NORVIK: SESSION TWELVE

Greengrass & Mirtul

Chapter One: Greengrass Festival

The party, tired yet triumphant, marched the many miles back at night, slowed by the mistreated and injured freed slaves (all inhabitants of Hap) who accompanied them, but determined to leave none behind and reach Hap as soon as possible. As they reached the village near midnight, guards outside the village reacted with wonder as they realized over a dozen of their kidnapped brethren had been freed! Watchfires, lanterns and candles lit up around the town as people swarmed the streets, screaming praise and thanks as lost relatives, husbands, wives and children were tearfully embraced by the townsfolk. Soon everyone from miles around had rushed to the Millary Inn to see what the commotion was, and the innkeeper Silas and his daughter Sally served free food and ale to the joyful crowd that gathered outside. Toasts were made to the party, and revelry commenced. Even the floating, flaming skull Chester was praised and cheered, and many mugs of ale were drank to him as he inevitably called the entire rescue “his super secret skull plan”, and he entertained the crowd with several inappropriate and off color jokes that were funny 100 years earlier (or, maybe judging from their perverseness, never). The bard Korgaard set up an impromptu stage and began regaling the crowd with “The Final Battle of the Falcon”, a spur of the moment re-telling of the battles of the last few days.
As time wore on, the revelry continued as this was the first day of Greengrass, the yearly festival of Altreya that occurred for a week every year in the spring. During the week of Greengrass, all worshippers of Altreya and any farmers celebrate by planting and sowing seeds for the year ahead during the day, as well as having a feast and celebration nightly. Because of the triumphant return of the heroes, the celebration was just beginning a little early! Casks of ale were rolled out, instruments were being played, dancing and feasting began, and no one seemed to mind the cold temperatures or the late hour.
Soon, as dawn began to show, those that weren’t already passed out drunk, or had made their way back to the comfort of their rooms with a new lady friend, were sitting in the main room of Silas’ Inn counting out their gold and dividing treasure. Angles, who had managed to somehow awaken half naked under a table in the room entangled with a semi nude rescued hostage (the daughter of Nartan, Cyndia by name), said he wished to give most of his share to the community of Hap because most of the bandits deprecations hurt them more than most.
Korgaard, who had spent a pleasant evening learning the charms of Sally, (and deciding Reppar had been a lucky bastard after all), awoke to whisperings in his mind that he instinctively knew came from the sword Falcon’s Claw. While desiring a Sword of Sharpness as a weapon, Korgaard also knew that whatever curse was on the sword must be first exorcised lest he turn out to be a villain as evil as Falcon, or worse. An identify on the sword revealed the nature of the curse: contaminated by the foulness of Falcon's soul, any wielder would eventually become a wight as Falcon had done. To sever the curse, the sword must be used to slay a negative energy undead, striking the killing blow. Korgaard resolved to follow up on any legends relating the whereabouts of such undead so as to release the curse on the sword.
As the rest of the party awakened and tended to their breakfast, the other rescued merchants wished to return to Norvik as soon as possible, accompanied by the party, and promised to pay them handsomely for the service through the merchant’s guild in town. After packing up their belongings, they mounted their horses and left the good folk of Hap as true heroes.


Chapter Two: Next Assignment

After the return, the party sat recovering in their rooms, notes were passed to them to be in the Lady Luck Tavern that night. Upon arrival, they are directed to a booth on the upper balcony, where a shadowy figure sits cloaked…it is Lord Llewellyn, who congratulates them on their victory and rescue, and debriefs them on their mission. Satisfied, he leaves them and tells them he will keep them in mind for any future missions, and slips them an envelope…it is the deed to a house in town, paid for full and clear, made out to “The Knights of Norvik”! The intention is obvious, Llewellyn wants them to stay in case he needs them again, and wants to know where they are if they do so.
More entreaties greet the party in the days ahead. The local high priest of Attar (Helios) who has heard of the party’s rescue of slaves from Bowrun, sends them greetings and several potions (Healing and Oil of Impact) and scrolls ( Endure Cold at 9th level)….and lets them know they are welcome to visit at any future time if they need healing up to raising from the dead, a boon usually granted only to other members of the priesthood, slaves, or worshippers.
Finally, a representative of the Merchant House of Foxx and the dwarf Derval Ironeater asks for an audience with the party. They have been recommended to them by various people (Llewellyn and Yelloknife) as a group of adventurers who are honest and discreet, as well as powerful. When assembled, they spring for a banquet meal at the River Shining Tavern and present an offer: The merchant house must send a caravan to the far side of the continent, to the city of Karlsfjord, to drop off a load of weapons (to combat a rise in giant and yeti attacks) and pick up a large load of furs and skins. The last caravan never made its destination, and the long trip is really only capable of being made in the spring and summer, so time is of the essence. The party will be paid handsomely for work as caravan guards, and the mission should take a couple of months or so. They are to guard the caravan, if they can find out what happened to the earlier group, arrive in Karlsfjord, stay the few weeks it will take for the merchants to buy the requisite furs, tusks and skins, then accompany the merchant train back to Norvik. They will have free time upon arrival in Karlsfjord to do what they wish, whether it be drinking and wenching, or adventuring, as long as they are ready to return with the merchants when they are ready. For this service, they will be paid 500 gp each for the trip there, free room and food in Karlsfjord, and 1000 gp each upon a successful return. Foxx will also supply them with some magical items (some potions of healing, a warming stone each) while Derval can supply them with magical weapons (+1 arrows) as an incentive. Horses and gear for each adventurer are also provided, to be returned at mission's end. The merchant's son, Lennox, will accompany the caravan in the care of two bodyguards, while 15 low level fighters also traveling along as backups and scouts.

As the party gets started, an escort from the Fists of the North accompanies them through the forest, a few days ride outside the city. The adventurers make themselves comfortable for the long ride guarding the five wagons, but their journey through the woods is uneventual as the presence of the Fists (Seasoned warriors, 30 strong) on their heavy warhorses is enough to dissuade any hidden bandits or humanoids. Three days out, Galgadayle the druid notices something wrong with the weather; it begins to snow steadily from then on out. Snow after Greengrass is almost unheard of; some magical force for ill is about. By the time the escort from the Fists departs, the party is on it's own on a sheet of white snow and temperatures more likely in the winter than the spring.

Chapter Three: Conflict in the Snow

Five days out, with Galgadayle and Argois scouting ahead on horseback, signs of many gnolls are seen in the snow. Speculation spreads that the unusual snows may have agitated many of the humanoids across the grasslands and tundra of the continent, causing them to forage out for food from the mountains 10 miles to the north. Going quickly through the areas with gnolls tracks without incident, a day later while moving the caravan on a narrow path bordered by a dry river embankment. Sensing a good place for a ambush, the wagon train was stopped, and Argois and Galgadayle moved ahead to look for signs of live in the heavy brambles bordering the path. As they forged ahead, signs of many orcs were seen in the newly fallen snow, just as screams and shouts filled their ears from the wagons behind!
Back at the wagons, the players formed a protective cordon, with Ephros and Arcus inside the cordon with the caravan guards and Waqsted, Korgaard, Vaerlorn, and Angles ranging ahead of the wagons to search the brambles. As they did, they hears a series of loud scream from the brambles, as 50 orcs with spears and swords exploded from cover and began to run screaming across the 100 yds separating them from the wagons. As they got near, they let fly a shower of spears that wounded several of the guards, at the same time a fireball cast by Arcus struck the mass of orcs, instantily killing 20 of the beasts. The rest continued ahead and were met by the four adventurers in combat, with Ephros providing missile support with his bow and Arcus casting spells. A dozen orc leaders also joined the combat as the battle was joined.
As the battle was joined, Argois and Galgadayle began working their way through the brambles to attempt to come up behind whoever was springing the ambush. Soon, they came upon a group of 25 orcs and 5 orogs, waiting for their moment to join the combat. Smiling at the thought of killing so many abominations, Galgadayle cast a Thorn wall, raising the brambles 40 feel around the orcs, trapping them and instantly killing 25 of the lesser beasts. He followed that up with an Entangle, leaving only a couple of orogs to be battled and killed by Argois. Galgadayle charmed the final orog for questioning and perhaps as a bodyguard.
Meanwhile, the spells of Arcus and blades of the adventurers spelled doom for the orcs in short order, without much damage inflicted. Questioning the orog, the party found no intelligenced by the orcs, just a desperation attack based on the sudden snows. The orog did offer that yetis and frost giants had been seen ranging far from their mountain homes, leaving the adventurerers to further speculate on the unnatural origin and effects of the steady snow, and whether it was being caused by the priesthood of Rualt and perhaps their enemies the Cult of the White Wyrm for some nefarious purpose.

Chapter Four: Midnight Ambush

A couple more days passed without event, and finally the caravan moved into the mountain range they would have to pass through before their final road to Karlsfjord. This would be a tense, dangerous few days as they crossed they snowy, rocky mountain range, even through the wide pass that had been hacked out centuries ago by clans of dwarves wishing to help trade between nations. Guards were put on alert and night watches rotated frequently in case attack came after dark.
On the 2nd day in the mountains, the party rested with the wagons drawn into a circle, and the party divided into two watches (with Chester, who no longer needed sleep, keeping both watches “entertained” by stories of his two girlfriends he had had decades earlier….stories that had been repeated ad nauseum on earlier ocassions). During first watch, just after midnight, Galgadayles wolverine and wolf began sensing something in the snows, a warning also felt by Argois as he heard movement. Lighting up the watchfires, the party discovered a large group of perhaps 20 yetis almost at the camp, having snuck forward rendered invisible by the snow, being herded towards the caravan by a group of six winter wolves….who were themselves being commanded by the booming voice of a frost giant whose form could be seen a couple hundred yards outside the camp!!!
Quickly the rest of the party was roused, and quick thinking on the druid’s part led to a spike growth and entangle being cast into the creatures midst, injuring all of the creatures and capturing some. The giant began tossing rocks into their camp, one hitting a wagon dead one….destroying it and killing two guards who were setting up to fire bows. The battle was joined with the yetis, with everyone including the charmed orog and Galgadayle’s animals getting involved. Sensing the need to pull out the stops, Vaerlorn blew his Horn of Wolf Summoning, which brough five of the creatures that attacked and harassed one winter wolf.
Galgadayle and Arcus realized soon if the head was cut off, the group might dissolve, so they cast spells (the druid control temperature ’10 radius, bringing his area up to 95 degrees, and the mage mirror image to confuse the enemy), and began moving forward towards the enemy. Screaming a battle cry, Chester flew at full speed towards the giant only to be met with a mighty fist that struck him dead on and sent him flying far into the hills. As the yetis tried to attack Galgadayle and retreated screaming as they came in contact with his temperature field, he was also surrounded by winter wolves who found their breath weapons unaffected. Galgadayle got close enough to use thorn spray in the giant, causing needles to fly out and cover the giants frame, and Arcus hit him with a fireball which unfortunately did little damage to the giant. Arcus then used his Wand of Steam to clear the group off Galgadayle (before which Galgadayle plunged his area temperature to -50 degrees to prevent injury from the wand), killing all of the winter wolves and yetis surrounding the druids. As the druid stood alone, the giant tossed a boulder that struck Galgadayle dead on and dropped him to the ground…at the same moment, the still living winter wolves converged on Arcus as he went to his Wand of Paralyzation.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party was engaged in desperate combat with a tribe of crazed yetis, which killed the orog and heavily damaged several party members with their deadly “hug”. Luckily, earlier applications of Endure Cold by Angles on party members helped mitigate the damage, as did the clear singing voice of Korgaard who boosted their morale with the “Battle of Falcon’s Peak” that boomed out clear during the battle. Soon, the yeti’s suffered enough losses that Argois and Ephros were able to break off and assist Galgadayle (whose giant slaying spear, Shimmering, was glowing and screaming frost giant curses at the monster) and a recovered Chester in hand to hand combat with the giant. The battle went on for awhile as the party played cat and mouse with the large creature, but finally Chester breathed fire in his face, catching his hair afire, as Galgadayle’s spear pierced his chest and killed the creature. At that time, one wounded winter wolf retreated and the rest of the yetis went down in death to the battling adventuring party.
The battle was over, bloody bodies strewn across the freshly fallen snow, and the harvesting of winter wolf and yeti pelts begun under orders from the party. A quick plan was formed….the surviving winter wolf, heavily wounded, was leaving a clear trail of blood through the snow, so the party would take the chance to follow it hoping to find it’s masters. Meanwhile the caravan guards would finish harvesting the skins of the dead under the effect of a Hallucinatory Terrain spell cast by the druid, which should protect them from being discovered as the party tracked the wolf to it’s “lair”. This was boosted by the discovery of a head in the giant’s bag that belonged to Lennox’s cousin, who had been in the wagon train that had disappeared during the earlier trip. If there was a chance the party could find the giant’s base AND the stolen caravan goods, they had to take it…Lennox promised more than the promised reward if they both destroyed the giants and found the rest of the items that had been stolen. . In the meantime, the discovery of the holy symbol of Rualt and The Cult of the White Wyrm around the dead giant’s neck seemed to confirm the party’s suspicions something more than a simple ambush or spring snow was in play.
On foot, the party quickly ran through the woods following the winter wolf’s trail. Even in the moonlight, the trail was clear as the wounded and bleeding wolf left a trail easily followed by the rangers. After four hours, with dawn barely rising over the mountain peaks, they party reached a clearing and the wolf’s destination.

Chapter Five: The Dwarven Platform

Carefully and quietly approaching an open area on the side of a small peak, the party saw the winter wolf’s destination: A large, stone platform situated on the top of the hill, which oddly enough was free of all snow and ice; in front, stood another frost giant, arguing with a human who was standing atop a large sled filled with reindeer carcasses. Around the area lounged 10 barbarian types, armed with spears, and the exhausted Winter Wolf, who had collapsed at the feet of the giant after his long run. The man, who appeared to be a fighter, was arguing with the giant in the monster’s language, which a few members of the party could understand (including Chester and the druid’s spear, which translated for the rest). The giant was letting the man know that he return of only one winter wolf bode ill; he was going down the mountain to see what had happened to his brother, Grontar. The man, Gustalf, argued that they were due back to a place called “The Halls of Frost” with this reindeer meat to be used for food; he and the barbarians could not haul it all themselves! “I am not a beast of burden, I am a warrior, and I leave now to find out the fate of my brother!” the giant bellowed, and began stomping away towards where the party had come from. The man yelled threats to the back of the giant, but to no avail.
Quickly whispering among themselves, it was decided to let the frost giant get about 10 minutes away, then ambush and kill him. Hurrying through the woods behind the giant, they finally were able to get ahead on a switchback and wait. When the giant showed himself on the path, the druid bathed his body with faerie fire, as Ephros struck from behind to try and hamstring the monster. At the same time, Arcus hit him with Magic Missiles, and then the battle was joined! Galgadayle, Argois, Korgaard and Waqsted all struck blows, the giant kicked out and sent the halfling thief flying to land with a thump a full 10 yards away, but he was done. Bleeding from many wounds, he was finished off with missile weapons and he slumped to the ground, dead. Quickly taking his treasure, the group formed a plan to take the barbarian group and fighter back at the platform as Angles healed up Ephros.
Soon, the party was back in the woods around the platform. The barbarians and Gustalf were resting in the protection of the platform, which although open to the sky, had no snow hitting it, and it’s area appeared to be much warmer than the freezing surroundings. Surely some magic was here! Casting Invisibility ’10, Arcus and the rest of the party slowly creeped up to the edge of the platform. The injured winter wolf began barking, and Chester attacked and killed him with his flame breath, distracting the enemy. As the barbarians grabbed their weapons and began jumping off the platform, running towards Chester and howling threats, they were attacked by surprise by the invisible party members. A short battle ensued, with the battle raging barbarians giving the adventurers quite a fight before all dying in combat. Galgadayles wolf and wolverine, along with Vaerlorn, slowly beat down the human fighter Gustalf until he near death he surrendered. Nothing much was learned from him as he began chanting and singing hymns to Rualt, and he also wore the Cult of the White Wyrm holy symbol, marking him as a true believer. Investigating the platform, the party discovered it of dwarven make, with pillars in the form of great dwarven warriors surrounding the interior. Long ago enchanted, the 80x120 area of the stone platform was not only protected from the elements, but inside a constant temperature of around 80 degrees was felt.
A careful search led to finding a hidden cache of potions, with a notation on them they were for dwarfs or dwarf friends in need of magic. Spotting a set of rungs leading up the back of one of the statue, Ephros climbed the 14 feet up and atop the statue noticed a telescopic rod pointing at a distant peak. Looking through, the outlines of a large set of stone doors and some sort of fortress caught his attention….the Halls of Frost? Questioning of the prisoner proved nearly futile, for his only response was that if they found the Halls of Frost, Inoke and the priestesses of Rualt would bring the adventurers their doom. Now determined to find out what was behind the stone doors, the party made plans to go back to the camp for rest and restoration of spells, then head out the next day up the mountain to find these “Halls of Frost” and discover who was behind the caravan attacks, and perhaps the wizardly weather as well.

NORVIK: SESSION ELEVEN

Tarsakh 28

Chapter One: Ambush at Falcon’s Peak

After the final battle with the undead and the escape of Millard, the party was left in control of the fortress, all of the bandits now dead or escaped. Angles busied himself freeing and tending to the dozen or so slaves, while the rest of the party released the captives that were being held for ransom. They consisted of a Norvik merchant’s daughter (Nartan, of Nartan’s Foods), four traveling merchants, a elf from the dark forest named Bowrun, and a curious scruffy gnomish type named Carsra who claimed to be a fighter, yet suspiciously knew quite a bit about setting traps and such as he and Ephros boobytrapped the illusionary shaft from the roof (in case Millard still lived and tried to return by that route).
While getting the keep ready to ambush Kervis, Galgadayle had an interesting conversation with Bowrun, who was an escaped slave living in S'Ardeep within the Dark Forest (Galgadayle's birthplace). He told Galadayle he knew his parents, having escaped slavery from pirates with them, and asked if Galgadayle had talked to them recently....Galgadayle seemed reluctant to talk of his parents and his life before being apprenticed to the druid who raised him and was then destroyed by the "Dark Druid" that rampaged through the Dark Forest. Mentally, Galgadayle made a note he had to contact them at some point to let them know what had happened to his mentor and to himself in the months since the attack.
The party conferred, and decided to search the keep top to bottom, then prepare to ambush the returning Kervis and his bandit group. Arcus found some notes on the desk of Millard which seemed to indicate Kervis was seeking out a priest of Mallorn to help bypass the wards on the lower level to search for treasure (as the tomb was a holy temple consecrated to Mallorn, any priest of the God of Death would probably help them for free if they found one). As the fate of Millard was also uncertain, Galgadayle sent his owl and wolf out to search nearby , but when they returned they said they had found no sign of any humans. Traps were set by Ephros and Carsra, and guards were posted, but no one came that evening…although the morning came and Carsra had disappeared. Again Galgadayle sent his wolf out, and Carsra was found in a tree about half a mile away, a perfect perch for observing Falcon’s Peak. The gnome’s motives were a mystery, one the party vowed to follow up on later, after the planned ambush of Kervis.
The party divided up, with Argois, Korgaard, Arcus and Angles on top the roof manning the ballistas, and the rest of the party below. Disconcertingly, sounds from the lower level could be heard through the floor, and belatedly the party realized they had placed on guards or traps on the tomb level or cave entrance! Galgadayle and his animals snuck down to the cave entrance, only to find the returning orc hunting party butched, cut to pieces with sharp weapons. Galgadayle did not wish to go any further, and reported this to everyone up above. Speculation went nowhere; either Kervis and his followers had snuck into the lower level, or something else had come upon and slaughtered their orc foes!
Meanwhile, on the roof, a speck in the sky appeared and began slowly lowering itself over the roof. Manning the ballista, the rooftop warriors were happy to see it was the flaming, floating skull Chester, who had gotten bored in town and decided to try and find his friends to help them out. He had flown as high as he could until he finally made out the keep on the cliff, and was happy to see them. He related that back in the village, the bandits had been hung on the morning; unfortunately, the bard Reppar had escaped with ANOTHER village wench he had cajoled and charmed into freeing him….both had ridden off after the wench distracted Chester with her large “funbags” (he added, quite embarrassed) and slipped a spare key to Reppar. Dismissing any further trouble from Reppar, Korgaard said his shitty bard skills would undoubtedly serve him ill in the future, and if they ran into him again he would be no problem to dispatch.
Later that day, it began to lightly rain, and with no sun showing through the clouds the gloomy setting began to get on the party’s nerves, along with the unexplained noises from below. Ephros set a trap atop the opening to the lower levels with a cask of oil that was located in the storeroom…any lifting of the opening would cause a spark to set the cask aflame, resulting in a very nasty firebomb. Anyone coming up from below would be in for quite a surprise!
Soon, figures appeared on the path leading up to the front door of the keep. It was as group of what appeared to be men…but they move oddly. As they got closer, they realized that the 18 figures were zombies, possibly sent by the priest of Mallorn to assault the keep. However, there appeared to be no way in for the undead, and soon they shambled up to the front door and stood there, beating ineffectually on the wooden gate. Casting a Detect Evil spell from the roof, Angles examined the group and noted several spots of very intense evil….unusual for common undead such as zombies. Ephros and Vaerlon were in the small entry hall when suddenly it went black…Continual Darkness had been cast! A scraping sound was heard and something opened up, a cue for Ephros and Vaerlon to abandon the room and go into the keep proper, barring the door and awaiting any foes.
Above, the party noted the magical darkness, and Arcus sent a Fireball down into the zombies midst. A magical fog had also sprunt up making vision difficult, but after the Fireball had disapated the fog, only a few zombie bodies were visible. Suddenly it became obvious, Kervis and his minions had disguised themselves as zombies to get them close, then entered a previous undiscovered secret door to get inside the keep! At that realization, the entrance to the roof flew open and a bandit dressed in zombie rags attempted to come up. A quick thinking Arcus cast Grease on the opening, causing the fighter to fall down the shaft with a scream. Moments later, Argois was struck repeatedly by a until-then invisible, levitating fighter…Kervis! Now visible, powerful looking, and armed with a glowing scimitar, he called out death to the ones who had killed his brother. Chester tried to breathe on him, but all this did was show Kervis’ immunity to fire as he batted the floating skull away. Korgaard cast Mirror Image as Argois advanced to face off against the evil fighter.

Chapter Two: Battles Above and Below

Inside, the party could hear the fake-zombies banging against the outside of the barred interior door, giving them a few minutes to prepare. At that moment, a huge explosion shook the room (and the lower floor of the keep!) as something from below had set off the trap! Ephros, Galgadayle and the elf Bowrun grabbed their weapons and ran into the storeroom, where stinging smoke and flame greeted them. The saw the trapdoor to below blown open, and a few pieces of humanoid type limbs strewn around. Venturing a glance below, their eyes were met by several eyeless, pale humanoid creatures wielding blades….Grimlocks, Bowrun called out, being familiar with the underground evil beings! They began advancing one by one up the metal ladder bolted to the side of the shaft, as Ephros and Bowun got ready to repel their advance. Galgadayle cast a Heat Metal on the ladder hoping to slow or kill them, as a crash from outside indicated the bandits had finally broke through the inner door.
Inside, bandits began to enter the central room, and engaged in combat. One was charmed and sent to the door to block the entrance. But he fell to the ground, stone dead with blood spurting from his mouth, as the words “Die!” came from the darkness soon followed by a priest of Mallorn, who had cast a Slay Living. Covered with the skinned flesh of a victim still dripping blood and gore, the evil priest that had been hired by Kervis to investigate the tombs below was only too happy to attack and kill the violaters of the Mallorn holy grounds. Whispering words of evil, death and pain, the priest cast a successful Hold Person on Galgadayle who had re-entered the room, leaving only Vaerlon and Waqsted to battle the emerging bandits and the priest, as well as a fully healed Millard who also entered from the Continual Darkness of the entry room.
On the roof, the battle became dire as Kervis held off both Korgaard and Argois, showing great expertise with his glowing scimitar. Bonebats flew up the shaft, obviously sent by the Mallorn priest, but Angles managed to turn them. The Grease spell on the entrance managed to keep all but one of the bandits from climbing up, and the one that did get up was harried by Chester as he breathed fire on him again and again, causing him into defensive actions. Angles attempted a Hold Person on Kervis only to find he was also immune to them, leaving only Korgaard and Argois’s weapons and a few of Arcus’ spells against the skilled fighter. The battle raged for quite awhile, Kervis slowly wearing down Argois and Korgaard, and slowly getting worn down himself as he was struck by their swords. Angles took Korgaard’s place as the bard had to cure himself at one point, and Angles took quite a few nasty blows but managed to strike the fighter several times himself. Finally, Argois struck the killing blow on Kervis as both he and Angles were gravely injured, just as Chester set the other bandit aflame and he fell to his death off the side to his doom. The roof was secure!
Inside the storeroom, Ephros and Bowrun managed to hold off the Grimlocks as Galgadayle’s Heat Metal caused many to drop screaming off the metal ladder. Ephros abandoned the battle to come out a side door and strike the Mallorn priest from behind, helping out Waqsted who was engaging the cleric in battle. The priest counter attacked with a dagger that glowed a sickly black color, a “shadowblade” which many Mallorn priests carry that is inhabited by a trapped Shadow. He struck Ephros with it which sapped his strength, but soon Ephros and Waqsted had finished off the priest as Vaerlon killed the other bandits and joined the combat.
However, Millard used a Hold Person spell to great effect, zapping both Waqsted and Vaerlon, leaving they plus Galgadayle held in place. At that point, with only Ephros there to combat him, Galgadayle’s animal companions entered the fray! Galgdayle’s wolf began savaging the mage’s arm, ruining a spell he was casting at Ephros, as the wolverine went for Millard’s privates. Screaming in pain and surprise, Millard managed to paralyze the wolverine with his Wand of Paralyzation, but the animals had given Ephros an opening and he quickly stabbed the mage to death from behind.
At this, the battle was over, except for the grimlocks who still swarmed below, trying to get up the now-cooling ladder. Arcus made it down in time to place a well-aimed blast from his Wand of Steam down the shaft, killing about a dozen and causing the rest to flee. After venturing down cautiously, the party found only dead Grimlocks and a earlier undiscovered hole into a underdark tunnel, which had been covered by a now-moved bier. The adventurers speculated that by killing the undead in the level below the earlier day, they had taken away the guardians that had obviously kept the sightless vermin from swarming up their hole on earlier occasions. Again covering the hole, the party blocked the door to the room and hoped to be long gone before any repeat attack from the Grimlock’s materialized!
After healing up and searching the bodies of the dead evil trio and the bandits, the party gathered up what treasure they could, along with Millard’s books and papers and spellbook, and along with the rescued slaves and hostages, left the evil of Falcon’s Peak behind as they resolved to spend the night in the woods rather than another evening in the keep. With a few hours marching, they could make it to Hap by the time dusk fell and with any luck be enjoying a few “on the house” ales while bandaging their wounds and dividing the bounty of treasure and magic they had aquired!

NORVIK: SESSION TEN

Tarsakh Day 27

Chapter One: The Assault Below

Early the next day the party brough back Reppar and the other bandits to Hap to meet justice, and got a pleasant surprise: Ephros and Argois were at the village, they had left Norvik soon after their obligations were finished, and managed to catch the party’s trail up until Hap, where they met Chester out of town holed up in a empty tree trunk. Chester appraised them of the situation and they were awaiting the party’s return, where they could then hook up. Being briefed on the current situation, they joined the party (minus Chester, who stayed behind to chase field mice) and headed for the location of Falcon’s Peak.

Led by Shrops and another charmed bandit, the adventurers worked their way through the woods to the cliffs where Falcon’s Peak lay. Coming upon it, they noticed a dilapidated old keep atop a steep cliffside, with one small track leading up to it. Having learned from the captured and charmed bandits of a “cave system” that the orcish bandits lived in, they resolved to find their way there, kill or capture the orcs, and see if they could find a way into the keep through some sort of lower level. Assaulting the keep was suicide, as they noticed three large ballista atop the keep well-manned by bandits, not to mention the huge locked wooden gates leading into the keep. A possibility of trickery gaining entrance was likewise discarded, in regard for all the things that could go wrong.
The party very slowly made their way to the cave complex, where they saw a large entrance with several large boulders rolled in front. Orcs with bows sat atop several of the boulders, and no other guards were seen. A plan was made…Shrops, the other bandit, and Waqsted would assault the boulders, while the rest of the party used spells and missile weapons to pick off the exposed archers. The attack was made, and the archers were quickly disposed off, and the party reached the boulders. A counter attack, however, awaited them as many more orcs were inside the cave. Plus, the orcish chief appeared at a formerly hidden cave entrance about 20 ft up the side of the cliff to pepper Arcus with poisoned arrows, fortunately missing him until he was entangled with a spell from Galgadayle that left him imprisoned in the vines covering the cave entrance.
Soon the orcs were killed, and a number of orcish women and children were taken prisoner inside. The charmed bandit began mistreating one orcish lady attempting to rape her, which caused them all to pull hidden knives and clubs and beat the offender to death, after which they attacked the party. The orcs fought to the death, as the party reluctantly slayed them all, but not before learning that an orcish hunting party was still out and was due back on the morrow.
Searching the back of the cave complex, the party found a large boulder which had been rolled into place, blocking a small cavern entrance. Moving the boulder out of the way, the party speculated what could be in the cavern behind the boulder…enough to scare the orcs so that they blocked it off! Proceeding cautiously, Korgaard was injured as a piercer fell from the ceiling to scrape his arm, and the creature was quickly finished off. Travelling across the cavern, the party discovered a sheer 15 foot drop leading into a wet murky chamber with several large boulders strewn about. As Korgaard and Vaerlon lowered themselves, suddenly movement was seen coming towards them…and both the adventurers found themselves on the ground retching at the sudden stench…five ghasts!

Chapter Two: The Evil Temple

Quickly, Ephros jumped down using his Ring of Feather Fall, as Galgadayle and Waqsted joined in. Arcus cast spells from the ledge into the fray, and the battle turned desperate as one by one the adventurers went down from paralysis by the ghast’s filthy claws. Argois fired arrow after arrow from the ledge, cutting down the foes, as Ephros also dodged paralysis. Soon, all the ghasts lay dead, and the rest of the party lowered themselves down to see what was in the chamber.
At the back of the chamber, a broken wall was found that lead into a burial chamber. Obviously, this was a lower level of the keep, one dedicated to the worship of the god of death, Mallorn, as evidenced by all the symbols of scythes. Searching several locked chambers, the party located tombs to Falcon’s head guard, advisor, wife and children, and mistress. Finally, they located the main worship area to Mallorn, which was filled with zombies as well as a pair of giant monstrous ogre zombies. The presence of evil caused even Angles to succumb to a reduced chance of turning the giant creatures, and the battle was on. Korgaard and Ephros managed to fell the monster zombies as the others were turned by Angles. Searching the tomb, a strange key was found around the neck of a idol to Mallorn inside the room. The key was taken as Angles went at the Mallorn image with his hammer, desecrating the image with several blows. Through a secret door sat another chamber with a skeleton atop a slab, holding a unique looking sword. Battling a swarm of Crawling Claws that attacked them, the party retrieved the sword, with Korgaard identified through his bardish lore as one “Falcon’s Claw”, the bandit Falcon’s legendray weapon. As well as being a Sword of Sharpness, the sword was rumored to hold a curse, so the blade was carefully wrapped and placed in Korgaard’s backpack for further study later. Besides a haunt of Falcon’s advisor, who was turned by Angles, the party found no other signs of life or unlife, and discovered a metal ladder built into a shaft leading upwards into what they figured would be the keep itself….Ephros as always was elected to do the sneaky work and climb the shaft to see what lay ahead!

Chapter Three: Inside the Keep

As Ephros reached the top, he realized he would be unable to move the trapdoor as something heavy rested upon it. Summoning Waqsted and Argois, they both managed to brace themselves at the top of the metal ladder and move the trapdoor open, causing a loud noise…..something had been resting atop it! Opening the door and looking around, through the gloom they could see a large cluttered storeroom filled with many boxes, casks and crates…possibley a storage area for the bandits of the keep. Jumping inside and hiding, Waqsted and Ephros hid among the boxes as a door opened and a bandit investigating the noise came inside. Quickly being killed by an Ephros backstab and dragged into hiding, the party one by one entered the room and hid amongst the supplies, awaiting their chance to look beyond the room.
A plan was formed, and the attack begun. Through one door, Arcus popped out and hit a group of started bandits with his Wand of Steam, causing six to die instantly from burns and antoehr three to fall to the ground in agony, barely alive. Through the other door, Angles held two more bandits, as Waqsted and Korgaard attacked. Galgadayle charmed one bandit and had him block the door so no one else would enter, and then charmed another to prevent his captain from drawing his sword! The charmed bandits added to the confusion of the bandits and soon the room was filled with dead and dying bandits. Korgaard and Angles secured a room full of cells which held hostages from the village of Hap, killing the rotund jailer in combat and telling the party they would return to release them. Another room held what appeared to be chests of treasure along with guard types, who were killed in combat with Waqsted and Ephros. Soon the entire level was secured, except for the mage leader of the group. Splitting into two groups, Argois, Arcus, Ephros and Waqsted went to capture or kill the mage while Korgaard, Galgadayle, Vaerlon and Angles went to the roof to secure it.
Quickly killing a Dire Wolf that guarded the corridor leading to the mage’s room, the party cautiously entered what appeared to be a combination office and bedroom. As everyone but Arcus moved ahead, a 10x10 section of the floor opened up, sending Ephros, Argois and Waqsted down a sliding passage to crash into a pitch black room far below. As they unsteadily got to their feet, they pulled out the Continual Light wand to see a gloomy chamber filled with bones, coffins and undead shadows flitting around. A gravelly voice behind them greated them, and they turned to face what looked like a wight! The undead creature announced he was indeed the bandit Falcon! He told his tale of hiding from the Duke’s forces 80 years earlier, only to become trapped below when the party mage died of a broken neck from the long slide down into the hidden room. Trapped with no escape, Falcon and his men turned to savagery, cannibalism and eventually starvation as they died, cursed by their evil to return as undead. The undead Falcon then welcomed the three to their fate, as he sprang to the attack, along with the almost a dozen shadows!!!
Meanwhile above, Arcus stood in shock as the party disappeared into the hole, but before he could act, a mage arose from behind a desk where he had hidden himself before springing the pit trap….Millard! He tried to cast a spell as Arcus fired a Magic Missile spell, ruining his spell and causing a now wounded Millard to fly straight up into the ceiling, which revealed to be an illusion leading to the roof of the keep! As Millard left the room, Arcus could hear screams from below, and debated what to do…
Meanwhile, on the roof, Korgaard, Vaerlon, Galgadayle and Angles made quick work of the few guards manning the ballista, only to be surprised as the flying Millard appeard out of a corner of the roof! Surprising them by flying through the illusionary section, Millard used a Web spell and shot after shot from a Wand of Paralyzation to hold them off, but was struck by missile weapons from Korgaard and Vaerlon as he hovered about the roof. Soon, injured and bleeding, Millard began flying at full speed away from the Keep, accompanied by arrows, sling bullets and more shot by the roof top party members. After a few strikes, Millard was seen wobbling and then crashing into some distant trees, but it was too far away to see if he had been killed or just injured.

Chapter Four: In the den of Falcon

Meanwhile, a desparate battle was being fought between the heavily outnumbered Argois, Ephros and Waqsted and the army of undead. Abandoning his weapons, Waqsted could only use a magical dagger he had as the undead could only be struck by silver or enchantment. Concentrating on the Falcon-wight over the shadows, the party reasoned they would be better served by taking out the more powerful undead first. Waqsted screamed as the wight struck him again and again, draining power and strength, but the strategy paid off as Ephros struck the killing blow against the draining dead. Unfortunately, at that point the shadows swarmed, sucking strength from the trio through strike after strike.
Above, Arcus waited several moments before committing to also sliding down the trap to help his companions, unfortunately hitting a bump and crashing to the bottom with a force that knocked him stunned for several minutes! Slowly, the adventurers one by one cut down the evil undead shadows, finally helped by Arcus as he unsteadily rose and cast several magic missle spells, and finally the strength draining undead with no more. Searching the chamber, the party came upon a bit of treasure, and as the other members of the party entered Millard’s room through the illusionary shaft, they were able to get their attention and have a rope lowered, so they could re-enter the world of light!
For the next few hours, wounds were bandaged, slaves and hostages were ministered to, and a strange keyhole was found in one corner of Millard’s chamber…one which opened to the touch of the key found in the tomb of Mallorn! Inside the hidden area sat treasure untouched from the days of Falcon, with potions, jewels, scrolls, rings and more….a just reward for the final destruction of the undead bandit, his minions, and the rescuing of the many prisoners!

NORVIK: SESSION NINE

Tarsarkh Day 24-26

Chapter One: Falcon’s Peak

In the next few weeks, the various party members settled into life inside Norvik. Due to the treasure they had already accumulated, and the cheap prices for much of the food and lodging in Norvik, the party was able to do what they wanted without having to find employment. Living in the town, however, gave the adventurers certain responsibilities, which included serving in the town militia for periods of a week at a time. Most of these duties were routine, such as patrolling behind the gates of the city, or the streets themselves, keeping themselves vigilant in case of orc or barbarian attack. When not working or exploring the city, however, the party mostly hung out at the bar in the aptly named “Norvik Inn”, the same place they had rented individual rooms since they had come to the city of Norvik.
One night, most of the party met at the Shining River Inn, a slightly upscale tavern and inn in town, to see the bard Korgaard perform a few of his spoken word epic poems, along with an assortment of songs. The watchers that night consisted of Vaerlon, Arcus, Galgadayle, and Angles….Ephros was rumored to be serving time in the local jail, while Vaerlon’s brother Argois was on patrol with the militia. During the performance, the party noticed a table with an occupant quite out of place…what looked like a powerful half-orc warrior with a large double bladed axe strapped to his back sat alone in a back table, quietly drinking the overpriced ale.
As the party settled down to their costly roast boar and imported ale, they noticed their old companion Miior, dressed to the nines, on the arm of none other than the Duke himself. The couple, with a city guard entourage, entered the inn and sat themselves down to hear Korgaard’s performance, and the party remarked on the rumors they had heard that the “mysterious lady from the past” had wormed her way into high society (or what passed for it) here in Norvik. Unsure whether she was pulling a new scam or not, the party was surprised to see her make her way to the adventurer’s table during a lull in the bard’s performance. Arcus remarked that by the company Miior was now keeping, she seemed to be moving up in the world. Miior assured those at the table that on her way to the top she would include her “friends” as much as she could. To illustrate this, Miior stated that while recently apprenticing with the mage Yellowknife she had come across some older maps from the days 80 years earlier when she and Rivior had parted company with the bandit Falcon, and recognized the long-hidden location of Falcon’s Peak, the headquarters of the infamous bandit. Miior stated that as far as she could find out from her research, Falcon’s treasure had never been located, and still awaited discovery. Along with the treasure awaited “Falcon’s Claw”, a magical sword wielded by the bandit leader with several reputed magical properties. Miior also stated there might be items of a “personal” nature there at Falcon’s Peak, and she would give the party the location if they returned any such items they found. After agreeing, as they had nothing else going, Miior slipped the adventurers a hand drawn map marked with the location of Falcon’s Peak. As she left them to return to the Duke’s side, the party speculated if her seduction of him was sexual, political, or something more sinister, or a combination of all these. The consensus was she was one hot 100 year old bitch with something up her sleeve, and needed to be watched closely.
Soon, despite the bard’s masterful performance of his new epic, “The Battle Below the City”, many eyes in the tavern were on the half-orc sitting quietly in a corner, as prejudice against their kind was not hidden in most quarters of the city. Inevitably, a few drunken rowdies came to the table and insulted the half-orc, spilling his drink and trying to provoke a fight, calling him “half breed” and worse. Sensitive to his own mixed parentage, the half-elf Vaerlon got up and moved behind the toughs, surprising them and telling them to move along. The situation could have escalated, but the owner of the bar arrived and noting that most of the employees at the inn were “half breeds”, coming from elven stock, they threw out the ruffians. However, they also asked the half-orc and his new “friends” to leave (after all, they were also not the “type” that usually drank here at the Shining River Inn), which they were happy to do since Korgaard’s performance was over.
On the way out, Angles, being ever the accommodating priest, offered to take Waqsted (the half orc warrior) to the Norvik Inn where most the party members were staying, and help him acquire lodgings. The party had recently decided to purchase a house and as yet had not made the final arrangements, but the Norvik Inn so far was good enough for them, being cheap and serving excellent food. As they walked the streets with Korgaard and their new friend Waqsted in tow, a cloaked figure began walking beside them. It was Lord Llewyllen Longhand, and he had heard their exchange with Miior…as a matter of fact, he had been watching her closely he told the adventurers!
He stated that he also had an interest in Falcon’s Peak, and suspected Miior didn’t “suddenly” remember treasure was there, but that she had overheard a meeting between he and a few patrol leaders of the Fist of the North mercenary company concerning increased brigand activity in that area, and the theory bandits might be based out of the old keep of Falcon’s Peak. At any rate, he said if the party did investigate and make it look like an “unofficial” adventuring party simply looking for treasure and adventure, he would underwrite the expedition if they also destroyed any bandits they found, both there and in the small hamlet called “Hap” that was on the outskirts of the forest near the location of the keep. It seems inhabitants of Hap, and merchants passing through, had been subject to robbery and kidnap (with ransom) the past few months, and a group of bandits operating in the area was suspected. Giving Arcus a small sack of 50 gp for “expenses”, he told the party he liked their resolution of the Triad and Eddistone Point business, and was willing to pay all expenses, plus let them keep any treasure they found at Falcon’s Peak, if they took care of the bandit problem and let him know when the place was sterilized of evil so he could ride a group of soldiers in and raze it. He reasoned that if he didn’t use stealth and went in with force, many of the captives would be slain, and any spies or agents of evil in Hap would remain undiscovered….so the party would be given the delicate job of doing the dirty business for Llewyllen and the Duke. Leaving the party at the entrance to the Norvik Inn, he said they could depart first thing in the morning…..

Chapter Two: Hap

The next morning, minus Ephros, who still couldn’t be found, and Argois, who was on patrol, the party headed on horseback to Hap with their new taciturn companion Waqsted. Hap was a day’s ride out of town on the edge of the forest, and from what little information they gathered was a small logging hamlet. There were six adventurers in all (Korgaard, Galgadayle, Arcus, Vaerlon, Waqsted and Angles) and Galgadayle’s animal retinue of a owl, wolf and wolverine, all headed to certain danger yet excited about once again leaving the city. They debated the story they would tell the villagers upon arrival in Hap (since they didn’t want to perhaps spook any spy who had insinutated himself in the hamlet), and decided they wanted appear to be traveling merchants, very flush with wealth as they entered the small hamlet, perhaps attracting any spies by pretending to be rich but stupid types with lots of gold. On the way out, they picked up Chester, after first explaining to the bewildered half orc exactly what and who the flaming skull was, and that despite his fearsome appearance (after all, a floating, flaming skull!) he was basically harmless and indeed had assisted them on many occasions.
On the way to Hap, they had one unusual encounter consisting of a maiden who appeared to be chased by a large armored knight. After Angles cast spells that held the knight, Galgadayle’s wolf chased and attacked the woman, who turned out to by a lycanthropic were-fox that was being sought by the knight for the murder of several people within Hap. The lycanthrope was killed and burned, with enough left of her body for Stanel (the knight) to take back to the village to claim a reward.
They arrived at Hap at the evening, and found it a very small community consisting of but a few buildings, most inhabitants living in cottages and huts outside of town, as they were simple farmers, hunters and loggers. The largest place was the local inn, which was two stories and apparently a very popular place as it was almost full when they entered the environs of the hamlet. The party tethered their horses in the barn and entered, seating themselves and enjoying a cheap but tasteless dinner. During the meal the adventurers were wooed by the innkeeper Silas, who had already heard the story of the killing of the foxwoman from Stanel and fawned over such “important and powerful” visitors to Hap. After dinner, there was a bard performing with flute on the small stage in the taproom, who sat as he performed because of an apparently injured leg (it was bandaged and he used a staff). During his performance, Korgaard tipped him generously to get hopefully tongues wagging about the apparent wealth of the new arrivals.
After his performance the bard Reppar came over to chat, and the party gave him a cover story about being wealthy merchants just taking some time off from their travels. Reppar pressed them on their reasons for being in Hap and if they had heard the legend of Falcon’s Peak. When they told him no, he told them tales of the evil spread by the bandit Falcon, which included murder, rape and cannibalism, the fact that his sword and treasure had never been located, and the legend of some kind of “monster” that lived beneath the hills under the keep. Reppar told them he himself had been attacked by bandits, who had wounded his leg, and was holed up in the village inn (with free room and board in exchange for performing nightly) until he healed up….it also appeared he was very friendly with one of the pretty young barmaids named Sally, who was the owner’s daughter.
Korgaard was asked by Reppar if he would perform a duet with him, singing while Reppar played the flute, as during their talk Korgaard had let slip he had some small musical ability. He did so, noticing that Reppar seemed to be pretending to be a sloppy and lazy player, choosing simple and popular songs instead of more complicated tunes, but that he was actually extremely proficient in his craft. Suspicions began to form about what such a skilled bard was doing in such a shithole as Hap…..
Rooms were then reserved for the evening, at the owner’s insistence dinner was on the house due to the party helping to kill the foxwoman, and plans were made the next day to investigate the hamlet and the bard more thoroughly.

Chapter Three: Reppar revealed

After a good night’s rest, the party went down for breakfast and again ran into the bard Reppar, who had apparently spent the night with Sally (and confided to the party they were spending every night together intimately). He again seemed to be a little too interested in their reason for coming to the town, and they decided he was gently pumping them for information. Meanwhile, Korgaard had gotten Sally to confide in him, through seemingly innocent questioning, that Reppar left every few days for “horse riding” through the nearby wilderness, and had also told her he was going to marry her and bring her to Norvik to be his wife. While everyone else including Reppar was at breakfast, Galgadayle had his animal companions search the bard’s room, coming upon some suspicious metal vials with slips of paper tucked inside, perhaps for leaving notes…..
Using ESP during their conversation with Reppar at breakfast, Arcus was able to ascertain Reppar was indeed an inside spy for the bandits, knew of their leaders and members (Stankis and Millard), and knew the bandits were based at Falcon’s Peak. Now the jig was up (with Reppar being none the wiser), and after Reppar departed and the party talked to one another, the adventurers resolved to follow Reppar on one of his trips outside the hamlet.
When Reppar left upon one of his rides, Vaerlon and Galgadayle followed him at a distance, using tracking skills, until Reppar (seemingly not suspecting being followed or watched) came to a clearing about a mile out of town, and left a vial under a rock there. When Reppar left, the duo checked out the note to find it was information about the party…their names, professions, and possible powers. Leaving the note, later they observed a group of ten bandit types meeting at the same drop spot, picking up Reppar’s note while leaving one of their own. The leader of the bandits was referred to by named, and appeared to be the “Stankis” the party had heard about while eavesdropping in Reppar’s head. Again, when the bandits left Gal and Vaerlon snuck out to read the note, and it told the bard to lead the party into the woods for an ambush as soon as he could. So they had their spy red handed, now just had to let him think the party was oblivious to his plans, and turn the tables on him and the bandits.

Chapter Four: The Ambush

When Galgadayle and Vaerlon got back to the hamlet, they went to the meeting place in the woods where Chester and the rest of the party was waiting, and talked over the situation. The plan of setting a trap was rejected, it was decided they would appear to walk into whatever trap Reppar set, and then turn the tables, since they were ready for it.
That night, as Korgaard again performed with Reppar, the party let themselves be talked into going on a “nature jaunt” with Reppar the next day so he could show them some of the more beautiful spots in the forest. Seemingly trusting the bard, the party agreed to meet him the next day for a “nature ride”, and it was planned that Vaerlon and Galgadayle would not go along but instead shadow the group from a distance, to wait for the ambush to be sprung.
The next day, a large lunch was packed by Sally, and the party with Reppar headed out on the now familiar trail to a “special” spot the bard said he knew about on a little used trail that lead to a cliff view. Halfway there, Reppar suddenly remembered urgent business in town, but drew the party a map to the “special” spot, which the party noticed went through heavy woods past the meeting clearing. Once Reppar was out of site, the party debated their next move, and decided to act as if nothing was wrong, except for having the druid and his animals shadow the trail to the cliffside to see if anything was amiss. Passing the clearing, they made their way to the side trail, but after a few hours of tracking the path, Galgadayle returned to say nothing was amiss on the way there…..the ambush must have been planned on the way back instead. Carefully heading back, the druid and his animals went ahead stealthily in the forest, and he soon returned to tell them of an ambush ahead at the clearing, consisting of the bandit group and Reppar himself, although no sign of Stankis was seen. Two bandits lay in the road, with fake blood on them, apparently to lure the party into going to their aid before bandits with bows and the bard with spells tried to capture or kill the party.
Counter-preparing themselves, the party on horseback would seemingly head into the ambush, while Arcus, Vaerlon and Galgadayle instead traveled through the wood dealing with any bushwhackers through sword and spell. The plan was going well, as Arcus and Vaerlon dealt with scouts hidden by the side of the road, but as Galgadayle got ready to help, he saw Stankis, dragging a unconscious and tied up Sally, make his way through the woods to the ambush point. Abandoning his portion of the plan, Galgadayle only had time to cast a Spike Growth and Entangle on the hidden bandits before heading to rescue the girl, who Stankis left by a tree.
Meanwhile, the counter ambush went off well. Galgadayle’s spells decimated the bandits, with only Reppar making a hasty retreat up a wall of boulders to cast spells in return. Several bandits with bows, including the decoys in the road, were dealt with by Angles and Arcus’s spells, while Vaerlon dealt with several others quite fatally with his sword. Korgaard engaged the other bard with spells and came out ahead, and Waqsted matched swords with Stankis and with a bit of helped finished him off. Before too long, the party had triumphed and taken a few prisoners, including the whining and whimpering Reppar, who gave up everything he knew in return for not being killed (sustaining very few injuries in the process). The now rescued Sally (who Stankis had brought to the spot to kill along with the party to tie up any loose ends, as afterward Reppar would have to leave the area anyway), screamed insults and heaped abuse over the unrepentant bard.
Through Reppar, the party learned there were two bandit leaders, a mage named Millard and another fighter, Stankis’s older brother Kervis (an apparently high level fighter), who was more sadistic and depraved than even the younger brother. They with a few dozen others, and many captives, were indeed holed up at Falcon’s Peak, the location of which Reppar gladly turned over. Plans were made to bring Reppar and the surviving bandits back to Hap to face local justice (which would probably be fatal), but the druid paused to try to charm as many bandits as he could to use as “cannon fodder” when the party assaulted the Peak. One overly cheerful and obliging bandit, Shrops by name, told tales of woe why he had to become a criminal (“Oi, oi wuz a fama und awl the crowps doid!”), and promised to lead them to the Peak on the morrow.

Norvik: Session Eight

Tarsakh 1474

SESSION EIGHT: EDDISTONE POINT

Chapter One: The Mission

About a week after dealing with the Triad threat under the city, members of the party were contacting by the mage Yellowknife and asked to appear at his tower on a certain morning. Korgaard was doing militia duty, while Galgadayle was making a trip in the forest with his animal companions, so they were unable to attend on short notice…so Vaerlon, Arcus, Ephros, Argois, and Angles showed up the next day at Yellowknife’s tower, where he and the ever-present Duke Llewyllen Longhand stood ready to meet with them.
Saying it was imperative that spies within the town not know their exact destination, Llwellyn said he liked the way the party dealt with the Triad problem, and had another “assignment” for them….not wanting any prying ears or eyes to know, he had let Delfen summon them to throw off anyone who might be following the party.
Llwellyn told the party that through the north, a network of towers along the mountain range was used to pass messages along the frontier. Set many miles apart, the towers shared news of weather, caravans, barbarian attacks, orc hordes, dragon flights, or many other messages both mundane and serious, through a serious of both signal fires and trained birds that relayed messages. Communication between the towers was essential for they also traded news of mining caravans, their comings and goings, information that was dangerous in the hands of enemies.

One such tower, Eddistone Point, had not replied to contact the last scheduled time. No one could be spared from the town (typically, a troop of the Fists of the North mercenary company would make the trip to check out the problem) due to rumors of a recent frost giant incursion in a nearby hamlet. Could the party spare the days necessary to travel to the watchtower, check it out, and perhaps solve whatever problem had befallen the inhabitants? The party agreed, both for the gold Llewellyn offered and the hope of ingratiating themselves with one of the most powerful people in Norvik.

The next day, the small group began the trek to the watchtower, and they first went to the hollow tree where Chester resided outside of town. Their surprise was great when they caught the embarrassed floating, flaming skull chasing bunny rabbits across the hills….an activity which he had no logical explanation for! Joining his friends, the group began the several day trek to the watchtower of Eddistone Point. Snow was still on the ground, and temperatures were cold, but the hint of spring to come was in the air as the party made a largely uneventful trek by horseback to the tower. On the dawn of the 3rd day, the base of the hill was reached and the edifice of Eddistone Tower was in front of them.

(To Be Completed)

NORVIK: SESSION SEVEN

Chapter One: Below Norvik

After the rest of the party entered the caverns under Norvik, a short bit of investigating down the winding tunnels led to a surprising discovery: Several intact buildings and streets from the long ago earthquake, sucked into the earth and still inhabitable! And inhabited they were….several dark shapes were seen scuttling from building to building, whispering and following the party as they made their way through the clammy and wet blocks of the old city. More curious than afraid, the party attempted to contact the beings, but they proved elusive. Soon a screaming caused them to rush to a spot that overlooked a brackish lake of water with a ruined dock extending out….a disgusting being of the water, an aquatic troll (known as a Scrag) was dragging what looked like a primitive human-like creature from one of the buildings down to the water! Acting quickly, the party used fire and sword to dispatch the scrag permanently, and rescue the mongrelman. At this, the inhabitants of the town began slowly emerging from their hovels and crowding around the party of adventurers in awe.
The party huddled around a pile of phosphorescent lichen and soon dozens of curious shapes surrounded them, inbred mongrelmen who actually lived in the few buildings left standing in the part of the ruined city swallowed by the earthquake. Through poor yet understandable communication with the “leader”, the party learned that these were the survivors of the long ago disaster, trapped these many years below the city and forced to exist in almost total darkness. However, although escape was impossible, the survivors lived on the creatures they could catch such as rats and fish from the salt water dock area, and fresh water from a nearby pool. Unfortunately, recent events had decimated the tribe. A small family of scrags had moved into an underwater chamber, and hunted down the mongrelmen as food. Then, recently, human from above had invaded their city and explored the “evil place” in one corner of the sunken city. Sure enough, by the light of their torches, the adventurers could glimpse a large three story tower in one corner of the cavern…..the lost citadel of the Triad!

Chapter Two: The Citadel
Seeing the citadel, the party then realized the purpose of the Triad’s quest: loot whatever magic, gold and evil knowledge had lain undiscovered these many years below the city of Norvik. Further questioning of the mongrelmen revealed that the “dead humans”, the zombies, were being used as cheap labor by the triad members who had been forced to dig out the entrance to the citadel.

(To be completed...the remainder of the party's battle against the Triad and worse underneath the city of Norvik)

NORVIK: SESSION SIX

Session Six: Ches 1474

Chapter One: Brief interlude

Tired and weary after their defense of the Dwarven ruins, the party started out the next day to hopefully reach a nearby village, and from there, finally, to Norvik. Norvik, being the largest city on the Great Glacier, was the center of civilization and home to the only military (and powerful individuals) organized enough to deal with the threat of a frost giant invasion. On the way, however, they had two brief encounters: one a wandering two headed troll who had set up an ambush, yet was ambushed instead by Galgadayle, Argois, Vaerlon and Ephros and killed; another, a small barbarian band which was surprised in the act of scouting out the small hamlet of Jervid. They were quickly dealt with as the druid killed almost all with the spell Spike Stones, and the others were taken care of by Angles Hold Person spell, while one was charmed by Miior. The charmed barbarian was ordered to leave all his weapons behind and join the party, perhaps to be used as a pack carrier or cannon fodder in any battles ahead.
Upon entering the outskirts of town, Chester was obliged to stay behind in the woods since a floating, flaming skull might not be accepted by a small village and their superstitious folk. As the party entered the one large building in town which was obviously the local tavern/bar, they were warmly accepted by the people within. Soon the bartender (Jervid, who’s forefather the village was named after) and the townsfolk (who were mostly woodcutters) were besieging the group with questions concerning what was going on up north with the attacks of barbarians, frost giants and winter witches. The party was guarded in their comments, but soon Korgaard the bard was performing a spoken word tale to entrance the people, who had seldom if ever had such entertainment in this establishment. As his words told of the defense of the dwarven ruins against the gnoll horde, the admiration of the townsfolk grew, and Korgaard was offered free room and board (and ample use of the bartender’s underage daughter, Gertrude, who was entranced by the handsome bard).
Through conversation, the party learned several interesting things, including the fact that the bartender was worried that he was afraid the priestesses of Rualt would be by soon to collect their annual tribute, the winter witches having missed coming by the last two years, and wanted to know if the party was available to be hired to facilitate the handover of funds. The reputation of the Priestesses of Rualt preceded them in the revenge they took against villages that rejected their tribute (as the party could attest to after their interlude in Westpoint).
While discussing the matter, having left his animals outside, Galgadayle was worried to see the wolverine and wolf enter the bar very agitated. He went outside with them and took them across the street to calm them. He was quite dismayed at that point to notice a Frost Giant crunch up, holding a huge battle axe, accompanied by a tired looking priestess of Rualt. The priestess, immune to cold, was clothed only in a small leather thong, and wore over it a long flowing cloak. Telling the giant to stay behind, she entered the tavern, and the entire establishment went silent. The priestess strode imperiously up to the bar, and demanded the annual tribute, PLUS the last two years of tribute they had not been able to collect, or retribution would be swift. At that moment, both brothers Vaerlon and Argois noticed that this was one of the same Rualt priestesses that had led the giants in the destruction of Westpoint, which led to the death of Vortigern! Without a word being spoken, and at the signal of a nodded head, both brothers viciously struck with their swords, while at the same time the halfling Ephros stabbed the woman from behind. The priestess only lasted another moment as she fell beneath the ranger’s hacking blades, Vaerlon grimly showing no mercy to one of those responsible for the death of his father. However, right before death, the priestess managed to shriek out a warning in Frost Giant. A minute later, a huge fist crashed through the door as the Frost Giant came calling!

Chapter Two: Battle in Jervid

Quickly, Miior ordered her now inebriated barbarian servant to attack the giant, which he did with a wooden chair, and was quickly cut in half by the frost giant’s battle axe swing as the battle raged in front of the tavern. However, the distraction allowed Ephros and Korgaard to slip out the back and circle around, as Vaerlon and Argois went to engage the creature in battle. As Arcus popped magic missile spells into the giant, the huge monster traded blows with Vaerlon and brought him near death. Korgaard and Ephros began peppering the giant with missile weapons from behind, as Galgadayle cast Heat Metal on the giant’s axe. Despite the pain, the giant hung on to the axe and continued swinging., although he was weakening. The final blow was a throw of the druid’s giant slaying spear, which went clear through the giant’s back and out his chest, and he fell heavily to his death.
After the giant and priestesses death, the villagers attitude ranged from thankfulness and hero worship to fear and hatred (wouldn’t the cold priestesses now destroy their village since the adventurers had slain their sister?). The party suggested a solution: they would dispose of the two bodies, and no one would be the wiser if the villagers kept their mouths shut and pretended the tribute takers had never come by. As a reward for their assistance, Jervid the bartender offered free rooms for the night, and many willing wenches threw themselves at the brave and handsome heroes (although, oddly enough, Angles was the only one that scored due to his adherence to his vows of abstinence…the ladies liked a challenge and he was soon led away, innocent to the wenches’ intentions).
That afternoon, the party went to buy supplies at the small trading post in Jervid run by a racist old man named Jofler, who tried to push his pig-ugly daughter off on the adventurers as marriage material (unsuccessfully). After treating Ephros like the “halfling trash” he thought he was and throwing him out, Ephros vowed revenge. He took it upon himself to break into the old man’s shop later that night (waking everyone in the party to try and get them to help him, which at 3am they all declined to do…) finding and stealing the entire savings of the old miser, and set a trap on his lockbox designed to poke a sharp piece of metal into the opener’s hand….
The next morning before daybreak, the party awakened to a good breakfast prepared by the bartender’s daughter, who had dallied with Korgaard the night before (with the tacit approval of Jervid!), and an bewildered Angles came down late, very shocked by what had occurred the night before (with a willing village wench) as this had never been covered by any of the teachings at the Nythiirian monastery! Suddenly, an angry Jofler entered (with a bandaged hand), demanding a reckoning with the “thieving halfling” who had obviously been the one to break into his store and steal his life savings! Denying they even knew the halfling (he had ended up spending the night outside the village with Galgadayle and Chester and thus was nowhere nearby), Angles still offered to pay the man back for his troubles. Lying, Jofler told the party he had lost 500 gp from the thief, when he had actually lost only 300 gp, but Angles innocently paid him out of his own treasure. Learning of this later, Ephros vowed to escalate the feud when and if he ever came back to Jervid in their travels…but for now, it was time to move on to Norvik.

Chapter Three: Norvik

As the hours went by, the city walls became closer, and signs of civilization began to emerge in the form of outlying farmhouses and fences. Not feeling as if Chester would be accepted in the large town, he agreed to wait outside Norvik in an abandoned silo, entertained by some books Miior had thoughtfully brought along for his entertainment. Continuing on, as the party got within a few hundred yards of a nearby gate, a small contingent of horsemen bearing a mercenary symbol of a mailed fist rode from the gate to meet them. Their leader asked “Is one of you Arcus Stoneward?” Arcus asked who wanted to know, and the mercenary (one of the Fists of the North, a mercenary group hired to protect the area around Norvik from orcs and worse) said that the mage Delfin Yellowknife was looking for him since his long overdue arrival time had come and gone. Arcus identified himself at that point, so the mercenaries bade the group follow them to the mage’s tower as he wanted to meet with them immediately.
Entering the city through the so-called “Farm” gate, the party gazed in awe at the walled in city. No one among them had ever been in a place of civilization close to this size, and the sounds, smells, and sights of humanity walking the mud and stone streets were almost overwhelming. The party was led to a tower that was part of the city wall, and soon ushered into the presence of the mage Delfen. Delfen greeted the party, and asked them to sit down and rest, as he supplied drinks and food. He asked them what had delayed Arcus’ arrival as one of his apprentices, and when he learned of the death of his father (an old friend of Delfen) as well as the events that had occurred, he bade them tell him all of their last few months in the north.
After hearing their tale, which took a couple of hours, Delfen told Arcus it seemed that his current experiences would pale next to that of a simple researcher and student, and that it sounded as if he had found himself another calling, that of adventurer with his fellow companions. Urging them to form their own adventuring group, he told them that he would act as their sponsor as long as they regularly reported to them their adventures and discoveries. He also showed much interest in Miior, since she might be a good font of historical information from her previous life decades before, and asked if she would deign to stay at his tower so he could question her in depth. Appearing uncomfortable, she did agree, as Delfen also said he would also supply here with a new spellbook to replace the one that was lost.
As Delfen began to discuss certain items of interest, he was interrupted by an urgent message from one of his servants. Seemingly very concerned, he asked the party to follow him to a commotion in the west part of the city, something had happened that they could perhaps help him with.

Chapter Four: The Mystery

As Delfen, with the party in tow, arrived at a street corner in town they were met by several of the city militia, who had blocked off an area where several dead bodies along with with scattered shovels and pickaxes lay strewn across the street. Soon, they found out what had happened: that morning, suddenly out of nowhere several zombies holding tools appeared in the middle of the street, as if teleported by magic. Luckily a passing militia patrol engaged the zombies in battle and destroyed them. To their shock, they recognized one of the zombies as a former militia member that had died awhile back. Delfen examined them and also recognized one of them as a former tavern owner who had died two years earlier. Obviously, someone had animated the previously buried individuals and was using them for some sort of digging type labor. How they ended up in the street remained a mystery! Delfen at that time was again summoned away for more important business; he left the mystery in the hands of the characters, giving Arcus a token of his that would allow them to act as his agents while in the city. At that, he left and the party was on its own with this curious puzzle.
After discussion, the adventurers decided to tackle the problem from many sides as they could. First, with the help of a pair or workers from the Waterman’s guild (the guild that supplied the city businesses with water freshly pumped from wells around the city), the party loaded the bodies into a cart and it was brought to the local church of Nythiir so the high priest there could examine and bless the bodies. At this location, Angles got to meet the high priestess Lianna, and tell her of the apparent death of his mentor, and his desire to restore the now abandoned abbey to Nythiir. Lianna approved of this, and of Angle’s friends (who she surreptitiously had scanned when they entered with spells such as Detect Evil and Know Alignment), and told him she would assist him in any way possible (she sold them potions of extra healing and holy water at a discounted rate as a favor). After examining the bodies, she could find nothing unusual about them, and promised to bless them and give them a proper burial. However, from one of the Waterman’s guild members, the party learned that the pick axes were recently made, and the maker’s mark on the handle identified the maker as a local blacksmith, Weyfal, who was known to make inferior weapons but did good work with tools and such.
The next stop was Weyfal’s blacksmith shop, which was only owned by Weyfal (he was rarely around from what they learned) but run by his main employee and head blacksmith, Bjorn. Bjorn readily identified the work as being his own, and only remembered that he sold a order of tools to someone working a booth at the open air market a few weeks before. The party then headed there, to question the various vendors. They hit paydirt with one who was selling bogus magic items, who said a local tough named Imlik who ran various semi-legal activities such as gambling and loan sharking often had a booth at the market, and may have bought the tools. The booth owner also remembered two other individuals talking with Imlik, strangers in black cloaks that seemed to scream “evil”. Because of this, the booth owner and others nearby decided it was to their best advantage to not learn anymore about what Imlik was doing with the tools or the mysterious men in black. It seemed no one at the market knew where Imlik lived, and that it was much better for their health NOT to know this sort of information!
The party finally reported back to Darfen, who could only meet with them for a few minutes, on what they had learned. Darfen told them that he had heard of Imlik, who was linked to a evil group called “The Triad”. The organization was thought to be extinct for many years, although evidence recently pointed to unsettling activity by them he told the adventurers. The Triad was a arm of the priesthood of Mallorn, god of death, and employed three experienced agents…a thief, a mage, and a priest….to find ancient pre-Cataclysmic knowledge and magic, and engage in activities considered evil by most civilized people. Theorizing the two individuals meeting with Imlik may have been his fellow triad members, the party (after getting a few random mage scrolls from Darfen) headed to the local temple to Vistna, god of knowledge, to see what they could dig up on the Triad. There, they found some disturbing knowledge of the Triad, most importantly that they had a large citadel in Norvik a couple hundred years ago…until the most recent eruption of the volcano offshore, after which the earth had opened up and swallowed the citadel and several city blocks. The townsfolk at the time decided it was divine justice for the Triad’s evil, and since then no priests of Mallorn or Triad members had ever been seen in town. The most important clue, however, was the citadel’s old location, which ancient city maps seemed to place under a once grand house abandoned many years ago by a bard….

Chapter Five: The House of Samuel
Retracing their steps to the marketplace, the party began investigating the abandoned and boarded up house belonging to the long departed bard Samuel. Having wanted to bring “civilization” to the north many years ago, the bard had constructed a large but financially untenable playhouse, and a grand mansion next door. Both had been abandoned for many years, the bard’s house being used to dump trash and discarded junk by local merchants. Investigating the apparently boarded up entrance, the rangers found recent footprints on the porch, and Ephros soon discovered a secret way in from the front door. Waiting a few minutes until darkness arrived, the party carefully and quietly made their way in. Despite the piles of old barrels, broken furniture, and stacked and rotting crates, they soon discovered a hidden area in the back. This large, concealed area had a full wagon, with two draft horses to pull it, as well as a concealed entrance to below the house! Inside the wagon were clods of freshly dug earth, and several of the picks and shovels. Just as the party was beginning to investigate, noises were heard at the secret front door. Gal sent his wolverine to spy, and the party split up with Angles and Miior staying in the secret room with the cart and horses, while Ephros, Argois and Galgadayle going one way, and Arcus, Vaerlon and Korgaard the other, to cover the entire ground floor.
Soon, a group consisting of a half ogre fighter, a dwarf pirate with a hook hand, a human fighter, a priest of Kazull (God of Battle) holding a trident and a thief type entered, but unfortunately spotted Gal’s wolverine almost immediately. Saying he would “Stomp that big rat to death”, the half witted half ogre chased it into the back of the house…and into an ambush by Argois and Ephros. They made quick work of the villain, but then the battle was on!
While the dwarf and human fighters took on Argois and Ephros, Vaerlon punched an arrow into the Kazullian priest’s back, causing him to give his battle cry and turn and rush the ranger for battle. Galgadayle tried to flank the evil group, but the thief out maneuvered him by crawling atop a pile of crates and fired poisoned hand crossbow bolts at him, missing the druid but critically wounding his wolverine. As the druid ministered to his fallen animal companion, Korgaard lit the thief up with Faerie Fire, while Arcus hit him with Magic Missiles, knocking him from a perch atop several crates. Korgaard and Galgadayle (after casting healing and Slow Poison on his wolverine) quickly found and finished off the thief. As they did, Vaerlon and Arcus killed the priest, while Ephros and Argois won their hard fought battle against the fighters, Argois getting quite wounded in the process. After all five of the interlopers were dead, the party dragged the bodies into the secret room, and searched them with the benefit of a Detect Magic spell cast by Angles (who also cured up the injured party members). Several magic items were found, and these were divided among the party, with un-identified items being set aside for later.
Having healed up, the party had a long discussion about whether to wait in the abandoned house until more evil people entered (either by the door or coming up the ladder leading down) to find out exactly what they were doing there, but finally decided that the longer they waited, the better chance Imlik and the other Triad members would have of either being scared off or being warned off (this might be the case if they were expecting the five adventurers the party had killed to arrive anytime soon). This being decided, Ephros searched and found no traps on the trapdoor or top of the ladder, so the party decided to go down with Korgaard leading the way. Unfortunately, the bard fell victim to a glyph of warding several feet down the ladder, which paralyzed him, and caused him to drop 60 feet to the rocky floor below!
Since he was right behind him, Vaerlon quickly hurried down the rope ladder, and found Korgaard barely alive at the bottom of the shaft, gravely injured. Forcing a potion of Extra Healing into his unconscious mouth, Korgaard was soon totally healed and able to shake off the affects of the glyph. Gazing around the room with a lit torch, the duo found what had caused a persistent stench of rotting flesh they had smelled as soon as they had entered the chamber: a pile of freshly dug up human bodies piled in the corner of the chamber! Here was perhaps the source of the zombies, and the beginning of the unraveling of what the Triad was doing in these tunnels below the abandoned mansion in Norvik….!

NORVIK: SESSION FIVE

Session Five: Ches 1474

Chapter One: Gnolls
After returning from the explorations of Rivior’s Keep, the party (plus Chester, Miior and the kobolds) hunkered down for another month of hard winter weather. Food was not a problem; the stores kept by the priests were ample, and Angles was a superb cook. Boredom was a problem, but everyone had their own way of dealing with it. Arcus and Miior, joined by Chester, read many of the books in the library; the rest trained themselves in their various professions and waited out the snows and ice. After an initial frosty demeanor, Miior eventually relaxed in the presence of the adventurers, become cordial if not friendly as she came to realize without them she would still be trapped in the ruins of Rivior’s Keep. Finally, upon the arrival of Ches, and the advent of barely above freezing temperatures, they decided their time had come to try the trek to a southern village, to tell of the fate that had befallen the northern lands and various unlucky villages….and spread the news that the Frost Giants and their allies were attacking and destroying isolated villages in the North.
Leaving the now well-trained and loyal kobolds to take care of the place while they were gone, the party started out with Angles in tow…he had decided to re-staff the monastery and would go with the party to Norvik to hopefully find some acolytes, or at least get direction from a higher ranking member of the priesthood. Chester decided he had nothing better going on, he would travel with the party as far as allowed, until his presence became a distraction to others, and then either return to the monastery or hide somewhere outside of town. As for Miior…she was interested in both finding out how the world had changed in her many years of suspension, and perhaps in locating some old treasure caches that had been left by the bandits. Along with the other six, this odd group set out on the trail for civilized lands.
For the first few days, going was hard in the heavy snow, but the weather during the day was above freezing, and they would soon come upon a village or hamlet Unfortunately, the first thing they came upon was a small group of gnoll raiders. Battle was joined, and the party made quick work of the humanoids. However, smoke in the sky from ahead told them at perhaps more of the gnoll raiders were nearby, and the party should make haste to reach safety. As they came out upon an open area, they saw what looked like an old, ruined church or abbey, with a walled in courtyard that had been breached in a few places. Just as they headed for it, a chilling sight greeted their eyes: an entire horde of over 200 gnolls, some riding large hyanaedons, chasing a small group of humans towards the destroyed abbey! Moving to intercept the humanoids, the party members were able to fight off the small foray, but soon found themselves trapped within the walls of the church with about 20 survivors of one of the local villages, and surrounded by a gnoll army who wanted blood!

Chapter Two: The Siege

Things began happening fast and furious. There were two areas of the wall that had crumbled or had been destroyed, and the party split up to cover both entrances. Miior, Arcus and Korgaard hustled the non-combatant women and children into the basement of the three story abbey, and a rough tunnel was found under a secret door…where it led, they didn’t know and didn’t have time to find out. Korgaard, Arcus and Miior went upstairs to look for higher ground, and found a room with a long-unused, giant horn device sitting by an open window. As Arcus and Korgaard debated using the horn, Miior took it upon herself to blow into it, created a powerful, low signaling noise that may or may not have had some sort of effect. She had used her knowledge of Dwarvish Runes to read on the horn “To summon help” and thought it might be beneficial to activate it…whether it helped or not would be seen. Korgaard used a heavy crossbow and dozens of bolts he found in the tower to deadly effect, peppering various gnoll leader types at long range with the unfamiliar weapon from his third story vantage point.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party was defending themselves against various sorties by the gnoll warriors, some riding giant Hyenas. The battle was a desperate one because there were not enough adventurers to cover all the walls, the locked and barred gate, and the two breeches in the wall with any sort of expertise. Thus, it became a battle of run, shoot and fight, as Argois, Vaerlon, Galgadayle, Ephros, Angles, and Chester went from spot to spot, battling off the gnoll horde as best they could. If all 200 or so gnolls attacked at once, they would overwhelm the heroes and kill them all, but for some reason they only were attacking in waves of around 20-30 at a time, a circumstance the heroes found much preferable. After a entire day of hard fought battle, the party had managed to kill about 60 gnolls and driven them back from the walls, at the least, although it had been tough going. Everyone had taken some sort of injury, but they had held fast against almost six to one odds….but the adventurers knew that unless help came or a miracle happened, attrition alone would finally destroy them, not to mention the possibility of gnollish reinforcements! The party piled gnoll corpses in one breach of the wall, and worked quickly to fortify a larger breach with bits of debris from the fortress. One suspicious item they noted was the very well made steel weapons wielded by the gnolls…far beyond the expertise of any humanoid to forge….which the party made a note to investigate if they lived through the siege.
As it got dark, the party was awake and on edge in case a night foray was attempted by the gnoll army. They had searched the ruins, and it appeared to be some sort of abandoned dwarven fortress, and a small cache of magical potions was found, including one of Flying. With this potion, the group came up with a desperate scheme. If they could take out the gnoll chieftain, perhaps the rest of the gnolls would either give up and leave, or begin in fighting for control and forget about the party and the civilians. Either way, it was a risky move and one that could only be attempted by one who could sneak through the campgrounds of gnolls virtually undetected….Ephros! With his Ring of Shooting Stars, and a potion of Flying, he could create major havoc through the ranks, and perhaps even decimate the gnoll leadership. Reluctantly, the rest of the party agreed, so preparations were made. Soon, Ephros (covered in black to blend into the night) was flying stealthily through the camps, looking for what would be the largest tent and the biggest, baddest gnoll, as that would obviously be the Chieftain!

Chapter Three; Triumph and Death

After but a short time, Ephros found the camp of the gnoll leader. Sitting in a large chair of bone, he watched as his trio of shamans, surrounded by various gnoll bodyguards, minions, and minor leaders, danced and cavorted around the fire in what the halfling supposed was a pep rally for the slaughter the next day. Flying as high as he could, and still within range, he let fly the largest lightning ball he could….targeted straight at the chieftain! The ball hit and exploded like a bolt from heaven, and the heavily wounded gnoll stumbled from the scorched spot with heavy burns as the rest of the gnolls and shamans stood awestruck at what had happened. Not wanted to mess around, Ephros then decided to go for broke, and released three shooting stars from his ring and centered them on the gnoll leader and his shamans, who had rushed to heal their leader.
The resultant explosion shook the entire area, and the party back at the ruins notice flames leaping into the air as if a meteor itself had struck the spot where the gnoll chieftain’s tent was! As the smoke cleared, all was panic in the gnoll camp….all that was left of the leader and the shamans was a smoking hole in the earth with gnoll pieces scattered around! Ephros had taken out the chieftain, but he wanted more. Flying low but still staying hidden, he specifically looked for any gnolls that might be second in commands, any of the hyena creatures taking charge who might also be a threat. He saw one jump on a Hyanadeon and begin trying to rally the gnolls, but he swooped low, backstabbed the gnoll, and the lifeless body fell from the giant hyena. He again flew through the camp and found another leader type…but here his luck ran out. After swooping low to stab the gnoll, several gnolls caught sight of him and let loose spears. Unluckily for Ephros, several caught him in flight, knocking him to the ground. At that point, he was pounced upon by nearby gnolls, and soon he had been killed, struck dozens of times by the frenzied and frightened gnolls as they beat him to death.
Back at the ruins, as hours went by with no sign of Ephros, the party began to fear the worst. However, if nothing else, the halfling thief had not died in vain, as it was obvious by the flames, shouting, and pandemonium in the camps beyond the walls that the gnolls had suffered some kind of grievous loss. Just when things looked bleakest, screams were heard from the basement in the tower chapel, where the village survivors had been placed for protection. Rushing down to see the problem, instead of danger it turned out to be a small party of five dwarven fighters, who had arrived after hearing the magical horn give a warning that had not been activated in decades.
The leader, Dulanin, said they had come by way of the ancient underground tunnel, which they told the party went many miles underground until it exited at a Dwarven enclave far to the north. It had taken the doughty dwarves almost twelve hours to traverse the distance, and they offered to let the civilian women and children go back down the tunnel to the settlement so they could escape the gnoll siege. However, the dwarven troop indicated since there was a temple to Moradin here, they were obliged to stay defend the ruins with their life no matter what decision the party members themselves made. Inspired by their bravery, the party agreed also to stay under the bitter end, no matter what the result.

Chapter Four: Final Battle
With the additional of the five dwarven warriors, the party was greatly encouraged. The next morning, the dwarves, shoulder to shoulder, positioned them at the smaller break of the wall. The spellcasters took to the tower, where they could cast spells, while Argois, Vaerlon, Angles, Galgadayle and Chester manned the larger opening and wooden gate. At dawn, they saw the unfortunate result of Ephros’ successful attack: his lifeless body hung feet first from the standard of one of the gnoll leaders as they approached the ruins. From a distance, they managed to see the effect of last night’s raid by Ephros…the gnoll army had divided into two groups, one of which had elected to return to their tribal lands until a new leader was chosen, the other determined to make the adventurer’s pay for slaying the chieftain. Although only about 60 gnolls remained, the party was injured, cold and low on arrows and missile weapons, although they had the advantage of defending from the well made dwarven ruins.
As the attack began, the gnolls unexpectedly went for parts of the wall with no openings, and attempted to scale them with wooden ladders. As the battle was joined, Chester flew forward, intent on rescuing the body of Ephros. He breathed fire on the gnoll leader, setting him alight, and grabbed the rope holding the halfling with his teeth, and began flying back to the ruins. He almost made it, but was brought down by gnoll archers, crashing into the snow and dropping the lifeless body of Ephros. Although he could regenerate his damage, Chester was effectively out of the combat.
Having summoned some wolves the night before with his magical horn, Vaerlon, Angles, and the animals stood next to some dwarven warriors and bravely defended against wave after wave of frenzied gnolls. On the walls, Arcus, Miior, Korgaard and Dulannin fended off the ladders with spell and sword; at the smaller opening, Dwarven warriors stood with the druid and his wolverine to defend that opening. At the gate, Argois by himself held off a small sortie, first with arrows then with blade, being assisted by the druid as the battle continued on.
As the party withstood the initial charge of the monsters, they slowly began to win the war by attrition, as the other 100 or so gnolls watched their brothers fight desperately. The party knew if the gnolls breached the walls, at any time the gnolls who had not attacked could unexpectedly join in, dooming the party by numbers alone. So, they fought as hard as possible, and eventually the tide turned as Vaerlon and Angle’s group managed to slay the gnoll leader, then slowly picked off the rest, to finally make the few left alive retreat back with yips and cries of defeat. The remaining leader watched his rival fall, and it seemed as if he saluted the wounded yet triumphant survivors as he gave the order to the remaining gnolls to return to their tribal lands. Perhaps someday the party would again encounter the gnolls and their new leader….perhaps not….but it would not be today, as they had survived with the only loss being Ephros. Using a scroll of Raise Dead, Angles managed to bring the brave halfling back to life, although unfortunately he had been severely scarred and many of his items and treasure was now in gnoll hands. However, the party had overcome the odds, and Dulannin declared the group “Dwarf Friends” and gave each of them an adjustable golden armband, which when worn alerted any dwarves of the lands that the bearer was a trusted friend.
Thus, alive but tired and injured, the party and the dwarves celebrated their survival there at the abandoned ruin long into the night, gathering and searching the many gnoll bodies for treasure before lighting them up in a huge, triumphant bonfire. At dawn another dwarf patrol arrive, this one larger but disappointed they had missed the action, and rewarded the party with healing potions for their trouble. After a short rest, the party decided upon the next morn to continue on their trek to Norvik, which was now but a two day walk from where they were in the forest.