#High Elf Archer is NOT into him like that and I will not take criticism

[astroturf-enthusiast]

The fact that he has no clue she loves him is insane-

the Osmanthus flower language thing (True Love)

Cleans his ears in her lap I mean come on

without hesitation calls herself his wife

makes his favorite food seemingly every day

embroiders his coin purse

cares for his canary

is the only one to understand his inner monologues

I think his helm plume is her hair?? idk

[emerald-amidst-gold]

I blame no one but myself

Since I saw @little-lightning-lavellan​ create THIS I had to do it for Fane. You have a glorious mind, just so you know! I had to do this, and as a result, I splurged. Holy fuck. Strap yourself in folks!

***

You have selected _____ to join your party! Is your OC a Companion in the Dragon Age series? What would it be like for a player to select them to join their party for quests (or romance them, perhaps? 👀)

(yes, I will always use this picture until the day I die. Fight me.)

Fane Lavellan (born 9:17 Dragon) is a Dalish warrior and hunter from Clan Lavellan, but abandoned the clan at the age of 20. He feels no kinship with his own clan or the Dalish as a whole. He is a volatile young man that is prone to bouts of rage, but also indifference, swapping between the two at any given moment. However, he shows an astounding sensibility with keen observational skills and a plethora of worldly knowledge that many would not assume a mere Dalish warrior to have. 

Inquisition scouts report that he was along the fringes of the hills surrounding the Conclave several hours before the blast, seemingly observing the gathering of the mages and templars with levels of confusion and intrigue, but was within the village itself when the initial explosion occurred, thus he was brought in as a potential suspect and questioned as to his reasons for being there. Fane stated he was ‘just watching’ and left it at that, so the Inquisition decided to keep him close so they themselves could ‘just watch’. (If playing the Mhairi World State then his reason for being in Haven is as a bodyguard for his sister, and stays with them for her sake alone. He does not leave Clan Lavellan in this world state.) 

Fane is a starting companion (appears at the first initial rift with Solas and Varric) and is a romance option for either a female or male elf or human. The initiation of the romance is, however, based on the approval scale. You must be at a certain percentage upon the initiation scene, otherwise, the flag will be unavailable (Dalish Inquisitors start with infinitely lower approval than human, dwarf, or Qunari Inquisitors). If playing the Mhairi World State then romance option is voided, and a background relationship like Dorian and the Iron Bull will be initiated with Solas through banter hints during the game. The background relationship applies for other world states, and for low approval, or if the Inquisitor does not romance Solas.

His primary abilities upon recruitment are centered around two-handed and DPS, but can be  respecced after the first seal attempt. Fane’s specialized Ability Tree is akin to the Reaver Ability tree, and unlocks along with other companions’ Ability trees after Haven. However, he has two personalized activated skills named Emotional Baggage and Leashed, But By Choice. 

Emotional Baggage is a support, sustained AOE ability that Fane can activate to use the emotional duress of an enemy (i.e. status effects such as panic or weakened.) to augment his, the Inquisitor’s, or other companion’s abilities and basic attacks. This ability eats away at his stamina however and when depleted, Fane is unable to use any of his other abilities for a short period of time, and his basic attacks and general movement is impaired. 

Leashed, But By Choice is an ability exclusively tailored to support either Solas or the Inquisitor (if high approval or within the Mhairi World State). When within the appropriate radius of either one, Fane can ‘tether’ himself to Solas or the Inquisitor to bolster their strength by feeding his emotions through the link established. Any debilitating effects upon Solas or the Inquisitor is transferred to him and redistributed back through with fiery purpose. (status effects stack until stamina pool is depleted) If Fane’s stamina pool is completely depleted when the tether is still established, he will begin to take high amounts of spirit damage due to all debuffs circling back to him until he disconnects himself, or Solas or the Inquisitor cease any basic or activated attacks. (If friendly fire is toggled on, Solas or the Inquisitor can direct an attack towards Fane to forcibly remove the link if he is unable to).

Fane’s focused ability is circumstance dependent, meaning it is only activated if Solas has fallen or is at critical health. (If playing the Mhairi World State, it will be available if Mhairi falls or is critically injured, as well.) It is listed with the name Shattered Vow and is along the lines of the base focus ability Berserk. However, Shattered Vow greatly amplifies abilities such as Dragon Rage and Devour, and has no cooldown times on either, but at the cost of extra amounts of health when used. Stamina rate of depletion is exceptionally lowered during the duration of the ability, but upon focus depletion, or if Solas or Mhairi is revived or healed, Fane will immediately collapse and be incapacitated for the rest of the fight. (Revival, potions with Lifeward, or if Healing Grenade is upgraded with Revival will not work to recall Fane.)

Combat Comments

Kills an enemy

(scoffs) Disgusting.

I’m sick of you! *if enemy downed is a mage*

(snarls) Don’t touch me! 

Kills an enemy (after Haven)

(tired sigh) Will it ever end?

So much red..

I wasn’t made for this..

Low Health

(growls) Permission granted to heal!

Suledin.. S..Suledin.. Vir enasalin.. 

I..I have to..keep going..

Low Health (Companions)

(the Inquisitor) Stop attacking! Focus on the Inquisitor! He/She is injured!

(the Inquisitor - if Dalish) Will pride be your downfall, too?! Someone help the Inquisitor!

(the Inquisitor - Mhairi World State) Help, Mhairi! NOW!!

(Solas) Solas! You damned fool! Fall back!

(Varric) Varric! Archers in the back, warriors on the front! Get it?!

(Cole) Cole! Easy, damn you!

Fallen Companions

(the Inquisitor) - If you fall, we all fall! Get. UP!

(the Inquisitor - if Dalish) I thought you would never submit?! 

(the Inquisitor - Mhairi World State) My, no! (voice cracks) NO! Open your eyes! OPEN THEM!!

(Solas) Solas! (snarls angrily) I swear if you’re not breathing when I get to you, I’ll--I’ll--! 

(Solas - if romanced by Fane) No..NO! (choked up) We made a vow, Solas! It can’t shatter again! I need you!

(Iron Bull) I’m large, but you’re larger, you oaf! Get up!

(Cole) Cole, no! You still have so much to see, to observe! Come on!

(Varric) I don’t fancy having Hawke’s hands on my throat, dwarf! 

(Cassandra) The Seeker’s down? (snarls) Fuck me!

Location Comments

If within radius of any Elvhen artifact 

Fane: I’m..going to stay out here.

Inquisitor: Is everything all right? What’s wrong?

Fane: Nothing. It’s just more practical for someone to stay outside in case of trouble. Go on.

If within radius of any Elvehn artifact and Solas is in the party (primarily after Haven)

Solas: There is an elven artifact nearby.

Fane: (sighs) Of course there is.

Solas: Ir abelas. We shall be quick.

Fane: Go on, then. I’ll be here. 

Exalted Plains

The land is burnt to ash here. How typical.

The sky is...grey. (sighs) I want to leave already.

(Within Halin’sulahn) 

Fane: Could we have built a life here? Harmonious with them and free? Without a yoke to bind us, a noose to threaten us?

Inquisitor: With humans, you mean?

Fane: Huh? Hum--? (clears throat) Yeah. Yeah..

(when reading one of the plaques depicting the Exalted March)

(growls) The world would be better off without religion. (scoffs) Zealots, all of them.

(Approaching the Dalish camp)

Inquisitor: Huh. Look. It’s the Dalish encampment.

Fane: Traipsing about a battlefield? (scoffs) Idiots. I feel bad for the halla.

Emprise du Lion

(takes a deep breath) Ahh, feel that? That’s cold. (chuckles) Just how I like it.

I need to shed a layer...or five. How can you all stand so much fur? Ugh. 

Watch for falling snow from the branches. It’ll crush you as surely as any boulder would.

(near red lyrium) 

This stuff needs to know the perpetuity of black. Destroy it already.

My head is pounding. (growls) Can we get moving? Tsk.

(after walking across Judicael’s Crossing)

Fane: I hear them..

Cole: They’re confused, crazed, chained. They want to correct it, but it’s too much..

Fane: ...Let’s go.

Temple of Mythal

 (entering the temple)

Guess the elves learned how to cherish some things. Don’t let that be in vain.

(after meeting Abelas - didn’t attack)

Fane: I wonder if they know..

Solas: They do.

Fane: Hmph. That’s...good, I guess.

Companion Comments about Fane

Varric: Tempest? (laughs) He’s a handful, but he’s not so bad once you get past it. Elf can drink, too! The other night, half the soldiers were knocked out cold and he was still wide awake!

Blackwall: Have you ever played Diamondback with Solas and Fane at the same time? Don’t. My coin purse is still recovering from that duo. 

Sera: Grumpy? (cackles) I put a rat in his bed roll the other day and I friggin’ swear his hair turned as red as his face after the screech he let out! ...I had to hide out in the kitchens all day, though. 

Cole: His eyes hold dueling duality. He wonders when the battle will end.

Cole (if Fane is romanced with the Inquisitor): He doesn’t know which side he wants, but observing you gives him hope. He feels safe with you.

Solas (not romanced with Fane): Fane has been through a lot, Inquisitor, but his words do not wholly define him. Observe him as he observes all of us, and you will see that.

Solas (if romanced with Fane): (chuckles) Ma’isenatha? He is special, Inquisitor. In more ways than you realize. (more quietly) ...He is more important than you realize.

Iron Bull: He gives me a wide berth for some reason, but he’s one hell of a fighter! (hums) Sort of unhinged though. Like he doesn’t know he’s even moving in for the kill. Kind of worrisome, if you ask me.

Dorian: Fane? (chuckles) Have you ever heard him speak when he thinks no one’s listening? That man is a walking poetry book! Caught him reciting one to himself one time and when I asked about it, he turned beet red! I swear the man’s eyes changed colors from that alone!

Leliana (if not playing the Mhairi World State): I don’t know much about him, or rather, I cannot find much about him. For a large man with very unique features, he remains shadowed. ...And he seems to want it that way.

Leliana (if Inquisitor is Dalish): I attempted to contact your clan after Haven to gather information, but...all inquiries were met with refusal or deflection. You yourself mentioned you had never interacted with him, yes? I believe there is more going on than Fane wishes to admit.

Leliana (if playing the Mhairi World State): Your brother is highly observational and subtle for a man so large. He had taken one of my investigations as his own, and brought back amazing amounts of intel that uncovered a ring of mages attempting to repeat the same dragon control from the Grand Cathedral. ...Would you be adverse to me making him an agent?

Trespasser

No matter the romance or world state, Fane becomes unavailable at the end of Inquisition. If romanced, however, he will leave the Inquisitor a letter stating that he’s sorry, but he can’t continue to ignore what is needed for what he wants. If playing the Mhairi World State, he also leaves a letter, but the message is attached with the favor Mhairi had given him when he turned twenty-one; a velvet sash. After various attempts of locating Fane and turning up no leads, he is presumed out of bounds of Thedas or dead.

During Trespasser, upon the final eluvian that ultimately leads to Solas,  the Inquisitor will be stopped by a dragon masked warrior, who is also blocking the Viddasala from entering the mirror. Even when questioned, the warrior doesn’t speak and ultimately moves to the side to allow passage, but not before finally saying, in fluent Elvhen: ‘Your wings are clipped, and only stone awaits you.’

When the Inquisitor speaks to Solas, he will explain that Fane is not dead or missing, and is actively within the Crossroads as they speak. Any circumstance will yield questions from the Inquisitor as to Fane’s exact whereabouts, and Solas with state, with a saddened smile, ‘He saw you when you came in, but you did not do the same courtesy. Such is the way the world views his kind.’ If the Inquisitor made an effort to learn the history of the elves, their downfall, and Solas’s own identity, then he will explain exactly what Fane is and who he is to Solas himself. If not, then Solas will say to find Fane themselves to learn the complete truth and will only explain his own side. 

In the Epilogue, it is made known that the warrior the Inquisitor passed in the Crossroads was Fane, after Leliana’s agents reports sightings of a large male along the fringes of Tevinter, wearing the same armor, but without the mask attached. It is later revealed that Fane is working as one of the Agents of Fen’harel, but mainly as Solas’s second in command.  

Trivia

Fane has an unhealthy obsession with anything sweet. He often gets stomach aches.

He is demisexual, thus why his romance is based upon the approval scale.

Fane is the only companion that cannot have armor crafted for. He will equip himself as levels dictate.

His area within Skyhold is situated in three places: The third floor in the tavern with Cole, leaning on the crates in the rookery, and most frequently, reclining on the couch in the rotunda, reading.  Sometimes banter will trigger between him, Solas, Cole, and Leliana. During Haven, Fane can be found along the edges of the training yard or along one of the broken docks.

His idle animation has him scanning the sky with his arms crossed, or clenching and unclenching his fists.

He enjoys the scent and look of Gladiolus. 

If not playing the Mhairi World State, Fane is revealed to have no family beyond his deceased mother and missing father, the latter he speaks of with great disgust and loathing, however.

There is a DLC called Emerald Eyes Amidst Golden Vows that doubles as Fane’s personal quest which reveals towards dragons having a greater influence beyond the Old Gods. It hints towards Fane’s identity, as well, but it is not resolved until Trespasser.

Fane can speak and write in fluent Elvhen, but refuses to unless pressed.

Fane’s Reaver ability Dragon’s Rage is a silvery blue color rather than crimson. Upon activation of Shattered Vow, however, the blue is mixed with red.

It is revealed in Trespasser that Fane was able to ‘tether’ with the Inquisitor due to the mark, since it is Solas’s magic. 

He is secretly claustrophobic. This is revealed in The Descent DLC, if taken.

He personally tests every strange bottle of liquor the Inquisitor finds in the wilds.

The Mhairi World State is an origin preset for Fane to personalize the player’s experience with him through special dialogue and unique buffs.

Fane’s ‘climax’ romance scene reveals the abuse he underwent as a child from his father. His scars are exposed for the Inquisitor to see, then.

Refers to Solas as ‘my sky’, if in a romantic relationship. If involved with the Inquisitor, he will call them, ‘my wings’.

***

Yeah, I got carried away. I had to stop myself because I think about this a lot since Fane was not originally my canon Inquisitor. Not entirely canon compliant, but you all know me, I recognize canon, but I don’t chain myself to it. XD

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 49

AKA “The Ties That Bind”

Adventures in Taggeriell

Session 49  (Date: 21st July 2018)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Oloma”) Human Female.

- Sean (Known as “Seanicus”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- Clive (Known as “Ignaaz”) Half-elf Male.

Absent Players

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male. <Played by Travis>

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male. <Played by Bob>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

- (Known as “Nac”) Half-elf Male. <Controlled by Rob>

Summary

- Toilday, 9th Abadius in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Spring.

- The party begin this session, in the late morning of a dry and warm day, along the main northern trade route. They look out across the large burning bonfire of the destroyed flying boat of the desert pirates that they destroyed at the end of last session.

- Brumohn has called a stop to the caravan whilst they examine and repair the wagon that was captured by the ballista arrows of the pirates. During this time the party search the dead bodies of the pirates but find nothing of value. Seanicus performs the Ritual of Detect Magic and senses that the boat was made of components that were enchanted but thanks to the raging fire which will last the remainder of the day, there is nothing that can be salvaged.

- Oloma checks up on the condition of the wagon driver she rescued and seeing he is badly injured uses one of her precious Healing Potions on the man to heal him.

- Once Brumohn declares the caravan is ready to go, the party return to their wagon and the journey continues. The rest of the day goes uneventfully and when evening arrives the caravan stops to camp for the night.

- The evening goes as normal with the people preparing meals and talking until they begin to retire to their wagons or tents to sleep for the night. The party, along with the other paid security guards, take up the burden of the watches during the night.

- On the second watch, just after midnight, Sulesdeg “The Pole” and Orvustia are walking in pair with Sulesdeg carrying a lantern. They approach the pair of Labarett and Oloma who are also on watch. The twin moons are giving a fair bit of light this evening and there are three lit camp fires around the caravan, which is positioned in two long lines, with the horses in the middle protected from the wind.

- As the four of them pass each other, suddenly the air erupts around them as the wind blasts around them. A wind storm that blasts sand around has appeared out of no where and covers the entire caravan. The dust storm is making it very difficult to see and limits vision to no more than 15’.

- Labarett spins around, “This is not natural. We’re under attack!”

- As he speaks, there appears in the swirling mist, several indistinct figures.

- Labarett rushes toward the closest one, drawing his enchanted battle axe, Snaidh, and moves towards the figure. As he approaches the figure and begins to swing his battle axe the figure disappears into swirling sand as his blade passes through it.

- Oloma moves to another figure and as she approaches she summons her Soul Blades and lunges towards the figure. The light from the Soul Blades illuminates the figure. An Elf with dark skin and vacant eyes, wearing similar garb to the desert pirates they fought earlier in the day. The Elf stands there with a scimitar in its hand. Oloma’s Soul Blades strike into the Elf and the figure stumbles backwards dead.

- Sulesdeg and Orvustia move forward, each moving to a different figure in the sand. Sulesdeg draws his sword, and charges towards one of the indistinct figures but as his sword swings through the figure it disappears. The momentum of the charge pushes Sulesdeg a few steps forward and he finds himself suddenly free of the sand storm. He looks around and can see the storm is surrounding only the caravan, the far surrounds and sky above are clear and calm.

- Sulesdeg yells, “The storm is only around the caravan, what is this magic?”

- Suddenly six arrows fly straight at Sulesdeg, coming from three archers that are positioned about 120’ away in the darkness. Sulesdeg, badly wounded, stumbles back into the dust for cover and yells, “Archers outside the storm!”

- Orvustia swings her sword into a dust figure and it connects with a loud clank as the figure becomes a solid Elf holding a scimitar.

- Oloma ducks just in time to avoid a blow that would have connect with her head (Critical Hit - to remove an ear BUT she is wearing an Adamantine chain shirt that nullifies Critical Hit effects. Both Rob and I forgot she was wearing this on the night and as such the previous result of the missing ear is now rescinded.)

- There are the sounds of movement and combat coming from several places around the caravan.

- As the four members on watch look around more figures start to appear around them, appearing from the dust, and start to attack them. Labarett is now surrounded by the figures that lash out at him. Orvustia also takes a bad blow and cries out in pain. Sulesdeg, unconcerned with his own injuries, rushes over to help her fight off the multiple attackers around her. Oloma too is moving from figure to figure, using her Soul Blades to drop one after after. Labarett, now enraged, soon brings down the three figures surrounding him.

- Meanwhile on the other side of caravan, the rest of the party have quickly arisen, their experience with battle seeing them rise and prepare as soon as the sound of battle reached them. They look through the transparent wall of the Leomund’s Tiny Hut and can see several indistinct figures within the dust moving about the tents of the passenger wagon in front of them and also approaching the two wagons closest to them. The dust is making it impossible to see what is happening along the rest of the caravan but they can hear battle coming from several locations.

- The rest of the party spring into action, there is no time to don armour for most but some, like Trenchant and Naillae, luckily choose to sleep in their leather armour.

- Ignaaz races over to one of the figures at the rear of a wagon to discover an Elf trying to get in.

- Trenchant moves out of their Hut and fires an arrow from Doigh Nadair towards the group near the passenger tents and calls forth the Divine Rain of the bow. Suddenly eleven other glowing arrows appear and four of the dust figures are dropped to the ground. Sir Krondor and Gim likewise grab their weapons and begin to engage the enemy.

- Brumohn, Leda and the other security guards are likewise getting up and ready for battle.

- After Seanicus casts a Fly spell on himself and Gim, the Drow Warlock then leaps high into the air above the caravan. He can see that there is a tightly contained bubble of swirling wind and dust around the caravan, concealing what lays within but outside of that contained storm the night is calm.

- Suddenly half a dozen arrows come flying at him as he hovers in the air. Seanicus looks around and can see six archers, three on either side of the caravan, about 120’ away. Not wishing to attract any more arrows the Warlock flies lower until he is mostly within the dust with just his head outside. He notices some movement (Successful Perception check) and looks forward and right of the caravan where about 100’ feet away is a dark figure in a hooded robe, crouched down behind a boulder.

- The party very quickly overcome the figures near them, as they prove to be easy to dispatch, but more of the dust figures keep appearing. When one of the dust figures near the passenger tents is dispatched, as he falls backwards he yells out in Elvish, “Cover!”

- Suddenly the dust and wind around one portion of the caravan, near the passenger tents, clears to reveal some of the party there standing with weapons drawn looking around them. Leomund’s Tiny Hut, which some of the party were using for cover, suddenly disappears as the magic holding it together is Dispelled.

- Before the exposed party can react the three archers to one side open fire and start to rain deadly arrows at the exposed party there. The arrows are precisely placed and badly wound the exposed party forcing them to move back into positions of cover.

- Sir Krondor yells at Gim, “Cousin fly to those archers and take care of them or we’re all dead!”

- Gim flies towards his great axe on the nearby ground, drops his crossbow and grab his great axe instead and then starts to fly straight towards the closest archer as fast as he can. Arrows begin to fly towards the flying Dwarf striking into him as he is not wearing any armour but is only dressed in his under clothes. Gim lands to stand before the archer but before he can do anything he is badly wounded by the arrows (Critical Hit doing triple damage) and the attack knocks him over prone.

- Sir Krondor, as he is firing arrows back at the archers, looks at the scene of battle around him and then notices that there are no dead bodies of the attackers. The Knight yells out, “Where are the bodies! What is happening?!”

- Seanicus, seeing the Hut collapsing and seeing the magical storm suspects that the figure he saw hiding by itself must be the spell caster behind all of this. Seanicus summons four glowing Dancing Lights to appear around the hiding figure. Seanicus smiles to himself until he sees the figure suddenly vanish completely from view.

- “Son of a bitch!” exclaims Seanicus and then begins to move his Dancing Lights around trying to find where the figure went to.

- Nac, who has been moving forward along the side of the caravan, hidden by the swirling dust suddenly finds himself surrounded by several figures in the dust. The Cleric casts Spirit Guardians, the air filling with glowing spirits surrounding him, and steps forward yelling, “Come on ya barstards!”

- The dusty figures start to move towards Nac and instantly the glowing Spirit Guardians attack. The dusty figures are stopped in their tracks and instantly killed. Nac lets out a shout of triumph.

- Meanwhile, on the far side of the caravan, Labarett, Brumohn and Tyjit have been dealing with another group of the dusty Elf figures and have managed to dispatch them without too much trouble, allowing them to begin to move towards the rest of the party. Likewise, Oloma has been moving through the dust trying to get towards the rest of the party too.

- Trenchant and Sir Krondor are firing arrows at the archers trying to give cover to Gim as he deals with them.

- From behind Trenchant, Naillae and Ignaaz, who have taken cover behind one of the wagons, suddenly appears the figure of a hooded Elf, having opened a Dimension Door to get himself away from the Dancing Lights of Seanicus. Naillae who was guarding their rear and ready for an attack, throws two daggers at the hooded Elf but both miss. The arm of the hooded figure raises and he casts a spell. A loud booming sound erupts and Sir Krondor, Ignaaz, Trenchant and Naillae find their bodies smashed by the thunderous sound. Sir Krondor manages to avoid most of the damage (Successful Save) but the other three take the full brunt of the damage. Luckily the force of the damage was reduced by Ignaaz’s Bardic Inspiration and the four members of the party come away with only moderate injuries.

- Two heavily armoured Elves ran past the hooded Elf and engage Trenchant and Ignaaz in close combat. Trenchant begins to fight and parry away the attacks but he knows he needs help badly and likewise Ignaaz is in dire danger and summons a Blade Barrier around him to try to keep the foe at bay.

- Seanicus, hearing the loud boom, turns around in the mid air, and from his higher vantage point flying above the caravan he sees the hooded figure, “Found you!” The Warlock places a Hex Curse upon the hooded figure, making a purple glow appear that only Seanicus can see, and then commands his Shadow Hound to enter the shadow of the figure so he won’t lose him again.

- Labarett moves forward through the dust and towards a group of indistinct figures ready for battle. As he comes into melee range, his battle axe raised to attack, at the last second he sees that it isn’t an Elf but one of the caravan passengers from the Cult wagons.

- The Cultist, who appears in a panic, swings a sword at Labarett. Labarett jumps back and yells, “Hold your weapon fool! Caravan guard coming through!”

- Labarett starts to move cautiously through the rest of the armed Cultists who eye him wearily but let him through.

- Ignaaz is getting badly injured, the Elven foe before him proving a deadly adversary. He takes blow after blow, one of them cutting open his lip and preventing him from speaking properly enough to cast any more spells (Critical Hit). Trenchant, seeing how dire things have become, casts Crown Of Thorns on the foe in front of him but the spell fails (Successful Save).

- On the far outskirts, Gim uses his great axe to swing into the already wounded archer and kills him. He looks across at the other two archers, the closest one being 60’ away and decides he can’t win this fight as he is too badly injured and the archers are quite deadly. Instead of rushing forward, he decides to use the body of dead archer for cover. He drops to the ground and gets behind the dead body. Arrows continue to fire at him but the dead body takes most of them. He waits and when he sees his chance, Gim suddenly bolts up and flies at fast as he can back towards the caravan. Arrows fly past him but all miss. He reaches the relative safety of the caravan and gets back behind cover.

- Naillae moves towards the hooded Elf and lunges her rapier into him.

- Oloma, moving through the dust, appears at the rear of the hooded figure and can see Naillae and hooded figure locked in combat. Oloma sends forth a Psionic Blast at the hooded figure. The hooded Elf yells out in pain and suddenly the storm, wind and dusty figures all disappear, leaving only the three Elves in the caravan, and the five archers on the outskirts (Failed Concentration check on Spell).

- Naillae uses the opportunity to push her enchanted dagger Urramach into the belly of hooded figure, opening a large wound.

- Nac looks around the party, who are all badly injured, and casts Mass Healing Word with some assistance from Trenchant’s Bardic Inspiration giving some respite to Gim, Ignaaz, Naillae, Trenchant, Oloma and himself (19 Hit Points healed to each person).

- Seanicus flies down towards the rest of the party and fires two Eldritch Blasts at the hooded Elf.

- The hooded Elf, badly injured, speaks words of power and then vanishes from sight. Naillae can hear the sound of moving footsteps (Successful Perception check) and swings her rapier into the empty air where she heard the noise and strikes the Invisible hooded figure (Attack Of Opportunity). There is a loud yell of pain and then the figure reappears (Failed Concentration check on Spell). With no more way to hide and badly wounded the hooded decides to run for it and races towards the archers on the outskirts.

- Now that the dust has gone, more arrows start to rain in to the caravan from the archers surrounding it. The arrows fly towards the party and also the Cultists who are forced to rush into cover.

- The other two heavily armoured Elves are still proving a difficult foe, dealing blow after blow. Gim moves over to help Trenchant with his foe and Naillae moves over to Ignaaz to help with his foe.

- Oloma sends a psionic Energy Beam towards the fleeing hooded figure as she runs to catch up with him. Seanicus tries to cover the hooded figure in a Faerie Fire but the spell fails (Successful Save).

- Realising that he can’t get away from the chasing figure of Oloma, the injured hooded Elf stops running and then leaps towards Oloma grabbing onto her. They tumble onto the ground and then when they stop rolling there are now two identical Oloma’s there. The hooded figure has gone. Oloma looks over at the other figure and sees a perfect image of herself.

- Brumohn and Tyjit arrive to start helping with the combat.

- Naillae cries out in pain as one of the Elves in front of her swings his scimitar into her (Critical Hit) badly wounding her.

- Labarett has now reached the rest of the party and throws his Javelin of Lightning, speaking the command word to turn it to lightning. However, the throw is bad (Fumble) and instead of aiming it at the Elven foes near Naillae and Ignaaz, he hits Ignaaz instead injuring the Bard as lightning arcs around him.

- Seanicus looks across at the two Olomas but he is not tricked by the Disguise Self spell of the Elf. Seanicus can see his Shadow Hound and the purple haze of his Hex Curse around the false Oloma. The Warlock points his hand at the false Oloma and pushes him away with a Repelling Blast (Critical Hit). As he does so, the false figure of Oloma disappears to reveal the real hooded Elf (Failed Concentration check on Spell). In return, the now exposed injured hooded Elf begins to desperately run away again, with fear in his eyes.

- Labarett sees the fleeing hooded Elf and races towards him in a rage. The Barbarian easily gains on him. The hooded figure is running frantically, looking over his shoulder at the coming form of the screaming Barbarian but he can not out run the speed of Labarett. The Barbarian raises his battle axe screaming and brings it down into the back of the hooded Elf killing him outright.

- Soon after the two remaining heavily armoured Elves are killed as they are surrounded. A horn can be heard coming from the archers and they stop their attack and start to flee away at full speed.

- The party decide not to try to pursue the five escaping archers as they are all going different directions and are already quite far away and do not wish to chase in the darkness.

- The party are victorious. Brumohn begins to check on the welfare of the caravan and the passengers and discovers that one of the passengers, Imsa the green skin young girl looking for a cure, was killed during the attack.

- The only three dead bodies of the attackers that remain, as most of the dispatched foes disappeared upon their death, are searched but the only thing of value that is found is a bag of diamond dust upon the body of the hooded elf.

- Eventually, after Imsa is buried, the feeling of weariness and the cold of the night proves too much and once again the caravan goes to sleep under the gaze of the party and guards on watch. Luckily, the rest of the watch goes uneventfully.

- Oathday, 11th Abadius in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Spring.

- This morning sees another warm and sunny day in the arid lands the party now travel through.

- During the morning activities, the party gather around the dead body of the hooded Elf and Nac casts Speak With The Dead upon the body. As they watch the body twitches and the head raises up, the jaw opening. The dead white eyes stare at Nac.

- Nac speaks, “Why did you attack us?”

- The dead figure responds in a cold, rasping voice, “Revenge.”

- Trenchant speak, “That would make sense. We did destroy one of their boats and kill quite a few of them.”

- Naillae looks up, “But they attacked us first.”

- Nac continues and asks his second question, “Where is your camp?”

- The dead figure replies, “No camp.”

- Oloma says, “Ask him if we can detect their boats. Seeing how they can just appear would be handy to know.”

- Nac asks his third question, “Is there a way to detect your boats before they appear?”

- The lips of the dead figure curl up into a smile, “Yes.”

- Nac snaps, “Dam it! I only have two questions left and he doesn’t have to answer us fully. What is the name of your leader?”

- The dead figure answers, “One that shall not pass your lips!”

- Nac looks around, “What shall I ask for the final question.”

- The party argue for a few minutes, discussing various questions until Nac finally asks his fifth question, “What was the banner on the ship we destroyed?”

- The dead face lifts slightly, defiantly, and in a voice tinged with pride it answers, “First Purple of Fleet Karteg!” and with that final answer the head drops to the ground and body remains still.

- Oloma recalls that she once read that the Afrandul word for Dragon is “Kartag” and it may be a derivative form of that word. She also recalls that the Sorcerer city states of Thay do practice powerful magics (Successful Intelligence History check). She guesses that these desert pirates my be descendants of travellers from those far lands, possibly even early members of the Dragon Cult, given the similar name used and the use of purple, which the Cult still uses today, and as such the boats they have may be quite rare and not easily made or replaced.  

- The caravan once again sets off on their journey and for the next two days, they enjoy a peaceful journey that sees them camping the first night at a general Road House and then the next night at an area with many hot springs that allows the passengers and the party to enjoy a hot bath.

- Starday, 13th Abadius in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Spring.

- On the last day of this section of the journey the caravan was blessed with similar weather to the last few days, warm and sunny.

- The caravan arrived at the exotic town of Mahik around late morning. As the head of the caravan reach the large gate of the town it was stopped for a few minutes. Leda rode down to explain to the party that they were paying the entry tax that all guests to the town must pay. During this wait Trenchant and Ignaaz made a performance and sung a tune about the exploits of the caravan but the people of Mahik, used to travellers and wild tales took little notice, except for a group of young children who ran to enjoy the music and try to match the erratic dance moves of Seanicus.

- Soon the caravan was moving slowly inside. About half the population here was Human or Elf both with dark skin, and the remainder appeared to be either Tiefling or Dragonborn. Leda explained to the party that Brumohn was expecting to pick up some cargo from the Red Scale Transport Company but was informed by the guards that the east bound traffic had been delayed due to heavy sand storms so it looks like the caravan will have to wait two or three days before moving on.

- As Brumohn leads them through the city to an area set aside for wagon caravans to camp, the party notice a well dressed warrior riding an armoured war horse riding along the length of the caravan. The male human, with short brown, has a well groomed appearance and appears clean shaven. He wears full plate armour that is adorned with elaborate engravings and gold work. A large great sword is strapped to his back where a travelling cloak of good quality shows that this rider has been travelling for some time. The war horse he sits astride is a large one and canters with an ease that belies good stock and training. A beautiful looking saddle sits atop the horse and strapped to the side of the animal is an impressive looking lance.

- He rides down the length of the caravan peering intently at each wagon as if looking for someone or something. The party lean out of their wagon and look at him.

- Naillae speaks, “Looks like he’s looking for someone. His face is familiar but I’m sure I’ve never meet him before.”

- As the rider gets closer, Trenchant leans out and his eyes narrow, “Yeah he does look familiar. Hey, over here! You looking for someone?”

- The rider looks over at Trenchant and smiles and gallops over and shouts, “Hail brother! I’ve been looking for you for weeks Trenchant.”

- Everyone turns to look at Trenchant. Naillae looks back and forth between Trenchant and the new comer, “Yeah, you both share similar features. You look like brothers, must be why he looked familiar to me.”

- Nac turns to Trenchant, “You recognise this guy?”

- Trenchant replies, “Sort of. I think that’s my youngest half brother but the last time we saw each other was many years ago and he was a very young boy.”

- The rider brings his horse round in an easy and well practised manoeuvre to come alongside the party’s moving wagon and match its speed.

- Trenchant smiles, “Lee?”

- The other rider returns a similar smile, “Yes, Trenchant. It’s been a long time and last time we meet I was a lot younger.” Lee’s eyes narrow looking closer at Trenchant, “You appear to be a lot older than you should be?”

- Trenchant replies, “Yes, that would be due to us facing a group of ghosts. I was aged. Hazards of the job.”

- Lee and Trenchant exchange some pleasantries whilst the caravan continues to its designated camping spot within the town, located at the base of a grassy hill within the town, and Lee invites his brother and his companions to drinks on his shout. The party agree and after receiving their payment for their security duties from Brumohn for the last stage, they all proceed to an inn that Brumohn recommends.

- The inn is a modest two storey building with a long stable on the side attached to smithy. A sign out the front in large Afrandul script read “Tahir Al-Forouk” and underneath in small letters is written in common script “Traveler’s Rest”.

- As the party approached the inn, Lee swings one leg over the still moving horse and gently lands on his feet. His horse approaches the front of inn, stops and waits.

- Sir Krondor looks impressed and then turns to Lee, “Um, what exactly do I call you?”

- Lee replies, “You may address me as My Lord or Sir Lee or Lord Whitely. You are a Knight? And you are?”

- Sir Krondor holds out his hands which Lee shakes, “Sir Krondor.”

- Sir Krondor looks over at Sir Lee’s horse, “You’re not going to even tie up your horse? You’ve got some pretty valuable stuff on it. Someone might try to steal your stuff or horse.”

- Sir Lee smiles, “I doubt it. Particeps is well trained and loyal. She would kill any person that was stupid enough to try it. She can look after herself.”

- The party enter the busy inn and are directed to an empty table by one of the dark skin Elvish serving girls. Lee orders drinks and food for the party and pays for it all with a small pouch of gold coins that he gives to the serving girl and tells her to keep the change.

- Over the course of the meal and drinks, the party get to learn of Trenchant and Sir Lee’s relationship and their family history. Eventually the matter of why Sir Lee has tracked down Trenchant is brought up.

- Sir Lee speaks, “Trenchant as you know, our older brother, Lord Nolan resides as head of the family and is in charge of Castle Winfley now that father is dead. Things have not been going well back home and have slowly gotten worse until now I fear things have become dire. There is an evil and scheming noble, Lord Balrok, who wishes to see our family over run and have Castle Winfley for himself. He has been seeding dissent by spreading false rumours and allegations about our family. He is stirring up trouble, poisoning crops, arranging thefts of property and encouraging the people to openly revolt against Lord Nolan. There is the beginning of talk of an uprising.”

- Trenchant looks aghast, “But what is Nolan doing about it? Why hasn’t he charged this Lord Balrok with insurrection? And why are you here and not helping our brother in this time of need?”

- Sir Lee looks forlorn, “Nolan is ignoring the problem. He believes it will just go away if he just does the right thing by the people. Nolan’s good heart, and the belief that everyone is as just as himself, will be his downfall. I have tried to council Nolan but he won’t listen and Lord Balrok is clever. There is no direct evidence to charge or accuse him.  I am here brother because I can not take further action. My hands are tied, I must follow Nolan’s lead. But you Trenchant, you are a half brother, a barstard. You are not tied to follow Nolan as head of the family and besides, Nolan always had a soft spot for you and would listened to your advice, unlike my advise.”

- Trenchant looks around at the group, “But I can’t leave my companions, my friends. We are on an important mission that has implications for the safety of the world.”

- Sir Lee nods, “Yes, I know of the quest. I am a Redknife of the Lord’s Alliance, which is currently working with the Order Of the Gauntlet, Harpers, Emerald Enclave, and others to stop the Cult Of The Dragon succeeding in bringing Tiamat into this world. I know of your role in that. I spoke to Araiel from the Harpers to find out how to find you. Araiel sends you her best wishes and love and hopes the Cloak she gave you is serving you well.”

- Naillae looks at Trenchant, “So that’s where you got your Elven Cloak! You and I will be having a little chat tonight about former girlfriends.”

- Sir Lee looks at Naillae, “Former? You always did have an eye for the Elf maidens brother.”

- Trenchant blushes, gives Naillae a sheepish smile and then turns back to his half brother, “Then you know why I can not leave these people on this quest. I can not leave the burden alone to them. It is too important. What point is there in returning to save our family holdings if the world is destroyed by Tiamat?”

- Sir Lee nods, “I agree. House Winfley never shirks its responsibilities. But we each have a role to play and we each need to do what we are good at. I am good with blade, bow, lance, flail and the saddle. I excel in combat. But you brother, you excel with words and wit and guile. You excel at winning the hearts of people. Trenchant go back to our family home and help our oldest brother save our holdings. Think of what our late father did for you. He took you in and gave you a home and paid for your education. He need not have done that, you being a barstard son. Think of the people of Winfley, they need your help. If Lord Balrok takes charge I do not think he will be a fair man, he will rule with a heavy fist. If you do this I will carry your burden instead.”

- Sir Lee stands and draws out his great sword which he places in front of him, placing both his hands on the pommel, and says, “I Sir Lee Whitely, third son of Lord Dylon Whiteley, of House Whiteley, Lord of Castle Winfley, swear on my honour, and on the name of our late father, that I will take up your burden, I will lay down my life to stop Tiamat entering this world and protect these people you call companions who have chosen to do the same.”

- Trenchant’s head lowers and his shoulders slump, “Then I have no choice. I must leave for Castle Winfley at once to again answer the call of my family.”

- The party then erupt into chaos, demanding that Trenchant can not leave the group. Trenchant listens patiently but then speaks, “Labarett, what if your Tribe of Kelhana called for your aid else it would fall, would you answer the call?”

- Labarett places a hand on Trenchant’s shoulder, “You know I would my friend.”

- Trenchant turns to Sir Krondor, “And you my good Knight and my good friend, what would you do if Fanur called for its Knights to return to defend it against threat?”

- Sir Krondor places a hand on Trenchant’s other shoulder, “I would answer the call without hesitation, the same as you.”

- Trenchant nods gravely, “Then you know why I must go, even though my heart wishes to stay.”

- Naillae moves to stand directly in front of Trenchant, “What about me then? I will not chase after you Trenchant Kincaid. If you return home and to this, this Araiel, then you choose her over me. Do I mean nothing to you?”

- Trenchant replies, “Naillae, I go back to help my brother and save my people, not to see Araiel.”

- “But she is there, is she not? She is your first love? The one that gave you the precious gift of the Cloak Of Elvenkind. That is not a gift given lightly within my people. You will see her again and no doubt work with her as a Harper to sort your problems out?” demands Naillae.

- Trenchant, not wishing to lie, simply says, “Yes.”

- Naillae turns away, “Then good bye Trenchant. May good fortune guide your way.” and walks over to the bar to order a drink.

- Trenchant speaks, “Goodbye my friends. May the blessing of the Harp be upon you all. Ignaaz, I was supposed to continue your training as a Harper but that can not be now.”

- Ignaaz responds, “But you are my senior Harper. Should I not go with you?”

- Trenchant shakes his head, “No. The quest you are on is too important. Livia tasked you with carrying that message scroll to the High Harper Remallia Haventree in Crescent Moon. You must do that. Stay with this group, they are good people.” Trenchant then looks over at Nac, “Well, most of them are good people.”

- Ignaaz shakes Trenchant’s hand, “Trenchant The Harpshadow, I will complete my task as a Harper. My the blessings of the Harp protect you too.”

- The party solemnly all wish Trenchant the best and Sir Lee gives him a small bag with one hundred gold coins to cover any expenses for the journey back, “Good luck brother.”

- The party all sit down and quietly watch their friend leave the inn to continue his journey alone.

<Travis hands in his character sheet for Trenchant Kincaid as it is retired for now. He now takes control of his new character Sir Lee Whiteley, Lord of Castle Winfley.>

- The party are soon approached by a dark skinned male with a thin body in his late forties. He wears a long blue silk rob and has a dark blue turban wrapped around his head. He has a long thin black moustache and beard and dark piercing eyes.

- He introduces himself as Aman and wishes to speak to the party about a job. After much to and fro and talking the party learn that this man is the Spy Master for the Sheik of this town. The Sheik has need of able and capable adventurers. The party are intrigued by the offer and agree to attend the Palace later that day to discuss it further. Oloma and Spy Master do not get on, as he does not feel it’s the place of woman to go about adventuring, which results in Oloma pouring some drink over him. A possible fight is barely avoided but Aman then ignores Oloma from then on.

- Aman leaves and the party decide to split up to get some tasks done before heading to the Palace up on the hill within the town. Oloma goes to a nearby holy sanctuary and healing hostile. She speaks to one of the volunteer females there, who give respite and care to those in need. Oloma decides to remain a few hours and help out.

- Seanicus goes around the town looking for a wizard, sorcerer, witch or alchemist but there appears to be no on in this town that offers those services. Magic is not looked down upon here in Mahik, in fact those born with the gift are given special treatment, but there are no specific places to learn or provide those services. It seems most with the gift end up moving to larger cities to earn their trade.

- Ignaaz talks to various shop keepers and merchants trying to discreetly find out about Aman but quickly learns that everyone in town is afraid of speaking about him as his spies are everywhere.

- The others remain at the inn and rest, during which time Sir Krondor and Sir Lee get more acquainted. It appears Sir Krondor is enjoying the company of another Knight.

- Eventually the party all reunite back at the inn and discuss what to do about the offer of a job. They decide to buy some desert traveling gear, special hoods, scarves and water skins, and then as a group attend the large opulent Palace of the Sheik.

-  The party are initially refused entry until they mention that Aman invited them and then are let in without delay. Sir Lee gets one of the Palace guards, Khalid, to guard Particeps his war horse whilst he is inside the Palace.

- Inside they meet Aman again who then leads the party to meet the great and might Sheik Qadi Ramman Al-Saddam, who is a very well dressed dark skin Human in his late fifties. The Sheik tells the party about his daughter, Poshaqa, who was abducted about 4 months ago by a group of bandit thieves that live in the mountains to the east. The Sheik has sent one hundred of his Palace guards to retrieve her but none have come back.

- The Sheik opens a large metal door to show a treasure room 70’ long and 40’ wide filled to head height with coins, gems, art treasures, tapestries, goblets, statues, and tells the party they can each have one hour to retrieve as much treasure as they like if they return his daughter to him. He throws two handfuls of red rubies at the party and tells them to keep them as a down payment. Gim immediately scopes up all the gems.

- Sir Krondor asks if there is anything they can show the daughter to convince her they are friends and are working on behalf of the Sheik. The Sheik hands the party a necklace, that he says belongs to his dead wife and his daughter will instantly recognise.

- Sir Lee tells the Sheik he will recover his daughter and will do so for free as it will be his honour to do so. The Sheik is impressed and promises to give him something far more valuable if he succeeds.

- The party then retire and leave the Sheik whilst Aman shows them the room of Poshaqa and where she went missing from. Her room is on the top level of the Palace, the only door in is always guarded and only a balcony leads to it which would be impossible to climb. Naillae examines the balcony and Palace and agrees even she couldn’t climb this. The party search around the room and Oloma finds faint, almost undetectable traces of claw marks on the balcony railing and upper ceiling of the balcony. As if a large creature, bigger than a man, with claws had landed on the balcony.

- When questioned, Aman can not think of any animal he is aware of that is in the area that could fit that description. Aman advises the party that his spies have uncovered information leading him to believe the bandit group in the mountains is responsible but he has been unable to uncover any information about them except for one name, Delaqna, who apparently she is someone of authority within the group.

- The party are offered rooms for the night in the Palace and Aman arranges for a Thieves Kit to be given to the party as per their request.

- Aman also arranges for a map for the party to lead them to the place the bandits are believed to be at which turns out to be some former small Summer hide away Palace that was abandoned long ago when the water run out in that location.

- The party get to their respective rooms and go to sleep.

- Sunday, 14th Abadius in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Spring.

- The party arise and are given a large and abundant breakfast. Naillae looks tired and has red eyes, it does not appear that she got much sleep.

- The day is sunny, warm and with strong winds.

- Sir Krondor goes and gets his horse from the caravan, and Sir Lee retrieves his horse from the Palace stable. The rest of the party are given riding horses by Aman for their journey into the eastern mountains of Rakhir. Once all the party are back together they ride out and head east. They follow an ancient road that leads into the mountains, that along with the map, makes the journey easy.

- Thanks to the special ability of Labarett they make the five hour journey in only two and half hours, going higher and higher into the mountains the entire time. During the journey Sir Krondor and Sir Lee speak at length about a great many things.

- At mid morning they follow the ancient road and sees that up ahead, about 200’ away, it ends at the base of a large peak, which is surrounded by a wide chasm. A broken stone bridge appears that it would have gone over the chasm to a massive archway that has been chiselled out of the brown stone but there is now a large break in the bridge. Another smaller archway lays off to the side. Two windows, set high up and back, are visible on the peak. White smoke bellows from somewhere above on the peak, indicating that the abandoned Summer Palace is once again occupied.

<And as the party look at the entrance of this imposing mountain Palace, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- Arrive Next Settlement Mahik = 200 XP

- Accept Quest to Rescue Abducted Daughter = 200 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Desert Pirates:

     * Elvish Archers (Including Routed) = 2400 XP

     * Elvish Champions = 900 XP

     * Tempest Illusionist = 1500 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Rob : 45572 + 578 = 46150

Arthur :  33095 + 433 = 33528

Travis : 33410 + 722 = 34132

Paul : 28446 + 433 = 28879

Sean : 30867 + 578 = 31445

Bob : 29749 + 722 = 30471

Clive: 25263 + 578 = 25841

NPC (Naillae) : + (289)

NPC (Nac): + (289)

[spirify]

Stargate― CH. 5

Stargate; the path leading to another you

bgm  stargate - flaming heart

The knight sprinted through the meadow, debris of dirt and grass flung into the air as he pounded on the ground before him. After landing on the bricked floor, he glanced about- which way was their residence? Without thinking for another second, he dashed into the crowd filled with villagers and merchants, and made his way as he avoided bumping into anyone.

Please be there…

He continuously prayed within his mind as he dashed forward, ignoring any source of distractions and only focusing his mind on the location of where the magician might be. Although she teleported to wherever, his body automatically told him to run to their residential area, and with hopes of her seeing her once again, he headed toward that destination. Yet for some mysterious reason, he still couldn't recollect her name. It was as if someone erased that information from his brain without a warning.

Then he came to halt.

How did she look like… again?

He couldn't fully understand what was happening. For some reason, the memories of the female magician was constantly being deleted at a fast rate. Her name, her physical appearance… and it seemed as if there were many more to come. He wanted to dearly hold onto these memories, yet someone was quickly draining his life away from him. It was aggravating, indeed. It was so frustrating that he couldn't do anything to protect her in any way.

Nevertheless, he continued to run toward his destination. Soon enough, he reached the place and came to a stop, catching for air as he knocked on the door rather violently. However, as the door did not open with just mere second, he pounded on the door again with stronger force, the sound of the banging echoed into the residence, alarming the elf who soon opened the door with shock.

"Elsword! What happened?"

She gasped at the sight of Elsword, who was resting the palm of his hands on his knees as he crouched down, trying to catch air into his breathless lungs.

"The- the magician,"

"Huh?"

"The girl… the dark powered… magician…,"

"...Aisha?"

Aisha, that was her name.

He nodded in acknowledgement toward the confused elf archer.

"She's not here. She left this morning, saying she's going to go train,"

Elsword glanced up, wincing one of his eyes in order to avoid the bead of sweat rolling down from his forehead.

"She said she won't travel too far, she probably went to go train in an unpopulated area like deep inside a forest…,"

"Why,"

The knight's voice came out rather raspy and harsh due to lack of oxygen within his system. Yet his voice was stern as he was not hesitant about Aisha's whereabouts.

"Sh- she said her dark powers are too disruptive to be experimented upon this tiny village…,"

Rena's stuttered her words as she felt a dangerous aura from the knight, who was intoxicated by pure aggravation.

"No,"

"What…?"

After a moment of silence, the anger within the knight sparked.

"Her powers are disturbing herself!"

As if his voice echoed into the entire residential area, a door creaked open from the inside and another swordsman appeared, shaking his dampened black hair with a towel as if he just finished taking his shower. Nonetheless, the angered knight continued without hesitation, completely driven and controlled by guilt and regret.

"Her magic isn't dangerous to us, she has the skills to control the powers,"

The elf and the swordsman remained their lips closed and decided to listen to his braved words.

"Whenever she's near us, her powers are disturbing her own health,"

"What do you mean by that?"

Raven raised his voice this time, confused at what Elsword was saying.

"She doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore, so she left us,"

It'll be alright, Aisha. As long as I don't touch you, let me just see you.

"She's dying,"

"Elsword!"

The door of the residential place that holds the El Search Party busted open, revealing the Lord Knight that was driven by determination as he was fully geared up with his equipment. Behind him was the Grand Master, her crimson hair swayed in the air as she forcefully grabbed onto her little brother's shoulder, causing him to come to a halt.

"Stop being so selfish!"

She yelled out as he was filled with annoyance toward her brother, who was acting upon his own and ignoring the other members. From afar, a rather tall gray haired gentleman walked toward the siblings, his turquoise colored eyes were actually displaying hint of anger, which was somewhat new coming from Ain.

"Elsword, it's too dangerous for you to go by yourself. Let us all go together tomorrow morning,"

The Erbluhen Emotion spoke with rather calmness yet his voice was stern enough for the knight to actually listen. Elesis nodded with agreement as if their actions persuaded Elsword, he sighed and walked into the residence with acknowledgment.

The crescent shaped moon was high up in the sky, surrounded by flowers of stars. The entire village was silent, even the nocturnal creatures were deep asleep, except that was- Elsword. His dedication to search for the magician did not easily diminish, and he was actually patiently waiting for the chance to avoid the eyes of the others and make a quick escape to find the whereabouts of…

Huh?

The information regarding her name have disappeared once again, taken by whoever that was slowly deteriorating Elsword on the inside. Then a thought entered his mind, if he visits her laboratory before leaving for his embark, perhaps he could locate some critical information regarding the mage herself. He was able to quickly reassure his panicked self as he quietly walked into her laboratory, the cold breeze welcoming the uninvited guest. Without hesitation, he searched through the various cabinets as he avoided a physical contact with unknown chemicals filled inside of many beakers and flasks. Through countless searches, he was only able to find papers written in a language that seemed to be created and spoken by ancient magicians. Then from the corner of his eyes, he quickly caught an ancient book that was piled up with dusts. He reached forward and blew the collected ashes away, revealing the title written in his spoken language.

The Void Princess.

With curiosity, he lifted up the heavy cover and opened the book, his eyes following the tiny words written in the rottened paper. He skimmed over and read the subtitles that introduced the secrets of a job called Void Princess. The text consisted of the creation of Void Princess, the elements regarding dark power, how to conjure these dark power, and more. Then his eyes stopped at a subtitle reading: Sacrifice. His vision automatically followed along and dropped to the text underneath as he read along the written words.

In order to become a powerful Void Princess, one must sacrifice a great need within their humanity. In exchange of the great power, one must sacrifice its relationship with the rest of the human race. The dark magic only benefits the holder and is too dangerous to anyone near the holder, therefore one must be alone at all times. If the holder uses its power to the fullest potential, one may extinguish thousands of people.

When one is able to fully control the power of the Void, one must stay away from the ones that are not familiar with such power. The holder must not communicate in any kind of way with another type of human race. They must avoid at all costs. A physical touch with another human being will causes more trouble to the holder. If they fail to do so, their heart will ache slowly at each touch. The more affectionate the communication is, the more pain they will fill within their heart. If their heart cannot handle the pain anymore, it will fail to live, and

"One will die…,"

Remaining shocked, the knight slowly stood up with hesitation, his crimson eyes widened.

One will die?

Although the memories of her name was lost within his mind, he still haven't forgotten about the physical appearance of hers; the violet haired twintails and the lilac hued iris- it was all well clear within his mind.

Elsword was finally able to realize that Void Princess is a job which one cannot join a team to fight together, their power is too disruptive to be used nearby large amount of people and that they must be alone at all times. However, the female magician sacrificed her pain which slowly cuts her life, and stayed with the team. Moreover, she physically touched other members as well, and even shared an affectionate touch with Elsword. The longer she stayed with the El Search Party, the more pain she was in.

He gently placed the book back into the shelf and walked out of the cold, vacant laboratory. With slow pace, Elsword walked down the hallway and out the door, to search for the magician who was rotting to death by herself, in the middle of nowhere.

note:  

 ahhhh sorry this chapter is barely anything and Aisha doesn't even show up here :/ i promise next chapter, there will be more stuff! as always, thank you all for reading!

Rielin’s Fanfiction Site

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 21

AKA “The Scheme Of The Cult Revealed”

AKA “Flawless Victory”

Adventures in Taggeriell

Session 21 (Date: 25th March 2017)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Balasar”) Dragonborn Male.

- Phil (Known as “Nac”) Half-elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor”) Dwarf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

Absent Players

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male. <Played By Rob initially but Arthur arrived half way through>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

- (Known as “Valder”) Elf Male. <Controlled by Phil>

Summary

- Fireday, 18th of Neth in the year 814 (Second Era). Winter.

- The party begin this session, having just arrived at the Keep in the center of Anwich; bringing with them a large group of refugees.

- The party enter the inner court of the Keep and soldiers and locals help take the refugees away and help carol the party’s horses in the stables.

- A red haired Dwarf, in full armour and a shield strapped to his back, with an axe hanging from his side, comes striding down a large set of stairs, from the upper parapet, and towards the party.

- The party learn that this is Sir Castellan Escobert The Red, Knight Of The Shield, and Commander of this Keep. Sir Castellan is glad to see able bodied adventurers and is especially glad to see Sir Krondor, Knight of The Anvil.

- Valder and Nac look closely at the face of the Dwarf.

- Valder speaks, “Hey, Nac, doesn’t he look familiar? Like someone we know?”

- Nac speaks, “Yeah … I can’t put my finger on it.”

- Then, simultaneously, both Valder and Nac explain, “Grista’s brother?!”

- The Commander leads the party up the stairs to the upper parapets and along the walkway towards a tall tower. Along the way he informs the party of what has occurred:

“Yesterday, an hour or so before sunset, the Dragon Army came upon Anwich from the south. At first I thought I could defend against them, but that was before I realised how many enemies we faced and also before I realised a Dragon was aiding them. I lost nearly half of my men in very short time and I had no other choice but to call my men back to the Keep or lose all my men. The Dragon Army raided the village unhindered at first, and I had to watch as locals were killed trying to escape. Governor Tarbaw Nighthill, leader of Anwich, had to flee his Manor and come to the Keep.

Once the sun had set, I changed my tactics, and sent my men out in small groups of two of three, to go find as many locals trapped and bring them back to the Keep. My men have been doing that all night, at great risk, and have saved most of the refugees that where hiding. I lost a few men doing this but it had to done. When the dawn came, it became too dangerous to have my men come back, so they are waiting with the last lot of refugees they can find, and will not return until it is safe. I can signal them to return.

The Dragon Army seems very disorganised and the different groups are quite often conflicting. They appear to be searching for treasure and gathering anything of value. They haven’t shown any real interested in attacking the Keep at this stage. The Dragon, which did attack at first, has mostly spent the time either high up in sky circling or occasionally it disappears to rest up somewhere.”

- The party, lead by Sir Castellan, arrive at the walk way around the top of the high tower. Standing there is a male human in his sixties, dressed in noble clothes that show recent signs of blood. His right arm is in a sling, and his face is smeared with some blood and scratches.

- The man is looking through a 2 foot long brass spy glass around at the surrounding areas of Anwich.

- The party learn that this is Governor Tarbaw Nighthill, the leader of Anwich, who was forced to flee his mansion from the Dragon Army to seek shelter in the Keep. After speaking to the Governor, the party only learn that the Dragon Army is looting all the treasure and valuables here in Anwich, being of noble born, the mansion of the Governor is filled with many such valuable items and is the reason the Dragon Army is manly on the north side of Anwich, where his mansion is. The Governor is not aware of any other possible reason that may have lured the Dragon Cult specifically here to Anwich.

- During the talk, Govenor Tarbaw sees more Dragon Forces coming from the south road, many hundreds of mercenaries marching in orderly rows. They will be at the edge of Anwich in ten minutes.

- Sir Castellan exclaims, “My men! They will be cut off when that force gets here. I have to get my men and all the refugees left back to the Keep now; it’s our only chance!” and then starts to arrange for some archers to fire off four alchemy arrows (that give off blue smoke) to signal his men outside the Keep to come back.

- Sir Castellan asks the party that if they can assist his soldiers by giving any cover to his incoming men and refugees that would be appreciated.

- Just then, Nac looking startled, speaks quickly, “Arrr … I need a privy … got to go.”

- Sir Castellan points to a door near by, “Those are the tower cells, their empty now. There are toilet buckets in there but hurry man, battle is upon us!”

- Nac quickly runs off to the tower cells and they hear the door close and lock behind him.

- The rest of the party rush into positions, moving around many soldiers who are getting ready too. Labarett and Balasar make their way down onto the ground level and go into the Sally Port as the inner and outer gates raise up to get ready for the incoming soldiers and refugees. There are half a dozen soldiers with spears also guarding the Sally Port.

- Trenchant, Gim, Valder and Naillae go over to the east side and take positions in the Forward Post, high above the Sally Port, along with a dozen of the Keep Guards. Looking outside, they can see the incoming soldiers, leading with them a large group of refugees, making their way towards the Keep. Chasing behind, appearing from between various buildings, is a large group of kobolds and cultists who have become aware of what is happening and have started to chase the fleeing group.

- Sir Krondor makes his way down into the cellars and dungeons and begins to question the assembled refugees hiding there about any strangers present, fearful that a cultist may have snuck in.

- As the refugees and soldiers run towards the Keep, the Keep Guards and party start to pick off the Kobolds and Cultists with bolt, arrow and spell. From above, through the windows of the Forward Post, Naillae uses a short bow, Trenchant uses a light cross bow, Gim uses his cross bow, and Valder uses his Fire Bolt spell which flashes with an intense heat and takes out a group of kobolds as it unexpectedly explodes (Spell Critical). From below, near the open outer gate, Balasar fires off his cross bow, whilst Labarett readies his spears for when the enemy get closer.

- The party and Keep Guards, who are using short bows and cross bows, keep firing as the fleeing group gets closer. The Kobolds are slowly catching up. The Kobolds are now close enough that Labarett and the other Keep Guards below can start hurling spears at them. Gim is doing exceptionally well and taking out multiple kobolds with head shots (two Critical Hits).

- A smaller group of fleeing refugees, mainly young children, is slowing down and a group of Kobolds will be soon upon them. Trenchant sees this and quickly casts an Illusion of a fake group of villagers, carrying bags of gold items sticking out of them, near the Kobolds and lures them away from the young children. Arrows, bolts, spears, and spells rain down on the chasing Kobolds and Cultists.

- The refugees are nearly at the Keep gate now but a fast moving pack of Kobolds from the north are racing to intercept and cut them off. Valder sees this and hurls a fireball down, erupting in a ball of death, that kills all the intercepting kobolds and forces and large portion of the on coming Cultists to pause and slow down.

- The fleeing soldiers and refugees are rushing into the Sally Port now, whilst the party and Keep Guards continue to supply cover. Gim is again on raining down death from above and his cross bow keeps hitting head shot after head shot (Critical Hit). More kobolds have come from the south side and are just about to reach the side of the fleeing refugees. Valder quickly hurls another Fire Ball down, the heat and flames nearly reaching the refugees but takes out the threat safely.

- As the last of the refugees enter the Sally Port, under the cover of Labaretts and the Keep Guards spears, Balasar opens his jaws and lets his acid breath straight ahead to take out the closest kobolds, coming from the west, giving just enough time for last refugees to enter into the Keep.

- Gim now pours a couple of oil flasks directly in front of the outer gate and Valder lights it up with a Fire Bolt, keeping the on coming Kobolds at bay whilst Balasar, Labarett, and the Keep Guards run through the Sally Port and into the inner court yard as the inner gate falls shut behind them.

- As the oil fire goes out, the kobolds and Cultists rush into the Sally Port, and when a large group of them are inside, the outer gate is shut trapping them inside the Sally Port. With no mercy, Trenchant, Gim, Valder, Naillae and Keep Guards use arrow, bolt, spell and boiling oil to bring death down upon them through the open trap doors that give them easy access to the Sally Port below.

- Thanks to the efforts of the party all of the fleeing soldiers and refugees have made it back safely to the Keep. Sir Krondor comes back up from the cellars and rejoins the party, “I have checked on the refugees and they all appear legit. I also found an injured Half-Elf called Nesim Waladra. He’s a Harper!”

- Just then Nac, slowly walking down from the main stairs arrives, “A Harper! Bloody do gooders!”

- Balasar looks suspiciously at Nac, “Where have you been? That was a bloody long crap. You missed the entire battle!”

- Sir Krondor then goes on to tell the party about Nesim, a male Half-Elf Monk, with dark skin.

- Sir Krondor tells the party that Nesim came to Anwich with two other Harpers, his master Leosin Erianthar, and another Harper of equal rank called Yoelin Dwellin. The three Harpers have been tracking the Dragon Cult for months, trying to work out what they are up to. When the Cult attacked Anwich, Leosin tried to disguise himself as a Cultist and join their ranks in the confusion but he was recognised and captured. Leosin was taken north east out of Anwich during the battle on a wagon. Yoelin stole a horse and rode of out Anwich south towards Winterhaven last night to try and get aid from Winterhaven. Nesim, who is badly injured and has a broken leg, beseeched Sir Krondor to find Leosin and rescue him, as he has valuable information about the Cult.

- Nac then arranges to see about the injured refugees and gets Sir Castellan to start to arrange the injured refugees together so he can heal them. The party and Sir Castellan enter the cellars where all the refugees are kept.

- Trenchant, seeing everyone’s spirits are down, takes out his lute and begins an inspiring song of hope and encouragement. (He gives the party some temporary Hit Points).

- Meanwhile Nac has healed most of the injured, except for more serious injuries such as missing limbs or badly broken bones. The Cleric then casts Create Food & Water to start giving out sustenance to the refugees.

- The party ask Sir Castellan about any possible alternative exits out of the Keep. The Dwarf Commander remembers they may be an old escape tunnel at the rear of the last room in the cellars, where the siege supplies are stored, but it has never been used since he has been Commander and he’s not sure exactly where it is or even if it is still usable.

- The party make their way over to the rear rooms of the large cellar to ascertain if there still is an old tunnel whilst Nac remains behind as he wants to speak to “the bloody Harper!”

- Nac introduces himself to Nesim and they have a conversation, the whole time Nac gets the feeling that Nesim is trying to ask him something without directly asking him but Nac isn’t sure what it is and isn’t sure how to respond. Nac makes some indirect references to things that it appears Nesim is also either not aware of or not choosing to openly acknowledge.

- Nac then returns to the rest of the party who are still moving boxes, crates and barrels around to clear the rear of the back cellar room to be able to get to the rear wall. The wall is searched and a section of wall is an obvious different colour of stone and feels cold to the touch, unlike the rest of the stone wall. The party search the cellar and off to the side, Balasar finds a stone brick that is slightly recessed into the wall, and when he pushes against it, with a click, the stone section of the rear wall opens slightly to reveal a secret door.

- The party open the stone door and beyond is a dark corridor that goes a short distance, before a set of stairs descend 10’ to a lower corridor. The lower corridor is filled with a foot of water and water drips onto the floor from the roof. The corridor is very cold and damp. A lever is next to the stone door in the small corridor.

- The party then begin to discuss what to do about the lever and the corridor. Whilst this is occurring, Trenchant says he quickly go back and speak to the Harper to see if he can get any more information out of him using some charm and wit.

- Trenchant walks back a few rooms to the one of the large cellar rooms where a large group of refugees are housed. The Bard walks up to Nesim, who is laying down, still with a broken leg but feeling much better as most of his minor injuries are gone thanks to Nac’s healing spell.

- Trenchant and Nesim speak for a bit and Trenchant, using his experience and knowledge as a travelling Bard, having come across many tricks and secrets, picks on a few coded words and gestures that Nesim is using to ask, “Are you a Harper?”

- Trenchant decides to play along with this to try and get more information and luckily knowing a simple coded response, replies with “Yes I am a Harper.”

- Immediately, Nesim becomes much more friendly and open. He tells Trenchant he is a Harpshadow (Rank 2 Harper) from the far west lands of Arknar. Trenchant learns that the Harpers fear the Dragon Cult are trying to find six Dragon Masks, each giving the wearer the power of a coloured dragon. If all six masks are located and combined the artefact, the legendary Great Dragon Mask of Tiamat, will allow the wearer the power to summon Tiamat back into this plane of existence.

- Nesim desperately implores Trenchant, “Please Trenchant, I am injured and my master, Leosin The Brightcandle (Rank 3 Harper) is vital to this operation. I implore you, you must find Leosin and save him. I would go but this broken leg prevents me from further action for now. Leosin will know what to do. The Dragon Cult must be stopped in this madness. If Tiamat is returned to the world all will be lost. Kingdoms, factions, races, religions will not matter. All will be destroyed before her. Nothing will remain after the Dragon Queen returns. I ask this as a Harper to a Harper.”

- Meanwhile, back the secret door, the party have decided to proceed after checking for traps. Naillae examines the lever for traps and declares it safe before moving off stating with a smile, “I just check the levers or doors. I don’t open them.”

- Balasar pulls the lever and a metal portcullis falls at the base of the stairs blocking the lower corridor and immediately water gushes in from the roof of the lower corridor. In a minute, the lower corridor is completely filled with water.

- Nac speaks loudly, “Alright everyone, quick team meeting. No one pull that lever whilst anyone is in that lower corridor.”

- The lever is pulled again and the portcullis raises up whilst the water in the lower corridor drains away and after a few minutes the lower corridor is clear of water except for a foot of water on the bottom.

- The party decide that they will proceed with caution into the tunnel. At this time, Trenchant returns to the party and informs them what he learned from Nesim and in particular about the Great Dragon Mask of Tiamat.

- Nac whistles, “Great Takhisis! That’s what the device is! What the bloody Harpers obviously don’t know is who ever wears the Great Dragon Mask controls Tiamat but at a great cost. It drives the wearer of the mask insane. Imagine that, an insane mortal, with the power to control a goddess of evil.”

- Valder speaks, “How do you know that? I’ve studied and researched magic and ancient arcane artefacts all my life and I’ve never heard of this Great Dragon Mask.”

- Nac responds, “My Goddess Takhisis, the same goddess as the one these Cultists call Tiamat, spoke to me in that vision and she is angry. The vision I told you about before on the ride up from Winterhaven. She told me about a device that the Cult were trying to get. The device would bring her into the world but would also control her; but the device would also cause the wearer to go insane. She did not want to be brought back and controlled by a mad man, so she tasked me to stop that from happening.”

- Balasar replies dryly, “Yeah, you never told us about THAT part! You only told us about the hatchery and stolen dragon eggs.”

- Nac smiles, “Didn’t I? I must have forgotten that part.”

- Balasar responds with a laugh, “You and your bloody secrets Nac.”

- The party, now all back together enter the tunnel, with Sir Krondor and Labarett leading the way behind Naillae who looks for traps, and Trenchant and Gim guarding the rear. Balasar makes his enchanted mace light up as the tunnel is pitch black. They follow the tunnel for about 80 feet when they see light coming from up ahead. Balasar then commands his mace to stop emitting light and the party continue slowly forward towards the source of bright light. As they get nearer they see up further ahead the corridor will stop at a set of stairs leading up, bathed in natural sun light, as an opening is at the top; which appears covered with an iron grate.

- As the party are slowly moving forward four strange creatures drop the ceiling; three at the front of the party and one at the rear. Each creature is about 5’ in diameter from tip to tip of it’s long spidery legs, of which there are eight coming from a body that resembles a bloated yellow bag of pulpy flesh. Two long, sharply curved mandibles protrude from one end of each of the bags, presumably a mouth but no mouth, or eyes, or ears or any other features are apparent.

- Nac yells, “Bone needles! Beware their bite for it is extremely toxic! I have a plan!”

- Sir Krondor steps forward and swings at one of the creatures but misses, “You better do something fast then Cleric!”

- Nac casts a spell and immediately the tunnel is flooded with bright natural sun light, as his Day Light spell takes hold. The creatures begin to shake. (Aversion to Sunlight - Disadvantage all rolls)

- The party then start to attack the creatures. Trenchant takes out a Fire Rune and strikes his rapier with it, flames erupt along the steel blade of rapier. Balasar uses his Wand of Magic Missles against the front creatures. Naillae jumps and rolls back from the front and gets within the middle of the party, so Balasar steps forward.

- Sir Krondor and Balasar strike out at the three Bone Needles in the front, along with support from Valder casting spells and Labarett throwing his hand axes with great effect (Critical Hit - Deadly Attack). In the rear, Trenchant, his flaming rapier flashing in the darkness, and Gim strike out against the single Bone Needle at the back. Nac, in the middle of the party launches spells at both the front and rear creatures.

- The Bone Needles, cowering against the bright Sun Light in the tunnel, thanks to Nac’s spell, are not hitting any of the party. Very quickly, the party dispatch each of the four Bone Needles. Balasar and Valder examine the strange creatures and try to extract something from them, looking for possible poison sacks, but the inside of the creatures are strange and appear to have no organs. They can not harvest anything of value.

- Proceeding on to the end of the watery old tunnel, the party come to the ascending stairs which are well light from the outside sun coming in from an opening in the ground, that is covered with an old, rusted iron grate. A padlock, showing age and rust, locks the grate. Naillae opens the lock and warns the lock is very old and could have easily broken. Nac begins to cast Mending upon the lock and grate to repair the rust and age that affects it. The lock is now usable again and the grate, is now easy to open, as all the rust from the hinges are gone.

- The party take some time to discuss what to do next. While this happening, Naillae, growing impatient goes out alone and sneaks around to see where the crate comes out. After a few minutes she returns and tells the party the grate opens next to the wide stream, about 150’ south east of the Keep. She has seen a large group of mercenaries are now surrounding the Keep, possibly some of the new re-enforcement’s that came from the south, and a small patrol of Kobolds and robed figures are walking away from the grate along the stream about 80’ to the south east searching the reeds.

- The party decide to re-lock the grate and return to the Keep to inform Sir Castellan and Governor Tarbaw of success in finding the old tunnel and where it comes out.

- After returning to the cellar, the party pull the lever to shut the portcullis and fill the tunnel with water to ensure no one enters the tunnel behind them.

- They go and speak to Sir Castellan and inform him of their find and ask if there is anywhere they can rest. They are lead to a large open area, in the tower, on the forth level that is not being used and told they can stay, rest here and leave any gear. The party decide to rest up as they have not had any sleep and will get some sleep now.

- However, their plans for sleep are interrupted when about an hour and half later, Governor Tarbaw and Sir Castellan arrive to inform the party that the Dragon Cult appear to be trying to set fire to the village Mill; and if they are successful then the village will have no food stores left when the Dragon Army leaves. The party use the Governors spy glass to see the smoke coming from the Mill and where the Mill is located.

- Governor Tarbaw pleads with the party to stop the Mill from burning as Sir Castellan can not spare any men to send. Gim, always one looking to make a profit, demands that the Governor pay the party for the service and haggles with the Governor from an initial offer of 10 platinum pieces up to 15 platinum pieces. Trenchant is not happy with the party taking payment when they should be offering to assist for nothing as they are being given free refuge in the Keep in this time of danger. The party are all happy to take the payment from the Governor, except Trenchant who refuses any share of the money. (Inspiration awarded - Travis I didn’t award this at the time but I should have - I have updated your character sheet to reflect you now have Inspiration).

- The party break camp and gather their gear. (They have rested long enough to gain the benefits of a short rest). On the way down to the cellar, Sir Castellan gives the party three of the Blue Alchemy Arrows (as a signal in case they get into trouble) and also a potion of Greater Healing.

- Back at the entrance of the Old Tunnel, the party once again pull the lever and wait whilst the tunnel drains of water. They then proceed through the old tunnel, unlock it and make their way out slowly and carefully.

- Valder sends his owl familiar up into the sky to warn of any danger coming.

- The party keep to the stream and stay low down, keeping quite. Trenchant goes up ahead about 50’ in front of the party and pulls his hood up, immediately the cloak about the Bard starts to change and shift colours to match the surrounding reeds and stream, making it very hard to see the Bard.

- Naillae, the Elf Rogue, looks at the camouflaged Bard and whispers, “I don’t believe it. That’s a Cloak Of The Elvenkind. Those are rare. The elves don’t sell those or give them away easily. I bet there’s a story behind how our human Bard came by that.”

- The party proceed along the stream, travelling the winding 500’ to the Mill that lays on the western edge of the village. As they approach they can indeed see smoke coming from the Mill. Trenchant, using the abilities of his cloak to hide himself, goes to the edge of the reeds and looks over the Mill; observing six Kobolds that are there whilst the rest of the party slowly walk to his position.

- When the rest of the party arrive Trenchant moves away from the reeds and back to the stream where the party wait. Removing his hood, the cloak stops changing colours and becomes a simple green cloak again, making it easy to see the Bard.

- “Nice cloak Bard. You’ll need to tell me the story of how you came by it,” speaks Naillae.

- Trenchant, has a sudden sad look upon his face, “One day, but that will require a few drinks am afraid.”

- Naillae responds with a laugh, “Why, to loosen the tongue?”

- “No, to dull the ache in my heart,” the Bard replies solemnly.

- Trenchant tells the party that there are six kobolds standing around the outside of the barn. The smoke is coming from a couple of small piles of hay, near the Mill, which they have set a small slow burning fire on but they don’t appear to be trying to burn the barn at all.

- “I don’t get it, why would they try to make it look like they were burning the Mill but not actually burn the Mill?” speaks Gim.

- “Because,” begins Labarett, “when you hunt game, you lure it with bait. This is a trap.”

- “But who’s the game they’re hunting?” asks Nac.

- “I can find out,” replies Trenchant.

- The Bard creeps a little closer, using his Cloak Of Elven Kind to hide him, and casts Detects Thoughts. He can hear the crude, simple thoughts of the Kobolds (bored and impatient, having to make smoke but do not burn the Mill, hungry) and then picks up many multiple thoughts, more intelligent, coming from inside the Mill (bored and waiting, wanting to have some action, looking forward to a fight, come on dice roll me sixes!, praise be to Tiamat, and kill the interfering Knight Of The Anvil).

- Trenchant tells the party who the game is. The Cult is aware that a Knight Of The Anvil is present in Anwich and wish to eliminate him to stop him helping the locals.

- The party decide that they will take out the Kobolds quickly and then enter the Mill in a rush, Trenchant is not sure about the plan as he’s not sure how many thoughts he detected in the Mill.

- The party split up. Labarett, Gim and Valder move up to the east side of the Mill and can see three of the Kobolds near one burning hay pile. Nac, Naillae and Balasar move over to the west side of the Mill and can see the other three Kobolds near the other burning hay pile. Trenchant and Sir Krondor climb up the large wooden water wheel that is on the north side of the Mill, that lays next to the stream. Sir Krondor loses balance and falls off back into the stream. Embarrassed Sir Krondor stands up, water coming off his armour, and again climbs up the slowly moving water wheel. This time he succeeds and both Trenchant and Sir Krondor step onto a small ledge on the second story in front of a closed wooden door.

- Trenchant and Sir Krondor can hear the sounds of rattling dice coming from inside the Mill, just beyond the door. With hand gestures the Bard informs the party he can hear movement from the second story of the Mill. Balasar and Naillae sneak forward towards the Kobolds on the west.

- To the east, Labarett, Gim and Valder rush forward, firing spells and throwing spears and hand axes. The three kobolds are dropped without a sound. At the same time, Nac, fires a spell and two Kobolds drop dead immediately, whilst the third is killed as Balasar leaps out and snaps it neck.

- All six kobolds are dead without a sound being made to alert the occupants inside.

- A side room is quickly searched and it is nothing but a tool shed, so the party get ready to breach the Mill. Labarett, Gim and Valder open and rush in via a large door on the east side, whilst Nac, Naillae and Balasar rush in via a door on the south side. The Mill is a large building, filled with hay piles, and bags of wheat, with most of the north and east side having a second level loft with a railing, that can only be accessed by a stair on the west wall.

- As the party move in, Sir Krondor goes to open the closed door above the water wheel but it appears stuck so he pushes will all his might and forces the door inwards with a crash, which causes the human guard that was casually leaning against it to be thrown forward and flat onto his face.

- Trenchant can see a dozen guards all about, some seated gambling with dice and others leaning against hay stacks. The Bard quickly casts a spell and two of the guards fall asleep and begin to snore.

- Balasar rushes forward and with his Monk training jumps directly up to the second story loft and over the railing, immediately attacking the nearest guards. So too, Nac using his Boots of Striding and Springing, jumps high into the air over the railing to join Balasar; firing spells at the guards.

- Labarett, running with the speed of an elk, easily crosses the Mill and races up the stairs and begins to rage. His body becomes a weapon, and his longsword starts to whirl in a deadly dance cutting down guards.

- Valder and Gim make their way as fast as they can up the stairs. Naillae decides that the upstairs area has enough people and weapons about in the upper loft, and she will remain at the bottom of the stairs to look out for incoming danger.

- The party are cutting through and easily dropping the guards, thinking the fight all but over, when from the far east side of the upper loft appears four more figures. Robed Cultists of the Dragon. These new figures start to cast spells at the party. A ghostly astral weapon appears next to Valder and begins to swing at him. The rest of the party feel the start of effects of a spell but nothing happens (Nac, Balasar and Sir Krondor all make Saves to stop a Hold Person spell taking effect).

- The party quickly finish off the last few guards and then turn towards the Cultists. The Cultists do not stand a chance and the party drop them one by one. As the last Cultist turns to attack, he screams at Sir Krondor whilst trying to cast a spell on him, “You shall die Knight of Fanur! Langdedrosa shall grind your bones. You and all your interfering friends!”

- But this Cultist is killed too - like all the rest. The party have successfully avoided the trap and taken out all the forces by surprise, without taking a single injury. (Flawless Victory!)

- The bodies of the enemy are searched. There is nothing on the Kobolds. The guards had 30 gold coins, that they were pilled up at the dice gambling, and one of the Cultist had a small zircon gem that Balasar appraises to be worth 50 gold pieces.

- The party leave the bodies inside the Mill and shut all the doors again, leaving the small piles of hay outside to slowly burn out over the next couple of hours. Each of the party take two bags of flour with them to take back to the Keep. They make their way back to the stream and once again, slowly and cautiously make their way back to the grate that marks the entry into the Old Tunnel.

- They store the bags of wheat on the dry stairs, under the grate, and make their way over to the Black Smith which is just 200’ down the stream, as Nac states he needs to check it out.

- The party make their way over to three buildings. Valder, through the eyes of his owl, can see some blood near one the buildings and drag marks leading to the far east building. The south building has a sign of a anvil on it whist the other two buildings have crude signs in common with “Private!”

- Balasar and Gim check out the north building, which is locked. The rest of the party check out the east building, which has a bad smell of death about it. Inside there is a pile of dead bodies of kobolds and cultists. They appear to have their heads and chest crushed in.

- The party rejoin and Naillae unlocks the north building. Inside there are tools and supplies to be expected of a black smith. Gim, using his black smith knowledge, checks it out and nothing seems out of place or unusual.

- Finally the party go to the south building with the anvil sign out the front. The party decide to knock on the door and call out they are here on behalf of Governor Tarbaw and Sir Castellan looking for refugees. There is no response.

- Nac then calls out, “Grong. It’s Nac. Open up.”

- The door opens slowly and standing there is a Half-Orc nearly 8’ tall with bulking muscles and holding the largest war hammer the party have ever seen. The end of the war hammer is slick with blood.

- The Half-Orc looks around, “Get in. Quick”

- The party quickly enter the black smiths. Nac hands over a small leather bag tied with a black cord, “From you know who.”

- Grong the Black Smith goes over to put the bag away and looks through his counter for something.

- Balasar speaks, “You look familiar. You know a Half-Orc called Gront in Lington?”

- Grong stands up holding something, “Gront little brother.”

- The huge Half-Orc walks over to Nac and passes him a small leather pouch, “Tell her. I can’t ship if army here. Have to wait.”

- Nac takes the pouch and puts it away, “Thanks Grong, I will.”

- Nac then walks out with the rest of the confused party following behind.

- Trenchant speaks up, “What was all that about?”

- Nac replies, “Nothing to concern yourself over or you need know about.”

- Trenchant snaps, “We just risked our lives to come here. You think you could have at least told us why. Do you rest of you know what’s going on?”

- Balasar replies with a grin, “Don’t look at us. We’re in the dark as much as you. Nac likes to keep his little secrets.”

- The party make their way back to the stream and grate. They enter the old tunnel, locking the grate behind them, and pick up the bags of floor they left behind. They travel back to the cellar and refill the old tunnel with water. They walk up and out into the inner court yard, just as Valder drops his bags of wheat looking exhausted. (Fail Constitution check - Level 1 Fatigue from lack of sleep)

- They enter the tower and speak to Sir Castellan and Governor Tarbaw again, handing over the bags of flour for use in the Keep’s kitchen. After discussing what happened at the Mill, the party make their way up to the tower parapet and Governor Tarbaw points out some figures in the distance, via his spy glass, all dressed in purple robes.

- Governor Tarbaw speaks, “There, if we are going to find out why the Cult is here and what they are up to we need to get hold of an officer. If you come across any purple robbed officers try to capture them alive and bring them back here so I can interrogate them.”

- The party make their way back to the area set aside for them on the forth level and begin to rest, Valder feeling especially tired.

<And as the party catch their breath again, feeling the effects of lack of sleep, and the danger of the siege all around them, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- Cover The Refugees & Soldiers (50 saved) = 500 XP <Only Balasar, Gim, Trenchant, Labarett, Valder & Naillae>

- Discover The Harper (Nesim) = 100 XP <Only Krondor>

- Helpers Of Anwich Refugees = 200 XP

- Discover The Dragon Masks Plot = 100 XP <Only Trenchant>

- Mill: Discover & Avoid Ambush = 100 XP

- The Third Dark Exchange = 100 XP <Only Nac>

Creatures Overcome

- Kobolds (Assault on Keep) = 1025 XP <Only Balasar, Gim, Trenchant, Labarett, Valder & Naillae>

- Cult Nominees (Cultists - Assault on Keep) = 100 XP <Only Balasar, Gim, Trenchant, Labarett, Valder & Naillae>

- Greater Bone Needles (Old Tunnel) = 800 XP

- Kobolds (Mill) = 175 XP

- Cult Fanatics (Mill) = 1800 XP

- Mercenaries (Guards - Mill) = 300 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Phil : 16534 + 523 = 17057

Rob : 18019 + 796 = 18815

Arthur : 12697 + 592 = 13289

Bob : 7868 + 523 = 8391

Travis : 7868 + 794 = 8662

Paul : 7574 + 694 = 8268

NPC (Valder) : ??? + 350 = ???

NPC (Naillae) : ??? + 350 = ???

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 92

AKA “Galin The Warden”

Adventures in Taggriell

Session 92  (Date: 21st August 2020)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Varis”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- John (Known as “Ragnar”) Dwarf Male.

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

Nil

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

Summary

- Oathday, 18th Gozran in the year 815 (Second Era). Summer.

- The party begin this session, having just finished the second Council Of Crescent Moon. Given three critical missions by the Council, the party decide to help the Elves of Elanion first against Cult forces lead by a mysterious Elf wearing the Green Dragon Mask and riding a Green Dragon. King Melandrach thanks the party for their help and informs the party that a group of his Elven scouts are waiting outside the Aerion Forest to escort them to the Elven settlement of Kaniateir.

- The party spend the rest of the day spending the large sum of wealth they now possess and procuring gear and supplies, thanks to the Archmage Tallous teleporting the party to and from the previous cities and villages they had been to. Much goods, gear and equipment are bought, including picking up previously commissioned and now complete goods.

- Once ready the party board the Frostskimmr and give Captain Lerustah orders to set sail. The ship departs on its week long sail around the shores of Asalea, past the Islands of Atis in the Llavthi Straights, through the Emperor’s Tears and once again back through the Golden Channel passing Phlan. As they pass Phlan, the party look towards the city port, knowing that soon they will have to be back there again.

- Heading into the large river mouth that would eventually see the party back towards Boareskyr, the shallow hull Frostskimmr navigates the inland river until they are approached by a group of five Elven scouts from the west lands.

- After disembarking, the Elanion Scouts take the party on the four day journey to Kaniateir. No roads, paths or tracks can be seen by the party within the large and ancient forest. The sky is mostly unseen in the forest, as the large tall thick trees provide almost full cover from the skies, only the occasional clearing in the forests lets them see the sky. Thanks to the skill of the Elven scouts, the party arrive at Kaniateir safely, having avoided the perils and dangers of the ancient wood.

- Sunday, 7th Desnus in the year 815 (Second Era). Summer.

- The Elf village of Kaniateir blends into the forest around it. The village exists on two levels, with a few scattered structures built on the ground level including an ancient stone statue to a local legend. Most of the structures are high above the ground, with residences, craft rooms, stores, a temple, and teaching rooms built into upper boughs of the forest. String rope bridges span the trees and circular wood walkways are built around the massive ancient tree trunks. Pulley operated platforms connect the upper and lower levels. The settlement had around three hundred Elves living here but nearly a quarter of that was killed in the Cult attack.

- Wasting no time, the party ignore the smiles and well wishing from the locals and make their way directly to the new elder of the village, the last one having been killed in the attack. The party are directed to a black smith building high in the canopy of the trees where the new village Warden, Galin, resides.

- The party step into a large open room, with blacksmith tools hanging on the wood walls, and a small stone bowl shaped forge inscribed with arcane runes. The forge, which looks like it is portable, is currently cold. Seated at a table, holding a mug in one hand, sits a male Elf with a large solid build. Black circles under his eyes indicate he has not slept well for some time. His large scared hands show many years of working steel. Hanging around the wall are beautiful examples of worked metal in intricate designs: pieces of art, along side weapons of Elvish design. A raven perched in a nearby cage caws hideously.

- The male looks up at you, and with a forced smile pushing through obvious grief and weariness says, “Welcome to our village. How can I be of service?”

- The party speak to Galin The Warden for some time but they can sense he is not being fully truthful or open with the party. He downplays the threat of the Cult, saying that the well maintained defences of the village has driven the Cult away and they have not returned, having only attacked this village once. Trenchant attempts to probe the inner thoughts of Galin with a Detect Thoughts spell but he is unable to do so as Galin resists it and he can only sense the outer most feelings of shame and guilt.

- Galin becomes angry when Trenchant pushes him on details and the need for his assistance, and the Warden leaves the building stating he has other duties to attend to.

- In his absence the party look around the room. Gim, a member of the Oglyth Mixnar (Dwarven Smith’s Guild) and a trained black smith himself, is very impressed with Galin work as it far exceeds anything he could achieve. Labarett conducts a ritual of Detect Magic, but the only thing of arcane origin, is the stone bowl shaped forge. On closer inspection, it would appear there is no place for any type of fire to burn and the party suspect the arcane forge heats metal through magical means. Lastly, Labarett performs another ritual, Speak To Animals and the party arrange some fresh sliced meat to be feed to the raven. Labarett speaks to the raven and the party learn that the raven has accompanied Galin many times, outside of the village, to speak to a Dragon and a small number of humanoids. These meetings always occur at night.

- Labarett tells the bird to fly to where the meetings take place and they release it, the bird immediately flies north. The party rush after the raven, having to make their way down to the ground level and then trying to rush through the forest to follow. Twice they almost lose the bird’s trail but eventually, about twenty minutes out of the village, they finally come to a large open clearing about seventy five feet across. Large claw marks in the soft grassy ground, indicate a large creature has been here, many times. Fainter and smaller tracks indicate that a small number, two or three, human sized figures also walked around the centre. A set of boot tracks come in and out of the glade, from the direction of the village, many many times.

- The party surmise that Galin must be coming here often, and meeting with the Green Dragon and the mysterious Elf Dragon Rider, and possibly with one or two passengers coming on the Dragon as well. Planning to lay an ambush, the party begin preparing to set up here and wait until nightfall. Trenchant decides to go back to the village and attempt to get some of the Elven warriors and Scouts to help with the ambush.

- Trenchant returns to the village and seeing Galin walking about shouts out to the village and tells them what they have learned, forcing Galin to approach him and confront him. Trenchant has cast a Zone Of Truth spell, in the hope to force Galin to admit what he is doing. At first Galin denounces what Trenchant is saying and urges the people of the village to remain calm as there is no danger. When he steps into the enchanted Zone Of Truth, he immediately senses what Trenchant has done and answers very carefully in such a way, that he is telling the truth but not directly answering the accusations that Trenchant is putting on him.

- A portion of the village begins to whisper that Galin may be working with the Cult, as Trenchant alleges, whilst the rest are sure that their trusted Warden could never do such a thing.

- Seeing that he will be unable to win this argument or sway the people, whilst the Zone Of Truth is active, Galin walks away to return to his smithy. He looks like a broken and shattered man, and as Trenchant catches the last sight of him walking into his dwelling, he sees the large man’s shoulders shaking as if Galin is crying.

- Trenchant leaves the arguing villagers and walks up and into Galin’s dwelling. The large Elf’s eyes are red and his cheeks are wet with tears. His trembling hand lifts a large mug of strong drink. The Warden speaks, “You have no need of your eldritch tricks now stranger. I have had enough. I do not deserve to be the Warden of these people, I never wanted it. They insisted and I could see their need, their hope for stability. Sit, join me, I will tell you all.”

- Trenchant joins Galin, and his initial idea that Galin was a vile man, corruptly working with Cult changes. He sees a broken man. A man who faced a Dragon during a battle, watching his wife die next to him, along with nearly a hundred other locals. Warriors, mages, archers, all could do nothing agains the Dragon and the Dragon Rider that wore a mask of Green. He watched his people die. He watched his wife die. He watched his Warden die. And during this carnage, this knew the total destruction of his village and all the villagers would be unavoidable. He found himself outside of the village, facing off alone against the Dragon and its Rider. The bodies of his dead people all around him. And in this moment of utter despair, he begged for the life of his people, offering anything in return. The Rider laughed at this but agreed to spare this village and its people in exchange for information to help the Cult track down all the other Elven settlements that were hidden within the Forrests.

- Galin, wanting to save his people, took the burden, shame and guilt upon himself. He condemned the lives of others, of strangers, to save those he knew. To save his people he sacrificed others.

- Galin’s guilt of his actions now brakes, the large Elf breaking into heavy tears. Trenchant tries to convince the Elf that the party can kill the Dragon as they have defeated many of the Cult’s Dragons. Galin can not be convinced, he has lost all hope. He tells Trenchant he can not allow the village to fight the Dragon because unknown to the rest of the village, the Cult also took about twenty locals prisoner, and they would be killed if Galin did not continue to obey. He attends the open clearing north of the village every night, as ordered by the Dragon Rider, to wait if the Dragon Rider comes to ask any further questions. The Dragon and Rider have returned four times, the last time being about two weeks ago.

- Though Galin won’t allow the village to get involved, for fear of reprisals, he does draw out a map of where he thinks the Dragon and its Rider might be coming from. He noticed distinctive wet red sand on the boots of the Rider, and there is a pool about six hours to the North, that has the only red soil in this forest.

- Trenchant leaves Galin and the village to return to the party in the clearing north of the village. Telling the party what has happened, the party decide to rest and prepare before heading north to where the Dragon and its Rider are probably stationed.

- After a long rest, the party awake still in the middle of the night, with about two hours left of night, and start to prepare. Ragnar takes out a jewel encrusted bowl that he purchased in Crescent Moon and casts one of his most powerful spells, Heroes Feast. The jewelled bowl fades away in flash, consumed by the spell. A large banquet appears before the party and for the next hour they sit and eat, talking and planning of what is to come. The enchanted feast, will make the party immune to poison and fear for the next 24 hours, something that they will need against a poisonous Green Dragon and the enchanted Dragon Fear that it emits.

- The party set off, and thanks to Labarett’s ability, are travelling twice as fast. The six hour journey should only take three. An hour later the party see the forest around them lighten as the sun rises. Half an hour later, they hear the faint cries of an Elderly female voice, calling out for help.

- The party approach a small clearing. In the centre is a small, frail looking elderly Elf female in simple grey robes. It appears a large tree has fallen on top of her and trapped her to the ground.

- The party stay back, whilst Trenchant uses a Mislead spell to send an illusionary avatar of himself forward to speak to this suspicious stranger. When Trenchant sees that there is no place on the ground that the tree could have come from, there being no broken tree base, he draws his weapon and points it towards the frail woman demanding she tell him the truth.

- The tree on top of her begins to move and an arm swings out to grab Trenchant’s weapon but the Awakened Tree’s fist goes straight through the illusionary form of Trenchant.

- The Elderly Woman sits up, no longer looking frail, and speaks, “Bandits is it? Attacking old, helpless ladies in the forest then? Right, the woods will be better off without the likes of you!”

- Around the clearing twelve Awaken Trees begin to move. Trenchant releasing his mistake and the dire situation he now faces, drops his illusion and walks out from the nearby bushes. He holds his empty hands up and begins talking for his life. He uses all his training, performance and diplomacy to beg for forgiveness and stop the fight.

- The female Druid, though hesitant, finally relents and she commands her dozen Awakened Trees to wait. She looks over the party, who have now approached, with an appraising eye, “Yes, yes. You may be lucky enough. Lucky enough indeed. Perhaps I have heroes at last. How many might fall back in fear at the sight of a stranger in the woods, or think of their own safety first? I grant you my gift. May your hearts prove true where others fear to tread.”

- The woman, now looking much younger than before, picks flowers from the tall grass where none existed before, and twists her fingers to weave them into garlands as if by magic. She offers the garlands to each member of the party and each eventually places them onto their heads, Gim the last to do so, and with great reluctance.

- With one final nod of her head, and a smile, she leaps into the air and immediately transforms into a giant owl and flies off as the Awaken Trees begin to slowly walk back into the forests.

- “What just happened?” asks Naillae.

- “I don’t really know,” says Varis looking up into the sky.

- “Strange ladies giving gifts can be force of good or evil. Only time will tell,” replies Trenchant.

- The party continue. An hour later the forest, already thick, becomes even denser. Drips of water, fall down upon the party, and everything is wet. The air is heavy with moisture. The tops of the forest canopy are now filled with large spider webs, and so too the ground is covered by faint webs. The party see some movement ahead and cautiously move forward. Varis nearly walks into a large stretched web, the thin but strong strands almost invisible.

- A battle suddenly erupts as Phase Spiders wink into existence all around the party. The spiders can travel through the Astral Plane and start grabbing individual members of the party and appearing elsewhere, splitting the party up.

- The thick trees are making range attacks hard, limiting it to no more than sixty feet.

- Labarett looks at the Phase Spiders closely, “These aren’t normal Phase Spiders. They appear different and have enhanced abilities.”

- The battle continues with Ettercaps also appearing. These strange humanoid spiders are normally in charge of large clutches of spiders. The party keep almost running into the invisible spider webs that are strung between the trees. Labarett does run into one web and gets stuck. A group of giant spiders immediately  jumps down from the upper canopy and attack him whilst he is stuck.

- More giant spiders also appear to attack the rest of the party. There are Spider creatures everywhere now. This battle could be very dangerous, except that thanks to the Heroes Feast they have consumed, the party are completely immune to the effects of the poison from all the spiders. Thanks to Ragnar’s foresight this deadly battle is nothing more than an inconvenience. Soon, the party defeat all the foes.

<And as the party catch their breath after the battle, wiping off the spider blood from their weapons, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- “Faith Renewed” - Convince Galin To Be Honest With Party = 500 XP

- “A Force For Good Or Evil?” - Receive Strange Gift From Mysterious Old Woman = 250 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Phase Spiders (Modified) = 3500 XP

- Ettercaps = 1800 XP

- Giant Spiders = 1200 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Rob : 118947 + 1035 = 119982

Arthur : 94930 + 1035 = 95965

John : 89470 + 1035 = 90505

Travis : 108845 + 1035 = 109880

Paul : 98328 + 1035 = 99363

Bob : 108210 + 1035 = 109245

NPC (Naillae) : + (517)