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.

NORVIK: SESSION FOUR

Session Four: Alturiak 1474

Chapter One: Hello Chester.

After resting the night in the crypt following the mummy encounter, the group felt they were close to exploring the limits of the Keep….only the southern end was left to be searched before dealing with the woman in stasis and the kobolds up the shaft at the top of the keep. Moving south, the party entered a long hall of pillars, with what looked like rubble surrounding them….the site of a large battle? There were several doors in the slanted hallway, but the more immediate concern was a large group of eyeless, axe wielding humanoids bent on slaughter…grimlocks, as the bard remembered them from ancient tales! The creatures swarmed the party, but the bulk of them were bottled up in a corridor thanks to Arcus’ Grease spell, which they were not able to pass. Some poured oil and the application of Vaerlon’s flaming sword spelled the end for many of the helpless grimlocks, while the rest were hacked to pieces by the remainder of the adventurers. A few grimlocks escaped down the corridor, so the party quickly followed at their heels, which led farther south to a large, rough hewn cavern containing more of the slavering humanoids. Battle was joined, and soon the grimlocks and their leader lay dead. Nothing was found of treasure or interest in the area, except perhaps for bodies of orcs and kobolds that looked like they had died setting off traps in that part of the stronghold.
On their way back to the main corridor, the adventurers found an alternate way to the west, and then a passage hidden by an illusionary wall. As the party entered the hidden room, the door made a great noise, and soon a voice yelling for help was heard through a secret door in the far wall. Unwilling to go into what appeared to be a trap, the party engaged in a long yelling conversation with someone who identified themselves as “Chester”, who said he was being held hostage by something called a Flaming Skull in the next room….with lots of treasure the creature was guarding! After warning them of the dangers they faced, the party came up with a plan to distract the floating, burning skull. Unfortunately, the skull caught the bard with a Sleep spell, then half the party with a Color Spray, and very quickly the battle was getting out of control. Since the only power of the skull seemed to be fire breath, arrows were fired from a distance by Vaerlon and Ephros while Galgadayle used his spear to finally bring the creature down…..per instructions by Chester, Arcus then used a Remove Curse spell from a scroll to forever lay the regenerating creature to rest.
The room did indeed have treasure, but the most disconcerting thing was that Chester’s voice seemed to be coming from a locked steel chest…..after much questioning Chester admitted he was also a Flaming Skull, one that had failed his duties and been locked up the last 100 years or so as punishment. Desperately wishing to get out of the chest, Chester told the story of his life which seemed to consist of little more than telling the party he once was a young, foolish acolyte who fell in with the wrong crowd, and agreed to be turned into a guardian creature (who failed in his task) and that having decades to think it over while locked in the chest as punishment he realized he made a pretty stupid choice. After spending many years in a kind of somnolent state, he had been awakened by the recent activities in the complex and was overjoyed to find someone who might rescue him from his imprisonment. Unwilling to let Chester loose being depleted of spells as they were (in case it was a trap/trick), the party members promised to return to him before leaving the complex.


Chapter Two: More Traps

Traveling back to the main corridor, the party investigated several doors, but found them all to be traps…some of these were avoided and some caused damage (particularly a pit trap that caught both Korgaard and Ephros flat footed). One door, intriguingly, contained a spirit who called herself “Ruthvan” and said she could answer any question about the complex that encompassed the last 100 years. The party then peppered Ruthvan with questions, learning quite a bit about the complex, Horvor’s party, and several of the monsters they had faced. They learned that the girl they had found trapped in stasis was Rivior’s consort, and that it was Rivior himself who lay dead buried beneath the bookcase in the adjoining room. They also learned a large group of kobolds inhabited the top level of the structure, and the locations of a couple of areas they had not yet explored.
One area to the SW yielded a couple of locked and hidden chambers that contained remnants of what looked like a worship area to some demon lord. They battled a sandling, an elemental creature composed of sand, and found an interesting small glass prism with a strange blackness inside, as well as various treasures and a couple of what looked like magical rings. Traveling to the opposite side of the complex to the northeast, the adventurers found a unsafe passage that led to a pillared room with a pool of black water. Stepping into the room caused the pillars to open, and four negative energy zombies to emerge from the pillars, unholy light gleaming in their eyes. Retreating to the corridor where they could hold off the zombies, Ephros threw the glass prism, which broke and released a guardian yugoloth, a minor demon that was typically used to guard treasure. The yugoloth and the zombies immediately began combat, and to the party’s surprise, the zombies made short work of the demon only losing one of their number. Putting on one of the magical rings they had found, Ephros found it was a Ring of Shooting Stars, and as other party members peppered the zombies with missile weapons (ineffective, as only magical items would damage them), he used the spark shower to hurt them as they crawled across the trapped corridor. A battle followed, and the zombies were taken care of. Inspecting the chamber more closely, the party wanted to investigate a black pool of water, but didn’t wish to enter it. They ended up taking a shaft up to the complex atop them, and kidnapping an unwilling kobold. The druid Galgadayle charmed him, and despite the language barrier, got him to enter the water and drag out handfuls of gold and another magical ring. After this, the party rested for the evening in the well-protected room.

Chapter Three: Miior and more

The next morning, it was decided to explore the room filled with swarms of crawling claws the party had located days earlier, and use fire spells to clear it out. They came to the door and cruelly used the charmed kobold as bait, tossing him in and waiting until he was covered with crawling claws before Korgaard and Arcus used Flaming Ray spells to burn off and destroy several of the claws (Galgadayle had no pity for the kobold, for as he said “These creatures are unnatural abominations and don’t deserve to live”. Ephros used the Ring of Shooting Stars to burn many more, and soon the room was cleared out. Inside, a valuable spell tube was found containing many high level priest spells including Regenerate, Restoration and Raise Dead. This in hand, next stop was to remove Chester from his steel chest.
Carefully releasing Chester, the party found he was so overjoyed at finally being free, he would accompany him throughout the rest of the dungeon and help as he could. He was quite the non stop talker after being trapped “buried alive” for almost 100 years, and soon the party knew far, far more about him than they ever really cared to know. The floating, flaming skull had quite a personality, if not perhaps a tiny bit insane from his long imprisonment.
Coming next to the room which held the stasis trapped woman, the party released her, and knowing what the spirit of Ruthvan had told them (about her being the consort of Rivior), they allowed her an attempt to tell them the truth about who she was. Unfortunately she glibly lied, telling them she was but a poor slave girl and a prisoner of Rivior. Further questioning, and use of an ESP potion, found her full of lies and plans to cast spells to affect her release (she was a minor mage it also turned out). Having satisfied their curiosity, the signal was given, and the party restrained her and removed all her clothes and bracers (in case they be used against them) and told her that they knew she was lying, and that 80 years had passed since she had been placed in the hidden closet……that Rivior was dead, and her spellbooks gone…and that she was about five minutes from lying dead herself if she didn’t give them a good reason to keep her around.
Knowing the jig was up, the woman introduced herself as Miior, saying she was a low level mage and the consort of the now dead Rivior. She told them a bit of background about helping Rivior establish his bandit empire, but was not forthcoming on some things, such as who put her in the closet in suspended animation, and why. She bargained for her life saying she had no spells or spellbook, but she could help them as she had little chance to escape back to civilization in her present state, and no means to help herself even if she did. She also promised to lead the party to several hidden caches of treasure that she and Rivior had placed prior to their complex being attacked, hidden areas that may still be untouched after the last 8 decades. At this, and seeing as she had no chance to hurt them or get away, the party agreed to take her in and keep her around as long as they needed her. However, they did not trust her, knowing she was evil, and had been Rivior’s consort, so they vowed to watch her closely. Arcus was allowed to claim her magical bracers, and Miior was given an old robe to cover herself. If she chafed at being so destitute as to have no possessions or spellbooks, she said nothing, but instead began ingratiating herself with Arcus perhaps thinking she could befriend or even seduce the young naïve magician.
The last thing left to do before leaving the complex was to clear out the kobolds atop the fortress in a hidden cavern. Using a secret way to the top located earlier, the main group of the party created a diversion at the shaft entrance, while the others snuck up the rope and began attacking from surprise. Caught between the now well experienced group, very little damage was taken as they (with the help of the fire breathing, floating Chester) cut through the 70 or so kobolds fairly quickly, taking little damage. The chief kobold attempted to escape down another hidden shaft, but instead became the victim of another monster, a grey ooze hidden at the bottom, and thus he was left as the kobold treasure (mostly copper and silver) was gathered, along with the rest that had been found, and loaded into one of the hand carts for taking back to the monastery.
At the end of the battle, seven kobolds were left alive, and they were taken prisoner to use as servants hauling the treasure and to fix up the monastery. Day by day Galgadayle charmed them so they would remain loyal, although finally one had to be killed as charm did not take with him and he was unruly. The six remaining kobolds were housed in the barn, and tasked with all the many chores needed around the monastery to keep it up.

Chapter Four: Time to go
In the weeks that followed, Arcus identified all the treasure found, and it was divided up among the party members. Ephros continued his reading and writing studies, and many other party members did likewise. Galgadayle found a book on brewing procedures and proceeded to spend the rest of the time learning how to brew up various beers, as well as poisons and potions made from natural substances. His owl was now completely healthy and he taught it many tricks. Chester, who missed reading most of all during his incarceration, busied himself with working his way through every book in the library (turning the pages with his teeth….). He indicated he was not looking forward to traveling out of the wilderness and offered to stay at the monastery, guarding it, watching the kobolds, and also reading the books…but finally curiousity about the “real” world he had left overtook him, and he agreed to accompany the adventurers to civilization. Miior played the part of the resigned captive, trying to find out what had changed in the world during the last 80 years, and making herself busy around the monastery with “women’s” chores, perhaps waiting for an opportunity to present itself...

NORVIK: SESSION THREE

Session Three: Midwinter 1474

Chapter One: Further Exploration.

The next day, with everyone healed up, it was decided to head north and find the parameters of the underground lair, as well as the path the faint footprints led that the ranger brothers had found. Soon, the party was in conflict with a small group of half-ogres, who seem to be guarding a horizontal hallway at the northern edge of the complex. They were quickly dealt with, leading the party to what appeared to be an occupied lair…full of boxes, crates, sacks, a cart and a steaming pot full of mule meat. Immediately upon entering, the adventurers were in deadly pitched combat with a priest of Taranthus (Horvor), his giant ogre leader, and another of the deadly Baneguards! The battle was furious, and soon Vaerlon lay unconscious and bleeding to death from the ogre’s attack, while Argois and Angles desperately held their own against the priest who had summoned a magical “Whip of Pain” to batter them again and again. The Baneguard was also attacking, and things for awhile looked quite precarious. However, the battle songs of the bard helped strengthen the party, and the druid, bard and thief wore down the ogre and undead creature with hit and run tactics. Meanwhile, Vaerlon was ministered to by the mage with a potion of healing, and cured enough to manage rising to help his brother dispose of the evil priest. It was a tough battle, but at last they triumphed, with everyone taking minor injuries.
Afterwards, searching the priest’s lair brought forth a journal that detailed the reason this small group of evil beings was in the dungeon: they had become separated from a caravan of Taranthian slavers in a blizzard, and had to take up camp here until the snow stopped falling. They had been the ones to sacrifice the girl (a nameless slave) earlier in the dungeon, to consecrate the area, and had left the other Baneguard to watch their extra supplies. With the priest and his minions dead, searching the northern part of the complex was finished. A magical glowing globe was also found, which followed the party’s commands to follow and light the area, all the while floating just behind them. A short sword called a “Chill Blade” that had been wielded by the Baneguard was claimed by Ephros, and several other items that might or might not have been magical were taken by the party for identification later.
The next area to be was the dining room, the globe was sent in to illuminate the stirges that had nested in the rafters, which were then quickly disposed of with missile weapons and Arcus’ Sleep spell. A large, magical shield with symbol of the Cult of the White Wyrm visible on it’s surface was found on the wall and taken. Next, a return to the throne room yielded a potentially deadly foe, a mimic, in the shape of a treasure chest behind the throne….it entrapped the thief with his sticky glue and battered him near unconciousness. The mimic was taken care of by the party, who by this time had become a well-disciplined fighting force when facing the dangers of the dungeon. A long hallway led them to what appeared to be Rivior’s office and bedroom, in which an ancient skeleton was found that might have been the bandit lord himself, buried under a fallen bookcase. Spellbooks and mage scrolls were found on the shelves, as well as a bedroom with a surprise in one of the closets: What appeared to be a living woman chained inside a small 10x10 room! After it was determined she was not dead but in a state of suspended animation, (perhaps even since time the keep fell) it was decided that the woman be left here until the party was ready to leave the complex…just in case she was not what she appeared to be! The door was resealed and the party resolved to return and try to release her later…

Chapter Two: Even MORE Undead Foes
Searching north of the throne room, the party came upon an unusual sight even in this strange place: a skeleton of a frost giant on a stone table, with what appeared to be a magical spear buried in it’s ribs. After removing the spear, the druid found it spoke to him and told him it’s name, Shimmering, and noted it was a giant slayer who also spoke Frost Giant. At this, the monster skeleton arose and attacked, but was quickly destroyed by the party.
The party then went to another room right off the throne room, a hidden chamber that had a set of stairs going down. After negotiating a few traps, Ephros (Runt) triggered one that released two Bonebats at the bottom of the stairs. A pitched battle in the narrow confines led to the entire party eventually destroying the undead flying creatures. After the door was carefully examined and opened, it was found to lead to a hidden crypt! Three stone coffins lay within; one was opened, and had disgorged a skeletal warrior that kept regenerating and attacking, even after destruction. After holy water was finally poured on its bones, it stopped rising, but the party’s nerves were on edge at the presence of the other two sealed coffins. Finally, after making a plan and setting themselves up around the room, the center coffin was opened. Within was a corpse of what appeared to be a worshipper of Rualt (Goddess of Cold) holding a book sacred to her religion, White’s Codicil. The book has taken, and found to have much lore concerning the religion as well as unique spells. The third coffin was carefully opened, but unfortunately it released a mummy, which seemed to be above the party’s level of expertise to destroy. Argois, Arcus and Angles found themselves collapsed with fear and useless; Korgaard, Vaerlon, Galgadayle and Ephros by themselves had a valiant combat with the undead creature, and managed to destroy it only after Korgaard and Vaerlon had been infected with mummy rot. After the battle, a Cure Disease scroll was used on the both of them to eliminate the mummy rot, and a large treasure of rubies was found around the neck of the mummy.
A small, narrow passage behind one coffin lead to another room filled with treasure, but it was guarded by three iron cobras, which gave Galgadayle, Ephros, Korgaard and Argois fits in the narrow confines of the chamber (only 4 feet high!). Finally, after a difficult battle in the dark and tight area, the metal guardians were defeated. After their defeat, more treasure and magic was found, and the party decided to rest overnight in the tomb (although reluctantly, it was easily defendable and secure, but a dark and depressing place).

NORVIK: SESSION TWO

Session Two: Midwinter 1474

Chapter One: Rivior’s Keep

Through the next six weeks, the snows continued, and temperatures hovered near zero but never above. Outdoors was a silent, white, frozen landscape. The head priest of the temple and his servants never returned; if because of bad weather, or perhaps they had met their death through the giants or dragons, who knew? Through the month of Nightall and into the month of Hammer in the new year, the seven inhabitants of the Nythiirian temple found many ways to while away the long winter weeks. Due to the supplies in the monastery, there was no need for additional food or drink. There were short forages into the nearby woods for fuel in the form of firewood, or ice to be melted for water, but there was no exploring more than a mile from the monastery due to the intense cold and snow. In their long time together, the seven shared their life stories and whatever else that might interest others; six weeks snowed in, in a confined space, is enough to make even the least talkative open up completely. Arcus spent the time teaching Runt and Korgaard the rudiments of reading and writing. Korgaard proved so adept, he began to learn the use of magic, slowly at first, but some unknown talent taking over until he had actually mastered the spells as a mage would! The brothers Argois and Vaerlon got to know one another, practicing sparring and their archery outside in the courtyard; Korgaard regaled the party with bardic tales of warriors and battles long ago. Angles studied the holy books of Nythiir, learning more of his chosen path. Perhaps only the druid Galgadayle kept apart from the others; all the time away from the forest where he had lived his entire life made him homesick, and he preferred open spaces to the interior of the monastery. He spent the time tending his wounded owl, and teaching it several commands. Meanwhile, Arcus also continued to study the history books of the high priest, and was able to pinpoint the location of Rivior’s Keep on an accurate map in the one book he had located.
Finally, during the week of Midwinter, the coldest part of the season, the temperature took a sudden upswing into the teens, and the snows stopped. Cabin fever had begun to set in; even a trek into the frigid mountains was preferable to sitting inside another day! Plans were made to head for the keep and possibly stay there while exploring it, but all depended on reaching it before the blizzard began again. Properly equipped against the cold with bearskin fur cloaks (and Angles with a magical cloak he had taken from his master’s study that kept the wearer warm in any cold weather), the small group left early in the day for Rivior’s Keep. Snowshoes kept the party members above the unpacked snow, which was several feet deep, and the party took enough rations and supplies for many days.
Although hidden well, the location of the bandit fortress was but a few miles into the nearby mountains, actually quite easy to find, and surprisingly little effort was used to reach it. A low overhang led to two entrances, one leading to a large door, the other to a dank smelly cavern. While the cavern side was being explored, a pair of hibernating owlbears was awakened and dealt with by the rangers, druid and halfling thief A small bit of treasure was found but no entrance….through the door seemed to be the only way in, so the party took it with much eagerness after noticing it was not locked….and looked recently breached. A short hallway led to a room with a pile of weapons in the center, and a locked metal gate. The most intriguing item was the presence of fresh tracks, not several days old, consisting of humans, an ogre, and possibly half ogres! Others had found the halls before the group, and might not be inclined to be friendly….! Due to the unexpected warmth inside the ruins (the temperatures hovered above freezing!) the bearskin cloaks were set aside for the duration of the adventure.
By the light of a torch held by Angles, the exploration began. Secret entrances around the rusty portcullis were found, and each led to guardrooms. In one was found the petrified form of a goblin; caution was taken in case some creature be found that could turn one to stone! Inside a privy, the bard Korgaard came upon a nicely forged and surely magical sword; he had to battle a hidden giant spider with the help of a fear stricken Angles, who managed to somehow help the bard dispatch the arachnid. In the other guardroom, tragedy was narrowly averted as a large Green Slime blob was burned off Runt by an alert Angles (Ephros did, however, lose half his hair in the incident…). In this privy, a small hidden treasure chamber held several useful potions and a deadly Lock Lurker.
Down a narrow hallway, a trap was triggered and several heavy crossbow bolts fired at the party from a device. Throwing caution to the winds, the party rushed a door, kicking it in to find several kobolds with hand crossbows manning a well-protected room with firing holes. Through this room, then another, then in a secret passage, the battle raged and 18 of the foul reptilian creatures were destroyed by Korgaard and Arcus’ spells, as well as the sword arms of the ranger brothers. Through one door, a long, dark shaft led upwards by a ladder….it was avoided for now. In another room, a recently half eaten mule showed that once again someone from the outside had entered the fortress.
Refusing to enter the shaft, the party returned to the main pathway, which led to a room with large statues that shot electric bolts from their hands. A secret door led to an intriguing mystery: a room with a recent sacrifice, a young woman laying on the floor with a dagger thrust in her mouth. Angles recognized both the dagger and the method of sacrifice as belonging to the priesthood of Taranthus, evil slavers who travel the world trading in human misery. More cautious now, the party entered the adjoining room and were set upon by a undead horror: A Baneguard, guardians summoned by evil priests to defend or guard their persons or treasures. A deadly battle ensued; the Baneguard had the power to fire magic missiles and blink; it used the first application to deadly result as a barrage of missiles caught Runt squarely and knocked him near death. The room cleared out leaving Korgaard, Argois and Vaerlon to battle the horror. Luck was with the trio, and after a hard fought battle the creature was destroyed. However, surprisingly the Baneguard was not watching over “treasure”, but a cart full of ale, potatoes, arrows and a lantern! Water dripping off the handcart meant it had been recently placed. Needing rest, the party took over the room to spend the night (it was the most easily defensible position they had found) as Angles wrapped the unfortunate sacrificial victim in cloths and said the prayers of Nythiir over her body, placing it in the cart and promising to retrieve it on the way out…..

Chapter Two: More Undead

The night spent in the cold, dark, dank fortress put everyone on edge for the next day. Explorations past the electricity throwing statues led to an empty room with a giant bat, and an abandoned bedroom with a trap that sent a flood of crawling claws down on the adventurer’s heads. Unwisely, the door to the next room was bashed down by the bard, and it was found to contain dozens and dozens of claws…then the door was secured before they could swarm the party! A trapdoor in the ceiling kept disgorging claws one by one, so that door was also sealed and the rooms abandoned, perhaps for later investigation.
The next room was a large throne room, but before it could be thoroughly searched, a secret passage was found that led to another part of the complex. A large dining hall was found, but seeing there were hibernating stirges in the high, darkened ceiling led the party in another direction. A hallway of many granite statues was found, they were barely examined before the party went off to another direction. A mysterious room with a red scarf on the floor that changed into a giant centipede when touched, which then turned out to be an illusion, frustrated the group as they began to wonder aloud what kind of deviltry was going on? In a further alcove, another secret door was found, leading to a corridor and another inexplicable riddle, a large chain hanging from the ceiling.
Exhausted and exasperated, the group turned to leave the dead end room. His curiosity getting the best of him, Vaerlon yanked the chain….which proceeded to open five secret doors. Out of four of them stepped giant Ogre skeletons, which mindlessly attacked!
Before the combat, the druid had wandered off, disgusted at the lack of progress and uneasy with the underground area that was lifeless of both plant and animals. Considering undead an abomination, he and Angles (who was guarding the end of the corridor) found themselves cut off from the party by the giant undead monsters. Suddenly, death seemed very likely as the party was overwhelmed….Angles wasn’t even powerful enough to attempt a turning of the creatures! A pitched battled ensued, which went back and forth. Desperate, Arcus cast a Stoneskin spell from a scroll upon himself, and began battering one skeleton with his staff. The others were overwhelmed….Vaerlon in particular found himself swinging clumsily and badly missing his foes. Whether through fear of undead, or guilt at being the one who had summoned their doom, Vaerlon was unable to do anything to stop the monsters. At the other end of the corridor, Angles and Galgadayle took turns bashing the giant skeleton then healing themselves, perilously close to disaster. For awhile, the survival of the party teetered in the balance.
However, as the battle wore on and both sides took hits, slowly the party began to one by one destroy the skeletons. Arcus’ spell allowed him to survive several strikes, and many vials of holy water and healing potions were used by everyone as the battle continued….the party would have to pull out all the stops to survive this encounter! Soon, Argois and Vaerlon battled side by side, with Argois asking his little brother if he required assistance as he appeared to be fighting like a virgin elf maiden instead of a warrior…bolstered by his brother’s presence, Vaerlon soon found his stride and began battling in earnest, scoring several telling blows on the undead. After a short period, the area was cleared of walking evil, and despite grave injuries all had survived and the skeletons lay in piles of bones throughout the room and corridor. A quick search of the rooms turned up a small amount of treasure, along with a carved horn wrapped in wolfskin. Examined, writing on it’s side revealed the horn would summon nearby wolves to help the owner….Vaerlon, as the summoner of the undead, was chosen to take the horn since it had been his recklessness that led to the prize! Once again in a defensible chamber, the group decided to spend the night and search further then the next day. Watch was set up, especially on the door to the secret passage that had discharged no skeleton and was yet unexplored….

NORVIK: SESSION ONE

Session One: The month of Nightall (1473)

Chapter One: The Meeting

The small village of Westpoint, about 100 miles north of Norvik, was the meeting place for a diverse group of adventurers thrown together by fate. In the Inn of the Laughing Dragon, their fates would all come together one horrific day and lead them to greater things. For the young human mage Arcus Stoneward, it was a resting spot for him and his father, the mage Demetrius, on their way from the dwarfhold The Citadel to the city of Norvik where Arcus was to apprentice to the mage Delfin Yellowknife. For the human skald Korgaard Skolsun, it was a place to perform his songs and ballads after escaping the clutches of the dreaded Cult of the White Wyrm, who had taken over his village and converted all within to the worship of Cold. For the elven druid Galgadayle Icemmon and his owl, it was a place to find allies after an attack by a Dark Druid and his minions had destroyed his mentor and their cottage in the Dark Forest weeks before. For the elven ranger Argois, it was a place where he was to meet his half elven brother for the first time, who it turned out was the son of his ranger mentor. For the half-elven ranger Vaerlon Starfinder, it was a destination he and his father, Vortigern, had chosen to meet his elven brother and for important information about the death of their mother was to be relayed. For the halfling thief Ephros (or “Runt” as he was known in his family), it was a warm spot to spend time after escaping the authorities in another village and waiting for one of his brothers to perhaps find him so he could return to his home in the woods.
In the warm, smokey tavern, the talk was of many things: how the village elders had rejected the offer of the priesthood of Rualt, goddess of cold, to set up a temple in the town; how in days the first large blizzard of the year would hit, making it almost impossible to travel or do anything outdoors for weeks if not months; of how fast the miners returning to their homes from the mountains would be able to spend their end of the year bonuses on ale, food and women. As Korgaard performed a lusty drinking song to the crowd, the lost and bitter Ephros scoped out the area for prospects; he found one in a drunken miner whose purse was bulging with gold, and gratefully took it so as to provide for him until his brothers arrived to take him back home.
In the back of the tavern, the two half brothers were meeting for the first time. Sharing an elven mother, Argois and Vaerlon sized each other up as Vortigern (Vaerlon’s father and Argois mentor) explained the circumstances of their births, and of their long-lost mother, who they learned was dead. Their mother Elias had been a mage and had joined Vortigern and others in adventuring in the Thunderspire Mountains many years ago. Argois had been born many years before, his father an elven man named Darfen who resided in Norvik. Vaerlon was conceived and born during this time, but was left by Elias to be raised by Vortigern. Elias then afterward was killed, but the brothers had never learned their mother’s fate…
One table over, Arcus and his father discussed the son’s coming apprenticeship with Delfin Yellowknife, a mage of power who lived within Norvik. Demetrius indicated he would have several objects to give Arcus when they parted, to help him in his studies.
Suddenly, as he emerged from the toilet, Runt was greeted by one of his drunken brothers who hailed him with disconcerting loudness. Clearly drunk as a coot, Runt’s brother proceeded to loudly proclaim he’s been robbing people in the tavern all night, and even worse, he offered the disturbing statement “Until you’ve had an orc woman, you’ve never been to heaven”. Unfortunately, at that moment he was cut short by a supporting beam of the tavern striking him in the skull, killing him instantly. For at that moment, a white dragon being ridden by a frost giant had landed on the tavern, destroying it and burying everyone within underneath the rubble!

Chapter Two: Escape from Westpoint

There was stunned silence, then screams of pain and agony as the patrons still living in the Inn of the Laughing Dragon realized there were THREE white dragons, all being ridden by frost giants, sweeping through the town destroying everything in sight. The voice of an imperious female cut through the snow and blood: “You have refused the offer of the priestesses of Rualt to protect your town; you have not let us erect a temple to our goddess; therefore, the Cult of the White Worm will make an example of your foolishness and wipe Westpoint from the minds of men forever!” Two figures clad only in white cloaks stood at the edge of town, directing a group of barbarian warriors to kill, rape and destroy everything in sight.
As the dragon atop the Laughing Dragon took flight, the survivors started stirring in the rubble. Runt used the panic to gather his dead sibling’s purse, feeling he had no longer any use for the wealth within. Vortigern gathered his son and Argois, telling them to get the other survivors to safety, that he would delay the pursuit as long as possible. Seeing Arcus’ father and recognizing him as a mage, he told him that they would have to do their best together to battle the Cult of the White Wyrm, even though their deaths were certain, if it would allow their children to escape. Agreeing, Demetrius shoved a bag of scrolls into his son’s hands and told him to follow the others out of town. “One of the scrolls is a Fireball, son, use it if you have to!” The small group, joined by the skald, druid and Runt, begin heading for the forest and hopefully escape. Vortigern, knowing he was doomed, muttered under his breath “What a lousy way to die!”
Vortigern then drew his sword, leaped impossibly upward and forward using what must have been boots of striding and springing, and landed squarely on the back of a dragon riding giant. Two quick swings decapitated the giant, and Vortigern let his body tumble from the back of the white dragon. Acting deliberately, Vortigern jammed his bastard sword into the neck of the surprised dragon and began sawing into the flesh. The pain maddened dragon dropped from the sky, crashing into a building and out of sight, Vortigern hanging on desperately.
Meanwhile, Demetrius chanted words of power and a fireball flew through the air to engulf a dragon/giant combination. They also fell from the sky with flames licking off them. The giant rolled to his feet, burned but alive, and began advancing on the mage. The mage fired off a lightning bolt, which crashed into the giant and knocked him off his feet. Before Demetrius could cast another spell, however, he was hit by twin Cones of Cold from the priestess of Rualt and her magess companion, who was one of the Frost Witches (mages worshipping Rualt) who also served the Goddess of Cold. The pair then hammered the mage with an Ice Storm and Frost Strike, and before he could counter attack the burning, pain maddened giant struck Demetrius a deadly blow from behind, then began hammering the mage into the ground with his bare fists.
As the doomed heroes did what they could, the fledgling adventurers headed for the forest. In their way was a small group of barbarian warriors, who Korgaard could see were his former villagers and friends. As he tried to talk to them and reason with them, he could see the light of madness in their eyes…there would be no intelligent discourse, merely ferocious attacking and battle, from his former comrades. The druid quickly cast an Entangle, which held most of the screaming warriors, enough that the rangers and Runt could pepper them with arrows, quickly finishing them off. That obstacle eliminated, they quickly lost themselves in the snow covered pine trees, the sounds of death and destruction still ringing in their ears from the razed village…

Chapter Three: The Last Obstacle

The motley group quickly ran through the thick woods, heading in an eastern direction, away from the doomed village. They quickly introduced themselves, but before they had headed too far, a hurtling meteor-like missile hit the ground ahead of them, gouging up trees, tundra and rocks for several hundred yards before coming to a tumbling stop. The missile turned out to be a wounded and near death dragon and frost giant, obviously injured in battle. The frost giant had fallen off the dragon, which bled from many wounds to its neck, and who had a broken wing hanging battered from it’s shoulder. The giant did not look much better, obviously having been on the receiving end of fire spells and sword thrusts. He unsteadily began loping the 100 yds or so to the shocked and frightened group of characters, screaming their doom. They hit him with missile fire as he advanced, and Arcus noticed with dismay the white dragon slowly stirring and moving around….he was near death, but not yet dead. He frantically dug into this father’s sack and dug out the Fireball scroll. Steadying himself, he read the words of power and cast his first ever spell from a scroll. The fireball streaked to the dragon, engulfed him, and exploded him into pieces that rained across the forest. The giant screamed in rage, and the adventurers began a cat and mouse game of missile weapons, staying out of his deadly reach, as Vaerlon attacked him with his sword. Arcus hit the giant with a Burning Hands, and Runt ran at a giant sized ankle, nearly severing it with a well thrust blow. The giant fell to his knees and squinted at the advancing Vaerlon. “You look familiar” he croaked in human tongue, “I think I kill one of your family back in town”. With this, Vaerlon struck his head from his shoulders, causing a fountain of giantish blood to spill on the white snow.
Very quickly, as wounds were bound, the druid, mage and Runt began rummaging through the snow for the valuable dragon parts such as fangs, claws, and blood. The others searched the giant’s body and came away with a sack full of broken potion bottles (of which they managed to salvage a few), and some gold. They also found a symbol being worn around the giant’s neck… a circle of stone with the head of a white dragon within, which the bard identified as being of the Cult of the White Wyrm. At that point, a blood covered trio joined the party with white dragon teeth, claws and blood. Runt was carrying a fang as big as a dagger. At this point, it was decided to head east, as quickly as possible, in case more trouble came behind.
Ten miles later, the group found a small rock overhang to spend the night…a miserable night, with temperatures hovering at five degrees, and only a small fire to keep them warm, and a handful of berries and some cooked porcupine meat to warm their bellies. Whatever lay ahead couldn’t be worse….could it?

Chapter Four: The Monastary

The group started out early the next morning, hopeful of finding some sort of protection from the coming bad weather. The druid had read the signs and predicted heavy snowfall by the evening, and it would be death to remain out on the trail with no shelter at that point. They quickly found a small trail, with footprints the rangers identified as both human and orc. With no other hope to find a place to stay, they began carefully paralleling the trail in case orcs were sighted. A band of hungry wolves caused a brief commotion, but the pack leader was killed by the party, and his blood caused the other starving wolves to tear him limb from limb and ignore the travelers. After a few miles, orcish voices began to be heard ahead about half a mile.
The party set up an ambush, not knowing how many of the humanoids might be ahead. Luck was with them. They saw a party of about 30 orcs heading west, but most appeared injured, and some were even being carried in carts. The orcs were careless and not scouting ahead, making the odds look good, so the silent hand signals were given from party member to party member. Suddenly, the first group was hit with Entangle from Galgadayle, and he proceeded to then pick off the helpless orcs with his sling. The second group fell from Arcus’ sleep spell, and Runt and the mage disposed of the unconscious orcs with blows and cuts. The rangers and the bard attacked the rest, who fell quickly to the savage assault. Soon, all the orcs but one lay dead around the trail. Luckily the one wounded survivor could croak a bit of human tongue, and relayed the reason the orcs were traveling so hurriedly through the woods. They had attacked a religious monastery in the woods, losing many of their number before gaining entrance and slaughtering the priests. However, as they began looting, several white furred forms rose from the snow and began killing the humanoids, starting with the war chief! At that point a hasty retreat occurred. With no further useful information, the orc went to join his dead tribe by a swift slice of the druid’s knife “I hate orcs…they are an unnatural abomination in this world and in the forest” was all he said.
A bit futher up the trail, the monastery was found in a clearing, in the middle of a scene of devastation. Dead orcs, perhaps 30 in number, lay strewn across the courtyard, and even inside the open front door near a crude ramming device. Debating their next move, the nearby presence of shelter overtook their fears, and they entered the religious sanctuary (which, by the religious symbols inside, looked to be a temple to Nythiir, God of Healing). They were greeted by the grisly sight of five butchered and beheaded humans laying in a pile, and the signs of struggle and looting inside. At this point, however, the delayed blizzard began falling, and the party counted their blessings to finally be out of the cold…

Chapter Five: Angles

As the rest of the party secured the door and carefully began to search the small building, the halfling thief got busy. He helped himself to several gold holy objects on the altar, and finding bread, porridge and cider in the main room, climbed atop the table and began stuffing his face. As he filled his halfling belly with food, the rest of the party slowly made their way through the structure. They found it uninhabited, with slight damage, but much food and supplies….apparently, fully stocked for the cold winter months that were now here! Searching the priest quarters brought a few clues to what might have happened, but the mystery was solved as the adventurers looked inside the root cellar. There hid an acolyte of Nythiir, the last surviving member of the monestary. His name was Angles and he told of the attack by the orcs, of the defense by the underpriest, two other priests and two soldiers, and how he was told to hide in the cellar until the battle was over. Then, the sounds of the looting orcs was overcome by their screams of fear and pain as something else took advantage of them, chasing them away, and leaving Angles alone in the dark. He also told how the day earlier the high priest had left with a small party to try and assist the village of Westpoint, as a traveling ranger had said he witnessed flying dragons heading down from the Thunderspire mountains towards that location. His final fate was unknown, the party thought that perhaps they had just missed him in their flight from the same village, but perhaps something more sinister had befallen the priest upon reaching the destroyed Westpoint. After curing the wounded party members, so thankful was he for rescue, Angles began cooking a giant meal from the supplies for all the grateful party members.
By this time, research by the mage in the high priest’s room, as well as simple deduction, led the party to believe yetis had been the opponent that destroyed the orcish war chief and chased the others off. They prepared for a possible return of the furred creatures by locking the doors, readying heavy crossbows in murder holes in the entrance, and getting fire-type items ready. A Fire Breath potion, discovered in the high priest’s room, was taken by the bard in case it was needed. Meanwhile, the rangers began pulling the orcish bodies into a pile for immolation, hopefully before the yetis came back for more food.
But it was too late. Despite a ring of fiery torches, several yetis responded to the “food” all around by skulking near the entrance of the monastery. As they began feeding, one of their number attempted to gain entrance. The trigger-happy adventurers manning the crossbows began firing, and soon the yeti was down. This, however, attracted the others….the Fire breath potion accounted for two, but the last gained entrance and was confronted by the two armed and ready rangers. Argois was crushed by the yeti, almost losing his life, but his brother struck true with sword and flaming brand, bringing down the snowman. After stripping the yetis of pelts, teeth and claws, the bodies were burned, and finally, after the past two long, awful days, the party began to relax. Later that day the rangers backtracked to the yeti’s lair, and found a small amount of treasure and what appeared to be a magic knife. Once they returned, the doors were shut tight, a large hearty dinner was served, and the small group began to plan ahead for what might be many weeks snowed into the isolated place. Angles resolved that he would leave with the party when they did, for he would be unable to tend to the monastery himself, and could search for other priests of Nythiir to advise him. The skald and the halfling thief decided this would be a good time to begin lessons into learning how to read and write, as Korgaard decided he wanted to learn the art of spellcasting. Runt also returned the golden altar items to Angles, but whether from guilt, a fear of retribution, or as thanks for being cured by Angles, no one can say. The mage Arcus started working his way through the small library of books on herbalism, religion, philosophy, and monsters of the north in the high priest’s library. He found a long ago written account of a place called “Illefarn”, a forgotten dwarfhold in the Thunderspires, which he filed away for future reference. Of more immediate use was the high priest’s journal and assorted old writings referring to a place called “Rivior’s Keep”, a bandit hideout in the mountains a few miles north. That night after dinner, he presented his findings to the group, and had a suggestion:
“Apparently, the high priest of Nythiir found an old history book that mentioned Rivior’s Keep, the headquarters of a bandit who wandered the north almost 100 years ago” Arcus said. “Rivior, and another bandit named Falcon, were the scourge of the mountains on the edge of the Dark Forest about 80 years ago, striking caravans, merchant groups, and nearby villages for loot, slaves, and gold. The attacks began to occur with more and more frequency as their success grew. They killed, robbed, raped and looted with no opposition being able to stop them. Finally, Duke Conan of Norvik had enough, and led them into an ambush by planting information of a caravan from The Citadel to Norvik loaded with gems….it was actually loaded with dwarven and human fighters, mages and clerics looking to put an end to the bandit’s depredations. At this point, Falcon split off from his partner, fearing a trap, and went to ground in a fortress somewhere to the south. However, Rivior’s greed got the better of him, and he fell for the bait. His band of villains was nearly destroyed in the ambush, but Rivior and his consort escaped. Nothing was ever heard of him again, leading many to believe he must have died of his wounds. No one was left alive to tell of where the bandit’s stronghold was located, and it has been undiscovered these long decades. ” Arcus motioned to the book he held open. “I believe in this book is an accurate map to the stronghold, and the high priest was planning an expedition to find out the secrets of Rivior’s Keep. If we wish, we ourselves can follow the map and perhaps solve the mystery of Rivior’s disappearance!”
Runt, reflecting that his alignment was “Chaotic Gold”, thought a short trip through the snow to the long-abandoned Rivior’s Keep seemed a great idea to keep the party busy in the winter, and the rest of the group enthusiastically agreed…but it would be weeks yet before the opportunity arose.