History of the Game - Module One

Year of the Tankard - 1370

Mirtul	24th - Wanna Job?
	25th - Gaards's Hall, Provisioning, Looking for a caravan, Minnerel the Mighty,
	26th - Thundertree, on the trail with the Lucky Pears (Gavert, Lise and Kibbett)
	27th - On the trail
	28th - Ambush by Orcs, Enslaved!, Xred the (mad) Ogre Mage, and Grazzght his orc shaman
	29th - Meeting Soggrin, Von Fedel and Blondung, trying to escape, the treadmills
	30th - Trying to escape again, more treadmills, Agatha the banshee, Von Fedel saves the day,
Kythorn	1st & 2nd - Conyberry, meeting the Silver Fir Mercenary company (Sal, Jase, Lant and Kern)
	3rd - Triboar, Janus at the Six Windows, Meeting Larz, and Merrell. Milo has the blue stones stolen by a halfling thief
	4th & 5th - The journey north, attacked by Bandits, Shornik at The Sprite's Refuge, mad Von Fedel leaves the group News from Hurle about the thief.
	6th - Broken Fang Keep: "Rescuing" Hael the thief, Teth and Bastok from Kazan the evil priest (of Gargauth) and his mercs/hobgoblin allies
	7th - Back to the Sprite's Refuge,
	8th - Resting at the Sprite's Refuge, Von Fedel returns to curse Balnor
	9th - Journeying to Longsaddle, "arrested" by the Harpels, meeting DelRoy and Harkell Harpell, the Gambling Golem
	10th - The road to Nesme, Blackraven war party, finding wagons
	11th - Continuing their journey
	12th - Feeb the goblin
	13th - Fog, Manshoon on his dragon, Von Fedel again, Dragon Cultists (Karana Tharr & co), Draconians
	14th - Goblintide Ford - Goblin attack, reaching Nesme, Wagon to Ebon Escalde, visiting the Pride of the North
	15th - Training with Nonoc, Durht and Nazrat, meeting Lady Tessarin
	16th - The Gnomes boat
	17th - On the River Rauvin, Luc and Serena get it on :-)
	18th - Flaming Sky Pony Barbarians
	19th - Waterlimgoer - stranded on the trollmoors
	20th - Wirybush
	21st - Troll attack, bridge across the Rauvin, Sky Pony Ambush, Entrance to Kheizar Dalan
	22nd - On Route to Quaervarr, bugbears
	23rd - On route to Silverymoon. Meeting Glandril and the Knights of Silver, Reaching Silverymoon, Holdheart, Lady Alustriel, Bruenor Battlehammer
	24th - Sparring with Thargdor, The Silver Scroll (Xara Tantlor) Praying, mending armour, meeting Dorn, The Lady's College, Merrell hears of Aran's death
	25th - busy around town, more training, planning for return to Kheizar Dalan, meeting Luckpriestess Aratha Sul and Vaslin
	26th - Heading towards Quaervarr
	27th - On route to Kheizar Dalan, finding a hole
	28th - Kheizar Dalan - the dead, Giant Bomabadier beetle, Dragon Ghost, Drow, undead, Torus,
	29th - Kheizar Dalan - more traps, Torus again, Vaslin dies, DM does an April Fool :-),
	30th - Kheizar Dalan - more traps, temple to Dumathoin, more undead, quaggoths, exploring the crypts, finding a way past the defensive blocks, diving for gold
Flamerule	1st - Kheizar Dalan - past the defensive blocks to the Rose forge, more traps, animated weapons and armour,
	2nd - Leaving Kheizar Dalan, Reaching Quaervarr and finding out more about Torus's broach
	3rd - On Route to Silverymoon - attack by Von Fedel and his pet giant, dropping off Vaslin's body at Fortune Hall and back to the Inn of the Wayward Sages

[Follow the <SCENE> links to other pages showing the details of the encounter, battle, conversation etc.]

Job to go to Silverymoon [Mirtul 24^th late PM]
Harthar was basically just a runner, and could not tell the companions any more about the job except that it was to undertake a trip to Silverymoon, and that they should go to Gaard's Hall in the Morning. <SCENE>

Gaard's Hall [Mirtul 25^th AM]
At Gaard's Hall, the companions were greeted by a Magic Mouth, which asked the party to enter and go through to a Library, where they waited impatiently to meet Gaard. Once Gaard turned up, he explained what the job was. In a nutshell, they were to take a small pouch of stones to Lady Alustriel in Silverymoon. The reason was because the stones were believed to have special properties, and had worried the dwarves who had found them. Gaard himself could not detect anything special about the stones, but the more powerful magic users in Silverymoon had asked if they could examine them in person. Because of this, Gaard had hired three groups (they were the third) to take the stones to Silverymoon. There would be a bonus for the group that got them there first. <SCENEr>

Provisioning [Mirtul 25^th AM]
Gaard had provided 25 gold coins plus one valuable antique dwarven coin from a lost empire each as payment in advance, a further bonus to be paid once they arrived. He also had arranged with a local dealer to provide them with provisions for the journey. He recommended that they try to hire on with a normal trade caravan on the basis that traveling alone was more dangerous.<SCENE>

The Staging Grounds [Mirtul 25^th late AM]
After having purchased horses and supplies - although many of the companions were riding a horse for the first time - they arrived at the staging grounds to search for a caravan that might be just about to leave and heading in the right direction. They had two choices, one was a group of dour dwarves, who called themselves BattleAxe Transport <SCENE>. They were heading only part of the way, and would not be leaving until the next day. The second was a much smaller outfit, called the Lucky Pears. Essentially these were just three guys, Gavert, Lise and Kibbett, who drove two wagons between them, one riding point. They claimed to be very experienced, and had taken a commission to deliver three wagon loads of the famous Neverwinter Water Clocks to Silverymoon. They were also due to leave in about an hour. This was the deciding factor for the group, and they volunteered at once to journey with the Pears. <SCENE>

Minnerel the Mighty.[Mirtul 25^th late AM]
About this time, the party were approached by a mage, who called himself Minnerel the Mighty. He told a sad tale about how he had been cursed by terrible pain and sickness every time he cast a spell. Because of this, he was trying to raise funds to travel safely all the way to Cormyr in the heartland's, where he hoped that he would be able to affect a cure at a temple to Mystra. Unfortunately, to finance his trip, he had been selling his various magical items. He offered to sell his staff of Fireballs. Apparently, it had 5 charges, and he asked 100 gp for it. Milo and Yvandel persuaded the others to club together and pay for it, after Minnerel used one charge to demonstrate (they went outside the city walls to test it where a most effective fireball was produced!) <SCENE>

The Trip to Thundertree [Mirtul 25^th PM]
Finally they rejoined the Lucky Pears in time to leave, and they started on the journey towards Thundertree. Thundertree was a small village on the edge of Neverwinter woods, on the south side of the Neverwinter river where it left the woods. They reached there just as darkness was descending, and spent their first night under the stars - their being no inns at Thundertree.

The Forest Trail [Mirtul 26^th / 27^th]
The next morning, they continued on, heading on the forest trail around the southern edge of the woods. Keeping the ominous looking trees on their left, they soon found the temperature dropping as they left the micro-climate of the Neverwinter river area. Soon, they were trudging through snow and wishing that they had all brought warmer clothing. The day passed uneventfully, seeing nothing but animal tracks, and when camp was finally posted, they posted watches and shivered through the night. The next day was similar, although the trail was crossed at one point by the tracks of what looked like a large group of orcs.

Ambush by Orcs! [Mirtul 28^th AM]
After a second uneventful night in the cold snow, the party continued onwards, looking forward to reaching Conyberry and a chance to get into the warm. They did however feel a little trepidation, as the previous night, the Lucky Pears had described the overly cautious way in which Conyberry residents greeted outsiders. However, they never reached Conyberry, as midmorning, the party was ambushed by a large party of orcs, who, unusually enough, demanded that they surrender rather than simply attacked. The Lucky Pears launched into action. Lise, riding on a horse charged wielding his sword, trying to break through the group at the front. They didn't scatter, and his horse took a spear through the belly, throwing him to the ground. He jumped up and fought to free himself, surrounded by several orcs. Ceely raced up to help. Meanwhile, Kibbitt had started to let fly with his various loaded crossbows and daggers, and although he shot several orcs, there were also many orc archers, who all started firing. Several people were hit, particularly Kibbitt up high on the wagon, before the orc leader, whose voice was suddenly magnified, managed to restore order and stop the firing. At the back, Gavert had quaffed a potion of fire breath, and wiped out a load of orcs at the back. He then managed to turn himself into gaseous form via some magical method, and fled the scene. <SCENE>

Becoming Slaves [Mirtul 28^th PM]
By the time order was restored, Lise and Kibbitt were dead, and several of the companions were also wounded. The orcs were acting very un-orc-like, and after stripping the wagons of anything useful, force marched the group into the heart of Neverwinter Woods. A few hundred yards into the woods, the snow had all melted, and the temperature started to rise. The orcs were all acting nervous, and it was obvious that they feared the woods that they were walking through. Ceely told of a story when she had ventured into the woods chasing a criminal once, and had found his body torn to pieces, as if he had been attacked by large numbers of small forest animals! Eventually, they came out in a large clearing, where there was an orc camp. They were stripped of their clothes, had manacles riveted around their hands and feet, and then tied to large whipping posts.

Xred [Mirtul 28^th PM]
An Ogre appeared, who appeared slightly mad, and rambled on a bit. He needed the humans to grind some special Schoelweed seeds for him. He had them whipped to unconsciousness as a lesson in obedience. <SCENE>

Meeting Soggrin, Von Fedel and Blondung [Mirtul 29^th AM]
When they came to it was morning, and they were chained to a long horizontal pole in a cave. They met Soggrin, who was a barbarian woman, of the Black Raven Uthgart tribe. She explained how the other two captives, Von Fedel and Blondung were both of the Zhentarium, and that they had been her guards. Apparently, she had been kidnapped about 6 months previously by Manshoon, the mighty mage and leader of the Zhentarium. He had discovered some ancient prophesy of the Netherese, which claimed that a woman would arise in the barbarian tribes who would give birth to a son who would inherit the power of the ancient Netherese. According to Manshoon's research, she was the woman, and he wanted to be the father of her son. He had kidnapped her, and was waiting till Midsummer Night next year to conceive the prophesied son. Xred, who had worked for Manshoon, had discovered this prophesy as well, and had kidnapped her again, together with her ineffective guards. His translation of the prophesy decreed that the conception would take place at Midsummer this year. He also believed that having large quantities of ground Schoelweed seed would be important. Schoelweed was rare, and only grew in isolated clearing in Neverwinter Woods. To retain it's magical properties, it could only be ground by humans as well, hence his need for slaves. Blondung, the mage, suggested that Ceely hide her half-elven heritage, as she would be deemed as useless for Xred's purposes, and probably killed! Von Fedel kept going on about some magic invisible bag around his neck and how it would save him when Agatha, finally came to wreak her revenge on Xred for despoiling her Schoelweed fields.
<SCENE>

The Treadmills [Mirtul 29^th / 30^th]
Later that morning, the party tried to escape as they were taken off the pole and given breakfast. <SCENE> The escape attempt failed, despite Yvandel managing to convince half the orcs that his puppet was possessed, and they were forced to start working on the treadmills. <SCENE> Xred was interested in Yvandel, and took him into his tower to be entertained by him. Xred showed Yvandel his own puppet, an animated corpse! Finally, Xred bored of playing, dispatched Yvandel back to the treadmills. At the end of that exhausting day, after chatting a bit, they slept the sleep of the dead. <SCENE>The next morning, Milo pretended to be sick, and was taken into the hut of the orc shaman; Grazzght. There, he witnessed Grazzght prepare some medicines from various herbs in a chest.

Ceely the Half-elf [Mirtul 30^th PM]
Near the end of that day, it became apparent that they had been working well on the treadmills, as they had almost finished grinding all the seed that Xred had available. Xred came out to inspect, and when he spotted that Ceely was actually a half-elf, and not a human, he became very angry. All the ground seed was destroyed, as he considered it useless, and he stormed off with a group of orcs to harvest some more seed from another clearing nearby. The slaves continued grinding the last of the untainted seed, when a vision of a red raven appeared over the camp, tying in with a prophesy that Yvandel’s puppet had sown to the orcs. The scared orcs argued amongst themselves, then finally took the slaves and put them into their cave early. Luckily they weren’t attached to the pole, and allowed to roam free inside the cave to stretch their tired muscles.<SCENE>

Agatha arrives! [Mirtul 30^th late PM]
As the evening drew dark outside the cave, the harvesting party returned. They started to have a small celebration, with singing and dancing around a fire. This was suddenly interrupted by the distant wail of a banshee. Protected somewhat inside the cave, the party watched as Von Fedel put his hand inside an invisible bag and produced a bee's wing. Casting a clerical spell, he suddenly produced a load of balls of beeswax. As the wail got louder, the orcs outside started going mad. There was a scramble inside the cave as everyone bar Lucretia hurried to put the beeswax in their ears. Outside, Xred appears and casts some protective spells, forming shields over the areas of his camp. Lucretia is effected by the wailing, and has to be held down to stop him smashing his head open on the floor. Someone manages to stuff beeswax in his ears after all, and he subsides. Meanwhile, Agatha appeared. She screamed again and the various shields that Xred had cast all shattered. She blasted Xred and his stone tower with lightning bolts, and then fireballed the whole camp, killing all the orcs and burning their huts to the ground.<SCENE>

Aftermath [Mirtul 30^th late PM]
After Agatha left, the party shuffled out of the cave and surveyed the devastation in almost shock. After locating the remains of the forge, they managed to find tools with which to break their bonds. Yvandel and Ceely headed straight for the ruins of Xred's tower, eager to find Yvandel's puppet. The others wandered around the camp, looking for anything that might help them. In the tower, Yvandel found more than just his puppet, as the zombie re-animated, and attacks him and Ceely. They managed to escape into the open, where the other's rallied round and manage to down the zombie for good. <SCENE> After finding a few weapons and armour, some of the party headed again into the ruined tower, this time going down into the cellar. Here they are attacked by giant rats who had been eating some of the food stocks that Xred had kept down there. A lot of their original equipment was also found down there. After starting a fire, they managed to escape and leave the remaining rats to burn or suffocate in the smoke. <SCENE> They then searched again, and found a cupboard with Minnerel's staff of fireballs. Outside, Milo found a chest containing all the herbs that Grazzght had owned. He sorted some out to take with him. Soggrin, Blondung and Von Fedel want to stay with the party. <SCENE>

Conyberry [Kythorn 1^st / 2^nd]
After sleeping a restless night in the ruined camp, the party made their way along the original trail, and found their way back to the Forest Trail without incident. Continuing onwards on their journey, they finally made it to Conyberry, where they stayed the night in the village hall<SCENE>. There they met 4 half-elves who described their own journeys and troubles. Milo brewed some herbal healing potions, which he sold to the half-elves. The party also discovered that Everlund Pass - part of their intended route - was blocked by "Wizard Weather" - an unnatural series of blizzards and never ending storms. They would have to travel northward via Longsaddle after all. The next morning they bought some warm furs from a local, and started on their journey towards Triboar, where they would try to buy fresh horses and more provisions. One of the Conyberry locals asked if they would take a package to his brother Janus who owned an inn in Triboar, which Milo accepted.

Triboar - in come Larz and Merrell [Kythorn 2^nd / 3^rd]
2 days later found the party in Triboar. The only incident on the journey, was when they spotted a group of what were probably kobolds on the trail ahead<SCENE>. The kobolds, seeing the size of the group facing them, simply fled into the countryside north of the trail. At Triboar, the party stayed at the Six Windows, the inn owned by Janus. Here they met two other travelers who were intending to head north.<SCENE> One was a dwarf named Larz who had actually been a member of BattleAxe Transport. He was a priest of Clanggeddin, the dwarven god of battle. Due to a personality clash, he had been dropped from the BattleAxe transport, and was now looking to go to Silverymoon to see if he could meet a relation there. The other was a young human mage called Merrell. Merrell had only recently come to the North, and was searching for a druid woman named Aran, who he was following. He believed that she had been kidnapped by a Zhentarium mage whom he had come up against when he was in Cormyr.

Re-provisioning [Kythorn 4^th AM]
The next morning, the party split up to go shopping and listen to rumours to see if the story about the Wizard Weather was true or not. Apparently it was. Unfortunately, Milo had his pocket picked by a halfling thief. Later, Yvandel watched the same halfling steal something from a town guard, and when chased, run, and suddenly jump up, a huge black war-horse appearing by magic beneath him. He then rode off up the north road toward Longsaddle. Milo also bought a small kitten for Cleo as a replacement for Stormy.

The Journey North [Kythorn 4^th/5^th]
The companions left Triboar with Milo still unaware of his loss. The traveled along the Long Road, heading north. After stopping to converse with another caravan<SCENE>, they were advised of a good place to stop - the Sprite's Refuge. They would reach this on their second day, the overall journey being three days to Longsaddle. Their first night proved to be troublesome however. In the pre-dawn, the camp was attacked by bandits! The battle was brief but bloody <SCENE>. Both Von Fedel and Blondung proved their worth, as did Merrell and Larz. If they had not been with the group, the story could have been different. Milo, having actually killed someone for the first time, is quite traumatised by the event, and then further so as he admits to having lost the stones. Deciding to press onwards, they got on the road early, and soon met another caravan <SCENE>, where they found out that they were only an hour behind the halfling - the assumed thief - who had stayed entertaining the caravan the night before.

The Sprite's Refuge [Kythorn 5^th late PM]
At the end of the day, they had still not caught up with the halfling. It started to rain, and they reached the Sprite's Refuge, where they met a group of Longriders - peace keepers from Longsaddle. They discovered that the halfling thief had not visited the inn, and must have left the road somewhere in between. Another person in the inn - named Hurle - had however met a halfling matching the description of the one that Milo thought had stolen the stones. He claimed to have seen the halfling dragged off the road by a bunch of hobgoblins. He promised to show the party where the ambush took part in the morning.

During the evening, Balnor followed Von Fedel to the outhouse, and found out why Von Fedel had been increasingly smelly over the previous few days. Von Fedel was "playing" with an undead cat – specifically the cat that used to belong to Cleo - Stormy. Balnor confronted Von Fedel, and brought him back into the inn for judgment by the other party members. Their reactions ranged from anger and disgust to pity for Von Fedel, as he appeared not to be of 100% sane mind. Von Fedel stormed out of the inn into the gathering storm, and disappeared into the darkness. The mood of the party was subdued. <SCENE>

Broken Fang Woods [Kythorn 6^th]
In the morning, the innkeeper (Shornik) provided two potions of healing to the party, knowing that they were going to be hunting for Hobgoblins. He told them that he was interested in hearing any news that they might discover about activities in the wood – he hadn’t heard from a local elven ranger by the name of Teth recently and was concerned about him. The party headed back down the road to a point where Hurle showed them the ambush spot. Ceely then tracked the hobgoblin's tracks to a ruined keep deep in the Broken Fang Woods.

Outside Broken Fang Keep [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
Ceely tried to sneak towards the ruined keep, but was attacked by a couple of Giant Lizards skulking in the long grass <SCENE>. Several of the party charged forward and help her out. Having dispatched the lizards, with all pretense of surprise gone, the party marched into the yard of the keep. Luckily however, it seemed that there were no guards posted, and the keep seemed deserted.

In the Yard of Broken Fang Keep [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
Balnor had a look in the guard tower next to the gate - one of the few building still with two stories. He was surprised by a huge spider, but managed to escape back into the yard, where the others dispatched it <SCENE>. Milo used some of his herbs to counter the poison of it's bite. The group were worried by the evil looking gargoyles on pillars either side of the main doors, but proceeded with caution.

Inside Broken Fang Keep [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
Obviously not enough caution, as Milo knocked over a large brass pot as he opened the door, and as the party advanced into the room, Larz fell into a trap concealed by a stretched carpet. A weird rat like humanoid creature chained at the bottom of the pit attacked the dwarf, and Lucretia and Ceely leapt into the pit to assist. The creature is dispatched, but not before giving Lucretia nightmares <SCENE>. The party advanced even more cautiously from that point, though Balnor, investigating something glittering in another room, got attacked by a rot-grub, and it had to be burnt out <SCENE>. Another pair of the rat like creatures were discovered in another room which had been barred from the outside. These were also dispatched <SCENE>. A staircase was discovered heading down, but before it is taken, Balnor discovered a secret passage hidden behind an impressive mural depicting a large battlefield. High up on a hill, overlooking the field, stood a man who could only be described as extremely beautiful, for lack of a better word. Even so, he was also both dark and powerful, as portrayed by the painter. But, what really drew ones attention is the contestants on the field below. It appeared to be a massive army of humanoids that all resembled bipedal rats, laying waste to an opposing army of knights on horseback. The carnage of the battle was depicted in gory detail, the rat men swarming over the knights and picking them apart with teeth and weapons, piece by piece. The 'dark man' on the hill seemed to be smiling. The secret passage also led down. The latter route was chosen.

Lower level Broken Fang Keep [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
A couple of hobgoblin guards could be heard at the other end of the secret passage. They were surprised and then killed after an awkward interrogation <SCENE>. Continuing further down into the dungeons of the keep, under an arch covered with green slime, the party came across a door, behind which it sounded like construction work was going on. Ignoring it, they headed in the opposite direction, and found a temple dedicated to some evil looking god or power. The temple was in the middle of being renovated by a group of hobgoblin workers. A battle ensued and a couple of hobgoblins were captured <SCENE>. These were killed by Blondung when it became apparent that the halfling named Hael that the party were searching for was probably located somewhere up stairs. Another secret passage way was discovered out of the side of the temple, and in the interests of maintaining surprise, the party took it. (It is somewhere about here that Cleo managed to loose her kitten).

At the other end of the secret passageway, they party could hear human voices. Bursting into a room through a thick curtain, they challenged the men they found to surrender, but instead found themselves in a fight. An evil cleric who was referred to as "Kazan" made an appearance, casting a hold person on Herod before retreating into his inner sanctum. Serena charged after him, only to be charmed. As Serena tried to stop the others from harming her new "friend", Kazan plunged the room into magical darkness. In the confusion, Balnor knocked himself out on the door and Serena and Ceely struggled with each other. Some of the dead in the first room began to rise to fight again. <SCENE>

When the darkness finally lifted, and the last of the undead had been cut down, of Kazan there was no sign. The party discovered a drugged man asleep at a table in Kazan's bedroom. After a short while, he came around and although surprised to see the party, introduced himself as Tharn <SCENE>. He cursed Kazan for drugging him, and revealed upon being questioned that prisoners would normally be held near the top of the complex. When Balnor opened a chest and left a wand he found within reach of Tharn, the man grabbed it and threatened the party with it, hoping to bluff his escape. Serena retaliated, and used too much force, killing him. After searching fruitlessly for the secret door they were convinced Kazan had gone through, the party stripped the place of valuables and headed back up towards the top level.

Once there, they tackled Targ, an ogre who was guarding the prisoners (Teth the elven ranger, Bastok a merchant from Lashan and the halfling Hael), but not before Serena is critically injured <SCENE>. Kazan, who had been hiding under the bed in his room arrives with reinforcements - more hobgoblins - and the party struggled to release the prisoners before Kazan and co broke through the door. Meanwhile, Milo found the blue stones in Targ's chest and Herod brought Serena around. As the door was finally broken down, the party stumble onwards, blocking other doors behind them, until they managed to get to the top of the main staircase, back on the ground floor of the keep <SCENE>.

Broken Fang Keep - "the Defenders of the Stairs" [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
Lucretia, Herod, Larz, Balnor and Cleo decided to "hold the stairs" against Kazan and his hobgoblins. Merrell used a scroll that had been found earlier to "grease" the stairs, before going with Milo, Serena, Beth, Bastok and Hael outside. After an initial attempt to storm the stairwell, Kazan talked to those defending the stairs, trying to persuade them to join forces with him rather than fight against him. He talked about great power and riches that could be theirs if the joined with him.

Broken Fang Keep - "the Stables Assault Group" [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
Meanwhile. Yvandel, Ceely, Blondung and Soggrin doubled back down the secret passageway, intending to find the stables that Tharn had mentioned and steal some horses. Blondung sets an Alarm spell behind them to protect their backs. Unfortunately, when they are only near the bottom of the stairs, the alarm is triggered. They burst into the stables to find a group of hobgoblins already there. Ceely launched herself to attach their leader, who was already halfway towards them. She knocked down a lantern on top of him, and he rolled away trying to put the minor fire out. Meanwhile, Yvandel grabbed a small barrel of oil from nearby, and threw it at the door behind them, just as the hobgoblins chasing them we trying to get in. Throwing his torch onto the broken cask, the oil covered doorway bursts into flame, preventing the hobgoblins from getting through. Soggrin took out one of the hobgoblins workers whilst Blondung, now out of spells, tried to bluff them into fleeing- it partially works, as one of them fled. The others were not fooled, and launched an attack, taking down Ceely and advancing on Blondung. Soggrin took out another, and Blondung injured the other with a thrown dagger. The remaining one hears reinforcements arriving and makes a break for it.

Broken Fang Keep - "the Defenders of the Stairs" [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
Having sent a group of hobgoblins down towards the stables - intending them to surprise the intruders, by exiting the keep and coming at the intruders from the rear, Kazan was surprised to hear the magical alarm go off. Abandoning his efforts to persuade those at the top of the stairs to join him, he raced after his hobgoblin troops.

Meanwhile, Lucretia, Herod, Larz, Balnor and Cleo decided to head for the secret staircase, hoping to catch Kazan and company from behind. They came across the hobgoblins at the very bottom of the main stairs, outside the burning door of the stables. Attacking from behind, they managed to take out the whole group, although Balnor was knocked out with a critical hit. Larz quickly stabilized Balnor, then they jumped through the now smoldering doorway, and met up with the "Stables Assault Group". Attaching a couple of skittish horses to a cart, they loaded the injured, and started to make their way out of the stables, leaving it burning behind them. Of Kazan himself there was no sign.

Broken Fang Keep - "the Wounded and Worthless Group" [Kythorn 6^thlate afternoon]
Meanwhile, Hael broke free from Serena as they stepped outside and made a run for the woods. When the others arrived, they looked at trying to prepare the drawbridge for some form of defense, but realised it would be more effort than they could expend. After a while, they headed off to the north east to see if they could find the secret entrance to the stables, hoping to find some horses. They found the entrance, together with a single hobgoblin guard. A few more hobgoblins burst out of the now smoking entrance to the stables and were dispatched. As the cart carrying the other's arrived, a dull explosion announced that the other barrels of oil had finally gone up. Ceely is healed using a clerical scroll found earlier, although she is still very weak.

Broken Fang Woods - [Kythorn 6^thlate night]
Abandoning the wagon, the now reunited group made their way into the woods, Teth leading. Eventually, they found a suitable camping spot, and prepared to spend a cold and miserable night in the woods. Milo used some herbs to bring Balnor and Ceely round, so he could give them some other herbs to help their healing. Yvandel also had a dream.

The Sprite's Refuge [Kythorn 7^th]
In the morning, Balnor and Ceely were healed by Milo and Herod and Lucretia briefly talked to the Merchant <SCENE>. Balnor was as close to death as he could have been, and it was only Cleo's tender care that pulled him through. Teth led them back to the Sprite's Refuge, where they were welcomed back as heroes <SCENE>. They cleaned themselves up and started to relax, telling their story and listening to stories told by other visitors to the inn <SCENE>.

The Sprite's Refuge [Kythorn 8^th]
In the morning, the party made the decision to spend a day relaxing at the Inn to recuperate. Merrell got his first good look at the mysterious blue stones, as did Blondung. Merrell performed a detect magic spell on it, but to no effect. Milo took the stones back and spent the day preparing various herbs in the Inn's kitchens. Herod, with help from others, put his skills to good use, and set about sharpening weapons and repairing damaged armour.<SCENE> In the evening, a caravan arrived, heading south. <SCENE>

As Yvandel put on a little puppet show, Balnor and Cleo headed outside for a little quiet time alone. They were ambushed by Von Fedel, who had somehow managed to get back inside the compound. He cast a hold person on Balnor, and command Cleo to run away. He then stuffed a small metal disk into the thief's hands. As the others poured out of the inn, wondering what made Cleo scream, Von Fedel cast another spell, and a cloud of vapour suddenly fills the compound. As the party fumbled around trying to find Balnor/Von Fedel, the metal disk suddenly became searing hot in Balnor's hand. Frozen stiff, he could not even unclench his hand, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Ceely managed to find him and drag him from the fog, where the burning coin is discovered still in his hand. Milo tended to Balnor's hand, and after a short while, the traumatised thief regains control over his body. The fog slowly cleared, and of Von Fedel there was no sign <SCENE>. The party returned inside the inn, where Yvandel, in an attempt to lift the mood, entertained with another puppet show whilst eating and drinking at the same time.

The Sprite's Refuge [Kythorn 9th in the morning]
In the morning, the party left the Sprite's Refuge and headed north towards Longsaddle. Just before they left, Herod was presented with the short sword that he had found in the ruins and subsequently lent to Teth. On the journey to Longsaddle, the party encountered a group of Longriders heading south. Lucretia tells them about the hobgoblins and the mad priest(s) that they had encountered. (Kazan and Von Fedel).

Longsaddle [Kythorn 9th in the evening]
Reaching Longsaddle, the party noticed that Soggrin did not appear welcome here. They settled themselves into the Gilded Horseshoe inn, and discovered from the innkeeper (Drake) that Longsaddle was recently attacked by a large war-party from the Black Raven tribe. Apparently the local Harpell family - a large extended family of magic users who live in the rambling ivy covered mansion up on the hill above Longsaddle - had seen off the attackers with minimum blood loss - but the locals are still rather wary.
<SCENE>

As the party ate in the inn that night, three members of the Harpell family entered, and after only a short while, their leader Andall Harpell, suddenly turned on the party and bound them in magical bonds, arresting them for the murder of Gaard of Neverwinter. The party are forced to go with him to the Harpell mansion, where they are confronted by a group of Harpells and a couple of senior Longriders. Harkell Harpell, a senior member of the family introduced himself and gave the party a chance to tell their side of the story.<SCENE>

Using magic to confirm that the party are telling the truth, the Harpells quickly changed their attitude to the group, and offered them help instead. When discussing the blue stones, Harkell Harpell suggested that he show them to his father, DelRoy Harpell, as he had made a study of a form of Dwarven magic, long lost to the world. He thought it might be related.<SCENE>

The party moved to another room in the labyrinth building and were introduced to DelRoy. Some of them, Blondung, Soggrin, Cleo and Ceely headed back to the Inn, and left the others to discuss things in more detail with DelRoy. DelRoy examined the blue stones, but found nothing unusual. He did however think it might be related to the ancient now lost magic of the dwarves, and then told a story about the lost dwarf hold of Khiezar Dalan. (Larz recognised it). He said that relatively recently a series of dwarves were found, gutted and staked out to die in the open. The last was still alive, and had, before he died, told the rangers who found him that they had discovered Khiezar Dalan, and where to find the runestone that would open it. Larz was interested in this news, and the Harpells asked if the party could take a copy of the runestone to Lady Alustriel in Silverymoon for the party.

The Harpells then offered to identify some of the objects which the party had found. Herod's short sword (found in Broken Fang Keep behind a book case) proved to be magical (OOC: +1/+1), Yvandel's wand was a wand of Enlargement (he tested it on a stuffed owl), Milo's Staff of Fireballs was actually a staff of Illusionary Fireballs (proving that Minnerel the Marvelous was a trickster after all!). Balnor produced some things he had found in Xred's tower - a scroll, which proved to have a wizard spell on it - and a pouch of red dust, which was identified as "dust of water absorbence".

A long discussion was then held talking about the party's recent experiences at the hands of Kazan and his hobgoblin allies, and Yvandel shared some of the clues he found. DelRoy Harpel looks up the word"Gargauth" in a book, and found out that it was the name of "an ancient power of the most evil persuasion that represents the inevitable decay and corruption that accompanies all self-serving, greedy, and power-hungry leaders and groups." He went on to say "that he used to be a demon of some power, who has managed to raise himself to near god-hood. His is a name you should not utter carelessly, it will only attract his attention!"

Later, Lucretia, Balnor and Cleo headed for the Gambling Golem, and played a game called Scattershields. Balnor made some money and Lucretia just managed to make his stake back again. Yvandel had a quiet word with Andall asking for some additional help.<SCENE>

Longsaddle [Kythorn 10th in the morning]
In the morning, Andall showed up and offered the party a "Troll Killer" staff. He described it as a staff which sends out small fireballs which home in on trolls only. It only had 15 charges though and could be dangerous if more than 15 were invoked. Serena and Herod headed off to get Serena a bow from the local store. <SCENE> Yvandel got a few new spells for his spell book from Andall.

On the road to Nesme [Kythorn 10th]
Having made themselves ready, the party headed out on the road towards Nesme. About midday, the party encountered a man fleeing a Blackraven war party. The barbarians stopped and surrounded The Unknowns once they spotted Soggrin. Rather than simply butchering the party, they challenged everyone to a one-on-one duel - but Herod cast a Dust Devil spell, and the barbarians, seeing magic, went wild and started firing arrows at everyone. Ceely ended up fighting with their leader, Derboshrin, and Larz concealed the party in an obscuring fog to help protect them from arrows. As it started to rain, a couple of lightning bolts struck from above, killing some of the barbarians. Together with strange ghostly noises and an illusionary raven cast by Yvandel, the barbarians eventually lost their nerve and fled, especially once Ceely had bested their leader <SCENE>.

Soggrin, saddened that she had become an outcast from her own tribe, cut off her topknot and discarded the black feathers she wore as a symbol of her tribe. The party healed their wounds and rode on, some riding double because of horses killed in the crossfire.

A short way further on, they found where the man who had been chased had come from. A couple of wagons, with their owners butchered by the barbarians. The party decided to bury the dead and take the two wagons and their trade goods on to Nesme - to finish the job that the original owners had died trying to do.

In the evening the party met with a larger caravan just setting up camp. They shared the safety of a joint camp and explained about what had happened to the previous owners of the two wagons they had acquired. <SCENE>

On the road to Nesme [Kythorn 11th]
After a restful night, they bid farewell and continue on their journey. The day passed uneventfully, and they eventually stopped and made camp. As the night darkened, they noticed another fire a mile or two away.

On the road to Nesme [Kythorn 12th]
In the morning, they encountered a fellow who named himself Khelan Haldonn, who politely tried to threaten the party into giving up all their valuables - at least until he realised just how tough the party might be. He backed off, making excuses about the Goddesses of Luck being on the party's side that day. <SCENE>

Later that day, the party met another heavily armed caravan heading from Nesme towards Longsaddle. Pausing only long enough to ask about the road ahead, and warn them about the polite bandit they had encountered, they continued on.<SCENE>

On the road to Nesme [Kythorn 12th evening]
That night, the party made camp with their two wagons. Half way through the first watch, Larz spotted something creeping into one of the wagons. A few moments later, those on watch had discovered a weak/starved goblin, named Feeb who was trying to steal some food from them. After a brief conversation in pigeon common, it appeared that the goblin was outcast from his tribe, and meant no harm. Ceely took him under her wing, though not all the party were so keen on the idea. Feeb also told them of a "bad man" who had tried to kill him "with a dead man". Everyone immediately thought of Von Fedel. Feeb built himself a hammock under Serena's wagon and bedded down there.<Link to detailed version of Scene>

On the road to Nesme [Kythorn 13th]
In the morning, a fog crept in from the east. The party moved out and after a while, Ceely noticed that this was a very unusual fog as it appeared to be centered on the party - and on Soggrin to be precise. After some experimentation, the party cautiously moved on with their journey. Suddenly, heralded by the rumbling of thunder, Manshoon - the great archmage leader of the Zhentarium himself - appeared overhead flying on his black dragon. He dispelled the magical fog with a simple wave after he landed, and promptly took Soggrin away from the party, throwing them some Zhent gold in return as if they had done him a favour. The group realised the futility of trying to prevent this, and Soggrin herself tried to persuade them that it would be best to let her go peacefully.<SCENE> At the last moment, Von Fedel raced up on a wooden steed, trying to get back into Manshoon's good books. As the mad priest argued with the party, Manshoon left, not caring about Von Fedel or the party at all. In his frustration and anger, Von Fedel turned on the party. Larz managed to command him to sleep, and before he could wake, Milo and Cleo managed to get him pinned.<SCENE>

A few moments later, Von Fedel was trussed like a turkey, and the party started to consider what to do with him. As discussions on ethics took place, Ceely stepped forward, stating a desire to "sort him out herself". As she stood there, harpoon held at Von Fedel's heart, the party suddenly spotted some other people approaching from the east. It turned out to be a group of four Dragon Cultists, attracted by the sight of Manshoon's dragon in the area. Led by a woman named Karana Tharr, they questioned the party as soon as they realised that they were not fellow Dragon Cultists. Once satisfied that the party were relatively inexperienced, they suddenly attacked. Things were starting to look extremely dire, when help appeared from an unexpected source. Strange creatures, some with the skin of goblins, some of orcs and one of a troll, but all with the wings and facial features more suited to that of dragons! Directed by a shadowy figure with dragon-like wings in the background under the tree line, these strange draconian creatures attacked the Dragon Cultists with magic and weapons. All of the Cultists were killed, their bodies literally disintegrated at the last! Some of the Draconians also died and in very strange ways - some of them petrified instantly into stone, one even turned into a pool of acid on death! <SCENE>.

Confused by events, the party could only watch as the surviving draconians searched for a ring that Karana Tharr had been wearing, then left as abruptly as they had arrived.

On the road to Nesme [Kythorn 13th evening]
After the battle, the party regrouped their scattered horses, healed the worst of the injuries, picked up a few of the objects left behind by the Dragon Cultists and continued, leaving behind them a burning wagon, piles of dust and a steaming area of acidic mud. Bewildered by the events happening around them, it was with almost paranoia that at the end of the day, they met with a group named Rostar's Trade heading the other way.<SCENE>

Having just crossed the Goblintide, a small river that joins with the Surbrin, Rostar and his companions were about to set up camp, and offered for the party to join forces with them for the night. This proved to be a good idea, as the party were attacked by goblins in the night! .Before they bedded down however, Serena discovered four bodies - killed by Blackraven barbarians it seemed. One of them still had a spellbook - a certain Nelissa of Daggerford was the ex-owner. Serena mentioned afterwards that she had discovered something else, but didn't reveal the detail till days later. The dead had had a pouch of blue stones with them!

Meanwhile the mages of the party examined the spellbook, and noted down a few new spells. The mage with Rostar's Trade, named Kielt decided to take the book onwards on their journey - hopefully it would make it's way to Daggerford and make it into the hands of Nelissa's family or friends.

On the road to Nesme - Goblintide Ford [Kythorn 14th Early hours of the morning]
The party were attacked in the early hours of the morning. The battle was short and bloody, but luckily no-one died. The dead goblins were tossed into the river, and Serena "interrogated" one of the survivors, before releasing it & telling it to take a message to it's chief suggesting that if they fight the barbarians instead, then they would get a "reward" from Nesme <SCENE>. After the battle those who could, went back to sleep, whilst the goblins fled to lick their wounds.

On the road to Nesme [Kythorn 14th day]
In the morning, the group arose and said their farewells to Rostar's Trade. Fording the Goblintide, they made their way eastward, and before long encountered a patrol of the Riders of Nesme<SCENE>. Hearing that the road ahead was clear, they continued onwards, passing a few caravans and eventually making it to the city gates of Nesme.

Nesme [Kythorn 14th evening]
Upon reaching Nesme, the party were greeted by the town guard <SCENE>. Yvandel told the guard about the previous owners of the wagon Herod was driving and how they had been murdered by barbarians. The guard indicated that Lady Tessarin might want to speak to them about it, and would probably send for them on the morrow. He recommended that they stay at the Merchant's Hall - the old converted temple to Waukeen. Milo, Serena, Herod and Merrell headed off to sell / return the cloth on the wagon they had salvaged, making Ebon Escalde, a tailor very happy. Serena flirted with one of the Riders of Nesme - a certain Roy Denkin. .Lucretia, Balnor and Cleo visited the Pride of the North - a fest hall which puts on an expensive, but very impressive feast and show. Yvandel performed in the show with his puppet getting a good reception from the crowd <SCENE>. Larz, Blondung and Ceely stayed in the hall, where Ceely met an old aquaintance from Longsaddle named Carl.

Nesme [Kythorn 15th morning]
Lucretia stayed at the hall, training with three beefy looking warriors he had met the night before. The remainder of the party attended an audience with Lady Tessarin. Lady Tessarin knew nothing about the blue stones, but suggested that if Gaard had thought them important then it was important for the party to continue on their journey. During the audience, the idea of heading to Silverymoon via boat was raised by Lady Tessarin. Apparently, there were 4 Gnomes who had invented a weird armoured metal boat that can go against the current without sails. The gnomes, and Lady Tessarin for that matter, were keen to test the route to Silverymoon. The river had been scryed remotely, and it was deemed that it was all passable, despite being narrow in places. After some discussion, the party decided that they would go for this option, as the overland route was very dangerous. They left Lady Tessarin to prepare for the journey the next day. Cleo headed off into the market, and returned later with a young dog which she intended to train. She calls it Dodger, or Dodge for short.Lucretia made up a poem about the dead Stormy, and tried to sell the broken horn medallion he had. That evening, Balnor walked the streets, deep in thought, and Lucretia almost pulled in a bar.

Nesme [Kythorn 16th]
The party met with the four gnomes on the docks of Nesme and said their farewells to Lady Tessarin. Tessarin gave a scroll with some new spells to Yvandel and the other mages to help them on their journey. They boarded the strange boat, and started the new leg of their journey. The journey started off well, and for the rest of the day, those on board did nothing but watch the scenery go by once the early morning fog clears.<Link to detailed version of Scene>

The River Surbrin/Raurin [Kythorn 17th]
A boring day on the river. <SCENE>

The River Raurin [Kythorn 18th]
As another foggy dawn breaks, the party found themselves steaming past the end of the area patrolled by the Riders of Nesme. Later that day, there was an incident where the river narrows and a large tree trunk had been put across as a makeshift bridge. As the Gnomes failed to ram it out of the way, Ceely leapt onto it from the bow of the boat and tied a rope to it, so that the boat could pull it free. Unfortunately this failed first time around with the rope snapping, and in the end there was no choice but to go ashore. Despite spotting trolls on the moor to the south, and barbarians in the hills to the north, a few of the party members disembarked and cleared the blockage by loosening some of the boulders holding it and tying a new rope to one end of the log. By the time they had got back on board, the barbarians and trolls were closer. The Trolls were scared off by a blast from one of the deck mounted flame thrower devices (another gnomish invention). The gnomes then lured the barbarians closer by pretending that the boat was broken, then surprised everyone by blasting them terribly with both flame thrower devices. Upset by the needless violence, the party voiced their distaste, and the boat continued it's journey, it's passengers somewhat more subdued. The surviving barbarians continued to track the boat's progress, though now at a distance of several miles. <SCENE>

The River Raurin [Kythorn 19th]
This day was much like the rest - dawning with thick fog from the moors. Today however, the fog failed to clear. Mid afternoon, the gnomes mentioned that there was a strange current in the water - within minutes it turned out to be a sea monster - which the gnomes described as a waterlimgoer. The creature was huge and everyone was ushered inside the deckhouse as one of the Gnomes fired his flame thrower at it's head. In return, it breathed scalding steam on the boat, then lunged down and ate the gnome. The boat then shifted, moved sideways in the water, and it became clear that the creature's body was actually under the boat trying to capsize it.

The monster failed in trying to capsize the boat, and only succeeded in slamming it into the river bank. Oil started to leak from a broken tank and somehow ignited - luckily only the outside of the boat. Everyone hurriedly disembarked, afraid of being caught in a boat fire. The Gnomes fired their portable complex flame throwers at the waterlimgoer, and three of them died from the creatures attacks. The battle with the sea monster over, the remaining gnome (Rolfr) mourned for his lost companions. The boat itself seemed fairly sound still, although all the fuel had been lost, Rolfr believed he could refloat the boat and drift downstream back to Nesme on it. Rolfr persuaded the group to spend a night on the boat before they continued their journey, this time directly over the Trollmoors.

The Trollmoors [Kythorn 20th]
The party marched for the rest of the afternoon, and eventually made camp. Herod, when attempting to cut firewood, was entrapped in a Wirybush. Yvandel and Ceely were also trapped whilst trying to rescue him. Serena, having managed to get a tiny fire lit, managed to throw lamp oil over the centre of the bush and set it alight. The bush died and releases it's victims. A short while later, all three fell unconscious, as the plant's poison took hold. Luckily, it was not fatal, and only hours later, they come round. <Link to detailed version of Scene>

The Trollmoors [Kythorn 21st very early morning]
During the early hours of the morning, the party was attacked by 12 trolls - despite the use of the Trollkiller staff, the trolls still managed to inflict several serious wounds on several members of the party <SCENE>. After the wounded had been tended to, the party agreed with Lucretia's suggestion after all - to continue traveling through the darkness being led by those with infravision. Their decision came not a moment too soon, as more trolls were spotted. Milo didn't hesitate this time, and fired off the Harpell's staff several times <SCENE>. The magical fire illuminated another 18 trolls, probably attracted by the lights from the first attack. Riding off, the magic of the staff directed behind them took care of the trolls, and they continued on.

North of the Trollmoors [Kythorn 21st]
At dawn, the party came across some goats being chased by a pair of trolls. Ceely and Lucretia's horse are injured before the Trollkiller staff blasted the two trolls to cinders. The party, cold, tired and constantly worried about more troll attacks continued onwards into the growing light. <SCENE>

The fog cleared a little, and there were no more encounters till midday, when the party come across a makeshift bridge, crossing the river at some narrows. The smell of trolls was thick in the air, and as they wonder about crossing or not, the distant noise of a very large band of trolls howling makes their decision easier. They hurried across, Lucretia at the rear, pouring oil over the logs behind him as the trolls raced towards him. Cleo took the lead troll out with a very well placed arrow in it's head.

The bridge was set ablaze with a sphere of flame, cast by Merrell. Merrell then fired off a lightning bolt at the bridge itself, splintering several of the logs and reducing the bridge to a single unstable log. He half blinded and deafened everyone in the process! Yvandel cast a globe of darkness hiding the other end of the bridge, while Serena, Herod and Lucretia attempted to remove the stones wedging the log in place. Despite this, a single troll managed to leap it's way across the log. Serena and Lucretia battle it, Merrell, Blondung and Herod cast spells at it, and eventually it goes down and the bridge is finally destroyed.<SCENE>

Meanwhile Ceely managed to calm the horses who had been frightened by the crash of thunder from the lightning bolt. With the bridge demolished, the party relaxed a little, and Ceely rode off into the fog parallel to the river to try and scout ahead.

After about half an hour's travel, Ceely had dismounted to check some tracks, when she heard voices in the fog ahead. She crept closer to listen, and over heard some barbarians from the Sky Ponies discussing an ambush they were laying for the party. She returned to the party,<SCENE> and they all head north away from the river, where they found an ancient road. Following it for a while, it eventually started to pass woods, with the occasional cropping of rock. As the rain came down, and night drew near, the group found a cave, which Larz declared as dwarf made.

Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 21st evening]
Investigating, the party found a magically barred door and a "secret" door that Blondung accidentally opened by leaning against it. The sound of orcish voices could be heard in the distance, and the party started a whispered conversation about what to do. Meanwhile, outside the cave, a large number of barbarians appeared and started to make camp, demanding that the party come out to die honourable deaths as the cave was "Evil".

Larz approached the door inside the cave, and runes blazed into life - showing that the door was an entrance into "Khiezar Dalan", a dwarven hold lost these past 2000 years! Lucretia tried to bluff his way past the barbarians to retrieve a few of the horses into the cave, but only managed to incite one of them to violence instead. Merrell, unleashed the powerful lightning wand again, taking out the barbarian's leader and Lucretia got peppered with arrows before stumbling back into the safety of the cave. The group quickly retreated into Khiezar Dalan, behind the door that only dwarves can open, and then listened as the orcs came out of the other door to investigate the sudden thunderclap. <SCENE>

Exhausted, having spent most of the previous night awake, the party decided to let the orcs and the barbarians sort themselves out, and go to sleep instead, just inside the dusty entrance to Kheizar Dalan.

Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 22nd]
Since everyone was exhausted, everyone forgave Larz for falling asleep on his watch, and it was well into the new day when everyone finally awoke. The darkness of the dwarven passage gave no hint to the state of the sun. Once everyone was awake, the group cautiously went out to see what has happened. The barbarians had been massacred. Stripping the bodies of useful items like torches and dried rations, the party discussed their next actions, conscious of the fact that the orcs may well re-appear from their lair at any time. Decision made, the party stored a lot of the torches etc inside Kheizar Dalan, and then headed off along the edge of the woods, hoping to make their way east to Quaervarr and then south to Silverymoon. On route, they managed by some twist of luck to regain Lucretia's horse Thunderbolt. All their other horses were unfortunately lost - and a lone barbarian horse was all they managed to find.

South of the Moonwood [Kythorn 22nd]
The group made their way through the afternoon towards Quaervarr. Late afternoon, they were ambushed by a group of 18 creatures. Similar looking to Bugbears, they appeared more feral however, as they were not wearing any armour or clothing. They attacked the party with amazing agility, dropping out of nearby trees to surround the party. <SCENE> Six of them were taken out with a blast from Merrell's wand of lightning and Yvandel caused almost all of the rest of them to be momentarily hypnotized by one of his illusions. The fighters took out most of the rest of them before the survivors decided that they had bitten off more than they could chew and fled. Cleo marked the occasion by going into a berserk frenzy near the end of the combat. Lucretia and Serena tried to chase down the survivors, but they were too quick. Ceely tried to catch the barbarian horse, which fled in the confusion, but failed, making Thunderbolt the last remaining horse. They continued to trudge on through the rain for about an hour, before finally making camp beneath some trees, trying as best they could to avoid the full force of the rain.

South of the Moonwood [Kythorn 23rd Morning]
The party huddled together for warmth during the cold wet night, getting very little sleep. Barely refreshed, they started moving almost as soon as it was light enough to see, if only to try and get warm. The rain had at least eased, and the sun shone into their eyes as they staggered their way eastwards. Having estimated about a day's walk, they were surprised when they encountered a patrol of the Knights of Silver after only about a half hour walk. <SCENE> Led by a half-elven Paladin of Tyr named Glandril, they discovered that they were barely a mile or two from Quaervarr., the small logging village just north of Silverymoon. When they mentioned that they had important information for Lady Alustriel, the knights offered an escort, though this offer was initially snubbed by Cleo. Suffering from fatigue, wounds and traumatised by her berserk fury of the day before, she insulted them for failing to offer her a mount. Offended, the knights withdrew, though Glandril stated that they would continue to patrol, watching from a distance instead.

On the Quaervarr. road heading south [Kythorn 23rd midday]
Having passed an empty wagon train heading north (to Quaervarr.),<SCENE> the group came across the remains of a battle, in which it was obvious giant kind were involved. They also caught occasional glimpses of Glandril's patrol in the distance.

Silverymoon [Kythorn 23rd late afternoon]
The party finally reached their destination. Captain Glandril had gone ahead and they were met at the Hunters Gate by another Captain of the City Watch - Captain Holdheart. He welcomed them, and informed them <SCENE> that an audience with Lady Alustriel had already been arranged. Captain Glandril healed Cleo, forgiving her her previous temper, and then the group headed into the city. They passed several impressive temples and other buildings before they finally arrived at the Palace. Lucretia left his horse Thunderbolt with a palace groom (named Smith), and they were then escorted into an audience with Lady Alustriel <SCENE>. The audience chamber was covered with an amazing illusion of a forest glade, complete with the ambient sound of bird song and the wind in the trees. Bruenor Battlehammer, of Mithral Hall was also visiting, and upon seeing the blue stones, he dismissed them as a type of semi-precious stone called chalcedony that was normally found in Vassa - a country far to the east. Lady Alustriel could also find no magic about the stones, and a discussion took place, during which the story of their journey finally came out. Various theories about Gaard's murder, the blue stones, the ancient dwarven coins and Kheizar Dalan were all proposed and discussed with no firm conclusion.

Eventually, the discussion dried up. Merrell spoke to Alustreil about his quest to find his friend Aran, and gave the powerful mage a lock of her hair to use in a divination spell. He also passed her the spell book from Karena Thaar - the Dragon Cultist mage, asking her to check if it is trapped. She asked him to return the following day when she would tell him what she had found. The group are then led to an Inn (The Inn of the Wayward Sage), where they booked rooms for the night and finally started to relax somewhat. <SCENE>

Silverymoon [Kythorn 24th]
The next morning, the group split up to do their separate things. Cleo was the first to leave, and headed off to find an armourer to get her battered armour repaired. Similarly, Herod, Lucretia and Serena left together on a similar mission. Having dropped her armour off, Cleo walked about a bit, sightseeing the city. Near the end of the day, outside the impressive temple of Tyr, she met a group of adventures led by a man named Thargdor. After chatting with them for a while, they invited her to join them the following day for sparring at Helmer's Wall - a inn with a sparring ground out the back. She accepted.

Meanwhile, Herod had found a blacksmith who was prepared to share his forge (named Phlamryn), and the priest of Tempus spent the rest of the day hard at work on repairing his own armour. Luc and Serena, having dropped off their armour with the same man, headed for the city gate, intent on finding Captain Holdheart or Captain Glandril and seeing if they can perhaps spar with them. They were directed to the barracks, where, after a brief diversion at the Silver Scroll (a shop for Magic Users), they end up joining in with Captain Glandril and his men. Ceely, having asked similar questions earlier, was already there. <SCENE>

Larz, spent the day tracking down his cousin Dorn (Ed - New Player Character), and telling him about Kheizar Dalan..

Milo, expecting to go sight seeing, was greeted instead as he left the inn by a poor woman who begged him to help her son. Apparently, he and some friends had been sold a map showing the route to what was supposed to be an ancient ruin, but in reality was the site of an active temple of Lovitar. The rest of the young man's friends had perished, but he alone had survived, though he was wracked by constant pain and fever that few herbs could touch. As a Painbearer of Ilmater, Milo felt compelled to help, and visited the woman's home, where he worked throughout the day to bring the man's fever under control, through prayer and his knowledge of herbology. <SCENE>

At midday, the three mages headed back to the Palace, to meet with Lady Alustriel <SCENE>. Merrell was provided with the sad news that his "girl friend" Aran had been located, and was unfortunately already dead. Merrell left in deep grief and proceeded to the nearest inn, where he got as drunk as a skunk. Finally, he was taken to the Lady's College to sleep it off. Meanwhile, Blondung and Yvandel had already headed to the Lady's College, where the analysis of the Dragon Cultist Karena Tharr's spellbook was being undertaken. <SCENE>

At the end of the day, the group (bar Merrell) returned to their inn. Larz introduced Dorn to the group <SCENE>, and they started to discuss their preparations for their return to Kheizar Dalan. Cash was pooled, and Larz and Dorn committed to purchase the majority of the equipment the following day whilst the others continued their "training"..

Merrell remained sleeping off his hangover at the Lady's College, being looked after by one of Lady Alustriel's right hand men. <SCENE>

Silverymoon [Kythorn 25th]
Again the group split up to do their separate things. Dorn arrived early and led Lucretia to meet a gem cutter so he can get his Chardaly stone cut into two gems.

Milo headed off to see the sick youth he had treated the day before. The young man had recovered slightly, and Milo spent the morning in prayer with him, before making a donation so they can found a shrine to Illmater in the city. Finally, he headed off to the market place to try to buy some herbs to replenish his supplies.

Having spent most of the night in meditation and prayer, Herod returned to the smithy to continue his work on the repair of his armour.

Balnor again headed off to things unknown, though he did hint at some gambling at Fortune Hall - the local temple of Tymora, and Blondung and Yvandel returned to the Lady's College to continue their studies of the Dragon Cultist's spellbook.

Cleo went along to Helmer's Wall to meet Thargdor and his friends. Serena and Ceely all attended with her to join in the sparring, joined later by Lucretia <SCENE>. By mid afternoon, the sparring was over, and the group dispersed. Lucretia ran off to see if the gem cutter had finished his work - which he had, and then went back to the Silver Scroll to get a coin enchanted with a Light spell, and one of his chardaly gems enchanted with an invisibility spell. He also managed to get a list of "spell components" from the proprietor - Xara Tantlor - and he pledged to see if he could find any of them Luc also visited the Map House briefly as well <SCENE> and Serena visited The Vault of Sages <SCENE>.

Ceely bumped into Milo in the market, and a short while later, they both met Lucretia as he was about to enter the Temple of Tymora - probably to meet with Balnor. (Ed- Busy day for Luc!)

Inside however, they found that Balnor had decided to quit the life of adventuring after all, and had joined the church of Tymora! Luckpriestess Aratha Sul - who had recently taken over from Luckpriestess Shermata Chang (her predecessor whose run of good luck finally ended only a few weeks earlier whilst investigating a ruin in the Moonwoods) - introduced a young half-elven priestess named Vaslin Riverside (Ed - New Player Character) to them. She explained how she had had a vision in which Vaslin saves the life of one of the Unknowns, simply by being with them as they explore some underground place. She could not see the exact circumstances, but she knew also that for some reason, the group would be heading into the Moonwoods once they return their current "expedition". Vaslin agreed to go with the party on their "secret mission" to explore Kheizar Dalan - explaining that her own background as a lock smith may help counter Balnor's absence. (SCENE)

Vaslin (& Balnor) returned to the inn with the three of them, where everyone, even Merrell had finally reassembled. At first there was some resistance to the idea of including another person, but Balnor reassured everyone that Vaslin would be a good replacement for him. <SCENE>The two dwarves went through some of the shopping they had done during the day, and Lucretia went out into the stables to name the four mules that the group had decided to purchase to carry their supplies and equipment.

Silverymoon [Kythorn 26th morning]
The next day the group rose early to depart Silverymoon. As they left the inn, they found some of the locals looking on, watching the "mighty adventurer's" heading out of town. Bidding their farewells, the group made their way northwards - through the city gate they had entered only 3 days earlier - and onto the road towards Quaervarr. It was a fine day, with almost cloud free skies. Walking, leading their four pack ponies, the group maintained a wary vigilance, watching the landscape carefully for any signs of danger - remembering the sign of giant kin they had seen on their previous time in the neighbourhood. At one point, a "flock / herd" of pegasi were seen, flying, high above, crossing from east to west. By chance, a splatter of manure, dropped from high above, hit Serena, much to the amusement of all. The conclusion was that it is seen as a sign of good luck! <Link to detailed version of Scene>

Quaervarr [Kythorn 26th evening]
Later, as the evening drew near, the group found themselves approaching the broad edge of the Moonwood. Nestled in a large wide bowl in the landscape, the logging village of Quaervarr sat, surrounded by felled trees. The group spent the evening in the only inn in town - an expensive place called the Whistling Stag - a hunting lodge normally visited by the wealthy on hunting trips. Lucretia named the four ponies and Vaslin had a wander around the village late at night and ended up "chatting" with a local fox.<SCENE>

On the way to Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 27th mid morning]
The group set out early from Quaervarr the next morning to an overcast sky. Soon, all evidence of the logging community was left behind, and the group of them found themselves wandering along the edge of the Moonwood. At one point, they stumbled across a large opening in the ground which disappeared downwards into the darkness. Lucretia seemed keen to explore the hole, despite the large claw marks in the still fresh earth, the strange smell and the distant grunting from the hole. After descending several tens of feet, the unstable nature of the the hole made Lucretia realise there was a very strong possibility of being buried alive, and both he and Merrell, who had surprisingly followed the reckless warrior, exited the hole again and the group continued their journey.<SCENE>

At the end of the day, they camped again, feeling that they were perhaps quite close to Kheizar Dalan, and set watches, hoping that they would be able to get an early start to Kheizar Dalan, and be able to get there mid-morning.

Outside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 28th mid-morning]
By mid-morning the next day, the group could smell something rotten, and a short while later, the group came across the rotting remains of the barbarian massacre. At first glance, it became quickly apparent that the majority of the bodies that had been there before had disappeared. On the far side of the clearing, amongst the trees, a couple of worm like creatures appeared to be feasting on one of the few remaining corpses. As the archers (Cleo and Serena) dispatched them from afar, Lucretia and Dorn headed off alone to check out the cave. Tracks seemed to indicate that something was probably still in there. As they slowly entered the cave, they could hear something. Cautiously, they crept around the corner, only to be surprised by a glimpse of something large leaping around before a sudden explosion and a cloud of acidic noxious vapours billowed around the pair of them. Stunned and confused, Lucretia staggered around the cave as a gigantic beetle charged around the corner and appeared through the dispersing mist.

The other party members charged towards the cave entrance. Merrell and Blondung fired off some magic missiles, and Larz, less affected by the explosion, swung away with his axe, to limited effect. Lucretia's arm was somewhat mangled by the creature's powerful mandibles, and Milo courageously ran in to try and pull Lucretia to safely. Soon, mainly due to the damage caused by the spell casters, the beetle finally gave up it's struggle for survival and finally collapsed.<SCENE>

The next few hours were spent clearing the cave, both of the beetle carcase and the huge pile of dead barbarian bodies that the beetle had obviously piled up at the very back, blocking the "dwarf door" entrance to Kheizar Dalan in fact. It was a gross, sickening business. Lucretia, having had his wounded arm tended to by one of the clerics, spent some time carving up the bombardier beetle's abdomen - collecting two flasks of liquid. Apparently they were items on his list of spell components that Xara Tantlor of the Silver Scroll had given him to keep an eye out for.

FInally however, the grisly task was complete, and the dwarf door was finally cleared. The ponies and Thunderbolt were led inside, and a make shift camp was made just inside the entrance of Kheizar Dalan

Dragon Ghost! - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 28th early afternoon]
Leaving the horses and the majority of their supplies close to the entrance, the group started to explore, using a couple of lanterns and Lucretia's light coin as their light sources. After passing some defensive type areas, the group descended a long stair case. On a short landing, a short passage led off to another "dwarf door" - a door that couldn't be opened by anyone but a dwarf. Behind this door was a natural cavern with a dark still pool in the middle. The group entered, and Lucretia spotted some gold coins scattered along the edges of the pool. Luc approached the edge of the pool, then glanced back at the rest as Dodge barked, his hackles on end. The light in the cave was suddenly tinged slightly red, and without the water rippling, a shimmering red ghost-like dragon's head roses up out of the water above Lucretia. Seeing the other's expressions and the
sudden change in light, Lucretia jerked his head back to the pool, and then staggered back several yards in surprise as he saw the apparition looming over him. The Dragon's head seemed to peer at the figures clustered near the entrance, then spoke, the voice deep and sibilant, yet at the same time so quiet it almost sounded as if it was whispering in each of the party's ears. Even those in the corridor heard it

"At lassst! No more orcsss!" it hissed. "Sssammassster did thisss to me He woke me from the sssleep of death and ssstole my body." The dragon roses up above the pond, half-spreading it's incorporeal wings - making it dominate the cavern and appear to almost double in size "I command you now to wreak my revenge!" the ghostly red dragon commanded. It pauses for a moment, looming terrible and magnificent all at once, before folding it's wings and slowly sinking back into the still waters of the pond, removing the red tinge from Lucretia's light coin. <SCENE>

After discussing the import of this strange occurrence, the group gathered a few coins, Cleo going as far as getting her boots wet, before they returned to the staircase and continued their descent.

At another short landing, a long corridor led off to the right (east) with the dwarven runes for "Safe Passage to Silverymoon" could be seen on the wall. Continuing down, the group came at last to the bottom of the stairs, the relatively narrow passage opening out into a roughly triangular room with the door in the middle of one of the sides. Opposite the door was what appeared to be a drawbridge, raised, behind which was a portcullis. In front of the drawbridge was a deep looking pit - at least 20 feet across at it's narrowest point. On the two walls either side of the drawbridge, murder holes could be seen high up on the wall. This was obviously a major defensive spot.

Herod invoked a spiritual hammer, which he used to smash one of the chains (and also Luc's grapple, which had been lodged in the second chain), causing the drawbridge to sag on one side a bit. Merrell cast a spell on Cleo, which allowed her to clamber around the walls, bypassing the pit. Once across, she helped affix some ropes to the bottom of the portcullis, such that they travelled up over the top of the raised drawbridge and then across the pit to the others. With a lot of pulling, the drawbridge started to descend slightly, and the portcullis to rise. Cleo slipped under, and started to look for some mechanism to complete the process. A moment later though, and her efforts were thwarted, as the second chain, weakened by Herod's spiritual hammer, and now holding the entire weight of the drawbridge and the portcullis, finally parted. With a huge rattling of chain and a double smash, the drawbridge slammed down across the pit and the portcullis crashed back into place.

Several of the group crossed the ancient crumbling and very much weakened drawbridge, and started to try to lift the portcullis. With the aid of a clerical spell from Larz, giving everyone involved, even Yvandel, the same strength as Lucretia, the portcullis was raised again and held up whilst everyone crossed the crumbling portcullis. Milo, the last, and the heaviest member of the party, was only half-way across when the drawbridge suddenly gave way beneath him, and tumbled into the dark depths. Winded, but luckily tied for safety to a rope, Milo was hauled up the last section and under the portcullis.

Larz set too to dig up a three foot square flagstone, which was finally manhandled into place as a wedge to keep the portcullis partially open.

On the far side of the portcullis, lay an open area, arcing around to either side to give access to the murder holes. Directly ahead however, lay a yawning chasm - a ravine disappearing off to each side, below and above into darkness. About 20 feet away, on the far side of the ravine lay the entrance to another large passage heading off. Crossing the chasm were three iron girders, presumably the remains of some ancient bridge. A few odd bats flew past, indicating that the ravine presumably had access to the open air at some point. Rigging up precautions with the remains of their rope, the group carefully made their way across the chasm, smelling the cold and damp, and if anything, slightly mouldy smelling air of the ravine, which implied that the access was probably a fair distance!

The corridor on the other side led about 20 yards, before ending in a large door. The Runes of Kheizar Dalan blazed into life as soon as Dorn approached it, and it became quickly apparent that this was another door that had been enchanted to be only openable by dwarves. Opening it, the group blinked in the relative brightness of a well lit corridor. To their left was an ancient guard room come barracks room, unlit. Further ahead appeared to be a several other junctions heading off. As they started to explore, the group heard a sudden tapping noise echoing from some distant point. Keeping quiet the group realised that someone or something was approaching. Lucretia, tapped his two Chardaly gems together, invoking the stored invisibility spell, and he disappeared from view. All the remaining party members, bar a reckless Dorn, hid in a side room, which appeared to be some ancient guard barracks of some kind.

Fighting Drow! - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 28th late afternoon]<SCENE>
After a few minutes, the source of the noises came into view. It was a pair of drow, one male and obviously a warrior - the other either a priestess or mage perhaps. They approached the middle of the corridor, before they came suddenly face to face with Dorn. Surprised to see a living dwarf in this place, the pair question Dorn briefly before suddenly the woman cast a holding spell on him. Serena, Herod, Larz, Cleo, and Ceely burst from their hiding place and charged towards the pair of drow. The place plunged into the magical darkness invoked by the drow, and a chaotic battle began. Vaslin, still in the side room, realised from the sounds of the battle that the darkness could only aid their opponents, and after a few moments of indecision, finally called upon Tymora's power, and dispelled the darkness with a spell of Light.

The battle was bloody and long, the drow warrior using his levitation skill and his superb agility to perform acrobatic feats that would normally be impossible, making him a very difficult opinion. Similarly, the drow woman had levitated to the ceiling, and was casting balls of invisible dark fire down onto Lucretia and Serena. It was at this point when the battle seemed to go downhill, as an undead creature with emaciated flesh, whom the drow called Torus, joined the battle from what was assumed a blocked side passage. Dwarven skeletons and a hunched ghoul also struggled into view from a hidden passage amongst the rubble, only to be kept back by an impressive warding spell cast by the ex-Zhent mage Blondung.

At last the tide was turned, and finally the two drow and the undead creature were dispatched, but not before Merrell had most of his strength drained out of him, and Serena was knocked out by a poisoned dart from the drow woman. Herod, having worked himself into a berserk battle rage, tackles the remaining undead, whilst Milo turned them back to the crawlspace they had arrived by.

After the last skeleton remaining had been smashed, a little first aid was administered, some of the priests casting healing spells to bring the most severely wounded back from the brink of death. The group then split, with one half - Lucretia, Dorn, Serena, Larz, Dorn, Blondung, Herod, and Vaslin , leaving Milo, Yvandel, Cleo, Ceely and the still weakened Merrell behind as they followed the fleeing skeletons and crawled through the hidden space in the caved in corridor.

Splitting the party - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 28th early evening]<SCENE>
Once through, they found themselves in another brightly lit corridor, stretching off into the distance. Doors and a couple of turnings could be seen. At the first junction, another passageway was blocked by a huge lump of stone, which Dorn confirmed was some form of defense mechanism sometimes used in dwarf holds. Further on, through a door that crumbled to dust at their touch, the sound of running water met them, together with a view of what must have once been the dwarves "garden" - growing all sorts of giant mushrooms and similar. Spotting some form of corpse, Larz and Lucretia headed further into the room, and disturbed a giant ant. Retreating to the corridor, the ant was dispatched, but not before Dorn gained a nasty injury to his arm.

With the sound of more giant ants approaching, the group decided to retreat through the crawlspace again, not wishing to face the creatures in their somewhat weakened state. With Luc covering their retreat, the group finally manage to return.

Meanwhile, the other's explored a spiral staircase, which had led towards what looked like the entrance to some mine shafts. It is believed that this is where the drow had come from. Returning to the main corridor, a decision about cleaning up the drow corpses was being discussed when the others returned.

Searching some old bedrooms - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 28th mid evening]
Having decided to stick together after all, the group started exploring some smaller rooms off the main corridor. For most of these, the doors were all good solid ancient ironwood that had lived up to it's reputation, and required a good shove to open them. Ceely found an ornate sealed flash in the first room. Herod came away with a set of adamantite metal working tools, Dorn took charge of a large gallon sized glazed pottery flask of what was appeared to be ancient dwarven spirits - a real find for him! Serena found what appeared to be a fresh clean-shaven dwarven corpse in a traditional dwarven coffin. The corpse had a dagger in it's heart, with the blood still wet. There must have been some form of stasis spell cast on the coffin to keep the corpse fresh. Inside the cloak, which showed a marking Larz identified as similar to a modern day dwarven courier guild, Serena found a note which when translated read as follows:

Translation from Ancient Dwarvish - Note on Dead Dwarven Courier in Coffin

"SLAYED HAS BEEN DORAB 'FASTNESS' JADLON, RESTING LOCALLY. REMAINS TO SAFEGUARD, COFFBOX LENT HAS BEEN BRIEFLY FOR MITHRAL HALL CONVEYANCE AND REVIVAL ANON. WEIGHTY SUBSTANTIATION HAS HE ABOUT THE VERACITY OF KHEIZAR DALAN MASTER WEAPONSMITH ALSO ROSE FORGE.

TWISTED IS MINDS HERE FROM MANIFESTATION OF DARK FORCES. UNDERCOVER COMPROMISED MAY BE. ATTEMPT TO SMUGGLE COFFBOX AMID NEXT SHIPMENT.

X.D."

A discussion took place as to the possible meaning and fate that had befallen this poor dwarf. From a mark on the dwarves' cloak, Larz suggested that the dwarf had been of a courier guild.<SCENE>

Shortly after this some of the other members of the group explored a few of the other rooms in the corridor. In one, another dead dwarf was found, though this one was laid out in state on the remains of it's bed, it's body dry and desiccated. The group, tired and still somewhat injured from the days events, decided that they would retreat back up to where they had left the horses, and rest for the night.

At the pool - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 28th late evening]
The return journey was difficult, an attack by stirge first <SCENE>, and then Vaslin very nearly falling when crossing the improvised rope bridge across where the drawbridge used to be. A sling for Dodge the dog was created and with much barking and whining, he was transported across. Upon returning to the "camp" the group began to relax a little, drinking a little wine, before some of them decided to go have a swim in the pool where they had seen the ghostly apparition of the red dragon. The water was cold, but this did not deter several stripping off their clothes and swimming in the waters. At the deepest point of the pool, a chest was found with more gold coins spilling from it. When it was opened however, it turned out to have a rotting head in it -which floated to the surface - and two animated hands, which attacked those swimming. <SCENE> Cold, tired and hurting the group finally reassembled back with the horses, and rested for the night.

Returning to the depths - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 29th morning]
The next morning, whilst priests and mages prayed and studied respectively, the fighters went outside into the daylight to fetch some wood. The stink of the rotting corpses outside was still nauseous, and the group hurried to their work, chopping several 10' long tree trunks with which to construct a safer way of crossing the pit. Shortly afterwards, after tending to the horses, the group descended again to the depths of Kheizar Dalan, returning the the area with the bedrooms. They explored several more rooms - uncovering a number of unusual objects, including a life size metallic abstract sculpture of a dwarven woman, several hundred gold pieces in a trapped chest<SCENE>, a magic carpet (not flying) and dwarven priest scrolls from a trapped drawer. The last door to be opened led to a couple of latrines.

Unfortunately, Vaslin decided it would be good to drop a torch down the deep hole, and somehow managed to ignite some ancient pocket of gas or something - as there was a distant explosion and a back draft of flame that blasted out of the latrines, burning some of the party. <SCENE>The group decided to return to their camp in case the drow came to investigate.

When the group (carrying the loot found so far) got back to the ravine, they discovered that the dwarven body had been removed from the casket. Also, their carefully constructed rope bridge had been cut. Ceely found some hidden rungs, leading down and sideways into the ravine, but came back before exploring further.

After considering the construction of a more solid bridge, the group re-raised the portcullis, jamming it open with the now empty lead built dwarven casket. They then rebuilt the rope bridge, and most of the group returned to the camp to dump the loot gained so far. On return, the reformed group briefly discussed what to do. Vaslin, with invisibility cast upon her by Yvandel, followed the hand-holds whilst most of the rest of the group went through to the Mushroom Farm room. It was confirmed that the hand-holds led there. This must have been where their mysterious rope bridge cutter and body snatcher had come from.

The rejoined group continued exploring, the invisible Vaslin scouting ahead. Soon, dwarven skeletal warriors were encountered, and a pitched battle started. As it continued, the noise brought more undead- including a figure the group thought they had dispatched already - Torus - the undead they had supposedly killed earlier. Things went from bad to worse, as Merrell was charmed by the undead leader, stabbed Cleo and zapped Blondung with a lightning bolt from the bone wand. Milo started to turn Torus, but then attacked instead with his flaming sword as Yvandel doused Torus with oil. But the undead had some form of protection against fire, and pulled Milo close, burning him and draining him at the same time. A ghoul also attacked Milo, paralyzing him and starting to chew on his ankle. A finger of fire from a barely alive Blondung dispatched the ghoul, and Merrell was taken down by a combination of Yvandel and Dodger and finally the flat of Dorn's axe. Vaslin turned Torus at the last moment, who fled, along with some remaining skeletons and zombies, into the swirling dust cloud caused by a summoned dust devil. <SCENE>

The group beat a hasty retreat in the opposite direction, escaping back to the portcullis area, where they had a brief rest. Some healing took place, along with some relearning of spells, before the group, with some serious reservations, decided to return to finish the job.

Second attempt to defeat Torus - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 29th early evening]
Things didn't get off to a good start. Crawling through the crawlspace, Larz was attacked from behind by an undead Quaggoth. As the other's struggled out of the small opening, a couple of skeletons also attacked. Finally, Herod managed to turn them, and the wounded quaggoth ran off down the corridor. <SCENE>The group re-assembled their ranks, and started cautiously down the corridor, checking each room thoroughly before moving on. When they reached the corner where they had had the last battle with Torus, they spotted a skeleton waiting at the far end of the corridor. Seeing the party, the skeleton pulled a stopper out of a flask it was holding, and was suddenly obscured by a large fog cloud, that rolled down the corridor towards them. As Blondung blasted a lightning bolt down the corridor, Herod summoned a dust devil to push the fog back, which appeared to work, pushing the fog back and making it denser. Lucretia and Merrell charged after the dust devil in a reckless attempt to get to the flask and re-stopper it.

Unfortunately, the dust devil was destroyed and the fog almost instantly filled the corridor, plunging everyone into virtually zero viability. Somewhat split up, the party called to each other and managed to gather most of them together on a rescue mission for Lucretia and Merrell. Meanwhile, Merrell miraculously managed to find the flask, and stoppers it with his thumb as he scrambled injured away from the undead The quaggoth roars in the fog, and after yelling a warning, Blondung lets rip with another pair of lightning bolts, which just about clear the corridor of undead. Meanwhile Torus, who had been following the party, attacked Yvandel and Milo, before killing Vaslin. Larz, hearing Milo's warning, pulled Cleo with him, and they charged back up the corridor in the fog till they came across Torus and amazingly the barbarian woman managed to down the undead with a critical blow. <SCENE>

As the party regrouped, they retreated, dragging Torus's corpse to where the fog was thinner, before realising that Vaslin was missing. Performing a quick sweep of the corridor, they came across her dead body, and also brought it back. Torus's body was completely destroyed, once Blondung had found a magical broach (see pic) pinned into the flesh of Torus's chest and removed it. Luc examined the broach and I played an April Fools joke on him!

The group returned to their base camp and cleaned up before resting.

One last search - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Kythorn 30th]
Somewhat refreshed, the group prepared for a final investigation into Kheizar Dalan before starting the journey back to Silverymoon. It was not to prove so easy though. Making their way back down the stairs, across the bridges, through the crawl-space and around the corridors, they cleared one last room (finding the body of the dwarf from the casket again) <SCENE> found themselves facing the doors to a temple. Larz and Dorn were so incensed by the obvious desecration, that they charged towards the temple. Inside were numerous skeletons, zombies and one ghoul. A fierce battle ensured, during which four angry and very much alive quaggoths burst up from a trap-door on which some zombies had been previously standing.

Yvandel was taken to the brink of death, but brought back by Milo, and the group managed to defeat all the creatures without any fatalities of their own. <SCENE> After the battle, the group paused to eat some bland food that Herod prayed for, before they quickly explored the crypts below the temple, finding them pretty much empty.

Exiting the temple, they looked at another large block of stone, blocking what seemed like the other end of the corridor which they had seen previously blocked in the same way. After some discussion and experimentation about trying to get past the block, Dorn finally concluded that their must be a secret passage past the blocks - if only to get to the activation mechanisms for the defense system. As the party set to looking for such a secret, Larz and Dorn went back into the crypts to search there. Merrell and Yvandel rested in the temple, chatting.

Down in the crypts, Dorn found a secret compartment behind a particular crypt, and with Larz to witness, there was a manifestation of Clanggeddin, indicating he should take up a battle axe (see pic) he found there.

Meanwhile, Lucretia found the secret passage they had been searching for - in the latrines near the accommodation section. The group re-united and Dorn and Larz examined the narrow tunnels more carefully, looking for possible traps. Reaching a locked iron bound door he couldn't open, the two dwarves returned to the group above, and Blondung volunteered that he had a spell that should be able to open the door - but that he needed rest before he could learn and cast it.

The group decided to split - Herod, Larz, Dorn and Serena went back to the temple to help "clean it up". The others returned up the stairs to the pool room, where Ceely, Cleo and Lucretia stripped off to dive for the gold - with a little help from a water breathing spell from Blondung. Defeating the two crawling claws that were still in the water, they managed to bring pretty much all the gold up to the surface, almost succumbing to hypothermia in the process. Milo helped out with some herbs and finally they warmed up.<SCENE>

Eventually, the whole group re-united back at the camp - fast running out of supplies - both for themselves and their mounts.

Past the Defensive Blocks - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Flamerule 1st morning]
In the morning, the group prepared themselves for "just one more" delve into the depths of Kheizar Dalan. Blondung spent time ensuring that he had learnt a spell to open locked doors, and the priests learned some more healing spells amongst others. After all their preparations, the party made their way back down the staircases, over their make-shift bridges, through the dwarf door and to the latrines. Here Blondung climbed down into the latrine and made his way through the narrow crawlways to the locked door. Casting his spell, the iron bound door burst open, and he made his way through, finding himself in the passage between the two defensive blocks. The rest of the party made their way through, Cleo having to leave Dodge behind and using her enchanted sword to light her way as she crawled, somewhat terrified through the narrow enclosed passage ways.

Once regrouped on the other side, the party started to make their way down a wide staircase. About half-way down, a large warning rune appeared infront of them, and suspecting a trap, Larz cast a detect traps spell. Detecting some form of magically triggered pit trap, it was decided that Dorn would be tied to a rope and he would go ahead to trigger the trap whilst the party waited above. Sure enough, Dorn disappeared from sight as a pit opened up under him, though to everyone else, it looked simply as if he disappeared through the stairs, as an illusion made it look like the stairs hadn't moved. Dorn, tied to the rope, narrowly missed the nasty stakes at the bottom.<SCENE>

Dorn made his way past the trap and to the landing below, where he entered a guard room and found a large lever on the wall. Pulling it, there was a loud grinding noise, and the trap reset itself, though it jammed slightly down from the level of the illusionary staircase. The others joined Dorn on the landing, and entered the guard room. In the room, there were four dead dwarves. One of them had engraved the following message on a stone tablet in front of him: <SCENE>

Translation from Ancient Dwarvish - message left by doomed dwarves

“We have waited for 4 days and it truly appears bleak. We have heard nothing since the sounds of combat in the first hour after the alarms were set, the blocks dropped and the doors sealed. We have no idea what has transpired or is transpiring, but only fear that the Forge has been breached. It is only from that direction that we heard combat and the heart-wrenching sounds of our dwarven comrades dying what must have been horrible deaths. May Moradin receive their and our valiant souls.”

One of the dwarves had some chainmail which appeared to have survived the ravages of time. Serena thought it might fit her, but it was clear it was sized for a dwarf only. Larz agreed to try it on at a later time, and it was put neatly on the stairs to collect later.. Continuing to explore, the room opposite turned out to be an armoury, and there were several suits of dwarven armour and lots of cobweb covered weapons. Larz accidentally opened a secret compartment, finding some priest scrolls. <SCENE>Yvandel, upon someone else's suggestion, cast a detect magic spell. Whilst it was still active, he tore off down the stairs - a large square spiral going steadily down, pausing at each landing to see if he could detect any magicical traps. The group, somewhat surprised by this somewhat uncharacteristic action, tagged along. Soon his spell had expired however, and the group made their way down the rest of the stairs somewhat more cautiously. A crack in the wall had let water in, and soon they were splashing down slippery steps trying to avoid a nasty tumble,

Finally, after many many flights of stairs, the group came across a flooded landing, on which was a stone door with an inscription:<SCENE>

Translation from Ancient Dwarvish - The riddle on first door.

"I am the property of a powerful dwarf, clothed in red,
Hard and steep-cheeked, my place was once
That of dark places; now I am the remnant of hostilities,
Of fire and file, firmly confined,
Decorated with wires. Sometimes he weeps
Because of my grasp, he who bears gold,
When I, adorned with rings, shall ravage."

Cleo took off her armour and stepped into the cold water to look around the corner, where she saw that the corridor was blocked by another defensive block. The group spent some time trying to figure out the answer to the riddle, Lucretia also stepping into the waist high water to examine the door closer. Eventually, Herod suggests the working solution to the riddle - "sword", and as Larz utters the dwarven translation, the door rappidly rises, causing the water to drain away. Cleo manages to get out of the way, but Lucretia is swept under the rising door, and nearly into an abyss beyond.

Once the water has nearly drained, the group hurry through the opened door to see Lucretia hanging off the edge of a narrow bridge that spans a bottomless looking pit. Serena rushes over and helps him back onto the relative safety of the bridge and the group examine the new stone door they were faced with. This had a simpler message engraved on it:

Translation from Ancient Dwarvish - Message on second door

"Sons of Dalan, smiths of virtue,
enter without fear. Others turn back now!"

This door didn't seem to need a riddle answer to open it, and once through the group entered a short corridor leading to an open area. Cobweb covered dwarven corpses littered the place, all showing marks of being slaughtered by edged weapons. three axes, a short sword and two large almost double handed swords suddenly rose into the air and started to attack them. Defending themselves as best they could, the party fought back at the flying weapons with their own weapons and spells. Finally, after a vicious battle, they managed to destroy them. <SCENE> Moving into the open area beyond, Larz opened a still intact and sanctified shrine to Dumathoin, and the group examined a hatch in the ground as well as a couple of small rooms which had once been used as rooms to defend the bridge. The corridors beckoned onwards, and a short distance further on, the group found what they had been looking for. The Rose Forge.

The Rose Forge - Inside Kheizar Dalan [Flamerule 1st afternoon]
The forge itself was beautiful to look at (See pic) as the group looked down from the entrance on a balcony above. Suits of armour and weapons lined the walls, 3 on the balcony and 3 down on the ground floor. Suspecting a trap, Serena suggested that they stand in front of each suit of armour and remove their weapons before the suits animated. As soon as Lucretia's foot touched the ground floor however, the suits animated, and only the three on the balcony were successfully disarmed. A severe battle ensued, and it was a miracle that no-one died, though several were brought close. <SCENE> After the battle, Yvandel did a detect magic spell, and identified that the forge itself had some form of elemental link - possibly a gate to the plane of fire deep within it, and also that there was some source of magic hidden behind a symbol of Dumathoin on the wall under the balcony. He also went back upstairs to find the source of a couple of other magical emanations, accompanied by Cleo, returning with an enchanted forge hammer (see pic), three pea sized glow stones, and a copy of the last engraved words of an ancient long dead dwarf:<SCENE>

Translation from Ancient Dwarvish - engraving on the wall by doomed dwarf.

"Our very constructs have risen up against us and attacked in earnest. All of my comrades have fallen, but I am unable to escape this prison. Even now the weapons hammer away at the door and I fear my end draws near. Only now do I see how foolish we have become and that we were the forgers of our own doom. We have been beguiled by Garthgau and his promises of ever more powerful creations, and there is an evil within the forge he created that we did not see before. I beg forgiveness of ye, Silent Keeper, though I deserve it not."

The group looked again at the forge, and noted something no-one had spotted before - a repeating pattern on the forge that looked somewhat like a broken horn. Going back over old memories, the group came to the conclusion that the corruption of the forgre, perhaps even the original maker of the forge, was either a follower of the power DelRoy Harpel had mentioned - Gargauth, or Gargauth himself. After a brief rest to allow Milo to recover, the group climbed the stairs all the way back to their camp, and rested for their last night in Kheizar Dalan.

Quaervaar [Flamerule 2nd evening]
The next morning, the group awoke early, and gathering their belongings together, finally left Kheizar Dalan, and made their way (very much enjoying the open air for the first time in 5 days) through the fringes of the Moonwood towards Quaervaar, where they entered the only inn - the Whistling Stag. Here they quickly got themselves rooms and started a bit of R&R - Yvandel put on a show, using magic and juggling together with his ventriloquism skill and two faced puppet.<SCENE> Cleo also discovered in private what Merrell had done with Torus's Broach.

On the trail to Silverymoon [Flamerule 3rd afternoon]
Joining Moonwood Masts - owned by a merchant named Rostcal <SCENE>, the group started the one day journey back to Silverymoon. It was not however without incident. After meeting the Knights of Silver <SCENE>, strong winds and rain heralded a storm. Worse than that however, was an ambush, staged by Von Fedel no less. Having gained a hill giant ally, and with a group of undead trailing after him, he had already ambushed and killed the occupants of a 4 wagon caravan heading north. With the giant hiding inside one of the wagons, the priest and feigned death himself, sitting arrogantly up front on the lead wagon. Using his evil priestly magic and the strength of the giant, von Fedel nearly over came the party. At one point, with (an enlarged) Merrell and Blondung down (as well as a couple of guards and Rostcal), Lucretia, Milo and Cleo magically held, the battle looked like it would have a dire outcome, but Dorn and Lucretia got in some good blows on Von Fedel, and the evil priest managed to escape through some form of portal. <SCENE>

Silverymoon [Flamerule 3rd after dusk]
After clearing up the dead after the battle, the group continued on to Silverymoon, finally arriving after just after dark. Captain Glandril met the group, and after a brief period of questioning about the trouble on the road, allowed the party to continue into the city. Rostcal and Glandril were left with the impression that the priest wasn't Von Fedel, though his name was mentioned several times. <SCENE> Blondung headed off towards the Inn of the Wayward Sages, whilst the rest of the group took a detour with Vaslin's body to Fortune Hall <SCENE>. Rostcal said his thanks again, and followed after his men towards the caravan staging ground, where his precious masts were already waiting.

Silverymoon (At Fortune Hall) [Flamerule 3rd after dusk]
The group arrived at the temple to Tymora just as the evening service was finishing, and Balnor met the group, obviously pleased to see them. Inside, they met Luckpriestess Aratha Sul, who took Vaslin's body, and said she would pray for guidance to see if Vaslin could be brought back to life. The party made their way to the Inn of the Wayward Sages, where Blondung had secured some rooms. Yvandel again gave a rousing performance in the inn complete with illusions and sound effects.

END OF MODULE ONE - LINK TO MODULE TWO

Last updated 30th December 2004 (Kythorn 30th mid-afternoon)