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Adventure Log - Part 3 - Castle Defiant

Notes from 6/30/2012 to 3/23/2013 [early 995 - Nov 996]

Leaving Vonmek

...Outputs Dwarvish and Human

Notes from 6/30/2012 by Francis (Tylden).

6/30/2012

Grundar continues to work on axes, and creates 2 fine and 1 standard silvered parrying axes. Rithban for his part has decided to settle down in Vonmek, but sent a message to an old acquaintance to see if he might be interested in joining the party as his replacement. At the midwinter holiday it then comes as not too much of a surprise when his friend, a gnome named Fencallad, arrives. His jacket is armored (brigandine), and he is sporting a very nice pair of boots. After everyone gets acquainted, Fencallad looks at Grundars hand. He notes the mark that appears out of the dust and dirt, and remarks that he is sporting one as well, and that he was separated from his former party by this affliction. The group discusses how he might be of help. Fencallad acknowledges that he has some healing arts, but his true forte lies in the field of illusions. Everyone in the current party agrees that he would be a fine addition.

After some preparation, the party heads out for Fencallads first adventure with the group. We are searching for the dwarven stronghold associated with the fortress, and Fencallad prepares three glowing lanyards to aid our journey below the earth. We take the passageway that has yet been unexplored by the party (and doesnt lead to demons), which goes on for some distance. This tees into a passageway going east/west, and we choose the western branch. It continues for a half days journey, narrowing in width, and finally arriving at a series of tunnels and fissures. We explore the network and find a path leading to some broken down construction and a complex of rooms but it is not of dwarvish manufacture. It is similar to the crypt area, and we suspect dark elves. During our rest Tylden hears deep throated sounds and what sounds like some creature wandering through the rooms. Exploring the next day we come across a locked door. Tylden fails in his attempt to unlock it, and then female voices start up a conversation. They say that they are priestesses of the sisterhood, that the dwarves are to the east, and to otherwise leave them alone. This turns out to be exactly what we do.

Returning to the tee intersection we proceed eastwards for almost another mile before the passageway breaks into another larger tunnel. This one is long, straight, wide, and with a low ceiling. It is definitely dwarvish. Following the road westward for several miles before the passageway simply stops. It appears as if this is as far the road was constructed. Returning to our starting point we follow the road east. There are alcoves at regular intervals some with running water. The next day we reach an alcove with a sealed door which has two dragon heads carved into it within a hammer head. Tylden tries to unlock this door, but again he fails. We continue eastward for about a half day, passing a breakthrough that heads north. We continue on the main passageway for yet another half day before reaching a cave-in which we decide is effectively impassable for us.

We return down the passageway to the breach heading north and start exploring that branch. It is narrow and generally continues northward, and we follow it for most of a day before reaching a tee that is broader and heading east/west. We head west this turns to the northwest and reaches a large cavern. To the north is another larger tunnel leading away which we follow. Soon thereafter we reach a side passage leading upwards. Tylden explores, reaching the surface. We think we have reached Quail Valley but are not sure. The area is hilly and surrounded by mountains on most sides, and we can make out a town in the distance. It is late in the day, and we decide to camp for the evening and press on to the town the next day.

During the evening the party is attacked by a party consisting of a main band of five orcs along with a pair or archers that try to approach the partys flank. They are dealt with handily, all but one falling to the partys swords, axes, and arrows. Examining the fallen we see that they have a sign on their shields, although it is not much more that a white blob. Fencallad heals Grundar and Burl, but their wounds are relatively minor.

We head into town the next morning, it taking just over a day to reach it. It consists of a couple of hundred people, is named Pembrose, and indeed lies in Quail Valley. Lord Kyle is the local nobleman in charge. With some more inquiries we hear rumors of tunnels throughout the valley, and there is an active mine in the region, but no knowledge of a dwarven outpost. We spend a night in the inn, then head out in the afternoon and spend a night in the hills near the town. Tylden hears more creatures roaming about but we are not attacked. The next day we make it back to the tunnel entrance before nightfall.

Continuing onwards in the tunnels, we travel about ten miles before coming to another cave. This has four exits the one to the west smaller than the others. We take this western branch and explore it for a bit but after a while it becomes obvious that this will not lead us to the dwarven outpost. Going back to the main chamber we head north. At one point the passageway veers northwest with a smaller passage continuing north and ending at a stream. We continue northwest at one point a small passage branches southwest opposite a very small passage that branches northeast. After 12 miles the passage curves west, then tees into another passageway going north/south. We head north, reaching a large cavern after 8 miles dominated by a lake with a shelf of varying width around it. A stream flows into (out of?) the lake at the southeast, blocking travel in that direction.

Tylden notices some shadowy creatures at the north of the lake where a passageway leads off there are also passageways to the east and west. As he creeps forward to investigate, about eight furry, bearlike creatures emerge from the western passageway. They head north and engage the others in a fight, beating them soundly. Tylden approaches closer he cant make out the creatures very well, but notices some sort of corpse inside the western passage.

The rest of the part follows up Tylden, aided by a silence spell from Fencallad. He is also able to tell that the corpse is human. We go down the western passage it goes along a stream and then ends in a chamber, but we dont see any signs of habitation. The party heads back towards the lake with Tylden in the lead. As he gets to the ledge he notices several furry boulders that werent there before they rear up and attack! He retreats quickly to the rest of the party which forms up and receives the attack in good order, killing four of the creatures before the remainder run away. They appear to be sentient, although perhaps just barely. We continue northward to the northern passageway. There the shadowy figures turn out to be goblins of some type, more primitively armed than the hill orcs we previously encountered. By this time we decide that we have strayed far from the dwarvish path and retrace our steps, eventually returning to the locked door in the dwarvish passageway.

This time Tylden examines the door more closely, and takes his time to attempt to open it, finally succeeding. It opens onto a corridor about 2 yards wide and 20 yards long, with another passageway leading off near the end. As the last of the party member enters the corridor, another trap pit is sprung upon us! Grundar and Lauriel manage to escape. As for the rest, Trels armor absorbs the blow, but once more Tylden is badly hurt. Fencallad cleans up the mess as much he can using levitates and heals. Trel manages to come up with a good set of lock picks, a thrusting broadsword, $350, and a short sword from the remains of previous victims. Back up top, Tylden is able to figure out how to unlock the door in such a way that the trap remains unarmed.

Exploring the room at the end of the passageway we see that it contains an altar that is a large anvil. As we approach, a stone statue of a dwarf emerges from the anvil and begins to attack. The party fights mightily against it, but it has particularly good defenses, and at one point Tylden is knocked out. The remainder of the party keeps up the fight until eventually it is shattered.

We rest in the side room for the night. Fencallad heals up much of Tyldens damage, but he is still badly hurting. This room is decorated with a strong hammer motif. Doubtlessly a temple to Gilamar, but more geared towards his exploring aspect.

The next day we continue looking through the other rooms. The northern room has a crystal column extending from floor to ceiling and probably beyond. Continuing beyond the rooms into the corridor we come upon a locked iron door. Tylden is able to unlock it, but then the roof comes crashing down upon his leg, crushing it. As he is hauled off to a cot, the others explore this room which contains three large chests and about six smaller chests. The smaller ones contain tools and supplies. The larger ones are locked, buy Tylden is able to open them without taking further damage. Inside they contain:

3 suits of dwarven chainmail made of hardened steel. (+1 DR)
6 balanced maces
$5000

Examining the room to the east we see a pedestal on top of which is a silver sphere on a blue cushion. Also just inside the room are two bodies. They are quite old, but they appear to have died from burning damage. Fencallad later determines that both the crystal column and the silver sphere are magical, but is unable to determine the nature of the magic. He very gingerly levitates the sphere out of the room while the rest of the party cowers behind whatever might act as a good blast shield. Nothing happens. Eventually Grundar picks it up without effect, and we decide that the killing magic must have been associated with the room itself. The sphere (4 lbs) is probably hollow and has a hammer and anvil symbol on it. It is enchanted with a version of the power stone spell, as well as transformation and dancing weapons. Fencallad attempts to activate the sphere without success, but Grundar manages to do it at a cost of 4 fatigue, at which point it turns itself into a battle hammer that lasts 7 seconds. Afterwards Fencallad suggests that it will take several days to recharge, and is probably useable only by dwarves.

At this point, the party limps home. At least, Tylden does as a result of his crushed leg. Fortunately, with Fencallads help, it will only take a month for it to recover to normal. In the meantime the rest of the party returns Jack and Adam to Quail Valley.

Afterwards, Grundar resizes one of the suits of chainmail for Tylden. The party then bids Rithban and Vonmek a fond farewell and heads to Riverton where Grundar sells the 2 suits of hardened chainmail (for an impressive $10,260 each), Tyldens old suit, the 6 balanced maces ($975), and other assorted goods. I believe each share netted $6428 after expenses.

The party next headed onto Reme. By this time Tylden is staying apart from the party as much as possible, and going under the name of Thurston. Of the local lords in the area, Zedeji has been the most vocal in favor of attacking the orcs. Einu and Delach are also lords in the region, but they prefer to take a more defensive stand against the intruders. There are also a couple of mercenary companies in the area: the Hawks and Tenns Company.

We search out Lord Delach and end up talking to his steward, Connor. Grundar expresses his desire to root out the orcs, but Connor notes that their base is far from here and he doesnt want to antagonize them more than necessary. Next we search out Lord Zedeji and are directed to a recruiter, James. He says that by signing on we are agreeing to obey the Lords commands, but that he recognizes the worth of keeping an experienced group together. There will be tryouts in a couple of days. Finally we find Lord Einu. He thinks that Zedeji is a trouble-maker, but he has lost a homestead and wants to hire a band to protect his other, outer homesteads. He is looking to hire a total of about a dozen, and feels that the odds of action are quite high. Grundar later meets with the steward Daniel. We are offered 3 gold/month along with room and board. They will hire a few more men to round out the group before heading out, which he thinks will take about a week.

In the meantime, Fencallad goes magic shopping. There were a couple of libraries in town, but unfortunately, one of them burned down. The remaining library belongs to Feriblan the Mad. He agrees to allow Fencallad to use the library for a reasonable $10/day, but only on the condition that he doesnt drool! Fencallad browses through the library, eventually finding one of interest and copying it down. The next day Fencallad returns to the library, finding Mystic Mist, Watchdog, and Sense Danger, but he does not find a Shield spell, much to his disappointment. He later records Sense Foes and Sense Emotion, then arranges for a week of intensive training with Feriblan so that he can learn the Shield spell.

At the end of the week we are ready to head out with the other men hired by Lord Einu: Skelgar and Rount, both fairly experienced, Ashemy who only has leather armor and appears to be fairly useless, Outher and Ouskel who are brother, fairly competent and sporting light chain and axe, and finally Shawacha who is armed with chain and a pole arm. Lord Einu says that we will be defending two homesteads: one to the north of the road, and another to the south in an enclave between Reme and Castle Defiant.

The entire group first heads to the northern homestead. They raise goats there and are within a day of the village at the crossroads between the main east/west road and the road south to Castle Defiant. When we arrive the homesteaders are happy to see us, but there is a column of smoke rising to the east probably from another homestead. We head out to see what has happened, leaving some of the other hires behind. It is indeed a homestead that was attacked by eight orcs and an ogre. We engage them in combat and handily defeat them, then investigate. There are no human survivors there, but others have obviously fled into the nearby woods. Tylden investigates tracks leading away from the site. Some lead into the hills, but a set of tracks belong to half a dozen orcs lead south. We decided to send the remaining fighters (Skelgar and Rount) back to the northern homestead while we head south. Fencallad gives them a grey fox if they need help they are to send the fox who will find Fencallad.

4xp

Liberating The Village

...now all it needs is a name

Notes from 8/25/2012 by Francis (Tylden).

The party heads south, Tylden heads off on the wrong path for awhile before Lauriel gets him back on track. Eager to arrive at the homestead before the orcs they travel through the night, arriving in the early morning. The area is being actively patrolled by armed men hired by Lord Zedeji. It turns out that there are a cluster of homesteads in the area, only one of which belongs to Lord Einu. We are taken by the men to see Lord Zedeji who has set up in a run-down fort in the area. The fort is being repaired as Lord Zedeji makes plans to move against the orcs. Although we tell him that our first allegience is to Lord Einu, we agree to help and coordinate our activities as much as possible before retiring to Lord Einus homestead.

The homestead where we hope to get a good mornings sleep is somewhat isolated from the fort, being located about ½ mile to the northeast. Our hopes are in vain after only an hour the alarm is raised that a host of orcs about 50-100 strong is heading towards the area. Tylden goes out to potentially harass them while the remainder of our band orders all the homesteaders into the main building where they will protect them. The orcish host mostly heads for the fort, but one group of a dozen breaks off towards the homestead with Tyldenfollowing. He plugs one with an arrow and four orcs peal off to deal with him. The wounded orc and another head towards a barn, while the remaining six head towards the main building. When they are about 20 to 30 yards off the party bursts out and attacks. In the brief battle that follows only four orcs escape the rest are killed and the fire one was setting in the barn is put out before any real damage is done.

After mopping up at the homestead the party hears sounds of battle coming from the fort. They go to investigate and find the orcs are skirmishing with Zedejis forces, but they seem to be handling them well. The party lends their aid, mostly in picking off stragglers. Eventually the remaining orcs stage a fighting withdrawal and leave the area. We figure that there were closer to 100 orcs in the initial host, about half of which were killed in the fighting. Fencallad helps with healing, saving a couple of lives.

We meet again with Lord Zedeji and he explains that the orcs are much more numerous than his men. Caithness is on the march and he is hoping to join forces with him, but he needs to establish communications. He also gives the opinion that we would be best as an advanced strike force, not as a fixed defensive unit.

After resting the remainder of the day and night, the party (leaving Fencallad behind) travels back to the north homestead. We find all in order there, although they have been patrolling too close to home for Grundars liking. The next day we patrol the burned out homestead but find no one there. Tylden and Lauriel head out for several hours following up on the trail that headed up into the hills. It looks to be of some of the homesteaders that escaped the orcs. They lose the trail after awhile, but concluded that they were probably headed west towards one of the other homesteads and return to Lord Einus homestead. The next day, after instructing the other soldiers to patrol more aggressively, we return to the southern homestead.

When we arrive we find that Lord Zedeji has sent the patrols ranging further afield, and work repairing the fortress is in full swing. All told he has about 500 men. We hold another audience with him, and his main concern is contacting the forces of Caithness. We offer to scout the village at the crossroads. Lord Zedeji agrees, sending 10 men to guard Lord Einus homestead in our stead. Before leaving, Fencallad casts mystic myst on the southern homestead. We then proceed to the northern homestead, pick up the fighters, then head into the hills to the north of the village.

The next day we spend some time establishing a good defensive position in the hills north of the village before sending Tylden and Lauriel to do some scouting. They find that the village is not all that large and that there are no nearby farms. There is very little activity in the village itself and only see a couple of dozen orcs. There are a few patrols going to the east and west, but they seem more active to the west. Tylden & Lauriel sneak up to the outermost buildings at the north of the village. They hear some whispering in common coming from inside, but dont make contact before sneaking back to the party.

That night Tylden and Lauriel observe the village from afar. They revise their estimates upward to 100 to 200 orcs, but the southern portion of the village is shielded and they cant get a good idea of the number of orcs in that area. Tylden & Lauriel return to the village, although Lauriel is spotted and she doesnt make it all the way before turning back. Tylden contacts the villagers inside one of the buildings, but they dont want to try to escape. They suggest instead that we simply kill off all the orcs!

Tylden returns to the party, then makes his way to the west of the village and heads south to observe. He sees large patrols of 20 to 30 orcs going up and down the road presumeably to Castle Defiant. He gets a good look at the southern end of the village. There is a high amount of orcish activity which seems to be centered on a stone building possibly a church or chapel. He estimates the total number of orcs in the village at 250 before returning to the party. We then head to the northern homestead where we spend the night before travelling back to the south.

Grundar approaches Lord Zedeji with a clever plan. It involves a quick march with most of Zedejis men to the north of the village. They then send in three groups two take out the parties to the east and west of the village, the main group heading straight into the village where they all meet up. Another group goes and holds the road to the south. If all goes according to plan all the orcs will be bottled up inside the village and destroyed. Lord Zedeji is intrigued, but worried that it will leave the fort relatively unguarded for 3 days while the men are on the move.

The next day Lord Zedeji replies that he is still considering it, although he wont leave the fort unguarded. He steps up patrols for the day to determine if the orcs are undergoing any new movements. The day after that he declares that he will go ahead with the plan and preparations start. In the end about 50-100 men stay behind to guard the fort, while Grundar will lead the assault to the east of the town.

The attack is set into motion. The group led by Grundar sweeps through the eastern outpost, after which Tylden & Lauriel head down the road to contact the forces from Caithness. Grundar & co. head into the village where they find Lord Zedejis forces hard-pressed by the orcs. Unfortunately, the commander of the western prong mis-interpreted his orders and headed to the south to hold the road instead of sweeping into the village to assist the main assault. Fortunately, Grundar with Trel and Burl at his side is able to cut his way through the orcs and link up with Lord Zedeji. Also assisting Lord Zedejis group was Fencallad who was able to lend his healing aid instrumental as Lord Zedeji received a nasty wound in the fight. They mop up the orcs estimating that no more than 60 of the 250 orcs escaped, although about 40 of Lord Zedejis men were killed. It would have turned out better but for the incompetence of the other commander who is sent home in disgrace.

Down the road, Tylden & Lauriel make their way to the camp of the Caithness forces. They are definitely on the haughty side, as well as apparently divided in terms of the command structure. The two main personnages are Lord Perdeur of Durham, an older nobleman, and the younger Sir William of Wallace. Tylden explains the action Lord Zedeji has taken against the orcs, which is met with perhaps a slight lessening of disdain the Caithness nobles were frankly of the opinion that no help would be forthcoming from the nobles in Reme. Tylden also expresses Lord Zedejis desire that Caithness re-occupy the village, and that the two forces coordinate future efforts. The nobles declare that they will give their answer in the morning.

Tylden and Lauriel return to the village the next day with news that Caithness has given their general agreement and will be there that evening to discuss the matter with Lord Zedeji. The host from Caithness duly arrives with several thousand men. These consist mostly of armored footmen armed with swords and polearms, as well as archers, but there is also a column of about 100 knights much to the delight of Grundar. At the meeting, Caithness instructs Lord Zedeji not to take any major, independent action against the orcs without consulting them, and everyone agrees that more scouting of the orcs is necessary. Lord Zedeji again is of the opinion that our company would best be served as part of an attack force. We are generally agreed, but are reluctant to breech our contract with Lord Einu. We take our leave and head back to the northern homestead, but promise to return in a couple of days.

4xp

A Change in Employer

...this is a right to work world, isn't it?

Notes from 10/6/2012 by Francis (Tylden).

At the Northern homestead the company considers how to word a letter to Lord Einu telling him that we will be working more closely with Lord Zedeji. The next morning a horseman arrives breathlessly the orcs have attacked and Zedejis men have retreated from the tower. The entire company moves south to help Zedeji save for the Useless One (Ashemy) who takes our letter to Einu.

As we move south we encounter Zedejis men the orcs (about 1000) overwhelmed the fort. Although the defenders numbered about 100, the fort was not in good defensive shape to begin with and they were unable to hold it. Zedeji went to relieve them but is now retreating. We next encounter the homesteaders we were charged to protect. They are heading north to Reme and suffered no losses, although a couple of the young men signed up to fight with Zedeji.

The next group encountered is a band of orcs (15 goblins, 9 green skins, 4 bigguns, all lead by a dwarf!) An extremely hard fight ensures of the five human mercenaries we picked up from the northern homestead four go down and Lauriel has her sword broken by one of the bigguns, but we win the day and no one is too grievously hurt. Five of the gobins escape and the dwarf is captured - the rest are all killed. However, we notice that some orcs in the area have simply moved past us to the north. The next group we meet is Zedejis.

Lord Zedeji is none too happy: he has about 200 men remaining but has lost approximately 250. We all surmise that the orcs must have initiated the attack against the fort before our attack on the crossroads. As a result the fort and all the homesteads in the area have now been lost to the orcs. Zedeji also mentions reports by some sighting a dragon being ridden by an orc in the area. After a brief consultation, Tylden takes off to both warn the southern homesteaders that orcs are in the area heading north and to proceed with all due haste to Reme, as well as to instruct the northern homesteaders to evacuated to Reme. After ensuring that these groups are beyond the range of the orcs, he heads back to the village at the crossroads.

The dwarf is interrogated at the village. He apparently is part of a small group of disaffected dwarves working with one Lord Bulgan. The dwarves are nominally in charge of the orcs, although there are some orc chieftans that would appear to have considerably sway over the members of their own race. The dwarf also appears to be adept at torturing based on the set of knives found upon him.

Grundar proposes taking the captive dwarf back to his home tribes they may be ashamed enough to send a contingent in support. Lord Zedeji feels that, in his experience, dwarves care little about what happens outside of their own halls. It also seems that the Caithness soldiers are especially interested in the captured dwarf and seem little inclined to give him up. While discussing the situation with Zedeji, it also comes out that a reason why the Caithness forces are not being more aggressive is due to the presence of prisoners in Castle Defiant. Grundar asks if there is anything we could do, and Zedeji replies that gathering intelligence on the disposition of forces around Castle Defiant would be useful. A short time later word circulates that the dwarven prisoner has died during interrogation.

We agree to scout out Castle Defiant and Fencallad arranges for a complex illusion to cover the party. Unfortunately we had forgotten that the low mana area extends nearly up to the village and he is unable to maintain the spell. Tylden is sent in by himself after first being camouflaged by Lauriel. He gets to within about a mile of Castle Defiant and spends some time in observation, estimating the total number of orcs in the area to be 15-25,000, mostly situated to the south, before returning.

In the village the company receives a letter of Einu. He is quited displeased and wishes us to report to Reme apparently so that he can reprimand us in person. Grundar sends back what is in essence a letter of resignation, quite grovelly and probably too sarcastic. We offer ourselves to Lord Zedeji. He accepts, although notes that he is resource poor at the moment.

Grundar repairs Lauriels sword and uparmors Shawacha (polearm) to heavy chain. He also addresses the party: he intends to form an official mercenary band to be hired out as an elite group. Everyone buys into his idea. The company is then shortly thereafter approached by Zedeji with just the mission for such an elite group: rescue the hostages from Castle Defiant! The Lords of Caithness have forbidden a direct attack due in part to the fact that Lords Perdeur and William both have family members being held hostage by the orcs although not at Castle Defiant. However, they are willing to cover our retreat. Perdeur has served in Castle Defiant and is familiar with its various side entrances but does not know of any secret entrances.

The party takes about two weeks to prepare for the mission. Grundar first gets Lord Perdeur to send the body of the dwarf back to his homeland along with a note from Grundar explaining the circumstances. He then starts making brigadine armor for some of the men as well as some balanced axes. During this time Tylden along with three other of Zedejis scouts take another shot at gathering information. They break up into two groups of two. Tylden takes his old route and manages to get upto the castle itself, although once there he is nearly spotted by a winged creature fortunately Lauriels camouflage job sees him through. He is able to map out a series of gullies and culverts that go up to the castle actually emerging from a barred drain. There is also a side entrance nearby. During the (considerable) time he lay motionless to avoid aerial detection, Tylden determines that the side entrance is probably unguarded, although doubtlessly locked. One downside of this route is that it passes near an orc encampment and men in plate may be audible to the residents. Also, we would have to cross an open area to actually reach the castle walls. From there they are able to safely make it back to camp. The other group, unfortunately, lost one of the scouts to the orcs. They were able to find a route that approached the castle that was relatively well covered by brush along the route. In contrast, Tyldens route had stretches of excellent cover interspersed with more open areas.

Upon his return, Tylden and Fencallad go to Reme so that Fencallad can see if he can learn Shape Earth (proceeded by Seek Earth) as well as Wizard Eye.

3xp

Tylden vs. Lauriel

Round 1?

Bonus notes from Francis (Tylden), approved by the GM.

Lauriel was sitting underneath a tree, her back snug in the crook of the trunk, feet propped on a fallen branch. In her hand was a book. She turned a page languishly. The morning had been a disaster. Perhaps not the were all going to die very, very soon type of disaster if they were lucky it might take a week. Lauriel sighed. It probably wasnt that bad. Probably. But the recent hires had much to learn, and not much time. After a morning of hard practice everyone was tired and tempers were short. Well, hers was she wasnt sure about the others. A break had been called for rest and food and Lauriel had quickly grabbed some cheese, bread, water, and the book in her pack. Eating and reading under the tree, she was finally unwinding. Feeling almost_elvish_ again. Slowly, she turned another page.

Footsteps approached. She didnt turn her head. The footsteps came closer, came up to her, and stopped. She read a few more line in silence, turned a page with care. More reading and then, still facing her book, asked Are you going to stare at me all day, Tylden, or do you have something to say?

He cleared his throat, but did not speak.

She was not going to look at him. Not going to encourage him this was her time. We had a hard practice. Im tired. Im resting. Ill be back in a little while. Let me be. She roughly flipped another page.

He cleared his throat again, then started haltingly, Thats notthat wasnt what

Oh, Gods, what did he want? She really was not going to look at him. She kept her face firmly planted in the book. Eventually the sun will set, the air shall get cold, and we shall freeze. I pray you, please speak before then. She flipped another page. Maybe two.

He coughed, then started to say something. If fortune smiled upon her it would be brief, the matter shortly concluded, and soon she would be alone again.

Fortune frowned.

I, uhMilady, II dont think you should go on this mission.

Lauriel stopped, caught off guard. Excuse me? she asked as she swiveled her head towards him, remembering too late her vow from moments before.

I dont think you should go on this mission.

Lauriel turned back to her book as she recomposed herself, putting on an air of bland indifference. OhSo, Grundar has some other mission for me?

No, no he does not, miladay.

What is he talking about? she thought furiously, all the while asking idly, Then Lord Zedeji, perhaps Lord Peradeur, they have a task needing completion?

No, milady. No other task.

Slowly, very, very slowly, she turned another page as she iced down her tone several degrees. Milord speaks in riddles. Please explain.

Thisthis is a very dangerous mission. We may not survive. Milady shouldnt go.

Her head snapped back and she stared at him. He briefly met her gaze, then turned away.

What are you talking about? she exclaimed in exasperation. Of course its dangerous, thats why the company is doing it. Isnt that our purpose to do dangerous things that no one else can?

Yes, I know miladybut, this will be quite dangerous. Extremely dangerous. None of us may survive.

I may not survive this conversation, she thought, glowering. But we all know the danger. All of us agreed to the venture. Whatever are you talking about? By now she was waiving the book in animated circles, pages clinging anxiously to the binding. About to continue the tirade she stopped short. Warning klaxons started braying in the back of her head, and she fixed him with a hard gaze, Let me guess, she growled through clenched teeth, I am the only one of the company you are counseling not to go.

Tylden paused before replying, staring at the earth beneath his feed. Yes, milady, he admitted.

Her face slowly flushed, her glare speaking of all the disdain and contempt she knew. All the anger at the utter audacity of telling her, her, that she alone of all the company should not go.

Milady, the he stopped as he looked upon her face again, his face flushing in turn when he saw her look. Lauriel grudgingly had to give him credit. She might kill him still, but this time he did not look away from her.

Milady, the lives of men are brief, he whispered. If we wish to squander it away on this glory or that adventure, well, all too soon we will be in the ground anyway. I have much to gain perhaps a pardon. Buta creature such as yourselfwhat gain will you enjoy? And you have so much to lose.

Again, his counter was unexpected and she was silent a moment, her riposte checked. But her initiative was only stayed a moment, and once regained, quarter was not on her mind.

She spoke softly in kind. And, what was I to do instead?

He face was blank. He obviously had no idea, hadnt thought that far.

Wash dishes? Cook perhaps?

His face actually went pale at that jab, giving Lauriel more satisfaction than she would later care to admit. Still, he didnt turn away.

Stay in camp, at my ease, waiting for the company to return?

Her voice was quite soft now, white-hot soft. Still, he did not look away. It was not so much that he looked helpless, she thought, as much as he looked resigned to his fate. His inevitable, terrible fate.

Stay in camp, and waitfor you?

He winced. Seeing his reaction Lauriel almost laughed out loud but was immediately glad that she had not. He was just making her mad, but her laughter would have wounded him deeply. Even as it was she had been intentionally cruel to him but, by the Gods, he had deserved it this time. Lauriel was thinking how she might let him down gently, or at least not too precipitously, but beyond all reason, beyond all sense, Tylden was staying his ground.

You are young, and rash, milady. You realize not what you risk.

Ill be the judge of that! she barked at him, all thoughts of gentleness gone. Does Grundar know that youre doing this?

Lady, no

Why do you think I left my home? Why do you think I joined the company?

Milady

And what do you think will happen to me when I stay here and the company goes off? Think, think, my little boy! Would any company would ever have me again? Oh, Lauriel looks fetching enough in her armor, but you cant really count on her when it matters. No, they wouldnt none would have me. I would have no course but to retire home in shame. Yes, we creatures live longer than you men, and almost all of mine is still ahead of me, and for all of that long, long time you would have me live with the knowledge that I was judged by everyone to be a coward! Lauriel snapped her head away from Tylden, face red, breathing heavily.

Milady, I did not think

Obviously! she shot back.

beyond your death.

Im not dead, she retorted.

Then, beyond its possibility.

Lauriel sat in silence for awhile, waiting until she had caught her breath and at least some of the anger had drained from her face. She considered turning a page, decided there was really no point. You have obviously have been out in the sun too long and have been training too hard. Go back to camp. Soak your head. Maybe then youll be able to think again. She stared at the book some more. Eventually she was no longer breathing with such effort. She turned a page. Soon, very soon now, he would leave. Until then, she shall not look at him again. Only at the book. She shall look only at the book. Oh, Gods, what is he doing now? Is he taking off his belt?

Her head spun around at him again. Tylden was standing there, offering his scabbard to her. When I lose my sword, it is my nature to run away but yours is to stand and fight. Even as a second, this will be better served with you.

Lauriel wasnt sure if she growled or not. The unbidden, unpleasant memory from the last fight of having that overgrown orc break her sword leaving her with nothing but a knife in reserve was not welcome. She turned back to the book. Ill buy another sword, she promised coldly, or are you so eager to thrust yours upon me?

No, milady.

She heard him rebuckle his sword belt, but the hoped for sound of receeding footsteps did not materialize. Instead, Gods, he was rustling around for some item.

Milady should take this.

Lauriel clenched her teeth again. If you say milady one more time, I swear I will come over there and lop off your skull with that sword of yours. She looked at him now he was offering a small flask to her.

At least take this. It was the healing potion.

Lauriel bent her head down. Surely she would go mad. You are the chief scout, she started, mustering all her patience. You are frequently ahead, by yourself, with no one to help you if injured. I am usually with the party, with Fencallad. Keep the potion. She looked at him, explaining as if to a child, You do realize that by keeping yourself alive, you might actually help keep me alive?

They stared at each other awhile.

You make a fair point miLauriel.

Is there anything else? She managed a thin smile.

He look tired, spent. All my suggestions have been rebuffed, he sighed, I shall not add further to the tally.

Lauriel nodded and turned back to the book. More silence and then, yes! The blessed sound of footsteps moving away. Yet she suddenly surprised herself by calling out after him: You were right about one thing.

She heard the footsteps stop but did turn away from her book. Leisurely, she turned another page. If our chief scout displays such lack of judgment when leading us into the maw of our enemies, she mused as if speaking only to herself, then, surely, we shall all die.

A chuckle? Then, this time, the footsteps receeded for good. Lauriel concentrated again on the book. Gods, where was she, and where had she left off from actually reading it? She put the book down and closed her eyes. What was she going to do about that boy? She replayed the encounter in her head, smirked. Well, at least for now, maybe she had done enough.

Castle Defiant

The Mission of Certain Death

Notes from 11/23/2012 by Francis

As we prepare for the Castle Defiant suicide mission, Tylden buys six healing potions in Reme (132 each ack!) He also takes Lauriel shopping so that he can ply her with the sort of delicacies that every girl needs: namely a fine broadsword and a fine long knife. He also buys a set for himself (4960 cp total for the four weapons.) Not only is Lauriel well-equipped, but she is now the second wealthiest member of the party and seems to have no qualms about allowing Tylden to spend all his money on her.

We distribute a few more items among the party Grundar gets the heavy rope, and we distribute a pair of maces, the light rope, and a crowbar between Trel and Burl. Grundar is also given a magical vial along with the instructions to break it after we have rescued the prisonsers it will lead the Caithness relief force to our location.

We head out around midnight towards Castle Defiant taking a route that lays off the road. No sooner do we leave the village than a large orcish warband passes us heading towards the village. Some of the orcish scouts hear Trel and Burl chattering amongst themselves, but Tylden is able to lead them off before circling back to the party. After travelling much of the night we find a relatively secure location and wait for dawn.

As the sky lightens we continue onward through the series of gullies previously scouted, eventually reaching the crossing we had been concerned about: an open area near an orcish camp. We are not too surprised to discover that the camp is nearly empty with only a couple of guards, and one by one the members sneak past. The crossing is not completely silent, but we manage to all make our way past and continue towards the castle before the remaining orcs come over to investigate.

Reaching the castle walls, Fencallad disguises Grundar as an orc and then proceed to the grate. It is a difficult task, but Fortune is smiling this day on Fencallad, and he moves the stone around the grate, opening the passageway. Tylden then takes the lead, the others worming their way behind them as the company enters the passageway. It is especially difiicult for Grundar who barely fits in his armor and is unable to get much purchase with his arms and legs. Tylden progresses down the passageway. The roof is a mixture of stone, wood, and dirt. At various times he hears voices above.Eventually he reaches a grate set up in the ceiling beyond this the passageway eventually becomes blocked.

We maneuver Fencallad up to the grate, and with a bit of magical persuasion he is able to drop it down into the passageway. Poking his head up into the room he discovers it to be an abandoned and looted storeroom. The party begins to move into the storeroom, but Shawnche gets his polearm stuck. The effort to free it draws the attention of three orcs, but they are overpowered by Lauriel (who, somewhat inconsiderately, almost immediately drops the sword given to her by Tylden at least this time she has a spare) and a couple other of the hale and hearties. As Lauriel goes to investigate the rest of the storeroom another orc comes out of a door leading to a further room. She retreats, hoping to draw the orc further in, but unfortunately has forgotten about the orc bodies still laying on the ground. Seeing these, the orc bolts up the stairway and sounds the alarm.

The rest of the group piles into the storeroom. We investigate the back room and find about a half dozen human prisoners. We release them, and they inform us that they have taken the castles captain upstairs for interrogation. Some hurried planning occurs, then we storm up the stairs. At the first landing we find three rooms a kitchen, dining room, and a workshop all with an exit to the outside grounds. More orcs are coming downstairs where Grundar and Trel hold them off. Much heavy fighting ensues before the rooms are cleared, and Stelkor and Rhount take heavy damage. The doors at the ground level have bars and two are closed, but the bar to the third door is missing. Despite the confusion a few of the company hold the door against the orcs trying to come into the tower while the bar is found and the door finally secured.

In the stairway Grundar manages to fight his way up to the second landing. These rooms contain barracks and, after having dispatched the initial wave, the remaining orcs are still in their rooms. Most of the party holds the hallway while Grundar and Tylden go up to the next level. Here they find two very large orcs as well as two of the Evil Dwarves. With Grundar in front taking on the orcs, Tylden does his Legolas impression Grundar taking out both orcs and Tylden takes out one of the dwarves with a kidney shot and grievously wounds another before Grundar cuts off his arms. In a back room we find the captain Lord Naltoro.

We gather down in the basement the stairwell has been filled with as much furniture as can be found which we set fire while holding off those orcs still in the upper level. Meanwhile orcs from the outside are beginning to hack down the doors. In the basement we create a much larger barricade while starting to send the party and released prisonsers through the tunnel. This barricade is also fired. After the remaining defenders ensure that there will be no pursuit, they exit through the tunnel as well.

The company gathers outside the walls and Fencallad throws an awake spell which speeds up the slower members of the party. We all head out, but soon are spotted by some of the orcs streaming back towards the castle. At some point we decide it is time to break the magical vial that we were given. Upon doing so, a magical beam of light rises from the earth into the heavens. We know that this is intended to guide the relief force to our location, but can't help feeling that the beam carries the caption "orcs: escaping prisoners are HERE!". Soon thereafter, a party of a couple dozen small orcs attacks the party which we manage to defeat, but then the flying creature makes its appearance. It turns out to be a wyvern with an orc rider. It comes around for a strafing run. Most of the party hits the dirt, but Tylden in the rear is able to line up a shot. It strikes home and the wyvern struggles to retain control, then flies off.

Continuing on we see a cloud of dust in the distance. We hope it is the relief force but it turns out to be more orcs. There is a nearby hill which we retreat to, Fencallad casting mystic myst to create a nice defensive position. The orcs, however, have archers among themselves, and they start peppering our position. Tylden sneaks to the edge of the mystic myst with Lauriel covering him with her shield. He picks out the biggest, baddest orc and sends an arrow his way and it strikes true! The archers move awayMeanwhile another dust cloud appears on the horizon this time it is lancers! The Caithness force bears down on the orcish host who only too late appreciates the situation, and much havoc is wreaked upon them. After meeting with the commander of the relieving force, we are escorted back to the village.

Later, Grundar meets with the Caithness commanders. They confirm thatthere is some sort of stronghold to the southwest probably commanded by dwarves. It is felt that the ladies held hostage are there.

(11/24/2012)

While awaiting the return of scouts from the southwest, we are given six healing potions, and purchase another for 100 cp each. Tylden goes to Reme where he sells of the gems looted from the bodies of the Evil Dwarves from Castle Defiant (netting 4050 cp), and also buys a single battle potion for the exorbidant price of 931 cp. Grundar draws up a formal charter for the company official name to be decidded later. Everone has a single share, although Grundar as the leader has a double share. Members will be expected to pay the material costs of any amor improvements.

The next night there is a full-scale assault on the village. This occurs while Tylden is still off on his shopping trip to Reme, but the others take part. The initial orcish assault is thrown back while Grundar leads a flanking attack that inflicts great casualties upon the orcs. After this initial victory, the commander leads a broad assault, but this does not fare well and his force found themselves sorely pressed. Lauriel then leads a relieving force and rescues him, returning the commander to the main lines where Fencallad is able to heal him. At this point, the orcs start breeching the defensive lines of the Caithness forces. The time is now late morning/noon, and the Caithness forces respond with an all-out attack. This goes well and they start to roll up both flanks. As the day turns to afternoon the Caithness forces continue to press the advantage, at which point the wyvern arrives. This has some effect on the Caithness cavalry, but is not able to prevent Caithness from surrounding the remaining orcish host. As evening turns to night the orcs launch an attack and some manage to break out of the encirclement. Still, as the orc survivors flee the battlefield it is estimated that they leave behind some 10,000 casualties. The Caithness forces have suffered some 25% casualties themselves, but it is still well-deserved victory.

The next day Grundar meets with Lord Peredeur, and we learn some more details about the current situation. Lord Wallaces wife and Lord Peredeurs granddaughter are the main hostages. It is also learned that Caithness is in the midst of a low-grade civil war. King Connell was the subject of a recent assassination attempt, and the noble ostensibly behind the plot has had his lands stripped from him. Peredeur and Wallace are on different sides of the resulting dispute, and King Connell has been having sometrouble rallying support. It is at this time that rangers arrive, relaying the latest information from their scouting expedition. Their report goes something like this

(Of what the rangers Tol, Isach, Tibanris, and Whyen encountered)

The group of rangers is searching to the southwest of Castle Defiant. A set of tracks is found of a large group of creatures moving towards Castle Defiant, greater than a week old. A second set of tracks is also found these are more recent and of a small group moving away from Castle Defiant. We follow the smaller set, but lose them after a day. We continue on in the same general direction. After some time, the trackers find the fragments of a fairly old trail leading in the same direction as the original one. Continuing on, we find, then lose this trail several times. When about a days journey southwest of Castle Defiant an orcish patrol is encountered moving north to south, but are able to evade it. After following the older, broken trail, we find the smaller trail again and start to follow that one back. Eventually we reach a rocky area and it is difficult to follow the trail, but Isach is up to the task. At one point a wyvern passes overhead. We are unsure if we are spotted, and see it pass beyond a rocky outcropping about five miles ahead of our current position. Then we notice another orcish patrol. We attempt to hide, but they come upon our position. There are only four orcs, and we ambush them as best we can, eventually killing them all, but not without taking several wounds amongst ourselves. We make use of all our healing potions,and continue forward to see if we can discover more about where the wyvern may have landed. We avoid another patrol, then follow them to another outcropping which they go behind but do not emerge from. Isach climbs up past the outcropping and then a ravine. Looking into the ravine he sees some orcish sentries and beyond them more orcs emerging from a cave. This appears to be the main entrance of the stronghold that we seek. Armed with this valuable information, we return back home to report.

Into the Stronghold

The Mission of More Certain Death

Notes from 12/30/2012 to 1/1/2013 by Francis

(12/30/2102)

The company, now officially Grundars Growlers, obtains 30 healing potions at the low, low, suicide mission special of $60/each. After the scouts return Grundar is invited to a strategic planning session where the scouts give an account of what they found. The Growlers plan to take some of the scouts to ascertain the enemys position and find a forward base. Lord William says that the best option will be to take horses and plan on riding out with the prisoners. He also volunteers the help of some mages.

We review the scouts there are thirty total. The 16 most combat capable are divided into four teams of four each, and they scout out the north, south, east, and west of the orcish stronghold. The other scouts are divided into teams of two and three their mission is to scout to the east of the stronghold and thereby divert some of the orcs attention in that direction. Before we leave, Lord Perdeur urges Grundar to consider only taking those with the utmost stealth for the final assault. We head out with the complete company along with Isach, three mages provided by the Lords of Caithness, and 20 horses.

A forward party is formed of Grundar, Trel, Burl, Fencallad, Lauriel, Tylden, Isach, the most senior of the mages (Emelm), three of four scouts from the southern party, and Schawnchee with five additional horses and a mule with supplies. Everyone else remains at the forward base. We head to the caves found south of the stronghold, approaching from the west. We hole up in the first cave, scouts near the entrance on the lookout for orcs. Tylden and Isach scout out the cave which is unfortunately found to dead end. However during that night Tylden spots an orc creeping along. He follows him back to the hidden entrance of a tunnel close to the cave the party currently occupies.

The next day, Grundar, Tylden, Lauriel, and Fencallad go to this caveto investigate, Isach, Trel and Burl guarding the entrance. We scout down the corridor. It goes about 500 yards (during which there is a dead-end corridor off to the right) before teeing. Tylden goes left where the corridor tees again. This time to the right Tylden sees a dwarvish guard and hears female screaming and well dwarvish conversation. The group returns to their cave for planning.

Ultimately the group returns. Tylden investigates the passageway to the right of the first tee. He discovers that it curves around to the east before heading to the north and an intersection (the south intersection). From this intersection are passageways east (dead end), west (branching into two both of which enter the main chamber) and north (becomes finished stone passageway behind a door in the finished passageway he hears orcs). In the main chamber Tylden sees a lizard person (prisoner), an older female who has been cut and burned, 2 more females and lizard people chained to the wall, two dwarvish torturers, another dwarf with a war hammer, and four more dwarves in plate mail. There is also a large orc or two for good measure.

Fencallad makes Tylden invisible and he investigates the main chamber. Besides the entrance with the dwarvish guard and the two passageways leading back to the south intersection, he sees two more exits from the chamber. One is guarded by an orc which he slips by although the orc seems to notice something. Tylden discovers a smaller chamber beyond with a lizard and two more female prisoners who are chained to the ground along with another orc and dwarf. Tylden thinks that these two females are ladies Bronwyn and Wallace. Based on the expected opposition, Grundar sends for those in the forward camp to reinforce us.

Another scouting expedition is sent and Fencallad (with some difficulty) puts invisibility and hush on Tylden. He is able to discover that many of the passageways are dead ends, although one from the smaller chamber leads into another finished passageway. This passageway goes NW/SE, and to the SE it comes to a four-way intersection. At this intersection, the original finished passageway is off to the SW. The scouting party retires again to our cave and await the arrival of those left behind in the forward camp and engage in interminable planning

(12/31/12)

We have concocted a clever plan. An invisible Tylden along with a mage stealthed Fencallad will sneak around to the back entrance of the small chamber. Fencallad will cast shape earth to block off reinforcements, and a 2nd wall to protect himself leaving the invisible Tylden to fend for himself hopefully ambushing the enemies within. The other wizards will bring down the ceiling in the southern intersection. Grundarand Lauriel will lead attacks from the two passageways leading from the (hopefully blocked) intersection while others lead the attack from the SW entrance to the main chamber when they hear the alarm raised.

The next day at noon the remaining Growlers arrive in good order. We cant fit all the horses in the cave so we station some about 50 yards away over a ridge. Everything planned to the smallest detail, we enter the stronghold where, naturally, things go quickly awry. At the first intersection (a couple hundred yards in where there is a passageway that dead ends off to the right) there are a couple of orcs stationed. Tylden and Isach are made invisible. They sneak up and shoot them, Tylden killing hisbut Isach only wounding the other. A 3rd orc then appears. More shots are fired while this orc scoots down the hall. With some difficulty Tylden gets past the wounded orc, rushing forward and eventually tackling the orc fleeing down the hallway. With additional difficulty he manages to slit the orcs throat while the remainder of the party takes care of the previously wounded one, but by this time we figure that the orcs have noticed our presence and switch to a hastily conceived plan B. Grundar is made invisible while Tylden remains so, and wizards bring down the passageway ceiling to the northeast of the southern intersection. Lauriel leads a group containing Tylden through the SW entrance, Grundarleading the charge from the SE.

A fairly brutal fight follows. The scout archers with us prove useless against the heavily armored dwarves and orcs. Rhount is one-shotted by one and Trel is nearly killed. Indeed at one point it looked fairly hopeless. However Lauriel & co. are able to overcome their two foes,the invisible Grundar slowly whittles down the major opposition he is facing, while Tylden is able to pick off or severely wound an orc or dwarf every other round. By the time the mook reinforcement arrive the real opposition is dealt with, and the company is able to wade through the low-level backup without significant difficulty.

The nine prisoners are freed and given healing potions while the bodies of the fallen are looted for an insufficient (in the minds of Tylden and Grundar) amount of booty. The chief dwarf (Bulgon) has a purse of $3200, and orc has a defaced signet ring, and there is a further $2000-$3000 in trinkets. This includes a jewel worth $600 that Fencallad wants to buy from the party. Another potion or two to the most grievously injured and we retreat out of the stronghold. The company starts making for the forward base followed by about 20 orcish scouts and 50 larger orcs. We make a lead group composed of the nine prisoners, 10 horses, the scouts and Tylden who move ahead. The women can all ride well (and apparently the lizard folk can keep pace) and this group makes good time.

Meanwhile, the lead party is able to keep ahead for about half an hour before the orcish scouts catch up. The party presses on ahead but eventually fatigues. They form up in a defensive posture and eventually Fencallad calls up Mystic Myst. The skirmishers start peppering the group with arrows, but Lauriel and Isach return fire, squelching their ardor a bit. Fencallad in the meantime throws up a defensive perimeter of raised dirt. The orcs wait until the moon set and then, whipped into a fury by their leaders, attack the party. Rhount again is laid low, but after a furious fight the orcs are driven off. The party rests for a couple of hours before continuing on, eventually reaching the forward camp.

In the meantime, the lead group presses onward without disturbance and is met by a group of lancers halfway between the forward base and Reme. They reach Reme where the lizard people take their leave. Lady Bronwyn, above the objections of the local commanders, insists on proceeding along with Lady Wallace to the village to meet up with Lords Perdeur and Wallace who are overseeing the siege of Castle Defiant. During the journey to the village, Tylden reveals his background to Lady Bronwyn and asks if they could put in a good word to Lords Wallace and Perdeur regarding a pardon.

After reaching the forward base, the main group reaches Reme without further harassment before proceeding to the village where they report to Lords Perdeur and Wallace, then to Lord Zedeji.

(1/1/2013)

The Caithness leaders are going head with a full-scale assault on the castle. There are a significant number of dwarves inside who have been organizing the orcs to an unnatural state of preparedness. There are also reports of a wyvern inside. The Caithness forces have superior numbers of arches, but there are still 1000-2000 orcs inside. The assault begins cautiously, but by this time Fencallad has come up with a plan involving approaching an unassaulted gate and having him move the stone away from the hinges of the gate. Unfortunately, the first days assault does not go too well. The next day we try again. The Caithness assault is not as well organized, but we fare much better. A hole is made in the wall next to the gate and although the orcs are able place rubble behind the gate to prevent our forces from exploiting it, the diversion has aided the overall assault. On the third day the Caithness forces concentrate on this weak point while Fencallad works his wiles on another gate. Between the Caithness attack and our work weakening this third gate we are able to force the orcs to retreat to the main keep. The next day we rest while Fencallad heals up members of the party along with anyone else he has sufficient reserves to attend to. The next day sees the final assault of the keep. The orcs are fighting to the death and the main attack lead by Grundars Growlers are happy to oblige. The keep is cleared. As the last evil dwarf falls a familiar figure rises from the roof of the keep. Dodging a parting shot from Tylden, the wyvern flies off in the distance.

In the aftermath the Growlers loot some plate mail off the dwarves for refitting members of their company. In a modest ceremony afterwards, Grundar receives a gold-chased drinking horn, Fencallad an amulet of enchantment that turns any place that strikes him, and Tylden is given a letter of recommendation. Finally, the group is presented with twelve cavalry horses.

5 XPs

Captains of Industry

Is That a Copper Ingot in Your Pocket?...

Notes from 2/9/2013 by Francis

The company journeys back to Vonmek. The town has grown noticeably, and all the former farms have been reoccupied. We are well received upon our return. Sloesh, the mayor of the town and resident leather-worker, greets them and mentions that theyve been having some troubles with the goblins. The goblins are attempting to mine and not doing a very good job of it. Sloesh feels that without an effective mine, the town has little reason for existence in the long run, and so is naturally worried.

We see Rithban and note that he has been making various improvements to his abode. We discuss our dreams with him. Rithban noted that, as he settled down, the dreams got much worse. He has since put up a protective spell around his house (noticed by Fencallad on our arrival) which helped matters, but over time it seems to be getting worse again. The symbol on our hands does not originate from the same origin as the dreams which originate far to the west, and indeed appears to be some sort of counter spell combatting the dreams. Rithban is not sure where the counter spell is originating from. Rithban feels that if we could obtain the staff from the goblin shaman of the tribe that we drove off from Vonmek it would help him in his abilities to figure out what is going on.

Fencallad, accompanied by Onskel, Onther, and Shawnchee, travels to Burle so that he can spend buckets of money doing magical research. While he does so, the boys do some weapon trainings (in spear, I believe). The spells that Fencallad researches are Trace, History, Seek Magic, and Seeker.

In Vonmek, we make inquiries about the troubles with the goblins. Most villagers dont know anything firsthand about the situation with the goblins. Negotiations are occurring between Sloesh and Visselfish, the nephew of the goblin Big Gut. The towns carpenter Irdenu is a bit more talkative. He implies that the Vonmek merchants want too much. The head of the merchants is a certain Ronabel, and he is apparently the head of a merchant consortium based in Riverton. The merchants arrived recently and have mostly been working with Sloesh. They are situated in the Big House, and Grundar goes to pay him a visit. There is a guard outside the house who is quite haughty. When Grundar asks him to talk to Ronabel the guard returns with Ronabels refusal. Grundar gets a bit more intimidating, and the guard suggests that perhaps he should arrange a meeting through Sloesh. Grundar, after vowing that Ronabels refusal to see him will be known through the town, is finally led in to see him. Grundar asks Ronabel why he wants to destroy everything that Grundar has accomplished. Ronabel replies that the merchants will restore the area to its former prosperity. He seems intent on setting the goblins aside. Grundar leaves in a huff.

The next day we go to meet with the goblins. Visselfish declares that the humans dont know how to run the mine, and he takes Grundar to meet with the chieftain, Big Gut. The current situation is that no ore is being transferred the humans are not purchasing the ore at a reasonable price. The real problem seems to center around the inefficiencies of transporting raw ore it is simply not cost effective to transport ore to Burle. However, there used to be a smelter in the mineGrundar suggests that we need to find someone skilled in smelting and pay them a princely sum to set it up and train the goblins.

After the party takes over a large house on the outskirts of town, housing the horses in the stable in the middle of town, Grundar sets up a meeting with Sloesh and Ronabel. There, after assuring them that the company is expert at aggressive persuasion, declares that the smelter needs to be made operational. As the discussion proceeds, Ronabel becomes stormier and Sloesh seems to become more lost. Ronabel leaves in anger and we follow up with Sloesh. It turns out that, although he holds the company in high regard, he is afraid of the merchants. That night Tylden attempts to sneak into the merchants house, but is defeated by the lock on the back door the front door apparently having a guard inside.

Grundar goes back to see Visselfish and Big Gut, and asks about the possibility of setting up the smelter. Big Gut says that they can hire guards, and can live in either the dwarven area or in Vonmek. He agrees to guarantee his safety and that he will be treated in a friendly manner. Later, Grundar councils Visselfish that it is important to set a low price initially we can raise the price later. We report our progress to Sloesh. Grundar proposes that the town buy the copper directly from the goblins, bypassing the merchants.

Grundar and a few of the company travel to Burle to scope out mercantile possibilities. There is a good demand for copper, retail, at $40/lb. A wagon can transport about 1200 lbs. Transport to Burle would be via Riverton, from there by river, and then by sea to Burle. The wagon trip (using oxen) from Vonmek to Riverton is 10 days. After a couple of days in Burle we find a metallurgist - Pol'untly. After some negotiations, we hire him for $2400/mo plus free room & board. We also locate a dwarven coppersmith (Fuldo) and negotiate a price of $37/lb. for copper delivered to his door. It is during this trip that Grundar manages to sell his ornate cup from Caithness (sniff) for $4900 to another customer in a shop who happened to be a collector of such things. We return to Vonmek during which Grundar and Tylden experience difficulties due to the dreamy thing.

Once back in Vonmek we arrange for the house for the metallurgist and his family (wife and two kids). Sloesh reports that Ronabel has been causing problems spreading malicious rumors about us and such. He has also been making trips to Riverton and is currently away from Vonmek. We spread counter-rumors about him, and send Lauriel, Skelgar, and Rhount to meet the metallurgist on his way into Vonmek just to be safe, while Tylden goes into Riverton to gather intel on Ronabel. Fencallad gathers artifacts left over from the goblin infestation of Vonmek and tries to get a read on where the current owners are, but no luck yet. Grundar inspects the smelting equipment at the mine. It is quite dwarvish in nature (i.e. over-engineered by an order of magnitude) and slightly damaged and rusty.

On the way to Riverton, Tylden sees Ronabels party returning and discretely follows them back into Vonmek. Shriveling the house he discovers that a local James is making surreptitious reports to Ronabel, however James appears of mookish quality only he is likely just reporting on local gossip and such. A day or two later Ronabel returns to Riverton, with Tylden shadowing. He gets into Riverton behind them since Tylden is on foot and the merchant was on horseback, but gets directions to his house. Tylden watches the house, and at one point notes an armored man paying a 15 minute visit. Tylden follows this man back to a mercenary hiring hall. Tylden makes a few inquiries they are hiring but at a reduced rate and Tylden resists the urge to hire on as a mole. Instead, he returns to Vonmek and breaks into Ronabels house. After an all too close encounter with a sleeping servant, Tylden gets upstairs and breaks into the office, then into a couple of locked drawers. On contains correspondence between Ronabel and some other merchants in Riverton, mostly about the state of the mine in Vonmek. One of these merchants Demat appears to be Ronabels superior. The other is named Risit. The other drawer contains mostly calculations dealing with the mine.

Ronabel returns to Vonmek and then, about a week later, sets off again. Fencallad casts some seeking spells again and gets an image of a bow being held by a goblin on a hill near tall mountains. Grundar, Tylden, Onther, and Onskel go out to meet Pol'untly & co, arriving in Riverton at about the same time he arrives from Burle. Everyone starts back to Vonmek. After a couple days into the ten day trip (with those slow, sloooow ox carts) we meet a group of about a dozen shady looking men armed with batons. The look us over, then move on. We figure they were the intimidation squad meant to encourage Pol'untly to find employment elsewhere. Continuing on, we are joined by Ronabel and two dozen mercenaries on their way to Vonmek. Everyone is very polite and, with smiles pasted to all of our faces, we travel together to Vonmek without incident. (Another round of seeker spells from Fencallad produces the image of a goblin shaman deep underground and half-crushed by a cave-in.)

After getting Pol'untly settled into his new abode they go over arrangements, then go to meet Visselfish. Pol'untly seems a bit apprehensive about training goblins, but Grundar reassures him. They examine the smelter, and Pol'untly notes that it is sized for truly dwarvish quantities. (That means really, really large amounts in this case.) He plans to start smeltering using more rudimentary techniques. Later that day Visselfish brings him five apprentices who can all speak passable common. The next day Pol'untly assays the ore: it contains 1/40^th metal which is actually pretty good. By the end of the day he manages to start the furnaces. Visselfish mentions that Ostrovon has not been seen since the merchants came to town, and that the goblins could use his help in the mining operation. Grundar and a couple of growlers go to see him in his cabin. He agrees to come back for a salary of $800/mo.

Grundar goes to talk to Ronabel about the possibility of buying copper directly from the mine head, and he seems to consider it. After about another week Pol'untly has a rudimentary process going and has created the first copper ingot! He has Grundar help arrange for grunt labor, more trainees, and other details. Grundar takes the ingot to Ronabel and asks him if he is still interested in buying from the mine head where production ramps up. Ronabel thinks for a long time then agrees. Grundar next talks to Sloesh who is disappointed at the lack of mining jobs for humans, but Grundar makes the pitch that its better to leave those dangerous jobs to the goblins there will be other jobs such as carters and selling to caravan guards once the operation proceeds. (Fencallad does some more seeky work trying to get an image that Poupon can then track down, but Poupon is disappointed by the lack of smells in the images produced.)

Summer stretches on and the mercenaries with Ronabel eventually leave. The mine produces 400 lbs. of copper, and Grundar and Ronabel (quite readily) agree on a price of $25/lb. Fencallad continues his magery, concentrating on History spells. He is able to discern a distinct personality associated with the shaman as he works with the artifacts. Fencallad then tries to seek the shaman and his apprentices and gets one good trace of a small grass hut next to the mountains. He then tries to trace the apprentice. Although unsuccessful, he seems to be getting close to his goal of discovering their location.

Grundar talks to Ostrovon and Pol'untly Ostrovon says that they can extract at least a ton of ore a day, probably more in the future. Pol'untly can handle a ton a day, with the potential to increase that to two tons/day. He needs skilled smiths and also remark that the goblins slowly are learning. Ronabel arrives a week later with cash: $10,000 for the 400 lbs. of copper. $6000 goes to the goblins and $4000 to Grundar, most of which goes to defray expenses. Visselfish goes into Vonmek for what amounts to a four day buying spree of sheep and strong drink although some other comestibles are involved besides sheep. They are brought back to Big Gut who expresses his approval. Tylden is amazed that the whole thing actually seems to be working, while Grundar is in danger of getting the nickname: Big Grin. Fencallad says: Yeah, yeah, whatever, I have important news: I think I might know where the goblins hut is. Lauriel plays her flute. As a last piece of business, Grundar talks to the smith in town about hiring on, negotiating a salary of $1074.98/mo. After another hour of negotiation, Tylden convinces Grundar that it will be more cost-effective in terms of accounting labor to round this to $1075.

3 XPs

Goblin Raid

...Now We'll Leave You Alone

Notes from 3/23/2013

It is now November. Rithban has brewed up three battle potions for us in the intervening time. Pol'untly is still a bit nervous about the goblins and still thinks that some security is a good idea. The townsfolk are generally happy with the situation, while Ronabel has a smile stapled to his face. The company starts plotting for a raid against the goblins to get the shamans staff that Rithban desires. The lecture on interracial ethics is cancelled for the day.

For the most part the Growlers are happy with their situation with Onther the happiest and Shawchee the most disgruntled. Pol'untly states that the lack of machinery limits the output of the mine somewhat, but he really needs more smiths. Ronabel is spreading the word about the need for smiths, but suggests that some in-person recruitment would be more effective. The goblins seem happy, and Big Gut is gorging himself on roast meat, etcVisselfish is a bit more mercantile in his approach, and is interested in all aspects of mining.

Grundar, Onskel, and Onther go to Riverton to look for smiths. Several express interest, but one in particular is eager to go. Grundar tells him to, in essence, report to Pol'untly and if he clears with him, hes hired at the usual rate.

Fencallad is throwing Seeker and Trace, looking for the goblin apprentice, and gets a hit about 35 miles to the southeast. Tylden sets off in fast mode, reaching the area in a day. The terrain consists of large hills butting up against tall mountains with a small stream running through. He comes across a goblin picket situated just beyond a ridge. He waits for the goblin to move away and follows him. The goblin meets up with another and they move off, Tylden following at a distance. After getting through this first line, he sees a 2nd line in the distance, then notices a goblin circling around behind him. Tylden breaks off and retreats back over the ridge. He sees that several goblins were converging on his old position. They eventually spot him retreating, but Tylden simply makes a determined retreat from the area without any difficulty and returns to Vonmek.

The main company immediately gathers and sets off for the goblins; Burl will stay behind along with Everyone-Picks-Me-Last (Shawchee). When arriving in the vicinity Fencallad throws Trace no surprises there as the apprentice is definitely in the area. We approach and the outer pickets scatter before us. As we get close to the camp we notice that defensive preparations have been made. In the area of the main camp there are three cave entrances and the ground is quite rocky. The goblins end up leading us along various paths that are booby-trapped which we avoid, or not, with a mixed success rate, although the damage we take is more annoying than lethal. The closer we get to the cavern entrances, the more we see large numbers of goblins streaming out. For the most part they are fleeing away from the area, but some stand to defend. An apprentice comes out and Grundar attempts to parlay. This goes nowhere, so we attack and make short work of them.

We investigate the various entrances, and eventually discover that the left and right are not very deep, but that the center is more extensive. The entrance extends into a tunnel that leads to a cavern where Grundar is attacked, but he quickly the goblins. We go through the cavern and discover that the tunnel leads out the back. The apprentice is very close by at this point. As we go down this further tunnel, Fencallad feels that something is odd in the tunnel ahead of us. He manages to dispel part of it but not all, detecting that it is some sort of trap. When attempting to completely remove it he is hit by goblin arrow fire from beyond. A fog then starts to emanate from farther down the tunnel, but Fencallad blocks off the tunnel, stopping the fog. A little later Fencallad reopens the tunnel more smoke comes out so he closes it back up again. The company crowds back into the cavern and Fencallad once more opens the passageway, and the fog again starts coming out. We exit the cavern, and after some time fog starts coming out of the cavern entrance itself. Up on the hill above the cave entrances, Fencallad detects the apprentice 25 yards below him.

Fencallad closes up the main entrance with dirt. The plan is to build a counter-tunnel from a side tunnel into the rear cavern in the central tunnel. After about a ½ hour, dirt starts moving at the top of the dirt pile blocking the main entrance and puffs of fog start coming out and building up around the main entrance. Grundar deploys the fighters around the entrance where they are eventually enveloped by fog. After some more time (90 min or so), Onther and Onskel start itching severely. Fencallad returns from his work on the counter-tunnel and establishes that Purify Air clears the fog, at least in the area where the spell is thrown.

We decide to switch from the Enfilade to the Frontal Assault attack option, clear the main entrance, and go it. Grundar slaughters a goblin in his way and presses ahead gallantly, and plows through the portion of the tunnel with the trap spell still remaining. This triggers a flash spell, temporarily blinding him and several others. Tylden and Lauriel, outside of the cave, come rushing in. Fencallad calls for everyone to get out of the tunnel leading to the inner cavern, but Grundar and Trel push ahead regardless after the effects of the flash wear off. Later they neither confirmed nor denied allegations that they were crying Leroy Jenkins! in dwarvish at the time. Grundar drinks the battle potion (6!) and attacks the goblins within. Unfortunately, the field of engagement is quite disadvantageous to the company. The tunnel is quite short (3 ft), requiring the lead attackers to crouch, which the goblins are defending where the ceiling rises up and can stand normally. To add to this there are conditions of low light (-2), the fog giving another -2 penalty, as does anyone with itches in their britches. Fencallad, from behind, clears part of the cavern of fog, but this only reduces the penalty to -1. Fencallad then throws a light spell to aid our cause. Everything would probably have turned out in our favor, but unfortunately a critical parry against Grundar leads to a full-damage hit on his leg. A few more points of damage later he is below water and manages to crawl in retreat a few yards before collapsing. He is dragged out while Trel along with Lauriel perform defensive covering action, then they retreat as well and Fencallad closes up the tunnel.

We rest a bit, Fencallad partially healing Grundars leg. Fortunately it is not crippled and will recover when he returns to full HPs. In the meantime, Trel and Grundar start itchingFencallad returns to working on the counter-tunnel, and eventually breaks through to the inner cavern at which point fog starts pouring out. Fencallad casts stench inside the inner cavern hoping to suffocate everyone, then closes the breech back up. After waiting ten minutes, he reopens the breech and sends in a wizard eye. It is very dark inside, but he is able to see that the cavern was large enough that the goblins were able to retreat from the stench spell. And now Fencallad starts to itch. He tries Dispel Magic on the itchy group which succeeds in stopping the itch. Fencallad then opens up the side entrance into the inner cavern and we charge in. This fight is much easier, although Trels axe breaks and a too frisky Tylden has his bow damaged when he does his impression of Legolas too close to a goblin.Finally, after first checking that the concept of war crime tribunals does not yet exist in this universe, dispatch the apprentice and the shaman and take the shamans staff. We return to Vonmek, ignoring Grundars request that we award him a triumph upon our return.

Loot:fine short swordchain mail361 + 56 cpsmall gemsome dumb goblin shamans staff

Upon our return Rithban is quite happy to see the staff. He later neither confirms nor denies that muttered I cant believe they fell for that story about how I could use it to help them under his breath.

We return to the business of running a mine, travelling to Riverton and Burle. We find another smithy candidate. He requests a travel allowance of $500, negotiated down to $400 by Grundar. Tylden repairs his bow for $450. However, we are unable to find a miller. We try to return to Riverton but Tylden gets violently ill and it takes almost a week for him to recover in the village of Salt Marsh. (There are reported rumors of a haunted mansion in the vicinity, but we resist the temptation to investigate.) In Riverton we again find no willing millers to move to Vonmek, but we do find one willing to do a bit of consulting work and he and Grundar negotiate a price. Meanwhile, mine production is good this month, producing 2250 lbs. of copper.

4 XPs

Topic revision: r2 - 16 Apr 2019, DamianSmall

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