Ididerac's Citadel Cont'd. (Session 13) - Emmanir 24, 888 F.S.

Ididerac’s citadel
Sophia and Tiamut show up out of nowhere, fresh as a daisy. While we discuss our options at this point, four goblins come running down the stairs toward us. Sophia skewers one of them. Ididerac and the ogre are behind them, also coming down the stairs. One of the goblins opens a door in the bailey; two seconds later, a large white snake slithers into the bailey with us (nice). More combat ensues. Estenel hangs onto consciousness by a thread, due in no small part to Sophia’s valiant efforts of throwing herself in harm’s way. A series of critical successes by the party and critical failures by the bad guys swings the combat in our favor. Ididerac is killed; the goblins are slain. The man who, earlier in the combat, ran off to inform Ididerac and his thugs of our presence, is now also dead.

Now that all foes (except for the mage, which is still missing) are dead or unconscious, the party begins to search the citadel for the mage. Yukon draws some pretty pictures in the dirt and Sophia is now able to see invisible objects. Estenel, being completely spent, retires to the kitchen and starts rummaging for ale.

We ransack the citadel. Noteworthy items that were found:

• Written military orders that command Lord Higgins to head south.


• Paperwork that describes how to activate the ice/snow stones. (One of these stones was used by Degarn to create the blizzard in the area around his keep. It was the stone that was in the statue next to the shocky sword.)


• A message from Lady Deepweather Cardia: the final shipment of stones from the ice palace are en route to Ididerac’s citadel. “The forge” is now up and running and pumping out more of them. Meet with Frosttouch Jorval if they need more stones. (There are also 12 of these ice stones in the package.)


• 4000 silver pieces


• Several Odoru (reindeer). We now have transportation.

After a bit, the ogre wakes up and wants to know if he is free to go. He’s basically a hired thug, commanding a detachment of wolfen, and is/was in the employ of Ididerac. He informs us that the mage that took flight is Frosttouch Jorval. We now have an idea that Lady Deepweather is most likely a cardinal within the Ice Queen’s clerical hierarchy.

Estenel mind-searches the unconscious female mage. He finds out that:

• Her name is Romfinia; she is from Zoohoodu Island. The port on Hronn that she uses to get to and from Zoohoodu is Fopasado.


• She is in the employ of the Ice Queen; her superior is Frosttouch Garrin (formerly Stormbrother Garrin).


• She has come here to deliver a seal to Ididerac. The seal holds a demon which was destroyed (the seal, that is; not the demon) in the basement of this citadel. Sophia and Flick head into the basement and confirm this, observing broken pottery that contains runes. Several of the pieces of this seal are gathered up and taken with us.


• The demon that will be released by the breaking of these seals is named Costuhshee (this jives with the name that we gleaned from the blue bald guy back when we were trying to find the temple that ended up having demon dogs in it).


• The demon is not here yet, but will be after all seals are broken. There are 13 seals in total; four of them have been broken so far; the other nine have not been located yet.


• Two minions of the Ice Queen (Frosttouch Jorval and Frosttouch Garrin) are researching the location of the remaining seals.


• Jorval is the mage that we encountered in Ididerac’s citadel, fried Sir Dapifir, then tucked tail and skeedaddled before we finished the fight with Ididerac.


• Garrin is on Zoohoodu Island. That is the home of Jorval as well.


• The more seals that are broken, the stronger the demon gets.


• There is no time limit from when the first seal is broken to when the last seal is broken with regards to allowing or denying the demon access to this plane.


• If and when the demon is released, he will appear on this world at a location named Careethay.


• Romfinia does not know where the other seals are, and does not know if anyone else knows for sure yet where they are.


• The Ice Queen is locating and delivering the seals to the Ice Coven (read: “snowflakes”) in exchange for “pleasantries”.


• Breaking of the seals requires a ritual. The snowflakes know this ritual; it does not require anything special... just do the ritual. Anybody who knows this ritual can properly break the seals.


• The seals are 1-foot diameter disks with runes inscribed on them. All seals are made of the same material.


• The seals are believed to be Sidhe artifacts.


• Ididerac sent his troops south to engage Lord Futanmoth’s garrison.

Lake of Orb
We allow the ogre to go free. We then leave Ididerac’s citadel, taking the Odoru with us as well as a small non-descript item from the unconscious female mage so that we can track her later. The party heads to the Lake of Orb to discuss recent events with the water sprite, Gidnia. The information we give her confirms her suspicions. She gives Estenel a grand gift: Elidil. This is a sword which, when drawn, continually drips holy water along its blade.

Gidnia introduces us to a friend of hers, Jolin, who accompanies the party as we head back to Schnorking.

Ididerac's Citadel (Session 12) - Emmanir 20, 888 F.S.

Heading north to Ididerac’s citadel
It’s a three-day travel to the citadel. On the second day, it begins to snow. Estenel contacts Gidnia to confirm that Emirin’s message is legitimate (it is). She instructs us to stop by her lake after we’re done at the citadel. About a half-day’s travel from the citadel, it is snowing so hard that visibility is cut to 20 feet.


Ididerac’s citadel
We make our way to the door of the keep. There are two guards flanking the door to the keep. Eminir sneaks up and waylays one of the guards. Flick arrows the other guard. One of the guards knocks on the door. Moments later, both guards are unconscious or dead. A few seconds later, the door opens. Flick skewers the man opening the door, who then screams, but no sound is made as Estenel silences the area.

We make our way into the outer baily. There are three men inside, including Ididerac. Melee begins. We engage two men-at-arms and Ididerac. A couple rounds into the fight, a curtain opens on the second floor overlooking the bailey and two crossbowmen take shots at us. A few rounds after that, two minotaurs jump down from the upper floor, knocking Ecran and Taverius to the floor. More combat. A few seconds later, a woman appears, and commands Taverius to drop his weapon. We then notice that there is a man pulling ropes to open up the curtain above us, and that the man is the messenger from Laendersberg that was travelling with us and Lady Laenders back to Laendersberg when we got ambushed. He was the one who ran off during that ambush. Cheeky bastard.

More combat. Dapifir chops down one minotaur. The balcony overlooking the bailey now has six men standing upon it; three in the front row who are throwing spears and three in the second row who are handing more spears to the front row. Taverius knocks out Ididerac. Yukon keeps one of the minotaurs incapacitated by chain-stunning him. Estenel gets into a pinch in melee. Emirin attempts to intervene and inadvertently impales himself on the foe's spear. Taverius guts the woman who had commanded him earlier, knocking her out.

Flick makes his way up the stairs to where the goblins retreated and finds the “real” Ididerac upstairs (the one we thought we knocked out was an imposter). He is upstairs with a mage, an ogre, and three goblins.

We muck around in the bailey, determining what to do next and awakening Ecran and Taverius, when the mage in the upper floor comes out to the balcony and throws a lightning bolt at Dapifer, who dies on the spot. At that point, we hear feet running down the stairs.

Temple of the Mages (Session 11) - Emmanir 20, 888 F.S.

At the Temple of the Mages
Sophia keeps the dogs at bay. Flick goes invisible, enters the building, and begins scouting the interior. The entry room is actually a 70-foot long hallway with seven doors leading off of it. He follows his seeker to a door, picks the lock on the door cleanly, and slips behind the door, leading to a bedroom. There are various effects within the room: bed, table, quill, parchment, and a chest. Sophia, having befriended the two dogs, leads them into the kitchen, gives them a bowl of food, then closes the door behind them.

All of us enter the building and help in the search of the place. We find that the table in the bedroom, which appears to be light enough to move, doesn’t budge. The same goes for the idol of a succubus that is sitting on the table. Long story made short: the idol is the trigger to open a secret door. We open the secret door, which leads down a set of stairs. There is drunken bad singing coming from down the stairs. Flick goes invisible and down the stairs and finds four of the bald blue skinned guys. Two of them are drinking and singing in a room; two more are passed out in the room. There is a second door leading out of this room; Flick’s seeker is still pointing beyond the second door. Flick opens the second door, but cannot open it fully because there is another dog sleeping on the other side of it.

Flick and Sophia go invisible, sneak into the room, and assassinate the four blue guys. Written on the bottom of one of the feet of each of the blue guys are “Huh”, “Bob”, “Zed”, and “Andy”. Estenel puts up a wall of silence across the door leading out of this room. Flick opens the second door silently and assassinates the dog sleeping on the other side of the door. Flick continues down the hallway that is beyond the second door. The hallway goes for 30 feet, then ends in yet another door. Down the hallway is yet another dog that sees Flick (who is now visible) and charges at him. Flick beats feet back to the room that we’re in (where the blue guys were) to lure the dog back behind the wall of silence. Combat ensues. During the battle, Guillemete gets stung by the spiked tail of the dog. She is now poisoned and feels not too swell, but is able to walk.

Continuing through the passageways, Estenel creates walls of silence ahead of us and we continue to search down the hallways. At this time, Flick is down to four fatigue, and so is Estenel. But, we continue ahead. Through yet another door, we find a 12 yd. x 10 yd. room. In the middle of it is a very large lizard (like the one that we encountered at the barn). Combat. We put the lizard down.

There is a second door leading out of this room. Guillemete opens this second door. A large man with an axe greets her when she opens the door. Sophia flays him.

Beyond the door that had the axe guy behind it is a 50-foot long hallway that tees at the end, and has a door at the end of the hallway. The seeker points to beyond the door. Sophia kicks the door in. It is a 20’ x 10’ room. There are two men in the room. Sophia guts one of the men. There is now one guy left. The one guy left begins to cast fireball. The good guys try to skewer him, and fail.

We make our way into a larger room and kill another mage. In the end, there is one mage left alive, who yields to us. He is the guy who was lobbing fireballs at us from the top of the barn. There is a sword sheathed in crackling lightning that is sitting on an altar. Apparently, there was a ritual that was about to be performed. The mage refers to the dead mage as the one who is a part of this ice queen cult as being the one who wanted to attack us in order to take prisoners. Aldonis is the name of the dead mage. The runes on the lightning sword are a tribute to the ice queen. The dogs are a gift from Zorrow. The mage that we have apprehended was working for Zapafado. Aldonis is the name of the guy who owns this temple. Zaranar is the name of the mage we are questioning, who is spilling all of the information he knows. Bascially, he’s a mercenary mage, and is now asking for his release. He says that there are prisoners being held in this complex.

We release the prisoners being held here: Sir Dapfeir (from Fopasado) and Quentis. Quentis was trying to talk his brother out of working for Adonis, and was taken prisoner in return for his efforts. We spend a few hours ransacking the place. Yukon creates a brute to grab the lightning sword. It frosts the snot out of him and he dissipates. The sword no longer glows. We find a couple of spell books in the complex as well: Death Touch, Rooted Feet, Pestilence, Paralyze Limb, Total Paralysis, and Wither Limb are in one book; Analyze Magic, Shocking Touch, Climbing, Fireball, Stench, and Air Golem are in the other. We pack up our findings and leave the complex, and head to Schnorking. Opening the chest we found in the bedroom reveals 20 gold coins and a scroll of Breathe Fire. Flick searches through the library in the complex and finds a book on Invocations to Aural.


Leaving the Temple
There is a large cat sitting outside the complex. Its name is Emirin and begins talking telepathically to Estenel. It is speaking for Gidnia, the water sprite. She says that Ididerac is alone in his castle; his forces have been sent south to engage Futenmoth’s forces. Zaranar and Sir Eudes Dapfeir are coming with us to deal with Ididerac.

Blue Man Group (Session 10) - Emmanir 19, 888 F.S.

Heading to Schnorking
We leave the beach and start heading east toward Schnorking. Along the road to Schnorking, we meet a lizardman dressed up as Santa Claus. He hails us, and hands each of us an item:

Sophia receives a sword

Yukon receives staff

Flick receives a spoon

Estenel receives a vial

The Santa-lizard then says that he must hurry off because he has many gifts to distribute.

Odd little lizard.


Ambush at the Barn
We continue our travel toward Schnorking. After a while, we come upon a man standing by the road. He is waving to us and is dressed in commoner’s clothing. As we approach him, he asks us for help to heal his family, who had been attacked by wolfen. We accompany him to his farm. The farm house is burned to the ground; the barn is still standing. We get close to the barn, when the human yells, “NOW!” The human takes off flying for the barn. The barn doors burst open, and a 20-foot long monitor lizard runs toward us. There are several small blue naked humanoid creatures near the barn, holding ropes that opened the barn door. Combat ensues. A few seconds into combat, another human appears who is standing on the barn; he is casting a spell. Then, several of the small naked humanoid critters grab random items (barn boards, sticks, rocks) and begin to run into battle.

During the fight, Ecran and Tavarius go unconscious. The two mages (the one on the barn and the one who lured us into this trap) fly away. One of the blue naked goblin-ish creatures begins drink Tavarius’ blood.

The remaining blue guy pleads for his life. He offers to go after the mages, being how he sees them as cowards for flying off. He says that he will show us where they live.

The little blue guy says that Costuhshee is his master and that he will be coming soon. He also said that he and his troupe were sent here to trap to people. He says that the mages work for some ice queen. Costuhshee can’t get here until the gate is finished, which is located to the north near the active volcano. Apparently, the ice queen has agreed to finish some road for Costuhshee. The blue guy says that once Costuhshee gets here, they’ll be able to kill the ice queen, too.


At the Temple of the Mages
The blue guy agrees to lead us to the temple where the mages live. We make camp for the night on the way to find the temple where the mages reside. During the night, the blue guy wriggles free of his bonds and leaps away. The next morning, Flick seekers one of the mages that had fled from the fight and we make chase after him. The seeker leads us to a house built into a hill. Inside the house, behind the closed front door, there is the sound of growling. We decide to send Sophia ahead and try to calm the dogs. Flick picks the lock on the front door. Sophia goes inside the front door and successfully calms the dogs inside the front room. Sophia, after seeing the dogs, has no desire to be in this house.

Trouble on the Gale's Teeth (Session 9) - Emmanir 19, 888 F.S.

North of Degarn's Fort
The leader of the captive bad guys says that they meet Garrin on a ship south of Fopasado off of a point on the beach. We travel toward Fopasado, head south of town, and lo and behold, there are three ships seen flying the standard of the sword with the crescent moon. We dress up in the garb of the slave traders that we waylaid and plan to meet up with members of the ships and spin them a story that we were waylaid and lost our shipment of captives.

West Coast of Hronn, South of Fopasado
After a little while, a boat is lowered from one of the ships and sets to shore. There is a woman and six men. We talk with the lady, whose name is Red Frances. She’s horked that her “booty” (i.e., slaves) aren’t here. We tell her that we are in the process of recovering the lost wagon and slaves, and will deliver the goods as promised. Frances sends two of her men with us; they aren’t very friendly. After some suspicious questioning by her thugs as to who our captain is, Estenel replies with “Priamo”. The thugs go back to Frances’ boat and talk with her. Estenel heads back to speak with Frances to see if he can gain more information from them. She has her men draw steel on Estenel, says that she does not believe we work on Priamo’s ship, and takes custody of Estenel. Meanwhile, the rest of the party is back at the wagon, which is 120 yards off of the coast.

A short fight ensues. The fight ends. More discussion with Frances, who says, “If you’re with Pri­amo’s crew, let’s go talk with him now.” We decide to call her bluff: Estenel, Sophia, Teverius, and Keeramet travel out to the ship with Red Frances. Frances sends a carrier pigeon to a nearby ship. A little later, a small boat makes its way from the other ship to Red Frances’ ship. Two people come aboard, one of them (wearing a white cloak) actually flies aboard. They come with Frances to the stern of the ship where Frances says, “Something’s messed up with this transaction; these guys don’t even know who their captain is, and in the end they say it’s you. Do you know these guys?” Priamo says, “Well, they don’t look like anyone I know, but they’re wearing the uniforms.” Upon hearing this, Sophia passes out and Tevarius pukes due to the extreme dread of the situation. The woman pulls back her cloak and demands from Estenel, “Who do you work for and why are you here?” After hemming and hawing for a while, the woman casts a spell on Estenel which drops him to the deck in pain. Estenel then yells out, “Ybilaron! He sent us here to stop the attacks on his bor­derlands!”

Meanwhile, Yukon has set the sails of the ship on fire. Estenel casts Garble on the woman. Seeing their mage no longer able to talk/cast straight, the thugs in the room on the ship draw steel. Estenel grabs hold of the woman, telling the sailors to back off. Priamo runs like a little girl out of the cabin. Red Frances and her two thugs draw steel. Combat ensues.

In the end, Red Frances and the mage with the cloak are unconscious. The party uses them as barter to get off the ship. The sailors allow us to leave given that we leave Frances there. We get on a boat and head to shore with the mage. We gag and bind her. When she wakes up, we interrogate her. What we find out is: she works for someone with a “higher purpose”, they sell slaves in return for “favors” that are desired by her master. She said that she sometimes works with Ididerac. The party then deliberated for some time as to what should be done with her. After batting around ideas of “kill her”, “entomb her”, “bring her back to Degarn’s Fort”, Estenel got tired of the debate and killed her. A magical gem, a magical staff, and a cloak were taken from her person.

The Black Dawn (Session 8) - Emmanir 14, 888 F.S.

North of Schnorking
The city of Schnorking sends 3000 men north toward Gurdikar to see if they can take it back. This force is led by Lord Hallibank. The party travels along with the troops. They send a dispatch of 50 scouts ahead to see what is in Gurdikar, Laendersberg, and Stahl. Gurdikar is leveled, as was Laendersberg. Lord Hallibank retakes Stahl and sets up a base of operation there. Stahl is still fairly intact. However, the invading forces appear to have retreated back to the north.

Lord Hallibank sends a detachment north to seek out this invading army. The party goes along with them. The party breaks off to head over to Degarn’s Keep. Estenel finds the rock where Flick had entombed his man-at-arms. Flick un-entombs his man-at-arms. Yukon cures his Goblin Fever.

Flick then notices, a quarter mile in the distance, a dust cloud being raised by wagons heading west away from us. Flick sees that they are carrying shields with a marking of a sword through a crescent moon on a field of blue and black. These appear to be the same people who had kidnapped the water sprite. We decide to follow them until they set up camp, and then investigate them under the cover of night.

Night falls. The wagons make camp. We watch the camp. After they get done eating, they get a couple people out of the wagons, hand them swords, and force them to fight to the death. The guards hoot and holler, exchange their bets, then put the victor back into the wagon, and toss the corpse outside their camp.

We make a plan to assault the camp, using the wagons full of hostages as a diversion. Flick heads to the wagons and begins to release the hostages. A few seconds later, the rest of us approach the camp to take the guards. We get to within 200 yards of the camp, when Flick hears one of the wolfen alert the captain, who says, “Yeah, I see ‘em.” Apparently, the party’s presence has been discovered. Two of the wolfen go toward the picket line of horses and a few of the others begin to snuff the fire out. Meanwhile, Flick picks the lock on the door of one of the wagons. Yukon uncorks a fireball on some of the guards. Unfortunately, it torches one of the wagons with captives inside. Mayhem ensues.

In the end, the party prevails. We tie up the captain of the thugs, heal him (he passed out during battle), awaken him, and question him. He says they’re coming from Gurdikar with the slaves. The wolfen have the heraldry of the snowflake. The humans have the heraldry of the Black Dawn. They have a ship to the west called the Gale’s Teeth. One of the pirates (humans) says that their leader, Red Francis, sells the slaves to Stormbrother Garrin. One of the other pirate leaders that also makes runs to Hronn for slaves is a man by the name of Priamo, who sails the Flying Tiger. They also tell of a third pirate by the name of Captain Preetu who runs slaves. The wolfen says that Ididerac is now in the Frozen Citadel. They tell that they will most likely meet up with Stormbrother Garrin on this shipment of slaves due to its size. When they meet up with Garrin, it is outside of the town of Fopasado (the seaside village where the port is located).

The party decides to continue heading west on the wagon’s timetable, with the hopes of catching up with Stormbrother Garrin.

Goblin Fever (Session 7) - Sehnir 18, 888 F.S.

Heading Back to Degarn’s Keep
We tie up three of the wolfen and head back to Degarn’s Keep. It’s a four-day trek back to the keep. We rest for the night and set up a rotating watch. Not much to report. The next day, as the party continues its journey back to the keep, a body lying in the road is spotted. Sophia flies ahead to inspect the body. It is human; blond hair. Sophia espies tracks heading west (the way we’re going) that consist of booted feet and heavy wagon tracks. The person on the ground is a woman. She is unconscious, but alive. She has no shoes on, and not much for heavy clothing. Sophia holds on to her as they ride the mule. Four hours later, she wakes up, starts to thrash around due to confusion, and she and Sophia fall from the mule. The woman gets hit on the head when falling, knocks herself out, and is unconscious for the rest of the day. We camp for the night.

During the night, she wakes up. Estenel gets her settled down. Her name is Gidnia. She says that she is from the village of Orb and says that men wearing blue and black kidnapped her. She says that they said something to the effect of “I thought they only wanted elves.” to which another thug replied, “Well, she’s close enough, don’t you think?”

The party decides to send the wolfen to Degarn’s Keep with the footmen. The rest of the party heads with Gidnia back to her home village of Orb. Estenel sets up a telepathy schedule with Ecran so that the two parties can keep in communication with each other.

Estenel’s ping to Ecran the next day: Ecran says that Tevarius and Gilman are not feeling very good and that they are stopping their travel for a bit to rest.

On the Road to Orb
Gidnia’s health worsens. She remains unconscious for the next day and her breathing is beginning to get shallow. We arrive at a small lake. It is at the location that Gidnia pointed to on the map as being where Orb is located. At this point, we are unsure to what “Orb” refers. We had assumed it is the name of a town. But, it might be the name of (in this case) a lake. Flick pours some water on her and feeds her some water. Both appear to help her condition a bit. She wakes up briefly and utters: “Put me in.” Figuring that this means “put me in the lake”, Estenel lowers Gidnia into the lake. She sinks. Sophia enters the lake and holds Gidnia up in the water. The frigid water doesn’t seem to bother Sophia. Flick finds some firewood and builds a fire.

At the Lake of Orb
Sophia continues to hold Gidnia in the water for twelve hours. Gidnia then wakes up. She thanks us for saving her life. She says that she was absconded from her laboratory. She leads us to her lab. She swims along the edge of the lake. She takes us to a path that leads to a grove of trees where there are smashed benches and containers. Gidnia is a alchemist. She has a few potions and elixirs still intact that she gives to us in payment for saving her life. Gidnia, as it turns out, is a water sprite.

Pinging Ecran, he describes the symptoms of some of the men-at-arms that have shown signs of not feeling well. They have chills and are experiencing a loss of memory. Estenel relays that information to Gidnia, who says that the men need to get magical healing right away. The symptoms are that of Goblin Fever, which is lethal to humans. The party tries to devise a way to get magical healing to the men-at-arms as quickly as possible. The plan is for Yukon to fly back to Degarn’s Keep and try to provide healing to the men-at-arms.

Gidnia tells us that there is a fort about half a day’s hike to the north of Orb: Fort Bex. She says that there is a changeling by the name of Captain xxxxx runs the fort. We talk to Gidnia about the sudden blast of wintry conditions that we experienced at Degarn’s Keep. She says that she’s heard of occurrences like that in the area recently.

Gidnia tells the party that there were other prisoners on the cart on which she was held captive. She says that she overheard the men saying that they were heading to Falkasado, which is four days’ travel to the east of Orb.

Sophia and Estenel stay with Gidnia for a day. Estenel beds Gidnia.

Flying to the Rescue
Yukon has Hawk Flight cast on him and he begins flying back toward the men-at-arms who are suffering from Goblin Fever. His plan is to fly until the spell wears off, then teleport the rest of the way. Yukon reaches the men-at-arms. He then attempts to heal them via rune magic. Yukon is able to heal all men-at-arms except for Flick’s sidekick.

Back to Degarn’s Keep
Flick heads back to Degarn’s Keep. Within a half-day away from the keep, the ground is covered with a foot of snow. In the keep, everyone is dead and body’s are hanging from the walls. Apparently, the Goblin Fever infected everyone within the keep, they went mad, and started killing everyone.

Reuniting the Party
Yukon, Flick, and the henchmen leave Degarn’s Keep and head back on the road to meet up with Estenel and Sophia. On the way, a small army of 50 wolfen led by a big bald red-moustached human head (Ididerac) are heading on the road toward Degarn’s Keep. Estenel has his weekly ping with Lord Futenmoth and fills him in with the recent happenings. The resolution is to burn Degarn’s Keep to the ground. The party rejoins on the road midway between Orb and Degarn’s Keep.

Back to Degarn’s Keep (again)
We head back to Degarn’s Keep. Ididerac and his wolfen are NOT there; the keep is empty. We burn it to the ground. The statue with the gem in its hand, however, is still standing. The snow around the keep melted due to the heat.

In Search of a Healer
After leaving the keep, we begin looking for a healer to be able to cure Goblin Fever from those that have contracted the disease. We head to Stahl. Gibbet enters town (since she is free of the disease) and announces that she’s looking for a healer to cure Goblin Fever. The people of Stahl run her out of town under pain of death, telling her to take her Goblin Fever with her.

We then to head to Schnorking and try to find a healer there. Gibbet talks with the leader of Schnorking (Ybilaron), informing him that she is free of Goblin Fever, but is in need of a healer to cure the party. By bribing Ybilaron (sleeping with him), a healer is provided. The healer meets the party with an armed escort of crossbowmen at his side who covers the party until the healer declares us clean. The healer then cures the entire party and then teaches Yukon the spell Cure Disease.

We then notice that the military of Schnorking is mobilizing. Estenel talks with Ybilaron to find out why. He says that Ididerac has sacked Stahl, Gurdikar, and Laendersberg. He says that Blackston and Fort Sakka have been notified, which are banding together with Schnorking to either launch a counter-offensive against Ididerac or mount a blocking maneuver against him.

The Rout of Degarn (Session 6) - Sehnir 14, 888 F.S.

Degarn’s Keep
We go back to Laendersberg and inform the Duke’s men about Degarn’s fortress. They agree that he must be neutralized. So, we head back to Degarn’s fortress with the Duke’s men and lay siege. On the second day of battle, the orcs of Degarn’s fortress surrender and allow the Duke’s men to occupy the castle. Huzzah!

Ragnak, Racker, Gorack, and Degarn all fled before the fortress was taken.

Estenel questions the remaining orcs if they know what caused the drop in temperature earlier. Flick instructs the orcs to take us to Degarn’s room, which they do. They take us past the center of the keep, where a statue of a large giant with a hammer is positioned. There is a large white gem in the side of the head of the hammer. The orcs said that the statue was not there two days ago. The gem in the hammer head is magical.

Scrounging through Degarn’s items: letter between Degarn and Ididerac (snowflake army). It discusses military issues. There is another and a piece of paper that is a letter between Stormbrother Garrin. The latter is an agreement that if they continue to wage war, that the Ice Queen will continue to supply the gems needed to continue the winterization of Hronn. We grab and orc and ask him about Ididerac and Garrin. He says Ididerac has been at the fortress. He’s a big human bald, bushy red moustached guy. The orc believes that Ididerac is an Ascommani. He further says that he’s the one that, five days ago, brought the gem that is in the hammer head of the giant. The orc says that Garrin also arrived with Ididerac five days ago. Garrin wears sky blue robes, and is also human, but probably not Ascommani.

We get a couple orcs to pull the white gem out of the hammer head. The orc reaches to pull out the gem. As soon as he touches it, the orc screams that it’s freezing cold. Ice shoots up his arm and freezes it solid. As the orc pulls back, his arm breaks off at the shoulder and falls to the ground and shatters.

Tracking Degarn north of the Fortress
We track Degarn to the north for 10 miles. The snow at this point has dissipated (i.e., no snow on the ground). We follow the tracks to a road. The tracks follow the road to the east. We follow the road. Ahead of us on the road, about 140 yards distant, we see about a dozen soldiers. The party gets off the road to seek whatever cover we can find. Estenel espies that they are snowflake soldiers. There is a camp near the soldiers with some horses. There is a guardhouse next to the road, where the snowflakes are posted. On the horizon, Sophia sees a keep. The soldiers guarding the road are bipedal dog-like creatures dressed in armor and snowflake heraldry. We advance up the road toward the guardpost with Flick and Yukon hiding off in the grass to the side of the road. The creatures espy us and six of them come out to meet us on horseback. They inform us that we are trespassing on Lord Ididerac’s lands and that we are not his slaves. We disagree with that assessment. They fire upon us and then charge. Combat ensues. In the end, we kill four of them, capture two more, and the other six blow a warning horn and head back to the keep. The guard shack is devoid of anything even remotely useful. We haul the two captured dogmen back to Degarn’s Keep to turn them over to the Duke’s men.

Degarn's Stronghold (Session 5) - Sehnir 6, 888 F.S.

In the Ogre Encampment
Estenel and Yukon are tied up and blindfolded in the middle of the ogres’ camp. Jollin and Sophia assault the encampment, raining down arrows from the perimeter while Flick nances about the ogres while invisible. In the end, both ogres and all orcs are either unconscious or dead.

We scout the area. This encampment looks fairly new; as if it is only a couple days old. We tie up the unconscious orcs; there are four of them. We kill the one remaining ogre.

We interrogate one of the orcs. Estenel casts Compel Truth and Mind Reading on the orc. In the end, the information gained is as follows: The orcs and ogres work for Degarn. They are down here to sack caravans between Laendersberg and Stahl. The orcs know that Degarn has some object that has something to do with the changes in the weather. They know nothing at all of House Vollis. One of the orcs, in his surface thoughts, was very glad to see Aislyn dead. He mentions that the village of Thaxt up to the north has not yet been raided by Degarn’s forces.

Laendersberg
We release the one orc that fed us information. We take the three remaining orcs and Aislyn’s body back to Laendersberg. We meet with Zellic, the interim mayor of Laendersberg. He is glad to see that we have returned with Aislyn’s body, to be buried with her husband’s. He informs us that there is a man here to meet with us. He is dressed in plate; his name is Sir Thancred. He is looking for Estenel... to deliver the troops that we requested from Lord Futenmoth back when we talked with the mayor of Schnorking. We inform them that they are needed here to garrison this village and protect caravans from raiders.

We then convince Zellic that we need to go through Laenders’ personal bedroom to see if we can find information regarding his murder. We find no clues to go on. Zellic tells us that a man by the name of Rin, who lives outside of town, is the person who found Laenders dead. The description Zellic gives us of Rin is that of the messenger that ran to Stahl to inform Aislyn that her husband was dead. We then suspect that Rin may have set up Laenders and Aislyn.

Rin’s House; outside of Laendersberg
We travel to the edge of town and go through Rin’s house. Searching it, we find a box with six phials in it. Inside the box, below the phials, is a piece of parchment that describes the usage of each of the six poisons. And we find a quiver with several crossbow bolts. Zellic mentions that Laenders was also shot with a crossbow. Further searching of Rin’s house reveals a letter that says, “Now is the time.” The letter is sealed with a blue wax seal that bears an image of a snowflake.

We had back and talk with Sir Thancred and ask him if he can spare a few troops to help defend ourselves on our travels. He gives us four men. We then start shopping for beasts of burden and equipment for travelling north as winter approaches. We buy a mule.

Gurdikar
We travel to Gurdikar and ask information concerning the location of Degarn’s stronghold. The bartender in Gurdikar asks, “Why? Are you looking to join up with him?” Incorrectly assuming that the bartender is amicable to Degarn, Estenel replies with “Maybe.” Then, all hell breaks loose with misunderstandings.

Degarn's Keep
We make our way to Degarn’s keep. We set up to observe the keep to see if we can determine who is Degarn and to determine what the defensive forces are at the keep. Then, all mages feel a tingly sensation as if all mana in the area is being sucked into Degarn’s keep. Then, we feel a cold wave being eminated from the keep, and the weather becomes like a big blizzard that is eminating from the Keep. It feels as if a .... (my notes end here, but I know there was something else I wanted to say that described what the mages were feeling)

Caravan Ambush (Session 4) - Sehnir 3, 888 F.S.

Secret Hideaway: East of Gaddor’s House
We question Cabra concerning Degarn. Cabra’s lord is Degarn, who is another half-orc. Degarn is not with House Vollis. He lives up north. Their next task is to raid the next caravan coming into Laendersberg. This is all to further Degarn’s “cause”, which is to rid Hronn of all humans.

The Village of Laendersberg
We take Cabra to Laendersberg to see if we can lay a trap for the caravan that Cabra was going to waylay. We meet with Laender. Laender, possessing an extreme hatred of all orcs and half-orcs, has Cabra hung.

The Village of Stahl
Laender sends us to Stahl (where the caravan is coming from) to talk with Theoneus (a half-elf, who is the leader of Stahl). Laender’s wife (Aislyn) comes along with us to vouch for our story. Laender hopes that this will cause Theoneus to send more troops to help squelch the raids.

We meet with Theoneus. He can send more troops. He’s pretty sure there’s a spy involved, hence the note concerning the timetable of the caravans. Djamal is a half-orc that runs the Sleeping Griffon (a local inn), and Theoneus, although thinking well of Djamal, says that he’s gone at odd times of the day.

Flick and Estenel agree to case Djamal while Theoneus sends an armed escort with the caravan. Estenel doesn’t find out anything juicy from Djamal; Flick finds nothing after casing the Sleeping Griffon.

We go visit Crolin, a merchant in the village that is sending his goods on the caravan. Crolin says that the Coelnut caravan. McCain is the courier who delivered Crolin’s ship schedule to Laendersberg concerning this caravan.

The Sleeping Griffon: Village of Stahl
We head to the Sleeping Griffon to try and find McCain. After Estenel spills beer on a patron, Djamal points out who McCain is. Estenel strikes up a conversation with McCain. He tells that Brenwyn is the name of the receiving merchant in Laendersberg, and that his communique between Stahl and Laendersberg is sealed upon receipt and upon delivery. So, if McCain is telling the truth, then the spy is somewhere within Crolin’s ranks or within Brenwyn’s.

As we are eating breakfast in the morning, we fill in Aislyn as to what we found out the night before. A runner bursts into the inn and informs Aislyn that her husband (Laender) was assassinated in the evening. We notice that Djamal’s wife is serving us. We find out that Djamal left town late in the evening. We ride quickly to Laendersberg with Aislyn to try and find out the details of her husband’s murder.

On the Road to Laendersberg
As we get about 3/4 of the way to Laendersberg, an ogre jumps out of the bushes and charges the party on an intercept course. A moment later, a second ogre steps out of the bushes and chucks a spear at Yukon. Then, four orcs join the fray with the two ogres.

Aislyn takes a couple spears, but fights through it. She ends up being pierced twice more by spears, and falls to the ground unconscious. Melee ensues. Estenel gets legged and then pummeled into dreamland.

One of the ogres drags Estenel back a bit, holds Estenel above his head, and one of the orcs says, “Yield now, or the elf dies.” Yukon yields, but Flick is still invisible and hides behind a blade of grass. One of the ogres sits down and passes out due to wounds during the fight. One of the orcs checks on Aislyn, says, “bah.” and kicks her nonchalantly.

Flick finds a place to hide. The orcs and ogre gather their wounded, Yukon, and Estenel. They put them on the horses and head off. Flick checks on Aislyn. She’s very dead. Flick follows the group back to their camp. The ogre and orcs blindfold and gag Yukon and Estenel, and tie them up to trees. They then begin to bandage the other ogre.

Finding Branod (Session 3) - Erntenir 23, 888 F.S.

In the Woods near Gaddor’s House
When Gaddor wakes up, the party questions him and finds out that he was hired by House Vollis to kidnap Branod. It becomes somewhat apparent that Gaddor is simply a mercenary. Gaddor offers information on the whereabouts of Branod if the party agrees to let him go. Estenel offers Gaddor’s release, predicated on two conditions: that he freely give the location of Branod and how he is being guarded, and to agree to forfeit seeking vengeance upon the party. Violations of these conditions will result in the party approaching House Vollis and informing them that the party was informed by Gaddor himself that he had been hired by House Vollis to kidnap Branod. Gaddor agrees to these terms.

At Gaddor’s House
Gaddor takes us back to his house. We enter into the house, through a secret entrance in a hallway, and back to a room with a cell. Branod is there. We stock up on provisions in Gaddor’s kitchen, then head out of his house.

In Blackstone
We return to Blackstone and meet with Esken. He is grateful. However, we have no hard evidence of a link between Branod’s kidnapping and House Vollis. Branod offers 5000 copper for hard evidence between House Vollis and the kidnapping of Branod. We decide (with not-so-subtle hinting by Branod) to pursue Gaddor’s half-orc lackey (Brunnel).

In the Woods near Gaddor’s House
We head back to the battle site and pick up Brunnel’s trail. We follow it east until it comes to a spent campfire. Continuing on his trail, it heads down into a dead-end-ish valley. Flick starts looking around for a cave entrance. He spots a group of bushes that could possibly hide a cave entrance. After turning invisible and flying over to the group of bushes, Flick spots a door built into the hillside and hears voices beyond the door.

Secret Hideaway: East of Gaddor’s House
We all approach the door. Estenel casts Gift of Tongues and understands the people beyond the door. They appear to be caught up in some sort of table game. Flick opens the door, which lets light into the once-dark inner room. Being invisible, he heads into the room. One of the people inside yells “Go alert Cabra!”. We light a torch and head into the entry room before they are able to run off and get reinforcements.

Sophia enters the room and gets stuck by two arrows. Yukon enters the room with a lit torch. One of the doors in the room opens up and a large wolf enters the fray. There are three goblins in the room. After a couple seconds, Yukon notices two hobgoblins entering the room as well.

The fight continues. In the end, the party wins. Yukon is bleeding badly. Estenel is unconscious. We are about ready to haul our wounded back outside when one of the doors opens up in the entry room. Into the room comes a goblin and a half-orc. More combat ensues. Yukon passes out while buffing Sophia. How noble.

In the end, the only entity of the goblin faction that is still standing is the half-orc. He tries to run out of the room, to the outdoors. Flick and Sophia give chase. The half-orc drops his shield in order to beat feet faster. Flick is still flying, catches him, and drops the half-orc.

We take an accounting of the dead foes. The half-orc that we killed inside the entry room is Brunnel (Gaddor’s butler). We rest in the entry room until everyone is conscious. Sacking the place, we find a chest in the corner of the room. Flick tries to pick the lock and gets stabbed with a poison needle. Yukon neutralizes the poison.

Loot Gained:

Two of the shortswords carried by the hobgoblins are fine quality.

253 copper pieces, 41 silver pieces, 9 gold pieces, 3 gems: 8 cp, 8 cp, and 80 cp value

Fine quality clothing is in the barrels (religious vestments)

a small gold idol of an elf maiden (50 cp value)

some tapestries

370 cp

14 javelins

A note from Cabra to Degarn dated yesterday concerning making raids on local caravans.

10 Ways to Grill a Giant (Session 2.5)

The following exchange of information was done via e-mail in between gaming sessions. I've attempted to sort the messages in chronological order.

Yukon says:
When we question my former drinking buddy (read "Gaddor"), I want to know where the half orc is heading, was it him that cast the illusion, and if not then who. Where is the hostage, what is holding him, how many and what, specifically mages, and what they are likely to do with him out of the fight. Also does he have any connection or knowledge of the goblin stuff we were hearing about up north.
If he cooperates I say we take him to town and turn him over to the guards since we have lost the speed element anyway. If he doesnt, I say Sophia can remove whichever parts of his body she wants and I will heal him so he has to live that way.

Told him he werent no damn bumble.

GM says:
He has no idea where the 1/2 orc is heading. He has the hostage. If you let him go, he'll tell you where.

Sophia says:
Well for starters, who does he work for? What are the reasons for the raids and why did he kidnap Branod? What are we getting in trade for getting involved? Sophia gets dibs on his room! Good house to stay in!!!!!!!!!!

OOOOOOOOOO That's right! When we're done questioning him: off with his gaint head

Flick says:
Why did he take the hostage in the 1st place?

GM says:
Gaddor was paid by house Vollis.

Yukon says:
"Its time for Sophia to remove his manhood before we let him go. I'll patch him.
That grumpy ole dwarf I used to partner up wit sez that once a giant's lost his nuts, they cooperate."

{Mike cast compel truth on this guy, and then mind rape him. Or we will get diddly out of him}

Estenel says:
Have Sophia threaten to turn him into a barrow. While she’s doing that, Estenel will cast Compel Truth on him. If he refuses to talk (I’m guessing he’ll be concentrating on trying to *not* talk), Estenel will cast Mind-Reading on him as Sophia et. al. are badgering him for information on why he kidnapped Branod and where he is now being kept. These two pieces of information, I’m guessing would be at the forefront of his thoughts.

Sophia says:
if oger (I think he means "giant") has him, then why? How many people is the 1/2 orc going to bring back? When they can't find their missing guy ("missing guy" = Branod, I think) because we've got him, what are they going to do? Whose plan was it to take him (main leader guy)? (okay... he definitely means "Branod") How much is the ransom (I need some cash HA HA! )? Each answer I do not like, he loses a finger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (insert evil laughter here)

GM says:
1. Because he was paid to.
2. Has no idea where the 1/2 orc is going.
3. House Vollis.
4. He was paid to take him prisoner, not ransom him.

Sophia says:
If Branod is a prisoner, how long was Gaddor going to keep him and what was he going to do with him? After all, Gaddor can't keep Branod forever. If Gaddor is being paid for this gig, would he, for the right money, jump to the other side?

Estenel says:
Sounds to me like this giant is a mercenary. I don’t think he’s on anyone’s “side” except his own… it just so happens that House Vollis was his most recent paying gig.

Last question as far as I’m concerned: where is Branod being held now and how is he being guarded?

GM says:
If he tells you, will you let him go?

Sophia says:
How many people are guarding Branod, and where? But I still get his king size bed... I mean, giant sized bed. I think we should hold up in his house and send a rider back to town and bring brother (whose brother?) and whatever help he can bring.

Estenel says:
Yes, I will tell Gaddor that if he tells us where Branod is being held and who/what is guarding him, then we will let him go. And, I will tell Gaddor that House Vollis will not learn of this exchange by any of our means, provided we all go our separate ways. Estenel will tell Gaddor if we so much as get wind that he is seeking revenge on us, we will go to House Vollis and tell them of what we have learned here.

Estenel's internal monologue: The way I see it, Gaddor is just a merc. He is most likely really horked off that we eliminated this job for him. But, I'm going to bank that he is more afraid of the prospect of one of his more powerful employers (House Vollis) finding out that their anonymity has been compromised.

GM says:
He agrees to those conditions.

The Goblin King (Session 2) - Erntenir 20, 888 F.S.

Background: Lord Futenmoth has sent us up to Hronn to investigate why the winters have been so cold lately. He has reason to believe that it has something to do with some active volcanoes on the island of Hronn.

Port City of Schnorking
After putting down the mutiny, Captain Pepper agrees to take us where we want to go. We arrive in the port city of Schnorking on the Island of Hronn. We take a couple days to recover from sea sickness. We are here to investigate why it is that it’s been so cold lately. Thoughts are that it has something to do with volcanic activity in the area.

Estenel gets an appointment with the Mayor of Schnorking to discuss any volcanic activity in the area that may have to do with the cold weather experienced lately. The mayor is a hobgoblin. He would like Futenmoth to send troops to help squash organized raids on his borders.

Their heraldry is a gold snowflake imposed on white and blue, so apparently they are organized. The raiders are a mix of human and wolfens. They have mages among them. Thy are led by someone called The Horned King.

The mayor (Ybilaron the Hobgoblin) gives us a writ to take to Storzem, a local horse trader, to give us the best prices possible as we look to get some horses for land transportation.

Sophia buys a map of the Island of Hronn. We go to a higher class part of town and come to a large manor house with a stone wall and an iron gate. We ring the front bell. After a few minutes, the butler comes to the gate; it’s an ogre. He says we can wait for Storzem to return in the afternoon. We wait in the guardhouse. There’s another ogre there. After an hour, a litter arrives. A dwarf gets out of the litter; it’s Storzem. He’s willing to sell us horses for 1200 copper apiece. We decide against horses and decide to walk to Blackston on foot and figure out faster transportation later.

Town of Blackston
Two days later, we arrive in Blackston. We talk to Marlot, a half-elf that is a mercenary in Blackston. He is not concerned about the raids, as Blackston is well-defended and the raids are not bothering them. Blackston has been hired by caravans to provide guards.

In general, Blackston doesn’t seem to be concerned by these raids; the noble here hasn’t seen anything significant in size... nothing he’d considered a standing army.

Marlot has heard of the noble’s son (Branod is his name) that was taken (or killed) by raids between Schnorking and Blackston. He says we should talk with Esken who is the brother of the noble who lost his son. He is staying at the Bear Claw. There is a half-orc behind the bar. Estenel tells him why we’re looking for Esken. He brings Esken to meet us.

Valenta is a competing house in Schnorking. They betrayed Branod’s caravan, giving the raiders information on when and where the caravan would be. One of Esken’s guards was with the caravan when it was attacked. He saw Branod taken alive by goblins who were led by a strong human. Esken, however, has the word of a guard against the honor of a well-respected house in Schnorking. Branod was taken about a week ago.

Sorzem is the most powerful house in Schnorking. Valenta and Colnet (Esken’s house) are neck-and-neck with being #2, and Valenta would like to see the house of Colnet fall to a distant third.

In the Wild, east of Blackston
The guard (who has a broken ankle) directs us to the scene where Branod was kidnapped. Sophia begins tracking to see if he can find evidence of where the perpetrators might have gone. Yukon scribbles runes on the ground, trying to divine the location of Branod. Sophia finds tracks of the attacking party; it took off to the north. We follow Sophia’s lead. After half an hour, we notice some smoke coming from the forest.

Flick hushes himself and sneaks up toward the smoke. He finds a house built into a hillside. There are no windows in the house, and smoke is coming out of the chimney. We take up positions around the house; Estenel creates the sound of horses out front. The owner of the house comes out. He’s a big human. We talk with him, introduce ourselves, tell him our story of why we’re here, and end up getting invited inside. His name is Gaddor. He has dealt with goblins in the area from time to time. He turns out to be an excellent host.

Gaddor’s House
Gaddor’s house is richly decorated, based around a large table. Brunnel, a half-orc, is his attendant. Gaddor says he used to have guests more frequently when the mines in the area (copper and silver) were running more strongly. Gaddor gets ripped and offers to come along with us to kill some goblins. The night wears on, we drink until we’re silly. Estenel entertains our host and then passes out.
We go to sleep. Yukon and Flick sleep in. Estenel and Sophia get up and start looking around the house. We find Gaddor in the main hall, with breakfast on the table. We eat breakfast, then head out in search of goblins.

In the Woods near Gaddor’s House
We get to an area in the woods and Gaddor stops, saying that Brunnel told him the goblins would be here. It seems... odd. Sophia doesn’t trust Gaddor and tells him to get to his knees. Gaddor refuses. Sophia takes a swing at him. Gaddor says, “You are going to pay for that. FIRE!!!” Arrow fire then comes down upon us from the bushes. We enter combat with Gaddor and his ambush. It is then, well after the fact, that a light in Estenel’s head comes on, recalling that the story was that Branod was taken captive by a group of goblins who were led by a large, strong human. hmmm...

Gaddor guts Sophia in one swing. The goblins close in on us. In the end, we knock Gaddor unconscious and fell several goblins. The remaining goblins and Brunnel run for the house. After a couple minutes of being unconscious, Gaddor grows to 20 feet in height and has the musculature of a giant. We tie him down to the ground and prepare to question him once he wakes up.