#3: Agril and the Ruined Tower (3/21/2021)

Our return journey through The King's Forest back to Waymoot was a dreary one. The rainy weather matched our moods, and for a change Naivara and Ember were as quiet as I was. Our 4-day journey southeast to Suzail would hopefully involve some sunshine and brighter moods once the path turned towards the big city on Dragonmere. For now the three of us are simply physically and mentally fatigued from weeks of fruitless searching for answers and witnessing the needless suffering of multiple young women, however we press on.

The party arrives in Waymoot and we enter the Moon and Stars Inn around mid-afternoon. I am extremely happy to dry off by the fire and get some meat and ale in me. In spite of my desire to sit silently and eat and drink, Falken approaches us with a hearty smile. "Back already? How did business in Minroe go?" I reply with a frown and a piercing gaze "Business was business, we are no closer to our goal." Realizing that not even the elves are in the mood to chat Falken wishes us well and moves on to his table to continue his meal. 

Later that evening a young, though rugged-looking man, enters the tavern in leathers with a sword and metal bracers. Somewhat like myself he bears cuts on him indicative of a man who has seen his share of battle. His eyes and lack of smile convey a gruff demeanor not dissimilar to my own. He approaches us and flatly ask, "Are you adventurers?" Naivara and Ember simultaneously respond in the affirmative and ask him to sit down. I would be perfectly happy to sit in silence and drink with what appears to my eyes to be a kindred spirit but unfortunately it would appear he has business to discuss. He introduces himself as Agril and tells us he needs help. He and his party of adventurers were exploring the King's Forest north of Waymoot looking for the ruins of an old tower, or more specifically what treasures may lay within. Unfortunately for his group they were ambushed by orcs. Since the man is in front of us alone I surmize that all but he were either killed or captured. He confirms my suspicions and asks us if we would be able to help him rescue his party. Before Naivara has a chance to ask him for an equal share of any potential loot I respond "We can help, assuming we get an equal share of the loot--that's an equal split between our parties." Agril readily agrees to our terms and we all retire for the evening with a plan to head out in the morn. 

The morning arrives and Ember, Naivara, and myself follow Agril west into the woods. As we get further from Waymoot only Ember and Agril have any clue really where we are or how to get back to Waymoot. Immediately I begin to worry that this is the beginning of an ambush and that Agril is the leader of a band of brigands. I keep my guard up and stay close to the elves. We set camp for the night and Agril tells us we should hit the tower late tomorrow afternoon. The next morning we head deeper into the woods. I can tell by the look in Ember's eyes that at this point even she would not be able to easily get back to Waymoot. Around noon Agril stops us and tells us we are close to the ruined tower. He points out orc tracks, I had already seen these. I have a lifetime of experience fighting the orcs in battle, aside from the common tongue it is the only language I know...it makes me smile for a moment when I think to myself that I could have a conversation with an orc but not my elven companions in their native language.  We continue on but try to move a bit quieter. I am now worried about both orcs and a potential betrayal by Agril. This could get interesting.

300 yards away we see the ruins of the tower. There is a campfire at the base of the tower and once we are within range we see six orcs. In an uncharacteristic display of clumsiness Ember steps on a branch and breaks it. The orcs immediately stand up and grab their weapons. Wasting no time Naivara fires an arrow that hits one of the orcs in the arm. Both myself and Agril are unable to hit our targets when we do the same. Three of the orcs advance upon Ember and get within 50 feet of the mage. Once again Naivara continues to show great prowess in combat and hits one of the orcs advancing on Ember in the belly with an arrow, nearly felling the creature. After I miss with my crossbow yet again Ember casts Chromatic Orb and one of the orcs at the campfire is instantly eviscerated. Not to be outdone, Agril fires a his bow. As the arrow gets closer to the orcs it begins to have a strange glow. Upon striking the target it sprouts vines and thorns. Seriously wounding one orc and killing two of the remaining orcs. Clearly he has powers of which we were not aware. 

The three remaining orcs are now together and I am able to kill the wounded one with a crushing blow from my long sword. One of the orcs then charges Ember. I leap between them but the orc is still able to slash her and draw blood. At this point the party, Agril, and the two remaining orcs are engaged in furious melee combat with blood spilling everywhere. Ember is able to slice the throat of one of the orcs and I kill the other one. I smile upon ending the life of the final orc, happy to put weeks of rustiness with my sword behind me.

After each of us collect 10 gold pieces from the dead bodies of the orcs we make camp and sleep for the evening. Before we lay our heads down Agril solemnly declares that these were the same orcs who ambushed his group of adventurers. The more time I spend with him the less I suspect him of being a threat. This means that either he truly is a kindred spirit or my age and the stress of the last few weeks are beginning to dull my senses and make me let my guard down when I ought not to. We go to sleep, ready to explore the ruined tower the next morning and hopefully rescue Agril's friends. 

The next morning we rise bright and early and enter the tower. The room is about 30 feet in diameter with stairs going up and down the outside wall. I am surprised that the stairs go up counter-clockwise, a design feature that would give a right-handed fighter an advantage if he were trying to go up the stairs. Perhaps this was build by a left-handed fighter. We decide to start by heading down the stairs. We see remainders of beds down there. "Do you notice something off about the stone work on the wall?" Naivara asks? " I notice something strange also, but I can't make it out" I respond. Naivara runs her hand along the wall and a secret door is revealed! We see before us a long, dark passageway. Ember uses her magic to illuminate the passage and we see 120 feet of straight tunnel that moves down at a very gradual slope. After some deliberation we decide to enter the tunnel.

After a few hours spent traveling down the tunnel we come to a massive room. I enter first and see torches on each wall. The eight torches come to life magically to reveal an octagonal room 50 feet long on each side and about 20 feet high. There is an altar in the middle of the room. Immediately our party exchanges excited, nervous looks. Once again we are greeted by a mysterious altar, however this time no cultists are around. Upon the altar lays an old leather bound book. There is also a longsword. We see an eye symbol in the handle of the sword and both Ember and myself are fairly certain it is the same as the one in the sword held by the villainess in the mine of Minroe. Ember picks up the book and casts Detect Magic. She determines that it is a spell book. When she picks up the sword, she immediately winces in pain. Merely handling the sword must be dangerous. One the pain subsides, she is able to sense a great evil, and is sure that this sword has a will of its own. She wraps the sword in a cloak and stores it in her pack.

When we explore the room we notice there is a symbol atop each wall. The symbols do not seem to mean anything to anyone. However, the grey and white one is almost identical to the symbol we saw at the altar in the mine of Minroe. There are also Elvish carvings in the walls that we cannot make out. Under the purple symbol on one of the walls there's an ornate circle about 10 feet wide with markings both inside of and around it. Ember is certain that it is some sort of a teleportation circle. I am not a mage but even this gruff fighter is getting nervous being in this room. It feels like the heart of something quite evil. I feel the same way I did when I was in the rooms with the altars at the Haunted Halls and the mine of Minroe, only the strength of the evil seems greater to me. We decide to leave the room and head back up the tunnel.

When we get back to the chamber I close the door to the tunnel. We go up the stairs to the room into which we entered the tower and start making our way further up the tower. The second floor is totally ransacked, and there is nothing there. Neither bodies, nor anything of value is on this floor. When we get to the third floor we are once again greeted by a messy, ransacked room. "This room was designed for magic use," Ember confidently exclaims. I find a loose floor board and pry it open --we all fall to the floor when fire explodes upward--a trap. At this point we agree it is a good idea to leave the ruined tower.

We walk around the base of the tower and see tracks leading away. At this point we find the bodies of several dead men. My suspicions are immediately confirmed when I see Agril shake his head and frown. "I was too late. Let us burn the bodies and make our way back to town." Upon arriving in Waymoot we immediately head for The Moon and Stars. When I look at Agril, I am somewhat angry with myself for doubting him earlier. The man bears the heart of a warrior, not to mention the scars of one. He could have easily left his party for dead, yet he went back for them. I am certain this was motivated less by the treasure that may have awaited him then by his desire to help his friends. "I am sorry for your loss Agril. I too have experienced much pain. Now that you are alone why not join us until you figure out where the road will take you next?" Agril replies "I will think this over Torvald. For today though my thoughts are with my friends." We all continue to share a few drinks when Agril asks us about the sword and why we seemed to recognized it. Naivara tells him all about the sword and the symbol in the pommel. "That sword should have been left behind. It is evil" I say in a gruff fashion. "There are no evil swords, only evil people," Agril says. We continue to drink and then head for bed. Ember lets us know she will begin studying the spellbook by candle light in her and Naivara's room. I lay my head down in my room and am asleep within minutes.

The three of us head downstairs for the morning to eat breakfast. Before us we see Agril sitting at a table with no food or drink in front of him. "I was waiting for you party before I ate. I try not to be rude when I can." I smile at him and the elves as we all sit down for breakfast. We fill Agril in on all the details of the previous few weeks when he indicates to us that he has no plans for quite some time and desires to stay with us for the foreseeable future. After eating we pack up our belongings and the now party of four depart the Moon and Stars for Suzail.

#2: Through the King's Forest to Minroe (2/28/2021)

When we found ourselves back in the Lonesome Tankerd after our somber journey back from The Haunted Halls. I couldn't really bring myself to meet Lord Tesseral's gaze at first. I could see how much she was hurt by the loss of the young woman, and the other four who had been abducted and murdered in a similar fashion prior to our unwanted intrusion on the cult festivities. Even in normal circumstances I am loathe to lead the conversation and defer to Ember and Naivara, but especially now I lean on the strength of my Elven companions to get me through the difficult meeting with Lord Tesseral. She mentions that she has heard of additional abductions in Minroe, a long trek through The King's Forest. We decide that we will head there in search of answers and share a pleasant meal with Lord Tesseral before we retire for the evening to our rooms.

The next morning arrives and as we are eating breakfast Lord Tesseral approaches. "I'm glad I caught you before you left. Here is something that might interest you, I cannot discern its purpose, can you?" She proceeds to hand Ember a grapefruit sized spherical object made of metal with bands around it. It appears that some pieces are clearly designed to be moved. Ember casts Detect Magic and discovers it is a magical item from the school of enchantment. Whilst playing with the object four coins come out and Ember smiles. She may not know the exact purpose yet but so far it has been a fruitful acquisition.

We take our leave of Eveningstar and begin our journey south along the Starwater Road. Our first stop will be the town of Dhedluk, about three days travel. It is a serene early Spring morning and the enormous trees of the massive ancient forest beckon me today. We won't actually get to the King's Forest until about halfway through the second day of travel, and it couldn't arrive soon enough for me. I always find peace in the woods, I may not be attuned to them the way my Elven friends are, but I've found solace in their verdant sanctum many times in my life, a life too often defined by tragedies like the one witnessed the previous day. "In spite of all the problems I ran into at home, I still miss the woods dearly" Naivara said softly to Ember, mercifully derailing me from my dark train of thought. "Yes, I too feel most comfortable here" Ember replies. We continue along the trail and spend an uneventful night camping under the stars as we prepare to enter the ancient forest the next day.

After rising we make our way further along the trail. Our morning was spent walking at a moderate pace. I was feeling increasingly at peace as we got closer to the woods, and I was happy when around noon we finally reached The King's Forest. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" I say to no one in particular. "It most certainly is, you know this used to be the home of many Elves, they are all gone now though" explained Naivara. The three of us all seemed to appreciate the quiet of the woods, sporadically colored by the sounds of woodland critters. I'm not sure any of us really know what our goal is since we started adventuring together, I just know I am glad to have Ember and Naivara around, especially on a several-hundred mile journey through The King's Forest, where no giant is as tall or mighty as the ancient trees themselves.

On the third day it began to rain, and as our increasing discomfort with the cold, wet conditions was only matched by the growing darkness that made it difficult for me to even see. Ember and Naivara of course were not troubled by this at all, being elves they can see in the dark as if it were the moon light. We didn't run into any thing of note on this day, I think it was one of those situations where everyone was so uncomfortable that we all simply silently focused on being agitated by the weather and trudging slowly along to Dhedluk. We encamped for the night but I found myself restless and unable to sleep, my previous love of the forest not completely forgotten with her leaving the sunlight. Several times when I awoke I looked over and noticed Ember awake as well, the weather didn't seem to bother Naivara though, or at least it didn't prevent her from sleeping. I just wanted to get dry and eat a good meal.

Our fourth day of travel began with an unseasonably hot sun to make the last leg of travel to Dhedluk more enjoyable than the misery of yesterday. We arrive mid day at our destination. Dhedluk is a small town surrounded by a stockade, it is a gorgeous farming town known for the wood carving skills of its residents. They are not used to adventurers passing through and we are the recipients of many sideways glances. Ember approaches a man and asks him where we might get a bite to eat and stay the night. "The Blushing Maiden Inn is the place you are looking for. It's run by Lord Thombir, who is also leader of our town. Best meal around and comfy lodgings for travelers...such as yourself." The man paused a bit at the end of his glowing review of The Blushing Maiden Inn, it seemed to us that he perhaps wasn't sure if it was perfect for travelers such as us because he so rarely encountered a party such as ours. Be that is it may Ember thanks him for the advice and we head to the inn. 

"What can we do for you?" says a man who we can only assume to be Lord Thombir. I can tell he is not overly excited to see us in The Blushing Maiden, as the tone of his greeting conveys a certain uncomfortableness with our party. I decide to lean right into his suspicions that we are not ordinary travelers by asking him if anything out of the ordinary has been going on recently. "I take it you are adventurers" he declares without answering my question. We respond in the affirmative and he curtly tells us not to overstay our welcome. We rent 2 rooms and replenish our ammunition before retiring for the evening. We leave Dhedluk the next morning and so our ends our uneventful, short stay.

It's a cool, clear day on the road to Waymoot along the Ranger's Way. The road through The King's Forest gets less safe the further one gets into the woods and we maintain extra vigilance on our travels. The only other creatures we encounter are a few deer on this day and we make camp with rotating watch as usual. On the sixth day after leaving Eveningstar we awaken to another beautiful day for travel. Only a few hours from Waymoot we run into a man in dark green leather armed with bow and arrow holding a brace of rabbits. I instinctively place my hand on my sword in case he presents trouble as Ember and Naivara shout out a greeting to him. "Hail fellow traveler. Any trouble in the woods these days?" Naivara, as glib as I am reticent, cuts right to the point with the stranger. "I wouldn't know, that's the council's business." he replies. He further introduces himself as Taran, a hunter and trader of animal pelts. He explains to us that Waymoot has a large population of former soldiers and the council that runs the village is comprised of retired military officers. He graciously lets us know that a trip to The Moon and Stars Tavern should be enough to find a member of the council to whom we can direct our questions. We continue to head for Waymoot with our new companion and wish him well after entering the gates of the town before we make our way for the inn.

A man named Telandro greets us with a hearty salutations as we enter The Moon & Stars. The reception we are given by this man is markedly more friendly than that which we got from Lord Thombir in Dhedluk. After sharing pleasantries Ember and Naivara tell him we have business we would like to discuss with the council. "Ahhh you need rooms" he proclaims, completely sure he will be doing business with us and smiling. We tell him we would like 2 rooms as is custom, one for the ladies and one for me, and when he asks us for 10 gold per room we immediately balk. "This is the finest inn in the land and you will be most satisfied." We agree to terms and then Ember once again asks him about the council. "The one you seek is Falken, he sits on the council, though at present he sits in the corner right over there."

We walk over to the corner of the dining room and Falken immediately invites us to sit down. "We are travelers on a quest to aid the people of Eveningstar with some troubles they've been having as of late. You'd help us greatly with our quest if you let us know of anything unusual here in Waymoot," Naivara says to Falken hoping to finally get some help on the road to Minroe. "Nothing unusual here. We are retired military officers who like the quiet life. Not only that, unusual is such a vague word. What exactly do you mean?" he asks Naivara. I quickly grow weary of the soft, old, retired officer and I ask him if anyone new has passed through town. "Other than you?" Falken responds with a grin. I turn to Naivara and tell her to just tell the man about the abductions. "What abductions?" Falken says as he straightens up in his seat, suddenly more attentive to our quest. We tell him about all that has taken place in Eveningstar and again ask him for assistance. He essentially makes it clear that they prefer to have no trouble in Waymoot, and they can offer us no help. Telandro does however mention that he has heard of problems in Minroe lately. I see nothing in front of me but a soft, weak man who has no desire to fight the evils of this world. Not a soldier at all, and certainly not an officer who should lead men into battle. Falken sends us to Rosalyn's General Store when we ask him if he knows where we could find a healing kit and we bid him good day.

After acquiring a healing potion got a princely sum at the general store we return for an uneventful night's rest at The Moon and Stars. We rise early the next morning and as we are leaving town a few people outfitted like soldiers begin to walk with us. Upon learning they are traveling to Espar we agree to travel with them for the the first 2 days of our 4 day journey when our paths will split. Our first day on the way to Minroe passes with ease and we make camp for the night and rotate watches as usual. On the 8th day since leaving Eveningstar conversation begins with our two companions. We learn they are brothers named Tegen and Semil heading to Espar to see their sister. Tegen and Semil are also quite familiar with The King's Forest and tell us where to find the turn off to get to Minroe, it is not a real road and more of a path through the woods. The next morning we party ways and begin the final leg of our journey through the ancient woods.

The party does not get very far on our first day off the road. It is much slower going through the woods on this unfinished path. It is also much less safe according to our friends Tefen and Semil. We are extremely alert as we make our way south west and we camp for the night making sure to keep vigilant watch.

The party is alarmed when rising we find ourselves in complete darkness. Massive storms are brewing and it is difficult for me to see. "Drop your gold and be gone!" I hear from somewhere off in the distance. I reach for my sword and call out to the unseen marauder. "That best be the last we hear from you for your sake!" Even in the darkness I am able to see a man about 25 feet ahead of me and I race towards him at full speed and for the first time in what seems like ages I am able to land a vicious sword strike at my opponent. This turn of good combat fortune does not go unchallenged however as the bandit cuts my left side badly in return. Once again Naivara's prowess in these situations comes through and an arrow from her bow cuts through the brazen bandit's throat and he slumps to the ground.

Unsure wether or not the dead bandit is alone, Ember casts Fog around us to hide our position. Almost immediately after the wizard enshrouds us several crossbow bolts come flying through the mist. I look at Naivara as she moves outside the cloud and she calls out to us that there are two more bandits. After Naivara's arrow fails to connect, Ember casts firebolt which hits one of the bandits in the chest without felling him. Fortunately my crossbow bolt strikes his companion in the belly. At this a third bandit reveals himself behind us and looses an errant arrow. "Return to the fog Ember!" I yell to my companion. "You will not be able to help us in melee with these goons." While Ember stays safe in the fog Naivara and I are able to dispense with the two wounded thieves and their friend. As I stand over one of the dead criminals I feel my skin crawl: the purple sunburst. The skull. This man wears the mark of the men who destroyed my village. I enter into a state of irrational rage and scream into the darkness.

"I told you when we met that day in the woods that one day I would kill the men who burned my village, the men who took everything from me!" I yell to Naivara and Ember as we continue on to Minroe. "You mean the day we saved your life. The day when your blind rage at your enemies led you to tackle a group of enemies you had no chance to match." Ember forcefully responds. The purple sunburst with the skull in the middle is the symbol of the god Cyric, the deity of murder, lies, trickery and conflict. The god of evil. "Anyone who follows him must die." I say to no one in particular as I stare dead ahead, lost in the smoke and ashes of a village and a time gone by.

We arrive in Minroe that afternoon. We encounter a man at the gates who in the course of conversation gives us an unsolicited history of his town. We learn that Minroe was a gem mining town long ago. The gem mines ran out and the town consequently suffered. Fortunately for the people of Minroe new mines were recently discovered. We let him know we are exhausted and seek lodging. The old man points us to the Fancy Tree Inn. A woman named Arkalis greets us and asks us what we need. Naivara, Ember and myself are in no mood to gather information on this night and we acquire rooms and immediately head to sleep, our long journey through The King's Forest finally complete.

The next morning we rise and find Arkalis. When we ask her if the town was experiencing any trouble as of late we hear a story eerily similar to that which we found in Eveningstar. Arkalis blames it on the new mine. "How is a mine responsible for kidnapping?" I ask her matter of factly. "That mine is haunted. There are ghosts there and other abominations. Five or six young women have been abducted recently and I know it has to do with that mine." "Is there someone who can help us learn more about this?" Naivara asks the innkeeper. "Go see Arelor, she is the governor.

We find the governor on the other side of the dining hall enjoying her breakfast. She is half-Elf and greets us with a warm smile. When we ask her about the abductions she tells us that Minroe simply does not have the manpower to handle something like this. Some tried to explore the mines but never returned. The party decides to let Arelor in on everything that happened in Eveningstar and The Haunted Halls. Arelor says she hasn't seen anything like that here. Arelor gives us directions to the mine, it is about a half-day out from town and she tells us it is mostly flooded. We thank Arelor and sit down for a quiet breakfast with the kind governor before heading for the mine.

On this day it is raining and storming. We make it to the mine by mid-day and begin our descent underground. About 100 feet into the mine we see a door leading to a room on our right. The door is open so we head in. Upon passing through the doorway we are all immediately charmed and find it impossible to move. In front of us is an Elven woman holding a dagger above a young woman on a makeshift altar. To our horror we see yet another maiden murdered in cold blood. The blood of dead girl goes into a bowl and the Elven cultist casts some sort of spell. Upon the conclusion of the spell, a long sword materializes. I notice there is an eye in the pommel looking around. Alive. She immediately cuts down the men helping her. The blade immediately kills the men, their eyes becoming blackened and leaking smoke. The woman looks up at us. "I didn't expect to see you here. I thought Varzand took care of you. I'll take it up with Roland and the Eight." She then disappears into a point of light similar to the cult leader in The Haunted Halls, who I now assume was Varzand. We notice two people in the room into which she disappeared, and though a window; water.

After coming out of the charm we investigate the altar. I notice a circle on the altar with three other circles inside of it, it looks like an eye. Ember tells us it is possible the Elven cultist was referring to the mysterious Circle of Eight when she mentioned "The Eight". This was a council of the 8 best wizards in the world, representing the eight schools of magic. Ember tells us even kings don't know who they are, where they live, or if they are good or evil...or indifferent. For that matter it is unknown if it even truly exists. We decide to head back to Minroe and arrive by evening. We tell the governor what happened and she is sorry to tell us she does not know anything about the circle symbol or the Eight. The four of us share a few drinks and grieve the loss of yet another innocent life. "I suppose now we must head for Suzail." I say with a tired voice to Ember and Naivara. My Elvish companions agree and we retire for the evening, deeply dissatisfied with results of our hard journey through The King's Forest to Minroe.

#1: There Have Been Abductions Lately (1/31/21)

It was a crisp, early Spring morning in the farming town of Eveningstar. Though it is a small town of only 400 to 500 people, it was quite prosperous due to its location at the crossroads of The High Road and Suzail Road. The scenery around this small but wealthy town was breathtaking, what with it being at the base of the eastern Stormhorn Mountains to the north and with the gargantuan and ancient King's Forest to the south. Aside from the beautiful views and the wealth of its small population of farmers, this was not much different from the many other farming towns that dot the landscape of Corymyr. The arrival of three strangers in town that morning caused many raised eye brows at the Lonesome Tankard Tap Room and Inn, a place that didn't see too many people like the three adventurers eating breakfast at a table in the corner.

Ember brushed a a few crumbs of stinky cheese off of her gray robes. Naivara drank a glass of water as if she had just traversed a desert. The two elves were different in many ways though they were both strong women who had seen many trials and tribulations in their years. Ember's fiery red hair and grey robes stood out about as much as the large wizard's staff she had resting against the wall. Eveningstar was not a town that attracted many magical types. Naivara kept a close eye on the few patrons in the room eating that day, for her many recent troubles made her perhaps too alert to the possibility of danger, perhaps sensing it where there was none. Wood elves are always alert, but Naivara prided herself on never letting anyone get the jump on her, something she considered essential to the thief's trade. Their companion Torvald paid no attention to anyone else in the room, including the two elves. He was battle hardened enough to know when danger was afoot, and he sensed none in this high-end tap room. He simply ate his plate of sausages, bacon, ham, and a single piece of fruit and enjoyed the quiet of the meal, as he was never one for superfluous conversation, which is why he let out an audible sigh when a wizardly woman approached their table to strike up conversation.

"Would ye mind if I sat down?" asked the beautiful woman standing at their table. Ember greeted her and bade her to sit. "I am Lord Tesseral Winter, ruler of Eveningstar. You three aren't from here, are you?" Torvald lifted his head and began to speak but was immediately and instinctively cut off by Naivara, who quickly learned when Torvald was about to be cross with a stranger, which was almost always. "We are travelers on our way south, what is on your mind Lord Tesseral?" She began to tell them about a series of abductions that had been occurring in the town recently. Since Eveningstar's population of adventurers, warriors, and wizards was exceptionally low she was hoping that perhaps Ember, Naivara, and Torvald could be of some assistance in helping uncover the mystery of these recent troubles. "What's in it for us?" Naivara said with a grin. Taken aback Lord Tesseral offered them 100 gold pieces and maybe more to save any abducted townsfolk. "Who has been abducted?" asked Ember. "Some men, some women, but mostly younger women. This quiet farming community has never had troubles with anyone and we like to keep it that way. Would you help us?" After conversing amongst themselves our adventurers decided to take on the mission to the Haunted Halls, where Lord Tesseral Winter said she suspected there could be some answers. The three decided since it was early they would finish eating and head north west immediately.

The trail to The Haunted Halls meandered north west along a gorge. It was about 30 miles from Evening Star to their destination. Ember, Naivara, and Torvald started walking along the river when around noon-time Naivara heard a growling and scratching in the distance. She continued walking and ignored it for a bit when with a piercing screech a large, bear-sized creature with feathers and the face of an owl appeared about 50 years away with blood dripping from its maw. The fierce monster stared at the party as they slowly backed away hoping to avoid angering the creature. It watched them for a minute and then returned to its meal. As evening approached the party set up camp for the night, only about a half-day away from their destination. A watch rotation was agreed upon and the night was uneventful. All three party members were confident this was be an easy mission and a fine treasure to boot. They fell asleep soundly and were eager to rise again and continue along the trail.

After waking up the party continued their march towards The Haunted Halls. They arrived at two large cracks in the gorge and went into the north crack as Lord Tesseral Winter had indicated. the crack was clearly man-made and was about 10 feet wide. The party came upon a pair lichen covered doors and entered. They moved softly (with Torvald the warrior inadvertently doing everything he could to sabotage the efforts of the elves to remain quiet) and entered a dimly lit room. On either side of a doorway straight ahead was a skeleton in tattered leather armor holding a sword. Naivara suddenly has the urge to check the walls for secret doors. Though she was able to determine there was most likely a hidden door, her and Ember collectively could not ascertain the trigger. "Hello Sir!" Ember jokingly said to one of the skeletons when to her surprise both began to come to life. Springing to action Naivara shot an arrow at one of the skeletons and easily knocked its head clean off and it once again fell to the ground. Sensing the danger his wizard companion was still in being so close to the other skeleton Torvald charged at the undead foe and cut off its non-sword arm with a swing of his long sword. Ember haplessly missed the skeleton with her staff to which the skeleton responded with a swing of his own sword. Torvald attempted to stand between them to no avail and Ember felt the sword stab into her. Thankfully Naivara's bow work once again was on point as she landed another head shot causing the second skeleton to de-animate and fall to the floor. 

After collecting themselves for a moment the party walked through the door. Ember immediately put her arm in front of Torvald and Naivara and hushed them. She whispered that she could hear something coming from the hallway to the left. They stealthily moved down the hall and now all three could hear an unknown language in a room about 10 feet down the hall. They looked into the room and saw what used to be quarters, there were broken beds and old chests. There were also three creatures in front of a make shift altar. One of the creatures was facing Torvald as he led the way into the room and held a jagged dagger. The chanting stopped and the creature with the dagger looked at the party with an evil grin. It was a human male wearing blood-red plate armor and a black hooded cloak. "Can I help you?" he asked in a sinister way. The other two men in the room were wearing masks and standing at the armored man's side. "We were just exploring and heard voices," said Ember, ever level-headed and even tempered. "You are liars!" exclaimed the man in the blood-red armor. "What are you three doing here?" inquired Ember. The man then held a dagger to the throat of a young woman on the altar and demanded the party leave or she would die. Torvald was becoming increasingly agitated as he knew there was only one way this was going to end regardless of the actions of the party, and he was proven right when the man in the blood-red armor drew his dagger across the young woman's throat, ending her life in the flower of her youth, right after Ember asked him why she must die. 

Riddled with righteous rage Ember loosed a firebolt at the murderer and missed. Torvald followed with a shot from his crossbow and managed to hit him in the shoulder between two plates of armor. At that the evil man extended his arm and made a fist. He raised his arm as if pulling some up, and two skeletons animated from the ground. Immediately a skeleton moved on Torvald. One of the cultists next to the apparent leader unsheathed a scimitar as Naivara hit him with an arrow to the stomach. Torvald turned to the two elves and angrily said, "pity the arrow was loosed after the throat was slashed." Ember in turn unleashed a magical bolt of lightning at one of the scimitar wielding cultists and hit him directly in the chest, nearly killing him. Torvald turned to a skeleton and proceeded to swing his sword with the fury of all his years of battle and severed the spine of the foul creature and it immediately fell apart. At this point the cult leader looked at Torvald and the elves and smiled "This has been fun, but I'll see you another time." A pin prick of light appeared and opened into a doorway into which he disappeared along with the door itself as the light went out. The party had no time to consider the extreme oddity of what they'd just seen, for they still found themselves in combat with two scimitar wielding cult members and an undead skeleton.

The two cult members looked at each other panicked and unsure what to do without their leader. It is possible even they were unaware he held such power. They were shaken out of their stupefied gazes when Naivara shot an arrow towards them, which missed wildly and hit the wall behind them. Her unusual lack of accuracy was punished by a slashing cut to the arm from one of the cultists. Ember momentarily forgot her lack of melee combat abilities and ran to her injured friend with noteworthy courage. She proceeded to run right up to the cultist and try to push him into the fire, totally ignoring the difference in weaponry and strength. Torvald then swung his sword at a skeleton and missed badly, to which that skeleton responded with a punishing cut to Torvald's chest. As each member of the party continued to miss on one attack after another their situation grew perilous. In the raging melee Naivara finally managed to kill one of the cultists with a forceful stab of her rapier into his chest. Torvald was once again cut badly, this time in the chest as the other cultist began to fight like someone afraid for his life now that it was just him and one of the skeletons. Ember too was now hurt badly as she was wounded by one of the skeletons. As Naivara swung her rapier with all her might at the remaining skeleton she cut right through his spine and the skeleton fell to the ground. She looked at her two mortally wounded companions and swung her rapier once more, this time at the last cultist, knocking him out and saving the party from tragic doom in the Haunted Halls.

After tying up the cultist the party rested for the night to regain their strength. After rising Torvald looked at the cultist and told him about the large owl-faced monster they had seen on the way to the Haunted Halls. He then told the cultist the party would feed him to the monster if he didn't explain the abductions and the meaning of the ritual they were conducting. The terrified cultist tells the group that their leader forced them to conduct the ritual and that five people had been abducted and killed thus far. At that moment the group reflected on the fact that when they saw the cult leader disappearing into the light doorway, he was going into a nicely furnished, stately room, not at all like the dingy room in the ruins of the Haunted Halls. The cultist then told the party that his name was Bram and that their leader had promised him wealth and power one night when he was drinking at The Old Man's Face inn in Tyrluck. The party headed back to Eveningstar and had an uneventful two days trip. Naivara entered town alone and found Lord Tesseral and told her of their adventure. Torvald and Ember then brought Bram to the small town jail. Lord Tesseral was visibly shaken by the body of the young woman, deeply moved by the murder of such a lovely young woman that she felt personally responsible for, as she did for all the denizens of Eveningstar. Torvald looked at Lord Tesseral and asked her if there have been any abductions anywhere else lately. "Minroe to southeast and perhaps Suzail further south on the Dragonmere. The party decides to head for Minroe all the way on the other end of the ancient King's Forest. The party agrees to spend the night at the inn and get some rest before the long trip, for on this day they had nearly perished in The Haunted Halls.

Traversing Cormyr

The party spent a few days healing up and training up for their new level. Kai and Kaldric took turns using the new spell book they found attempting to learn new spells for their trip. They were also able to discern that the dagger is magical and powerfully so. 4 days later they left along with Halzar. They were led through the dwarfhold, and at one point upon entering a room each person felt a sense of vertigo upon passing through the doorway. They exited the dwarfhold to the South and continued to travel towards the North Ride, before camping for the night. Upon being questioned by the party, Halzar told them that the sense of vertigo they felt was from being transported through the mountains. It was an ancient enchantment, even by the reckoning of Dwarves.

The next day the group traveled the North Ride towards New Tilverton, a city built on the ruin of Tilverton. The city was on the crossroads of the North Ride and Moonsea Ride. Tilverton was destroyed by the forces of Thultanthar, a floating Netherese city that has since been brought down from the sky onto Myth Drannor destroying both cities. New Tilverton is a mid sized city with a burnt and patchwork stone wall. The wall is serviceable, but shows much battle wear.

During their travel they heard noises and grunting coming from ahead of them. Kai cast invisibility on herself and went ahead to see what was there. She found a group of beaten Orcs that appeared to be resting. While watching them, she caught flashes of movement from the surrounding hills. She waited for a while, and was present to see a group of 5 fighters destroy the Orcs where they were resting. Kai went back to the group and reported back. They decided to continue forward cautiously. They came across the group of fighters, and spoke with them a bit. They discovered that it was a group of 5 women, who were now plundering the Orcs. After some pleasantries and news was shared the group kept going.

Arriving at the city they were told that they were going to have to peace bond their weapons or purchase and adventuring charter. The charter cost 100 gold and Halzar paid his part of the charter. The party stayed at the only inn in town the Flagon Held High, which ran them a steep 10 gold per room.

The next day the party traveled South towards Arabel on the Moonsea Ride. This would be the next major city they would come to on their trip to the Far Reaches. During the first day out Halzar recommended purchasing horses in Arabel to make the traveling quicker. Arabel was known for exporting horses, so there should be plenty to purchase and they should be good quality.

Their first night, Kai was again visited by the man in black. He again asked if there was anything he could do to help Kai, and she did not ask for anything. She asked him about the dagger she took from the dead wizard and he asked to see it. When she handed it to him he grabbed it, but reared back at first, the first time his facade was broken that Kai had seen. He then took it and sized it up, seeming to concentrate on it. He gave it back telling her that it was indeed magical and seemed to have been made for a purpose, but what purpose he was unable to say. The entire time that the man had the blade Kai was restless and anxious to get it back. When she told her friends about the incident, she found that she was not willing to part with the dagger, but was unable to say why or to tell her friends this.

The third day of travel they ran across a lone old man that was shambling up the road towards them. When they met, they noticed that he was robed as a wizard. When they came to each other the man seemed to look them up and down. He said, “Ahhh, The Dwarf, The Hunter, The Tactician, and The Sneak. But where is The Elf? I thought she would be with you. Did something happen to her?” The party questioned him, and discovered that whatever group of 5 he seemed to be searching for was foretold to destroy some evil. He eventually went on his way, and the party watched him travel out of site, not sure what to think of what to think of the encounter.

They came to Arabel and decided to look for horses. After searching they were able to find horses. They procured 4 horses to use at a price of 75 gold each. Their names are Snowsilver, Blaze, Cascade, and Onyx. They were able to get a room for the night in Arabel at the High Moon Inn.

DM Recap

The session started out well. The group appeared to take the travel in stride, and while they did not fight the Orcs that was their choice, not mine. As the night wore on it became apparent to me that they would play out past my prep and that became true. This led to the session ending on a bit of a sour note because it was not my best work as a DM, nor was probably fun to play. I will strive to do better than this going forward.

I should also state here that the "prophecy" that the old man told the party about is something I treat in the same way that the Harry Potter universe treats prophecies. That is to say that just because the group appeared to consist of the right party members does NOT mean that they are. Their actions will dictate where or not the prophecy is about them.

Loot and XP
There was no loot or XP gained in this session.

Dwarfhold Tethyamar 3

The party spent the night in one of the towers outside of the Dwarfhold before continuing the next morning. They made their way back down to the bottom of  the ramp. Kaldric cast Comprehend Languages in order to read the Dwarves signs. He found that from left to right they read; “Temple”, “Throne Room”, “Forge”, “Mines”, and “River”. The group discussed which path to go down, and chose the path labeled “Throne Room”. They lit a torch and followed the path for well over an hour. They assed over a couple of bridges that gave a good view of other parts of the Dwarfhold. They eventually came to an intersection, with what appeared to be doors to the throne room. Kaldric and Aria back into the side hallways as Kai cast Invisibility on herself. She knocked on the doors, but found that the stone did not pass the noise very well. She then opened the door and slipped in. She found herself in a room that was about 100 feet long, and 50 feet wide. There were 2 rows of statues of former Dwarf kings that ran the length of the room. She heard some noises in the far end of the room, and it sounded like grunting. She was able to discern 3 figures, an Orog, a Human, and a Goblin. The Goblin eventually went to check out the doors, but found nothing. Kai slipped back out of the doors and told her companions what she found.

They decided to set a trap an try to lure the figures out into the hallway and ambush them. They readied themselves, but when Kai went back into the room she found the figures gone, likely down a passage they had been standing near. The party moved into the room. Aria and Kaldric hid themselves behind two of the statues. Kai went down the passage which she found to be 50-60 feet in length. She found it led into a massive forge. Three of the forges were in use being worked by Dwarves. There were 4 Dwarves working at each forge. There was also 2 Orcs watching each group of Dwarves. Kai found that the Dwarves were chained together by the ankle, and appeared to be being forced to work. She reported back to Kaldric and Aria. They were concerned that  Human was working with the Orcs and Goblins, and concerned about the sheer number of Orcs. They decided to have Kai watch from the passage, as Kaldric and Aria waited just in case something came down the passage.

After several hours, Kai watched as the Human stepped forward and flipped through a book reading something. He stowed it and began to cast a spell. Upon conclusion 2 portals appeared in the room. Kai could see that one showed the woods, but could not see what the other showed. The Goblin went through the one Kai could not see and led several Goblins back through. There they all grabbed a spear and went into the one that led to the woods. Once all of the Goblins were through, the Human let the portals disappear. Shortly after the Human, Orog, and Goblin approached the passage. Kai sped back to her companions and hid. Right after the Orog and Goblin entered the room,

Aria fired an arrow at the Orog and Kaldric cast Flaming Sphere right were the Human was. Both the Human and Orog were caught by the sphere, but the Goblin was able to jump out of the way. Aria’s first arrow and Kai’s sling stone went wide. However, Aira’s second arrow caught the Goblin right in the eye, and he fell immediately. The Orog charged into combat against Kaldric, though his swing went wide, as Aria fired more arrows. with all missing their target. Kai attacked the Orog from range again, but missed. Kaldric fired Magic Missile at the Human as he fled. The party was unable to see the outcome as the passage went out of sight and the Human had been retreating. Kaldric and the Orog traded blows until Kaldric fell after two massive strikes from the Orog’s sword. Aria fired arrows at the Orog until Kaldric fell at which point she stepped into melee combat, but was unable to land a hit. Kai cast invisibility on herself, and ran after the Human, finding him dead in the passageway. She took the book he had been looking in before he cast the spell that created the portals. She came back into the room and found Aria in one-on-one combat with the Orog and Kaldric laying on the ground. She rushed over, and poured a healing potion down his throat, thus reviving him. She then cast Sleep on the Orog, and the creature succumbed to the spell, falling fast asleep. The group was then able to end the creature.

They were getting ready to retreat when Aria heard someone yelling from the other room for help. She could discern that it was a Dwarf yelling. The group decided to help. Kaldric hid in a small antechamber while Kai and Aria went to the forge room. They found 2 groups of the Dwarves had managed to free themselves and take down 3 of the Orcs, through they had lost half of their number already. One of the Dwarves was working on breaking the chains of the last group while the 3 Dwarves were doing their best to hold off the Orcs. Kai cast Sleep again causing the remaining Orcs to all fall into a slumber. The Dwarves quickly dispatched the Orcs, before helping to free the remaining 4 Dwarves.

The party was then able to take a few minutes to rest and speak with the Dwarves. They found out that one of the Dwarves was Halzar Goldbound. He led the incursion into the Dwarfhold to try to retake it for the Iron House, the rightful rulers. They were captured and enslaved over 30 years ago. They said that when they were first captured, they were making more general items for a different set of Orcs. About a year ago a pair of Human mages came in and took over the slave operation, killing the previous set of Orcs and putting the Orog and Goblin in charge. At that point the Dwarves began exclusively making spears. The older Mage was not around after the coup, leaving the younger mage to help run things. They did not get a good look at the mage other than to say that he was older. He does not believe there were other Orcs in the Dwarfhold, and had not heard about other things that might be dangerous. He did admit that while the hold was his ancestral home, he was not born there. He said their next steps were to let Ghellin of the Iron House know that the Dwarfhold had been retaken so he could come back and rule. He asked the party to go with him to make sure that he was able to make it safely. Ghellin is currently in the Far Hills, which is a couple of weeks from the Dwarfhold on foot. Kai asked about the Emerald, and Halzar showed it to her, and at that point the party found that it would not have been easy to retrieve. It was mostly encased in stone and not easy to move around.

The party discussed their next steps. They are not sure if they should leave the Dwarfhold and head back to Hillsfar to let Auron know about the Emerald and the fact that the Dwarves will be reigniting the forges and coming back to Tethyamar. The other option they saw in front of them was to go with the Dwarves to let the rightful ruler of Tethyamar know about the victory and to bring them back to the Dwarfhold. The party spent several days in the Dwarfhold so that Kaldric could recover while they decided.

During this time, Kaldric and Kai spent some time casting read magic on the spell book they took from the Mage.

DM Recap

The session went really well. It felt like the best run session so far from my point of view. I have gotten some good feedback from the players as well. It was unfortunate when Kaldric went down, and there was as real worry that the character might die. Fortunately for him, the blow only took him to -1, so he had some time before he truly died. It made the decision to go help the Dwarves more difficult because Kaldric was not in a state to do anything. Fortunately nothing bad happened, and all of the party members are still alive. However, the amount of time it will take Kaldric to heal will show just how difficult things are without any magical healing available to the party.

Loot and XP

The party found 100 silver across the bodies which Kai took. She also found the spell book that the Mage had and was using along with a wicked looking dagger. Since the Dwarfhold is safe for the moment, I am awarding XP to the party.

Orcs x1 - 15

Orcs x3 - 45

Orog - 65

Goblin - 15

Mage - 120

Spellbook - 1500

Story Award - 7500

The XP for the 3 Orcs will be split 4 ways since the group of Dwarves helped with them. The rest of the XP will be split 3 ways. That is 3085 for each character, and 3393 for any character with an XP bonus. This will cause all characters to go up in a level. They will all be required to spend 4 days with research and learning before they are awarded this new level, but that can all be done in the Dwarfhold.

Dwarfhold Tethyamar 2

The party spent the night in Teshwave at The Lion & the Lantern. They spoke with the innkeeper, Enos, about any news he may have heard. He informed them that he had heard there was some Goblin trouble to the South, but that it had not reached north of the River Tesh. He asked about any news from where they came from, and they just confirmed what he already knew about the Goblins.

The next morning, they headed out of town to the West along the Tesh Trail heading for Dagger Falls. During the journey they encountered a merchant wagon heading to the East. They spoke for a bit about news, but did not learn much from the merchant other than the town was safe when he left. The party took their leave, and kept heading towards Dagger Falls. Aria found it surprising that the river was so wide and deep even though they were close to the mountains and presumably the source. Upon arrival they took rooms at the Hungry Moon Inn, where they were also able to board their horses, since the rest of the journey would be on foot. They spoke with the innkeeper, Nidia, about the Dwarfhold, and she informed them that not many people travel there these days. In fact, it has been many years since she can remember someone traveling there, and she cannot even remember if they returned. She told the party that many people had traveled their after it had fallen to Orcs, and returned with enough valuables to make themselves rich. However, many others have never returned.

The party asked if there was anyone in town that had more history on the Dwarfhold. They were able to meet and speak with Dyrk, who had the most knowledge, but it became quickly apparent, that it was not all that much. He told them much that they already knew. It was attacked by Orcs, who also had the help of an archmage. He told them that the Dwarfhold was setup differently than most others due to the nature of the mining operations. The veins of ore ran up and down rather than in a more common horizontal fashion. This meant the hold was more spread out as the shafts delved down, and generally away from each other. This made it easier to attack the more isolated areas of the hold, and conquer them. He also told the party that as long as the followed the river, they should get to an entrance to the Dwarfhold since it was well known that the Dwarves shipped their wares down the River Tesh.

The party asked Nidia about hiring on help. She told the party that it was unlikely that any would want to go as everyone from town was aware of the danger. The party opted to have her put the word out anyway. Two days later, the only people there were able to attract were 3 youngsters, 2 boys and a girl. While eager, the party did not believe the children offered anything to them. Kaldric gave them each a gold coin, and told them to run back home. The boys eagerly took the money, and left in a hurry. The girl tried to give the coin back, stating that she felt like she could be sneaky and perhaps that would be of some use to the party. Kaldric then made a deal with her. She kept the coin, and he gave her 2 days to steal his whistle from his beltpouch without him knowing. If she was successful the party would take her on. That night Kaldric was awakened by the girl attempting to climb into his room via the window. The next day he saw her watching him several times from the streets, but she never made a move. That night, she tried to pick the lock on his room to break in, but was unsuccessful, in addition to waking Kaldric.

Finally the party made the day long journey along the river into the mountains. In the evening they came across several towers along the each side of the river. These were clearly guard towers, in the old days, and were designed to prevent an attack on the hold. Kai cast invisibility on herself, and explored one of the towers. She found it to be empty, but useful for sleeping. The party spent the night in the tower, and kept exploring the next day.

Not much further up the party found the remnants of some docks. They could see some wrecked ships under the water, though no ships were currently docked. Near the docks they noticed what appeared to be an opening in the mountains. There were the remains of a set of stone doors that had been pulled down and some point. The group carefully made their way across the rubble and entered the mountain. They found themselves in a room that was about 300 yards square. It housed the remains of racks, shelves, and many other storage units. It looked like it has been looted at some point, as there was nothing of real value still in the room. Thee river actually flowed through this room, and it came into the room via a hole in the far wall. There was a cut riverbed made of stone in the center of the room that it flowed through. There was a stairway in the back right of the room that was a clockwise spiral ramp that went down.

The party lit a torch and headed down with a still invisible Kai in the lead, and Aria and Kaldric trailing. Nearing the bottom they heard some scuffing, and then what sounded like something running. They party stopped for a bit until the noise died down before continuing to the bottom of the ramp. There they found 5 passages, all labeled in Dwarven, and thus unreadable to the party. The noticed that the middle passage, and middle-left passages appeared to have been used far more recently than the others. The group listened at each passageway and thought the could hear some noises down the same passageways. They opted to made tracks about 100 feet down each passageway so it would be harder to track them. They then headed down the right passage for several hours since it seemed to head in the general direction as the source of the river. They eventually turned around figuring there was not much more they could learn from this passage.

They then opted to go down the middle-right passage for awhile. They eventually found themselves near the top of another spiral ramp headed down. This time the middle was nothing but a hole. They passed several openings in the walls that appeared to be homes in various states of being ransacked and disarray. As they continued, they found a passage that went through the mountain further, and the found themselves near the top of yet another spiral passage down. They were able to puzzle out that these were likely the mines, and the middle was likely where the ore was mined from. Houses were build along the spiral path down as more room was made due to mining. Kaldric did not believe that the emerald they were after was likely to be in some house, assuming it was even still in the hold. They decided to backtrack and head back.

When they returned to the room with the 5 passages, there was an Orc standing guard. Kai cast sleep on the Orc, and the party quickly discussed what to do with the Orc. They ultimately decided to end his life quickly and drag the body up to the river. His life was ended as bloodlessly as possible, and his body put into the river. They then headed back to the tower to spend another night to rest and so Kaldric could memorize Comprehend Languages to read the writing on the passages.

DM Recap
The session went well overall. There were not disagreements between the party members and what to do, so the session was not slowed down due to that sort of arguing. They group tried to take a tactful approach to the Dwarfhold, and that already allowed them to fell an Orc without having to roll a single die. There is, however, much left for them to explore in the hold.

Loot and XP
No loot was found, and no XP was awarded for this session yet. They did kill an Orc, but until the party gets back to a safe location, no XP for this encounter will be awarded.

Dwarfhold Tethyamar 1

The party entered Hillsfar late in the afternoon and went to see Auron. They had to wait for him to return home, but when he did, he invited them to dine with him. He apologized for the mercenaries that turned on them, and informed the party that he had expelled the entire mercenary company from Hillsfar. Being a small organization they booked passage on several ships and sailed into the Moonsea to an unknown location. Auron continued by apologizing for getting the party involved in the politics. His plan was for them to deliver the smuggled weapons and armor and leave. He asked the group if they were still willing to work for him. They said that they needed to get some sleep and discuss it amongst themselves. They agreed to continue the conversation over lunch the next day.

When the party discussed their future dealings with Auron. Kaldric did not want to be involved in politics and was not eager to confront the Zhents at all if that was possible. Aria agreed with Kaldric’s position. Kai was more willing to get involved, but eventually assented to not confront the Zhents. When they reconvened with Auron, they stated their position, and asked what sort of work he had for them. He mentioned that he had a couple of jobs for them if they were interested. First, there was an object he was interested in located in an abandoned Dwarfhold, second there was an object in the Anauroch Desert, and finally, there was another object he desired located far to the South. The party inquired more about the jobs, and Auron told them that he had to keep some information secret to ensure it was not just taken and sold to a rival of his. The party decided to inquire more about the Dwarfhold, and what Auron was looking for there. He stated that the Dwarfhold of Tethyamar produced some of the finest weapons during their peak. They used a very large, flawless emerald to channel their magic into the weapons. Auron was unsure if the emerald itself was magical, or if it was used as a focus for the Dwarves magic. He wants to use it to help better arm the Red Plumes to fight the Zhentarim. The Dwarfhold is located in the Desertmouth Mountains which separates the Dalelands in the East from the great desert Anauroch to the West. To get there the party would need to travel almost back to Voonlar then take the other road North at the fork in the road all the way to the town of Teshwave. They would then head West following the River Tesh to the town of Daggar Falls. They would then have a couple of more days travel to the mountains by following the River Tesh. It is known that the Dwarves used the River Tesh to send their weapons down to the Moonsea region. The party should be able to find an entrance to the Dwarfhold there. He provided a map to the mountains to Aria. He did tell the party that the Dwarves were overrun by Orcs, with the help of an archmage. There has not been much activity in the area so Auron believes that most of that horde has moved on. He did warn that they party could run into Orcs, bandits, and potentially some Dwarves. The descendants of the Dwarves still have the desire to reignite the forges once again.

Kai asked what the payment would be for this job. Auron tossed a leather case to Kai at the question. She opened it to find 4 stacks of of 25 platinum coins. He said that based on the previous job, he wanted to maintain a distance from the party so that hopefully no one would know he was involved. That is why there was so much extra money, the party would be responsible for purchasing all of their own supplies. The party did ask about another healing potion, and Auron said he would see what he could do. They also asked about horses, and he had 3 horses sent to the Tipsy Elf for them. Kai has a while gelding with 1 black freckle on his face named Mr. Freckles. Kaldric has a gray gelding named Lil Sebastien. Aria has a dark brown gelding named Nutmeg. Upon arriving back at their rooms, the party found a package that contained 1 healing potion for their use. The party loaded up on supplies and left the next morning. The trip was uneventful all the way up to the fork in the road.

The first night on the way North Kai was visited during her watch by the man in black again. He greeted her and once again asked if she needed anything from him. They had a conversation about recent events, and Kai tried to figure out his motivations, but he evaded her questions, not revealing more than he wanted to reveal. Kai asked about the Goblins and if he could do anything about them, but he stated that he was not concerned about the Goblins, and they were also serving his purposes, just as Kai was. She asked if there was anything he could do about the Orcs, and he said that he preferred to not directly intervene in that manner. He did say that the party would not have trouble finding the emerald. He also states that there is more of interest in the Dwarfhold to others if they chose to continue to search around. He then stepped back into the darkness and was gone. Kai told her companions of the conversation the next day. Shortly the party arrived in Teshwave.

DM Recap

This session felt like it drug on for a while. That was because the party needed to make a decision about how to proceed and that conversation took a long time as they did not initially agree. While these conversations are good and necessary they can tend to take a long time, and there was nothing I could do to speed up the process. I also need to change the way that I do the conversations between Kai and the man in black. Since she has been telling Kaldric and Aria about the conversations I plan to stop pulling her aside. That way things I word in very specific ways are not lost in translation and the other players continue to be engaged in the game.

Loot and XP

There was no XP earned or loot gained in this session.