Wax on. Wax off.

Eighth Session - November 10, 2013

Up the Mountain

Mordenkainen tells us that there is an order of monks called the Pentangle Order who specialize in mental discipline. They are well known in their ability to shield their minds from psionic attacks. The party heads to one of their monestaries to see if the order would be willing/able to train us how to shield our own minds (in preparation of meeting more mind flayers). The Pentangle Order has two monestaries: one on the northeast side of Mt. Karnak, and another (the main monestary) in the center of the lake where the Arena is located.

Mordenkainen reminds us of the arena's affect on certain weak magic items are affected by the magical binding of the area near the arena (potions become inert, scrolls turn to dust, etc.). Armor, weapons, and protection devices seem to be immune to the magical binding of the arena. They lose their magical properties when near the arena, but regain them when you leave the arena. He also reminds us that the arena does not suffer magic-users.

The party gives their potions and scrolls to friends in Sard for safe-keeping while we travel to the Pentangle Order. We leave our horses stabled in Sard and head to what is commonly known as "Star City" (the Order's second monestary). Traveling to the monestary, which is at an elevation of 10,000 feet, we gain a spectacular view of all of Middlemar. On the way, we cross over several bridges that span rushing rivers flowing down from the mountains. The closer we get to the monestary, the higher percentage of Pentangle Order that are associated with the running of the inns. The proprietors of the inns along our journey:

Orace (human female)

Sardon (half-elf male)

Mellonlorn (elven female)

Korlos (human male, member of the Pentangle Order)

Andros (human male, member of the Pentangle Order - Korlos' brother) in Star City (Koreolis, as it is known by the Order)

On the road, we pass through the town of Opal, which has the largest library on the continent, known as the Library of the Kings. Voldemort strikes up a conversation with Korlos. He finds out that the head of the Order is the current champion of Aerostar: Artemis. He lives on the island at the main monestary. He is the master of the Iron Mind. Voldemort tells Korlos about the mindflayers against which we wish to protect ourselves. Korlos is very interested in learning of the mindflayer; Voldemort tells him what we know about them from our encounter with one in Cloudyhead. The party arrives in Koreolis and finds out that Artemis does indeed take students to teach them the Iron Mind skill at a cost of 1 gp per day. The average student takes three months to learn the skill.

We send a carrier pigeon back to Sard, calling for the remaining members of our party to come to Koreolis so that they can get trained as well. We meet with Master See-Fu, who is a very very very old, skinny, and short man. It's difficult to tell if he's a short human, or a dwarf. He ends up being a crotchety old bastard. After six months of training, several of the party members have mastered the Iron Mind ability. During our training, a visitor arrives and attacks Master Sea-Food, who lays out the perpetrator in three jabs.

It takes 15 days for the party members in Sard to arrive, due to the message that we sent taking longer than usual to make its way to the party members. This was due to Ulian *not* being at the temple in Sard when the message was sent. We have no idea why Ulian was not in Sard. After the training, we head back to Sard. No one has seen Ulian in six months. He took a contigent of priests from Garnet to Cloudyhead. The plan was for him to meet up with Solara in Rudd. Because he has been missing this long, they assume he is dead or incapacitated. They have no one to take over running the temple in Sard. They need someone to go Cloudyhead to see what has happened to Ulian, and Swifty has been nominated. Three other priests went with Ulian to contact Solara. None of them have been seen since.

Dried Wine and Exploding Books

We head to Cloudyhead, stopping in Rudd first to talk with Solara. She says that she did meet with Ulian. She and Ulian successfully cleared out Cloudyhead over the course of a week. The last she saw of Ulian, he and three priests stayed at Cloudyhead to set up a watch in the tower. This was 36 days ago. She then helped Ulian for a week cleaning up the fortress. The party heads to the back entrance of the fortress at nightfall. There is no light coming from the tower windows. We enter the cave at the back entrance, open the secret, and come to the floor trap, which is tripped. A fetid odor is coming from the pit trap. Lowering a torch down to the water at the bottom of the pit, we see two huge cephalopods. When the cephalopods disturb the water, we see the tips of the spikes that are mounted into the floor. Somehow, this pit has been filled with water since last we were here. We then attempt to close the floor trap and see that someone has fused the stone lock (the floor trap will not lock closed). Having two people hold the floor steady, we run across the closed trap one at a time. Everyone makes it across, except for Ben (he's the last to go). The floor trap begins to tip. Kathy catches the floor so that Ben doesn't go into the pit. Kathy loses her grip, the floor tips, but Ben holds on by his teeny tiny little dwarfy finger tips and makes his way across the pit monkeybar style. During this ordeal, we notice that there are at least two cephalopods down in the water.

We make it to the lower well room. There is no stinky smell in here. In fact, everything seems the same as the last time we were here. We head up the stairs to the next level up. The kennels that had dogs boarded when the gnolls were in the fortress are now open with fresh hay in them, but there are no animals about. We find two-week old hoof prints in the area. Other than this, the fortress is deathly quiet. Heading up to the guard room (next level up in the tower), we find it to be completely barren. There are still bunks here, but the straw beds of the gnolls have been cleaned out; no weapons, no chests, nada. Going up another level to the lookout room, which has a firepit in the middle, is likewise empty. There are ashes in the firepit, but it is cold. We go to the mindflayer room. The stack of bodies has been cleaned out. All of the cabinets in the middle of the room are open and contain crafting supplies. This room, too, is empty.

The party then heads to the level that contained the "loud room" when we had been there previously. We find what appears to be a gathering area. There is a big table in the middle and two large hearths. On the table are five cups, a pitcher of spoiled wine, and three plates. We investigate the other rooms on this level: a kitchen and a bedroom which contains a chest. In the chest are some vials of a clear liquid, a couple scroll tubes, and some traveling clothes. On the table is a book. Swifty starts reading the book. When he got to page 3, the book explodes. The first three pages are a log of events: "we starved out the gnolls, the demon's room has been cleaned out, etc." It is obvious that this was Ulian's book. The scrolls are written in Dwarven, giving instructions to Ulian from a priest named Carn to secure the Tomb of Koric after a re-consecration. These instructions are very precise and detailed. Near the end, it mentions Ocyxerac's Staff and that it must be secured. The instructions on how to secure the staff are missing from the parchment.

Tom checks out the last room on this level. There are three semi-decomposed skeletal remains with a green ooze smeared across the floor. It looks like the ooze erupted from the middle of the room where the bodies are, and then spread out across the room. We find two diaries from the three dead priests. At the end of one of the diaries, the last entry reads: "Captain Hiram from Archet is due to arrive today. We are looking forward to having visitors."

Looking for Ulian

We sleep in the fortress for the night. The next day, we open up the front gate (which we cannot close behind us, so we leave it open), head out of Cloudyhead and make our way to Koric's Tomb outside of Rudd. First, we go to Rudd, let Solara know what we found in Cloudyhead, and ask her to secure Cloudyhead until we return. I also ask her about Captain Hiram and tell her what the diary entry said about him. Solara said that Hiram is stationed in Archet and hasn't left there, and that if he had been planning on visiting Cloudyhead, she would have known about it as they have good communication on troop movements.

We travel to Koric's Tomb to see if the entrance is secure. It is. We head to Rudd to find Tunnelly and ask him about Ulian. He hasn't seen Ulian for three weeks. At that time, Ulian talked with Solara to set up a meeting with the Mayor of Archet to talk about the possibility of having Archet sends troops to inhabit Cloudyhead and help with its defense. They are waiting for Ulian to return to say, "okay, I'm ready for the meeting." We head to Archet to talk with Captain Hiram and the mayor. We get admitted into Archet in the middle of the night and find an inn. The next morning, we head to the center of town and find Captain Hiram. After speaking with him and the mayor, we find out that no one here has seen or heard from Ulian in the past five weeks. So, with this being a dead end, we head to Onyx to see if we can scrounge up a mindflayer down in the sewers.

Onyx... Nice Sewers ya Got Here

The party finds a main entrance to the city sewers: a large gate with a lock on it. We head to Morley's Inn since we remember that he hires a lot of rat-people. Maybe we'll be able to find someone there who could help us gain access to the sewers. Kathy meets with Mistress Singe and arranges to obtain some maps of the sewers. Morley says that the last time an ithilyid was seen in the sewers, it was in the southern side, not the sea side. After one night tromping around the sewers, the party has an epiphany and relaizes that this escapade in Onyx has put us on the wrong track. Back to Rudd/Tomb of Korric/Cloudyhead.

We get back to Cloudyhead and talk with Solara. A messenger in Rudd contacts the party with a message from Solara: She mentions that the room with the trap is now full of water and that it is flowing. We head to Cloudyhead and talk with Solara. She takes us to the room with the floor trap and shows us that the water is slowly flowing out through the side wall.

Next time: into the pit, looking for a cavern.

In Search of Tunnelly

Seventh Session - October 13, 2013

Squidhead

We're in the round room with the well... looking for Tunnelly in the gnoll fortress. Everyone picks a door and listens to it. Swifty hears tiny scratching and squeaking. Ben hears chains clinking. Solara hears what sounds like hunting dogs. We each take different stairways upwards to see what is beyond. One of the stairways leads to a very loud area (sounds like a kitchen). Another stairway leads 15 feet to a pitch black area: a round room devoid of any sounds or light.

The party heads up the stairway to the dark room. We produce some light to see the room. Off to one side of the room is a small humanoid with a squid head; it's floating off the ground. The squid guy psionic blasts the party for two rounds. We then rush it and kill it. Searching about the room, we find a stack of mummified humanoids. All of them have their skulls split open with the brain removed. Two more bodies are found in the living area portion of the room. They have been flayed open with organs removed (this is one sick puppy). We find a chest (locked) within one of the cabinets. Searching the mind flayer we find two scroll tubes and two flasks containing liquids. Scrolls: Cure Serious Wounds and another that is unidentifiable.

Further searching in the mindflayer's room, we find a chest containing:
500 copper
100 silver
400 bronze
900 gold
40 platinum
32 gems

Voldemort heads back down one level to make sure nothing is coming up behind up. He sees that two gnolls have entered the room. He sneaks back up and alerts the party to their presence. We organize a plan to eliminate the gnolls, then head back down to the room below us and find that they are gone. We decide to try and find the two gnolls, then change our minds and head up another staircase, which leads up for quite a while. Solara sees a faint light ahead and advances to investigate. A few moments later, we hear some screams (one of them being Solara) and another that sounds doglike. The party rushes ahead to join Solara. We find the same two gnolls engaged with Solara that were in the lower well room several minutes ago. Combat ensues.

We overpower the two gnolls and question one of them. The main host of the complex are out on a hunting mission. Whatever gnolls are here, are in the main common room. He says that prisoners are kept on the main level of the fortress. We find the lieutenants' quarters and rummage through their belongings: a few weapons and some clothing is all that is there.

Heading back downstairs to look for Tunnelly, we encounter Scarg and two other gnolls. More combat ensues. We best Scarg and his two buddies. There is a ring of three keys on Scarg's belt. We unlock the trap door within the main room, walk down stairs and find Tunnelly bound and gagged, but in otherwise good health. Searching Scarg and his accomplices, we find 20 sp and 13 gp.

The party rests for the night. In the morning, Swifty has an epiphany and realizes that the gnoll fortress and surrounding area looks an awful lot like the map of Cloudyhead that is being kept in Koric's tomb. We then head southeat, looking for the Sisters of the Swan, located in a valley somewhere in the Ardenian Mountains. The Sisters of the Swan are the sworn enemy of Ocsychirax. En route, we stop over in Combe for the night.

Back in Sard: talking with Ulian and researching the scroll and potions. We found out from local townsfolk: Mordenkainen was a resident of Sard since it was founded. About 40 years ago, the town came after Mordenkainen and lost. He agreed to leave the town alone if they left him alone.

Swifty meets with Ulian and informs him that a group of gnolls is living in Cloudyhead, and that an ithylid had been taking up residence there, but is now dead. Ulian says that ithylid have not been seen in a long time. He says that he is going to send a group to Cloudyhead in order to rout the gnolls.

Mordenkainen: Not as Bad as Folks Think

Storch meets with Mordenkainen to have the scroll identified. Mordenkainen decides to humor Storch and agrees to identify the scroll and will waive his usual fee of 1,000 gold if Storch agrees to tell Mordenkainen everything about his adventure when he encountered the ithylid. Storch tells him of our quest to find Thyjack. Mordenkainen says he has two pieces of advice: 1) that Thyjack is dead, because he killed him, and 2) the second piece of advice is that the person who is saying they are Thyjack is most likely getting their information and their power from the ithylid. If this person is in league with the ithylid, they are most likely very powerful; find the ithylid and you'll find Thyjack. Storch then asks if there is a way to protect oneself from the psionics of a mindflayer. Mordenkainen's answer: a ring of mind shielding or the Mind Shield spell. Mordenkainen then identifies the scroll: Protection from Possession. Storch asks if he might trade the scroll for one or more Rings of Mind Shielding. Mordenkainen said to give him one day, in the meantime he will check with his contacts in Sard. When Storch left Mordenkainen's tower, two guardsmen follow Storch back into town.

The party meets with Mordenkainen that evening and tells him of their adventures thus far, all the way back to the initial meeting with the necromancer in Ruhd. In the end, Mordenkainen tells us that the Staff of Skulls must never get back into the hands of the person calling themself Thyjack. He would also be interested in purchasing the Silver Medallion for 25k gp. He then asks if Mistress Thune ever told us of her history with the Silver Shadow. She was an initiate in the Silver Shadow. Mordenkainen warns us that a man in the Silver Shadow will also offer us cash for the medallion. None of the members of the Dark Circle are known. They go to great lengths to keep themselves anonymous. Dark Circle is a small group of mages that live on "The Hill" outside of Onyx. They are wealthy and eccentric. Mordenkainen says that he's fairly certain that the leader of the Dark Circle is a council member of Onyx.

We also learn why Mordenkainen is interested in all of this. During the great catastrophe, he was a captain for Karm, who was Koric's cousin. Thus, there is a personal interest for Mordenkainen in all of this. He was present at Koric's funeral and in attendance at the raising of the temple in his honor. Jax mentions to Mordenkainen that he is skeptical of Theodoric's suicide. Mordenkainen lets the party know that we are marked by whoever it is that wants the Staff of Skulls. He then says that he believes the head of the Dark Circle most likely knows who this fake Thyjack is. He tells the party in confidence: "necromancy spells, in particular, are the most feared, hated, and untolerated spells in this world. Thus whoever this Thyjack is has most likely gotten their hands on a rare and powerful tome." Mordenkainen is working to rid the world of the Staff of Skulls due to its power and nature.

Mordenkainen then presents to the party a simple gold ring that is a Ring of Mind Shielding which he will trade straight up for the Scroll of Protection from Possession. He then agrees to identify the two potions that we obtained; we will have to come back to his tower the next day for the results. The potions are: Oil of Slipperiness and Potion of ESP. Mordenkainen then gifted us three Healing Potions and two Extra Healing Potions. His final bit of advice is that the Sisters of the Silver Swan do not have any information that could help us; it's pointless to visit them on our quest.

Setting out to Find the Silver Medallion

Sixth Session - August 25, 2013

Storch joins the party (played by Tom, Kathy’s friend).

Staying at Morley’s Inn. In the morning, 25 soldiers show up at the inn, asking for the party that fought in the street the night before.

The lieutenant of the guard hands each of us a summons to the council meeting later that afternoon where an inquiry is being held concerning the fight with the undead in the street the night before. He then asks for Morley. Morley is not at the inn at the time. The summons is addressed to , . The summons regards the death of Mistress Thune. “Please bring this summons with you when you attend the inquiry.”

Manticore Street (where the fight with the undead occurred the night before) is blocked from both ends. Anyone wishing to travel along it is stopped by guards, asked where they are going, and are escorted to their destination.

We show up at the council meeting at 1:00 PM, which is near the center of the city. When we get to the gate, they ask for our summons, stamp our summons, and ask us to disarm ourselves. The meeting is held in a HUGE meeting hall. There are 15 of the 17 council members present, which is very rare. Usually, only seven or fewer council members are present at a hearing. All council members are in long purple robes. Except for Peregrine, all members are wearing masks. Peregrine is the head of the Phoenix Guard and the head of the watch, and is known as Peregrine the Paladin’s Son. Peregrine is very tall (6’ 6”) with blonde hair.

Morley arrives at the council chamber one minute before the appointed hour of the meeting. The meeting begins. The Ring of Truth must be worn while giving testimony. Morley is the first one to give his testimony. Morley Carmeliah Thune is his full name.

The ring is passed to all witnesses, so that they can give their testimony. At the end, the council members as questions of the witnesses. This questioning involves four questions:
1. do you know who the mage is?
2. do you know where the mage went at the end of the battle?
3. do you know anyone who would be working for the mage?
4. do you work for the mage?

When skyjack mentions that the mage said, right before he left, “Fools, no one can oppose the Silver Shadow!” Upon saying this, there is a collective gasp from the audience. At the end, the leader of the council turns to another member and asks him, “Money Lender, do you have any questions?”

The answers by Jax to the questions posed by the Money Lender (who is about 5’ 8” and very fat) are not bound by the Ring of Truth (he can remove it if he so wishes). When the Money Lender speaks, his voice comes through the mask abnormally clear and loud. He asks: “How did you come to know Mr. Thune?” Jax’s answer was: “[I couldn’t hear Kathy.]”

The next question he asks: “What did the Lady Thune tell you about the Silver Shadow?” Jax’s answer was: “[Kathy was still too far away from the microphone for me to hear her.]”

“Do you know the whereabouts of the Staff of Skulls?” Jax says slips off the Ring of Truth and says, “no.”

Questioning is now being done by a woman (with a musical voice) named Kitten. Her question to Jax, “Who was it that gave you the name of Mr. Thune as the contact?” Jax, “yes, I can.”

Next question by Kitten, “Who was it that gave you Mr. Thune as the contact?” Jax says, “Cinch.”

Last question, “were these professional services, or did Mr. Thune give his information to you freely?” Jax’s answer, “I don’t remember.”

Peacekeeper has one question. Jax may remove the ring if he so desires. “How did you find out about the Staff of Skulls?”. Jax’s answer, “By seeing the mage in the middle of the night use it to raise undead from the ground.”

The last person to ask questions is called Sword Master. He has one question for Jax, who can remove the ring if he so chooses: “What are your plans now? Specifically, are you going to stay within the city or leave it, and are you going to search for the Staff of Skulls?” Jax’s answer: “[I couldn’t hear Kathy’s answer.]”

Each one of the party members is then, in turn, questioned, with the questions being the same as those posed to Jax. However, when the Ring gets to Scar, Sword Master asks, “Are you a member of the Order of the Silver Dagger?” Scar says, “yes”. Sword Master sits down.

When the questioning is done, the bleachers clear, and the guards are dismissed, but the council asks the seven of us to stay behind. Peregrine asks Morley if he has bound us to service. Morley, “yes, I have hired them to hunt down Thighjack and bring his head to me.” Peregrine, “the council has decided to place an additional burden on the party if it is okay with Morley: that the party meets privately with the council once we find Thighjacks. In return, the council will give the party 1000 gp per person for this information.” For each of us agreeing individually to these terms, Peregrine writes up a 2-sentence contract on the slip of paper containing our summons, and asks us to sign them. To help with our quest, the council fronts the party 100 gp each.

Crusty asks the council if they might have some suggestions on where to start looking for Thighjacks. They suggest that if he is in the city still, he is most likely either at hiding at the docks, or in the City of the Dead. At the end, after the council session breaks, Peregrine pulls the party aside, along with another member named Black Staff, and says that he will personally pay the 7000 gp even for party members that do not return. Black Staff will double the reward if we actually come back with the Silver Medallion. Peregrine says that the reward given by the council is not legally binding.

Order of the Silver Shadow: an order of necromancers under the control of Morthain. They had about 10,000 members. There were ten captains, one of which was Thighjacks, who was killed at the end of the Silver Shadow, so they’re pretty confident that this person calling himself Thighjack is not the real Thighjack. Each of the ten captains of the order had a spellbook, known as the Books of Power. They contained all the spells known concerning necromancy. Eight were destroyed; two were given to the Mistress of Deceit for safe-keeping. It would have taken several mages of considerable skill to make copies of those book within the year after the war with the Silver Shadow, before they were destroyed.

Storch casts Detect Evil. Nine of the council members showed as being evil. None of the members who questioned us are among those nine.

The party stays in Onyx for two days while we wait for silver boots to be made for one of our members, then we head out across the continent to go to the monestary that is home to the Sisters of the Swan, a druidic order that worships Ardenia exclusively. They were key in the downfall of the Order of the Silver Shadow.

We all buy riding horses for the trip. The second day on the road, we meet up with Solara and her cadre of 20 men. She says that Tunnelly came down from Bree to visit and said that he is heading to the village of Comb. But, he vanished. Solara went to Comb and they say that he never arrived. We let Solara know that the town council of Onyx is VERY interested in finding the Staff of Skulls.

About 10 miles from Rudd (5 miles from Comb), we find the remains of a wagon off the road (we think it’s Tunnelly’s) where someone had bedded down for the night. We see footprints of 8 to 20 heavily booted men converging onto the camp, then we see signs of someone(thing) being dragged off from the camp. Storch tracks the men to the south, up into the hills. He finds at least 16 sets of footprints. We lose the tracks up in the hills, where it is rocky and barren. Several party members scramble up an escarpment, where signs of a litter being dragged are found. They follow the litter tracks. The rest of the party (and Solara and her men) stay at the base and follow those up on the escarpment who are following the tracks. The trail heads northeast, back toward Onyx. We get about 15 miles back toward Onyx when we run out of daylight and make camp for the night. Half the party camps up on top of the ridge; the other half down below. As soon as the sun goes down, we see what looks like a steady light on the escarpment, about 6 miles ahead. There is a group of flickering lights moving away from the steady light, heading our way, but the lights go out far from us. Later on in the evening, the part of the party that is up on the escarpment is surprised by a group of gnolls (Swifty flubbed guard duty).

The gnolls are dispatched; one gnoll is rendered unconscious, three run away, and the rest are killed by the party. In the morning, we wake the captured gnoll and interrogate him as to whether they have captured anyone on the road within the past two days. The gnoll doesn’t seem sure. We find out from him that they take captives off to the mountain fortress six miles away. After their leader, Scar, is done with them, he gives them to “the thing upstairs”. We’re guessing it might be a demon. Given that we’re pretty sure that the three escaped gnolls are heading back to the fortress to bring reinforcements, we decide to head out immediately, and attempt to take the fortress. We find out from our captive that there are three entrances to it, one being a secret entrance.

Solara comes along with the party; she her five men back. We track the gnolls back to a cave near the fortress, down near a river. There is a narrow ridge about five feet above the river that leads to the cave entrance. Our captured gnoll says there’s one way in and one way out of the cave. In the back of the cave is a door with a guard room beyond it. He tells us the secret knock to give at the door so that they will open the door. There are no gnolls guarding the cave entrance. The cave is about 300 yards deep, but narrow. Scar picks the lock on the door at the back of the cave; it starts swinging open toward us. We kill the two gnolls just inside the door, and spend several rounds disabling a pit trap in the floor, and finding a secret door that leads deeper into the fortress. We come across a 30 foot diameter room with a well in the middle. Stairs leading up from here lets out into another round room with a bucket and hole in the floor for pulling water. There are four stairways leading out of this room, and another five doors leading out as well.

Shadows and Mistress Thune

Fifth Session - July 14, 2013

Swifty attempts to turn the shadows, and fails horribly.

The battle continues with Mistress Thune and three shadows within a circle of protection. Six shadows are outside the circle. After getting hit several times by the shadows, Mistress Thune shrieks and disappears into the negative material plane.

Theodoric’s description of Thighjack leads us to believe that he is the flying necromancer in Onyx. Theodoric recalled that Thighjack wore a medallion around his neck. The flying necromancer wore a medallion, but the moonstone in the center of it is NOT consistent with the symbol used by the Silver Shadow. The Silver Shadow was a group of powerful necromancers; worked for Lorthain from Fourstar. Oxikerax was the head of the Order of the Silver Shadow. He was one of the five generals reporting to Lorthain.

To Kill a Necromancer

Third Session - April 28, 2013

Solara agrees that what needs to be done is to eliminate the necromancer. We decide to scout the temple to see what the necromancer is up to. Solara, Tunnelly, and Swifty (the sneaky ones) take off their armor and travel to the temple. The idea is to take a small group so as to be able to stay quiet.

After an hour-long trek, we reach the temple. There are two rows of columns leading up to the temple. The gargoyle that Solara had stuck with an arrow previously is sitting on one of the pillars.

Hundreds of skeletons standing around outside the temple. Standing in groups as if arrayed for battle. Groups of 40 each with a commander. The skeletons are not moving a lot, but they are active. Every now and then, one of them goes to and from the temple. At the bottom of the stairs, between two skeleton squads, are a pyramidal stack of human skulls. After an hour of observation, Solara is satisfied with the reconnaissance; we sneak back to Rhud.

Swifty cooks up a flask of holy water. Plans are made to assault/sneak up on the temple. Solara has sent for reinforcements, but they won’t arrive for three days.

The party, along with Tunnelly, Solara, and 20 of Solara’s men head back to the temple with the plan to assault the necromancer. Solara will take care of the gargoyle out in front of the temple. Leaf entangles two groups of 40 skeletons, rooting them in place. The rest of us rush the temple.

Swifty turns a few of the skeletons. Solara kills the gargoyle. The necromancer creates magical spikes on the stairs of the temple. Scar knocked over most of the pile of skulls (doing so had no obvious effect).

Theodoric: balding on top, white hair, kinda pudgy, 6’1”, 200 lbs., blue eyes

The necromancer: wispy hair all over, 6’1”, 180 lbs., purple eyes

We are running on the assumption that the necromancer may be Theodoric, the ex-priest to whom we have to feed the potion given to us by Ulian.

The party wrestles the necromancer to the ground; Swifty pours the elixir of life down his throat. His eyes turn purple to blue, his cheeks fill out, and the hair on the top of his head falls out (creating a bald crown). It turns out that our suspicions were correct: the necromancer is Theodoric. He then looks around, bewildered, wondering what has been going on.

Baldemar crushes the skull on the necromancer’s staff and all animated skeletons instantly drop.

We question Theodoric: a man came to visit him named Thyjak. (expert on ancient history); came to ask questions concerning Thessarian army that had fought in Rhud. They had a discussion over a mug of ale, and that’s the last thing Theodoric remembers.

Theodoric is very distraught over his actions during the last three weeks. He wants Swifty to stay at the temple and get things in order to have it reconsecrated. Theodoric will be traveling to Sard and see about being forgiven for his actions. Theodoric tells Swifty that he is being left in charge of the temple until he or another high priest returns to reconsecrate the temple.

Theodoric pulls Swifty aside and, in private, tells him that he will have to be the keeper of Koric’s tomb while he is away (the sarcophagus that we ran past earlier in the upper level of the temple is Koric’s tomb). Theodoric then gives a set of keys to Swifty, telling him that they are open the crypt on the first level of the temple. There are several items of significance to the Priesthood of Kromm stored there, the most significant of which is a stone tablet with a map to Koric’s fortress: Cloudyhead. This map, Theodoric continues, must be kept hidden and secret at all costs.

Scar stays with Swifty at the temple. Solara leaves a contingent of eight of her men with Swifty at the temple for protection.

The rest of the party escorts Theodoric back to Sard. They question him regarding Thyjak. Theodoric says that Thyjak was wearing a black and white pendant with a crescent moon on one side and a star in a dark field on the other side. He also wore many rings. One ring, he recalls, was carved in the image of a gargoyle. Thyjak was particularly interested in any written, first-hand accounts of the generals who had died in the downfall.

Swifty enters the tomb to make sure that Koric’s remains are still in the tomb. Scar wants to go with Swifty who tells him ‘no’. Scar is persistent. Jax takes a swing at Scar to persuade him to leave the temple as Swifty had asked, and knocks him out.

In the tomb, Swifty inspects the seal on the sarcophagus in down in the tomb; it is intact. Further inspection of the tomb shows that a lecturn (which holds a very large metal-bound wooden book as well as a map) has four elongated cylinders around it, but one is missing. Long story made short: the missing cylinder is the staff to which Theodoric (as the necromancer) was affixing skulls. Swifty keeps the staff/cylinder hidden until a higher ranking member of the priesthood arrives to put it back in the tomb.

Scar, while he’s knocked out, has a dream. In it, a man in chainmail asks for Scar to be a follower of Kromm. In return, he gives Scar a fancy magic dagger. When Scar wakes up, he has the dagger in his hand. Later that day, the entourage leaves the temple to head back to Sard. As Scar leaves the temple, the dagger starts getting heavy. By the time he’s 100 yards away from the temple, the dagger is so heavy that he cannot move. He drops the dagger (Swifty picks it up and holds onto it), and the group leaves, arriving in Comb that evening.

All of a sudden, the dagger disappears. Swifty thinks he lost it. It appears in Scar’s left hand. It is, again, so heavy that he cannot move. Scar yells out, “I need to get back to the temple!” He is then instantly transported back to the Temple of Kromm, and a disappointed Swifty.

The party gets back to Sard the next day and meets with Ulian, who is very happy to see the safe return of Theodoric. He then pays the party’s reward.

An order of wizards called the Silvershadow. Grey eyes. Were based in Onyx. The staff used to belong to a lieutenant. It’s a very dangerous artifact that can only be held by a cleric.

The party enters the town of Sard and bring the priest, Theodoric, to the temple of Krom. The High Priest, Ulian, thanks us profusely for our services. Jax asks the high priest if he recognizes the symbol of the crescent moon on a dark background, which was the pendant worn by Thyjack. The High Priest is surprised, and says that it is a very old symbol, used by a race of wizards from before the fall. They called themselves the Silver Shadow, and were based out of the city of Onyx (which is in Orrostar.) They served Mordhame as his lesser servants, and many of the members reputedly had gray eyes. The skills and knowledge of the Silver Shadow was thought to have died with the order itself after the fall of Mordhame.

We describe the skull-topped staff, wielded by the necromancer Theodoric. Ulian is greatly disturbed. The staff, he tells us, was once owned by Lieutenant Ocsychirax, a follower of Mordhame. It is a very dangerous artifact that may only be used by a priest or a cleric. Ulian visits the temple of Rudd, Krom's wife, to do more research (is this right? wasn't it the temple in Sard that he visited to do some more research, and then later he traveled to the temple outside of Rhud in order to reconsecrate it?). His findings indicate that the Silver Shadow worked under Lt. Ocsychirax, and thought to have been destroyed. To date, there have been no known practitioners. As for the Lieutenant, when he was killed, his staff was set with him on a burial pyre which was then sunk into the ground by Krom himself.

Ulian speculates that it is possible Thyjack is a survivor, although more likely that he found information on the Silver Shadow and is using that to some end. Why wouldn't Thyjack have taken the staff for himself? Maybe he wasn't a priest, as the Silver Shadow were all wizards.

Ulian agrees to give us a list of the 12 generals of Mordhame, and their known lieutenants. He will also see that the staff is secured, or if possible, destroyed.

Leef notices a dwarf sweeping up in the temple of Kromm in Sard, and that he has a dagger hanging from his belt that looks just like the magic dagger that Scar received in his dream. Leaf asks him about it; he says to ask Ulian. Ulian tells Lief that the dagger is a symbol of the Order of the Silver Dagger. The daggers are given to those who have disgraced their God or their family, and are given a second chance. The people given these daggers are either mercenaries who work for the highest bidder or for the person who gave them the dagger. Ulian then tells Leif that the recipients of these daggers are unable to be rid of it, and that they are usually men of their word.

Ocsychirax was a lieutenant of Mordain.

Ulian himself is going to travel to the temple outside of Rhud in order to reconsecrate the temple.

A few days past; the party arrives back at the temple outside of Rhud. Swifty helps Ulian reconsecrate the temple. Solara’s reinforcements show up a few days later. They debate what to do with the town since it is now deserted. Ulian takes Rhud under the jurisdiction of the Temple of Kromm. He will send another priest to take over Swifty’s duties at the temple.

Swifty turns the keys over to Ulian. Ulian questions him on what Theodoric had told him concerning the significance of the keys. Swifty tells Ulian that Theodoric only mentioned that one of the keys opens the top level of the tomb, and that the tomb guards very coveted secrets, the biggest of which is the map to Cloudyhead. Ulian says that Cloudyhead is a very strong fortress and it would be very bad if the Temple’s enemies were to gain access to it.

The party heads back to Sard where we learn that Theodoric has committed suicide (no signs of a struggle).

Skeleton Smackdown

Second Session - March 24, 2013

The party heads back to Ruhd to recover from the battle with the gargoyles. As night falls, the sky to the north is glowing red (in the direction of the temple... that we never reached). A terrible storm is seen to be brewing to the northwest and heading our way. Tunnely looks to the sky and says, "Yep. This is how it all went down before."

Preparing for an evening of undead goodliness, the party builds a stout fire in the cooking pit of the abandoned house in which we are staying for the night. We set up patrols in shifts; Solara does the same with her men.

Near sundown, the storm hits, and it's a doozy. In the middle of the night, Swifty takes his shift on watch duty, patrolling the perimeter of the house. Lightning flashes are common enough to provide sporadic views of the fields surrounding the house. Midway through Swifty's shift, he spots a humanoid figure standing with arms outstretched by the well, 50 feet behind the house. A lightning bolt strikes the staff that is being held by the person by the well, who then strikes the ground with the staff. A dull gray-blue light is seen to emit from the end of the staff and spread across and into the ground in all directions.

Swifty yells out, "We've got a wizard by the well." The rest of the party rises from sleep, along with Solara's men. Tunnely comes running out of the house, sword and shield in hand, and yells, "They're here!" He rushes the figure by the well. Swifty runs to the well and notices that the figure is a tall emaciated human. He has all the earmarks of a necromancer. Tunnely bowls into him and melee begins. The necromancer casts Fear; Swifty and Scar wet themselves and start running away.

About this time, hundreds (not making this up here) of skeletons begin to rise up out of the ground in a 100-foot radius surrounding the necromancer. Baldemar and Jax go back-to-back outside the house, joining Solara and the rest of her men at the house, who have formed a phalanx just outside the front door.

After recovering from the fear spell, Swifty turns back to head back to the necromancer; Scar runs to the stables along with Leif to help out Solara's men there.

There are only five of Solara's men left standing in the stables by the time Leif and Scar arrive. Scar decides that the best plan of action is to mount a (spooked) horse. After fitzle-futzing around with a horse for a few melee rounds, he decides to get back onto the ground and help out Solara's men who are knee-deep in kimchee at this time, having their hands full with skeletons.

Swifty clears a path back to the necromancer, turning skeletons every round along the way. Tunnely and the necromancer duke it out one-on-one. Tunnely holds his own pretty well for a halfling. Leif, back at the stables, noticed that the troops stationed there were slow to rise and refused to leave the stable to help out with the main fighting, claiming that they are going to set up and hold their defensive in the stable.

After several rounds of fighting, the battle starts to swing in the favor of the party. At this time, the necromancer puts a big hurt on Tunnely, knocking him down. He has also summoned a dust-devil by this time, which doesn't help matters. After Tunnely slowly regains his feet, the necromancer backs away from the fight, heading north into the forest. The skeletons that are still intact also break off from the fight at this time and slowly make their way north as well.

The party decides to let the necromancer and the skeletons go, and regroup to lick our wounds. It turns out that the town of Ruhd is built on top of where a great battle was once fought. This would explain the plethora of skeletons in the area, ripe for being animated. The killed skeletons all bear the Chessarian crest, which is one of the two armies involved in the big battle.

After the excitement dies down, Leif pulls Solara aside and informs her that Guydean (her second in command) dropped the ball concerning how he handled his men in the stables. We rifle through the destroyed skeletons and find a whopping 9 silver pieces and 36 copper pieces.

Swifty recalls that the necromancer had a skull (human-sized) mounted to his staff. The party also recalls that the pile of villager bodies found two days prior were all beheaded. Given the casting ritual that the necromancer used to raise the dead, we deduce that he requires human skulls to cast the mass raise dead spell.

Thinking that we need to find a way to consecrate the ground in this village in order to thwart future dead raisings, Jax climbs down the well to see what it looks like down there (maybe we could bless a large quantity of ground water). It turns out that the well opens up onto a subterranean river in a natural underground cave. However, the cave doesn't lead anywhere.

That's Ruhd

First Session

Cast of characters

Scar – swarf (Kathy, what the hell's a "swarf"?)
Swifty – Cleric
Jax – fighter
Valdemar – monk
Leif – druid

Some recent history
There was a recent challenge to Hyrannustar, a council member. Lordship battle is a big deal. Ciran vs. Krytow – rumored that the dispute was that Krytow came to power in an undeserved manner.

We begin in the city of Sard. Jax, Scar and Swifty stay at a local temple. There's a big commotion out in the street. We run out to see a horse and cart charging down the town, almost trampling a family. Swifty stops the horse. Inside the cart is a mummified knight and an urn, wooden shield, long sword and helmet in a hidden compartment. A priest from the temple runs out to stop us. We bring the cart and horse into the temple.

We find out that two priests from Ruhd were bringing this cart to Krom's temple. The urn contains a special potion. Priest’s story: His counterpart (Theodoric) in Ruhd was behaving strangely and began to cast out followers. Most people took refuge in Sard. He was having some people bring back the urn, which contains the Elixir of Life, and the body of this lord.

Someone must have jumped the two who were bringing the cart back, spooking the horse. The priest offers us 750 in gold and services and the protection of Krom to go find Theodoric.

The party leaves town, heading southeast with the cart and horse, two mules, and a local who knows how to handle a team of horses. We make it to the next town – Brie. Scar talks to a thief at the bar. He was roughed up in the town of Ruhd by a mob of skeletons who were wearing strange armor.

The thief, a halfling named Tunnely, is heavily armed and agrees to join our party. During the conversation, we spot someone eavesdropping in on Scar's and Tunnely's conversation: a shabbily dressed human eating a decent meal (nice flavor text, Kathy). Swifty engages him in conversation. He scoffs at Tunnely's story, says it's spreading rumors. When he leaves, Scar follows him. He goes to a hidden gate on the south side and talks to the gatekeeper. Scar hears him say, "There's a party of 6 and they are headed to Ruhd."

Heading to Ruhd, we travel the next day without incident, arriving at Comb on day two. Comb is a much smaller town. It's across the river. We stay at an inn. News is: Ruhd is a bit dire – nothing has come into Comb. Night passes uneventfully.

We enter Ruhd the next day. We see no smoke coming from the town; it's as if the town is deserted. As we hit the town limits, a group of 20 meet us with a woman at the lead. They are flying a flag, a yellow triangular bit of cloth with a riding red sun. The woman introduces herself as Solaras, the leader of the Singing Dawn. She carries a shield, spear and bow. She's a 5'6” blonde with a very athletic build (much like a linebacker... think female dwarf, but without the beard). She is following up on reports that armies from the Chesarian empire have been seen marching toward Ruhd. The Chesarian, however, have been dead for years.

Solaras and company have only been in town two days. They say it has been abandoned. We find fresh tracks, about 1-2 days old that lead to the east, and look like troops. After tracking them into the woods, we come to the conclusion that whoever passed through Ruhd two days ago were a heavily armored group.

Tunnely's tale: Four nights ago, there was a huge storm in Ruhd. Skeletons rose up from the floor. He ran to check other homes and found them empty, although he had heard screams, and a sound like the beating of wings. He was assaulted by skeletons on his way out of town.

We follow the tracks into the woods and find a mass slaughter – all the townspeople dead. All of their heads are missing. Odd, that.

On our way to Theodoric's we are attacked by winged creatures, much like ugly flying monkeys – gargoyles. We take a beating. We go back, and get Solaras, who has some magical arrows. We kill one gargoyle but the second one flees. The party licks its victorious wounds.