THE KING WAS DEAD, TO BEGIN WITH…

It has been some time since my last entry and much has happened.  By some small miracle we made it out of the dwarven tombs and in the process stumbled upon some not so nice dwarves.  These dwarves had taken human prisoners to use as sacrifices, the fiends!  Unfortunately we forgot about the human prisoners during our escape and found ourselves free of the tombs yet in a quandary.  The dwarf, elf barbarian and Cretoe, decided returning to their keep more important than rescuing the forgotten prisoners from certain death at the hands of the dwarves.  Naugy, Alistar and I choose to return to the dwarven tunnels to save the humans before going back to the keep.

The disagreement got personal.  Naugy proved that while mages may be smart they are far from wise and Krond proved, well, that he is a dwarf.  Suffice it to say this broken fence will not easily be mended.

We managed to succeed in freeing the human prisoners and lead them to safety.  Krond and Cretoe returned to the keep and found it under siege by drow.  I hate drow.  No, I really hate drow.  To their credit they arrived at the key moment to turn the tide of battle, rally the defenders which included some visiting dwarves and drive off or kill the drow invaders.  The keep sadly suffered some serious damage including the total destruction of the main gates and the barracks building.  As Krond says, ‘that’s going to be expensive.’  There was also something about a silver dragon and Cretoe killed some big drow mage, I believe.  Anyway, the dwarves who aided in the defense of the keep are from the Stonebrow clan.  They were on a pilgrimage to the temple of Moradin.  Turns out the temple of Moradin within the keep is the only one in these parts.

We (Naugy, Alistar and myself) arrived back on the scene but missed all the action.  In doing so it seems we promised to find a bride for some love sick mage who in return teleported us a great distance.  A strange fee indeed for a spell.  Just charm someone.  I guess there’s no spell for stupid.

I can’t say it was a happy reunion.  Naugy assembled his belongs incredibly quickly; I guess mages travel light, said ‘you suck Krond but you’re not my enemy’ (?) and left.  So much for reconciliation.  At least we didn’t have to bicker about who killed who. Meanwhile, Cretoe prepared his blades from some dark elf interrogation fun.

It seems the drow do leave soldiers behind and Krond and Cretoe captured one, a drow foot soldier.  It was all I could do not to kill him immediately but we did eventually kill him, dismember the fiend and bury him deep.  So, there wasn’t much of an interrogation.

While we were cleaning up the keep a rider from Upper Arlen approached with dire news.  The king of the land, his majesty King Kandarian, had been cruelly assassinated along with his wife and two of his three offspring.  Tragic.  The third child, seven year old Prince Miller, was missing.  Duke Graymor of Upper Arlen sent word for us to make all haste to Upper Arlen.  The Duke was heading to Harrowgate for the funeral of the royal family and requested our presence.  We dutifully obeyed and arrived at Upper Arlen in two days’ time to find the city sealed.  Seems the realm has become quite paranoid with the death of the king and the appearance of Drow.

We lodged at the party’s usual Inn where innkeeper Balif cleared our table of patrons.  We noted a travel worn self-absorbed loner seated in the corner who kept an eye and ear towards our party; knowing our party he’ll probably join up.  Balif gave us the lowdown on the King’s assassination.  Seems the Drow have been pegged as the culprits.  The vast magical wards which protected the King and his family were somehow disabled and the King’s special guard were killed.  Sounded like Drow treachery to me.

Duke Ralf Mallick of the Cranes, a wealthy shipping magnate who is also the first cousin of the King and loved by the people, was headed towards Harrowgate to become the regent until the young Miller and rightful king can be found.  Knowing the Drow, I doubt he’ll be found, alive.

Duke Lannor Graymor of Upper Arlen seemed to be both glad and mad to see us due to something about a painting for his sister; however, we (not me the party) helped stave off a drow invasion of Upper Arlen.  We accompanied the Duke to Harrowgate (Krond even got to ride in the Duke’s carriage) which was a week of travel.  We arrived in Harrowgate three weeks after the death of the King, the entire place was on lock down and all the mages were being held under house arrest.  We also learned ‘Fisty’ the evil mage who, in episode one, hung me out to dry with Naugy, is missing.  Oh yeah, Naugy got nabbed by the guard and was ‘escorted’ to Harrowgate and thrown in with the other mages in the mage college/prison, which he is none too happy about.

Upon arrival in the city Alistar met with a secret contact and Krond spoke with the guild.  Alistar was tight lipped with his information; however, Krond relayed that the guild inspected the physical work which contained the magic wards and all seemed to be in order.  Few knew of the wards, where they were and even what they were.  Apparently the head of the mage college, Fisty, knew all of this and he is now vanished along with Prince Miller.  Interesting.  There were six separate warding spells and there were six high level guild members who knew of where the wards would be placed.  The senior guild members did not know what the wards were nor how to remove them (according to them).

Alistar mentioned something about visiting Wrenledge a free city to the south to get more information but this will have to wait a day or so.  The High King Kandarian was laid to rest and eulogized by his brother-in-law Duke Ralf Mallick who did a fine job as far as eulogies go.  We all felt a sense of tragic loss.  The royal family is gone and the realm has been cast into a fog of uncertainty.  We must discover the mastermind behind this vile deed.  We hear some whisperings about Duke Ralph Mallick becoming king and most agree.  I pretty much don’t care.

That night a mysterious note is slipped under the door of our room.  The letter is a copy of one which had been authored by King Kandarian to Duke Mallick of the Cranes.  It seems we have a friend within Duke Mallick’s company.  We read the letter and found the king had contemplated a day when there would be no monarchy but the Duke was against this idea.  This certainly requires some thought.  Whoever provided the letter must know how to both read and write and have access to the Duke’s private chambers, curious.  And why send us this letter?  Puzzling.

The next morning we split up to get some investigating done.  Cretoe headed to Bleaker’s General Store to investigate a lead on the thieves’ guild.  Krond and I went to the castle to investigate the scene of the crime and Alistar took the monk Shen Long, the one we picked up in Upper Arlen (the party apparently does do some charity work), to look around the Mage College.  In summary, Lord Jax is leading the investigation, nobody living actually saw the drow attack so we’re not certain it was even the drow.  We scraped some dried blood from the scene that was not human blood (we think).  Krond found letters in the study similar in theme to the one we received last night. A portal was opened inside the king’s chambers to effect both the entrance and exit of the assassins.  There were four assassins and one was injured.  The portal was opened by a mage and held open by that mage until closed.  Bleaker’s was a dead end for the thieves’ guild maybe; and Naugy is now mad as a hornet because Alistar didn’t help him escape from the Mage College/Prison.  And, unlike a hornet, Naugy will probably sting us more than once.

Another road trip as we grab a quick lunch and head to Wrenledge to follow Alistar’s lead.  No rest for the weary.

Goddammit..DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!

Hanging around just wasn’t my style.  Last time I stick my neck out for a mage, although he does have his uses.  Thankfully a group of barely competent adventures happened upon us prior to our untimely demise, which I am grateful to my god, The Great Wolf, for hearing and answering my prayer.  I find myself wrapped up in some plot with my new found companions which includes Drow, which I despise, as well as a keep and some other backstabbing mage.  Of course, in my opinion exactly all mage’s qualify for this distinction.

But I digress.  A brief description of the party with whom I now find myself involved, in a purely convenient manner, is in order.  There is of course a dwarven cleric, as if the lands needed yet another of these self-righteous gold crazed dirt munchers.  I believe his name is Krond, or some other monosyllabic device similar in sound.  The only good thing about Krond is he’s so short I can fire arrows right over his bald head, and he’s good to have around after a fight.  For healing the fighter of course.

Speaking of fighters, there is Alistar the fighter who seems to be very good at nearly dying.  Fortunately the lad is resilient and the dwarf has taken pity upon his unfortunate soul by offering a healing hand about every ten minutes.

Bainor the elf barbarian?  Enough said.

A perfectly useless rogue named Cretoe seems to enjoy triggering traps and causing significant damage to certain fighters of the party.  Note to self, keep back from Cretoe especially when he is attempting to pick things like locks and such.  I must confess however, even with his penchant for blowing things up, he is a likable fellow.

Naugrim the Mage, whom I sometimes hang out with, seems to have some redeemable qualities.  For one, he doesn’t listen to the dwarf much and he is also decent at blowing things up.  On purpose of course unlike Cretoe who has mastered accidentally blowing things up, including Alistar.

I find myself lost in a dwarven tomb with my new ‘friends’.  Apparently the dwarf figured out how to open an ancient dwarven door to a tomb which lay sealed for centuries filled with all kinds of things which will no doubt try to kill us.  Of course remaining trapped in the cavern due to a cave in was not an option.  So we entered, but not without some longwinded list of rules from the dwarf which included something about not touching things inside the tombs.  I never was too good with authority.   

The entry foyer was a long narrow chamber filled with two shallow pools with a deep pool and bell at the end of the chamber opposite the door.  Krond ‘the boss’ ordered everyone not to touch anything in the room for fear of bad things happening.  It occurs to me we’re trapped in an ancient dwarven tomb, how much worse could it get.  So we touched stuff anyway.

By some small miracle Cretoe managed to pick a lock on a door in the next room after the foyer just as Naugy and I discovered the key for the lock at the bottom of the deep pool.  The key was given to Cretoe to help him with any future lock picking endeavors.  Oh yeah, Naugy rang the bell without actually touching it.  Nice trick, I’ll need to learn that one.

So onward we journeyed.  The next room was roughly square with a large statue of a dwarf, I know what you’re thinking; someone had a complex.  There were also four alcoves in the corners of the room and four doors at the compass points.  Three of the statues were in the shape of dwarves but with animal heads and the fourth corner had a black pillar.  We searched the black pillar and found a keyhole.  It turned out the key we found in the first room fit this lock as well.  Cretoe fitted the key into the lock and a secret panel slid open in the black column revealing some dwarven treasure.  However; when he opened the compartment the three animal headed dwarven statues sprung to life and attacked Alistar.

We easily vanquished the animated statues and then healed Alistar.  I was hoping to see a raging elf barbarian but I’m not sure the elf knows how to get angry.  Do elves get angry?  I wonder.  You know I don’t think I’ve ever seen an angry elf.  I bet Krond could get him going.

The four doors in the room were investigated, while we touched nothing, we still amazingly found some treasure stuffed up the left nostril of a dwarven face carved right into the wall of a small closet.  [ And the carvings left eye- the DM ] 

The treasure was surprisingly meager for all the trouble Alistar went through fighting the dwarven statues.  There was one thing we left untouched, no really we did leave one item untouched.  We found a sarcophagus in one antechamber which we left unmolested.  I could tell Krond really wanted to find out what lay hidden within the sarcophagus but we managed to talk him out of it.

Next we found a metal clad human figure filled with sprocketed gears and wheels and a small key hole in the base of the neck.  Alistar tried the key we had from the foyer but to no avail.  The key would not fit the keyhole.  As luck would have it Cretoe managed to fail on his attempt to force the lock resulting in a massive explosion of fire and metal.  Fortunately for Cretoe, Alistar was standing right there and managed to block all damage to Cretoe.  The rest of the party was not as lucky.  

The metal man was standing guard next to an iron door.  The door led to a small chamber with a chest placed on the floor.  You’ll never guess what we found inside the chest.  The key for the metal man!  Oh well.  We all thought it ironic except for Alistar of course who dabbed puss from his multiple burn wounds.

We continued on, since we had little choice, and found a room with a pool of water.  The dwarves seem to have this thing with pools of water.  I didn’t think they bathed too much but I could be wrong.  I’ll have to inquire as to Krond’s bathing habits.  There were some strange fish swimming in the pool along with silver coins scattered about the bottom.  We ignored the pool and moved to the exit from this room which led to yet another chamber.

The chamber beyond the room with the reflecting pool had a mosaic floor and a door opposite the entry.  There was a strange feeling about the room and we found ourselves unsure of how to proceed.  I think Cretoe decided to sneak into the room but was immediately sliced to pieces.  Tiny bits of Cretoe lay scattered about the beautiful mosaic floor.  Alistar, not wanting to be outdone in his field of expertise decided to jump on into the room and be sliced to bits as well.  But before he did, Naugy attempted some spell which didn’t seem to work out so well.

Krond finally proved his usefulness and cast some sort of incantation which revealed the slicing blades as an illusion.  With the illusion dispelled we discovered there was a viscous hag in the room.  The hag tried to rip Cretoe’s head off, however the little thief proved tougher than he looks and put up a good fight until the rest of us could come to his aid and kill the hag.  She did die well though.

I knew that bastard mage was no good.

After their most recent adventure into the northern wilds, the Company of the Black spent a few days recuperating in the keep before heading off to the capital, Harrowgate. While conducting some personal business, the party received an urgent summons from King Kandarian. They immediately proceeded to the castle for an audience with the king and Fistandilus, one of the head mages on the College council.

Since the initial attack by the drow, the Mages College has been researching ways to help defend the realm. One of the ways the mages discovered was the creation of Stones of Speaking, a communication system to quickly allow the king's armies to muster a defense. Holders of the stones could communicate instantly over long distances. The only problem is that the stones need to be powered and the last known crystal with that power was last in the possession of the Mage of the Forgotten Vale. He is presumed dead (but who knows) but the crystal never resurfaced so the College believes that the talisman still lies somewhere within the ruins. The king and Fistandilus asked the party to travel to the Vale and search for the crystal.

Fistandilus also shared with the party the troubling news that it appeared Naugrim their friend was the traitorous mage that has allied with the drow. Fistandilus interrogated the party as to Naugrim's whereabouts and they had to admit that he hasn't been seen for some time. The king asked that if the party ran into Naugrim again, that they bring him to the capital for questioning.

As the Vale was some distance away, the party called upon Zazzo and his awesome carriage. Given the remote locale of the Vale, the party appeared to be stuck with some less than pleasing accommodations on the Vale's border. But once again, Zazzo came to the rescue and thanks to his incredible hunting and cooking skills, the party was well-fed for its sojourn into the Vale.

After defeating some minor undead, the party entered the dungeons under the ruined keep. While the initial exploration did not go well for the company (more specifically for the new rogue who got possessed by a ghost then soundly pounded by the party, the company stopped to catch its breath before heading further into the dark denizen of the Forgotten Mage.

Here We Come To Save The Daaaaaayyyyy!!!!

(Cue Mighty Mouse theme music)

Here I Come To Save The Daaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!! 

(Well, not so much)

As the party raced toward the Snuggly Pillow Inn where the High Elven Priestesses prepared for their journey home with the rune stone, they came upon drow fighters about to kill a group of city guard and citizens.

The wizard Naugrim stepped into the ally and called forth his arcane power. Black tentacles spread across the cobblestone to slow anything within their reach to a crawl, successfully planting the drow where they stood. Unfortunately, the dark elves stood over their victims and the tentacles prevented the party from reaching the humans in time. From within a Orb of Darkness cast by a drow warrior, the party listened helplessly as the drow slaughtered the poor Arleners. 

Once freed of the tentacles, the party made quick work of the murdering drow before continuing to the Inn. After a quick intervention by Zazzo and the Carriage of Asskicking, the party found the High Elves dead in their room, the rune stone gone. Before her last breath, one of the High Elves had scrawled the name Khelavan on the floor in her own blood. 

Khelavan, an ancient elven prince, was killed in the war against the Nameless One. The party’s best guess was that Khelavan was entombed along with his twin brother somewhere within the lost elven tomb the party had previously discovered outside of the village of Mirror Stone. All clues pointed to the location of another rune stone somewhere within the crypt.

As the party prepared for the journey north, they were called to a secret meeting at the Keep of Sentinel Tor with King Kandarian, Lord Jax and Captain Abel Kane. Investigations revealed that the drow were ported to the Upper Arlen countryside with the help of a powerful magic-user, a traitor to the kingdom. While the party heads to the north, work crews will redouble efforts to complete the keep and barracks as the king wants a trained military unit ready to defend the region. The druid Mirri decided to stay behind to further investigate the mystery of the drow and to keep watch over her precious forest.

Hey Brother, Can You Spare A Rune? (or The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is On Fire. We Don’t etc etc)

Finally figuring out the incredibly simple rune puzzle (so simple that Kobolds taught it in their special ed. classes), the party entered the apex of the snake temple. There they found the Water Rune stone left hidden ages ago by the elven elders (which makes you wonder why such learned minds would have left so valuable a prize within a snake temple (eerily devoid of snakes) under the protection of a pygmy cleric and his followers. But who are we to question the elven braintrust?)

The pygmy cleric, turned into a lich by his obsession with the rune stone, attacked the party as Alistair tried to retrieve the stone. After dispatching the lich (and rolling badly on the d6 to determine that the lich would return in 2 days if its phylactery was not destroyed (which it wasn’t!!!)), the party escaped the temple after sidestepping the now released beholder and fled into the jungle. 

Trying to decide which way to go, the rest of the party watched while Mirri turned into a bird which got chased by a bigger bird before turning into a horse with a magical parachute. Once finished with that tomfoolery, the party returned to Blood Anchor (not so much a) Port to discover (cue sound effect denoting shock and surprise-DUM DUM DUM-) that they had been double crossed by the pirate Racine. While the rest of the party discussed how to trick Mirri into turning into a cow so they wouldn’t starve to death, the druid noticed sails on the horizon. Luckily for the party, the carriage driver Zazzo had intercepted Racine back in Mastwick, overpowered her and the crew, and forced them to return the ship to pick up his benefactors.

Once back in Mastwick, the party burned the ship, overlooked the fact that Zazzo intended to keep Racine as his love slave, and headed by to Upper Arlen. Once in the city, the druid and barbarian reluctantly returned the stone to their elven brethren (someone owes the proprietor of The Snug Pillow Inn for the broken window) and the party began primping (or pimping if you will) for the queen’s celebration.

Following a carriage procession in the capital city of Harrowgate, Krond and the smithy guildmaster Gorak presented their gift to Queen Mariah Kandarian. To the delight of her husband, His Majesty Ralf Kandarian, the beauty and exquisite workmanship of the crown brought tears to the queen’s eyes. Thanking the dwarves for their fine gift, the Queen declared Gorak the winner of the Challenge and owner of the title, First Smith of the Blacksmith Guild. After much cheering, the crowd retired to the Great Hall for a celebration.

Late into the evening, as the feast roared on around them, the party caught sight of the king huddling close with the duke of Upper Arlen. Alarmed by the obvious fury of the whispered conversation, the party drew close enough to hear the news: Upper Arlen was under attack. 

As nobles raced to muster an answer to the assault, Ralf gathered the party within the Mage Tower, sending them through a magic portal to Upper Arlen, charging them with holding the city until the Valley’s militia could reach the field.
Stepping from the portal, the party arrived in a city under siege. Pausing long enough to learn the identity of the raiders, the party charged into the the embattled streets. 

There were drow to kill.

Let Sleeping Beholders Lie

Finally reaching the center of the jungle, the party came upon a circular grassland free of the dense trees and brush that had so far hampered their travels. Dominating the center of clearing, a stone temple rose fifty feet or more toward the sky. Krond estimated the age of the temple at between 250 and 300 years old. Since the party could find no evidence of an entrance around the base of the structure, the druid took to flight, searching for an egress amid the higher levels of the temple. 

Discovering only an active nest of some large avian creatures and that the party was being stalked by a pair of displacer beasts, Mirri returned to the party just in time to get a lesson of military history from the barbarian. As the party wandered around the clearing trying to decide their next move, they felt an odd depression in a section of the grass. After the druid called upon her prodigious power over all things natural to mow that particular section of lawn, Alistar took to digging at the spot. That is, until he caught a whiff of a flammable gas rising from the hole he was excavating.

With a strike of flint, the fighter tossed a lit rag into the hole. After the massive explosion tore open the hidden stone doors and knocked Alistar on his ass in the bargain, the party entered the temple’s underground entrance.

In the entry hall, the party found the key to a locked door barring their way after the cleric turned several attacking zombies to dust. Further down a cramped tunnel, the party came upon a giant crayfish and its minion, commanded by some unknown power to stand as guardians of the temple. Locked within the pincers of the large monster, Alistar was able to communicate with the spirit possessing the crayfish and convince the monster to allow the party to pass.

Climbing stairs to the next level of the temple, the party entered a long corridor. Set into the stone walls were the sculptures of four snake heads. Drawn to a glint of gold shining within the mouth of one of the heads, Krond found himself trapped, his arm clamped up to the elbow by the snake’s jaws. After the party defeated the animated snakes and released the dwarf from his predicament (along with the prize of a Necklace of Hold Person 3 charges), the party decided to brave a side tunnel before continuing down the main corridor.

After combatting several wights in the close quarters of the narrow tunnel, the party came to a dead end wall complete with the stone figure of a temple worshiper holding a ceremonial tray. After tinkering with the statute to no avail, the party retraced its steps to the main corridor which ld them to a large circular room whose vaulted ceiling was shrouded in shadows. Completely surrounding the room, in a band about 3 feet from the floor, a series of runes had been carved into the stone. The series consisted of five runes repeated five times. Examining the runes, Mirri decided the carvings represented a binding spell. But binding what? At that point, the party looked up to the ceiling and found themselves dead center beneath a large beholder, so far oblivious to their presence. Tiptoeing across the stone floor, the party exited the room through the open entrance on the far wall.

Climbing a steep circular staircase which the party surmised put them atop the beholder’s chamber, the party faced a hexagonally shaped room, the center of which was covered in a pool of muck and garish water of uncertain depth. The only way around the room seemed to be a narrow walkway set into the either side wall. 

Frustrated by the party’s bickering over how best to cross the room, Alistar stepped onto the ledge, calling over his shoulder for the party to follow his lead. And with his next step, the fighter toppled face first into the muck. 

As Alistar climbed to his feet, knee deep in slime and gunk, four filth zombies rose from the pool, alerted to the party’s presence by the the disturbance of their resting place. Once again, Krond the cleric stepped forward to meet the undead. As the zombies struggled to flee the dwarf’s divine magic, the party hustled through the water and up to the next level of the temple.

And found themselves in an empty room, devoid of any other exit besides the one behind them. The only other feature of the plain square room was a stone basin sitting atop a thick pedestal and holding a volume of clear blue water. The druid translated the strange runes craved into the rim of the basin as the fighter tasted the water, amazed that no matter how much water was drawn from the basin, it remained full to the brim.

Sure that the runes must be touched in a proper sequence to trigger its intended magic, the party pitted their wits against the unknown creator of the puzzle. Two unsuccessful attempts at deciphering the puzzle led to a battle with an elemental formed from the basin’s water. As the battle with the second elemental raged on, the party figured out the key word to the trap: ADMIT.