’s hand) he ID’s the medallion as an amplifier of enchantment spells, but not spells thrown, rather spells received. He does not know the two fishy smelling potions, but does say they have a slight evil aura. (Could this be because they were brewed by an evil wizard?)
Total 600xp each member
New Mire #9
3/25/12
We start off in Thurmaster. Morhda is still ill, but X.O. is tending to her and there is hope. We go to Tauster to have some of the magic items identified.
1. The cloak taken from the Cave Fishers is a Cloak of Elemental Protection. This cloak can be activated once per day (as a swift action) gaining a resistance of 10 against any type of energy (cold, heat, electrical, acid or sonic) the wearer wishes. The wearer can activate the cloak even if it is not his turn. However, the wearer must wear the cloak for at least 24 hours, continuously, before using it. Value – 1000gp. Abjuration 3rd level Clerical. Cloak given to X.O.
2. Weapon Crystal taken from the Cave Fishers –(Least, 1000gp) TrueDeath Crystal. A quartz-like gem with a speck of light in its center. Deals extra damage (1d6) to undead. This crystal has been attached to the +2 bastard sword and given to Mohrda.
Morhda is into the 3rd day of healing care and looking much better. She says she can feel her strength returning. We need to talk to Gizzler on how to open or break down the secret door. So we go to Milborne and find him at the Mutton. He says it was not there when he was working the mine and that only breaking through the rock will do it. We mention about the odd formations in the mine, but he assures us that there is nothing to them. The next day we travel to the Garlstone mine.
Half way to the mine, we are ambushed. There are 6 zombies and two evil clerics above us on a rise. The zombies come after us and the priests throw spells at us. X.O. is sickened and fails to turn zombies. Morhad takes cover in the wood and shots her bow. Javalis fires her MM and Mavaris uses his bow. X.O.’s 2nd turning attempt works and 3 zombies leave. Two zombies go after Mavaris, who shoots at them. Morhda joins the fray and kills her first zombie, plus cleaving a second. I move up the incline to get at the priests, but am paralyzed. Morhda moves up also and engages the male(human, mid-40’s, cropped gray hair) priest and kills him. She is then paralyzed. The female preist (Shilick – black curly hair, mid-30’s, human) moves to CDG Morhda, but Mavaris’s 2 attacks plus Javalis’s unerring MM kill her first!
We decided to track back on the zombies trail and found it led to the river. There was no boat there. We will cross the river to pick up the tracks on the otherside, if there, but first we will try to open the secret door. We make it all the way to the door and start to pick at it. It turns out the rock is a facade over a metal door. We stay the night and return to Milborne the following day. We meet Andreth, who recognizes the blue rope as Jenalth’s. We let him have it. We go to Rastifer’s store to do some trading. We trade the sapphire ring for 12 100gp pearls. We sell the bracelet for 100gp. We take the pearls and the gear to Thurmaster and Tauster for IDing. See above. A note was found in the scroll carried by Shilik. It said, “Take some zombies and hunt them down. Capture the mage and kill the others. The Orcs are watching. Do not return to Brokenspire without her or I will turn you into a zombie.” It was signed what looks like LTR, stylized. Tauster has not heard of the Brokenspire or of Shilik.
We will go to see the Count to see if he has any answers about the Brokenspire.
5/20/2012
Yathrax’ Tomb
We go to Parlefey’s Keep to speak to him about the Brokenspire. His son, Lintern is there and both listen as we recall to them all of our previous adventures. The Count tells us that 4 generations back, the Parlefeys had its original keep in the Thornwood and that it was called Brokenspire. Over time, the family became less happy with its location in the wood, so that when the keep was attacked by a green dragon and partially destroyed, the family decided to relocate to the current location of the keep. The attack was 100 years ago and the dragon has not been seen since. The Thornwood has been uninhabited ever since and has not been used for hunting or any commercial use at all. The only person known to venture into the wood is the female druid, Oleana. This is the same druid that helped us fight off a goblin ambush earlier.
The Count has a side job for us to take on. We will do it, but without Mavaris (Jason is in Canada). There is a report from the stone quarry in the Halfcut Hills that the miners have uncovered a tomb. They will not enter the tomb and the Count asks if we will take on the task. We will. He contracts us to a share (undescribed) of the treasure we may find. We travel to the quarry where the foreman shows us to a “Portal” It is a curved top opening with unrecognized runes written on it. I use “Comprehend Lang” and read it as “Here lies Yathrax”.
After poking around the entrance, we enter and decend stairs to a door. It is unusually cold. In the lead, Mohrda looks into the room to reveal a large room with frescos depicting a Cleric reeking necromantic havoc over cowering masses. This is consistent through multiple tableaus except for the end, which is in a different artist’s hand and shows the Cleric being slain by Paladins wearing a symbol of a Pelor-like sunburst design. The floor of the room has bones scattered throughout. The bones are not recognizable, but are from medium size creatures.
We go into the room and Mohrda sets off a guard trap. Three skeletons form out of the bones from the floor. One of the skeletons is large. The two small skeletons engage Mohrda, I go “Hide from Undead” and Javalis fires MM. I move into the room, pass the two skeletons to get a clear shot at the big one. I attempt to turn it , but fail.
From this point, it is a straight fight with Mohrda going down to 2 hp before the Troll skeleton is finished off by Javalis. We search the room and find a secret door. We move along until we find a door. It was no lock, so we try to open it, but it is stuck. We force it open. A lightning bolt shoots through almost hitting us full-force. Singed but still walking we enter the room. It is another large room with 6 alcoves, a stand with a book, a sarcophycus and a small creature in a purple cylindrical light. Mohrda enters the room and pears into the first set of alcoves. They are dark and she does not see anything. This is verified by XO throwing a sunrod into one.
Morhda moves forward and is engaged into conversation by the creature which turns out to be Torga the summoned and held quasit slave of Yathrax. Torga wants to be released and promises us the room’s treasure if we help. When Mohrda approaches that end of the room, she is attacked by a Wight. Immediately she is reduced in life force by one level. I try very hard to turn the Wight, but it unexplainingly resists. We all run away.
Back at the miners quarters, we discuss our next attack on the Wight and go to sleep. We are awakened by a scream is outside. We go to see and find a miner’s body with its throat torn out. When Mohrda leans over to investigate the body, it reaches up to grab her. There is a quick fight that kills this Wight spawn. Then we hear a noise behind us. It is the Wight and it is on the roof above Javalis. It jumps on her to attack and reduces her by 2 life levels. Mohrda fights with many successful attacks and the Wight is finally killed. It crumbles away leaving just a cloak, which we recover and bag-up. We know that in 24 hours, the life level changes will become permanent and devise ways to track the time. When the time comes, Mohrda and Javalis are aided to strengthen their constitutions. Three good rolls are needed and they make them all, praise Pelor.
We go back to the tomb and Mohrda frees the Quasit. Upon release, the Quasit asks Mohrda to accept its blessing and Mohrda says yes. Suddenly she feels a burning on her shoulder and sees, as we all do, “232769150801” emblazoned there. The Quasit then moves the sarcophycus aside and disappears back to his plane. In the tomb is a vest made of cloth, a rod ½” thick and 2 ½’ long, a circlet, two gold bars and a piece of onyx rock. The onyx has no writing on it and is not shaped. Javalis will carry all we got in the room plus the Wight’s cloak and present it to the Count.
Experience points: Mohrda – 1266 X.O. – 1066 Javalis - 1017
Brokenspire #1
6/10/12
Still in Yathrax’ Tomb, I proceed to consecrate the area and then burn the book. We open the sarcophycus w/o incident and find Yathrax’ body there and it has a gem studded dagger driven his skull. We leave all as it is and leave; locking up behind us and warning the miner’s foreman to block entrance into the tomb. We go back to the keep and tell all to the Count; we offer to give part of the treasure to the Wight’s victim’s family. While there,
we meet Desdamona Troy, aka Desi. She is a fighter/rogue of 4th lvl. And she req. and is granted entrance into our small group.
We decide to go see Tauster in Thurmaster to get the new items found in the tomb ID’d. On the way we are attacked by a cougar; Desi is hurt, but the cougar is killed and skinned. We get to see Tauster and he sells us a “Artificer’s Monocle” for 1500gp. The ability lasts 10 rds, is good for 1 item and must be used with “Detect Magic”; after 1 minute of study the user gains the same info as from “Identify”. We give him one of our 2000gp gold bars; 500 gp over the price, to thank him for thinking of us in getting the monocle and to further our friendship w/him. Javalis will keep the monocle and she uses it to id the rest of the treasure.
We take the barge to Milborne after deciding that we will enter the Thornwood to get to the Brokenspire. On the way, the barge is attacked by a giant ell and one of the crew is snatched. Morhda kills the eel and Javalis hooks it with her g. hook allowing us to haul it up to the deck and save the crewman. At Milborne we talk to Grizzler and Gerald, but there is no new info. We take off along the hills eastward to the forest. We reach it and decide to camp just outside of it for the night. On the third watch, Dezi hears the approach of many footsteps. We are awaken to find we are being attacked by Bugbears; 6 in all. Three have long spears and there is a cleric that starts throwing spells. Javalis uses the Web spell and entangles 5 of the 6. As they slowly emerge from the web, we fight and kill them. We kill them all, but we lose Morhda’s dog in the fight. The Bugbears carry cash and weapons worth 4076gp total when we go to sell it all. This comes to 1019gp each.
We will attempt to rest for 8 hrs again.
Experience Points: Javalis – 1626xp Morhda, X.O. and Dezi - 1750xp
Brokenspire #2
7/29/2012
After the encounter with the Bugbears, we rest for 8 hours w/o incident. Javalis monocles the tanari brooch and ring, but they are not magical. The Entagle scroll is given to Dezi to use with his UMD. We enter the Thornwood about 3:00pm and soon hear a bear approaching us. We throw some rations in one direction and go in the other to go around the bear. At dusk, we set camp and XO takes the 1st watch, but he is attacked by a red/brown bear that causes some damage until the companions engage it and kill it. Dezi skins it and keeps the pelt.
The following day, we come to the keep. The spire is no longer there, just the structure that was below it. The area around the keep is cleared, but unkept and is covered with thigh-high grasses and the portcullis is closed. Dezi climbs a tree and sees that there is a guard in the watchtower. The assault plan is: XO will approach the keep from one side while Morhda imitates a bear, using the bear skin, on the opposite side thus distracting the guard from XO’s approach. Using a levitate potion, XO will scale the wall, cross the bailey and scale the tower. There he will “command” sleep on the guard, get down to the gate and open it for the others. All goes well until the spell does not work on the guard. XO begins battle with the guard, Javalis and Dezi grapple over the wall and Mohrda distracts the gate guards (4) from outside the gate. XO grapples the guard over the edge of the of the tower and drops him to his death. One of the gate guards runs to the keep to get reinforcements, but Javalis “Webs” the door. She then opens the portcullis letting Mohrda in, resulting in the guards deaths.
Thinking that there may be opponents just inside the keep’s door, we make our way up the watchtower and enter there. We encounter the second watchtower guard and after a short fight, we convince him to help us in exchange for freedom. He tells us that captives have been brought to the keep to be made into zombies. He says he has not seen or heard of a dragon. He tells us that our evil cleric with red hair and in gold robes is called Ranchefus. We take the guard down the tower and into the yard where he points out each room and what it is used for. We give him some weapons and money and send him on his way. He has told us that there are three war dogs in the stable. Better to rid ourselves of the dogs now so we set a trail of food from the stable to the outside. The dogs are released as we hide in the keep. The dogs eat their way right out of the keep and we close the gate after them. One of the rooms is locked, so we brake in and search it finding a crate with a magical lantern. It is finely crafted, with silver filigree and a rose colored lens. It is an Everburning Lantern (Javalis) that uses a magical flame to light 20’ and it can be adjusted down to show no light or up to full light. It produces no heat and cannot create a fire.
We enter the dungeon via the rm pointed out to us by the guard. Javalis casts “light” on XO’s cowlick and we begin to search. The 1st rm has a giant rat that attcks XO and Morhda kills it. The next rm has a giant calamari which we avoid. The next room has 4 jail cells which XO tries to search using a mirror, but has his arm sliced in #1 cell by an unknown creature. The other cells are empty, but we decide to avoid the one with something in it; a decision we will later regret. We come across an alter rm with 2 zombies in it that we kill. The rm had been an alter to Pelor, but has been redone to exalt Nerull. We find a secret door that is to an old treasure room with 4 chests; one still intact, the others destroyed. Desi is hit with a couple of traps before getting to the treasures inside of the one good chest (Dezi may have been very lucky here; one of the traps was a poison needle trap). Suddenly, Javalis is attacked by a by a woman with a hideously scared face. The woman garrotes Javalis and Morhda kills the woman just in time. The crazy woman has a set of keys (XO), a +1 dagger (Dezi) and a wooden box. Dezi trys the box, but is darted w/poison. The box has 60gp, 40 plat and misc. trinkets (15gp/ea, 10 plat/ea and trinkets to Javalis). The chest from the treasure rm has 945gp(236gp/ea.), 1420sp(355sp/ea.) and 285 plat(71 plat/ea), 275 copper(69 cop/ea). There is an arcane spellbook (Javalis). There is a scroll in a tube: “Dispell Magic”, “Melf’s Acid Arrows” and “Hold Person” (which has been used already)(Javalis)
We continue our search of the rms and come across a “Summoning Rm” with a large ring of runes filled in with silver. XO takes the Cloak of Turning Resistance and burns it along with the ring. He then chips out many of the runes to ruin the rings ability to function. We find a rm across from the summoning rm with a skeleton in it on a cot (this turns out to be Xander Parlefey). There is a journal (Javalis) in the rm that belonged to Zander Parlafey. Was Zander P. summoning evil demons? Was he the dark sheep of the family? The skeleton of Xander has a ring on. It is a ring of “Lower Planes” that gives the wearer +2 to AC, +2 to saves vs evil outsiders (Dezi).
Finally we find a secret door that has Ranchefus behind it. He has 8 zombie guards. Ranchefus begins to throw spells and the zombies stay in front of him. Morhda (only 10 hp at this point) takes a “shield” potion. Dezi and Javalis join us outside the door. XO reads a “silent” spell scroll and Morhda attacks the zombies. Ranchefus retreats into a back room, avoiding the effect of the “silent” spell. Morhda kills a zombie and then cleaves to death another zombie. Ranchefus continues to throw spells that are effective and the group is weakening. XO turns the remaining 6 boosted zombies. We try to attack him directly. XO takes a “enlarge” potion. We are stunned by a spell and Mohrda drops her sword. We decide a grapple attempt would stop Ranchefus from throwing more spells, so Mohrda attacks and misses. Then XO tried, but Ranchefus had a ring that prevented grappling and so all attempts failed. Dezi went down, but not out; Javalis “greased” Ranchefus and caused him to fall prone; she tried to drag Dezi out, but went down also, but not out. Then Mohrda went down. XO misses Ranchefus 4 attacks in a row and Mohrda bleeds out. Ranchefus finally succums to XO’s last blow.
This treasure is split between Mohrda’s estate, XO, Javalis and Dezi.
Brokenspire #3
8/26/12
We have killed Ranchefus and need to rest and recover. We bed down in his room. During the 3rd watch we are attacked by 3 Orcs. We kill them and take a masterwork falchion worth 375/187gp, plus a masterwork breastplate worth 725/362 and 60 gp in cash. We search the room and find a secret door. We also find a locked wooden coffer (10x24x10) under a bed. In the coffer is a large non-magical key and a potion of Domination.
We decide we will go back to Thurmaster and also visit Count Parlefey. The first night back the Hut is put up for our security. We search the inside of the Hut and find Shilick’s treasure. There are two chests with 2000gp, 1200sp, a wand of Cold Fireballs (5 charges)(Javalis), a scroll with “Mirror Image”- “Web”- “Dispell Magic” and “Minor Globe of Invulnerability”(Javalis), and 2 silver flasks with potions of Domination.
In Thurmaster, we meet Mohrda’s brother, Molo. Molo takes Mohrda’s property; keeping some and sending some to the family. He proposes to join our group and is welcomed. We go to Tauster’s and meet a gnome with a long white beard named Keev. Tauster suggests we take Keev along and we agree to do so. Molo is a barbarian fighter and Keev is an Archivist. Keev is investigating the possible influence of Therizdune the far realm of madness and insanity which lies outside of the great wheel of the normal planes. With the help of Tauster, Javalis summons a familiar. It is a hummingbird by the name of Humma.
We travel to the castle of Parlefey and give the Count the Journal of Xander Parlefey. He thanks us and offers his armory for us to shop for, up to, +2 armor. Layfarer is there and we talk to him and purchase some healing potions. We will return to Brokenspire with a small contingent of the Count’s guard. They will secure the keep and we shall explore its deeper depths.
The Count has decided to go with us to the keep. Once there, he finds the desecrated shrine to Pelor and, with our divine help, re-consecrates the shrine.
We enter the secret door and immediately begin to descend. The passage is not dwarven made and goes on for several miles before coming to a “T” intersection which we take only to find a dead end. We search, but find nothing. Returning to the “T”, we continue on in what seems to be a northly or northwest direction until we reach another “T” and turn down it until we reach a door.
On the other side of the door, is a group of Orcs. We immediately engage with “web and the wand of cold fireballs. After a while, another group of Orcs, lead by a Orog on a lizard mount join in the fight. This pushes the group back and into the 10’ entry hall to the orc cave. We make a stand here, at a natural choke point and begin fighting our way back out using the wand and more web spells. Another group of orcs join the fight and they are led by two evil clerics. The clerics problem is that they cannot reach us with their spells because the web is blocking them. They decide to burn the web, but this takes time and we are killing off the orcs effectively. We attempt to attack the clerics by going around the web with Dezi going first, followed by Javalis and XO. Javalis uses the final charge from the wand and scores high damage on the clerics. Molo charges through the now opened web and attacks the clerics. Molo kills one then the other, on a cleave, to save the day.
Brokenspire #4
9/16/12
The battle with the Orcs is over and what a battle it was (4000+XP ea.). It is time to gather all the loot and divvy it up, but in our search, we find a captive of the Orcs. He is a Dwarf (Duskblade) fighter and he is near death. We heal him and find out he is Galmore. It seems that Galmore came into the caves with 3 of his friends: two were killed, one (a cleric – again there is a MU connection) was taken away and he was captured. We id his gear and return it to him. He tells us that his friend was taken through a secret door located behind the throne. He also tells us that we are about 300’ below ground.
We return to Brokenspire and tell Parlefey of the battle with the Orcs (28 Orcs and two clerics). XO has received a message from Gerald to return to his monastery and he will take all of the cash-out treasure, along with purchase requests, to the castle. We rest for a day. Parlefey wants us to explore the rest of the cave at the 300’ level. We want to go through the secret door at the throne; we think Jelenneth may be in that direction, but we will first do as the Count asks. He sends along about 20 of his troops with us.
So we return to the Orc cave and travel north another 5 miles to a “T” intersection going southeast and west. We go right (west) for 5 more miles and see a light at the end of the tunnel. It turns out to be sunlight from and opening in a cliff face 300’ from the top and 100’ from the bottom. There is no river at the bottom and we surmise it is the Great Rock Dale. This dale is said to be populated with goblins, orcs and all manner of evil things, but we cannot see any movement camps or camp fire smoke. We decide to camp and rest. Desi “activates” the coral-tipped spear. What that does is vague. The next day we move SW, an hour, until the cave turns east, another hour of travel and it turns north and brings us to a “Y” intersection. We think this places us between the river, the dale and the Blanryde Hills. We continue north for an hour until we come to a wall with a door that is the same door we tried to enter from the Grand Cavern at the Garlstone Mine. We know because we can open it from this side and we see it is the same door. The silver key, from Ranchefus, fits this door. There is a direct route from the mine to the old keep and Ranchefus may have been controlling the kidnapping ring.
We decide to return to the “Y” intersection and go down the south tunnel. Molo has the lead and runs into a hugh web. He is stuck fast and we are attacked by 4 hugh spiders. Galmore kills 2, Javalis kills 1 and Dezi kills 1. Keev attempted to cut Molo out of the web, but was too weak to cut the heavy threads. We find a dead victim of the spiders; an elf all wrapped up in webbing.
We wait for XO’s return and the all the treasures (both 8/26 and 9/16) and purchases are finalized as shown on the sheets “Equipment” for each character.
We return to the Orc cave and enter the secret door at the throne. We go down. How far?
We encounter a group of Sverfneblin or deep gnomes that live in the area. They are reluctant to allow us passage through their domain. We learn that they have been allowing the orcs and their captives through – reason not explained. We take them to see the result of the battle with the orcs and they are convinced to let us through under escort. They let us know that at the fork ahead, trolls lay to the right? We go to the right.
EP – 5th lvl characters (Keev, Molo and Galmore) - +400 +500 = 900
6th lvl characters (Javalis & Dezi) - +360 + 500 = 860
Players - Characters:
Clay - Bosch Human Cleric, XO Human Fighter/Cleric, Keev Gnome Archivist
Darvie - Snork 1/2 Orc Barbarian, Zenda Dwarf Paladin, Mohrda 1/2 Orc Fighter/Barb (sister of Snork), Molo 1/2 Orc Barbarian (brother of Snork and Mohrda), Toodles Whisper Gnome Beguiler
Lisa - Javalis Star Elf Sorceress/Force Missile Mage
Jason - Mavaris Human Ranger/Scout
Jaxsen - Dwarf Duskblade
Sameer - Human Rogue blend (currently Rogue/Wiz/USS)
Game 2
8-28-11
New Mire
Count Parlfrey does not hire us to see into New Mire, but says if we get results, he will compensate us.
Cleansing of Blessed Wood occurred 10 yrs ago.
Old Grizzler, dwarf resident of Milborne, has little info for us.
Game 3
9-11-11
We return to goblin cave to recup. We go to Milborne to see Semheis in our investigation of the missing Jelenneth. On the way we are attacked by 6 ferel dogs who we kill without losing any points ourselves. Semheis, who has been in the area for 6 months, investigated and found no residual magic in the area. Andren, the boyfriend, has no additional info. Shiraz is the ranger that patrols the northern area, around the mines.
Grizzler’s info ; Count is negotiating with stone giants of Half-Cut Hills to supply and build addition to the castle. Count has had 6 wives. No sons were born until the last one and the son is Lintern., 18 yrs old. There was an evil cleric and a band of assassins in the Harlow Woods 140 yrs back. The old Count led a company in and fought the cleric at Glimmer Glade. The co. lost all but a few and the cleric was killed, but set a curse that may still be potent. A priest with the co. , called Nerule, died in an inky pit of quicksand.
Tauster trades magic item identifying for our magical short sword. The potion is “cure light wounds” (Lisa), the bracers are called “arcane freedom” and allow the caster to suspend somatics on spells twice a day(Lisa), the ring is a portal to the elemental plane of water and is broken. It is the cause of the New Mire’s creation. It’s brake has opened up portals, placed in random locations around the area of the ring, allowing water to seep from the plane to here. The wand “of lesser vigor” heals +1 hp for 11 straight rounds and has 43 charges. You have to touch your target and say “tome”(Lisa). The shield could not be done for lack of pearls, but it is protective and I will use it.
We return to the Count to tell him we have solved the New Mire mystery. I ask for possession of Harlow Woods as our reward. He agrees if we give him the ring to help water his northern area. It’s agreed and we will take the ring to Shiraz to seal the deal. First we go to the stone giants and deliver their payment. On the way to see Shiraz, we are attacked by two ogres. One of the ogres kills Snork! The other runs from a fear spell. We take all of Snork’s possessions. The Harlow Woods is about 250 sq.mi.
Darvie rolls up new character – 2nd level dwarf paladin Zenda.
New Mire #5
11/6/11
The group, Bosch, Javalis, Zenda and her dog Ripper, traveled to the Carman Mines to question the miners on the missing girl, Jelenneth, and other things. The mines are dug by about 6 miners, supervised by dwarven Foreman Darris, has semi-precious gems and has made Mr. Carman the richest man in the Haranshire area. He lives in Milborne.
We learn that there is an old abandoned mine to the NE called Garlstone, named after a gem that is unknown to us. On the way there, we are ambushed by 9 goblins from high ground. We attack and defeat them, taking minimum damage and gaining minimum rewards (1gp, 2sp, 4cp, to Bosch). We spot boot tracks moving in and out of the cave and decide to spend the night outside and enter it in the morning. Entering the mine, we find that it is of dwarven design, but not of dwarven labor. Javalis notices that there is a slight breeze coming from inside of the cave to the outside. We suspect that there may be more openings than just this one. After a few minutes of walking, we see a smaller cave to the right and go in. It widens out and leads to a pool of water spanning the opening to the next cavern, a natural cavern. The water is cold and deep, but safe enough to swim; which we do. We find a large cavern with one remarkable feature; it has a “naturally” formed stalagmite statue of a dwarven goddess. A search of the cavern produces nothing and we leave to continue down the main cave. Suddenly, we are attacked by two invisible Halflings. Bosch takes 10, 9 and 8 hp in the first three rds.-he’s out. Zenda, Ripper and Javalis capture the Halflings. They are stripped (masterwork studded leather(2) to Zenda, short swords(2) to Zenda, a topaz-in-silver ring, non-magical, assessed at ___?____ to Javalis and 86 gp to Bosch) and questioned. Their black-robed, zombie controlling boss is Shillick. Shillick’s 2nd in command may be Rammer.
We set a trap for Shillick, who was due to show up in a day or two, but he did not. We return to Milborne, turn the Halflings over to Gerald. We then find Mr. Carmen to let him know of the evil activities in the old mine. We also check to see if he has an aura of evil; he does not. He tells us that Grizzler helped dig the Garlstone mine and we decide to go to Thurmaster to see him. Mr. Carmen advances us each 100 gp for a contract to clear the mine of the zombies and Shillick. We still need to sell the 2 MW studded leathers and the 2 s. swords.
New Mire #6
12/18/11
We are going to Thurmaster to see Grizzler and ask about the garlstone mine. We take the barge and are attacked about where the Hog Brook empties in to the Churnett River. We are attacked by a high level evil cleric and a band of six fighters. The evil cleric is in “golden robes”, has red hair and a red goatee. He has a medallion with a skull seated inside the image of a sickle; the symbol of Nerule, god of death. This must be the same golden robed person that hire a band to stop us from bringing “necromancy to the area”. It may be this was a ruse to stop us early in the game.
The attack was an ambush with ranged weapons and spells. We countered with crossbows and spells. Two of the fighters boarded the barge and a few rounds later, Bosch and Zenda took the fight to the evil cleric. 52 points were put to the evil cleric when he had had enough and flew away. We finished off the other fighters, capturing 3 of them. The evil cleric was last sighted traveling south almost directly into the middle of the Thornwood.
We took the prisoners to Thurmaster to Squire Marlon. They all refused to tell us anything because of their fear of the evil cleric. They fear being turned into zombies. They will be hanged.
We make it to Thurmaster and find Grizzler. Grizzler told us a few things about the cave. The bottom level runs north-south to the upper cave. The air flow indicates there is another opening and that it is not likely to be at the back of the cave because the cave runs into a hillside, not through it. More likely the flow is caused by a “chimney”. The connecting shaft between levels is about 40’. The golden robed cleric may be Rammer; we never did get any description from the halflings! We see Tauster to trade/buy items.
New Mire #7
2/12/2012
Javalis and Mavaris return to Milborne after our first try to enter the Garlstone mine. They report the failure to Mr. Carmen whereupon he berates them for their ineptitude. He tells them “not to return until the job is finished”. Javalis and Mavaris retire to the Baron of Muton to wash away they cowardice. In the tavern, they meet Mohrda and X.O. and discover that Mohrda is the sister of the late Snork. X.O. and Mohrda hear all the stories of the duo’s recent adventures and are encouraged to volunteer their skills to the group and another assault of the cave. Jelenneth’s mother, Parellis, works at the Baron of Mutton along with Andreth (Jelenneth’s fiancé). Javalis has Andreth identified a ring captured in the last encounter as one he had given to Jelenneth. We now know that she was taken by the one-eyed evil cleric and that she was brought to the Garlstone cave.
We agree to make another attempt to clear the cave and after some planning decide to focus all missile weapons on the sniper, Rammer while the cleric tries to turn the Zombies. Using “lighted “ arrows, we see a group of Zombies and Rammer. There are 5 zombies; three previously slain guards(2hd), Zenda(6hd) and Ripper the dog(6hd). Over the next few rds., the zombie guards are turned and Rammer is hit a few times. The 6hd zombies are too high for me to turn and melee is for these two. Rammer makes the mistake of staying too long and a magic missile from Javalis puts him down. The zombies are all killed, but in the time it takes, Rammer bleeds out.
A close look at Rammer gives the impression that he was not fully human, but that is all we can discern.
We will spend the night right at the shaft/hole, healing ourselves with help from the wand and sleep.
Third level characters gain 900 XP and 4th level characters gain 850XP
New Mire #8
2/26/12
Javalis cuts off Rammer’s head before we rest for 8 hrs. Mavaris finds some glowing blue mushrooms that are eaten by all but X.O. The night is uneventful. We decide to descend to the second level to fight whatever is still there. We go into the “Blue Garl Cave” and see an old shed and something shiny at the bottom of the cave’s pond. We leave that until later and move into the “Dome” cave. It is almost all pond and has a body floating in it. We decide this also can wait to investigate until later. We pass “Fairyland”; an enlargement in the passage that has another shack. Both shacks turn out to be unremarkable. We go to the “Crab Petals” cave and almost trip a Cave Fisher’s trap, a long, stringy, sticky and very strong web. Again, we move on. At the Chamber of the All-Hearing Gods we discover a natural formation that looks like a human ear. We should ask Grizzler about it. The final cave is the Grand Cavern and it is empty. There is a smoothed area, 20’x20’, that may have sat an alter. Javalis finds a secret stone door in the backwall. It is of magical construction with a lock that we do not have the key.
We return to the Dome Cave and Mavaris dives in to get the body. He is attacked by two big and mean catfish. He is bitten enough to necessitate his retreat. X.O. goes fishing with his fishing net and manages to land both catfish. The body is retrieved (human male), but found to be without ID or wealth and is curiously little eaten by the two catfish. Our next stop is the Blue Garl Cave. It is Mohrda’s chance to go swimming and she is immediately attacked by a large eel. We pull her out and begin a bow and arrow attack on the eel and kill it. Mohrda gets the shiny object which turns out to be 2 gold rings (non-magical) on a severed hafling’s hand worth about 75gp for both. Now we return to the cave with the webs and Mavaris ID’s the monsters as Cave Fishers. Crab-like monsters. X.O. tries to pass through the opening, but gets stuck by a web line. The fight entails trying to hold on to X.O. with a rope, cutting the DR web and hitting the Fisher that has come down to get us. We kill the one on the ground. Mohrad and Mavaris climb up to kill the other in its den, but find their dice cool and must retreat. An oil flask finally chases the fisher from its den and we retrieve this treasure:
A quartz-like gem with a speck of light in its center. It may be a “Weapon Crystal”: a device that can be attached magically, by just touching it to a magical weapon, giving it an additional power. (Give to Mohrda to attach to +2 bastard sword?)
A cloak. Non-evil. Cloaks of Resistance are common.
The group returns to Milborne and presents Rammer’s head to Mr. Carmen. We tell him the story of how we cleared out his mine and he complains that we should have opened the secret door. He shows his displeasure by giving us only 150 gp each as payment. We visit Tauster in Thurmaster next. We recount our adventure and show him Rammer’s head. He says that Rammer may have been a Tiefling. A descendent of the demon race. For 100 gp (25gp plus the two rings from the hafling’s hand) he ID’s the medallion as an amplifier of enchantment spells, but not spells thrown, rather spells received. He does not know the two fishy smelling potions, but does say they have a slight evil aura. (Could this be because they were brewed by an evil wizard?)
Total 600xp each member
New Mire #9
3/25/12
We start off in Thurmaster. Morhda is still ill, but X.O. is tending to her and there is hope. We go to Tauster to have some of the magic items identified.
1. The cloak taken from the Cave Fishers is a Cloak of Elemental Protection. This cloak can be activated once per day (as a swift action) gaining a resistance of 10 against any type of energy (cold, heat, electrical, acid or sonic) the wearer wishes. The wearer can activate the cloak even if it is not his turn. However, the wearer must wear the cloak for at least 24 hours, continuously, before using it. Value – 1000gp. Abjuration 3rd level Clerical. Cloak given to X.O.
2. Weapon Crystal taken from the Cave Fishers –(Least, 1000gp) TrueDeath Crystal. A quartz-like gem with a speck of light in its center. Deals extra damage (1d6) to undead. This crystal has been attached to the +2 bastard sword and given to Mohrda.
Morhda is into the 3rd day of healing care and looking much better. She says she can feel her strength returning. We need to talk to Gizzler on how to open or break down the secret door. So we go to Milborne and find him at the Mutton. He says it was not there when he was working the mine and that only breaking through the rock will do it. We mention about the odd formations in the mine, but he assures us that there is nothing to them. The next day we travel to the Garlstone mine.
Half way to the mine, we are ambushed. There are 6 zombies and two evil clerics above us on a rise. The zombies come after us and the priests throw spells at us. X.O. is sickened and fails to turn zombies. Morhad takes cover in the wood and shots her bow. Javalis fires her MM and Mavaris uses his bow. X.O.’s 2nd turning attempt works and 3 zombies leave. Two zombies go after Mavaris, who shoots at them. Morhda joins the fray and kills her first zombie, plus cleaving a second. I move up the incline to get at the priests, but am paralyzed. Morhda moves up also and engages the male(human, mid-40’s, cropped gray hair) priest and kills him. She is then paralyzed. The female preist (Shilick – black curly hair, mid-30’s, human) moves to CDG Morhda, but Mavaris’s 2 attacks plus Javalis’s unerring MM kill her first!
We decided to track back on the zombies trail and found it led to the river. There was no boat there. We will cross the river to pick up the tracks on the otherside, if there, but first we will try to open the secret door. We make it all the way to the door and start to pick at it. It turns out the rock is a facade over a metal door. We stay the night and return to Milborne the following day. We meet Andreth, who recognizes the blue rope as Jenalth’s. We let him have it. We go to Rastifer’s store to do some trading. We trade the sapphire ring for 12 100gp pearls. We sell the bracelet for 100gp. We take the pearls and the gear to Thurmaster and Tauster for IDing. See above. A note was found in the scroll carried by Shilik. It said, “Take some zombies and hunt them down. Capture the mage and kill the others. The Orcs are watching. Do not return to Brokenspire without her or I will turn you into a zombie.” It was signed what looks like LTR, stylized. Tauster has not heard of the Brokenspire or of Shilik.
We will go to see the Count to see if he has any answers about the Brokenspire.
5/20/2012
Yathrax’ Tomb
We go to Parlefey’s Keep to speak to him about the Brokenspire. His son, Lintern is there and both listen as we recall to them all of our previous adventures. The Count tells us that 4 generations back, the Parlefeys had its original keep in the Thornwood and that it was called Brokenspire. Over time, the family became less happy with its location in the wood, so that when the keep was attacked by a green dragon and partially destroyed, the family decided to relocate to the current location of the keep. The attack was 100 years ago and the dragon has not been seen since. The Thornwood has been uninhabited ever since and has not been used for hunting or any commercial use at all. The only person known to venture into the wood is the female druid, Oleana. This is the same druid that helped us fight off a goblin ambush earlier.
The Count has a side job for us to take on. We will do it, but without Mavaris (Jason is in Canada). There is a report from the stone quarry in the Halfcut Hills that the miners have uncovered a tomb. They will not enter the tomb and the Count asks if we will take on the task. We will. He contracts us to a share (undescribed) of the treasure we may find. We travel to the quarry where the foreman shows us to a “Portal” It is a curved top opening with unrecognized runes written on it. I use “Comprehend Lang” and read it as “Here lies Yathrax”.
After poking around the entrance, we enter and decend stairs to a door. It is unusually cold. In the lead, Mohrda looks into the room to reveal a large room with frescos depicting a Cleric reeking necromantic havoc over cowering masses. This is consistent through multiple tableaus except for the end, which is in a different artist’s hand and shows the Cleric being slain by Paladins wearing a symbol of a Pelor-like sunburst design. The floor of the room has bones scattered throughout. The bones are not recognizable, but are from medium size creatures.
We go into the room and Mohrda sets off a guard trap. Three skeletons form out of the bones from the floor. One of the skeletons is large. The two small skeletons engage Mohrda, I go “Hide from Undead” and Javalis fires MM. I move into the room, pass the two skeletons to get a clear shot at the big one. I attempt to turn it , but fail.
From this point, it is a straight fight with Mohrda going down to 2 hp before the Troll skeleton is finished off by Javalis. We search the room and find a secret door. We move along until we find a door. It was no lock, so we try to open it, but it is stuck. We force it open. A lightning bolt shoots through almost hitting us full-force. Singed but still walking we enter the room. It is another large room with 6 alcoves, a stand with a book, a sarcophycus and a small creature in a purple cylindrical light. Mohrda enters the room and pears into the first set of alcoves. They are dark and she does not see anything. This is verified by XO throwing a sunrod into one.
Morhda moves forward and is engaged into conversation by the creature which turns out to be Torga the summoned and held quasit slave of Yathrax. Torga wants to be released and promises us the room’s treasure if we help. When Mohrda approaches that end of the room, she is attacked by a Wight. Immediately she is reduced in life force by one level. I try very hard to turn the Wight, but it unexplainingly resists. We all run away.
Back at the miners quarters, we discuss our next attack on the Wight and go to sleep. We are awakened by a scream is outside. We go to see and find a miner’s body with its throat torn out. When Mohrda leans over to investigate the body, it reaches up to grab her. There is a quick fight that kills this Wight spawn. Then we hear a noise behind us. It is the Wight and it is on the roof above Javalis. It jumps on her to attack and reduces her by 2 life levels. Mohrda fights with many successful attacks and the Wight is finally killed. It crumbles away leaving just a cloak, which we recover and bag-up. We know that in 24 hours, the life level changes will become permanent and devise ways to track the time. When the time comes, Mohrda and Javalis are aided to strengthen their constitutions. Three good rolls are needed and they make them all, praise Pelor.
We go back to the tomb and Mohrda frees the Quasit. Upon release, the Quasit asks Mohrda to accept its blessing and Mohrda says yes. Suddenly she feels a burning on her shoulder and sees, as we all do, “232769150801” emblazoned there. The Quasit then moves the sarcophycus aside and disappears back to his plane. In the tomb is a vest made of cloth, a rod ½” thick and 2 ½’ long, a circlet, two gold bars and a piece of onyx rock. The onyx has no writing on it and is not shaped. Javalis will carry all we got in the room plus the Wight’s cloak and present it to the Count.
Experience points: Mohrda – 1266 X.O. – 1066 Javalis - 1017
Brokenspire #1
6/10/12
Still in Yathrax’ Tomb, I proceed to consecrate the area and then burn the book. We open the sarcophycus w/o incident and find Yathrax’ body there and it has a gem studded dagger driven his skull. We leave all as it is and leave; locking up behind us and warning the miner’s foreman to block entrance into the tomb. We go back to the keep and tell all to the Count; we offer to give part of the treasure to the Wight’s victim’s family. While there,
we meet Desdamona Troy, aka Desi. She is a fighter/rogue of 4th lvl. And she req. and is granted entrance into our small group.
We decide to go see Tauster in Thurmaster to get the new items found in the tomb ID’d. On the way we are attacked by a cougar; Desi is hurt, but the cougar is killed and skinned. We get to see Tauster and he sells us a “Artificer’s Monocle” for 1500gp. The ability lasts 10 rds, is good for 1 item and must be used with “Detect Magic”; after 1 minute of study the user gains the same info as from “Identify”. We give him one of our 2000gp gold bars; 500 gp over the price, to thank him for thinking of us in getting the monocle and to further our friendship w/him. Javalis will keep the monocle and she uses it to id the rest of the treasure.
We take the barge to Milborne after deciding that we will enter the Thornwood to get to the Brokenspire. On the way, the barge is attacked by a giant ell and one of the crew is snatched. Morhda kills the eel and Javalis hooks it with her g. hook allowing us to haul it up to the deck and save the crewman. At Milborne we talk to Grizzler and Gerald, but there is no new info. We take off along the hills eastward to the forest. We reach it and decide to camp just outside of it for the night. On the third watch, Dezi hears the approach of many footsteps. We are awaken to find we are being attacked by Bugbears; 6 in all. Three have long spears and there is a cleric that starts throwing spells. Javalis uses the Web spell and entangles 5 of the 6. As they slowly emerge from the web, we fight and kill them. We kill them all, but we lose Morhda’s dog in the fight. The Bugbears carry cash and weapons worth 4076gp total when we go to sell it all. This comes to 1019gp each.
We will attempt to rest for 8 hrs again.
Experience Points: Javalis – 1626xp Morhda, X.O. and Dezi - 1750xp
Brokenspire #2
7/29/2012
After the encounter with the Bugbears, we rest for 8 hours w/o incident. Javalis monocles the tanari brooch and ring, but they are not magical. The Entagle scroll is given to Dezi to use with his UMD. We enter the Thornwood about 3:00pm and soon hear a bear approaching us. We throw some rations in one direction and go in the other to go around the bear. At dusk, we set camp and XO takes the 1st watch, but he is attacked by a red/brown bear that causes some damage until the companions engage it and kill it. Dezi skins it and keeps the pelt.
The following day, we come to the keep. The spire is no longer there, just the structure that was below it. The area around the keep is cleared, but unkept and is covered with thigh-high grasses and the portcullis is closed. Dezi climbs a tree and sees that there is a guard in the watchtower. The assault plan is: XO will approach the keep from one side while Morhda imitates a bear, using the bear skin, on the opposite side thus distracting the guard from XO’s approach. Using a levitate potion, XO will scale the wall, cross the bailey and scale the tower. There he will “command” sleep on the guard, get down to the gate and open it for the others. All goes well until the spell does not work on the guard. XO begins battle with the guard, Javalis and Dezi grapple over the wall and Mohrda distracts the gate guards (4) from outside the gate. XO grapples the guard over the edge of the of the tower and drops him to his death. One of the gate guards runs to the keep to get reinforcements, but Javalis “Webs” the door. She then opens the portcullis letting Mohrda in, resulting in the guards deaths.
Thinking that there may be opponents just inside the keep’s door, we make our way up the watchtower and enter there. We encounter the second watchtower guard and after a short fight, we convince him to help us in exchange for freedom. He tells us that captives have been brought to the keep to be made into zombies. He says he has not seen or heard of a dragon. He tells us that our evil cleric with red hair and in gold robes is called Ranchefus. We take the guard down the tower and into the yard where he points out each room and what it is used for. We give him some weapons and money and send him on his way. He has told us that there are three war dogs in the stable. Better to rid ourselves of the dogs now so we set a trail of food from the stable to the outside. The dogs are released as we hide in the keep. The dogs eat their way right out of the keep and we close the gate after them. One of the rooms is locked, so we brake in and search it finding a crate with a magical lantern. It is finely crafted, with silver filigree and a rose colored lens. It is an Everburning Lantern (Javalis) that uses a magical flame to light 20’ and it can be adjusted down to show no light or up to full light. It produces no heat and cannot create a fire.
We enter the dungeon via the rm pointed out to us by the guard. Javalis casts “light” on XO’s cowlick and we begin to search. The 1st rm has a giant rat that attcks XO and Morhda kills it. The next rm has a giant calamari which we avoid. The next room has 4 jail cells which XO tries to search using a mirror, but has his arm sliced in #1 cell by an unknown creature. The other cells are empty, but we decide to avoid the one with something in it; a decision we will later regret. We come across an alter rm with 2 zombies in it that we kill. The rm had been an alter to Pelor, but has been redone to exalt Nerull. We find a secret door that is to an old treasure room with 4 chests; one still intact, the others destroyed. Desi is hit with a couple of traps before getting to the treasures inside of the one good chest (Dezi may have been very lucky here; one of the traps was a poison needle trap). Suddenly, Javalis is attacked by a by a woman with a hideously scared face. The woman garrotes Javalis and Morhda kills the woman just in time. The crazy woman has a set of keys (XO), a +1 dagger (Dezi) and a wooden box. Dezi trys the box, but is darted w/poison. The box has 60gp, 40 plat and misc. trinkets (15gp/ea, 10 plat/ea and trinkets to Javalis). The chest from the treasure rm has 945gp(236gp/ea.), 1420sp(355sp/ea.) and 285 plat(71 plat/ea), 275 copper(69 cop/ea). There is an arcane spellbook (Javalis). There is a scroll in a tube: “Dispell Magic”, “Melf’s Acid Arrows” and “Hold Person” (which has been used already)(Javalis)
We continue our search of the rms and come across a “Summoning Rm” with a large ring of runes filled in with silver. XO takes the Cloak of Turning Resistance and burns it along with the ring. He then chips out many of the runes to ruin the rings ability to function. We find a rm across from the summoning rm with a skeleton in it on a cot (this turns out to be Xander Parlefey). There is a journal (Javalis) in the rm that belonged to Zander Parlafey. Was Zander P. summoning evil demons? Was he the dark sheep of the family? The skeleton of Xander has a ring on. It is a ring of “Lower Planes” that gives the wearer +2 to AC, +2 to saves vs evil outsiders (Dezi).
Finally we find a secret door that has Ranchefus behind it. He has 8 zombie guards. Ranchefus begins to throw spells and the zombies stay in front of him. Morhda (only 10 hp at this point) takes a “shield” potion. Dezi and Javalis join us outside the door. XO reads a “silent” spell scroll and Morhda attacks the zombies. Ranchefus retreats into a back room, avoiding the effect of the “silent” spell. Morhda kills a zombie and then cleaves to death another zombie. Ranchefus continues to throw spells that are effective and the group is weakening. XO turns the remaining 6 boosted zombies. We try to attack him directly. XO takes a “enlarge” potion. We are stunned by a spell and Mohrda drops her sword. We decide a grapple attempt would stop Ranchefus from throwing more spells, so Mohrda attacks and misses. Then XO tried, but Ranchefus had a ring that prevented grappling and so all attempts failed. Dezi went down, but not out; Javalis “greased” Ranchefus and caused him to fall prone; she tried to drag Dezi out, but went down also, but not out. Then Mohrda went down. XO misses Ranchefus 4 attacks in a row and Mohrda bleeds out. Ranchefus finally succums to XO’s last blow.
This treasure is split between Mohrda’s estate, XO, Javalis and Dezi.
Brokenspire #3
8/26/12
We have killed Ranchefus and need to rest and recover. We bed down in his room. During the 3rd watch we are attacked by 3 Orcs. We kill them and take a masterwork falchion worth 375/187gp, plus a masterwork breastplate worth 725/362 and 60 gp in cash. We search the room and find a secret door. We also find a locked wooden coffer (10x24x10) under a bed. In the coffer is a large non-magical key and a potion of Domination.
We decide we will go back to Thurmaster and also visit Count Parlefey. The first night back the Hut is put up for our security. We search the inside of the Hut and find Shilick’s treasure. There are two chests with 2000gp, 1200sp, a wand of Cold Fireballs (5 charges)(Javalis), a scroll with “Mirror Image”- “Web”- “Dispell Magic” and “Minor Globe of Invulnerability”(Javalis), and 2 silver flasks with potions of Domination.
In Thurmaster, we meet Mohrda’s brother, Molo. Molo takes Mohrda’s property; keeping some and sending some to the family. He proposes to join our group and is welcomed. We go to Tauster’s and meet a gnome with a long white beard named Keev. Tauster suggests we take Keev along and we agree to do so. Molo is a barbarian fighter and Keev is an Archivist. Keev is investigating the possible influence of Therizdune the far realm of madness and insanity which lies outside of the great wheel of the normal planes. With the help of Tauster, Javalis summons a familiar. It is a hummingbird by the name of Humma.
We travel to the castle of Parlefey and give the Count the Journal of Xander Parlefey. He thanks us and offers his armory for us to shop for, up to, +2 armor. Layfarer is there and we talk to him and purchase some healing potions. We will return to Brokenspire with a small contingent of the Count’s guard. They will secure the keep and we shall explore its deeper depths.
The Count has decided to go with us to the keep. Once there, he finds the desecrated shrine to Pelor and, with our divine help, re-consecrates the shrine.
We enter the secret door and immediately begin to descend. The passage is not dwarven made and goes on for several miles before coming to a “T” intersection which we take only to find a dead end. We search, but find nothing. Returning to the “T”, we continue on in what seems to be a northly or northwest direction until we reach another “T” and turn down it until we reach a door.
On the other side of the door, is a group of Orcs. We immediately engage with “web and the wand of cold fireballs. After a while, another group of Orcs, lead by a Orog on a lizard mount join in the fight. This pushes the group back and into the 10’ entry hall to the orc cave. We make a stand here, at a natural choke point and begin fighting our way back out using the wand and more web spells. Another group of orcs join the fight and they are led by two evil clerics. The clerics problem is that they cannot reach us with their spells because the web is blocking them. They decide to burn the web, but this takes time and we are killing off the orcs effectively. We attempt to attack the clerics by going around the web with Dezi going first, followed by Javalis and XO. Javalis uses the final charge from the wand and scores high damage on the clerics. Molo charges through the now opened web and attacks the clerics. Molo kills one then the other, on a cleave, to save the day.
Brokenspire #4
9/16/12
The battle with the Orcs is over and what a battle it was (4000+XP ea.). It is time to gather all the loot and divvy it up, but in our search, we find a captive of the Orcs. He is a Dwarf (Duskblade) fighter and he is near death. We heal him and find out he is Galmore. It seems that Galmore came into the caves with 3 of his friends: two were killed, one (a cleric – again there is a MU connection) was taken away and he was captured. We id his gear and return it to him. He tells us that his friend was taken through a secret door located behind the throne. He also tells us that we are about 300’ below ground.
We return to Brokenspire and tell Parlefey of the battle with the Orcs (28 Orcs and two clerics). XO has received a message from Gerald to return to his monastery and he will take all of the cash-out treasure, along with purchase requests, to the castle. We rest for a day. Parlefey wants us to explore the rest of the cave at the 300’ level. We want to go through the secret door at the throne; we think Jelenneth may be in that direction, but we will first do as the Count asks. He sends along about 20 of his troops with us.
So we return to the Orc cave and travel north another 5 miles to a “T” intersection going southeast and west. We go right (west) for 5 more miles and see a light at the end of the tunnel. It turns out to be sunlight from and opening in a cliff face 300’ from the top and 100’ from the bottom. There is no river at the bottom and we surmise it is the Great Rock Dale. This dale is said to be populated with goblins, orcs and all manner of evil things, but we cannot see any movement camps or camp fire smoke. We decide to camp and rest. Desi “activates” the coral-tipped spear. What that does is vague. The next day we move SW, an hour, until the cave turns east, another hour of travel and it turns north and brings us to a “Y” intersection. We think this places us between the river, the dale and the Blanryde Hills. We continue north for an hour until we come to a wall with a door that is the same door we tried to enter from the Grand Cavern at the Garlstone Mine. We know because we can open it from this side and we see it is the same door. The silver key, from Ranchefus, fits this door. There is a direct route from the mine to the old keep and Ranchefus may have been controlling the kidnapping ring.
We decide to return to the “Y” intersection and go down the south tunnel. Molo has the lead and runs into a hugh web. He is stuck fast and we are attacked by 4 hugh spiders. Galmore kills 2, Javalis kills 1 and Dezi kills 1. Keev attempted to cut Molo out of the web, but was too weak to cut the heavy threads. We find a dead victim of the spiders; an elf all wrapped up in webbing.
We wait for XO’s return and the all the treasures (both 8/26 and 9/16) and purchases are finalized as shown on the sheets “Equipment” for each character.
We return to the Orc cave and enter the secret door at the throne. We go down. How far?
We encounter a group of Sverfneblin or deep gnomes that live in the area. They are reluctant to allow us passage through their domain. We learn that they have been allowing the orcs and their captives through – reason not explained. We take them to see the result of the battle with the orcs and they are convinced to let us through under escort. They let us know that at the fork ahead, trolls lay to the right? We go to the right.
EP – 5th lvl characters (Keev, Molo and Galmore) - +400 +500 = 900
6th lvl characters (Javalis & Dezi) - +360 + 500 = 860