Clearing the Bones

On Monday, October 7th, Lonir and Verdis are well rested from the week long conference in Citadel and think it’s the time to finally clear the burial mound beneath Wraecliff’s castle (their last attempt here). They grab Frank and head up the hill:

• Frank (WaB): Level 2 Dwarf Brawler
• Lonir (MaC): Level 3 Elf Thief.
• Verdis the Prickly (HuS): Level 4 Human Fighter

Upon reaching the castle site, they meet Nicholas Wraecliff, who intends to use their incursion to convince some of his laborers to go back into the top level of the mound and shore up some of the weak foundations there. The upper levels of the mound are still clear from their previous incursions and they make their way quickly to the preparation room, where they snipe a zombie at the far end and consider checking out some of the other daggers before thinking better of it.

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Jagdiellon Strikes Back

We left the (can I still call them?) Stormguard party in a study room in an evacuated section of the Jagdiellon house facilities. There Benquil reports his findings, announcing his intention to bring out the rescued experiment to talk to her. She is withdrawn, but they learn that she calls herself Evren, that she was a member of House Hunyadi captured by a Jagdiellon drow names Emin. She recognizes Benquil’s ring, and his house name, believing she may have known his father after learning that his abandonment of House Del’Armgo led to its fall. They decide to let her come with them and hear soldiers taking up position in the hall outside.

Breaking the Head of the Dragon

On Monday, September 23rd new arrivals in the Vale find some prior arrivals pouring over intelligence gathered by Taren during the week.

• Aronis (WaB): a farmer and rancher who discovered latent magical powers while defending his cattle from wolves. (Level 1 Human Magic-user with Natural Empathy and Riding). He finds beret inside one of the wolves that can produce small animals.
• Drax (RiS): a hunter and woodsman from a small town. (Level 1 Human Druid with Perception and a wolf form. He finds a ring in a tree that seems to emit a pulse of force around him.

The kobold garrison has become more active, launching failed attacks on Citadel, Confluence, the quarry, and Castle Wraecliff, all foiled by warnings from Taren and the swift response of the militia and adventures without so much as a skirmish. The party preparing a counter attack includes

• Verdis the Prickly (HuS): Level 3 Human Fighter
• Simon (JeA): Level 2 Human Druid
• Jonathan (JaA): Level 1 Human Musician

They have a dozen members of the militia, hunters, who are willing to support them with archery and other work, but would not join a frontal assault. Lonir and Frank also sought out the Nekolyns during the week, getting the help of two of them as translators and advisers in their efforts to deal with the outpost.

Play Report-Into House Jagdiellon

We left Benquil with his veil of invisibility pierced by glaring lights, a cage around him, and a dozen crossbows trained on him. He calls out to the drow crossbowmen that they have one chance to lay down arms. They open fire and, despite a valiant flurry of parries, strike him with three bolts. He retreats through the portal, joining the others.

He describes the room beyond and they consider a few plans to:

1. Get through the cage.
2. Darken the lights.
3. Mitigate damage from incoming bolts.

Ultimately, they decide on a multi-directional, short-range teleport activated by passing through a portal to scatter them on the other side of the cage. They’re willing to take some bolts under the assumption that they will be spread amongst them and be little problem.

An Unexpected Host

This crazy session started innocuously, but the dice apparently had other plans, which included greatly accelerating the escalation of the looming conflict with the kobolds, something I was saving for a week with a large group. Enjoy!

On Monday, September 16th, the same party that made contact with the Nekolyns gathers again for an expedition, two of them still fatigued from wounds sustained in the latest delve into the Wraecliff ruins. They are

• Frank (PaT): Level 1 Dwarf Brawler
• Lonir (MaC): Level 2 Elf Thief
• Verdis the Prickly (HuS): Level 3 Human Fighter

The party agrees that it’s about time to go back up the East Confluence Tributary (familiar ground for Verdis and Lonir) and come to a more permanent solution for the contaminants there. They pack 3 days of food and 50 pounds of mortar, distributed primarily among the two stronger members. It’s slow going and they end the first day shortly after sunset about 9 miles north of Confluence.

Play Report-Invisible Doors

The party had discovered hidden access to the left side of the adamantite spider head at the face of the temple. After some attempts on Leo’s part to bore through to the right side with magic, and then subsequently hide the hole he made, they make directly for “Ingress” on their map.

Play Report-Again, with Conviction

We left the underdark expedition in the middle of a chaotic battle in the Temple of the Bones. Lamila was trapped against the wall with her ring on and the lava had been stopped.

With the front line broken and Leo and Benquil invisible in among their ranks, the drow are falling quickly (though not so quickly as if Lamila were not pressed against the wall by a reeling statue that keeps rolling ‘left’ and grinding against her armor). Benquil sees them demoralized and calls for a surrender. Leo goes to remove the stone suffocating the statue’s controller. Lamila gets her ring off in time to kill one more who refused to lay down arms and the rest drop their weapons.

Fortifying Weakness

On Monday, September 9th, two adventurers meet and decide to see what else hides in the tomb beneath Castle Wraecliff. Word came that Wraecliff’s laborers had entered the the first level of the tomb under his watch, but that he desired another party to explore the level below. A third follows with the same intent. They are

• Lash (WaB): Level 1 Human Thief
• Lonir (MaC): Level 2 Elf Thief.
• Verdis the Prickly (HuS): Level 2 Human Fighter

Lash and Lonir set out first, hoping to pass unseen and discover more about the tomb. They take with them Verdis’s map of the tomb. They arrive at Castle Wraecliff and get updated on the status of the tomb. Verdis arrives soon after they enter the tomb and moves to catch up. As they hesitate at the edge of Verdis’s map, he joins them, having passed Wraecliff bringing his workers in on the way down.

Play Report-Things Heat Up

Having just completed a battle with those drow apparently coordinating the search for them within the temple, Benquil pushes away thoughts of backstabbing the withdrawing drow and returns to Leo’s stone wall to wait for it to drop. Meanwhile, Leo and Lamila hear loud steps and jangling armor approaching down the large corridor. Leo runs toward the sound and jumps into the upper corner of the hall (wall and ceiling), hiding invisibly so the force can pass him. Lamila puts her ring on upon seeing the large force, including a moving statue with a single drow fitting on either side. Leo’s wall drops in time for Benquil to see the statue take up position walling the center of the corridor, with the drow wedging their shields in the openings on either side.

Living Trees

On Monday, September 2nd, Peter is still on the mend from his near death experience. A new arrival comes to Citadel House:

• Frank (PaT): a carpet salesman in Enoch with two dogs one large and one small. (Level 1 Dwarf Brawler with Natural Empathy, Call Animal, and Throw Object/Person). He finds a glowing golden apple in one of his carpets and a bite makes him glow. He leaves his carpet shop to go to Haven, taking only his larger hound, Jabba.

Matthias brings him to the house where some of the residents are considering missions in the common area:

• Lonir (MaC): Level 1 Elf Thief.
• Verdis the Prickly (HuS): Level 2 Human Fighter.

They agree to go and investigate the attacking trees reported by lumberjacks North of Kite. The report is several weeks old, but nothing has been done about it.