DM Log: Into the Four Counties

 North of Seaward and West of Tirgalen are the Four Counties, an alliance of demi-human nations:

Riverhearth: An nation of about 20,000 Halflings (mainly Southern Halflings). Ruled by Count Perrinor and the primate is Bishop Jerriador.

Greenbough: A nation of about 15,000 Elves (mainly Forest Elves). Led by Count Finan Laclaer and with primate Bishop Erencu.

Gladdenstone: Home to about 12,000 Gnomes (legends claim some Glade Gnomes live there, but almost exclusively Dell Gnomes). Count Artenn rules with the help of his cousin, the primate Bishop Waldo.

Karag: A nation of about 11,000 Dwarves, mainly Granite Dwarves. Their ruler is Count Theorn and their primate is the legendary Archbishop Karl, called Hammer of the Orcs.

The Company of the Dark Moon sent a scouting team consisting of:

Starfalcon: (Alex) A ranger from Timberlake and one of the top fighters in the entire company. 6th level ranger.

Ursula: (Jen) A halfling thief from Riverhearth and known for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 4th level thief.

Anwyn: (Nick) A bard and known for being in the right place at the right time. 5th level bard.

Seamus: (Jack) A druid and raconteur. 5th level druid.

        Bornthein: (henchman to Seamus) a warrior from Karag. 3rd level fighter.

Godfrey: Master of Scouts for the Company. 6th level scout.

        Alfred: Religious Brother, henchman to Godfrey. 3rd level religious brother.

        Nigel: Scout and henchman to Godfrey. 3rd level scout.

The Company had learned from various sources (read: the castle of Lord Whitehill and interrogating mercenaries and bandits) that-

  A) The evil para-elemental cults had been subverted and were in service to a demon cult.

  B) The demon cult was Baron Samedhi's primary tool used to subvert nations from within.

So they sent the info team to get info.

Seaward: Massive Update

  The players decided to do a focused scout inside Skull Mountain so set off through the Briars with a party heavy on thieves and light on fighters (although the ranger Starfalcon was there).

  After a long slog up the Old Road slowed down by massive Spring rains and high winds the party reached the Plateau just in time to see a group of human-shaped figures go down what they call the Hunter's Trail on the south slope. Some very careful scouting by familiars revealed a camp about 1 mile down filled with a hobgoblin warband of about 60.

Blackstone: Massive Update

  Time for a dump of all the adventuring done in Blackstone since Christmas!

The Fever Lands
  Two groups of PCs went to the Fever lands.

      In the East a tough team of PCs crept down the Viper River, passt the ruins of Tamoachan (where they saw the ancient city swarming with megalocentipedes), and scouted the foreboding Jade Tower.
  They were forced to be very careful because of the winged apes that hunt throughout this area, but eventually learned that the last surviving leaders of the Necromancer Cult were hidden in the Jade Tower, led by an Ogre Mage chieftain. A judicious  use of illusions and misdirection and they successfully ambushed the Ogre Mage. It was a fierce battle, but the badly-bloodied party prevailed.
  They threw down the tower and left.

      In the West a very different party went to the colony established by the King of Blackstone two decades before and right into the middle of political intrigue.
  The military governor was Baron Addan, formerly an independent nobleman whose domain was annihilated by a dragon (an adventure the players had in in 2009!). Forced to appeal to the King he has been the military governor of the colony for almost a decade. Under his leadership the sleepy village that cost money to own was turned into a bustling trade town making the King great wealthAddan's triplet son Arran, Bordann, and Eamonn, were great assets. The soldiers were 50/50 retainers of Addan (and fiercely loyal to him) and royal recruits (who worshiped the triplets).
  But the king had sent his cousin, Count Farnorr, to the town to become the new noble ruler. Farnorr had brought his own sizeable group of retainers. The triplets were openly bitter and Addan had focused on building a sturdy walled village 2 days South into the jungle and was openly manning it with those most loyal to himself.
  Count Farnorr met with the adventurers (who were there for the Inquisition) along with the local bishop and Farnorr's daughter, Faella. They discussed the search for cultists, the dangers of the Fever Lands, and more.
  Addan left for the remote village the next day. And 2 nights later the PCs were summoned in the middle of the night - the triplets had kidnapped Faella and fled South, taking some of Addan's most loyal with them! As the Count prepared an actual army he begged the party to pursue, and pursue they did.

  things got weird almost immediately. Just 3 miles outside of town they found one of Addan's men beheaded next to a lame horse. The ranger was able to piece together that one of the triplets had had his horse tumble and go lame and then seemed to kill his own soldier and take his horse. They later found the rest of the troops, all killed in melee. But no sign of the triplets or Faella.
  The party forged on with horses, slowly losing ground to the triplets who were switching between 4 horses each.Then the party saw smoke on the horizon.
  The arrived to the village in flames. The dead were Addan's own men and the royal soldiers with Addan himself dead at the door to the main keep. The palisade and keep were burning allowing the ranger to deduce that the soldiers loyal to the triplets had ambushed their father and his men, then the triplets had killed the survivors before setting off South on foot (no horses beyond the village). Faella was still with them.

  The party buried Addan, placed the other bodies in the fires, and briefly rested before continuing on foot.
  Faella was slowing down the triplets and the party hoped to catch them when they were suddenly ambushed by a tasloi warband, including tasloi on giant wasps dropping nets.
  The fight was very tough, especially one the chieftain showed up armed with a Ring of Blinking, a Potion of Invulnerability, Bracers of AC 4,and a poisoned spear. But after a very, very tough fight the party prevailed, killing the chief and shaman and scattering many survivors.
  Pressing onward they were approached by a pair of jungle elves. Impressed that the party had defeated the tasloi warband the elves exchanged information about the terrain and the tasloi village for some arrowheads. The jungle elves referred to the triplets as 'the ancient evil' and reluctantly told the party where to find them.

  The party is soon ambushed by another tasloi warband... and the chieftain?! The fight was rough and the chieftain was insanely tough. And when they killed the chief? He turned back into he normal form.
A doppleganger.

  The party was able to track down Where the warband came from and found "the chieftain" exhorting another warband! The pary ambushed the warband, for once, and when the doppelganger was killed the tasloi fled.

  Following the directions the jungle elves had given (finally!) the party found an ancient Jade Empire (Mayincatec) building. As they approached the 30' stone dwelling two Faella's emerged! There was a bit of a standoff trying to figure out which was which until the mage cast Sleep and they killed the one who was confused, THEN fell down (the mage has a Ring of Mind Shielding).

  Looting the building they learned a lot, including that the dopplegangers had been living there for at least 3,000 years. The found a map to the Flint Skies (the mythical capitol of the ancient Jade Empire). Now, there are 6-7 maps to the Flint Skies but they are all proven inaccurate. This one, though, was complete enough for them to figure out why all the maps are broken - the map gave directions based on the stars and the map was so old the stars have moved.
  The party stashed the accurate map (they can adjust!) and took Faella home.

  They met the Count at the village. He was very happy to see his daughter. Over the next few days the truth of Addan's loyalty, the evidence that his son's had been murdered and replaced a year previously, and his tragic death, believing he was betrayed by his own sons, had a profound effect on the Count.

  The party rested, re-equipped, and headed right back out. With scouting they located the tasloi village and staged an attack that killed a few, but fell back, planning guerilla tactics against the number humanoids.
  But then a massive green dragon landed. At first the tasloi greeted it warmly, saying they were under attack and asking 'their master' to kill the intruders.
  But the dragon grew angry. When he learned that the magic items he had loaned to them had been stolen he bellowed,
  "You have failed me! You are TOO WEAK to be my servants!"
  And he killed them all before flying away.

  The party left, fast, and warned the count of the dragon just 4 days away!.

Next entry - catching up on Seaward.

DM Report: the trip to Robias

  Over the weekend we had a bookkeeping session/mini-adventure/investigation mission.
  The Party:
  Jennifer = Fiona, half-elven Fighter/Magic-user
  Jack = Athanasius, human Cleric
  Alex = the Sparrow, half-elven Fighter/Thief
  Sam = Clarence, Human Fighter/Ninja (books, wishes, and such involved)
  Nick = Thoren, half-orc Fighter/Thief

DM Report: Return to the haunted Tower - with guest player

  The players have not been back to the village of Richacre and the Haunted Tower in 5 years (real time). First level characters on their first adventure played.

Jack - a half-elven thief
Sam - an elven fighter
Nick - a human cleric
David - a dwarven fighter

Fortieth Anniversary Adventure

  Which continues this weekend, naturally.

  The main party headed through the Briars to Skull Mountain. On the way they met stragglers from Whitehill's army and killed them all. A dozen or so large spiders had taken up residence in the Entrance Cavern; the party shooed them back with fire and entered the North Door, checking the areas for disturbances.
  All was in order so they entered the Pilgrims' Hall and travelled the long way to the Pilgrims' Stairs. In the Chapel they found the body of a female verbeeg, dead no more than 2 weeks. She had been cut down by a hobgoblin's poisoned dart.In her pouch was a message asking the company to assist them as they were besieged by hobgoblins.
  The party immediately struck out to the Garden Level and set all the hirelings and supplies with the 'camp guards' henchman team and struck out through the Cavern of Herds (finding another dead verbeeg messenger) and the Trog Tunnels. After the almost 4 mile trek they spotted a hobgoblin camp at the junction with Hobgoblin Highway. A force of 80 hobgoblin warriors with onagers and ballistae were behind a barrier and firing on the verbeeg wall and about 120 hobgoblin females, slaves (mainly goblins with a handful of kobolds), and such were in the main camp.
  The party hit the main camp like a thunderbolt, cutting their way through them rapidly and engaging the warriors with a strong frontline and spells. The verbeeg sortied out and the hobgoblin warriors, surrounded, were cut down to the last.

Play Report: Fortress of the Death Knight Lord, End

  You can find part I here.

  The background and characters are the same.

Late Play:  The party immediately crossed the mile-long bridge, grabbed the prisoners (using a magical mirror to see if they were illusions, etc.), and headed west to their camp. At camp they grabbed the other prisoners (who had fled hours earlier), their steeds and supplies, and sung north and east to bypass the fortress, then grabbed a few hours of sleep to avoid forced march penalties. Awakening at Noon, they set out for the rendezvous with the Green Parrot, all while debating taking the sea rather than land.

Play Report: The Fortress of the Death Knight Lord, part I

System:
AD&D 2e with Skills and Powers plus house rules. We use spell points from Spells and Magic, specialized weapon styles of my own creation. No crusaders or 2e S&P monks, but plenty of magic types. I also use my inverted skills chart, found here.

The Adventurers:
Marigold- 6th level Human cleric. Played by the Wife.
        Kugel the Stern- 3rd/3rd fighter cleric Dwarf, henchman to Marigold
Tellon- 6th level Human fighter. Specialized in the falchion. Son #4
        Claron- 3rd level Human fighter, specialized in the spear. Henchman to Tellon.
Neun Hammerfist- 5th/5th fighter/thief Half-elf. Son #3
Drake- 5th/5th Half-elf fighter/mage. Son #2
"Steve"- 5th/4th thief/illusionist Gnome who always uses a different name. Son #1

DM's Play Report: The Mice Men

  Son #3 has been asking for a quick solo adventure for some time so today we did it.

  The Good Guys:
  Godfrey, 4th level Human Scout (one of the classes from Far Realms)
    his henchman Karl, 2nd level Human Scout

  Margurlward the Magician, NPC that is paying for the mission

  The Bad Guys:
  24 Mice Men warriors
  6 Mice Men archers
  3 Mice Men thugs
  1 Mouse Man Witchdoctor
  The King of the Mice Men

  The Setup:
  I took the basic premise and setting of Ulo Leppik's great one page dungeon named Teeny Tiny Dungeon and modified it a great deal.  I took his idea for little humanoids, crossed it with some of the ideas of Tarzan and the Ant Men (a book I read 4 times as a young teen) and slapped it on the edge of the Briars.
  Margurlward has a sturdy stone cottage on the edge of a thorn spinney on the verge of the Briars. He had long noted that small objects went missing, especially if dropped on the floor. A year ago while preparing scroll ink he had spilled a pouch of gems (meant to be crushed for the ink) and most had vanished. Things escalated recently when he dropped a jewelry case, scattering a handful of magical rings and he saw a few of them dragged away by wee men who took it through a tiny door by his fireplace!
  Margurlward had done his best to block off the door and has brewed a set of Potions of Diminution and is looking for an intrepid band to recover his valuables.
  Unfortunately, everyone he speaks to think he has lost his mind!
  Luckily, he met Godfrey and Karl in a tavern in Esber, just a day from his cottage. The two men concluded that there was nothing to lose to investigate for themselves and went to the cottage.
  After arriving Margurlward removed his barriers to show the entrance, just 1 inch high. Godfrey removed a 5 g.p. gem from his pouch and tossed it near the tiny door and was amazed to see a band of tiny men rush out, grab it, and run back into the fireplace!
  The two scouts secured bandoleers of 4 diminution potions to their bodies and Godfrey drank one, telling Karl to remain behind, full size, while he scouted.
  Godfrey carefully entered the unsecured door and found a series of tunnels and caves (to him 5 inches looked like 30 feet!) within the river stone and mortar chimney and hearth. Some of the tunnels led to mouse tunnels (carefully sealed off and blocked with toothpick barricades and stout little doors). Others to a store room full of coils of stout rope (thread), mighty iron poles (fork tines), fist-sized chunks of iron (filings), etc. He also burst into a room with 8 of the creatures - they looked like broad-shouldered, muscular men dressed in mouse-hide boots, breechclouts, and cloaks armed with iron-tipped toothpick javelins and battle axes. While they appeared otherwise human their hair was more akin to mouse fur and their eyes were solid black.
  Godfrey surprised them, allowing him to slay two immediately with well-placed arrows. He killed another with arrows, but was wounded by javelins. He fled along the twisting corners, losing them long enough to set an ambush near an anti-mouse barricade.
  He was able to use his Scout ambush ability to kill 3 more of them with arrows and killed the rest in melee, but was very close to death and almost out of arrows. He dragged himself into a storeroom to catch his breath. He recognized a scent coming from a huge drum an, wrestling off the massive lid, found enough Keoghtom's Ointment for 2 doses ( in his present size). Healed up (and with a backpack full of the second dose) he left the fireplace warrens and had his henchman join him - bringing 80 more arrows!
  They re-entered the tiny tunnels and immediately faced a flurry of javelins (minor damage to both) before the band of warriors fled. They followed them very carefully, avoiding a second ambush and being ready for the mouse that was released into the tunnels behind them! After fierce fighting Godfrey and Karl used potions and continued exploring, finding a large room where another band of mice men were being rallied by a huge mouse man covered in tattoos and wearing a mouse skull helmet. There was a wizened, old mouse man leaning on a staff next to him and three doughty warriors with handlebar mustaches and whips guiding a warband at them!
  The two scouts used a bend in a tunnel to shield themselves from javelins and their bows made the cost of closing with them very high. Godfrey's broadsword held the tunnels while Karl fired at foes beyond. Over matched, the mice men fell back while Godfrey and Karl sought a place to catch their breath and use the last of their potions. Reinvigorated, they took up positions at anti-mouse barricades with good fields of fire and waited.
  Eventually the last of the mustachioed thugs led a strong band of warriors into the kill zone and, once again, the scouts achieved surprised, activating their Ambush abilities. The thugs went down in the first salvo and half the warriors lay dead before those still on their feet got into melee. Within a few rounds Karl was collecting arrows and Godfrey was using the last of the Keoghtom's to heal up.

  Penetrating deeper they encountered 4 archers firing from a platform with a gold rim - they were firing from inside a +1 Ring of Protection! As Godfrey and Karl killed the archers a group of warriors attacked them from behind and the old mouse man cast a spell that resulted in a ghostly rat biting Karl, injuring him badly. The two heros cut down the warriors as the old man fled, then began to roll the ring out of the tunnels. This led to the King of the Mice Men rushing them while their bows were away.
  The duel between the king and the heroes was hard fought and almost caused Godfrey's death, but they prevailed. Luckily the king had more salve in his possesion, so both could heal up.
  The few pitiable survivors surrendered soon after. Godfrey and Karl tied them up, then continued to explore. They found a portal to the fireplace that opened through a Ring of Fire Resistance; they found the magician's missing jewels, hidden within a Ring of Invisibility; the king's, throne was inside a large ring with a diamond; and the king's bed was within a Ring of Warmth.
  As they entered the king's bedchamber the mouse mage struck, casting a spell that caused spectral weasel jaws to snap shut on both Godrey and Karl; Karl was reduced to 1 hit point, Godfrey to 8! Godfrey leapt forward and was just able to kill the mouse mage before his next spell!
 
  The explorers spoke with their captives and founf they were exiles from a distant land where there were many men like them, mouse men who warred with the bee men. This land was deep in the Briars. Feeling pity, Godfrey made them swear an oath to never return and released them through a hidden door to the garden and watched them vanish into the spinney.

  The two removed all of the loot, grew to their normal size, and received their reward - 300 g.p., the rings, and the sole remaining Potion of Diminution. Marlgurlward negotiated and paid them 500 g.p. to also get back the diamond ring.

  33 said he had great fun!

DM's Game Log: Return to Dwarf Hill

NOTE: Somehow an early draft was published; edits are now included.

 Dwarf Hill is the name of a large hill on the eastern verge of the Stone Hills just beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Seaward. It had long had a reputation of being both the hiding place of dwarven treasure and of being haunted by a banshee. About 18 months ago (real time) an adventuring party had found a hidden ravine on the eastern edge of Dwarf Hill and cleared out a small band of brigands hiding in a hillside dwelling. The party had found a tunnel into the hill that eventually bridged an underground stream but then ended in a door  - a door with a long-dead body in front of it and the chalked warning "Glyph" on the wall nearby.
  This weekend a new party returned, this time with a dwarven fighter/cleric along who believed he knew the password to temporarily deactivate the glyph.

  The party consisted of:
  Fiona, a human fighter; 2nd level
  The Sparrow, a half-elven fighter/thief; 1st/2nd
  Konrad, a dwarven fighter/cleric; 1st/1st
  Seamus, a druid; 2nd
  Thoren, a half-orc fighter/thief; 1st/2nd

  No henchmen this time around.
  The party travelled to the border along the Wyvern Road meeting no one of more than middling interest with only a heavy rain to break the monotony of the road. After three days they left he fortified village of Estham for Dwarf Hill, 5 hours into the wilderness. They arrived and found the stone hut still empty, but intact. They quickly rechecked the areas they had cleared out on the first trip and then scouted the bridge and door - they seemed undisturbed.
  They crossed the bridge and examined the door. Seamus used a lantern to peer carefully into the darkness along the underground river's passage and thought he detected another bridge upstream and higher in the cleft. Kaspar said what he hoped was the password and opened the door... safely.
  The area beyond was obviously a mine; the door opened into a central collection area with two drifts radiating away from it and doors further into the hill. The party heard a faint tapping in the distance, but could not identify the direction the sound was coming from. The tapping sounded like either metal on stone or water on metal and was very regular.
  The party explored the nearest drift first. The dwarf identified the ore as a source of tin. The drift showed that the vein was played out in the area. In a remote side shaft they found a half-elven body, long dead, under a pile of rubble. On the wall nearby they found tally marks; the count was 64. Returning to the main area they opened the first door and found an area with tin ore in bins. While poking through the bins the animated skeleton of an ogre burst forth and fought the party. The party slew it in 2 rounds, then opened another door in the room, revealing another passage and door.
  About this time Seamus, Fiona, and Konrad all began counting on their fingers and marking each 10 count with a tally mark on the wall. The others realized they were counting the individual taps they were hearing! Concerned, those unaffected quickly led the counters through the glyphed door (saying the password!) and across the bridge, where the sound of the water drowned out the tapping. In a few turns the three counters were feeling fine, although shaken by their sudden obsession with counting. The party realized tha, based on lantern oil, the obsession hit after an hour of the tapping, camped in the stone hut and made plans for the next day.
  After a quiet night the party once more said the pass word, entered the mine, and began to search, but much less cautiously than usual.They found another body in the second drift (beneath 91 tally marks) and stairs leading up. They also found a central equipment room with mining tools and 4 handcarts. As they approached an hour within the sound of the tapping they retreated into s short drift, Seamus put wax plugs into his ears, and the rest (all members of the Church) began chanting the Litany of the Saints.

  All felt an immediate lessening of the psychic pressure of the sound of tapping.

BTW, this is, in my game, the basis of the Chant spell.

   After about 5 rounds a figure leaped out of the darkness! It looked like an emaciated dwarf dressed in rags carrying a heavy tool hammer and was obviously undead. Most of the party was surprised - the creature swung at Seamus, but missed. Seamus missed in return and then the thing ran off, seemingly into thin air.
  The party continued, finding two more main drifts and continuing to explore. They found two more bodies and what they suspected was the main lair of the creature. And while once again stopping in a small alcove to chant the creature attacked again, striking Fiona for quite a bit of damage.
  And removing every trace of her sense of direction. She was so puzzled she couldn't even obey 'follow the person in front of you' instructions. Kaspar took her my the hand to lead her through the tunnels. A second ambush dealt damage to Kaspar, as well, and the confusion. Both could still fight and even cast touch spells, but not travel!
  On the fourth attack, however, Seamus was more prepared. This time he was not surprised and he had a spell ready - Faerie Fire! The creature was limned by the spell and the fighters closed in (some with hand-holding) and destroyed him soon, but not before he confused another member of the party.
  The party retreated back to the hut, rested, healed up and by late the next day the weird confusion had ended.
  The returned and examined the higher floor, finding it empty (other than a mithral key they discovered after following a few clues) and - the other bridge, seen before. With some quick thinking and luck they were able to bypass the Wizard Lock on this door and enter the final chambers.
  This was the bolt-hole of a long-dead wizard who had taken over the space as a place to hide from his enemies. The party slew a ghoul set to guard the outer door (Thoren got initiative and killed it with a single mighty blow!) and then drove off an imp (the dead mage's familiar, trapped by a spell) to find his corpse and a basic spell research library.
  They gave the dead proper burial and then used the carts to haul out the loot. Several of them leveled up.

  The monster ws one I have had stuck in my head a loooooong time. Way, way back in Dragon Magazine #58, which came out in February of 1982, was a special section on dwarves that included a new undead, the Rapper. I modified them a little bit and have wanted to use them for, oh, about THIRTY-THREE YEARS! Although only 4 HD their abilities to drive people mad, turn invisible, and affect people with a Lose the Path effect combine to make them a nice, creepy threat. The party realized that a little foolhardiness and a few blown saves and one rapper could wipe out an entire party rather easily. I have had Dwarf Hill floating around in various incarnations for 3 decades and finally a party went past that glyphed door!

  More on the campaign in general soon.

DM's Report: Midsummer at Skull Mountain

System: AD&D 1e with the Far Realms supplement.
Campaign: Seaward, which has been ongoing since 1978

  After what the party learned last time when clearing out the entrance to Skull Mountain (the third time that needed doing!) they returned to Oldbridge, leveled up, re-equipped, gathered henchmen, and headed back for Midsummer. Sa. was mildly upset his druid was out (because Midsummer) and the party spent a lot of time talking, since they had three objectives;

    1) Explore the third secret door they discovered last time, which they never even opened.
    2) Use the magical binoculars mounted on the peak to try to look at the surface of the third moon.
    3) Deal with the evil female in a robe that had been controlling the previous inhabitants.

  The party assembled was;

    Je. played- Brigid, a 3rd level human barbarian (custom class)
        and Brigid's henchman, Byron, a 1st level cleric

    Ja. played- Seeker, an elf 3rd/4th magic-user/thief
        and Seeker's henchman, Kaspar, a 2nd level scout (custom class)

    Al. played- Starfalcon, a half-elf 3rd level ranger

    Sa. played- "Clint", a human 3rd level paladin
        and his various henchmen, starting with Akio, a human 1st level monk
        as well as Arthur, his 2nd level human man-at-arms (custom NPC-only class)
        also Willem, a 3rd human level hedge mage (a custom NPC-only class)

    Ni. played Owen, a human 3rd level magic-user
        and Owen's henchman, Octavius, a 1st level half-ogre fighter
        plus Owen's brownie familiar, Mortimer

    The party also had their hirelings with them: Alon (merchant), Jerb (porter), and Merle (medium footman).
  That is a total of 11 with character sheets! So they set out with 14 horses and 3 pack mules up the Old Road toward Skull Mountain.

  The party staged out of the walled town of Esber, the town closest to the Briars. While Esber is still prepared for battle the party's report of clearing kobolds and such from the mountain has eased fears greatly. They also received a 10 gp bounty each for returning the Count's horses and reporting the fate of his patrol.

  It is literally the height of Summer, so the weather was very hot, something made worse in the Briars. Since the daytime temp was usually over 100 degrees the party traveled without armor and made frequent stops, adding to the travel time. The party encountered a ragged, gaunt man along the road. Although they were fairly sure he was a fugitive from justice their time limit led them to give him some rations and warn him to mend his ways. While gathering wood Kaspar encountered a brush cat, which he killed with some well-placed arrows.

  When they finally reached the plateau outside the entrance to Skull Mountain they discovered the bodies of a few of the kobolds killed on the last adventure, but now gnawed upon and then well-rotted. Starfalcon identified the tracks of 4 trolls, one of whom was 'very large'.

  The party reached the entrance cave, finding the main doors still sealed. Seeker scouted what they call the North Door; the door was open and the entrance room had rotting corpses of kobolds thrown into the corners. With the party at the entrance he went into the attached storeroom to find - a troll, sleeping in its new nest.

  Very quickly the party formed into 2 group - the main group at the North Door watching the other 2 entrances to the entrance room as Starfalcon, Brigid, Seeker, and Kaspar ambushed the sleeping troll.
  The attack went well, but there is only so well you can do against a troll. The troll was up and fighting quickly. At the same time in the entrance area Akio sensed a troll coming down the east hall and Octavius saw a troll charging, full speed, down the north hall.
  Clint, Arthur, and Akio covered the east while Octavius set spear for charge to the north and the 'flying squad' continued fighting to the west. Seeker and Kaspar did well with arrows while Brigid dealt wounding attacks and Starfalcon took advantage of the ranger bonus damage very, very well. The troll from the east engaged Clint and Arthur, a little damage flying around. Octavius did great damage with his spear - and the troll pushed down the spear and hurt Octavius badly!
  Byron rushed in and healed Octavius while Akio moved to back him up; Clint and Arthur stayed engaged; Seeker and Kaspar fell back into the entrance room while Brigid and Starfalcon held the door. During the next round Brigid and Starfalcon dropped the troll to the west, Seeker and Kaspar shifted fire to the north and east, respectively, and combat continued.
  But! Brigid and Starfalcon caught a glimpse of a very large troll coming into the room to the west!
  The party began to retreat to the south door, under pressure. Owen dropped a Stinking Cloud just inside the west door, catching the big troll. Clint, Starfalcon, and Brigid formed a line in front of the south door against the two trolls while Byron healed Octavius further.  Over two rounds they dropped the two trolls and, looking at how much magic was used (Owen's Magic Missiles were also gone and Byron was critically low on cures and all the fighters were wounded) they decided to retreat while the troll was blocked by the Stink.
  Unfortunately, the troll burst out of the cave in full pursuit while they were only halfway across the plateau.
  And, on spotting him, Brigid went berserk and charged right back.
  Luckily, Clint has Boots of Striding and Springing  so he was able to reach the big troll alongside Brigid. The two of them did a lot of damage in the first round! But, they also took plenty in return. In the second round Akio arrived, attacking from behind while Clint and Brigid kept doing well and the troll missed all but a love-tap on Brigid. In the third round Brigid and Clint both hit again, Starfalcon arrived and engaged Ranger Powers, and Octavius finally made it - and rolled maximum damage, cleaving the troll from shoulder to hip!
  Before an hour was up the trolls were gathered and burnt, the guard area was swept and found empty, and the troll nest looted. An hour after that the party was setting up a hidden camp on the eastern slope of the mountain, resting.
  In the morning Clint and Byron healed everyone up and the party went back into the guard complex. The found that the one secret door which they knew of but hadn't opened was trapped and decided to leave it alone. Seeker finally realized an earlier hope and had Octavius rip the lower grate from the kitchen chimney, then clambered up the long, long shaft.
  Along the way he found the grate from another fireplace (about 70' higher up); he could just see the corner of a Tonildan rug and the foot of a chair or table, both covered in dust in a room lit, somehow. At about 90' he found a side shaft that smelled of old smelter smoke and fumes angling off southeast and down. And at 120 feet he came to the upper grate, where he found, on the far side, the Wizard Mark of a member of a Mage House known for mage/thieves and evidence they had been stopped by the grate long, long ago.
  In the rest of the complex they found a very old cell behind double iron grates - inside were skeletons still with their hands wrapped around each other's throats.
  They left this area alone, too.
  Last, they went to the Wizard Locked door and had Octavius try it.
  A half-ogre with an 18(00) strength: he rolled a 1. The door opened.
  Beyond was the far side of the bronze doors from the main cave, sealed up and held by an adamantine bar sunk into the living rock on either side. And in the other direction was a 20' wide, 36' high corridor stretching deep into the mountain. The corridor walls were carved with bas reliefs of cultists walking into the mountain accompanied by various devils.
  The party followed the corridor for 1/10th of a mile before coming to a pair of evil shrines, one to ice (to the North) and one to fire (to the South), both behind pillars. The ice altar emitted cold, the fire altar emitted heat, and both were stained with old blood.
  The followed the corridor further until it opened into a massive space 150' across, 200' wide, and 180' high. The north section had bas reliefs showing a devilish sea full of spiked seaweed, sahuagin, and sharks. The south section was carved to resemble a vast volcanic plane covered in fire with orcs and devils. In the middle of the north wall was a 20' wide, 10' long raised pool of water; the middle of the south was was a 20', 10' high fireplace.
  The entire area was lit from above with a eerie, ruddy light, like the reflection of a forest fire from low clouds. The party continued down the middle of the space, between two rows of mighty columns, and kept going down the main corridor.
  After about another 150' they finally reached the end - another set of huge bronze doors. But these are braced from this side with mighty timbers, each the size of a tree trunk, and huge iron stakes hammered into the solid rock floor. The timbers have obviously been enchanted to resist age and, according to Clint and Byron, enchanted to cause evil beings discomfort and unease.

  The party, focused on their goal of stopping the female cult leader, hurried back to camp to prepare for the next day, which was the day before Midsummer Night!

  The next day the party sent Seeker and Kaspar to the peak to observe the Old Road with the magical binoculars while Brigid, Octavius, and Starfalcon concealed themselves in the entrance cavern. Akio and Byron remained near the stables/North Door area with Clint. Willem and Arthur remained at the camp with the hirelings as a reserve.
  About 5 in the afternoon Seeker saw dust from the road a,d the two rushed to the Room of the Eye; by 5:30 they observed a robed woman enter the plateau follow by two huge humanoids, 7'-8' tall and also robed. Both big figures were pulling a gaol cart, both holding 4 human prisoners.

  The figures left the gaol carts in the center of the plateau, by the massive bonfire pit, and approached the cavern. The party prepared for trouble as the three walked in.
  At that point Kaspar opened fire; the three were surprised for a segment, meaning that Kaspar (as a scout) got a +4 to all bow attacks for the round. He feathered the brisket of the northern-most giant twice and general combat began.
  The medium figure threw back the hood of her robes, revealing her to be Arlissa, an evil mage the party had encountered years before and a known devil worshiper. As the party watched a door opened on the side of her capuchon, then closed and the door vanished. This prompted Owen, who knew that she had an Imp familiar, to hit the area with Sleep spell, in hopes of catching it (the spell failed).
  At the same time the party's 'trick' appeared - Clint, on horseback with lance, rode out from behind a large stalagmite and charged! He struck the southernmost figure (they were both revealed as more trolls) and continued on so as to wheel and return.
  Melee began with Starfalcon once again showing why anyone facing trolls needs a ranger friend and Brigid not berserking, but doing great damage. Seeker came in invisibly and back-stabbed a troll at a key moment, dropping it, and Clint's return pass put down the other just as an arrow pierced Arlissa and she fell over-
  and vanished in a puff of sulfuric smoke as her familiar Dimension Doored both of them away.

  Clint immediately spurred onto the plateau and spotted both of them out toward the gaol carts, Arlissa already regenerating to consciousness. Akio used his tremendous speed to follow as Clint rode down Arlissa and hit her full on with his lance square in the chest, breaking his lance and ending her life.
  The cackling imp seized her soul and vanished back to Hell.

  The party freed the prisoners, who were mainly villagers but did accept a healer (custom hireling) into service. Another prisoner was a nobleman; the last survivor of the Count's patrol who was slated to die at midnight.
  All were hungry, thirsty, exhausted, and sore for days to weeks of beatings. The party settled them in their camp with the various henchmen and hirelings and returned to the complex, making their way to the peak.

  As Midnight approached Seeker watched as Selene, the smallest moon, moved into view. The magical device revealed - a village on the surface of the moon, built as a circle around a central area. In that are was a stone shelf around a great pool. In the pool rested what appeared to be sailing vessels, but there were vast constructions of wood, metal, and crystal on the rock shelf in the shape of dragonflies and a swan.
  The party all looked and soon observed one of the dragonflies lift off and fly away!
  Turning the device toward the city of High Morath they observed that's nations Midsummer Festival, which involves the Pyrotechnics spell.
  Turning it toward Timber Lake they observed a dragonfly ship landing in the lake and being met by elven boats! Starfalcon explained that each year at Midsummer the royal family of the elven Kingdom of Tirgalen goes into the lake with just their personal guards for a 'special ceremony' that all others are forbidden to observe.
  They then looked towards the Demon's Eye, the lip of the volcano on Black Island, out at sea. They watched a massive humanoid figure, at least 30' tall, climb to the rim, look out towards the mainland, and then climb back down into the glowing mouth of the volcano.
  Last, they turned their gaze back to Selene as it slipped out of the focus of the device. seeing another sailing vessel fly toward the moon village.
  The party realized that the sailing vessels would fit into the dry dock on the peak of Skull Mountain.

  The party made an OK haul of cash and a good haul of magic items, including a golden llama, a familiar's hat, and  a flametongue, among other things.

  Before they left they took an intact door from another section of the Guard Area, used it to replace the door shattered by Octavius, then had Mortimer bar it from the far side and before using Dimension Door to come back, sealing off the long corridor from intruders.

  The party returned to Esber without serious incident!

DM's Report: Back to Skull Mountain

Background  (outside the game)

  Back in 1979 I started my first Skull Mountain maps, my early attempts at a 20 level dungeon. Those maps and notes are long, long gone. I did a reboot in 1986 when I moved and started all new people in the Seaward campaign, then I cleaned it up in 2002 when the kids got a little older. About 3 years ago I decided to change it radically below the third level, which is ongoing.

Background (in the game)

  The origins of Skull Mountain are lost in obscurity. The Old Road existed when the elves arrived and was old then. The Keshi (human barbarians that were the first people in the region) speak of it in folktales as existing when they arrived, although they tales often contradict each other. 

  What is known is that centuries ago the Black Cult, devil worshipers, moved into the upper levels and used it as a base. From Skull Mountain they effectively ruled the Briars and the forests all the way to the Freshet River. Their raiding parties took captives and victims as far away as the borders of the Four Counties. The granite dwarves set more fortresses and the forest elves set more guards because of the Black Cult.

  After the coming of the Robians and the crowning of the First King of Seaward, however, the new kingdom began to push against the cultists. After 50 years of conflict the forces of the cultists were broken at the Battle of the Plateau and a triumphant King Alaris led Archbishop Ulfrick into the mountain to shatter the foul altar.

  A garrison was left at the mountain for a generation, but then withdrawn. Over time the interior of the Briars became ever more wild even as villages crept towards the edges. Drawn by stories of hidden treasure in the 100 years since the garrison left occasional expeditions went to the mountain but encountered little more than kobolds or a lone ogre in the ruined caves. Two years ago an expedition (of PCs) went there and wiped out a small band of bandits but found access to most of the complex blocked off.

Recently

  Two different groups of PCs have noted columns of smoke coming from the area of Skull Mountain, always the morning after a Full or New moon. Ominously, those are the times the Black Cult would perform sacrifices. A few of the PCs decided to round up a team to explore Skull Mountain.

The Party

Brigid: 2nd level Barbarian (one of my custom classes). From the island of Eiru. Armed with Mor Altach, an enchanted broadsword of mysterious origins and power. Played by my wife.

The Seeker: 2/2 level Magic-user/Thief, half-elf. Has a Ring of Invisibility he took from an ogre. Played by my oldest son.

Starfalcon: 2nd level Ranger, half-elf. Excellent hit points, no magic items of note yet. Played by my second son.

"Clint": 2nd level Paladin, human. Technically, has not revealed his name. Has a Minion's Sword. Played by my third son.

Telnar: 3rd level Cleric, human. One off maximum hit points, great armor class. Played by my fourth son.

Kaspar: Henchman to the Seeker, human. 1st level Scout (another custom class).

Merle: Hireling of Clint, human. Mercenary footman with a spear, short sword, scale, and shield. 

Alferd and Gerd: Hirelings of Brigid, both human (and first cousins, too). A merchant and porter. Fiercely loyal because Brigid saved them from being sacrificed by a kobold shaman.

The Adventure

  Seeker and Clint had been on the previous expedition to Skull Mountain and still had notes and a crude map they had made. Brigid had seen the smoke and mentioned it to Clint in the town of Old Bridge. Clint knows Telnar, Telnar knows Starfalcon, and Starfalcon knows Seeker. 

  The group had to wait a long time for the weather to be a bit more steady and to prepare, finally setting out at the end of the month of Highsummer.

  The first day was very hot, so hot the warriors shed their armor and the party was slowed. Luckily they were still in patrolled lands. They made it to the village of Esber just before Noon.

  Esber was bustling with activity. The walls were freshly patched, hoardings were being constructed facing the Briars, and barrels of rain water were scattered around to fight fires. The party stopped at the Bloody Sword tavern to rest, cool off, and listen to gossip.

  Others had noted the smoke besides the players and the Baron of Old Bridge had stepped up patrols near the Briars and up the Old Road. Eventually the Count had heard of this and had sent one of his own patrols to scout all the way to Skull Mountain just a week prior.

  The patrol was never seen again.

  So Esber is getting ready for war.

  The party didn't linger, but continued toward the Old Road. They reached the entrance at twilight and camped by the entrance to the Briars without incident. 

  The next day was cooler, although still. 

  The next day was still cooler and about as uneventful until later. A black bear wandered into camp and attacked!

  That's when an evening of dice weirdness began - 

  Brigid was on watch and armored. The bear could not miss her.

  No one could hit the bear.

  After far too long the bear was dead and Brigid needed a ton of healing, but was fine. The cleric went to bed and in the morning the part moved their camp off the road 100 yards (hard in the briars!) and left their tents, horses, extra rations, and the hirelings. Then the players and henchman headed to the plateau.

  The party swept the plateau, all while under the forbidding gaze of the entrance (which resembles, of course, a massive human skull with an open mouth full of fangs) and found the remains of a massive bonfire on the center. From the bones in the ashes the party concluded the Count's patrol had been sacrificed and then burned, which is what legend said was the custom of the Black Cult.

  The party entered the entrance cave, a massive space over 120' across and 90' high. Reflected light revealed that the massive bronze doors that guarded the Long Tunnel (which leads to the ancient Cathedral of Devils) were still shut. After a brief look around the party felt they were being watched. As they were leaving they were attacked by javelins, mildly hurting Clint. It took a few rounds to locate the attackers, but eventually the party's arrows killed two kobolds, each on a separate elevated guard post.

  Searching revealed that there were concealed ancient iron ladders leading to each position. Seeker scouted and concluded neither had been on watch long and, on the higher post, found a secret door.

  More dice oddness: each and every time the half-elf came within a few feet of a secret door I rolled a 1. They discovered secret doors that evaded multiple searches on the last expedition!

  The door led to an old, but sturdy, spiral staircase of iron going up. About 40' up was a landing with a mesh separating the interior from the flock of stirges that inhabit the cave behind the eyes. The landing was obviously long untouched. In a corner was set a crystal, seemingly enchanted, that allows people to watch the opening to the plateau from the Old Road. The staircase continued, so the party followed it.
  After a very long climb they came to an iron lid secured by a locking wheel. After opening it they found themselves on the upper slopes of the mountain itself, near a concealed trail. The trail leads to the very pinnacle of the mountain which, they find, has a very large concealed hollow open to the sky. Obviously long abandoned, the oval shape has a staircase and ledge at the far end, which they walk to. Looking back over the hollow the party realizes it is a dry dock!
  On the ledge iis  a large device like a spyglass mounted on an articulated arm. The spyglass allows them to look out over vast distances. Seeker notices that the several joints have dials marked 1 through 4; by aligning the joints with the numbers the spyglass has 4 pre-set targets; 4th is the middle of Timber Lake (which is well over the horizon); 3rd is the sky almost directly above; 2nd is the city of High Morath, which is not just over the horizon, but on the other side of a mountain range; 1st is the peak of the Demon's Eye, an offshore volcano.
  After some calculations and referring to a book Telnar and Seeker agree that the place in the sky is the location of the Third Moon at midnight on Midsummer - three weeks away.
  Seeker remembers finding a long-abandoned trail to the peak from a place in the Briars on a previous expedition, but does not take the time to look for the other end.

  Returning down the ladder, the party went back to the guard post -
  and surprised a kobold inspecting his dead comrade! Seeker backstabbed it, killing it instantly, and Kaspar picked off the one on the other ledge with his bow.

  The party slipped to the North end of the cave, finding the small outbuildings were still there, around the 'side door'. Seeker heard noises on the far side, but the door was unlocked; the party squared up and kicked open the door.

  More dice weirdness! The party had 2 segments of surprise, letting Kaspar use his ambush bonuses for being a scout - and rolled under a 5 with all 4 arrow shots! Luckily Clint and Brigid made very short work of the 4 kobolds. The party then cut through a supply room and crept into a massive kitchen, surprising and killing another kobold who was guarding two human teens who were chained to the stoves, cooking.

  In another bit of oddity, the party got surprise every single time they struck at kobolds!

  The teens had a lot to say; a monster had snatched them from their beds weeks before and carried them here to cook for the kobolds; there were about 40 kobolds all together; the kobolds ate in three shifts of 15, 15, and 10; a human male was leading the group and he had a human lieutenant, a goblin thug, and 'the monster' - a great hairy creature in robes that had kidnapped them from their village weeks ago; a strange woman in a hooded robe came by every month to give the human leader orders - everyone was afraid of her; and the next meal for 15 kobolds was going to start real soon.

  The party got ready explored the vast dining hall adjacent to the kitchen. The kobolds were only using a few tables near the kitchen entrance. There was a raised dais at one end; Kaspar and Starfalcon hid behind an overturned table that had been there for years, it seemed. The rest waited in the kitchens and had the rescued slaves follow the usual routine. Before too long 15 kobolds and a goblin were seated, chanting for food.  After the teens had served, the party casually walked in, hoping to surprise them.

  The goblin noticed them, prompting Starfalcon and Kaspar to begin firing; they were very deadly with their bows! Brigid's rage kicked in, turning her into a death machine. Clint stuck close to her and was also mowing down foes. Telnar protected the mage - by also killing kobolds.
  The fight was over in a surprisingly short time. After the goblin was cut down the remaining kobolds surrendered and were trussed up, but there was still damage done to the party. Seeker checked the other door into the dining hall...
  ...and saw a large figure, in a robe, rushing toward the door with a jerky, staggering gait. He slammed the door and the party prepared for the Hairy One (obviously a bugbear) to come in at them.
  The screams of the teens, still hiding in the kitchen, alerted the party that the bugbear had circled around.
  The bugbear burst in, attacking with a staff. The party did a fair job against him and then - Seeker got off his Sleep spell, dropping the creature before it could complete it's own spell.
  The hour was late, the party was tired (the kobolds had hit much more frequently than they should have), hurt, and low on magic, and they had not just kobold captives but rescued NPCs; they left for camp. They were careful to confuse their trail, then met up with the hirelings at camp and rested. The hirelings had made camp against a spinney (an impassable ticket of briars) under a needle tree:

Like this, but with a lot of thorns

  and had put up a thorn barrier around the horses and the tents as well as a sort of briar boma around the fire. All this was because of the threat of stirges so close to the mountain. The night was quiet.

The party set out at dawn, alert for ambush. The found that a tripwire had ben set over the entrance - linked to crossbows set up in the shadows. There was also a concealed strip of poisoned needles and another tripwire connected to a hidden ballista. All were discovered (the dice!) and disabled. While searching for traps the party also found that one of the horses had been brushed, fed, watered, and was saddled up, ready to ride. This one was concealed in a corner of the cave behind a natural pillar. Seeker sabotaged the girth strap so that the saddle would fall off after just a few miles of riding, at most.

  Inside the first room all was quiet. They immediately found a trap on one of the doors they had not yet taken and, again, disarmed it. Beyond was another ballista set up to fire when the door was opened. It was in a long corridor and, about 120' along, the party saw a man carrying a lantern turn right at a junction in the corridor.

  The party went into Deliberate Mode, checking all the doors as they passed, watching for tripwires, and maintaining a 720 degree scan. They found that the ancient complex was mostly empty with the kobolds taking up just a corner of the space that once held only the entrance guards. They did, though, find a door marked with the rune of a mage of House Relleth. The party avoided the Wizard Marked door as it appeared it had been untouched by others, as well.

  The party also avoided trying to enter the obvious prison area (the locked iron grate helped deter them). But at the end of a another long corridor they spotted a man bent over a table studying something and taking note. The door to the room was open and there was a lit lantern beside him. Suspecting an ambush, the party started checking nearby doors.

  In the first room they surprised a group of kobolds and wiped out all 8 in a single round. As they returned to the hall the man in the room left through a distant door. The party continued their deliberate course and over time wiped out the rest of the the kobolds and the last lieutenant, a human. But the man they had seen had vanished.

  They quickly found a secret door (AGAIN!) and followed a passage then chased the man all the way to the entrance cave, where he leapt upon the prepared horse and ran off. The party pursued on foot as fast as they could, hoping to get to their own concealed horses before he lost them.

  On the road, however, they found their mercenary hireling holding a horse! he explained he had been watching the road (as ordered) when a man came galloping by - and his saddle fell off, dumping him! The man had simply kept running. The party mounted their own horses and pursued.

  before too long they saw him on the road ahead and called out. He turned, calmly drew his sword, and waited. Clint remained mounted, with his lance, as a backup as Starfalcon and Brigid closed in on foot. Seeker turned invisible and began creeping around and Telnar stood by, ready to assist. The fight began and it quickly became obvious that the leader was a very skilled warrior.

  For a round or two. 

  The dice kicked in again! All day the monsters had been hitting a lot. The kobolds were obviously hitting about twice as often as statistic said they should. At the same time, the party was hitting well below what they 'should' be (their rolls vs. the bear random encounter were so terrible they joked the bear was invulnerable).

  Well, that was all corrected immediately. The boss, a 6th level fighter with a magical sword, hit very seldom and did little damage. They party, though, made up for previous bad rolls in hitting and hurting the guy. After 6 rounds he was dead and the fighters, although bloodied, were all alive.

  The party returned all the way to Skull Mountain and tossed the place, bringing in quite a haul of stolen goods and a few magic items.

  More soon!

DM's Play Report from Blackstone I: Assault on Tolmar- Last Days of a Seven Year Campaign

  The War against the Redcaps is Won!

Previous update is found here.

The Campaign
  Seven years old. AD&D 2e Skills and Powers.

The Players and Characters
  Je.: Stardust, 13th level Thief. Armed with a pair of +3 Daggers of Returning and a sneaky disposition. Party scout.
    - Deacon Samarr,  6th level cleric henchman. Rescued from a Hill Giant slave pit, he is loyal to Stardust and her friends. Focused on healing and abjurations.
    - Sir Raleigh the True, 4th level fighter henchman. Gained from a Deck of Many Things, he is perfectly loyal. A halberd specialist and armed with a +7 halberd!

Ja.: Mournglow, 11th level mage. A true generalist and the party's planner. The list of NPCs who owe him favors needs to be printed in 8 point font. Double-sided.
    - Whitestar, his Arcane Servant familiar.

A.: Doomsman the Destroyer, 12th level Fighter. A barbarian and grandmaster with the two-hander who is skilled in a number of melee combat styles. One of the deadliest men on the planet. His magical scabbard carries both Gatekeeper, the sword of that seals the planes, and Magekiller, which is just what it says on the tin. Lord of the North, Guardian of the Pass, and party leader. He thirsts for combat.

S.: Ember, 11th level Fire Elementalist mage. Wields a flaming silver short sword of shapechanger slaying. A true master of fire magic he is the hot-head of the group.
    -Flint, his Fire Spirit familiar.
    -Redfire, 5th level Fire Elementalist henchman. He has died three times, each from a giant's boulder.

N.: Darkwalk, 8th/9th Cleric/Magic-user. Also a skilled fighter, he is the voice of caution. He carries an Talisman of Ultimate Good that keeps reappearing in his backpack each time he tries to give it to the Pope.
    -Suregaze, his Elven Dragonling familiar.
    -Starwing, a 3rd/3rd/3rd fighter/cleric/magic-user henchman. Leader of the henchman, she has a calm demeanor and a knack for leadership.

Previously

  The party has spent 3 days lurking about the ruins within the city of Tolmar. In addition to the major attacks (detailed in the entry at the link near the top) they have ambushed a patrol or two. So far, all of their activity has been limited to the northern half of the city, formerly called Upper Tolmar. The party has been hiding in various bolt holes within the city while their henchmen strive to make it appear the party is camping outside and making repeated assaults over/through the walls.

  After resting and regaining spells the party decides they must strike at the heart of the enemy. The former Main Square of the city is now a hub of evil; the four corners of the square now hold the Tower of Necromancers (northwest corner) the Temple of Unlife (NE corner), the Fortress-Cathedral of the Slaughter-God (SE corner), and the High Church of the RotLord (SW corner). The party decided to assault the Temple of Unlife.

  As the party began to leave Upper Tolmar, divided from Lower Tolmar by a wall and a 20' escarpment, there was a minor fight as Whitestar, Mournglow's familiar who was scouting, was attacked by an imp. The party arrived in 3 rounds to find Whitestar wiping ichor from his miniature sword. Darkwalk healed up the Arcane Servant and the party continued.

  The party crept up to close sight of the mausoleum-like Temple of the Ghoul God to see - the low-level acolytes gather outside! The ritual of Blotting Out the Sun was about to begin. The party waited until the doors opened then struck with a Fireball. This wiped out the acolytes as the party charged inside. The party was met with mid-level priests just inside the doors, forcing them to halt their assault and fight. The High Priest of the Undead Demiurge stood by the foul altar wearing his Crown of Worms and guarded by 9 of his top priests. While the guards wielded the ceremonial bardiches of the deathpriests the High Priest wielded the infamous Staff of Death, a foul artifact carved from the thighbone of a shadow dragon.

  Doomsman hurled his Maul of Thunderbolts and struck the High Priest - but the Maul spun away instead of returning! The thunderclap revealed a shimmering aura cloaking the entire altar area and the casters decided to refrain casting attack spells on the leadership!

  As the party fought a swarm of 40 ghoul-rats poured through slots in the floor. Darkwalk turned most of them and Ember dealt with the rest as Doomsman cut down evil clerics like he was playing whack-a-mole. Stardust did her thing and threw her Daggers of Returning at the High Priest - they, too, spun away instead of returning! Stardust made her Awareness check and realized that the troops of the Temple of Slaughter were formed up and preparing to charge. She darted to the main doors, shut the massive portals, and dropped the adamantite bar into place just in time!

  The evil priests were casting nasty spells left and right, including one using a Spectral Hand from a magic item!  The party was using counter spells, Magic Missiles, and Cures at a prodigious rate.

  In the meantime Doomsman had fought his way to the steps of the altar, shrugging off a bolt of negative energy from a priest, making saves versus 4 more spells, and generally rolling 18+ on every d20 he touched, the jerk. Mournglow and Darkwalk both cast Dispel Magic on the protective aura around the altar, bringing it down in a flash of foul smoke. Doomsman was hacking his way through the evil hierarchy and now the High Priest was the target of spells. The next round the High Priest was struck down by magic!

  And the Staff of Death lashed out, striking on the the Death priests. That priest turned to ash and the High Priest laughed in delight as he was returned to full health! The High Priest then triggered the power of the Crown of Worms, blasting Doomsman and Stardust with a Mind Blast. Doomsman finally failed a save and was...

  [roll the dice]

  Enraged! Wait, what? The one save he failed made him better at fighting!

  What a jerk.

  The Staff of Death pattern - the High Priest was struck down, the Staff of Death drained the life force of another Death priest fully healing its owner - happened again before Doomsman finally faced him in melee and all the other priests were dead. Doomsman hit with a flurry of blows, the High Priest's staff lashed out and touched Doomsman!

  And, yet again, he made his save. He did, though, lose 1/2 his full hit points (really messing with him, as he had taken damage) and this was enough for the Priest to be at full health. Doomsman repeated his attacks, struck down the High Priest for the FOURTH TIME! The Staff of Death lashed out and -

  Doomsman parried it! The Death Priest fell.

  It was a great moment for the players!

  The party quickly caught his body on fire, not caring to touch any items on his body.

  Stardust searched the ground floor, quickly finding and sealing two side doors. Moments later something big tried getting into one of them. The pounding on the front door indicated the troops of the Master of Massacres had brought in a battering ram. The party gathered around and Mournglow cast Teleport.

  He made the targeting roll easily, landing them back in their hidey-hole where they could see the Tower of Flying Beasts, which they had destroyed days earlier. As everyone got healed up (and Darkwalk used scrolls of Remove Curse on everyone because Death priests). the party observed the beehive of activity around the Death temple, including the Champion of the Slaughter God flying around fearlessly directing searches.

  Acting on a hunch the party sent a Whispering Wind to the Champion, offering him something they felt he couldn't refuse - a duel of honor. As the Champion began flying, alone, toward them, Darkwalk used a long-cherished scroll to cast Regenerative Heal on Doomsman (he normally has no access to this spell).  

  The Champion landed and the terms were agreed upon: if the Champion fell his arms and gear belonged to Doomsman; if Doomsman fell his companions could keep his weapons, gear, and body but must depart Tolmar and never return. Then the battle was joined.

  Now, to repeat - Doomsman is a 12th level Fighter and Grandmaster in the two-handed sword/greatsword. He has 3 attacks per round, gets a free parry per round (from a style) and does one die larger damage. His was using the sword Gatekeeper, which is +4 normally. He is wearing a Girdle of Stone Giant Strength (+5/+10). he has a magic item that can cast an automatic Heal if he is reduced to 0 or less h.p. once per month.

  The Champion was built as a 13th level specialty Cleric using Skills & Powers/Spells & Magic/etc. He has THAC0, hit points, etc. as a fighter, is a grandmaster in the long sword, and fights with a +4 longsword and a +3 short sword of quickness, giving him 3 attacks per round with the long sword and 2 attacks per round (one in 'segment 0') from the short sword AND a free parry from a style. Essentially, he gets a 'free' attack before initiative, a parry, and 4 attacks, allowing him to theoretically parry every one of Doomsman's attacks and still strike twice, once with the short sword and once with the long sword. He wears Gauntlets of Might (+4/+7). He Regenerates 7 h.p. per round and has the innate ability to go Berserk (+4 to hit, +6 to damage for 10 rounds and +20 h.p., but no parry) 3 times a day and has a blessing of the evil War God so that once per week if he is reduced to 0 h.p. or less he is instantly Healed.

  I made this as closely matched as possible. While the Champion hits more often when Doomsman hit he does more damage. 

  The fight lasted 8 rounds, a long time at this level. Doomsman's dice deserted him for the first 5 rounds; he hit as often as math decided but his damage was low and he was getting hit a lot. Then, well, he hit. A lot. And did a lot of damage, enough to trigger the Champion's Heal. Then the Champion hit a lot and triggered Doomsman's Heal. And then the dice turned and two rounds later the Champion is dead. 

  The entire party agrees it was the toughest, closest fight of the 7 years of the campaign.

  The party immediately beheaded him and then burned him, after getting his gear. 

  After healing up Doomsman again the party was essentially out of most spells (except for Ember's "backup Fireballs". Yes, multiple). They decided to mix it up and leave the city and camp beyond the walls. As they are setting up camp they hear a horrifying roar/bellow from the city. 

  The camps under watch when - there is another  horrifying bellow/roar right by the camp and a cloud of black mist envelopes them. Everyone makes their saves but still lose some hit points. OK, for some of them a LOT of hit points. As the mist clears they see - the Horned One!

  Aside: The party has long assumed the Horned One is a hobgoblin chief with a horned helm. I have gently encouraged this. In truth, he is a hobgoblin, but one born of two survivors of whatever-it-was that destroyed the capitol of the Emerald Empire centuries before; a being born and raised in the Shadow of the City, the area of fear and darkness that festers many miles northwest of Tolmar. The thing before them, however, is 7' tall, has massive goat-like legs ending in cloven hooves, and a set of horns growing from the sides of his head. 

  Everyone but Stardust was sleeping and no one has had a chance to learn spells. Doomsman, sans armor, grabs his sword and wades in. The Horned One wields a two-hander in one fist and they start fighting. Mournglow activates his Wand of Conjuration, Darkwalk is digging into his packs for scrolls, Stardust is hurling daggers, and Ember is prepping his few spells.

  The beginning of round 2 the Horned One breathes on Doomsman and paralyzes him! Luckily the Wand of Conjuration goes off and summons a Stone Golem. Darkwalk rushes up and drags Doomsman back out of melee and begins to pour an Elixir of Health down his throat. Ember fires off a Magic Missile, Stardust is looking for an item to help out, and the golem misses.

  In round three Ember gets off his go-to max damage spell, Torrential Fireball. This is sto-, uh, borrowed from HackMaster 4th and is, essentially, just like Fireball except d8 damage per instead of d6. Under 2e rules once per day a fire elementalist may ad 1d4 to the effective level of a Fire spell they cast and my modified honor rules mean you can guarantee that this adds 4. So when the chips are down Ember can do 14d8 fire damage.
  Like now.
  He didn't mind including the golem because everyone knows stone golems are immune to fire. Unfortunately, this is how he learned that the Horned One is immune to fire.

  By the end of the round the Horned One has destroyed the stone golem! The party has done very little to the Horned One.

  Round three: Doomsman has been un-paralyzed by the Elixir and wades in again. He and the Horned One trade a lot of damage. Ember and Mournglow both toss more Magic Missiles. Stardust keeps throwing daggers. At great personal risk Darkwalk casts Stoneskin on Doomsman.

  Round four: The Horned One bellows again, this time surrounding the entire area with Solid Fog. The party is convinced they are in trouble.

  Round five: Darkwalk casts Dispel Magic; the Fog parts to show the Horned One finishing a potion.

  Round six: The Horned One charges Doomsman and hits, tossing him 30'! The Stoneskin saves him from certain death, but is used up. Another flurry of missile weapons and everyone but Ember is now out of spells.

  Round seven: Doomsman closes again and hurts the Horned One a lot, but bot enough. The Horned One's first counter attack knock Doomsman to 3 h.p. Before he can strike again Ember uses his last spell, a Magic Missile and the Horned One dies.

  The party rejoices.

  They use a lot of charges, scrolls, etc. to heal everyone at least a bit and then camp until dawn again.

  Darkwalk burns most of his Cleric spells to heal everyone and they begin to investigate. The Horned One is now - a big, tough-looking hobgoblin in armor that cloaks him with an illusion and makes him immune to scrying. He is still obviously heavily mutated by magic, though. And, luckily, still very dead. They discover that he had placed a magic item on one of the Champion's swords and used that to track the party.

  There is obvious fighting in the city and they see scattered groups of humanoids and even a few individuals slinking from the city. They grab a few for interrogation and learn a great deal;

  - After the attack on the Tower of Flying Beasts a number of goblins and hobgoblins had defected.
  -The head of the Necromancers had died suddenly the morning of the assault on the Temple of Death (they realize whose imp Mournglow's familiar had killed), throwing the necromancers into confusion and internal fighting for leadership.
  - After the Champion's body was found Alzozel ('Creepyhead') had ordered the Slaughter God troops to leave and then flew off himself.
  - During the confusion the priests of the Plauge God had simply vanished.

  The party had been working on the Horned One's power base for years; destroying the alliance with the Giant Lords; wiping out the Band; slaughtering the Pack; the capture of the northern fortress; the death of the Lord of Necromancers; the assault on the Temple of Death; the death of the Slaughter God's champion. The Horned One's only chance of maintaining his power had been to destroy the party himself, something he had almost pulled off.

  The party returned to their real base, gathered their henchmen and hippogriffs, and flew to the Horned One's fortified island. It was essentially deserted. Stardust and Darkwalk made quick work the the various physical and magical traps and the party got to the treasure vault to find quite a bit of loot. The highlights of the haul were:

  -about 350,000 g.p. value of treasure
  -a slew of minor (+1/+2) magical weapons and armor
  - A Mirror of Mental Prowess
  - A Book of Infinite Spells
  - a +7 two-hander
  - the Sceptre of Goodly Might

  The party was very happy that the in-game 15 year, real life 7 year, quest to break the power of the Redcaps was complete. They are concerned that so many villains got away, of course, but the general agreement was that the entire party will now "retire" to run their various feudal lands.

  I must admit - it was an emotional afternoon. The Blackstone 1 campaign has been running for over 7 years and was the primary campaign. When we began my oldest son was 11; he starts his first full-time job this week. Our fourth son practiced penmanship re-writing his character sheet. This campaign has covered nearly 1/3rd of my marriage! It was a big day!

  And Good Triumphed!

Play Report: Brigid's Diary, Part 2 - Return to Richacre

Real time: played in two parts, 10/4/14 and 10/18/14
Je. played Brigid, a 1st level human barbarian
J. played Athanasius, a 2nd level human cleric
A. played Starkiller, a 1/1/1 half elven fighter/cleric/mage
S. played McCloud, a 1st level human druid
N. played Thoren, a 1/1 half-orc fighter/thief

[Note: The entry is written 'in-character' and changes in tone and such reflect the character at different points during play]
 DM notes are in [brackets], player notes in (parentheses)

   After my first adventure, I came back to Oldbridge with Starkiller. We sold our treasures, and I made enough profit that I was able to put many gold pieces into the Baron's bank for safe keeping. I carefully compose a letter to my family, telling them of my good fortune and assuring them that I will return once I have saved enough to replenish our family's coffers.
  I write in our family's code, so as not to raise any suspicions with anyone who may read the letter as it travels, both for my own protection, and that of my family's.
  I find that before long, I begin to thirst for more adventure. The rage inside me has been very quiet, and I am hopeful that I am learning more self control, but I still long to further my skills, and increase my fortune. Just as I was about to get very restless in town, I received a very strange letter.
  I write this diary and my letters home in the script of Eiru, but I am not able to read much of the common language. I ask Starkiller's cleric friend Athanasius to help me read the letter. It is from Toril, the headman of Richacre. He pleads for help, as there are strange doings going on in his village. I remember the kindness of the people of Richacre, and also remember the unfinished business we left there, the strange seal of evil in the tower basement. Combined with my restless thirst for more adventure, I know I must go.
  I convince Starkiller and Athanasius that we should travel with all haste to Richacre to assist them in their hour of need. We find two others, friends of Athanasius, who wish to travel with us, the druid McCloud and the half-orc, Thoren. McCloud is another follower of the strange gods that I don't trust, but I can't deny the usefulness of his skills. Thoren is an interesting fellow, very dim of mind, but strong, and cunning in his own way.
  We agree to leave the very next morning, after replenishing our stocks and equipment.

 Day 1 
   We follow the familiar route to Richacre, passing through the village of Ham-on-Wye and stopping at the Sad Wolf Tavern. And later, we enter Stowanger and stop at the Tankard and Bowl Tavern. Finally, we approach Richacre. The charcoal huts on the outskirts are empty and obviously were hastily abandoned. Then, I notice that the wooden tower on the palisades is shattered, and the gate is wrenched open, hanging broken and precarious. Through the opening, we see bodies scattered around, and the town is dreadfully, terribly silent. No one comes to greet us, there is no bustle of a town's work, and I fear the worst. Thoren and I decide to go ahead of the others, as we are tough and strong and better able to weather any threats that remain inside the palisades.
  We see terrible, terrible things. Some bodies seem untouched with no obvious cause of death, but with looks of abject horror forever frozen on their faces. While others - oh, the others! Some bodies have organs ripped out, some have huge chunks of flesh missing, others appear to have fallen from great heights. We see one house that seemed to have taken a lot of damage, and it has a large hole ripped through it, but with the edges of the hole as smooth as glass.
  Suddenly, someone calls my name. My heart is in my throat before I realize that it is Bertrand, the Hedge Mage, blessedly alive. He calls me over and hurriedly tells us that two nights ago there was something in the sky, that lights came from the sky, and whatever the lights touched, died. He was injured by the light reflected off a mirror. Now, he has seen the gargoyle in the sky again, and is fearful that he is too badly injured to escape. We assure him that we can help, tell him to stay hidden while we go get our friends and search for other survivors. We find one other man who seems to have survived, and Athanasius casts some healing spells to heal both men. He also casts detect magic, but finds nothing magical in what is left of the village.
   We continue to search through the village, and we find the Widow Schumacher who was mentioned in Tardill's letter. We also find a severed arm, holding a few pages from a journal. It must belong to the madman that Tardill indicated the widow sheltered. The journal pages are cryptic, yet terrifying, indicating he was a Mage, and mentioning a map of the cultist's temple, and finding the library of Skull Mountain. The last page seems written much later than the first, and the poor man had obviously gone mad. Mentions "devilfish", "Them", and "Lurkers", indicates he had been kicked out of the Duke and Count's courts, priests had tried to cure him, but they obviously failed as he continues his rants for at least several more paragraphs. I wonder what he had to do with the destruction wrought on the poor village of Richacre?
  I convince Athanasius to copy the pages here in my journal so that we can remember what it says. He added those pages later.
   Meanwhile, Starkiller recognizes that the wounds on the dead seem to be those of a "reversed" spell of healing. And Bertrand is very, very worried about the return of the Gargoyle. We assure Bertrand that we will take care of the gargoyle, and he gives Thoren an amulet vs. charm, and gives us a scroll that "enchants a weapon", giving it a temporary increased chance to hit and damage (+1/+1). Meanwhile, darkness is falling, so we hide as best as we can, and get some sleep.

 Day 2 
  We wake up the next morning and notice that some of the houses on the far side of town have been trashed overnight. We head out to check on the tower, figuring we will find the gargoyle there, and we can also check on the evil seal in the basement, figuring it might have had something to do with the town's destruction.
  We approach the tower directly, assuming that the gargoyle will be stone during the day, and thus, not a threat. Thoren approaches the door to the tower and is picking the lock when the gargoyle drops on us from above! The gargoyle savagely attacks Thoren [DM- taking him to -1 HP]. We immediately attack the gargoyle, Starkiller and I land blows. Athanasius casts a light spell, blinding the gargoyle. I attack and kill the gargoyle, making sure to take an extra, final blow to ensure its death. Meanwhile, Athanasius casts two cure spells on Thoren, saving our friend from certain death. I say a quick prayer of thanksgiving for good clerics. We talk amongst ourselves, debating as to whether we should go back to the village, or forge on to discover what is going on with the evil basement seal.
  While we are talking, the door behind me opens, and a Kobold wearing strange, cobbled together, almost full plate mail appears. Thinking fast, I try to talk with him. I tell him we killed the gargoyle, and he says he is glad, tells us that they hated the gargoyle. We ask if we can come in and see the basement, and he tells us no, that they now worship those gods. Before he can say anymore, we attack. The Kobold lands a minor blow on me, but I manage to kill him.
  We grab the head of the gargoyle and his backpack, and we notice he is branded - it almost looks like an eye surrounded by smaller circles. We also grab the Kobold, and decide to go back to the village to prove to poor Bertrand that we killed the gargoyle. We return to the deserted town of Richacre and tell Bertrand all that has happened. We go through the gargoyle's backpack, and find great treasures. Copper and electrum pieces, a silver bracelet with an amber crucifix, a Druidic scroll which we give to McCloud, he tells is it has animal friendship, animal growth, commune with nature,and cure critical wounds. There is also a broadsword - my weapon of choice! As I pick it up to admire it, it is tarnished and dull, but I notice the hilt has a carving of a beautiful women, head bowed, covering her eyes.
  Suddenly, the sword starts speaking! It speaks in the language of my childhood, Airu, and tells me it's name is Mor Altach, which means "great fury". It says that it can also speak in Orcish, Kobold, and Ogre, and it's blows do not cease to hurt (which makes me believe it is a sword of wounding). It also says that it can detect traps and magic within 10', though it has to be able to speak about them. Starkiller detects evil on the treasures, and nothing, including the sword, seems evil. Everyone agrees that the sword should be mine. The sword tells me it does not like my other sword, and I assure it that I will get rid of it as soon as we can get back to a town where I can sell or dispose of it safely. The sword reluctantly agrees that is ok, but I get the sense that I had better to be true to my word. I am unsure how I feel about my sword talking to me, but since it speaks to me in my beloved Airu, I rest a little easier. We try to question the sword about the gargoyle, and how it got here, but the sword was captured long ago, and has spent almost the entire time in the depths of the gargoyle's backpack, so it has very little information. So, we decide to rest for the night, and head back to the tower in the morning.
  Athanasius insists that we must deal with the kobolds, and we also really need to check on that evil seal. I hope, that with good rest, and focus, I can continue to keep my inner rage in check. 

Day 3 
  When we woke up the next morning, Thoren told us about a strange dream he had. The bracelet we found spoke to him in his dream, saying that it was weak now, and Thoren was the only one who could save it. When he awoke, the bracelet was on his wrist. I find that very eerie.
   As we head back to the tower, we notice smoke off in the Briars, almost like from a bonfire. It is far enough away we feel it is safe to deal with the tower without worrying about the smoke. I wonder what it is, though?
   We arrive at the tower, and thankfully Thoren checked for traps, because there is a nasty pit trap at the base of the stairs to the entrance. We are able to work around it, and Thoren goes up to check on the door. Suddenly, a rock is thrown at him from directly above! We look up just in time to see two kobolds duck back inside. We retreat away from the door for fear of the rocks, and we make a plan. We march up to the tower while firing arrows at the kobolds above, and quickly bust down the door and enter the tower. Inside we find three kobolds, and rather quickly kill two of them. We ask for surrender from the final Kobold, and then we knock him out and tie him up, figuring to deal with him later after we assess the rest of the area.
  We enter the stairwell, and find boulders coming down the stairs. We duck back out of the stairwell, wait for them to pass, then quickly rush up the stairs. We pass three closed doors, and then on the roof, we see two kobolds pushing boulders towards the door. I have to hurry, or they will knock us all down the stairs! I make a charge attack - and miss horribly. I quickly whip back around, and McCloud has killed one, then I kill the other.
  We go back down the stairs, and sense evil behind one of the doors. We open the door, and capture and tie up another Kobold, then head to the basement. There is a trap by the door to the basement, Thoren attempts to disarm it, but fails. Starkiller uses his spear to reach over Thoren's shoulder and poke the door open. A sapling whips out from the corner of the room with a dagger on the end of it. It just misses slicing Thoren's face!
  Then, before we can even blink, a giant weasel attacks Thoren! It immediately bit down and started sucking his blood. Starkiller and McCloud and myself attacked the weasel and Athanasius cast healing spells on Thoren to keep him alive. Finally, we kill the weasel and save Thoren. I look down and notice my sword is gleaming. The woman on the hilt has changed! Her hands are no longer covering her eyes, they are crossed over her chest, and she has a beatific look on her face. She has long, flowing gold hair, and her eyes are brilliant sapphires. I'm not sure what this means, but I feel a kinship with my Airu sword that makes me feel less homesick. We take the dagger from the trap after our battle with the weasel, and we feel certain it is magical. We find the secret door and go into the other room.
  There, we see 3 kobolds and a Kobold shaman who is casting a spell. I immediately charge the shaman, and to my shame, I miss, once again. But, on my next attack, I kill him instantly! The other kobolds attack and injure me, Thorin, and McCloud, but we manage to kill them all.
  (In the heat of battle, McCloud calls Athanasius the "Altar boy" - DM says 25 extra EP!)
  We enter the room with the evil seal, and find 2 humans tied up with another Shaman standing over them. I charge and kill the shaman - finally, I hit during a charge! As we release them, the two humans tells us their names are Allen, a peddler, and Gerb, a porter. Allen immediately pledges fealty to me, who saved his life by killing the shaman. When we get out of this tower, I am going to see if I can convince Gerb to stay with me, too, since the two are apparently life long friends. I find that I am more proud of saving the lives of these fine men than I am excited about finding treasures to send back home. My need for revenge has been so strong for so long, I'm not quite sure what to make of my new attitude.
  As we are standing there talking with Gerb and Allen, some of us see movement out of the corner of our eyes, and we go to investigate. We quickly realize that some Kobold women who must have been in hiding have escaped - and they took our two tied up captives, too! We decide to track them, as we can't let them get away. We find them fairly quickly, and rather than kill them, Athanasius tries to convert them to the truth of our faith. All evil can potentially be used for God's advantage!
  He succeeds in converting the kobolds, but knows their faith is weak. We negotiate with them, and convince them to shelter at the Abbey southwest of Ekull. A little time with the consecrated brothers and sisters will certainly strengthen their faith!

 (From the tower, and the kobolds we killed, we do find some treasures. Five pieces of Amber, a gourd jar with a paste that we later identify as a pagan potion of Hill Giant strength, and the magical dagger is identified as a +1 dagger/+2 vs. smaller than man size. We also find a fair bit of gold, so after paying our expenses and dividing it up amongst all of is, we each get 376 GP and a piece of Amber.)
   I decide to hire Allen the merchant and Gerb the porter. I know they will be loyal to me if I treat them well, and certainly they will help me amass my fortune and figure out how to get it back to my family. And meanwhile, my new sword gazes at me with those sapphire eyes whenever I look at it. I wonder what it all means? I believe I must rest for awhile, study and hone my skills. I suspect I have something more important to do than send my family my fortune.

  (GM indicates 1360 EP per character. Brigid will level up to 2nd level.)

 Letter Received by Brigid 
To Miss Brigit of Eiru, with all blessings,
  Fair maiden, I write to you with trepidation. You and your companions recently saved our small village from great evil and for that we can never repay you. But odd things seem to be afoot in our village again. Roald Collier recently found a madman wandering in the forest, tattered and bruised from wandering through the Briars. This poor wretch babbled about starnge things in the mountains above the Briars (which, truly, are enough to break a man's mind) and scribbled in a book. The Widow Shoemaker took him in and swore to nurse him to sanity.
  Since his arrival, however, the forest has been unquiet. Shadows move under the trees, the animals are fearful, and I have strengthened the palisade guard. I have written to the Count, but you are 4 days closer. Is there any chance, Miss Brigit, that you or your friends could succor us? 

  Yours in Hope,
   Toril, headman of Richacre

 Page from beginning of the stranger's journal 
decided to take my mentor's advice and begin a journal of my travels.
  It is strange, I must admit, to be far from home and from the library and lab of my mentor. I thought I was a grown man when I began apprenticing as a mage, then learned I was not once my mentor proved how much I had to grow. Then I thought I was a man when I mastered my first spell, until my mentor proved that a single cantrip is no more than a drop of water beside the sea. Now that I am no longer an apprentice but a full mage I fell I am a man. Am I to be show wrong again?
  But my mentor tells me this journal will help me understand my growth in knowledge and experience. That by looking back at my thoughts I will gain more insight than by merely living them once. I hope he is correct. We will see.
  Tomorrow I depart for Oldbridge to meet with the rest of my companions. With the map we have of the cultists' temple we think we might succeed where so many others have failed. Imagine – finding the Library of Skull Mountain, the accumulated tomes of a score of looted libraries, the research libraries of a dozen mages, and the writings of other worlds! Thought destroyed in the final battle my friend Jonzar swears that it survived and he

 Last page of the stranger's journal 
Last Deepwinter, but as you know all who know of the devilfish must die! The death of Zhonquil the Mage was no feud between wizards, it was an assassination by Them, the lurkers, the slaves to those foul creatures! I tell you truly, my knowledge of the truth is a blessing and a curse. Yes, I know we are all playthings to them, the secret masters, the ones from beyond. But that knowledge threatens to shatter my mind. And I am surrounded by fools! Can they not see?! Worries about bandits, orcs, and dragons, pfagh! All distractions, all to blind us to the slow, creeping horror of the devilfish as they corrupt more and more. The Duke threw me from his halls and the Count tried to have his priests “cure” me. I damn them all to the slavery they deserve. Yes, those who cannot recognize the Truth I speak and my genius deserve to be eternal slaves to the slime!! One day the king, the dwarves, even the haugty elves will bend their knee to me, ashamed of their arrogance in refusing to obey me as I fight Them! Who else can do so, the weak-willed king? The blind priests? The naïve paladins? NO! Only I have the wisdome, the knowledge, the vision, and the courage to save the world from slavery and worse than slavery from thos abominations from beneath the