Dungeon Master's Log

[Yygdrasil]

Session 1

In the first session, as directed by Duke Eldor of Ocean's Edge, the party had ventured out in search of the Duke’s daughter who has mysteriously gone missing. 4 teams of adventurers were dispatched from Ocean’s Edge to search for the girl. The PC’s part, led by the Paladin Graeme, headed South-West and soon found themselves exiting the valley to the encampment of Town’s Edge. After dissolving a potentially volatile conflict with some guards in the White Cliff Tavern, the party sought out clues to the Duke’s Daughter’s whereabouts from the Guards and Barmaid. Although largely unhelpful, the guards notified the PCs of a group of bandits that they were informed were headed West. They were unable to provide details, but were doubtful that the girl was among them. The barmaid, a friend of the Duke’s daughter, informed the party that when they were younger, the two would often venture into the mountains to seek out adventure. She further added that their adventures were largely a secret to their parents and that should she have gone alone, it’s unlikely that anyone would think to look there.

Following the barmaid’s lead, the party headed north into the White Ridge Mountains on a hunch that the girl might have gotten herself lost and be unable to find her way back to the city. Nearly a half-day’s journey into thick forest surrounding the base of the mountain led the party a break in the trees. At the far side of the snow-covered field, the could clearly see the long rope bridge that served as the only visible path across the large chasm that separated them from the base of the mountain. Shortly after inspecting the bridge for it’s structural integrity, the party found themselves under siege by guards of the same dress as those they had previously been talking to in the Tavern at Town’s Edge. Outnumbered, the party opted to make a break for the bridge and see themselves to the other side to give them the strategic advantage. As the others took their final steps off the treacherous bridge, Theron bravely stood to face their attackers to see his comrades to safety. His bravery would soon prove foolish as a volley of crossbow bolts riddled his body and nearly threw him from the bridge. Kal, having been just ahead of Theron at the time, quickly pulled the Dwarf’s body to safety and re-joined the others behind the rock formation just right of the bridge.

After launching a relatively successful counter-attack, the party quickly surveyed their options and mounted efforts to disable the bridge to prevent the enemy advance. With the guards making their march across the bridge, they sat helpless as Vince doused the bridge in oil and Armando lit it ablaze. Moments later, the bridge collapsed and the group of guards plummeted into the ravine, survived only by their supposed leader who vanished into the woods as the bridge was lit on fire.

After a moment of rejoicing, the party gathered themselves, healed the wounded and sought cover from the imminent storm ahead. Along the winding path of the mountain were pockets of concave earthen inlets that they opted to pitch their tents over to protect them from the cold winds. While standing guard at the entrance to the tent, Kal heard an unsettling cracking noise that alerted him to warn the others. Although most of the party safely made it out of the tent in time, Lili and Theron fell as the frozen earth beneath them gave way to their combined body heat. A short fall left them below the remaining party in a natural cave emanating with and unnatural warmth.

Using their superior low light vision, the two investigated the cave and found that the source of the warmth seemed to be coming from the far eastern corner of the oblong cave where a small underground stream appeared to be welling up. It was the party’s conclusion that the stream’s warmth must be fed by some form of natural spring beneath their feet. To the western side of the cavern, the stream dumped out into a 3 foot wide hole in the wall.

Unwilling to investigate further, the party deemed the structure to be a safer area to bed down than the storm raging above them and set to making camp within the cavern, setting up a makeshift rope hold to allow themselves exit in the morning.

Session 2

The party awoke the following morning and made their way out of the cave that they had fallen into and subsequently chosen to bunker down in. After a short discussion they opted to continue north into the White Ridge Mountains following the tracks in the snow that have since been buried under the nights blizzard. A few hours into their journey, the group began to feel the harsh effects of the weather atop the peaks and fended off the effects of Hypothermia as the sought cover from the elements. Before long, and narrowly avoiding a frozen demise... the group ducked into a cave opening near the summit of the first peak. After observing the mouth of the cave, it become obvious that something inhabited it. Foul smells invaded the noses of the group and chattering noises resonated from the thick walls in haunting echoes.

The mouth of the cave split almost immediately to the east and west in 2 very different paths. The group chose to head towards the North-East path in hopes that it's wide berth would provide faster and less inhibited movement as they progressed through the dark halls. The walls were alight with the eerie glow of luminescent fungus that provided a dim glow. After rounding the first corner, Lili (Firwind) nearly sprung a snare trap set up in the hall that would have lifted her to the ceiling in short order. Fortunately, she was able to discover it and disable it before harm would have befallen her or anyone else. She similarly disabled the other poorly disguised snare in the other tunnel before the group progressed.

Because they had dismantled the traps without setting them off, they were able to round the corner into the first main room while avoiding detection from the 3 Kobolds who were standing around yammering to one another in their tongue. The group made quick work of them and gathered up their weapons before moving on. They soon found themselves in what seemed to be the center area of the cavern where a large stone outcropping centered the room and split it into 4 paths. Moving quickly, the party made their way towards the noises of other Kobolds in an effort to surprise and surround them before they knew what was coming. As the party engaged, noises from the surrounding hallways foretold of backup making it's way toward them hastily. Soon enough, the room erupted into combat as the party fought off hordes of Kobolds rushing them from all sides. The group split into 2 and took them on in groups. Armando, Mezlo and Cid took the southern portion of the room and handled the reinforcements while Firewind, TM and Murphie made short work of those to the north.

When the dust settled, Armando gathered the spears and javelins from their tiny lizard-like bodies and piled them onto his back as the party dredged forward into the deeper reaches of the cave, but not before tripping a crude trap along the way. A large wooden pole had been set up to hold in place a shelf high above the cavern's floor. Atop the shelf, an assortment of large boulders had been precariously perched in such a way that should the shelf be disturbed, they would tumble to the floor and likely crush all those standing beneath. A thin trip wire had been tied to the base of the wooden pole and stretched to the opposite side of the hall, secured to a stalagmite. Unaware of this, the group passed through, knocking the wire and pulling the boulders down on top of them. Thankfully, their reflexes paid off and they were spared a large portion of the damage.

Narrow passages turned out to be a theme in this cave, as the group squeezed through one after another as they made their way towards what they hoped would be a less claustrophobic environment. To their relief, the southern pass opened into a large chamber booming with the noises of Kobolds of all ages and types. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, the party engaged them an dispatched the camp rather effectively... after witch Armando again... harvested their weapons.

Pausing briefly to discuss what to do next, they surveyed their surroundings and noticed that they were in likely the largest and most expansive room in the cavern. It was roughly 50x50 and had ceilings that were almost not visible due to their distance from the floor. The northern portion of the room was littered with burned out fires, assorted junk and a few scattered weapons placed against a 10 foot tall sloping wall that plateaued to a platform atop which some of the Kobolds had been patrolling.

They ultimately opted to head south through the tunnel adjacent to the one they had exited from, following the direction of the shallow stream that cut through the walls of the cavern and flowed in a south-westerly direction. Their squeeze didn't last long as they exited the tunnel into a small room guarded at the front by a Kobold Grunt. Behind him, Firewind (Or Cid... I cant remember) quickly spotted a growing magical light illuminating the eastern corner of the room and identified it as coming from the red-caped Kobold who appeared to be preparing a spell.

TM rushed the Kobold Grunt who was standing in the party's way and the group rushed in, leaving Murphie (not in attendance) to guard the tunnel in case of enemy backup. With a poof of green haze, the Sorcerer Summoned a venomous viper to his side and immediately began casting defensive spells on himself in preparation for the enemy assault. After taking a color spray to the face, the Viper was incapacitated and the party left it to despawn, knowing it to be of magical origin. Meanwhile, the party made short work of the grunt who was now against the southern wall and prone on the ground while Fire and Cid worked on the Sorcerer who was determined not to go down without a fight.

Midway through battle, Mezlo spotted a young girl, bound in the corner and communicated her presence to the party. Firewind was quick to act and lept in beside the Sorcerer to grab the girl and hastily retreat her to the care of Murphy who was outside of the heat of battle. With her out of harm's way, Armando stepped in and deftly tripped the Sorcerer, where... on his back, he was no match for the onslaught of sword and spell that spelled out his death shortly there-after.

Identifying the girl as the Duke's missing daughter, the group panted a sigh of relief and quickly raided the inner chamber of the small hoard of treasure that the Kobolds had gathered before they left for Ocean's Edge once more.

That ended the session due to time, prior to which I handed out the session's spoils and experience. A large pile of Gold and Silver pieces valuing over 750gp as well as a steel mirror, a jade and gold decorated ivory mug and a Masterwork Short Sword were among the treasure. The experience points were enough to propel the party on to level 2.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Dungeon Master's Log

Sessions 3-7: A Recap

In an effort to keep members of the community up to date on the campaign, I've been asked to continue these synopses. So today I have decided to humor those requests made of me and recap the past 5 sessions until present in 1 glorious post. I hope you like reading.

Session 3

When we last left the party, they had just rescued the daughter of the Duke of Ocean's Edge and successfully dispatched the hordes of Kobolds who infested the caverns in the mountains north of the city. With the girl in tow, they retraced their steps to the city and triumphantly reunited her with her father. The ever grateful Duke handsomely rewarded the group with gold and his undying gratitude. Following the reunion and reward, Murph's character politely excused himself and retired to his home, satisfied with a sense of accomplishment and a good deed well done. The Duke stayed the remaining members and asked them once more for their aid. It had come to his attention that only 3 of the 4 groups sent out in search of his daughter had returned. The 4th, dispatched to the southern reaches of the continent, had yet to report back. As a gesture of faith in their previous endeavors, he politely requested the parties aid in seeking them out and return word to him of their status. Being that there was still a cash reward (and likely for no other reason), they accepted the mission and set off for the South.

During their long and largely uneventful travels, the party encountered at least 1 strange sight. As they were marching through one of the many vast and windy plains, Cid aptly spotted a figure in the distance moving at alarming speeds toward their position. Alerting the others to the sight, the group took arms and prepared for what was to come. Soon enough, a man in deep grey cloaks came into focus and hastily sped past the party, leaving nothing but dust and questions in his wake. Considering he was alone and obviously posed no immediate threats, the party shrugged off the sight and continued their march. Shortly later, a second sight came rushing their way. This time, a small band of mounted guards emblazoned with the Sigil of the prison city of Mor Dona. As they neared, their leader dismounted and approached the party asking direct and pointed questions regarding a man who had eluded their capture and was last seen headed in the direction from whence they were walking.

As usual, they answered by being snarky and vague. Armando was more forward and informed them that such as man as they describe had passed the group not an hour earlier, making haste to the north. With the new information, the guards took off in pursuit without another word.

Finally, after that incident and quite a bit more walking, the party reached the southern shores and its famous cliffs that are as steep as they are sudden. A quick survey of the area pointed to evidence of a struggle as seen in the dirt near the cliff's face (thanks natural 20). Further investigation to the bluffs below called their attention to what looked like half a dozen bodies, one of which was clad in Blue armor very similar to that worn by guards of Ocean's Edge. Logic dictated that treachery was afoot and that these men, presumably the missing search party, had been driven over the edge by someone or possibly even something. That being the case, Fire scoured the area and found a number of footprints in the dirt, deep enough to have been made by men suited in armor. The tracks themselves led to the West, towards the port city of Tertullia. Acting at the direction of the Duke, the party returned to Ocean's Edge to report their findings. Happy to see the party, but saddened by the supposed fate of the search party, he asked the group to do what they could to return any further information they might learn to him during their travels. With that, and a bit of gold, the party left and headed back South. Their destination, Tertullia.

End of Session 3. *still writing more*

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Dungeon Master's Log

Session 4

After several days journey south (again), the adventurers found themselves traveling the narrow path of land that separates the southern cliffs from the bog that encases the prison city of Mor Dona. Traveling carefully, they continued their westward trek until a sudden and unexpected growl was heard from deep within the blackness of the bog. Soon enough, an immense Feral Lynx charged from the blackness and with a leap, landed among the party, snarling and leering. Quickly, the group scattered and began to lay siege to the cat from all directions. Shortly later the great best fell to sword and spell and lay unconscious, at the request of Armando, to live another day. That is however... not before Mezlo severed the cat's testicles and pocketed them.

Another half a day's journey led the group to the gates of the King's Vast port city of Tertullia where it quickly became apparent that they needed to be a lot more careful than they expected. You see, as they entered the gates, the party noticed that the guards stationed here were all wearing the very same purple-accented armor as the ones who had previously assailed them not only in Towns Edge, but on the bridge as well.

Treading lightly, and taking an active effort not to be discovered, they passed safely through the gates and quickly made their way to the nearest and least conspicuous looking tavern (The Lusty Ogre) to regroup and try and make sense of what was happening.

As they entered, they were just in time to see a blur of a person plummet from the balcony of the second floor's seating area, straight through the table in front of them... and then subsequently through the floorboards. Armando was among the first responders who rushed to their aid, casting a cure spell to stabilize the lifeless being. Lyulf's Character (A Female Elven Monk) quickly popped her head up from among the broken floorboards and smashed bottles to signal that she was fine... and stumbled her way up the basement steps to greet the party. Identifying herself as a Monk from the Eastern Continent, she explained the the Abbot has sent her out into the world to experience everything that it had to offer. She further explained (and things suddenly made sense) that one such experience was alcohol. After settling up with the bar owner who was obviously distraught over the condition of his entry way and basement, the party filled Lyulf in on their adventures and she was more than happy to join them... although they were less than thrilled at the prospect of letting her. Either way, they resumed their discussions on what to do next.

If they were indeed being hunted by Tertullian guards, which seemed likely, why then did the vast number of them at the city gates not immediately recognize the group and arrest them all on sight? It seemed awfully strange that they... obviously wanted criminals of Tertullia (for some reason) would be allowed to simply stroll into the gates without question.

Slightly nervous to leave the Lusty Ogre, the party resorted to questioning the tavern regulars to find out if there was something going on that they were not aware of. What they learned was what there seemed to be a working theory that the Duke of Tertullia was at odds with the Duke of Ocean's edge. As it would seem, the King favored Ocean's Edge's Duke for some unknown reason and that greatly irritated Tertullia's Duke.

With that theory in hand, the party thought long and hard on the issue and came up with a working theory that the attacks that had been made on them could likely have come from a renegade force of Tertullian guards acting on their own. It would certainly have explained their presence so close to Ocean's Edge, not to mention their hostility toward the party after learning about their mission to find and rescue the Duke's missing daughter. They further decided that it was highly likely that they were after her as well, only not to rescue... but to make use of her disappearance and kidnap her for their own reasons.

Treachery... was certainly afoot...

End of session 4 *still writing*

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Dungeon Master's Log

Session 5

After coming to a believable deciding as to what was going on, the party continued to casually question the people in the tavern about mostly nonsense. Soon enough, a booming voice could be heard from the street just outside the tavern. The voice was that of Captain Trent Locke of the guard demanding the party of "outsiders" come outside immediately. After some hesitation, the group strolled out into the street... besides Cid... you made for the back door and kept himself from sight the whole time. Captain Locke grilled the party on who they were, why they were there and what business Ocean's Edge had with Tertullia. After some quick wit and wise-ass remarks the party finally briefed him on the dead civilians from Ocean;s Edge whose bodies were strewn among the rocks along the cliffs to the southeast. The news seemed to surprise him and he ordered 2 of his men to accompany the party to investigate the area and report back their findings. The party did just that, but with Cid following closely behind them the whole time, always just out of ear and eye shot.

After leading the guards to the location and showing them what they had seen, the group began their travels back towards Tertullia... when a sudden and very unexpected wind (and eventually snow) storm appeared to descend on the area. Given that the weather was entirely out of season, the party along with the guards decided to investigate the cause of such a change.

Making their way through the forest in a freak blizzard proved to be a strange challenge, but they eventually made it out of the storm to come face-to-face with a large tower, completely encased in ice. The tower itself was 5 stories tall and behind at least 3 feet of solid ice. As the party approached it, they found themselves ambushed by guardian gargoyles who were precariously perched on the 4 pillars just in front of the entrance. During the fight, the guards assisted while Cid made the executive decision not to blow his cover and remained in the shadows.

Once the gargoyles were finished, the party investigated the tower and found it to be not only encased in ice, but completely covered in statues and carvings of demons and devils in grotesque poses. Alarmed, but not discouraged they decided to smash through the ice to get in. Lyulf did the honors and bet the hell out of the frozen mass until it eventually gave way and was wide enough to access the door.

What they found inside was a perfectly preserved home within a tower. Nearly everything was covered in a thick layer of frost. Tapestries were brittle from the cold and broke upon touching them, furniture was brittle and fragile to the touch and the flames inside the fireplaces stood still, frozen in time. It was as if some kind of flash freeze had hit the tower all at once and frozen everything.

As they traveled higher and higher into the tower, they came across more evidence that the tower had been owned by a Wizard of sorts... and that he was doing his best to open up some kind of dimensional portal to another realm. Common sense dictated that it was probably the Elemental Plane of Ice... but that was just a guess. On the 3rd floor, the Lyulf discovered a room hidden behind a set of tapestries that had shattered from the cold. Inside was nothing but an ornate wooden desk that appeared untouched by the cold that the rest of the tower suffered. Unfortunately, without consulting the Rogues to check it for traps, Lyulf hastily tried to open the center drawer of the desk and triggered an explosive rune that blew the entire desk to splinters... along with anything that was in it. After the chastising ended, the group continued to the 4th floor where the only noteworthy decoration was a swirling blue vortex of runes on the floor that Mezlo was able to identify as teleportation runes.

After some slight deliberation the group decided "fuck it" and stepped into the rune. This quickly transported all living beings within the tower to the rooftop, including Cid. The roof itself was again, completely encased in a thick layer of ice that created a dome over the top. High above the group's heads hovered a large Sapphire the size of a baby's fist, suspended in thin air. In order to get to it, the party tied a rope to one of Mezlo's bolts and had him fire it into the ice that formed the domed ceiling. Using the rope, either Armando or Mezlo (I can't remember) climbed up to inspect it more closely. Inscribed within the jewel were words written in an ancient Fay language that Mezlo was able to translate. They read "Restrict", "Bind" and "Contain" an something else that loosely translated into "Do not touch". So the party eventually decided to touch it... because reverse psychology.

Once touched, the area swirled with cold and directly beneath the sapphire there appeared a hulking white brute who stood roughly 10 feet tall and covered in coarse white fur (think Sasquach but super evil). What ensued was a close quarters fight in which the Tertullian Guards lost their lives while the party struggled to stay alive themselves. Eventually a combination of fire and pure persistence felled the creature and released the magic from the tower. Quickly the ice began to thaw and the Sapphire descended to the floor. After another round of inspection, a small fairy emerged from the jewel, motioned toward the party in thanks and quickly flew off. Confused, they pocketed the Sapphire and headed down the newly defrosted spiral staircase that encircled the outside of the tower and began deliberating what they were going to tell Captain Locke.

After some talking, their concentration was broken by a massive thud of wings accompanied by the earthquake-like landing of a colossal Steel Dragon with what could only be described as an.... Inn.... strapped to it's back. Soon enough, the door to the inn swung open and a small and very well dressed Tiefling Man sauntered down the Dragon's scales as if they were steps and headed in a straight path to the party.

"Well good, you're all here! Get in, we've got a tight schedule and quite a few more stops to make."

End of session 5 *sill writing*

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Dungeon Master's Log

Session 6

The party hesitantly agreed to board the Inn atop the steel dragon and got a brief introduction from the Tiefling who identified himself as Fly, the Innkeeper of the Yyagerbad Skyhouse. He further explained that the dragon (Yyagerbad) and himself work as a sort of shuttle service under the employ of Lord Oran of the Feywild. The Feywild, as he explained, is one of a number of dimensions of which are tied to our Material Realm of Existence and that our Material realm serves as a sort of go-between of all such dimensions. In short, to get from The Feywild to anywhere else, one would first need to travel to the Material Realm.

After his explanation of inter-dimensional travel, Fly retired himself to the cabin and welcomed the party to make themselves comfortable and that they would be arriving in the Feywild shortly. Among the Inn's inhabitants were a number of strange sights the likes of Demon Hunters and Lizardfolk of lordly status. Most had little to say and maintained a certain amount of disinterest in anything the PCs were doing. The crew for the inn consisted of nothing more than a small army of lifeless wooden sailors whose purpose seemed to be attending to the every need of those on board.

After several hours of flight, Fly announced over some manner of loudspeaker that they were landing in the Feywild and that those who had been summoned by Lord Oran should prepare to disembark. The party followed instruction and after a rather bumpy landing, waved goodbye to Fly and watched as the massive dragon took off into the air once again. They now found themselves in the lush green surroundings of a woodland city built in and among the very trees themselves. In front of them, an enormous set of marble stairs led to a stately manor built into a towering oak tree that dwarfed the others in size. At the top of the staircase, a tall and muscular Elven man with flowing russet hair that matched his skin tone greeted them with open arms.

"Welcome to the Feywild, my friends! I am Lord Oran! Please, come in! Come in!"

Following instruction, the party joined Oran in his home, escorted by 2 dozen stoic guards clad in shimmering armor. Inside they were guided to a large dining hall with a spread of every kind of food imaginable where Oran sat them to discuss why he had brought them all here.

What followed was a quick and witty train of nature-related puns sprinkled with useful information about his intentions for the party. In essence, he was pleased to hear of the groups endeavors in the icy spire and that they had been responsible for releasing a fairy from being enslaved as a power source within a gemstone. It was this action that inspire him to hire the group to venture back to the material realm as his personal task force to aid a small town known as Brindol. Brindol, he explained, had come under siege several times in the past month by a band of Goblins who seemed dead set on ransacking the town until there was nothing left. Oran's concern was for the safety of those fairies and magical beings who resided within the city limits. The sooner the situation was dealt with, the better.

Terms of reward were discussed and the party accepted the task along with a special gift. Oran pulled aside Firewind, knowing him to be in tune with Dragon's Tongue and taught him a short and melodic tune. This, he informed the party, would call forth Yyagerbad if they should ever have need of his service as transport them back to the Feywild. He added that Yyagerbad's duty was not one of violence and that he would refuse to participate in anything that did not directly threaten his own life. After all, it's not in the contract and he has a schedule to keep.

After the instruction on Yyagerbad was complete, the party had the city to explore while they waited for Yyagerbad's return the following morning. (The events around the city were largely buying stuff and we'll skip that)

The following morning, the dragon picked up the party and made haste for the southern continent, dropping the party off a mile or so outside the limits of the city of Brindol. Knowing the mission to be one of urgency, they rushed to the city and made for (you guessed it) the local tavern to ask around about the invasions. What they learned from the people in the tavern was that the city had come under attack by goblins who had not only ransacked the town, but kidnapped citizens and stolen artifacts from the city hall that were spoils from a war 100 years earlier. The town guard caught wind of their investigation into the matter and were more than happy to have able bodied adventurers residing in town, hoping that their presence might ward off another attack. The guards explained that the artifacts that has been stolen were from an army of goblins who called themselves "The Red Hand of Doom". The Red Hand had laid siege to the entire continent long long ago and thanks to the efforts of the brave guard in the city of Brindol, were held back and eventually defeated at the city gates. The fact that it had been goblins attacking the city as of late, combined with the nature of the artifacts stolen, the guard was growing worrisome that this might possibly be a some sort of attempt to resurrect the long since defeated army.

During the discussion, a riot of screams and explosions sounded from all directions and it quickly became apparent that the city was being attacked. Soon enough, around the corner came a wagon being pulled by a sizable ogre. Atop the wagon were 3 goblins, 2 of whom were wielding crossbows and throwing small makeshift napalm made of pitch and tar set on fire. The PCs engaged them without hesitation and made short work of their efforts to attack at least this part of town. After looting the bodies, the cried from the street subsided and it seemed the attack was over. The citizens quickly formed a bucket brigade to douse the flames that were consuming some of the homes and went to work tending to the wounded.

It was then that the party took up the challenge proposed to them by the guards and set off to find the Goblin's stronghold to the East and rescue the captured villagers.

End of session 6. *still writing... but not until tomorrow*

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Dungeon Master's Log

Session 7

Following the directions given to them by the villagers and guards in Brindol, the party set out for the long-since abandoned castle of the Family Rivenroar to the East. After journeying for nearly a full day, the party exited the forest into a vast clearing. In the distance, the decrepit structure of Castle Rivenroar could be seen. The silence surrounding the complex gave off an unsettling feeling worthy of caution. Sensing this, the party carefully made their way towards the castle's main entry, unhindered by foe, beast or trap. After entering the castle antechamber, the party made a choice between 3 doors, North, East and West. They first traveled East and traversed the dark and musty hallways until they came to a room occupied by a stone pillar at the far north wall as well as pews set up along each wall. Likely this room served as a chapel of sorts. However now it was occupied by an unsightly Gnome and his small army of dire rats who proceeded to attack the group as they crossed the threshold.

Among the most entertaining points in the fight were Armando's grappling endeavors. One such action was to use one of the grappled rats as a sort of (sigh) rat flail to damage others. Another was his overkill of another such rat by slamming it aggressively (and not very Clearic-like I should add) against his armor spikes, impaling it.

When the fight ended, the party scoured the room and found a crude crimson sword propped up against the pillar. Small in size, it was at one point wielded by the leader of the Red Hand of Doom in his raids against the continent. The group pocketed it and continued to search the eastern wing for further enemies.

What the found next was another large open room whose only noteworthy decor was a 5x5 grid of glowing blue runes adorning the floor. Mezlo and the others made attempts to identify their nature while a small hoard of miniature drakes scurried out from the cracks in the floor and out of crevices in the ceiling and attacked them.

Noting the lizards avoidance of the runes, the party determined that they were likely dangerous to touch and that these creatures had learned this the hard way and been conditioned to avoid them. (Yeah, I like psychology. Shut up!)

Fending off the swarm while systematically avoiding the runes proved to be challenging but not entirely impossible. Soon enough, the room was littered with dead drakes, several of which were being slowly cooked on what were then identified as Electrified Runes. Following this encounter, the party backtracked their steps to the main entryway and chose to take the northern door this time.

Opening the northern door gave Lyulf the bright idea to run WAAAAAAAY ahead of the group, down the steep staircase beyond the door and around the corner of the corridor almost 100 yards away. As the party hurried to catch up, everyone entered the enormous underground chamber. The ceilings were at least 50 feet high, or so they assumed since the ceiling was too far to be seen, and the floor was littered with boulders, rocks and glowing phosphorescent mushrooms of various colors and sizes. Seizing the opportunity to collect something, Jarre picked a bunch of each type and stuffed them in his backpack of holding as the rest of the party avoided them and crossed the room with caution.

Exiting to the East, they made their way through a series of hallways that eventually led them to a chamber containing one of the abducted townsfolk. The poor old woman was trapped inside of a pulsing magical dome that encased her in the middle of the room. Her shouts went unheard and she systematically avoided touching the dome's walls, which seemed like a wise thing for the party to emulate. Mezlo once again investigated the trap and judged it to be a variation of a hold person and containment spell, used to imprison someone or something. He further identified the pulsing as electric in nature. At this point, Firewind rolled up his Rogue sleeves and went to work attempting to disarm the trap safely. Mezlo cautioned that any tampering with the field or causing it any damage would likely reflect that damage inward at anything held captive within.

Success! Cid disarmed the trap with fancy chalk tricks and the field finished to nothing more than a light blue circle of dust encircling the old woman. But was it a success? Was it? Well yeah it was, but as it turned out, the old woman turned out to be a little more than a hand-full for the party to deal with. Throughout the rest of their adventure through the castle, she near constantly badgered about wanting to be taken home and how long it took to be rescued... and... you get the picture. From hence forth we identified her as "Old Crone".

Once again, the party backtracked to the main foyer and prepared to take the only remaining door in the chamber. Through the western door, the party encountered what appeared to be a sort of base-camp for the goblin forces. Crude bedrolls and tables were set up around a pit of fire as a number of their kind milled around the room. Quickly however, the parties presence became clear and they were attacked. The fight took place in fairly close quarters and ended with quite a bit of damage being taken by everyone involved. As a result, the group rested here for a few moments and deliberated on their next move. In addition, Cid had made the executive decision to detain one of the goblins for questioning, pinning him by the chest, to the wall, with an immovable rod. From this room there was a door to the north, through which could be heard the noises of other goblins, presumably making their way toward the noise. To the West was another door that had been left unlocked. Using their quick wit, they blockaded the door to the north, sealing it from whatever was coming and escaped through to the west.

Through another short hallway, the party came into an upside-down, trapezoidal shaped room whose features included several lanterns on posts, facing a large mural painted across the northern wall. The mural itself was of a castle that looked eerily similar to this one, but some time in the past when things around the area were probably a lot more green and... alive. Suspicious as always, Cid stayed back. Fire on the other hand, approached the mural with no regard for safety and gave it a closer inspection, which turned out to be a bad idea. His proximity to the mural triggered the latent magic within it to spill forth into the form of a huge purple gelatinous blob that oozed its way from the wall and congealed into a mass in the center of the room, slowly edging it's way towards the party.

Universal First Instinct: Run!

And that's exactly what they did. They hauled ass back to the previous room with the dead goblins and barricaded the door with tables and bedrolls and whatever else they could find... and they waited. Soon enough, the slurping noise of the ooze could be heard on the other side of the door as it seeped through the cracks in all around the frame and reformed on the other side.

A collective "Ahh shit" followed.

Plan B to take bedrolls, douse them in oil and set them on fire to throw at the creature. It seemed like a good plan, until the first thrown roll hit the creature and was absorbed into it, dousing the flames. So much for kill it with fire. Plan C was surprisingly one thought up by Lyulf that everyone else quickly got behind. His plan was to lure the likely stupid creature into the room with the electrified runes and have it cross on top of them. If it's base structure was conductive, it would surely fry itself without the party coming to any danger. Everyone agreed and slowly lured the blob to the room.

After a long and drawn out walk back to the chamber, the blob rolled into the room and right onto the runes, causing a large electric zap. The blob itself vibrated violently and split into 2 pieces that flew to either side of the room. Following this, the 2 separate blobs continued their pursuit of the party.

Another collective "... shit"

As the fight continued, the blobs rolled over the electric runes several more times until there were roughly 14 of them. The party slowly learned that piercing and slashing damage did little to nothing to them while blunt and magical damage seemed to work quite well. Mezlo (absent from the session and played by Firewind) cast a slow moving orb of fire into a cluster of the blobs and burned a number of them into nothingness. In addition, Jarre used his Sword to "twat"* several of them on the head repeatedly. At the close of battle, the party had sustained numerous injuries and were in pretty poor shape. They took this time to check on the Old Crone (still bitching) and question their captive Goblin (still pissing himself). After some intimidation by Cid as well as some... colorful threats, the goblin struck a deal with the party.

"I'll take you to Sinruth (the leader of the goblin force) if you let me live"

Begrudgingly, the party agreed and had the poor sap lead the way to Sinruth's chambers. Upon arrival, they unshackled the Goblin and busted the door to room off it's hinges (not quite that dramatic... but I'm using poetic license... cut me a break). Inside the room was a stone coffin, behind which Sinruth stood, grinning and swinging a long spiked chain.

Close quarters combat turned out to be a poor, but ultimately still effective, tactic as Sinruth used the confines of the chamber to his advantage, swinging the chain wide and hitting as many of the party members as possible with each rotation. No casualties resulted, but severe damage was taken by everyone. The final blow was struck by Jarre (a critical hit) that split the poor bastard down the middle.

Ransacking the room turned up the remaining 2 artifacts stolen from Brindol; a crude and dented crimson helmet and a wooden shield emblazoned with a blood red hand print. In addtion, the party found a small note tucked into Sinruth's breast pocket. The note (cliffnotes-style) went along the lines of:

Honorable Sinruth,

Love what you're doing to revive the Red Hand. Good stuff. As a continued gesture of your commitment, the other factions ask that you sack Brindol and recover our honorable leader's rightful property. Do what you will with your prisoners. Reinforcements are on their way. We'll be in touch.

- The Emissary

One last collective "... shit"

*Twat: To hit something bluntly... as over the head with the flat of a sword.

End of Session 7 *I''m back at it! There's more! Stay tuned*