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Module Two

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Year of the Tankard - 1370

Silverymoon [Kythorn 19th-22nd]
The next three days passed quickly. Some training was undertaken - Clint spent some time at the Lady's College, working with them to understand some of the spells in the spellbook he had taken from the dead Dragon Cultist mage Karana Tharr - Dortle and Tankrin spent some time working out with the town watch - and Gindle spent a fair bit of time at Fortune Hall - the local temple to Tymora. Here, he learnt that the previous LuckPriestess had just over a tenday earlier, whilst exploring a ruined temple in the Moonwoods. Her successor was happy to see another priest of Tymora in the city. During these days, Dortle, Clint and Joe each saw at different times a suspicious looking fellow who appeared to be watching them, disappearing as soon as he realized they had spotted them. They thought little of it, till the morning of the 22nd, when they awoke to find themselves with a strange compulsion to head north, and weird magical tattoos on their arms.

They quickly sought an audience with Alustriel - as a chosen of Mystra - she should be able to help them. She looked at the magic symbols on their arms, and recognized the type of magic.

"Sigylls like these showed up twice 13 years ago, in the Year of the Prince (1357 DR). It all started when a young lady now called Alias woke up in the month of Mirtul in the City of Suzail with similar sigylls on her arms, but hers were azure blue. Without getting into a lot of details, Alias was more or less a manufactured person, something like a clone, but not quite the same. The sigylls she bore bound her to perform certain deeds for her creators, among them a wizardess named Cassana in Westgate. One of the deeds she was supposed to carry out was the assassination of King Azoun of Cormyr. Among the groups behind the sigylls was the Fire Knives, a group of guild thieves that had been driven by the king from Cormyr. Alias was to exact their revenge for them. However, Alias had help from a saurial paladin she called Dragonbait, and she was able not only to bring the conspirators to destruction but also the god of decay, Moander."

"Later the same type of magic was used again, by a group of evil organisations. It back fired on them again, as the adventures the sigylls had been placed on managed to defeat them and foil their plans."

"I have absolutely no doubt that this is exactly the same magic that was used twice 13 years ago. Some group of people or creatures or organizations has placed these sigylls upon you and is trying to use this magic to bind you to do certain deeds. But if I were in your shoes, I would not be disheartened. I would look upon this as a welcome challenge. Consider if you will - twice powerful groups have tried to use this magic to bind others to do their deeds, and in both cases, those who were bound were able to exert their own wills and instead bring their binders to utter destruction. You are strong and capable young people. I'm sure you will do the same."

"Now, one of the things that helped Alias and the others who were bound was to know who and what was behind the symbols in their sigylls. I know the first symbol, and the second seems familiar to me, although I can't quite put my finger on what it is. But I certainly will try to come up with the answer. The first symbol belongs to a strange archmage named Ssessibil Istahvar. We don't know much about him. He's something of a loner who has a tower in an isolated area more than 100 miles/160km north of here, not too far from Beorunna's Well between the Moonwood and the Coldwood. The Harpers have kept their eye on Ssessibil for many years now, but except for the kind of guards he maintains, there's never been any sign of him being a wrongdoer. When I mention his guards, he does have a small army of orcs watching his tower, but he wouldn't be the first wizard to bind orcs to his service as a form of chief labor. That alone is no certain proof of evildoing. However, if he's starting to use bonding magic, then he certainly deserves a closer look from the Harpers!"

Alustriel then gave the party a silver pin which would identify them as "friends of the Harpers". Later, as the party prepared to leave town, Captain Glandril visited them and volunteered to come with them to help out. Captain Glandril was a paladin of Tyr.

Silverymoon [Kythorn 23rd]
Resisting the compulsion, the group spent a last restless night in Silverymoon before heading north towards Quaervarr - a logging/hunting village a day's ride north of Silverymoon.

Quaervarr [Kythorn 23rd evening]
Arriving in Quaervarr, the party found that there was only one place to stay in the logging village - The Whistling Stag. This was a very expensive hunting lodge. During the evening, the group were approached by one of the local guides, who introduced himself as Lairdlanggl. Chatting with the group he mentioned that the Moonwood was a mysterious ancient wood, and that only a few miles into it, it became almost impossible to find your way without getting lost and loosing ones sence of direction. He and a druid had once become lost in the woods for several weeks. Hearing that the party were determined to go northwards, he told them about the other risks. To the east of the Moonwoods, in the open lands between the Cold Wood and the Moonwood, lay the ancestral mound of the Sky Ponies and apparently they were all stirred up at that time because of some unknown threat to their ancestral mound. On the other side of the Moonwood, up the Surbrin valley, was the home to several large orc tribes, so that route was rather dangerous as well.

Lairdlanggl seemed to talk about the Moonwood as if it was almost an entity in it's own right - he talked in terms of "if the wood would let them through". He mentioned an old elven road that led through the woods, though even following that was not an assurance that the wood would not turn people around and make them appear to walk in circles sometimes..

The Moonwood [Kythorn 24th]
The next morning, woken early by the strengthening compulsion to head north again, the group packed up and left the comfort of the inn. Following the logging trail described the night before by Lairdlanggl, they soon found the remains of the old elven road. Long covered over with moss, fallen leaves and the occasional fern, the trail was only obvious by the fact that no trees grew on it. After several hours of trudging, near the end of the afternoon, the trail split into three. Taking the middle trail, the party continued onwards. Within half an hour, a tall pale tower became visible through the trees. Deciding it was important to continue on, the group pressed onwards,

The Moonwood [Kythorn 25th]
Making camp just off the trail, the group set watches, and slept for the night, hobbling their horses nearby. In the morning, they mounted up and continued on. Again, they came across a three-way split of the trail. This time, the compulsion to head north was closer to the left hand trail, so the party took that one instead. After a short while, a building emerged out of the forest. The trail appeared to end at the building, the corner facing the trail already caved in, and four long dead corpses lay amongst the rocks. Working their way around the building, they could see that the trail continued onwards beyond it. As they rounded the final corner, they spotted that the other end of the building was still whole, and sitting in the entrance was an Ettin! Battle commenced, and 3 other ettins subsequently came out of the building. It was a hard fought battle, during which Glandril was dismounted by a huge blow, and Joe leapt heroically onto the back of one of the ettins from the roof - plunging his dagger into it's back. Finally however, the group of ettins were downed..

Glandril proved his worth, by using his holy powers to heal Joe , and then the party continued on their journey, leaving behind them the ruin unexplored bar a quick look around the entrance chamber.

That night, as Tankrin stood first watch, the sound of female, possibly elven singing wafted in on the breeze. Passing his watch to Dortle, he too listens for a while to the singing, wondering at it's beauty and unearthliness. When it finishes, he wakes Clint so he can fetch some additional firewood. As he heads further down the trail to search for firewood, he sees some dark figures approaching. He hailed a greeting, at which they melted into the woods on either side. Dropping his collected wood, Dortle ran back to the camp, and woke everyone.

Gindle bellowed out into the darkness a challenge, to which an accented female voice responds "Go back to sleep!" together with some laughing. After a few more minutes, when all remains quiet, Gindle did exactly that. The others took a little longer to get back to sleep, but did so eventually. Dortle finished restocking the fire, and then also went to sleep, leaving Clint to his watch.

The Moonwood [Kythorn 26th]
In the morning, the group continued on their journey. At about midday, they spotted some form of spider webs high up in the trees ahead. Deciding to press on, they were suddenly ambushed by a wave of giant spiders, dropping and swinging out of the trees. The battle was hard, and Gindle, Tankrin and Dortle were all poisoned by the spider bites. Several horses and Joe's dog also succumbed to the attack, as the spiders paid little difference between two and four legged prey. Joe invoked the Earring of the Equine that he extorted from the halfling Hael, and used the magically summoned warhorse to escape the conflict. He did however return to ride down some of the spiders and help his companions. Gindle prayed for assistance, and managed to put off the effects of the poison, but near the end of the battle, Dortle finally keeled over, his strength gone to the poison. Tankrin however managed to throw the effects of the poison off. Glandril placed Dortle over his mount's flank, and the group continued quickly on, this time most of them on foot. The only remaining horses were Joe's magical steed and Glandril's war horse.

Later that afternoon, as the group made camp, Gindle also finally succumbed to the poison, but luckily, by morning time, it had pretty much worn off.

The Moonwood [Kythorn 27th]
In the morning, the group continued on. After a while, the group came across a junction, and with little to go on, they took the right hand trail. Soon, the old elven road started to descend, and the group found themselves on the shore of a small lake, dominated by a large island. On the island was what looked like a large building, covered completely with ivy and other climbing plants bar a couple of towers that stuck clear. The rest of the island seemed to be covered with vegetation of one sort or another as well.

The old elven trail appeared to go around the lake in both directions, but as the group paused, they became aware of a pressing need to go onto the island, one that overcame the need to continue north. The group started to discuss how they might make their way onto the island - Glandril was a little unsure why the sigyll bearers had this sudden need to go there - but he had made the commitment to support them in their quest, so he begrudgingly agreed to help.

The group walked around the whole island, noting the fat spiky coloured fish in the water, before finally spotting a boat hidden on the far shore in some reeds. Clint cast an unseen servant spell, and managed to pull the small canoe closer so they could use it to cross.

The group ferried themselves across the river in three goes, leaving Glandril's horse behind them. On the other side, their way was blocked by a 10 foot tall hedge, filled with spiky thorns and vines. An area of the hedge had been partially cut, and in the middle, was the corpse of a man whom was probably the original owner of the boat. The body looked several days old. Taking care not to scratch themselves, the group pulled the body free. Searching it, they found a number of items - in particular some documents that told them that the body used to be a Malarite - a worshipper of Malar - the Beastlord, one of the evil "Gods of Fury".

There were also a couple of scrolls, one of Priest Spells, and one of Mage Spells. The hedge was particularly spiky, and the group still had a strong desire to get to the building in the centre of the island. Spotting a large tree close to the hedge, Joe thought he could climb it and drop down on the other side. As the group approached the tree however, roots burst up out of the ground and branches flailed down, attacking them. Dortle and Glandril started to hack at the tree to free Gindle who had been grabbed by a prehensile branch. Meanwhile, the Tree suddenly radiated an aura of fear, and Joe, Clint and Tankrin started to run away. Joe was so scared in fact that he ran back to the boat, which he used to escape the island. [ED: This is where Joe was temporarily written out of the campaign as his player (Dave) had just become a father and couldn't spare the time to play for a while].

Once the fear had gone, Clint and Tankrin returned to the tree to find Gindle, Dortle and Glandril still battling it. Clint cast some fire magic against the tree, and it finally released Glandril and Gindle. They escaped out of it's range, and healed their wounds, cursing Joe for his cowardice in stealing the boat. After calling for him to no avail, the group eventually relented to the strong pressure that the Sigylls were applying, and decided to cut their way through the hedge after all, Dortle, with his plate mail protecting him, started to hack his way through the hedge, and eventually they made their way through.

On the other side, they found a fairly neat garden area, almost as if it was regularly maintained, though they could see no traces of tracks. Walking around the building, they found an area that looked like it might be the main entrance. Using a Knock spell from one of the scrolls, the reduced group opened the door and wandered in. Inside, the building was amazing. Powerful illusion spells made the windows look out on to scenes that didn't match the reality outside the building. After an entrance chamber, there was a junction room with what looked like a spiral staircase leading upwards. Wrapped around the spiral stair were numerous vines. Approaching the stair, the vines started to unravel, and started to attack the group. A battle took place, in which even Clint managed to attack one of the vines by leaping on it and biting it! Eventually, the animated vine was finally defeated, mostly due to the efforts of Glandril and Dortle.

Moving deeper into the building, the group discovered more vines, which they avoided, as well as strange spiky plants which fired thorns at them. Eventually, the discovered a room with a table. On the table was a lion mask, the object that they had been searching for. As Gindle grabbed it, the table turned into mud, and mud men rose up out of it and started to chase him. Meanwhile, Tankrin had opened a cupboard, and managed to grab a helm she had found there before the lot of them fled.

Once outside the building, they were confronted by a powerful Tree Ent named Humbar, who told them about the mask. It was called the Mask of Nabion - and was an artifact dedicated to eradicating Malarites. There was a tense moment, as they managed to persuade Humbar that they were not Malarites, and would "use the Mask for good".

A volunteer is sought, and eventually Gindle wades into the water, and then swims across, eventually getting the boat and bringing it back. Once the whole party had crossed, a , a fire is lit, and when he returns, he dries off quickly, shivering in the cold air. Luckily, the fish ignored him. The group search for Joe, but with no success.

The north eastern edge of the Moonwood [Kythorn 28th]
Following their gut instincts, and the pressing need to head northwards, the now slightly smaller group picked up the trail again, and near the end of the afternoon, found themselves finally at the edge of the Moonwood, with an expanse of rolling hills and scrub land ahead of them. Making camp, the group passed the night, and then continued their journey towards the Cold Wood, soon encountering riders from an Urthgardt barbarian tribe. Luckily, the tribe.was the Black Lions - the semi civilised tribe which seemed to almost worshiped Ssessibil, referring to him as "the holy champion Ssessibil". Rather than attack the party, the barbarians spoke with them, and then led them to Ssessibil's tower. Once they arrived, they found that Ssessibil was actually visiting Beorunna's Well, the Black Lions' ancestor mound and main residence. Stopping for the night, the group made their way in the morning eastwards to this new location, accompanied by a large detachment of Black Lion barbarians.

Beorunna's Well [Kythorn 29th]
Arriving at Beorunna's Well, the group were led right up to a small pond in the middle of the primitive village. There, they were presented to a man wearing polished plate mail, and the holy symbol of Torm, who greeted them courteously. A little confused, the group started to explain the reason for their presence, pulling back their sleeves to show Ssessibil his symbol. To their shock, that symbol had disappeared. Ssessibil seemed a genuinely nice fellow, and showed interest in their plight - even providing additional information on some of the other symbols:

As soon as the group heard the name of the owner of the second symbol, a feeling to head south east grew within them. At the end of their conversation, Ssessibil indicated that it would probably be best if the group left, since Beorunna's Well was considered a holy ground by the Black Lions. With no more to say to Ssessibil, and a new urgency to head south east, the group agreed, and soon found themselves escorted a good few miles to the south east. Glandril, the paladin from Silverymoon, explained that the next major town that the group could head back to was Sundabar. They would be traveling over open plains for the most part, towards the north western arm of the Rauvin Mountains, and then following the path of the Rauvin river towards Sundabar. The Rauvin mountains were renowned for the orc tribes that lived there. On the route they were intending to take was Citadel Felbarr, which until recently had been known as the Citadel of Many Arrows - once dwarven, but which had fallen to orcs - and had only recently had been retaken by the dwarves.

ON TO MODULE THREE