Adventure 6: Finding a Tomb

Session 1

The party left their training centres the day before Midsummer. Insorce, the cleric, is still on his day of fasting, but the others are preparing for the following days festivities. Money is becoming really tight for the guys; they are starting to scrape together pennies to try and cover the cost of their hotel bill. They make the decision to go and find some work!

The next morning, there is good weather for the Midsummer festival; the party decide that the most fun can be had if they get involved with Anbartae's midsummer tournament; the thought of prize money appeals, as well as the chance to show off. The dwarves don't have horses, so that rules out the jousting, but the free for all has a huge appeal - not just to Insorce and Formil, but to Mouse too, who put aside his atheism for the day.

The fighting was, at times, brisk and generally entertaining; Insorce displayed his prowess with the hammer by tripping over it as he entered the ring. He was immediately set upon by thirty other combatants and was the first to be eliminated. Mouse lasted longer - getting to the end of his first round before capitulating to a better warrior, but earning himself some attention by fighting with honour, completely against his natural tendencies. Formil was his usual, efficient self at first; he breezed through the first round and the semi-final, and looked strong going into the last round (coming out of it he looked a bloody mess). He had to put a brave face on his performance when he was first one eliminated in the final fight. He was the last dwarf in the competition, though, which is not surprising, as most of the others wore shiny new chainmail armour, and wielded unmarked, dusty-looking hammers and axes.

The following day, the party resumed their normal activities, and began investigating the clues they had accumulated during thier recent adventures. They started with a trip to the chemist. While Randy picked up his weekly supply of pile cream, the party had the chemist cast an expert eye over the pots they had found in the Bewdrick Tomb in the graveyard. He spent a few moments analysing the chemical residue. He tells them they once contained small supplies of two familiar drugs, Belisti and Cobbinth these invoke muscular paralysis and can cause weakness in their target, the party had recently recovers supplies of these drugs on behalf of the chemist through the South Vale thief guild. These pots had been left empty for several weeks, probably for well over a month to six weeks - they had been in the party's possession for just over a fortnight.

Needing an excuse to go down to the Bewdrick Mausoleum again, the party went to visit Eversham's surviving Bewdrick family members. Baron Bewdrick had moved away to the Callenhall district many years ago, and most of the family went with him. There are few of them left in town, though, just one of the households did not want to move. The party paid them a visit, and told them of the unusual activity in the graveyard which seemed to be centred around their family tomb, and asked permission to go into the tomb to investigate. After some persuading, they agreed, but rather than give them the key to the mausoleum, they sent one of the sons of the family would meet them on the following day and accompany them.

The party did some investigation into the Bewdrick family, but could find no reason to suggest they could be involved with these strange goings-on. They also checked to see if they had any links with Derren or that region, or the periods when Derren was last awakened. They found nothing; it seems this family are innocent.

They met with their chaperone the following day, and upon arrival at the tomb, they used subterfuge to convince their associate that they had never entered here before; he seemed to believe them. He was quite shocked to find the tomb open, and littered with the rotting remains of undead. He showed the party around the place, but he allowed the cleric to open all the doors; he seemed very edgy, and clearly did not like to be down here.

When the party found the last straggling remains of undead, some zombies, skeletons and a ghoul, young Mr Bewdrick had had enough - he ran for the surface. The ensuing fight did not last long - most of the undead were turned, leaving just a single zombie and the ghoul to provide any resistance. They were mopped up quickly; Randy grabbing the glory at the end by finishing off the ghoul after Mouse had significantly weakened it.

Searching this tomb, the party found all the bodies to be intact; it seems that whoever had been down here just had been using this place as a hidden laboratory, not as a place to find bodies. The party surmised that the size of the tomb would make it ideal to hide any experiments. Whoever had been down here had used fresh remains - several of the surrounding tombs had missing bodies, and some of the newer graves in the graveyard had been dug up. These were people that had been buried within the last six months. Whoever had been doing this seemed to have needed a supply of fresh meat.

Mr Bewdrick returned to his family to pass on the bad news, while the party returned to their inn to consider what they had learned. It seems they have a lot of ideas, and plenty of clues, but piecing it all together is proving tricky. Some of the things they recounted were:

While waiting for the map to turn up, the party are now in desperate financial need. They chose to investigate alternative sources of income. Apart from signing up as trade caravan guards (which looks like it might be a way to get to Caldonacia and get paid for going there) there are some other interesting lines of work the party could consider.

The Kings Guard are hiring security operatives to work in the Docks where there is a conflict between two dock companies. The party thought the pay for this work was too poor, and turned it down. Instead, they went over to see Baron DeGarcy who recently suffered a big theft of the majority of the art and antique collection.

When they finally get to see the Baron, he allowed them to begin investigating the problem - he was pretty keen to get his treasures back, and has put up a 1000gp reward for their safe recovery. The party got a list of everything that was taken from the butler, Cooper. He was helpful, if a little slow, as he showed the party where each piece stood and tried to describe what it looked like.

Away from the house, the party investigated the list of the items that had been stolen. They did some research in the library, and looked through the list of items to see if any of it had obscure religious, magical or cultural significance, but couldn't find any pattern. The only thing the pieces seemed to have in common is their intrinsic value. Some were sets of items (which marginally enhances their value), but each piece was valuable on its own. There were no references to any of the individual items in the library, all that could be found were references to the DeGarcy collection as a whole.

A cursory examination of the scene of the crime showed that the floors inside the house were scraped where the heavier pieces of furniture were dragged off. Any tracks, footprints, or similar marks outside had been obliterated by the investigations of the Kings Guard. The butler did confirm that the Guard had found tracks in the gravel drive the morning after the raid; this drive scrunches nicely, and even walking on it makes noise. The cart would have been quite large, and it clearly had two axles from the marks it made as it turned up the drive. How could anyone have not heard it? And how could it have got away through the city without being seen?

Session 2

The list of stolen items proved interesting; Jim spendt a lot of time in the library while the others pondered different aspects of the case. A chat with Cooper (the butler) established the size of the household; along with the Baron and Lady DeGarcy and Cooper, Kevin Gates was the footman and understudy to Cooper, Mrs Bettis was the cook and young Dale McLunter was the young man who was learning to become a footman. Dale and Mrs Bettis did not live at the house, they only worked there during the day.

Library research focussed mainly on the statue named 'Minstrel' which is a heavy stone carving. They found a picture of the piece in one of the books, but they could find nothing unusual about it. The party felt that its weight might be an indication of additional properties and that the heist could have been made to cover the theft of one of the objects in particular.

The party spent some time walking the probable route for the wagon of the heist around town. They knew it couldn't have left the city during the night, as the gates are locked. They wondered if it could have been shipped up or down river, and spent some time looking into the dockland, but this seems to have drawn a blank. They also tried to look into warehouses, there were a few that had changed hands over the last few months; they started looking into these, but any boxes which would have been used to store the stolen goods would be of similar sizes to many of the boxes and crates that are being stored. Looking inside warehouses, they concluded, was probably a bad way to try and find the stolen goods. It was far too random; and they didn't even know if the stuff had been put in a warehouse.

Despite the Kings Guard being reluctant to discuss cases of this type with anyone outside their own, Randy still managed to glean some information out of them. The Guard were clearly frustrated by the case - they proved that the stolen items were carried away on a large cart, but they couldn't work out why nobody had seen it or heard it. They had not found a point of entry into the house, and assumed that there was inside help, but they couldn't find any of the inhabitants of the house guilty in this way, despite their rigorous questioning. Only Mrs DeGarcy had shown anything other than remorse that the collection was gone. They thought she seemed a little relieved that some of the pieces had been taken, but was also upset at the loss.

Questioning each of the members of household in turn is quite revealing. In general, they reported that they felt no different when waking in the morning after the robbery; most were wakened by Mrs DeGarcy who discovered that the theft had taken place - Cooper was having difficulties with his bowels anyway and and was in no state to notice any other differences; Gates is not a morning person, and to be woken by a screaming Mrs DeGarcy does not help him feel better about waking up and getting out of bed; Mr DeGarcy felt a little groggy in the morning, but he'd put that down to the wine he'd consumed the night before, only Mrs DeGarcy felt that she'd struggled to wake.

Further questioning left Mrs Bettis to bring up the subject of former employees; namely Grove Simmonds, who left the employment of Baron DeGarcy six months previously to go to Callenhall to care for his very sick father. Grove had been a popular member of the staff, a jovial sort, and she still misses his lively humour at times. Cooper had forgotten of Grove, but now recalled that he'd seen someone who looked like Grove in the market place only a few days ago. He'd been unkempt, almost scruffy, and Cooper had only seen him from a distance, so he could not be sure. The party decided to pursue this lead.

Starting with the posher drinking establishments, they went to search the town for this man, they took Gates (the footman) with them so that they had someone who would recognise him. The expensive bars did not help, there was no sign of him in there, so they made their way towards the rougher parts of the City. Drinking heavily, and asking enough of the punters around The Vale District paid off. Some of the market traders had seen Grove a few weeks ago, he'd been helping out a couple of the market traders on a casual basis. The party turned in for the morning at this point, they'd found a lead they could follow in the daylight.

Rising in the early afternoon, the party made their way down to The Vale District and to the market places. Their lead had been valid; Grove had returned to Eversham five weeks ago; he had been helping two market traders, but he'd not been seen for a couple of weeks. One of the traders knew his address, though. The party paid him a visit.

They broke into the small home, and found Grove Simmonds cowering in a corner trying to hide from whoever was bashing their way in. They questioned him vigorously. It turned out that he had been contacted by some villains, who offered (at first) bribes and (later) threats to give a detailed list of what was in the DeGarcy collection and where each piece was kept. After several days of their pressure, he gave in and provided what they wanted. They paid him 1000gp, and threatened him with death if he did not keep this quiet. They had tried to keep their identity secret from Grove, but he'd overheard one of them refer to them as the 'Ennethdor'.

Grove was clearly frightened and had been in hiding for a couple of weeks since he heard of the DeGarcy robbery, so the party took him into protective custody. While still seeming frightened, now he seemed more relieved, too. Randy went off to his Magic User Sect to try and find out about the Ennethdor. Despite talking to several of the senior guild members, the most he could get was that they'd vaguely remembered hearing about them. He decided to try other Sects. Next he went to The Sect of Master Illusionists, and talked his way inside. As Randy is a gnome, they seemed very willing to help. Speaking to some of the masters there, he found that the guild is called The Valtannarin Ennethdor, and rumour has it that they are interested in elemental god worshipping, and have an unnatural interest in Undead, possibly Vampires. Other sources of information about the Ennethdor seemed to draw a blank. Their next course of action seemed to be to carefully approach the South Vale Thief Guild to see if they have any information about the fencing of antiques or about the Ennethdor, who must have hired facilities or operatives locally at some point.

With all the walking about and questioning, the party had now spent four days investigating this burglary, and had made some good progress.

Session 3

Next up for the party is a visit to the South Vale Guild, Jim's organisation. They are very helpful, they tell the party how they'd had some dealings with The Valtannarin Ennethdor a few years before - they'd sold them their entire supply of Belisti at a vastly inflated price. They said that they'd had no further dealings since then, but they did know the address where the Ennethdor's administrative office was. They don't know if they're still there, but they dug the address out anyway.

While waiting for nightfall, the party did some more research into the treasures they were hunting. They found out some interesting information about the Caplup which featured in one of the stolen pictures, this was an elite group of Knights that formed in Ticetia in the 1020's, but who appear to have disappeared today. They looked into one or two of the other treasures but found nothing. The also heard today that the Church of Danethrae in Callenhall had been raided and an old book taken; the book had something to do with wish magic, and one of the junior clerics had been slain in the raid.

Breaking into the office that night, they found the place deserted. But as luck would have it, the party found two old receipts, jammed in the woodwork behind the back of a drawer and had clearly been missed when the previous occupants of the office moved out. One for 25000gp for a house in The Calund District (near to the DeGarcy residence) and one for a 135gp shipment of medicine pots with wax sealant. This was a big clue for the party and they decided to watch the house the next day.

Walking up and down the street revealed little - the house looked unoccupied; the party decided to return after dark and see if things changed. At dusk that day Jim and Formil went up to the house and took a look about. It still looked empty, so Jim tried to sneak round the back; this wasn't too successful, and they discovered that the house wasn't as empty as they had first thought. Jim retreated (at pace) and he and Formil waited a few minutes for any fuss to die down before returning to see if they could intercept whoever was inside. Jim hid in the shadows alongside the back door, while Formil made a noisy attempt to enter the garden outbuilding. Those inside the house came to investigate - a fighter armed and wearing chainmail came to discuss the matter with the dwarf, but before he could get close the back of his head was introduced to Jim's morning star. The ensuing fight saw the man easily defeated. They grabbed the body and started dragging it inside, when they were spotted by the guard's companion. They rushed over to engage him, and discovered that he was not alone - there was a wizard in the room too. They were both easily defeated, but not before the wizard managed to inflict a few wounds on Formil with his magic.

The only others in the house were two lackeys who had been hired to just move boxes around, and they surrendered. They found the majority of the stolen heist in the house, and the two lackeys informed them that they were expecting to ship one of the packages out over the next day or two.

They decided to wait around in the house for someone to come collect a new shipment, and Jim went to collect all the companions together at the house. They piled the dead bodies of their defeated enemy into the basement, and waited patiently. When the courier turned up a couple of days later, they found that he new nothing of the source of the shipment, he didn't seem to be a party to the robbery, and was only making a delivery, so he was sent on his way. A visit was made to Baron DeGarcy to tell him where his collection had gone. They didn't want to have to organise moving it, so they left that up to the Baron. He was very pleased, so pleased in fact that he paid the full 1000gp reward, despite two missing pieces.

The rest of that day the party spent time planning for a trip to Caldonacia - they went off to purchase a few more packs of trail rations. The town criers were in full voice proclaiming the heroics of the party - the Baron had indeed been pleased with the result.

Session 4

The party finally decide to take the plunge and go in search of Derren's tomb. This is a long journey they are undertaking so they decide to get more substantial transport. They bought a waggon, and two heavy draft horses to save themselves from having to walk all the way. Jim negotiated a good deal on the transport and saved about 40gp on the horses and the waggon.

They passed southwards through Grigans Fen and on through to Ridstock without incident. The approach to Ridstock caused some concern as they were all all worried that one member of the Kings Guard may recognise them from the last time they were here, chasing drug thieves who had come here from Eversham. Their fears were unfounded, however, as they moved into the city without anyone stopping them.

Before moving on, they tried to source a load to carry on their cart to make a bit of money on the side, but this is difficult unless they are members of the Guild of Merchant Transport, and that held them back. They had no success in signing up for that organisation in this town, either. Eventually they used their own money to buy a load in the hope that a profit could be made further along the road. They invested 175gp in turnips and carrots, food supplies, they reasoned, would be in demand in the mining cities and villages along the way.

Heading out of Ridstock, they approached Ballum village towards the end of the day. They find a farmer screaming for help. His house was on fire, and there are children trapped inside. The kids had retreated into the cellar, and the fire was spreading. Mouse drove the cart down the farm track, while the others charged in to rescue those trapped. It was Randy (yes, Randy) who bravely dived in through the hole in the building made by Formil and Insorce. He tied a rope around his waist and a wet cloth over his mouth and went inside. Despite some problems with the rope getting tangled, he managed to find the way down and pulled the kids to safety, making heroes of the party. They stayed the night in one of the farms barns, before setting off again in the morning. Mouse's skill with the cart meant that they made it through Ballum and on to Stoke Cairn Village by the end of the following day.

The night spent in Stoke Cairn was quiet, but in the morning, just as they left the village on the road to Ireby, they met a farmer carrying a longsword. He was clearly in trouble; he reported fighting off some giant spiders who had originally been attacking and raiding his cattle, but who had now also attacked the farmhouse and made off with his wife and one of their children bound up with silk. He offered them a reward for help to defeat the spiders and rescue his family members. They agreed without hesitation.

Despite the spiders dragging off two humans, the track still proved hard for Jim to follow. They managed to find a couple of groups of spiders in the wilderness. These were a stern test; their bodies are covered in a stiff exoskeleton, which makes it hard to harm them, and the party suffered from their poisonous bite. Eventually they defeated the two groups of spiders, and they set off in search of the spider lair.

Session 5

After a few minutes searching round the area, the spider's trail was picked up by Jim, who tracked back to their lair. The entrance was a partially hidden hole in the ground, overgrown with grass and bushes around it, and providing cover. It couldn't be seen from more than a few feet away.

Inside, the tunnels had been dug from the earth. Wave after wave of spiders made it hard for the party to progress through the tunnels and reach their objective. Eventually, they found the room with the silk entwined bodies of several large animals, and two humans. Trying to revive the farmers wife and child proved difficult, so the party carried them out as quickly as they could. They encountered a last group of spiders as they reached the exit, and dispatched them more swiftly than the others they'd found in the lair; then they made their way back to the farmhouse. The farmer was delighted; he paid them a 700gp reward, and helped the party rest and recover from the debilitating effects of the spider poison with two days at the farm. Finally the party moved off and headed for Ireby.

Session 6

Making a swift visit to the local traders, Jim made a quick deal to purchase a job-lot of farm implements, mostly saw blades, hammer heads and axe heads. After some haggling, he invested 250gp of the party's funds in their capital making venture, they loaded up and headed out. With a little effort they made it to Grindley village by nightfall.

The next day, they headed out on the northward road once again. By the end of the day, they'd reached Wallow village, where an unusual sight met them. An artisan was erecting a frame over the roadway at the end of the village main street. Making enquiries, the party discovered that there was a football game about to take place, and if they were to talk to the right people, there might be a chance to take part. Having no perishable cargo, and being more than ready to take a break from their long journey north, the party went in search of Baron Owen, who, they were told, was recruiting players for his team.

Finding members of the Owen family was not difficult. They only needed to show a little interest in the game rules published in the village inn to attract the attention of one of the younger members of the Owen household - he made no delay in introducing the party to the baron. At the offer of 50gp per player, the party were signed up as players, and the Baron took them to their new team lodgings at the Owen hall at the South end of town. The Owen family had not won this annual game for nine years now, and so were very pleased to have some additional muscle to help their cause in the match against the team put out by Baron Gerrard.

During the meal the Gerrard dirty-tricks department struck, they had someone sneak into the Owen house and cut the rope holding the chandelier during the meal, it fell onto the table, injuring a couple of the larger Owen players; fortunately Insorce the cleric of Danethrae was on hand to tend to the injured, while Formil, Jim and Mouse headed off in the direction the footpad had run. They got out into the corridor but there was no sign of him. Following the corridor further on, they found the front door swinging open, but could see no sign of the rogue. Even Jim couldn't find any tracks on the flagstone floor.

The next day, it turned out that four of the Owen team's best players had disappeared. It took several hours of searching, but eventually, the party discovered the poor players locked in a basement on the outskirts of the village. They had been kidnapped during the night. The party decided it was time to play a few dirty tricks of their own. As evening approached, Randy prepared a concoction which would render anyone who imbibed it to be rather ill; he handed it to Jim who was to attempt to get it into the Gerrard team's food without anyone noticing. He got close to the house without being seen and climbed in through a window that seemed to be close to the kitchen. He found himself in a storage cupboard from where he could observe the activity in the kitchen with ease. As the kitchen was alive with activity, however, it was not possible to get out from here without being noticed. A new tactic was needed. He climbed back out the window, and walked round to the kitchen door. He tried to blag his way past the lone guard by pretending to be one of the Gerrard team players. The guard just sent him round to the front entrance. He'd not managed to get in here - but the front might offer a way to the kitchen.

Making his way around to the front entrance, this time Jim successfully convinced the front door guard that he was a new member of the Gerrard team, and went inside. He sneaked down to the kitchen and gave the cook a story about being sent by the baron to check on the quality of the food. The cook was not very keen on the idea that her meal might not be up to the standard required by the baron - and he'd never checked before, but she allowed Jim to come in and take a look. One of the girls helping prepare the food kept a close eye on him. Jim lifted the lid of a large pan, and took a long deep breath, commenting on how good it smelled. While he did this he tried to sprinkle the supplied drug into the dish without being noticed. This was a abject failure, as the girl stood behind him started screaming about him adding something; he tried to convince them that it was just salt, but they were having none of it. Jim has faced fierce undead, Giant spiders, even orc war parties, but they are nothing compared to a rather large female cook wielding a rolling pin. He decided discretion was the better part of valour, and made a run for the door. He darted past the cook, who managed to land a lucky blow on the back of Jim's head as he fumbled the door - he didn't stop, however, and ran straight past the rather startled guard who eventually gave chase. Jim easily lost them and slipped back to the Owen home. While all this was going on, Formil, Insorce, Mouse and Randy had taken it upon themselves to guard the Owen's kitchen while their evening meal was prepared.

The next day, as kick-off time drew near, it became clear that the Gerrards had a couple of new players - two half-orcs who looked particularly burly, just the sort of player you need to intimidate the opposition. Insorce and Formil, however, were having none of that. Orcs are Orcs, and as the teams lined up for kick off, they made sure they lined up opposite them. Their intention was to put them out of the game without being noticed by the referees.

Once the game kicked off, it was a bit scrappy at first, with several off-the-ball incidents going unnoticed by the referees. Formil was one of the first to land a crunching tackle on his half-orc opponent; there wasn't even a ball involved. On 17 minutes, as the play had been end-to-end, Formil picked the ball up on about half way, and looked around to make a pass. There were no immediate options, so he decided to shoot for goal. A very accurate shot made it all the way to the red goal at the north of the village - missing all the interception attempts of the Gerrard team, and sailed into the corner. The Owens took the lead 1-0; for the first time in nine years they were ahead. After this, Formil became something of a target for the two half-orcs playing up-front for the Gerrard team, and a series of rough tackles ensued. Formil and Insorce managed to put one of the half orcs completely out of the game through concussion, but the ref had seen them. He sent them both off for dangerous play. This was a bit of a disappointment, as their job was only half-complete, the other half orc was still on the field (although badly hurt).

After this incident, the Gerrard team took on a bit of a resurgence, and pulled a goal back on 33 minutes. Another change of tactics was needed from the party. Randy was struggling to keep up with the pace of the much taller humans, so he went up front to goal-hang, Jim went to cover at the back and keep the goal protected, and the big strong Mouse became a tough tackling ball-winner in midfield. This worked well, the Owens got themselves back on top with a glorious pass up to Randy who converted on 78 minutes with a deft shot from close range.

Shortly afterwards, the Owens committed suicide at the back; Mouse failed to close down in the middle of the park, Jim got pulled out of position, committed himself to a tackle which didn't come off and they stood and watched the Gerrards equalise with some quality passing and an unstoppable shot.

By now, both teams were looking light on numbers, injuries and sending-off's had taken their toll, and the remaining players were looking tired. On 94 minutes, having tried several times to get good passes in, Mouse picked up the ball just inside the Gerrard's half. Instead of passing he went on a run; good use of the elbow and knee ensured he wasn't tackled, and he went one-on-one with the Gerrard's last player. He beat him easily (actually steamrollering him) then ran the ball into the goal for the winner. An historic victory for the Owens, 3-2. The party were hailed as heroes at the after match banquet, where both teams got together for an almighty booze-up. The party remained guests of honour of the Owen family for two more days while they recovered. The half-orcs didn't even appear at the celebration.

Finally moving on, the party reached Birdley, a small city where the logging and farming industries are popular. Insorce went to his church to while the others went into the inn to relax after a hard days ride on the cart. At the church Insorce was deep in discussion with the head cleric when one of the acolytes came running in looking for help. A hole had opened up outside and another of the young priests had fallen into it. They needed help. Insorce helped rescue the young priest with a rope, and he reported that there was a cavern, maybe even a complex down there that probably required investigation. The head priest was intrigued, and Insorce volunteered the services of him and his friends to do the job. The priest accepted, and they covered the hole over for the night.

The following morning, Jim went out and sold on the party's tool shipment for 400gp (a tidy profit), before the party assembled to go down into the hole. It was a clumsy descent. Insorce and Mouse both fell, despite climbing down using a rope, and suffered a few scrapes and bruises. The area at the bottom was a natural-looking cavern, strewn with rubble. There was an area that opened out into what looked like a man-made cavern beyond. It took a little digging to get through the rubble that blocked the way, but it was clearly an old chamber of some sort. It looked old and abandoned; it smelled damp and rotten, also Insorce couldn't put his finger on it, there was something about the place he didn't like.

Session 7

Investigating deeper into the underground complex, the party found four shrines, either themed with the four elements, or worship places to unknown gods of those elements. Each had been unused for an extremely long time, and damp had taken its toll on what was buried here. Each shrine was guarded by elemental beings, but these proved no match for the party's growing capability with their weapons. Each shrine was decorated in a slightly different way, but the copper, silver and bronze burners and other artefacts were shadowed by the huge array of gemstones that were scattered over each of the four altars. The party also discovered the head of a hammer, and the blade of a sword, both with a faint trace of magic.

Returning to the surface, they took the gemstones and precious metals to be weighed-in. This raised over 9000gp, quite a haul, and a change of fortunes for the party - they could now afford some of the training they had been in bad need of for some time.

While Formil, Mouse and Jim spent time with their guilds, Insorce and Randy took the hammer and blade to be built up into weapons; this was a little expensive, but proved worthwhile - the party now has magical weapons, and are better prepared for any challenges that may await them.

Moving on with their journey, the party headed north on the two-day journey from Birdley to Loswood. Here they bought a load of construction-quality wood to sell on further along their way, and headed along the north-east road to Cullarnen Ford. Arriving here two days later, they saw a poster in the inn asking for help with a Ogre problem reported by one of the outlying villages. This is the kind of task the party (and particularly the dwarves) revel in. They spent the night in town and headed out to the village first thing. The job had a 1000gp reward, raised by local businesses and the the local Baron. The party were eager to accept the job and headed off into the foothills south east of the village where Jim immediately picked up the track the ogres. They spotted a small group of them ahead over the hills, and followed them.

Catching up with the ogres was relatively straightforward, as was getting their attention by firing bows at them. One of the four split and ran away over the hills, while the others headed straight for the party. More bow shots were used to weaken them up as they closed in.

Session 8

Once the ogres were in melee range, they charged in to attack. The party discovered just how much an ogre hurts when it hits, but they managed to defeat them without too many problems. Next up was to use Jim's tracking skills to find the ogre lair.

Unlike normal ogre lairs, this one was found in a dip between hills. It was more like a temporary encampment than a normal ogre lair. There were ogre females and young, the party watched as the small camp (20 or so ogres in total) prepared to make war. The warriors were putting on armour and organising their weapons. When they realised the size of the enemy camp, the party decided it was time to retreat to the village - once the ogres had found their scouting party dead, they would certainly be looking to bring retribution on the local population.

Organising the little village was a tough job. The militia were called in, then a messenger was sent to try and get the Kings Guard to come help with the defence. All the local men were rounded up to the village, and news soon spread. The local Baron's son came to add his assistance, and the town sent a few experienced fighters and their senior cleric of Pendaroch to help. The Kings Guard were further away, but it was confirmed that they would be sending some men as soon as possible.

It was about midnight when the ogres turned up. The party's plan was to have the majority of the armed men indoors, and use themselves and a few others in the street to try and lure any attacking ogres into the heart of the village - there they would be open to attack from all sides by the people hiding indoors. When the ogres finally closed in for the attack, the party managed to muster a strong resistance. Six ogres attacked in total, and (due mostly to Formil's skill with his axe) two did not manage to get past the houses and into the heart of the village. The others managed to attack at different points - but ogres are not too smart. They were struggling to defeat the villagers, and only two survived by the time the trap was sprung. The waiting force flew out of the houses and surrounded the ogres. The invaders did not survive in the face of this onslaught.

The victory was a huge success for the party, who's renown grew as a result of this. Only two villagers died in the assault - one was an experienced fighter from the town, and he died in glory, almost killing an ogre single-handedly. They were both given hero's burials, while the village folk tidied their town up. The guard had turned up late into the night, and the party went with them in the morning to find the remains of the ogre camp. They tracked far up into the mountains, but the ogres had clearly fled. The threat was removed, and the party returned to town to a hero's welcome. A feast was held in their honour, and the sense of relief around the village was huge.

The party left, and spent four more days travelling to Gillier, where they signed up as guards for the next caravan to Caldonacia (leaving in approximately 15 days time). Good bargaining work by Jim meant that they were offered 400gp each as payment - first time guards seldom earn that much; maybe their reputation has preceded them.

Session 9

Waiting around in Gillier for two weeks in anticipation that the caravan will be leaving means an opportunity to find work. Being hired as guards for any of the locals is a tricky task, as there are many fighters milling around the city waiting for their caravan to depart. The party looked elsewhere - Jim booked himself down as a turn at the local comedy club, before the advert the party had placed on the board in the tavern paid off. A solicitor (Mr Berrybridge, of Weston, Berrybridge and Kzakan solicitors) turned up looking to hire a few burly chaps for a funeral that was being planned for the following day. The recently deceased is a Mr Colin McDrammon, who owned one of the largest importing companies in these parts. Mr McDrammon was an unpleasant individual, and many would not be unhappy to see him out of the way. The funeral is planned for 6 a.m., to avoid any locals who may turn up to spoil the event.

That night, the party took a trip to the local comedy club, equipped with a large assortment of rotting vegetables, to see Jim's performance on the stage. His comedy was passable, his singing was poor, but managed to save the day with some ad-hoc conjuring tricks.

The following morning, the funeral went ahead as planned. The party arrive at Mr McDrammon's large home, and carried the coffin to the funeral cart. There was a slow ride to the cemetery, followed by a slow walk into the family tomb carrying the coffin; where the old man's son was already inside waiting. A Suldurn priest said a few words in a brief ceremony, and the party take the body down to its final resting place. Halfway down the stairs, a knocking and moaning sound starts to emanate from the coffin. The party investigate the noise by (eventually) getting the nailed-shut coffin open. Mr McDrammon is still alive, but looks in a bad way. He had been ill for a while but was clearly not dead yet. Francis McDrammon, Colin's son, is absolutely furious with the old man, and storms off in a huff - these two have not got along well for many years, and have a very cold relationship. Francis only suffers his fathers ways because he is paid a huge retainer from the McDrammon estate, of which the import company is the centre.

Suspecting foul play, the party were asked to investigate what has happened here; they eventually established that Mr McDrammon had been slowly fed a potassium-based poison over the space of a few weeks; they quickly ruled out any involvement of the staff (they were to be fired after the funeral of their employer). This only left one suspect, so they need to find proof of guilt or innocence. Jim stepped in again, his ability with locks allowed him to sneak into Francis McDrammon's house at night through one of the upstairs windows. Searching the young mans private chamber, he found a small jar of the poison. Francis was out when this happened - he was partying with a selection of the better looking women from the village (his favourite hobby it appeared). While Jim was in the house, he overheard some callers at the door turning up to threaten Francis, it seemed. Whatever business he has got himself involved with, it did not look good for him. The heavy mob demanded to see McDrammon, and when they heard he was out partying they said they'd be back in just a few hours. Jim returned and reported his finding to his friends.

Session 10

Loitering was never hugely popular to the party; they discussed hanging around in the street waiting for the heavies or for Francis to turn up at the house, but a look along the street suggested that this would be difficult. This is a posh neighbourhood - Mouse and Formil stand out against the neatly trimmed hedgerows and hibiscus borders. They decided a more practical approach was needed; getting into the house and waiting. They thought blagging their way in would be a breeze...

Fronted by Jim, the party marched boldly up the path. Jim rang the bell. When the butler answered, it took him a few seconds to recall the face, but he did remember. He'd watched Jim at the comedy club the other night; he'd been impressed with the humour, and asked Jim to tell him a joke. Well, that broke the ice and the party found it easy to talk their way into the kitchen, where a little food was brought out - the butler clearly did hospitality well.

Francis returned before the boys from the mob turned up. He recognised the party from the funeral; he was clearly suspicious, but did not think additional help would be needed; he now had his own bodyguards. The party were asked to leave; which they did, but they had not gone far before two carriages turned up, the occupants piled out and up to Francis' home. It would be wrong to suggest they took no prisoners, because they did - Francis himself. His guards were shown no mercy, however. By the time the party got back to the house, the very short fight was over. Francis was being held (and beaten) by three of the mobsters, the others were milling around in a defensive manner. The party broke on them like a wave crashing on a sandcastle. Formil and Mouse quickly dealt with three of them, while Jim climbed onto one of the carriages attempting to take out it's driver. Randy gleefully spent his magic missiles trying to overcome the driver of the other carriage, while Insorce dealt with another of the mobsters. It was not long before the survivors turned and ran, piling into the front carriage as quickly as they could. The driver tried to get away quickly, but did not figure on Mouse jumping on board and throwing him off as they sped down the street. It took mouse only a few seconds before the cart was under control, when he stopped it to turn it round, and the mobsters who had been inside fled in all directions.

The fight was over and the party regrouped at Francis' house. The Kings Guard were called, and they took charge of the crime scene; they didn't want to arrest any of the party - this was clearly a gang raid on the house and justice had been done. They did, however, confiscate the two mobster's carriages that the party had commandeered. As there was a strong chance that the mob would be back later with a stronger group to settle the score, the household staff were sent away for the night, and Francis was taken back to his fathers house. Here the security was much tighter - a lifetime spent making people dislike you had definitely made Colin McDrammon's security procedures much stronger than those of his son.

Here, the party confronted Francis with the evidence. He tried to deny the charges, but his transparent lies did not get past his father. He was cut off from the family, and removed from the old man's will. The following day, he returned home, packed a few belongings into a cloth, tied the lot onto the end of a stick and left town. His days as a playboy were definitely over.

Randy and Insorce, however, had reached a plateau. They needed training, and there would be just enough time before the caravan departs.

Session 11

The journey across the wilderness was a long and tiring one. Long periods of boredom broken up with the occasional glimmer of excitement. Early in the journey, the huge caravan met another travelling in the opposite direction, who warned them of orc activity up in the hills. They think the orcs are suffering with low yields on their own food supplies caused by the hot weather in the hills over summer. This made them bolder, and they seemed to be more willing to attack the caravans in the wilderness. The Party's caravan were not daunted by the task, but took more care on their journey.

There was one attack by orcs, but as the caravan security team had been warned, and they were ready for such raids. The orcs attacked overnight, and were beaten back quite easily.

The only other hold-ups on the first stretch of the route were a short wait for a column of Ogres crossing the path, and (towards the end of the journey) a team of dwarfish engineers repairing the road. Seven weeks after setting out from Ticetia, the caravan arrived at The Kathron Delve, and the party saw for the first time it's impressive welcoming hall.

Session 12

The first half a day in the Delve was spent wheeler-dealing; the party were pretty keen to make money on their run. The silver they brought sells for a tidy profit, but they have some difficulty deciding what to take on the next stretch to Caldonacia. Eventually, they decide to take simple weapons; talking to the traders helped them decide against buying lots of really good quality weapons, dwarfish master-work seems to be at a higher standard than that of the human communities, but there is just not a huge market for top quality swords. They purchased a few really good swords, then loaded the cart with normal export quality dwarfish-made armour and swords.

Insorce got on well with one of the local clerics of Thardanor (the dwarfish Danethrae). The clerics told of the increasing rate at which ancient, pre-disaster stonework and archaeology were being discovered, and how the dwarves were struggling to keep up with demand to investigate what had found. The King of the Kathron Delve is keen that all such finds should be investigated thoroughly, so that any danger posed can be dealt with, and all valuable gold removed for careful storage. The party offer their services to help with some of the investigation, they need a good way to pass the time while the caravan rests up here for a week or two, because there is no guard duty to carry out inside the dwarfish delve.

The party are lead on a long walk through the tunnels of the dwarves; it takes the rest of the day to cover the distance, but finally, they arrive at a small mining community near to where a pre-disaster discovery has taken place. This one saw several miners killed by evil inside the tunnels, which have now been blocked off and sealed.

Spending a few hours in the local inn, the party's declared intention to go into the caverns raised some eyebrows, and sparked off a debate. Some locals didn't want the sealed wall to be opened again. Others wanted the evil dealt with as quickly as possible. The party placate the locals by promising to have the heavy entrance door locked after them.

The following morning, the party left for the sealed door. Their friendly cleric let them through, then locked it after them. Inside, at first, this looked just like a mine shaft, but after a few hundred yards, the floor started to slope away, and it opened into a cavern. There was a slope downwards and at the bottom of that, they saw what looked like a cobbled street and some buildings.

They made their way down and began to investigate, the building work here turned out to be the ruined front wall of several buildings with collapsed masonry behind. As they investigated further, they passed through a small gap in a caved-in section of the cavern. This opened out at an ancient graveyard, where they were attacked by undead. These prove to be a stiff challenge, but were dispatched quickly in the end. Passing further up through the ruins, the party found that the buildings were more intact here. As they investigated some of the more solid looking ruins, more undead attacked. This time there was a Wraith in among the corporeal undead, posing a new challenge for the party. They handle this well though, and the undead were dealt with.

Session 13

Looking around this section of the cave showed that the ruins here were more together than in the previous part of the cavern. Some of the larger buildings looked partially intact. An investigation of one of close buildings showed it to be a temple to elemental gods - something the party had encountered before. Only two of the shrines had survived, however, and the party made short work of dealing with the elemental guardians before picking up what appeared to be some pretty valuable gems from the altars.

Moving on from the temple, the next building the party investigated was a large house. The upper floors were badly damaged, but the lower floor, while in a bad shape, was still intact. Upon entering this building the party are assailed by a group of skeletons who prove to be a stern challenge for the party's warriors, and they put up quite a fight before they were finally dealt with.

Session 14

There was some surviving equipment and money in the house, which the party fond as they searched the place. A secret door at the back of the building still covered a store room, but the mechanism was far from working. Once the door was found, it opened easily to brute force. A chest of money was found in here, while more discoveries were also made in the cellar of the building. Spending several minutes trying to get up the ruined stairs finally paid off, but there is little to see or recover from the destroyed upper floor.

Leaving the house, the party searched further on. They found an old civic building, and were attacked by undead behind them just as they went inside. The monsters were dealt with and then the building was searched. There was a dungon/cellar beneath the building, but it contained nothing of interest. The ground floor only yielded a single item of value - an old cupboard contained some kind of civic chain, such as are worn by town mayors. It carried an inscription, "The City of Hollingham. Liberty and Honour."

Behind the civic building, there were the remains of a small tower. This was the only building the party had seen so far with an upper storey intact. There were more undead in here, and more still turned up while the party made an overnight rest inside. They suffered from the draining effects of the undead, and everyone in the fighting took some kind of hit, with the exception of Randy, who avoided hand to hand combat. The tower had some interesting equipment that the party found. Firstly, they investigated an underground section which was strangely dark. The hole was found by Formil falling down it. There was a familiarity about the this cavern, it had an uncanny resemblance to a dream he'd had months ago, before they'd even planned this long journey. Down in the cavern an axe was hanging from a wall, glowing pale gold against the wall. Despite looking too high on the wall at first, the axe was easy to lift down.

The upper floor in the tower was also interesting; it had some wizard robes, and a cursed sword, that Formil investigated, exposing himself to the curse. He had to fight off the remaining undead using the sword; whenever he tried to draw another weapon, he seemed to end up with the cursed sword in his hand.

Session 15

More fighting took place during the night - more undead turned up, and the party were hard pressed to defeat them. Finally, they decided to get out and get healed, the draining effect of the undead was really starting to bite. Ironically, the journey back to the door to the delve and the world outside was uneventful.

Back in the civilised dwarfish tunnels the party became a little frantic, as they struggled to find a cleric powerful enough to help restore their drained energies; eventually all are helped. The trauma of the experience may never be healed. Randy fond himself in therapy for a very long time. Formil was just pleased to be able to swing his new axe at last.

Taking a few days to recover, the party prepare to re-enter the cave. They felt it is their task to remove all the undead threat from the cavern, and so make plans to take care of it. Going into the cavern this time, they knew exactly what dangers to expect. They did not know where the undead were hiding, however, and begin a search of the cavern. The huge cavern took a long while to cover; more irony occurs when they (after spending much time searching) discover some shadows and do badly in the ensuing fight. They had their strength sapped by the time the shadows were defeated, and are in little better condition than they were when they last left for the dwarfish village nearby.

Session 16

More journeys out of the cave are needed, the nearby priest by now is expecting to need the Restoration spell, and so has a few more prepared. The party eventually remove the last of the undead, and return to the entrance halls of the delve for a reward, and to prepare for the journey on to Caldonacia.

Back with the caravan, the road was once again quite dull, three weeks pass with no sign of anyone, or any danger. Part-way through the fourth week out from the delve, they met a caravan passing in the opposite direction. They were warned that ogres had been preparing defences along the road east, and looked to be making plans to assault caravans passing along the road. The other van, heading west, made it safely along the road because of an armed escort of Caldonacian soldiers, who had been patrolling these hills in recent months to help suppress an increase in Ogre and Orc activity. The party's caravan would not have the luxury of this protection.

A few days later, as the caravan passes further eastward, the scouts returned to warn that they have found the defensive bank cut into the rise above southern edge of the road. The caravan stops while the security team met to discuss the best way to handle this problem. The ogres were a significant threat, but the party suggests that an assault from behind the bank, hitting them on foot as the caravan slowly passes by would be the most sensible approach. They formulated an attack plan, and crept up behind the bank. The assault landed in three waves at the southern end of the defences. The Ogres are caught surprised as the attackers waded in. The party are in the southern-most group, and they dealt with the ogres on their stretch with some difficulty. Both the security team members that were with the party in this fight fell to the ogres, and could not be saved, Formil also falls, he is rescued by Insorce the cleric. The fighting here is pretty fierce, but eventually the ogres are killed.

Session 17

The badly injured Formil returns to the convoy to rest, while the others press on along the defences, joining up with the other attackers to push the ogres back. The party help to defeat others that their colleagues are struggling with along the wall, and the ogres begin to fall back, they have suffered significant losses. The party summon all the walking wounded back up onto the wall to present as large a force as possible to keep the ogres at bay, this works for a while, but eventually the ogre leaders rally their forces, and send them in to attack. The wounded soldiers return to the caravan, but Formil decides to stay despite his own pain. With all the security team assembled together, the attacking ogres are beaten back quite easily, but Mouse is badly hurt in the exchange, and falls. Insorce once again comes to the rescue and heals the big man. The attacking ogres are all killed and any remaining forces, including the leaders behind them, fall into a frantic retreat. The ogres have been defeated, and the caravan passes quickly along the road.

The pass through the mountains is strangely quiet, the caravan owners were expecting more resistance from orcs up here. Finally the caravan reaches Hullan Farm, and the caravan disbands. The party collect their fees, and pay their pilots before moving out towards Keal.

At Keal, the party sell on the goods they bought from the dwarf delves, and make a tidy profit, before going in search of places to train. Almost everyone ends up paying double the normal tarriff because they are so far out of their own region.

Session 18

The real mission now began in earnest; trying to find the tomb. The party share details of their quest with the church of Danethrae in Keal. The church had a cleric who had been studying the Charles Derren story; it had local importance for the region. He tells them of how the tomb was found nearby, and how the people that lived out towards the mountains south of the moorland suffered. The district was still deserted to that day, and the homes and roads had all gone. He also told them that the church of Danethrae was charged with keeping the information about the location of the tomb secret, and in an attempt to do so they destroyed all their records of the place. He told them that he thought a secret organisation, The Pale Flame, had somehow managed to keep a secret copy of the map - he didn't trust them to keep it securely. He also told the party how the king of Caldonacia had imposed the duty upon them to keep the location a secret and the site secure, but also how, with the change of monarchy, the duty had been forgotten. Those who lived elsewhere seemed not to care about the threat to the people here.

It took a while to organise everyone for the journey southwards, they intended to leave on the 27th Eltuada. Trying to charter a boat to take them upstream proved difficult - the upstream journey is not well known, and there is a likelihood of changeable weather ahead with Winter approaching. They traded their cart and draft horses for a light war horse (for scouting) and another mule to carry supplies. Mouse also commissioned himself a masterwork heavy flail, something he was looking forward to using on the journey.

The journey went well for the first couple of days; they met nobody on the journey, and saw very little wildlife. The nights were spent listening to the howling of wolves from the hills ahead. The third night out from Keal and worgs attacked the party's camp in the darkness. They had prepared themselves by building a fire, but the pack was hungry, and proved a difficult opponent. At first Formil and Mouse fought well, but eventually lost their momentum, and both fell, badly hurt. It fell to the others to tidy up the few remaining beasts, which they did with the aid of Randy's magic. Insorce managed to save his friends, but now they need to rest to recover from their wounds.

Session 19

The party rested in their hiding place; the fighters were badly wounded and needed care. Eventually, the group moved out, heading further south towards the mountains. Wolves could still be heard howling on the wind overnight, and other beasts were up in the hills. A run-in with wild boars caused a few moments panic, but eventually a good source of food and (had they known it) a warming celebration meal for the Winter Solstice, and the arrival of a new year.

Finally leaving the rolling moorland and reaching the foothills brought new dangers. The group met a hunting party of bugbears, which moved in to attack them. These were dealt with easily, but the party were unable to find tracks back to their lair in the stony ground.

Session 20

The party knew they had to find a trail up in the mountains, their map is quite clear about the old road they were supposed to find. It took a while, but they eventually pick up the beginnings of it in the foothills. Encounters with more wild animals took place, and they lost the broken path in places, but they continued to follow the path southwards. On the 4th Bara, with the glacier now visible to their right across a wide valley, they reached the end of the pathway at a drop in the rocks. There appeared to be no other way down than to climb with rope, so they tethered the horses and mules by water at the top, and carefully made their way down and searched the area.

At the bottom of the cutting, there was an entrance into a natural-looking cave, but it was closed off by a rock fall. Moving the boulders aside, they could see a narrow corridor curves off to the right; they entered. This was the entrance to the tomb of Charles Derren, the route they had been searching for. Above the doorway at the end of this corridor was a face which came to life as they approach and spoke a warning. The party pressed on into the tomb regardless, and were attacked by shadowy undead which rose from the darkness around them. These proved a difficult challenge, but were finally beaten back.

Session 21

Searching around the tomb, it became clear that the party were not the first ones to be here. Someone has been in and removed much of the treasure. There were still plenty of valuables left - a wide array of gems, gold, and magical items hanging around the place, and undead guardians who seem just as intent on keeping things in here as the party were to remove them. The party fought incorporeal undead monsters in some of the rooms, monsters that chill the heart, and can attack straight through armour and shields as though they were not there. Eventually the party found their way down to the tomb; they broke open Derren's sarcophagus, and were shocked to find the vampire's coffin missing.

Extensive searching revealed a secret treasure room where more rich treasures were found. Here the undead guardians are very corporeal, and attack with gusto; these drain levels, and the party have met similar foes before in the oldest areas under the Kathron mountains. This time they are defeated with ease.

With the guardians out of the way, the party took a nights rest before carrying out a grab-and-run raid. They took a large chest from the hidden treasure room, causing more guardians to appear; two wraiths rose from the shadows of the room and attacked. The party beat them back, and dragged the chest out towards the exit. They made one stop on the way - at the room where the majority of the other treasure lay. Grabbing this and stuffing it into sacks brought forth more of the ghostly guardians, and the party fought for their lives again. They defeat the undead, and prepared to move out of the tomb.

Session 22

One final sweep of the whole tomb with Detect Magic running turned up a final piece of treasure in the weapons room - a set of magical arrows. There were no other traps or magical devices found, so the party decided it was time to move on out from the tomb and head back. They moved the treasure chest as far as the entrance corridor before they were attacked by more wraiths. These had quite an impact, hitting the party in the corridor gave them a tactical advantage, and Jim, at the back, was stranded fighting one of the wraiths, keeping it from reaching Randy who is next back. The fight nearly ends Jim, but the fighters (headed by Mouse) eventually managed to push their way through, and turn back the undead.

Outside a joint decision was made to carry out a search of the tight valley, the party were looking for other hidden ways into other parts of the tomb; they could find nothing inside, so they looked outside. They pottered about for almost an hour before the weather got the better of them and they went to take shelter, and have a re-think. On their way back to the tomb entrance, they were attacked again by undead, this time by a wraith and three shadows. They struggled to fight them again, but eventually won through; these fights were taking their toll, and wearing down the party's resources.

After this latest fight, the party decided to move out of the valley immediately. It took about half an hour to get everyone up the slope, and another half an hour to get the horse and mules ready for leaving; the heavy treasure was shared out to the three beasts as evenly as possible, and the party headed off. As they did this they were faced by more undead, and more fighting took place, but this time the party had the advantage out in the open, which suited them better tactically. They win this fight easier, and Insorce the cleric found that his Searing Light spell is particulary effective against undead. As the party continued on the road northwards out of the mountains, they were attacked twice more - hourly, as closely as they can work out. By mid-afternoon the party were looking shaky, Randy could barely walk and was being carried by Formil, who himself has suffered constitution drain but refused to complain about his burden. Jim is still badly hurt by the same constitution drain - he suffered the worst of his in the tunnel out of the tomb, and even though Insorce had managed to cure some of it, he was still struggling to keep going. Least affected is Insorce himself, but he had been keeping out of the hand-to-hand combat, using his clerical spells instead.

Session 23

The walk back is hampered further by undead guardians appearing from nowhere and attacking almost every hour. Wraiths formed the majority of the attacks, and the party really struggle to keep going.

They took a few minutes to consider what was happening to them, and started bickering over whether to leave the gold and treasures behind, but the dwarves were adamant - any gold will NOT be left behind. A compromise was reached, and the team decides that it might be a good idea to find out which pieces of the treasure are causing the attacks, and they devised a plan. The treasure was split up; they leave it at intervals along the deserted road in the mountains, taking only the gold with them a little further along and then they wait. They were attacked again - this approach didn't work. They manage to defeat the undead that appeared this time, and so they modified their plan, leaving even the gold behind. This time, there is success; they were not attacked when they had none of the treasure with them. They investigate further back, and see that guardians have appeared around the treasure - but it gives them the respite that they need.

Selecting a defensible camp site further ahead on the road, the party took two days to rest and recuperate. Free of the continual attacks, they managed to recover the constitution and strength losses they had suffered, and returned to the treasure on 8th Bara to defeat any straggling guardians. They did this while suffering minimally, and were free to continue their journey for now.

Session 24

Now the pressure is really getting to the party. They had the means, but not the backbone, to get the treasure back to town where it could be sold on. Instead of doing this, they dug a big pit and buried all the treasure they found in it, wrapped inside one of the waterproof groundsheet from their tents. They were attacked by more undead before they completed filling the hole in, but beat back the wraiths that moved in on them. Over the place where the treasure was buried they raised a cairn, making the place look like a fresh grave. Randy made a treasure map, referencing the landmarks that Jim had identified, and they moved on as quickly as they could away from the undead guardians that were already gathering around the burial place.

They left the mountains on 10th Bara, and moving north over the foothills gave them a good view of the hills and plains ahead. On one of the hillsides in the distance, they could see a small group moving across the landscape. Not knowing who it was, the party decided to move in and take a closer look. A couple of hours later, after crossing some of the intervening hills, they saw the opponents once more. Now the column was much closer - and it was clear they were not human. They looked goblinoid, and they'd changed their course to head directly for where the party had been when they last saw the beasts.

Seeking a tactical advantage, the party retreated off to the edge of some nearby woodland, but the monsters appeared not to have seen them this time. The enemy column was moving past and heading back up to where the party had been two hours before. The party were using the undergrowth here for cover, not to hide. The enemy could clearly be seen; eleven bugbears marching across the rolling upland hills. Next a shout went up; the party had been spotted, and the bugbears turned and crossed the 150 yard gap to the party. They stopped short of the woodland; in close enough range to use their javelins, but not in hand to hand range. Insorce, Formil and Mouse had other ideas, though. They charged recklessly into close range, engaging the bugbears in hand-to-hand combat. Formil's first tast of the combat saw two of the bugbears felled in the first few seconds, but then the weight of numbers brought its toll, both Formil and Mouse were badly hurt by the speed of the attack, but they did not fall. They closed ranks and Insorce was able to heal his companions. Now Jim stowed his crossbow, and joined in the hand-to-hand fray, while Randy, still hiding in the woods, used his magic to good effect, picking off the bugbears with his Flaming Sphere and Magic Missile spells. There were a few more close calls with the fighting; the bugbears landed a couple of lucky blows against both Formil and Mouse, but Insorce again was on hand to help them with his healing. The fight was won, with Jim landing the last blow into the back of the last bugbear in the group.

Session 25

Moving on northwards the party went further down into the foothills, passing through more woodland and light scrubland. Jim rode on ahead to scout the territory, while the others followed on foot. As they passed through some light woodland, a halfling hunting party sprung an ambush. The halflings were out hunting bugbears and, once they realised that the party had been fighting the same enemy, they were much more friendly. Their leader introduced himself as Quentin Riverdale, who went on to tell how the bugbears attacked the halfling's village a week before. In response, the halflings had been out hunting bugbear in the foothills.

The halflings were very hospitable; when they realised that the bugbears they'd been tracking had already been killed, they are in good spirits. Quentin shares the halfling's cooked meal of roast wild boar, before inviting everyone back to their village for a celebration. The party accepted all this hospitality, and shared tales of the party's adventures as they eat.

The village of Oakvale was not a pleasant place at this time of year; rain and cold winds conspired to keep the roadways deep with mud and a struggle to move along. The party spent the evening in the communal building where they shared more tales of their exploits, and heard many many such stories in return. The halfings delighted in stories, and the mayor of Oakvale, Harold Ashbrook, tells of problems they'd experienced around Derrens tomb. The Burrows Region (the halflings own name for the seven villages in this district) was once friendly with human towns along the river to the west, but these towns were destroyed by the vampire hundreds of years ago. Occasional undead activity had been seen from time to time up there, the most recent being just six or seven weeks before. The halflings did not go an investigate, they try not to get involved with such matters. They soon had more problems anyway, as about a week ago, bugbears from the lower stretches of the mountains suddenly attacked Oakvale with no warning. The bugbears were beaten back, and were made to suffer for their warlike actions. The halflings have since had hunting parties out in the foothills attacking any bugbears they could find. There had been several groups found and killed with minimal losses to the halflings, but they were determined to keep the bugbears out of this region.

Formil suggested that the party might be of service, they volunteered to go and find the bugbears lair and wipe the beasts out at source. The halflings had not planned that; they never go into the mountains, because their combat style does not transfer well to the terrain. Also they didn't have a great deal of interest in wiping out the bugbears, they just wanted to be left in peace, but were happy to allow the party to take that approach.

The party stayed for a week in the halfling village. Mouse used their facilites to train, and the others spend a week helping out where they could, assisting halfling volunteers with weapon drills and training, and helping to rebuild damaged burrows. Eventually they set off on their quest through freezing winds and heavy rain, journeying part of the way with a halfling hunting party. As they approached the southern stretches of the foothills, the weather turned to snow as the ground rose. The halflings left the party, they went a different direction to continue their patrol for bugbears, while the party continued southwards beyond the foothills and into the mountain region.

Eventually, after a day of searching, the party picked up the trail of a group of bugbears, and they follow it up into the mountains. The snows fell harder, and the party camped at the bottom of a cliff; they knew the bugbears were on the level above the cliff, but the light was failing, and the weather was making tracking difficult. In the night, their camp was attacked; it proved quite easy for the party to defeat the attacking bugbears - and two of the enemy were subdued rather than killed. Now the party had prisoners.

Session 26

The bugbear raid seems to have been an advance group - ten minutes after the last of the bugbears is subdued, another wave of them attacked. This time there are twenty of them, and they attacked without warning in two groups from opposite sides of the camp. Jim was on watch, and raised the alarm. Most of his companions are still awake, the only one who had actually fallen asleep was Insorce, who was sleeping so deeply he was not even awakened by the shouting and fighting. Mouse broke one way to defend one side of the camp while Formil headed to the other side. Jim and the others remained in the middle, helping out with the fighting as well as they could. The fight went well for Formil, swinging his axe he carved his way through most of the bugbears in his group at a quick pace. Mouse struggled to contain the bugbears on his side of the camp, though, and some broke away to attack Jim and Randy by the fire. Randy was badly hurt fighting hand-to-hand with a bugbear, while Jim spent time to rouse Insorce. The fighting continued with mouse being hurt little by little, and Formil wading through more bugbears. Eventually the numbers of attackers were thinned down, but Mouse fell badly hurt. The others came to his aid, Jim took on the last of the bugbears, while Randy helped out with his Flaming Sphere and Magic Missile spells. Finally, Formil got over to help them, and the last of the bugbears were killed.

With Mouse nearly dead, the party kept a watch over him, and Jim took on the last watch, which would have been Mouse's. In the morning they decided to move away from the area and recuperate rather than go looking for more enemy. The clear weather helped their search for a good place to rest, but it was bitterly cold. They eventually found a small cave, with an entrance that was little more than a crack in the rock face of the cliff in which it sat. They couldn't all get inside at once, but it was enough to provide shelter for Mouse while they cared for him. It was impossible to cover their tracks away from the camp in the freezing snow, but later in the afternoon the snows returned and help out. By evening time, Mouse was feeling significantly better, and Insorce is able to heal him properly.

Session 27

Having surmounted the problems caused by Mouse being very badly hurt, the party turned their attention to their bugbear prisoners. Fortunately, bugbears speak the common tongue, otherwise communicating could have proved difficult. They asked why the bugbears had attacked the halfling villages in a sudden and unprovoked way. Their answer came as something of a surprise; the bugbears were only defending their own - it was the halflings who attacked and wiped out a hunting party of bugbears to start the whole conflict. Thinking back across times and dates, the party realised that the date of this first attack roughly coincided with their original journey up into the mountains - when they attacked (and were attacked by) a group of bugbears. The whole conflict was caused by the party's attack in the first place!

Determined to claim responsibility, and to convince the bugbears that attacking the halflings is not needed, they tell their prisoners the truth about the attack, explaining that the bugbear column moved in to attack them, and they defended themselves resolutely. At first the prisoners did not believe this story, but were convinced when the party's cave was assaulted from outside by a group of ogres and bugbears. The attackers did not last very long, Formil and Mouse dealt with most of them quite effectively, while the others mopped up stragglers with supreme efficiency. The bugbears were convinced, and sent back to their lairs with the full story - and a request to stop the needless attacks.

Session 28

With the bugbear problem 'fixed' (or at least, as close to dealt with as the party could manage without fighting hordes of bugbears, ogres, trolls, Minotaur, and probably lots of other creatures too), the party broke camp and headed back to the halfling village. Despite getting a little lost on the way (and wandering aimlessly around in the blizzard conditions for four days), they eventually made it. They tactfully report in to the halflings about the cause of the problem, and explain that it is unlikely to cause any more bugbear issues. Next, they return to Keal as soon as they can, where they have training to undertake.

Getting back to Keil was an easier task than they expected, the snows kept predators at bay, and the journey proved quite straightforward in the end. It took four weeks to complete the training needed by everyone in the party, but it was money well spent.

Session 29

Much discussion took place about the effects of Derren's treasure curse. The party visited the Church of Danethrae in Keal, and talked to their Charles Derren history expert about the case. They asked for help in removing the curse from treasure they shouldn't have taken in the first place. This was not a good idea, and the historian reminded them which church they were talking to. He expects such a curse would be quite tricky to deal with, and maybe the senior bishops of the church would be less than willing to go assisting. He recommends that the party return the treasure to the tomb.

After discussing for some time, it was decided that the best course of action would be to recover the treasure and bring it as close to town as they dared, then hiring assistance from one of the less 'principled' churches to see if they could help with removal of the curse. The site of the treasure was only a few days south of the town, but the weather had been very wintery here for the previous few weeks. They bought rations and planned to leave immediately.

The walk took its toll on Formil who suffers with a form of hypothermia on the journey. The party were forced to rest for a day, before Insorce used his clerical magic to help his brethren to warm up and heal. The party were not attacked on their journey south - it seemed that the bad weather (heavy ground frosts and howling winds, interspersed with periods of driving rain) was keeping even the starving wolves in their lairs. Finally, six days out from Keal, around evening time, the party arrived at the cairn of stones they built over the treasure. The place has undead floating around the area, so the party decide to take a night's rest before attacking in the morning.

Randy used a couple of his new Fireball spells to weaken the pack, before the fighters moved in. Insorce was much more effective at turning the undead now, and managed to destroy most of the shadows, leaving only the Wraiths to fight hand to hand. These undead proved to be more challenging to defeat than the party may have initially expected, but they were destroyed in the end, after a drawn-out fight.

Session 30

Digging the treasure out proved to be a challenge, with no proper tools, the party had to use regular kit, mostly iron spikes and shields to move the earth. They had nearly completed this task, when the guardians appeared once again - this time four wraiths assaulted from opposite sides of the group. The party responded well, but Randy got caught up in the hand to hand fighting, and was blubbering when Insorce finally turned the undead on his side, and saved his life. The fight with the remaining two wraiths took longer than expected, but was finally concluded. The party had returned to digging before the two turned undead came back to protect the treasure again. This time the fighting did not last quite so long.

The party had suffered quite badly in the two fights with undead here, and were running low on spells and healing resources. They had the treasure but were unsure how to proceed. They began discussing different approaches, they feared they would have to fight undead hourly until they could dispose of the treasure, and that meant an awful lot of fighting. They discussed potential methods for removing the curse on the treasure, but the discussion went futher, covering the much wider picture. They discussed the disappearance of Derren's body, speculating on where it could be; they talked about their other meetings with undead, and whether the experiments they found on undead in an Eversham graveyard could be related. They went back over the connection between Derren and Yanneg - a link they'd found on one of their first adventures in an old tomb near to Eversham. They reached the conclusion that they were not in any shape to move any of the treasure at this time, and so they put it back in the hole they had just dug it from. This time, they did not cover it with earth, they moved the stones from the marker cairn they build nearby to cover the treasure. This was much easier to move without tools, and still left the position of the treasure clearly marked.

Session 31

Resting for two nights was enough to see the party fully recuperated. They returned to the treasure, and this time they fought off the hovering undead with more ease. They dug it all out, loaded up the pack animals and headed off as quickly as they could. Further interventions by the undead guardians proved straightforward too. The undead arriving in pairs were little match for the party, but the occasional lucky hit caused them a few problems. By late morning, they were just beginning to struggle again, when the undead stopped appearing. There tomb's curse appears to be limited by distance, beyond which the guardians do not appear. A collective sigh of relief was made, and the party pressed on northwards back towards Keil, with the treasure intact, and with a new spring in their step.

Session 32

Moving back to town, the party are intercepted on their approach across the plain late in the afternoon - the Kings Guard went out to meet them and escorted them back to several senior members of the guard. It seems that they had been tracking the Charles Derren situation, and had been aware of some of the actions of the previous party. They had become involved too late to follow them out to the tomb, but had picked them up on their return. They followed them to the caravan landing stage, and monitored them as they set out for Ticetia. They hadn't realised the importance what had happened and they did not know the body was with them until they were tipped off by the party's contact at the Church of Danethrae, whose fear of unpleasant consequences was much greater than his need to keep things as quiet as the party had requested.

The party met with senior officers of the guard, and they exchanged useful information. The guard were informed about all the party had discovered on their trek to the south, and they were told of the way the body had been moved out of the region. It was clear that the body must be followed - the party began planning a quick ride along the caravan trail. They bought some good horses and plenty of supplies, then headed off to the west.

Session 33

The journey through the mountain passes to the west of Caldonacia proved a little difficult. The party were attacked by a group of Minotaur. The fighting took a long while, and sapped the party - Mouse was nearly killed, but still managed to successfully defend the camp before he fell. He was badly hurt, and the party decided it would be a good idea to move out of the mountain passes before providing enough care to help him recover.

Session 34

Once Mouse was well enough, the party headed out as quickly as they could. They made good progress, and encountered a caravan heading in the opposite direction only a few days after the fight with the Minotaur. The party shared a camp with the caravan that night, enjoying the better security.

Another week of riding hard passed before the party met group of three travellers, riding very hard back out along the caravan trail towards Caldonacia. This was unexpected, and at first the party were friends and made camp, but it soon transpired that the travellers were not all that they appeared to be. They had ridden their horses hard, and they looked tired and ill. The party were very suspicious, and secretly used Insorce's Detect Evil spell to test the travellers's motives. They showed up as evil, and Insorce confronted them. They were offended and chose to try and fight, but the party outnumbered them and overcame them in the end. Randy was badly injured by a fireball in the ensuing fight, and came close to death. The party's fighters dealt with the two heavily armed enemy fighers, while the Jim managed to deal with the wizard despite him being invisible. The wizard's wounds were not quite enough to kill him outright, and Insorce used his healing to allow the party to take a prisoner. They then had a chance to quesion him.

Among the equipment on the captured horses, one item stood out from the others. It was an old book which seemed quite important - it turned out to be an old tome of magical theory. Questioning the captured wizard revealed it's source. The book is pre-disaster, is one of a set, and it looks at the theory of 'wish magic'. The party were intrigued, but the captured wizard seemed to be relieved to be rid of it. It turns out the travellers belonged to a cult named the Barnin Onaga, who have been searching for these books for some time. They were moving this one to a place in Caldonacia, but have been chased since they left Ticetia by a team from a rival sect, the Gelmhorst Verubin, who also seek the book. Having butchered the wizards companions with little provocation, the party are now lumbered with a prisoner who, it would seem, they have a responsibility to feed and protect until he can be tried for his crime (of 'being slightly evil').

Session 35

Having recovered a book of the theory of wish magic, it dawns on the party that those who had the book previously were being chased by a large group from one of their enemy organisations. They decided to take avoiding action, and headed off the path. Believing it to be very difficult to hide the evidence of their fight, they decided to just cover their tracks as they leave. They camped out of sight of the main caravan track, and keep an eye open for the incoming enemy. The night passed without incident, but as they move out in the direction of the Kathron delve, they continue to keep an eye on the path. They broke camp late that day, having helped Randy and their captive wizard get over the injuries they suffered in the fight the previous day.

Late on in the day, the books pursuers headed past in the opposite direction along the trail. The party saw them from a long way off and kept well out of site. The party moved off quickly, returning now to the caravan trail to gain as much time as they could. Within two more days, they arrive at the Kathron delve. Mouse went off to train while the others sought supplies and try to carry out some rudimentary investigation of the book they now had. They didn't get very far before visitors arrived at the delve asking for them. Their guest came to the party's quarters and introduced himself as a sorcerer named Monroe Franks, who was one of the team the party passed a few days before. He'd clearly seen the site of the fighting, and had tracked the culprits down to the delve. The dwarves had only received one set of visitors in this time, and so had directed Franks up to the party's rooms. He arrived with his two bodyguards. The party denied all knowledge of the fight, or even being anywhere near the caravan trail at the time the book was taken, but Franks did not seem convinced. He was seething when he left. The party may stuggle to get all the way back to Ticetia without being caught on the road.

Session 36

While waiting a few more days for Mouse to complete his training, the other party members made some enquiries about quieter exits from Kathron. They hired a guide who could help them find their way to one of the numerous exits higher in the mountains. As soon as mouse was ready they set out, spending a day trudging through the delve to reach the exit. Their guide then left them to spend some time trying to find their way down onto the plains. They stayed well away from the caravan trail, and keept their eyes open for their pursuers.

Shortly after their first night away from the cover of the mountains, the party spotted some figures on the rolling hills away to the north. As the day progressed, the figures flitted in and out of sight as they traverse the undulating land. By mid-afternoon the figures were clearly visible, only a few hundred yards away, and the party prepared for a fight. The enemy closed in; there are two knights and one sorcerer, who put up a stern challenge. The fight was very close, the party came near to being wiped out. If it were not for Jim flying in on horseback to attack the sorcerer in hand to hand combat, things could have been much worse. As it happened, their prisoner, Wesley Ferran, who is a capable sorcerer lended much needed support in dealing with both the enemy knights and the enemy sorcerer. He used his Ice Storm and Magic Missile spells to good effect in weakening them. This was a significant victory for the party; probably their best to date, but they were not out of trouble yet - there were still several other knights, wizards and sorcerers chasing them.

Session 37

The attack seemed to have knocked the wind out of the party somewhat. They had lost several horses in the attack, and they could not move as quickly as they did before. The rest of their hunters were still looking for them, and Mouse was once again suffering from his wounds. They moved out immeditely after the fight, looking for somewhere to hide and rest up. An hours walk southwards left them well away from the place where the fight took place, and so they began their rest by late afternoon. They even trust their captive (Wesley, the sorceror) to stand watch - they figure that he is more scared of their pursuers than he is of the party, and so needs the protection that numbers brings.

The following morning the reality of their situation dawned. They'd lost some food and some carrying capacity, but it looked like the party barely had enough supplies and animal feed to get them back to civilisation as the journey at walking speed across the wilderness would be much longer than originally planned. On top of that, they'd heard the sounds of horns blowing through the night. It seems their pursuers were trying to locate their missing men as well as the party.

By late morning, Mouse was well enough to continue the journey, and the party broke camp and head off westwards. Jim's skill at tracking kept the party on course, and they make good progress. The sound of horns could still be heard as the day progresses, fading more into the distance behind them. By evening, the horn sounds return, a big blast can clearly be heard on the wind from the northeast, it seems their pursuers may have found the place where their friends died.

Pressing on as quickly as they could, they party covered plenty of ground over the next two days, even ducking out of sight of some ogre-like creatures which lumbered past late on the first day. On the third morning, the party came across an elvish encampment, distubing the end of a religious rite being held by a large oak tree at the edge of some light woodland. They were befriended by the elves, and invited into the elf camp for shelter and to trade. Here they managed to buy additional horses, and renewed their food supplies. They also spent some time with elvish assistance to identify the haul of magical weapons and armour they've found.

Session 38

The meeting with the elves proved quite fruitful to the party in the end. Elves are big on magic, and have wizards available for hire. As the party had plenty of money remaining after resupplying and selling on their extra magic items, they asked for help from the elvish elders about the best way to get back to Ticetia given their predicament. They explained about the book they were carrying, and how their pursuers were mainly Anti-Paladins who had been relentless so far. The elves did not want the book left with their peaceful community, but the religious leader who met with the party introduced them to a senior of the wizard community of the woodland. A request was circulated for help with a Teleport spell which could return the party directly to their home with the minimum fuss. This would require a 16th level wizard; these are rare, even in elvish society, so they put out an advertisement and waited.

Eventually they were delayed by just a day - an elvish wizard responded to the request the next afternoon. The departure was planned for the small hours of the morning to avoid being spotted upon their arrival. They decided that the best place to go to would be just outside the graveyard they visited twice in the early stages of their careers. It is just outside the city of Eversham, and pretty secluded, so onlookers, they expected, would be scarce. They sold the horses and feed they had just purchased back to the elves, and added additional funds from their own sources to bring the total up to 5000gp, the asking price for the journey. They were forced to pay for the spell to be cast twice; the serving wizard needed to get home, after all.

The journey eventually was pretty mundane, they arrived in the place they'd described to the wizard, with nobody watching. Their new elfish friend immediately returned to his home and the party camped by the road for the remainder of the night (no inns would be open at this hour in the rural districts, and Eversham locks its gates at nightfall). They were awoken at first light of dawn by a militia patrol moving them on, and doing their best to discourage such vagrancy.

Instead of heading into Eversham, they took the road north to Callenhall, where they could deliver the book they carried right into the hands of the Church of Danethrae. The journey along the trade highway is a long walk, but along the well maintained road they made good pace, and arrived at Callenhall at dusk, four days later.

They went immediately to the church, and sought a meeting with the senior cleric. This was easy, too, the influence of Insorce managed to get them in pretty quickly. One mention of the book they had found to the senior cleric was enough to have the meeting adjourned to a back room where privacy could be assured. It turned out that the book they carried was not the one that had been stolen from the church a year before - but a different volume from the same set. The book raised the old Pastors eyebrows, he was very interested in the book; he promised that it would be kept safe in the church's secure room. The party negotiated a 1000gp reward from the old man, which went a long way towards covering the costs of the journey back.

The following morning, the party spent time in the church and in the Pale Flame's facility researching some of the information they had discovered on their long journey. Few knew much about the problems of Derren's tomb, or the enemy that the party had encountered on the road. Callenhall seems to be too remote from such goings on. The Pale Flame's library turned out only one additional fact; that the name Asdreth was linked with an elemental god of fire, who was believed to have been worshipped in the years leading up to The Great Disaster, and maybe for several years afterwards too. The reference went on to say that the religion that built up around such elemental gods has now past into the mists of time, none today worship such evil.

Session 39

The party decide that it is probably time to check-in at The Pale Flame in Eversham - this whole mission started there with the admission that the map of Derren's tomb had gone missing. There is clearly much to be done in the hunt for the old vampire. They set off early the next morning.

CategoryAdventureLogs

ArtheaWiki: Adventure 6 (last edited 2013-09-16 02:39:19 by Neil)