Adventure Log - Part 7 - Into the Sunset

Notes from 7/11/2015 to 2/13/2016. [May 999 - Oct 999]

Into the Sunset

No More Orcs

In Defense of Tiranop

The Fall of Melop

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Into the Sunset

Notes from 7/11/2015 to 8/28/2015

7/11/2015

[5/30/999]

Sailing, sailing, over the ocean blueThe Sea Ghost makes good time, with the help of Grinuë and her weather magic. After three weeks we estimate that we have travelled 4500 miles (!). As we are sailing, Tylden notices something flying far off in the distance. With a bit more observation, he realizes that whatever is flying is really big. The creature is coming in from the north. We alter course to the southwest, but it continue toward us. It appears to be a very long flying serpent. It is aquamarine in color with long, swept back horns. It circles us at about 250 yards. The wind (thanks to Grinuë) that had been propelling us forward stops, after which waves start battering the ship. Tylden starts to take a bead on the creature; meanwhile Grinuë throws Great Voice on Jin who attempts to convince the creature that we mean it not harm. The dragon seems intrigued and swoops down, roaring in draconic “Who speaks?” Grundar is paralyzed, and one of the sailors panics and attacks the dragon with a hand axe. Grinuë commands “Stop!” which crit fails – it affects everyone and drains a massive amount of energy from her. As the dragon lands on the ship we see that the dark splotches on the side are about a dozen fish men. The dragon turns to Jin. “I see you little one. How did you come to speak the language of your elders?” Jin tells the dragon the tale of how she came to acquire draconic. The dragon shifts – the timbers of the ship groaning in response as we fear for its integrity. The dragon declares that our tale may be of interest when we return, but in the meantime it demands tribute – as many supplies as the dozen fish men can carryand a token. We offer a gem as token and agree. The dragon says: “this one is empty – I demand a full one!” Grundar offers to fill the two empty gems upon their return. He also offers the axe filled with the unknown soul. The dragon mutters “Interesting…” and ultimately agrees to it. The dragon says that the soul in the axe he is taken is not from any creature, but one constructed for cunning and strength. Meanwhile the fish men disappear below deck with mesh bags that expand to enormous size which they will with all manner of goods. They attach these bag to lines attached to the dragon, then hop onto the dragon. “Your tribute is accepted! I look forward to your return journey and the tale you will tell me.” The dragon then launches itself into the air, taking a few chunks of the Sea Ghost with it, and flies off. Afterwards we note that we are down a sailor who apparently jumped overboard and drowned.

As we sail on, the crew is impressed that we actually survived the encounter. A week later we spot land – tall cliffs that come down to sandy shores. The land is quite rugged. Along one part of the shore we see a cluster of sails. This turns out to be the docks of a large city, and we make our ways towards it. We are not sure exactly why, perhaps the color of the sun setting over the land, but this seems to the place from our dreams. A trio of ships sets out towards us. They are smaller than the Sea Ghost, but are loaded to the brim with cannons. Two ships come to box us in, the third approaching us, speaking to us in an unknown language. Jin hears: “heave to and prepare to be boarded!” We oblige, and eight small people (gnomes as it turns out) come over in a ship’s boat and climb aboard. The men are clad in heavy leather and wielding shortswords and crossbows of an odd design. (Repeating crossbows?) It is announced that the men will look for contraband and any dangerous materials. After we dock there will be a more extensive search and we will be interrogated by his lord. Grundar relays via Jin that we are here through a magical compulsion, which is met by a notable reaction from the gnomes. The leader then switches to dwarven and tells him to confirm his compelling nature. Grundar notes that we are not a servant of the compulsion, but have come over to deal with this. The gnome states: “prove you have no pendant!” Grundar demurs, but Grinuë has no problem proving to the gnome that she wears no pendant. The gnomes ask us to put down our weapons which, after some grumbling from Grundar, we agree to do. The gnomes quickly conduct their search and report back to their leader who announces that they have found nothing dangerous. Please follow them, and he will conduct you to meet his lord. We follow his ship back to the city and to the docks.

The city is quite large and the docks are quite bustling. The city is mostly gnomes, with some dwarves and a very few number of humans. The ships there are in good condition, although there seems to be less activity among them than one might expect. As we are escorted to see the local general in charge of defenses, Prince Valmix, the escort grows to a couple dozen heavily armed gnomes, armed with halberds. As we go through the city it appears be quite prosperous, but with a hint of tension in the air, and perhaps a greater number of soldiers than one might expect. Eventually we are shown into a receiving hall. The watch captain informs Prince Valmix of our arrival. After greetings are exchanged, the gnomish mages approach and cast spells on us, wishing to determine the extent of our magical compulsion. After their examination, the wizards report that we are free of compulsion. This, and the lack of any amulets, leads Prince Valmix to believe that we are not creatures of their enemies. They are aware of Burle, and humans have come from there under the compulsion to their land. Grundar relates that Tylden has lost his uncle to the compulsion, which elicits sympathy from Prince Valmix.

We take leave of the prince and are shown our quarters. For now we are asked that the sailors stay on board their ship. A gnomish scribe comes to see us and fill us in on the background of the situation. Melesyon is the name of the gnomish land. The capital is Melop (our location). To the north is Azomop located in a valley, and to the south is Quanop located at the end of a deep sound. It was a major mining center before being taken over by their enemies. Many dwarves live in this region. The lands to the far west are unknown and filled with many fearsome beasts, some of which are said to be unholy amalgams of beast and gnome. Melesyon has little interaction with other lands as a result of the current conflict. The lands to the west are filled with independent homesteaders, and caravans do trade on the western road. Humans have always been a minority, and a few hundred years ago some made their home in Quanop. In the south was a group of wizards that grew in power, and in the last few years gained even more power by casting a massive spell – the Compulsion. The stronghold of the mages is somewhere beyond Quanop. It has been some time since anyone arrived under the compulsion. However, through their use of the pendants they have gained control over these people. By controlling the gnomes and dwarves they have controlled the entire area of Quanop, and are currently building up a large army. The scribe notes that removing the pendant is sufficient to break the compulsion. The army is perhaps in the realm of tens of thousands, and far larger than anything than the gnomes possess. They are building defenses as fast as they can, but the situation appears to be grim for them.

The next day Lord Valmix requests our presence. We are lead into a large room, and Lord Valmix notes that Grundar expressed interest in the military situation, and Grundar tells about the dream that we had, mentioning the pyramid of the cabal. He notes that his sister thought the same as us – but has never returned, and he fears that she and her party have been co-opted. Lord Valmix admits that there is little chance of defeating their foes militarily – perhaps by retreating to the northern valley which is more defensible. They have armed themselves with ranged weapons and polearms. Their foes are a mixed force, but has a large contingent of monsters under their control as well. It appears that the mages have allied with a demonic force – one whose main fighting force is orcs. The orcs have been harrying them in the west, preventing them from addressing their foe to the south. Intelligence they have gathered suggests that a surgical strike may be effective in dealing with this threat, and assumes that the orcs are being brought over by magical means. The village their agents were investigating was Tiranop, located about 300 miles to the west of the capital. The orcs are approaching from west of there.

1 CP

7/15/2015

We meet with the chief gnomish intelligence officer, the lady Yeposa. The last time they heard from Tiranop (the largest town before the wilderness to the west) was just over a week ago, when they got their first reports of orcs. At first they weren’t very organized, but their concentration has been increasing as of late. Scouts from Melop contacted a large horde of orcs making their way slowly towards Melop. They appear to be coming from the south of Tiranop, and are currently about 200 miles away from Melop. Tiranop is about 300 miles away. She also warns that there are probably enemy agents in Tiranop. The agent we are looking for is Lifox – but don’t spread his name. The protocol for contact is ordering a cup of Green Valley tea at a large gathering place, and letting it cool completely before drinking it.

Grundar suggests the Grinuë stir up a storm to hide us, and she thinks it may work – but we will have to have some sort of protection, and will have some difficulty staying together. Grundar orders up some rope that we can tie to our saddles. We provision ourselves with supplies, head north out of Melop to confuse any agents of darkness, and then head west. We head back to the road and take that for a day, making about 80 miles west of Melop. The next day we head north off-road by a several miles, and then continue east about 40 miles. The weather meanwhile is clear and dry. The morning of the third day Grinuë does some morning surveillance as an eagle, but doesn’t see anything. We continue forward in single-file led by Tylden with Quick March cast on our mounts, and a Wind spell to suppress any wind that might spread our dust. As evening nears, the outriders spot some dust hanging in the air to the front of the party. We continue on until almost evening when Tylden and Lauriel see two orc scouts ahead of the party. Tylden and Lauriel ambush the orcs, killing one and wounding the other which we bring into the camp for Grinuë to interrogate. They were scouting on the northern edge of a force of at least 60 orcs. Other scouts are out to the side. We decide to head out immediately to the north, but as we exit the gully Tylden spots the lead of the orcs, so we head back into the gully. Unfortunately a scout spots Lauriel, so the party mounts up and bolts out of the gulley. We have a bit of a head start on them, but there are quite a few orcs ahead of them to the west, with orc scouts dotted across the landscape. Jin and Grinuë have difficulty with their mounts, but Lauriel and Tylden come over and help them out. We manage to head out but are not making good time, and a sprinting orc could probably keep up with us. Grinuë turns herself and Jin into eagles. Lauriel takes the time to put their horses on a lead along with Tylden’s horse that dismounts and starts to take shots at the pursuers. Most of the party is making good time, but Trel starts lagging behind. Lauriel turns around and, somehow, helps him. Tylden sees the orcs arranging themselves into some sort of battle formation, getting ready to give pursuit. The main party finally starts making some good time while riding, and it takes Tylden some time to catch up with them, but he eventually does gain the party. We push on into the late evening, attempting to cover our path, and Lauriel conceals them in a gulley.

1 CP

7/22/2015

We spend some time discussing our options amongst ourselves that evening. Grundar insists that we first find a defensible site. Tylden finds a hiding spot over a ridge with some cover, and we start making our camp there. Then, one of the horses falls through a soft spot in the sand that was covering a cavity. We investigate – it seems that these pockets seem to form when water flows over sand and then dries – but it forms something of a hazard for horses. Tylden and Lauriel start to work on obscuring the trail. After about 90 minutes, Tylden hears the voices of approaching orcs. He thinks there are between 5 and 20. Lauriel is sent back up the trail, while Tylden keeps track on the group. There seems to be a main tracker and, after some time, is able to pick up the trail. Lauriel is sent back up the trail a bit to find an ambush spot and is eventually joined by Tylden. The orcs continue down the trail, and Tylden and Lauriel fire simultaneously and take out the tracker. There seems to be a leader – he points down the trail, and the orcs move cautiously forward. Tylden and Lauriel slink back down the trail. After fifteen minutes no one appears, so Lauriel is sent back to camp. After another hour Tylden returns to the camp himself. The party wakes in the morning and starts heading northwest while Grinuë goes up for some eagle-eye reconnaissance. She sees some dust, presumably from the orcs, of a camp to the southwest of the party, and they were not moving at the time. There is a long tail of orcs to the spreading to the north, and the party will probably skirt past them by about ten miles. Grinuë rejoins the party and instructs us to head in a bit more northerly direction, north by north-west if you will, which we take using Quick-March. Near the end of the day Grinuë goes back up and takes a look about, not seeing any orcs. We hunker down for the night and allow Lauriel and Tylden to get a full night’s sleep. Unfortunately, we choose a spot favored by a particularly pernicious species of burrowing serpent. Trel is on watch, but is surprised and frozen with fear. Lauriel and Grundar wake up and, with some support from Fagan, make quick work of them before putting Trel in mortal danger.

1 CP

7/29/2015

We wake up after the unfortunately eventful evening, and head generally southwest. We travel most of the day with nothing happening, but in the afternoon Tylden notices some strange shapes in the sound, and then there is a massive boom. A huge turtle appears from out of the sand, jumps up, and lands on the pack horse, obliterating it. The turtle tears out the throat of the pack horse, then two more thankfully smaller turtles appear. Grundar’s horse is able to dodge the turtle and run away, but Fagan is not so lucky defending against the other, and is thrown off his horse with the turtle on top. Three more turtles appear. Tylden tags one of the smaller turtles, taking it out. Grundar takes on the massive turtle and they go tooth and axe at it. Jin blasts one of the smaller ones with a fireball. Another turtle appears as well, attacking Burl. Burl and Lauriel take out a pair of smaller turtles. The massive turtle decides that Grundar is someone to be avoided, and so jumps on Burl. Grundar dispatches a smaller turtle. Fagan is trapped underneath a smaller turtle, but goes berserk and hits it twice! Two more of the smaller turtles drop from their wounds. The massive turtle runs away, pursued by Lauriel and Grundar. Between the two of them, Lauriel’s indomitable pursuit and Grundar’s axe work; the giant turtle is finally felled. In the meantime Tylden takes off after the horses and manages to gather them together, at least until the rest of the party is able to come up and help. Since it is close to when we would normally stop, we camp for the night.

The next day we continue at normal speed, and that evening we think that we are close to where the road should be, and estimate that we are about 50 miles east of Tiranop. The next day we start towards the road. Grinuë is sent up and spots a small dust cloud to the west on the road that appears to consist mostly of skeletons accompanied by a couple of orcs. They are not moving. We stay north of the road and bypass them. We cover about 50 miles and, as dusk approaches, Tylden is able to discern another group of skeletons marching along the road, led by a large orc accompanied by 2 orc shamans and a couple dozen skeletons. Ahead of them appear to be about 8-10 humans in armor who are preparing to ambush the party of skeletons.

Our group is able to break out of cover just as the humans make their attack. The humans are led by two main leaders; one armed with a sword, the other a mace.

1 CP

8/28/2015

We charge up and get there barely in time to mop up the skeletons and orcs.

The other groupone of the leaders is a woman with intense eyes. Next to her is a fully plated and helmed man wielding a polearm. The others consist of some archers and fighters – including two dwarves – and some clerics. The woman initially speaks in gnomish which none of us understand, then switches to common. The man in plate takes off his helm and implies that we are in over are head – perhaps it would be best if we turned around. Grundar replies haughtily that as soon as we shut down the mouth from which the orcs issue forth we will be on our way. The woman expresses her desire that we return to Melop find our friend through elsewhere. After some bickering, she introduces herself as Mother Lunthilde, and her companion is Kelmak. They serve the god Ylidso – the god of retribution. Lunthilde says that they should consider their business completed. Grundar stated that their business is not completed. Lunthilde says that since their business was interrupted, they would grudgingly escort us back to Tiranop. On the way there the dwarves share their origin, and Grundar learns that they are natives of this continent, though the humans are not native to the continent. They are also followers of Ylidso.

We make our way to the walled city of Tiranop, which was only six miles away. Lunthilde greets the guards (in gnomish) at the gate which she seems to know. She leads us to the main inn and leaves us haughtily. We enter the inn which is a mass of seething humanity. We order beers all around, and one cup of hot, steaming, Green Valley tea, which provokes a comment from the barkeep. “It’s very expensive!” but Grinuë is unfazed, since she presumes that Grundar is picking up the tab. The beer is good after our journeys, and the tea is piping hot. Looking around there seems to be a good number of humans of the adventuring type as well as a lesser number of dwarves. Everyone exudes a competent and adventurous air. There are a few followers of Ylidso there. The barkeep gouges Grundar for 20 silver/night for a room. We order stew which we mostly eat standing up. However, as Tylden – needing some space – pushes his way out the door, he is shocked to recognize Bartle. Tylden makes his way back to the party and announces who he saw, then attempts to follow them. He follows them out the back door but is unable to locate them. Coming back he listens in at the rooms near the end of the hallway, but they don’t seem to be there.

The party retires for the night (Tylden finds a spot on the roof), and shortly thereafter there is knock on the door. There is a gnome there and Grinuë answers. There follows a short, awkward conversation, and then he leaves. The next morning Tylden orders the tea for himself and, after letting it cool completely, drinks it. Meanwhile Grundar encounters the dwarves a couple of dwarven adventurers. They hold a brief discussion and Grundar makes sure that he gives him no useful information.

That night we make contact with the gnome, “Teppier”. He whines a bit about how incompetent we are with the whole cloak and dagger affair. He describes a mirror artifact – the Mirror of the Fire Demon ­– that may be responsible for allowing the orcs to enter their realm. The current master of the mirror is apparently not under the sway of the evil wizards, acting for his own purposes. Meanwhile the area has attracted a large number of adventurers due in part to the rumors of great wealth associated with the artifact, or at least their masters. In the meantime Jin is able to contact Yeposa and confirm the name of Teppier.

1 CP

No More Orcs

Notes from 9/9/2015 to 10/28/15

9/9/2015

[7/16/999]

Various groups in Tiranop:

• “The Master of Elements” & co.
• One with Bartle
• “The Dark Artist” & co.
• Mother Lunthilde & com.

The group with Bartle is not around, but the other three are in the inn. Most of them seem pretty self-motivated and only in it for themselves. Grundar suggests to Lunthilde that they compare notes, but Lunthilde sees no reason to help him and is concerned about others swiping the glory from her group. We are unable to reach any useful agreement with her. With that the group gathers together provisions. We head out on horseback, and when out of sight of the time, Grinuë goes into bird form. She sees nothing in the immediate area. Travelling further southward when she is at the limit of her observation of the party, she is able to discern a body of a couple hundred orcs making camp about 40 miles from the party.

The next day we head out, attempting to come behind the body of orcs previously spotted and then have Tylden track them back to whence they came. That night, just before dawn, the wind starts to pick up. Various dust devils start to form, becoming more coherent. Lauriel and Trel are on watch. Lauriel investigates – and takes a blast of sand in the face, blinding her. The group ends up fighting eight of the sand creatures and three of the burrowing creatures but is able to handle them in the end, while Tylden manages to round up the horses that were attacked by the sand creatures. It takes a couple of hours that morning for us to patch everyone (and the horses), rest up, and finally set out.

1 CP

9/23/2015

As we set out this morning, Grinuë does some aerial recon. The air is quite clear today, and she is able to see the river and hills and mountains beyond. She sees the body of orcs. They are currently directly to the east of the party and more northerly than they were before. No other groups of orcs are visible. The party continues south, and within the hour Grinuë and Jin notices that the flavor of the mana changes, specifically that we have left an area whose aspect tended towards earth and air magic. Our travel continues uneventfully with Tylden and Lauriel as lead scouts. We make about forty miles that day. As we make camp Grinuë scouts again – we are within a day’s journey of the river. Visibility is not that good, but she doesn’t see any orcs within ten miles. That night passes uneventfully. During the next morning’s recon there are some hints of activity in the hills around the river, but visibility is even worse than previously. The party takes extra time to quiet their armor, followed by another recon, but by this time a dust storm has risen up obscuring everything. We head out moving west by south-west, as the potential body of orcs is to our south-west. After much preparation, including camouflaging by Lauriel, we head out. Tylden leads on foot in stealth mode with the party following. Grinuë and Jin notices that they have re-entered a air/earth realm. Tylden in front after a mere five minutes of travel goes over a low hill and sees a line of dust devils moving towards us. He immediately sprints back to the party to warn them of what is approaching. Grinuë organizes everyone into a slightly sheltered area below the local ridge, then Grinuë and Jin start forming a protective dome when the sand devils crest the ridge.

10/10/2015

Grinuë smartly gives Air Jet to Lauriel who quickly clears the scene.

We continue trekking on with some difficulty, eventually sending Grinuë up as our permanent aerial scout and communication magic to guide us to our intended goal. However, there is a wooded patch in a narrow canyon. We enter into it, and discover another group of adventurers, including the Master of Elements as well as the gnome mechanic. There are four fighters in chainmail with broadswords and large shields, the Master of Elements, the dwarf artificer, and another bodyguard. This fight is very strange – we fight and fight, then somehow everything resets. This occurs several times, and we get the impression that we need to figure out how to defeat them quickly. In the end the fight consists of Grundar, Lauriel, Tylden and Jin – Grinuë is doing aerial recon, while Trel, Burl and Fagan are covering our flanks. Grundar and Lauriel form up and start with the feint/kneecap combo. Jin conjures up not one but two bears. Tylden runs around the flank and plunks the artificer and then the Master of Elements. The combat comes to a close and we heal those not yet dead. The Master has some information about the mirror in a cave, but this is not the same location as the portal. He also has information about the undead defenders. He thinks there is an As-sharak (a demon) behind all this…

We find ourselves in a featureless plane against a lone As-sharak. Jin throws flaming weapon on Jin and Lauriel. Tylden tries to put himself between the demon and Jin, but he leaves a gap when retreating and the demon takes a giant step and gets a whack in. Jin retreats and heals while Lauriel and Grundar finish off the demon.

We continue on, eventually finding the cave in question. Grinuë sets up Mystic Myst which will be used as a base. The rest of our party scouts forward. After the entrance is a worked section of tunnel. There is an interior entranceway with six or seven orcs, loudly grumbling about something on the table. Jin and Grundar makes out they are arguing about a game. As we attempt to figure a plan, Grinuë shouts that some orcs are approaching. Grundar yells the equivalent of “Leroy Jenkins!” and charges. The initial rush takes out two and critically wounds a third. Another two orcs go down, leaving three, but then three orcs and an ogre start to come through the door. Grundar kneecaps the ogre and takes out an orc while Jin conjures a bear. The shaman throws Terror at Grundar who resists, then charges and takes out the shaman. Tylden runs around and plunks one from behind, and another two orcs fall unconscious, leaving an orc and the ogre. Just then, Tylden hears some sounds behind him and a party of orcs charges through the other door. This party consists of eight orcs. The last original orc falls while the ogre is hobbling about. Then another party of orcs arrives! This consists of two ogres, two shamans, and two fighters. Lauriel graces up, while Grundar fights his way back over to the corridor with the rest of the party. Jin’s bear falls under the axe blows of the orc but the rest of the party retires into a defensive position in good order. We take out an orc or two and Jin Charms one of the orcs, but then Grundar strains his shoulder! The charmed orc attacks the shaman, who is not quite as surprised as one might think. Grundar and Lauriel form up, Tylden one-shots an orc, and the charmed one knocks out a shaman. Lauriel steps up and stabs an orc attempting to protect the shaman, knocking it down. Jin attempts to charm the ogre – and succeeds! Lauriel stabs another orc trying to defend the shaman. The ogre turns around and attacks another of the shamans (there were four to begin with) and knocks it down with authority. At this time we are down to six orcs (one under our control), two ogres (one charmed), and two shamans. Tylden shoots the shaman who does not bother to defend, but the missile deflects. Several orcs fall unconscious – 3+1 are left. A shaman falls unconscious – one left. The ogres duke it out. The remaining shaman causes the charmed ogre to drop its club. Jin stuns one of the orcs. The shaman causes Lauriel to drop her sword – she just draws her backup. Tylden charges the shaman who retreats. The shaman attempts to Terrorize Tylden who shrugs it off, while the friendly ogre falls unconscious. We’re now down to 2+1 orcs, 1 ogre and 1 shaman. Jin takes out one of the orcs with a fireball while the last ogre falls unconscious. A few moments later the last orc falls to Lauriel, who then steps up to take out the shaman.

The party gathers together, including Grinuë. At this point we recall what the Master of Elements had said about one of the defenders of the region – a demon called the “Toxifier.” This is a diffuse creature – demon of toxic smoke if you will. At this point, the screen goes wavy and we are transported to a different space… We are here with Grundar, Grinuë, Jin, and Lauriel. Jin creates a circle of fire which we suspect will affect the creature. The Toxifier skirts the fire and moves towards Jin and Grinuë, who enter the fire. The creature enters and attacks Lauriel. Our strategy is to attack it with Flurry of Blows. Grinuë attacks to lend Air Jet to Lauriel but fails. Lauriel and Grundar start to use All-Out Attack Double and Flurry of Blows to land three blows a turn. We start to feel the toxic effects on our lungs so Grinuë casts Purify Air. By now the Toxifier appears to have slowed down. Grinuë throws Destroy Air on the hex containing the Toxifier. After 8 sec Jin drops the Fire to avoid harming Lauriel and Grundar, who continue to wail away at the Toxifier. Finally, we are able to dispatch the demon.

Back in the real fantasy we proceed further down the corridors. We enter a room with five exits. Two were barracks, now empty. Two are storerooms. The last goes down a corridor which is littered with piles of stones which looks as if they might have been stone golems. The most interesting item is the dying man – an adventurer that we had met in Tiranop – a thief by nature. He is very badly hurt, gasping out his last breath with the words: “Avenge me! (also: watch out for the pit.)” Tylden notices a lever that has been jammed open. He thinks there was a trap here that was disabled by someone. Grinuë fixes Grundar’s shoulder with “Relieve Paralysis”, although it only lasts a minute. We (Grundar, Lauriel, Jin, and Grinuë) burst through the door, finding it packed with skeletons (15), large skeletons(5), a Toxifier, and a couple of flaming skulls. There is also a large pit in the middle of the room. Grinuë warns that the skeletons are going to grab you and throw you into the pit. There is also an open sarcophagus at the block with flames coming up from beyond. Grinuë puts glue in front of us, which only the large skeletons can manage, then puts Ice Blade on Lauriel’s weapon. Lauriel makes short work of the large skeletons that reach her. Jin conjures up a bear. Lauriel retreats and starts to work on the Toxifier, soon joined by Grundar. The bear holds off the skeletons. Grinuë continually throws Purify Air to protect against the Toxifier. The Toxifier puddles on the ground. Lauriel and Grundar hit it mercilessly and it dissipates. Jin gives Grundar a heal. Grundar uses the axe and cleaves one of the flaming skulls. He picks up his Morningstar and parries one of the flaming skulls which is quite effective, eventually dropping one of the skulls, then the other. We dispatch the remaining skeletons.

Beyond is the final chamber. There are several flaming braziers. At the end is a dais with an iron cage – inside is a fiery mirror.

10/28/2015

Before entering the room, Jin casts Resist Fire 2 on Lauriel and Grundar. Great Haste and Icy Weapon are thrown on Grundar, while Lauriel throws Grace I on herself. Grundar and Lauriel enter the room – Grundar sees a flash from the mirror that goes to all the mirror, flames roar up from the braziers and an explosion comes from the mirror, throwing Grundar against the wall. In each of the braziers stands a fiery creature. These creatures are humanoid, but quite large. Grundar and Lauriel feel the heat as they attack, but are fortunately protected from any damage. They are wielding a large sword, buckler, and whip, since they have three arms. Grundar knocks down one of the creature, but then then drops his axe. Grinuë apports the mirror out of the cage, but the fiery creature grabs it. However, Tylden manages to get in a lucky shot, shattering the mirror. The creature turns his stare to Tylden. Grundar takes out the knee of another servant, while Lauriel feints another out of his flame-retardant undies and strikes home. The creature that was knee-capped drags himself forward to attack with his claws. The one that had been attempting to protect the mirror fights his way past Lauriel and heads towards Tylden, who retreats expeditiously. Grundar takes out the knee of another creature who falls down, unconscious. Grinuë throws Glue, impeding the remaining creatures in the room (except the one with Tylden in his sights.) The one rushes Tylden who dodges away, although the flames singe his eyebrows, and Lauriel takes advantage of the situation, rushing him from behind, striking skull, and taking it down. Grundar strikes down another creature in the glue, and eventually dispatches the last.

In the final analysis, Grinuë determines that there was a connection between the braziers and the creatures, such that the creatures would had started respawning at their respective brazier, it wasn’t for the fact that the mirror was destroyed that apparently played a coordinating role in the defenses.

Loot:

• large bundle of exotic furs (75 lb) 50 sp – had to be left behind
• Elegantly carved chair of ebony (25 lb) 50 sp – had to be left behind
• Silver plated astrolabe (5 lb) 75 sp
• Suit of clothes (2 lb) 50 sp
• Golden chain necklace – 2 gp
• Portable scribe (magical) –
• 6 tomes on leather pages in demonic, specifically fire demons.
• silver plated morningstar
• scimitar, fine, when drawn bursts into magical flame
• small chest - $3000 in assorted coins.

Back at the entrance, Trel, Burl and Fagan have managed to hold their chokepoint. We rush back to assist them. During the fight we see a light behind the orcs – they panic and break, and we see that Mother Lunthilde & co. have arrived to finish off the creatures of darkness. After some scouting, Tylden reports that the orcs in the area are breaking up and fleeing. We start to form up and head back to Tiranop, but another group shows up – the one headed by Bartle. Behind him is a vast group of orcs. Bartle declares: “Here they are, trapped like rats! Take them down!”

3 CP

In Defense of Tiranop

Notes from 12/30/2015 to 1/20/2016

12/30/2015

Bartle calls out to the party: “I see you have managed to destroy the mirror. But I will take you and force you to serve my master!” Tylden takes a shot, but of course Bartle has Reverse Missile and Tylden is able to just dodge out of the way. We retreat to an inner room where we make our stand. The orcs seem to be of high quality, and are supported by a couple of shamans. Our healing potions allows Grinuë and Jin to recover some of their fatigue, but the situation still looks dire. Lauriel takes down several orcs, but one of the dwarven warriors is taken down. Next, a round of orcish archers takes aim inflicting some damage, but are driven off by our return fire. The next line of orcs wielding two-handed maces and axes charges into close combat before being repulsed. They are wearing down the party, but by now Grundar’s shoulder is feeling better and is ready for action! Bartle still has the elite warriors being held in reserve.

Bartle calls: “This is getting weary! I could destroy you all. If you surrender your leaders, I’ll let the rest go free.” We refuse the generous offer, and receive the next waves of attacks. We beat off a couple of them, but have reached the point where Grinuë is unable to be effective anymore healing up the members.

The next assault is much bigger, though the quality of the orcs is less. They are from a different band of orcs – they seem to be reinforcements. They try to bull rush us, but we push them back. Tylden, in desperation, looks for secret doors and starts banging the wall with a hammer, and manages to punch through the wall in one of the storerooms to discover that there was a patch job that, when broken through, leads into a natural cavern. Unfortunately there are fire ants and skeletons within, but our odds seem better with them than with Bartle and co. We fend off the next assault, Grundar tosses off orcish insults, and the rest of the party slinks off through the storeroom into the cavern. This riles up pretty much all of the denizens of the caves which Tylden runs away while he tries to figure out the way out. The rear guard retreats to the storeroom, and Grundar and Lauriel are able to hold the corridor side by side. After an orc or two, the elite members of our foe enter the corridor and attack. This is when Grinuë drops the ceiling. We hear hammering start from the other side, but Grinuë figures that it will take some time for them to break through.

[9 healing potions were used]

The party makes its way through the caverns, and in one we see some light shining through one section. Tylden attacks this with a hammer and manages to break through to the ground above – no orcs in sight, although we can hear them in the distance. We start to beat a hasty retreat. We manage to find our horses and together with Lunthilde’s group heads towards Tiranop. On the march, Grinuë, showing unwonted tact, politely declines five offers of marriage. It takes us 5 ½ days to return to Tiranop but, upon viewing the town, we see the characteristic dust cloud to the east of the town that one associates with a horde of orcs. We slip into Tiranop from the west and find the town haphazardly preparing to defend the town.

Grundar makes a rousing speech to the leaders and adventurers, one of unity, and exhort them to pick a leader. Lunthilde is amenable to Grundar being that leader, and there aren’t any other notable candidates, so Grundar it is. He then talks to the gnomes and offers his help, but they aren’t really interested in hearing his opinions, and simply assign him to the front gate. Grinuë sends Tylden up as an eagle for some initial scouting. The orcs seem to be concentrated in one horde, about a thousand strong. Grundar, meanwhile, sets up the defensive arrangements of his group. The orcs approach as dusk falls, and seem to be considering a night attack. Peering from the wall, Tylden reports that the main force of the orcs is coming up the road towards the gate.

1 CP

1/5/2016

As we look over the situation, Teppier chats with the party, and commiserates that he is not in charge. After some time, the orcs spread around the city walls, then launches their attack. The gnome in charge of the town defenses arranges an all-out defense, whereas the orcs launch an all-out attack. After heavy fighting they are driven off, but losses are 30% defense/20% orcs. Near the end of the attack, Teppier comes up and cries out that some orcs have breached the walls and are rampaging inside. Grundar leads a force that includes Lauriel, Trel, and Burl to the defense, and they make short work of the orcs. Afterwards an old gnomish lady, Besydi, comes out of hiding and thanks us for our efforts. From there, Grundar goes to see the gnomish commander – elder Heloer – and attempts to convince him to hand overall command to him. With some reluctance, he agrees to hand control over to Grundar.

The orcs attack the main gate with a couple of diversionary attacks, but under Grundar’s leadership the diversionary attacks are dealt with expediently and the main attack, though fierce, is quickly repulsed. [Total casualties so far: attackers 55%, defenders 35%] Given the length of the assault so far, dawn is not far away. Grundar takes the opportunity, aided by the Megaphone spell from Grinuë, to attempt to harangue the orcs. It does not have the intended effect, and they moon him en mass from a distance.

The orcs have pulled away, but a group has gathered in the center of their camp, and there is a robed figure in the middle that looks suspiciously like Bartle. Orcish scouts are placed fully around the town. It appears that they are settling down for another night attack. The defenders are ordered to go home and get a full night’s sleep – the town bells will ring if there appears to be any impending attacks.

1 CP

1/12/2016

The day and evening passes without an attack. The next day, Tylden and Lauriel head out for a mounted reconnaissance after setting up a backup plan. The ride out to the east. The orcs have a fairly good series of pickets, but they seem to be sleeping on the job. The array of orcish forces is pretty much as was suspected, about 350 yards away from the front gates, holding about a 40° arc. Moving into the desert they don’t find anything. They continue riding around the outskirts. When they are east of the orcish lines when they notice a small group of about a dozen heading south-east. This group includes Bartle and his companions along with an escort of regular orcs. We continue our circuit around the orcs. They are noticed a few times, but there is not effort at pursuit. After another hour, they re-enter Tiranop.

Grundar attempts to harangue the orcs, making them cross enough to do something rash. He succeeds enough to convince a small group of four to come forward and offer personal challenges. Lauriel goes out as a second. Grundar takes on the biggest orc and they go at it toe to toe. The orc, armed with a two-handed axe, puts up a surprisingly good effort – for awhile – before Grundar takes out the orc. The next orc comes up, also with a two-handed axe, and does a good job, even trying some chicanery and allows one of the other orcs to attempt a shot at Grundar as well. Fortunately no damage is done, and Lauriel jumps up and takes on the other orc. Grundar and Lauriel finish off their opponents. Some more orcs shout challenges, but wiser orcish heads prevail and hold them back. Grundar lets fly with some parting taunts, and a small force of eighty is unable to hold back and rushes forth. Grundar and Lauriel duck back into the gate. Grundar leads a masterful defense against the under-powered assault. Meanwhile, Grinuë turns Tylden invisible and levitates him towards the line. When he gets close enough he starts peppering the main shaman with arrows. After several shots go home, he then aims at another shaman attempting to organize the defenses and takes him down. The shaman struggles to get up, but Tylden buries a second arrow deep in the shaman’s side. The orcs attempt to shoot at Tylden’s location. One hits, but it merely bounces off his armor. At this point Grinuë pulls him back to Tiranop. Grundar takes the opportunity to lead an attack against the assault force, but only inflicts minor additional casualties.

After about half an hour, Tylden spots a dust cloud in the distance. Tylden goes up as a vulture and spots a large group of reinforcements – about another 500 or so. These orcs seem a bit shinier than the originals. At their head on large black horse is an imposing man wearing long black robes covered in images. Resting on his head is a wreath of flames. Upon entering the camp of the orcs he immediately takes command.

That afternoon an invisible Tylden sets out and takes a shot at the fire mage. The arrow bursts into flame doing no damage, and Tylden scurries back to town.

That night the attack commences. Grundar’s defense is masterful: casualties are 60% attackers vs 10% for the defenders.

1 CP

1/20/2016

[7/27/999]

It is just before dawn. The orcs retreat from Tiranop. A lone horseman rides through the orcs attempting to rally the troops to no avail. Around his brow is a crown of flames. As he continues his exhortation, the flame around his head flickers and goes out. He screams, then lashes his horse towards Tiranop. As he approaches Tylden lets loose one shot, then another, both striking home. The man staggers but stays mounted and continues on, but the trail of blood catches fire, the flames advancing towards the man. The horse stops and starts bucking, throwing off the rider and flees. The commander lies there, then struggles up. He reaches towards Tiranop, and then the flames catch up to him. Although he is over 100 yards away, we are forced to shield ourselves from the flames. When they die down, there is little left but a husk. But all is not over - a creature emerges from the husk, covered in blackened spikes with ash-white tips. The Growlers look at each other: “looks like a demon to me!” The creature advances, letting our a roar that is accompanied by a gout of flame. [Fright checks all around.] Many of those standing behind us are now fleeing behind us. Lunthilde is fazed, but Kelmac is standing his ground. Lauriel and Grundar advance to the onrushing demon. Grinuë attempts Tanglefoot but fails. Attacks from Lauriel and Grundar hit home, but the demon’s skin seems to be of living rock. Still Lauriel and Grundar are able to do some damage, although Grundar’s knee strikes were unable to cripple it. The demon charges Kelmac who manages to block the attack. The demon continues, charging through Trel and Burl, knocking down Burl and then slamming into the mechanic. Grundar’s attacks finally disable the demon’s knee. It falls to the ground, skidding forward into a stone building that bursts into flame. Lauriel and Grundar advance as it crawls around to face us. Grundar’s first blow takes a massive chunk out of the demon’s neck. It pauses, then refocus. Grundar’s 2nd blow strikes as well, but the demon remains conscious. Still prone, it spouts a gout of flame, hitting Lauriel which simply flows around her, not doing any damage. The creature attacks Grundar, hitting twice, doing massive damage. Grinuë heals, Lauriel forms up with Grundar who hits again. The demon misses with his next attacks. With Lauriel providing defensive cover, Grundar just lays into the demon, taking off its head. The eyes still glare at Grundar and a gout of flame spouts out but doesn’t hit home. The demon still seems to be attacking Grundar despite lacking a head, but then freezes in place and starts bubbling. The earth starts puckering and the building next to it starts crumbling. Very slowly, the demon begins to expand and lava starts oozing forth from the cracks in its body. It appears to be mini-volcano and is expanding slowly. The area is cleared of squints. Grinuë goes to work, and after 10 minutes casts No Mana over the area. A bit of lava leaks out of the area, but the demon’s body which had continued to grow stops growing, and the lava starts to cool and harden. The towns folks with judicious application of earth, are able to put out the fires.

1 CP

The Fall of Melop

Notes from 1/29/2016 to 2/13/2016

1/29/2016

[7/28/999]

Lunthilde’s company, the Master of Elements (injured in our last dream encounter) and the dwarven mechanic agree to accompany us back to Melop, along with some other assorted adventurers. The trip will take about ten days. We set off, but unfortunately we are set upon by scorpions, and one of the lesser fighters is seriously injured. Nothing seriously is encountered the second day. The third day we see a few orcish stragglers and avoid them, making good time. Grundar suspects that they might start coming across larger groups of orcs in the next 2-3 days. On the fifth day we are starting to encounter more orc parties, but we are able to avoid them for now. However Tylden sees ahead of us an enemy group ahead of us, and he suggests that they are large enough heading towards Melop that we should attempt to avoid them. We leave the main road, heading north and then east. The 6th day goes well. In the rough terrain we are making slower time compared to the road. The seventh day doesn’t go quite as well, as we are beset by snapping turtles. Mr. Gimp is landed is beset upon, and we lose both him and, most upsetting to Grundar, the horse he was on. On the 8th day Tylden looks for water to replenish our supplies, finds a good supply which, unfortunately, is poisoned. Grinuë is able is diagnose the problem, and is able to help the party recover. (Ipecac all around.) The ninth day is quite uneventful, and we think we are ahead of the bulk of the orcish forces and about 50 miles from Melop. We start heading back to the road, making good progress. The eleventh day, at about mid-day, we hit a north-south road. We see off to the north a hint of civilization, which is a patrol of gnomes. He meets up with them, and discovers that we are actually south of Melop by about a dozen miles, entering the city that evening. In the city the gnomes are busily preparing for war.

We make our way to the palace and meet with Prince Valmix. He’s had some word of what happened, as a scout was able to make his way back after the battle. Pleasantries are exchanged, he suggests we get some rest and to meet with him the next day.

The next day drags on with no word from Lord Valmix. We wander about, and the word is that war is coming to Melop. The city was never equipped with walls, and they are hastily building earthworks. They were expecting the main attack to come from the south, but now word is coming that strange monsters (the orcs) are coming from the west as well. Grundar examines the earthworks to see if there could be any improvements. He checks in with Mother Lunthilde and the Mechanic to ensure that they are being taken care of. The next day Lord Valmix requests Grundar’s presence at a briefing later that day.

At the briefing, it is relayed that a mixed group is coming from the south, while a somewhat reduced force of orcs is coming from the west. Lifox is there as well. The gnomes have about 30,000 – 35,000 militia, a significant portion are in the vicinity of Azimop, whereas the cabal has about 20,000 – 25,000 troops of higher quality than the gnomish militia approaching, along with 5,000 – 10,000 orcs. Prince Valmix later approaches Grundar and concedes that he thinks that they have little chance of success, but has heard tales of his help with Tiranop, and wishes Grundar to help in the defense of the city. He especially would like his help defending against the orcs. The southern force will arrive in about a week, whereas the orcs are a bit closer.

Of the forces from the south, about half are of the quality of the gnomish militia, the other are a mixed lot composed of adventurers, magicians, iron guards and such. These are of a better quality than the gnomes. A couple of the cabal mages are with the ground force, along with a cadre of lesser mages.

2/9/2016

[8/11/999]

Lady Yeposa continues her briefing. (See the forums.) The general consensus is that the situation is dire. They do not see how they can defeat the forces of the cabal. Their aim is to evacuate the civilians north to Azimop. Even if they were able to defeat this force, the cabal controls the areas of production around Quanop. Even though Azimop was the center of food production, they seem to be able to feed their army. They suspect that they are doing it through magical means. Unfortunately they are having difficulty getting the citizens of Melop to realize the seriousness of the situation. Lady Yeposa warns Grundar that Melop is the last port they control, so if they lose Melop, they will lose access to the sea. After promising to arrange a meeting between Grundar and the commander of the gnomish forces, we return to our quarters.

Later that night we meet with the gnomish commander – Aahirox ¬– a very swarthy gnome with a long and well-groomed beard that is red going on grey. Grundar sets forth his plan, but Aahirox is worried that we don’t have enough intelligence on the orcs and gives us the cold shoulder, dismissing us. Whatever. Grinuë Shapeshifts Tylden into a condor and gives him night vision, and he soars off into the darkness. He flies for a couple of hours to the west before he spots the lead elements of the orcs. A bit later he starts to see larger groups, and then sees the main body of orcs. He estimates the main body is 25 miles from Melop. They are stretched out of a couple of miles, and appear to be organized in clans. He flies over the group, estimating their overall size at nine to ten thousand. Looking over what appear to be the command elements he sees nothing but orcs. He takes a last past over the orcs, attempting the gauge the relative number of units. The vast majority are 50/50 medium and lighter troops with a scattering of heavy troops and a smaller number of shamans, he then heads back home. Back in Melop, Grundar talks to Lifox, asking if there is anywhere he could hide or at least conceal a good portion of his army from a distance.

[8/12/999]

That morning, before Tylden’s return, Grundar is summoned to appear before the commander’s council. Commander Aahirox is in charge of the city’s troops, while Prince Valmix is in charge of the cavalry screening the retreat of the citizenry heading north to Azimop. Grundar presents his plan to the council, suggesting that if he can form up his troops behind any sort of rise, they will be able to hit the orcs in concentration before they have an opportunity to form up. Prince Valmix backs Grundar’s plan, agreeing that the idea that defeating the enemy in detail is their best chance. Others have the opinion that if the orcs are coming to Melop, why not just attack them at that time? Grundar replies with the argument that we should not allow the forces to combine – it is unlikely that the orcs will attack their fortifications by themselves. At about this time Tylden and Grinuë arrive and Tylden gives his report. There is some concern that they are farther away than expected, such that attacking them as quickly as possible is important in order to regroup and return to Melop. Grundar puts forth a revised proposal that features a major attack along the road. Lady Yeposa is asked about the cabal’s forces, and she replies that they are at least four days away. Commander Aahirox is satisfied with that, and orders are given for preparations. The slower foot are to be sent out as soon as possible. Lady Yeposa will keep us informed of the information she gets from her scouts. Tylden accompanies her to a meeting with her scouts, who were not able to get past some tentative sightings of the forward forces, but with Tylden’s information they are able to confirm the position of the main force.

The Mechanic is interested in joining forces with Grundar, but merely to escape the continent on his ship. Mother Lunthilde is interested in joining with Grundar in the upcoming fight.

That afternoon we head out. The gnomish forces encamp for the night behind a slight rise in the ground. During the night Grinuë’s plan to turn Tylden into a bird backfires when the spell lasts too long and Tylden is unable to convey any useful information before the combat. For their part, the gnomes have difficulty screening their movements. Just as dawn is breaking, the gnomes meet the orcish pickets, and battle immediately ensues. As we close, Tylden replies with the information about their formation, which is 10,000 strong, including 200 shamans. Still, our overall strength is about twice theirs.

The initial fight is very hard. Aahirox’s skill at leadership is very – well – theoretical in nature. He forms up the troops in a manner that is very sound in principle, but then proceeds to botch the execution. But despite his best efforts to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the initial hour of fighting goes slightly in our favor. [15% casualties for ocs, 10% for gnomes.] At this point Grundar takes the opportunity during a pause in the fighting to go over to Aahirox and convinces him to throw caution to the wind, lead from the front of his troops, and send the cavalry to hit the orcs from the rear. Taking Grundar’s wisdom to heart, Aahirox leads the troops in a new charge. The orcish line starts to waver when cries come out that they are being surrounded. Further attacks lead by Grundar bite deep into the orcish ranks. The cavalry attack which starts a general panic among the orcs, who start to waver and then break. [Orcs suffer 40% casualties to 0% for the gnomes.]

1 CP

2/13/2016

Grundar convinces Aahirox to call for a general attack while the orcs abandon the field. Grinuë organizes efforts to heal those injured in the initial assault. The gnomes reorganize their forces, heal those injured, and start heading back to Melop. [Orcs suffer 85% total casualties at the end of combat. With recovery, gnomes effectively suffer none.]

Back in Melop we meet up with Lady Yeposa. The atmosphere in Melop is less dire, although the general view is still that the upcoming siege will not go in their favor. Yeposa states that Quanop still has quite a few forces there. Grundar suggests bringing along a minor figurehead to convince some of the cabal’s forces to switch back to our side – a tactic that has actually been tried before. Yeposa says that the cabal has gotten smarter about this. They have produced more mind-control amulets, and have been keeping more of the mind-controlled forces around to keep the non-controlled troops under their thumb.

As we discuss this, Yeposa states that one concern is to not let their naval forces fall into the hands of the cabal. One suggestion is to have Grundar take the fleet and some number of refugees east to Burle, while Grundar suggests moving the cannons from the ships to the earthworks to aid in their defense. Grundar, Grinuë, Tylden and Lauriel go to talk to Aahirox. He accepts the notion of moving the ship’s guns to the walls. Grundar then suggests that we send word through our agents to have the gnomish troops rise up at the signal of the firing of the guns. Tylden asks about their commander, and Aahirox says his name is Katalou, and he is one of the key leaders of the cabal, perhaps one of the top three. He is believed to be a mage.

There is further discussion of, if we evacuate Melop, what will be carried on the ships. Will in include Yeposa or Aahirox? Will it include the wealth of Melop? Grundar encourages them to come up with a plan. Yeposa reiterates that not everyone in Melop is convinced that the city will fall to the oncoming forces.

The gnomes continue to bolster the walls over the next two days. The fallback plan is to retreat to the port. The fleet will disembark troops at the river, the civilians will continue with the Growlers back to Burle. Yeposa sends out the word to her agents to try to convince units to rebel at the sound of the guns, though she is unsure how effective that will be. The forces of the cabal appear. The front line consists of the gnomish militia, backed by medium infantry, backed further by the core of the army. There is a group of iron guard that we remember from our dreams. (They were once adventurers and are now permanently mind-controlled.) Grundar suggests that the artillery target the iron guard. The gnomes of Melop man the earthworks, and about 150 of the guns from the ship are in place. The cavalry under Prince Valmix continues to screen the retreat of the citizenry.

The forces from the cabal trundle forward. Despite the best efforts of the Growlers, the forces of the cabal attack the fortifications. As the cannons fire, there is some disruption in the ranks which slows the initial onslaught, but has no overall impact on the attack. Over the course of two days, they manage to take the front lines of earthworks. The effect of the mages is such that much of the archery fire appears to be turned aside. The city is not fully encircled. At time Prince Valmix is able to break through their lines, but this is becoming more difficult. However, more and more the citizenry is realizing that they are in a dire situation.

In the ensuring battle, against all odds, the gnomes push back with Aahirox, throwing back the forces of the cabal. [Dave rolled a 3 for Aahirox!]

Tylden, meanwhile, gets Jin to lend him Gnomish (and Lauriel to cut him on the forehead) and he goes hunting for mages. He sneaks past several sentries, skirts some of the more secure areas of the back areas and definitely avoids the iron guard. He makes his way back to where some of the wounded are being tended. Unfortunately he’s in the gnomish dead pool section, so he tries to find the section with more humans. He is noticed by someone in charge and steps in front of me. Tylden declares that he’s looking for “Joe”. The man that he talks to seems normal enough, and Tylden manages to talk himself past the guard post. The iron guard stares at him, and Tylden feels his eyes on the back of his neck. This is where the medium infantry are gathered in the rear lines. Tylden approaches the wounded and dead. He notices that as the dead are gathered they are processed, which includes taking off their amulets – collected by the iron guard. Tylden looks around. Pairs of soldiers are bringing in the dead and wounded. Tylden spots an area with a pile of medium infantry men that has obviously been hit by artillery. A medic looks them over, and then moves on. Tylden moves over to where they are. He finds a likely target, bends over and cuts the amulet from him when from behind he hears: “So, that’s Joe?” Tylden surreptitiously drops his knife, looks up at him and says, “Yeah, it’s Joe.” The man tells Tylden that he should get back to his unit, there’s nothing he can do for Joe. Tylden stands up, mentions something about the fecking gnomes, and walks off. He considers whether or not to start picking off mages, but decides against it and returns to Melop, handing over the amulet to Grinuë. She analyzes it, noting that it’s made of bronze, determining that it is basically a loyalty spell. Normally one is loyal to the creator, but instead one becomes loyal to all twelve of the circle of mages that were behind the original spell of creation. It operates simply by wearing it, if you take it off then the spell is broken.

Lady Yeposa informs Grundar that she has gotten word that the cabal in sending in infiltrators. These are most likely adventurers that have been mind-controlled. Grinuë attempts to find the infiltrators by detecting bronze, but runs afoul of a great number of false positives. Grinuë switches to Detect Magic. Meanwhile, the assault continues. By this time we suspect that the opposing leader is quite skilled in Strategy, even more than Aahirox. Unfortunately, the cabal appears to receive reinforcements of about 3000 adventurers, skilled in ranged combat. By this time about half the refugees have been evacuated. Tylden and Grinuë look to root out infiltrators while Lauriel and Grundar fight on the front lines. More days of hard fighting follow, but the cabal definitely has the upper hand. [Casualties so far are 50% gnomes and 45% cabal]. The cabal is able to capture the earthworks, and fighting goes house to house. Tylden and Grinuë between the two are quite effective countering the infiltrators, and actually aren’t killing all that many. Mostly they are able identify them, then capture them and remove their amulets. In one case, Tylden sneaks up on a suspicious character. It turns out to be… Castor! He starts climbing up a building. Tylden calls out to him: “Not up there!” Castor looks over, and then drops to the ground and starts running. Tylden takes off after him, but Castor is surprisingly fast. He slips around a corner, when all goes quiet. Tylden waits and listens. Tylden hears a soft squeaking, so sneaks around the corner. He faces Castor who’s holding a crossbow. “Are you going to shoot your nephew?” Castor shoots. A scuffle ensues, but eventually Tylden is able to grapple him, bear him down, and rip off the amulet. Eventually, Castor apologizes for shooting his nephew. (Thank Grundar for the breastplate!)

We debrief the adventurers. They tell us that there is an inner ring of three mages: Semiti (overall leader), Bavadra (special forces), and Katalou (army commander). There is a middle ring of nine mages. Three are Ilisoni (illusions), Leveni (movement), and Joeli (protection/warning). They think that Leveni and Joeli are with the attacking forces. The outer ring consists of the other among the 400 mages, and the army. The rest of the cabal’s forces are arranged in three groups. The first is the Iron Fist (best of the adventurers) which is controlled by amulets. (The amulets are rust-red color with an off-center starburst.) There is the Iron Guard (full plate mail) – it is rumored that they have been modified in some way, and that the amulet has been implanted in their flesh and that they are no longer individuals. Then there is the Red Horde, which is the remainder of the adventurers, and they are controlled by a metal collar. The main base of the cabal consists of a large barracks organized in quadrants around a central tower. Adventurers go in and Iron Guard come out. The inner ring doesn’t go in. The belief is that the tower is filled with Iron Guard. They believe the stronghold is in the mountains 50-75 miles west of Quanop and south of the river, not close to the close.

Grundar takes this information to the leaders of Melop and proposes sailing troops to the southern coast for an assault on the cabal. Lady Yeposa points out that the coast is essentially impassable for a seaborne force. After more discussion, it is decided that we will try to hold out for two more days to complete the evacuation of the city, and then abandon the city. Grundar suggests that good metal-working gnomes would do well to accompany the fleet back to Burle. The fighting over the next couple of days sees the cabal pushing the forces back even further. They are able to break through the defenses and we retreat to the harbor. [By this time the gnomes are at 70% casualties, the cabal 55%.] Finally we retreat onto the ships and take leave of Melop. Aahirox survives the campaign, and about 6000 troops are able to evacuate Melop and head towards Quanop. Prince Valmix and Lady Yeposa, a minimal household, and many gnomish craftsmen sail with the fleet as we head back to Burle.

2 CPs

from the forums

The voyage east is a welcome respite from the desperate week of fighting and death. It is gratifyingly uneventful aside from the prolonged sighting of a dragon-shaped speck circling overhead which ignites some consternation; but eventually the spec moves off and does not return. Warm weather, some moderate rain, and days mainly spent chatting with gnomes provide the Growlers a restful, if somewhat monotonous, vacation.

Stepping onto the docks of Burle initiates a short and somewhat expected flurry of disappointment. Lord Burle welcomes the Gnomish dignitaries, but makes it clear that he will not be gambling his entire kingdom on an extremely risky cross-ocean attack against a powerful group of mages with a substantial army. More surprising is his absolute forbidding of Grundar to pursue any cannon technology despite an acknowledgement of the need to increase the alertness and defenses of the kingdom against a dangerous foe. Lady Yeposa expresses some disappointment with Grundar's exaggeration of his influence in the Burle court, but admits that she is not particularly surprised by Lord Burle's caution and Prince Valmix similarly admits grudging agreement that attacking across an ocean is a difficult proposition at the best of times.

After a couple more days conferring and meeting with Lord Burle, Prince Valmix leaves with a choice portion of the fleet and all the cannons, sailing back towards Melesyon with the stated goal of harassing the Cabal and providing what support he can to the remaining Gnomish forces. Meanwhile, Lady Yeposa begins the process of establishing herself and the remaining gnomes in Burle, managing to convince Jin to hire on with her as a communications mage so that she can keep in touch with her people both locally and in Melesyon.

As the Growlers prepare to leave Burle, Lady Yeposa conferences privately with Grundar and his lieutenants to confirm to him her long-term goal of supporting her homeland and their status as economic allies. She also brings up the matter of the restriction on cannons, suggesting that it is something she would dearly like to learn more about though Lord Burle's attitude towards the topic indicates extreme caution is required.

Erdobert the Mechanic and the now-recovered Master of Elements along with their few remaining followers accompany the Growlers as they ride down the familiar highway. Pausing briefly in Riverton to take care of a few administrative matter the party quickly continues north until, finally, the most welcome of sights greets the weary travelers: Vonmek. Home at last.

[10/5/999]