Players:

• Mike
• Bekah
• Nick
• Conor
• Calvin (Playing as Felix)
• Sean

Meal – Hamburgers, BBQ Chicken and Hot Dogs.

Mike’s Recap

Liam hears a female voice – faint and hard to hear. “Master I have prepared the troops. Do you wish us to proceed?” He responds “no, not yet.” to which the voice responds “are you okay” and Liam says “all things will come in due time” “I know you had to die for this to work but your voice sounds different?” “It’s just a light modification.” “has the dreadnought has been summoned, master?”, “No.” Liam has this conversation and the rest of the party are clueless.

As we walk, arms shoot out of the ground hands first and appear before us. We are surrounded by about 80 undead. They are turning towards us. Yon and Zahatal draw weapons. Liam felt something come out of him to cause the event. Harold goes for the nearest tree. His necklace jabs him in the chest. He’s surprised he even has a necklace. Looks like half a gold sunburst. Harold looks to Gabrielle, who notices she also has a necklace, which the opposite half of the sunburst. (wonder twin powers activate!) Yon commands Liam to command the undead to go away. Liam fails, and long spikes come out of their arms. Zahatal looks to Yon and says “You take the twenty on the left, I’ll take the twenty on the right.”

Four darer skeletons walk to the front. Yon says “What is your business!” “We seek the bearer of the ring.” and icicles form on their flesh. Liam says “Why?” Harold and Gabs finegle the necklace halves together and a burst of light happens amongst them. No reaction from the skeletons. The skeletons respond to Liam: “Because we need it’s power.” Yon responds “For what purpose!” Zahatal scoffs “Kill all the flesh-bags” “the flesh bags do not want to be killed.” They look menacingly at us. The zombies come closer and merge into eachother and get bigger. Yon says “Leave now and there will be no conflict.” The air temperature drops drastically. We all feel the cold icy glacier of evil wash over us, Yon Zahatal and Liam stand firm, while the others are affected detrimentally. Zahatal hits the creature, and some of the black coalescing falls off, but starts to not feel so good. Liam shows them that he has the ring, telling Zahatal to stop. Yon blesses his weapon, Harold retreats to the group. Zahatal backs up. The zombies all move in closer. Felix whimpers in the center of the circle. Gabs holds her action. Liam says he is the one they want, not the rest of us. (full defense mode) The icy chill increases tenfold, our breath comes out in mist vapors, and almost instantly turns to ice. The group fail to withstand the force this time, and all of a sudden, there is a large pop and blast of wind from above us. We look up and we see a shadow above us and lights appear to blast the ground from all directions. One beam of light focuses on us. Dirt is displaced when the smaller lights hit the ground. Armored archaic like suits are around us and are emitting light. The creatures in armor say “Master get on board.” to Gabby. Harold pulls Gabby up a ramp into a floating cave presented before us. Yon goes up the ramp as well, as does Zahatal, Felix, and eventually Liam. The ramp raises and the cave closes. It looks like an armored beast. there’s actually ribcages on the wall. Yon looks around asking one of the armored people “What manner of cave is this?” “This is not a cave.” “Then what is this?” “this is a flying vessel.” Yon investigates more. The suits walk down a hallway, and everybody follows into a large room with seats and weird tables and jewels set into them. Felix looks through the lit jewels. Some of the party sit. Harold absentmindedly tries to wiggle a jewel loose. Felix messes with some controls. He is overwhelmed with voices and is occupied. Harold looks kind of out of it to Liam, drooling. You might think he’s dreaming of pot pies, but Liam shakes Harold, and gets nothing. Yon investigates without touching things and detects evil. Everybody except Liam and Yon begin to preoccupy themselves in their head and drool. Zahatal discerns between several conversations in his head and focuses on one directed at him. He speaks and says “Who are you? I can hear you just fine” to the thin air. Liam has touched the console thinking there’s something to it, he hears a “Hello, how are you?” and thinks “fine how are you?” “I’m fine, it’s been a long long time since I’ve been awakened.” “Who are you?” “I’m a dragon, of course.” “My children. You have come back to me. It has been so long.” Yon is the last one unoccupied. He goes to an armor clad person and speaks to them. He figures out the group except him are talking on the alpha waves. They scan Yon and tell him they are talking telepathically. Felix instinctively ends up communicating with the dragon. The dragon says that he is a friend to it’s children. It seems happy it has found it’s children. It does have little power anymore and wants a focus stone. A very large ruby. Felix figures out the voice inflections and tone change the longer that he talks to the dragon.

Harold while communicating with the dragon feels the loving warm caresses on him of a soothing parent. The dragons apparently made a sacrifice. He figures out how he got the necklaces a long long time ago, and about how the parent needs a ruby. Gabrielle also communicates with her parent dragon. She learns the same things that Harold and Felix did, as well as informing them that he unwillingly caused the apocalypse. Yon asks more questions of the suit of armor. Liam hears the call from a skeleton saying “I have heard the call and I am coming.” Felix tries to figure out what Liam is doing psychicly and it fails. He then mind-links with Yon and tells him what he figured out and finally requests the coordinates of the ruby. Or merrick.

The group looks less icy and more pink. The ship asks us where we would like to go for it’s last bout of energy before it runs out. Gabby falls asleep after saying she’s hungry and tired and we’re not leaving unti….ZZZZzzzzzz…. Harold asks where the galley is, and wanders to it. Felix acts like he’s gnawing on his bone and secretly finds a corner to investigate the book. He falls asleep reading it. Liam asks what the voices know about necromancy magic. they are inconclusive about what exactly will happen so he goes to find food also. Zahatal wants to get the Ruby. Yon wants to get the Ruby or see Merrick, whichever the party decides on first. Back from the galley, they see Felix sleeping with the book. Harold puts the book away for Felix, and brings food to Gabby. She eats. The group decide to go to Merrick, and land near Hilsofar.

Felix wakes up and doesn’t see the book, searching for it. He finds it, and sighs. Then he gets up and goes with the group. The group finds a war zone with charred and dead bodies around. It appears that there is a large vessel (bowl?) made of bones, being constructed nearby. As soon as we head toward the city, a contingent of undead come toward us. We run until we have no choice but to fight. Felix teleports us to a dark alley. :) We walk by the graveyard. We see a massed hoard of undead inside of an opaque shell, and malcolm finds a group on a mausoleum. Yon and Zahatal go on around the cemetary. We see a shambling creature ahead. it notices us and rushes us. Harold hides down a side alley. Out of the ground a misty apparation appears, it cuts the thing in half. We all make our way to the mansion entrance and find it, making our way inside. We look for Merrick, and end up in the foryer. When we leave the foryer we go back to the foryer. Felix tries to sense minds, and finds one, but can’t seem to intelligably understand it. He tells the group. Harold tries to go to the study, and goes there, but it’s empty, and heads back to the foryer. Felix finds a place to hide and reads the book, and figures out, eventually, how to do the ritual to stop the event. He makes notes but he’s thinking he’s not sure he has the ritual in the right order. Yon knows that the blood of the innocents will be the first task. Everybody gets felix’ voice in their head and saying he knows how to stop the apocalypse. He’s going to teleport us to the cave where the wizard made the construct. Zahatal looks like Rambo when he comes back, with all sorts of weapons and things strung up on his body. We do not find the bones of the construct or the body of the necromancer. Felix remembers something about the end of the ritual requiring someone killing you to become a lich. Zahatal finds tracks leading out and follows them. In the wilderness, he broadens his circle, and can’t find the tracks easily, but he does find some, which lead towards Harrowdale. The tracks stop suddenly. Liam detects illusion magic, and finds a tunnel going down, then he walks down. Yon follows. Crossbow bolt flies out of the tunnel. Felix follows with a torch. A small goblin like creature reloading a crossbow, Yon hits the weapon out of his hand. “I serve thanator! Don’t hurt me!” Right behind the goblin are the bones that have formed. Felix identifies the bones, and we put the bones in a backpack. Felix tries to find the correct order of the ritual now that Yon isn’t as against the ritual being performed. Yon reads over his shoulder as does Liam. The final vagueness of the ritual is revealed, so the heroes perform the ritual in the cave that the original evil was unleashed in. Liam taunts the skeletons using the ring before it’s used in the ritual.

Everything disappears into a molten slag. Typically, the cave collapses. “RUN AWAY!”

Outside, it’s dark, but nighttime with stars and no red lightening. No bodies in sight. Liam feels permanently weaker somehow. —end session—

Session Logs:

Started a bit late, 3:45pm.

Present: All Players

• Sean Lujan
• Bekah
• Mike
• Matt
• Nick
• Conor

Meal: Party Trays from Costco

GM Recap Summation of major events

Previous Sessions retold by Mike, introduction for the new player into the game.

We started with Sean’s character, Zhaital, given a brief mission assignment by Merrick. He leaves the Mystical manor situated in Hilsfar, and ends up in Harrowdale. He locates the Inn (“Prancing Pony” is the name agreed up) and waits for the characters to put in an appearance, getting a pint of ale while he waits. Liam is the first to notice ‘Frodo’ is missing from the group and leaves the “Rope Trick” to see where he went. He sees the room in complete disarray like a massacre had taken place, a hole in the wall where the window used to be, and blood all over. Liam heads downstairs and is engaged in conversation by “Z”. “Z” is brought up to meet the rest of the group, and is taken aback by the scene in the room. The rest of the group emerges, and the majority leap out the Hole in the wall and follow the tracks, they discover a pile of bodies (one body outside the window, and eight piles behind the inn). They lose the tracks and decide to collect their reward from Farmer Brown.

They decide they really should deal with the evil guy Liam almost faced out in the forest. They manage to locate the tunnel, and make it to the inner sanctuary. After some dialog, Liam enters in to start combat, and is surprised when a Undead Construct rises from the ground, upper cuts him and then engages. Both the monk/necromancer guy and the undead construct put up a valiant fight, but eventually the heroes wear them down. They collect the loot on the bodies, and discover a treasure chest in an adjacent room. Harold opens the chest and pulls out a nice rich looking chalice, and then everyone gets a vision (except Felix, who remained blissfully unaware). The vision showed dark black clouds and red lightning, and undead emerging from the ground. They decide to pack up and leave the lair. Felix holds on to his ritual book which describes the ritual. Liam uses the Necromancers ring and controls a small army of undead. He orders them to withdrawal, which saves them from continued destruction by Sir Frodo. We end with them deciding to return to Hilsfar and Merrick for much needed advice. —End game

Level 4 obtained by everyone.

Mike’s Recap:

So at the mansion Merrick talks to another youth he took in telling them the other youths need a big strong protector for them. So Merrick tells them that the other youths are down the street staying at the prancing pony. This youth is a Scottish kilt-wearing barbarian type. He heads to the inn, and waits.

The others wake up, and Frodo is not in the portal with us. Liam lowers the rope and enters the room. The room looks like it’s been the scene of a battle… blood, broken furniture, etc. The pungent odor of battle is present. A note seems to have been abused but intact after the struggle. Liam goes downstairs, and is confronted by the Scottish clad Zahatal showing him a wanted poster saying “this is you, yes?” and enrages Liam by saying Merrick gave him the wanted poster. Liam discovers that the boy was from the mansion. Liam acquantinces himself with Zahatal. By that time the others are investigating the room. Zahatal is curious about all the blood and the rope with felix popping his head out until someone mentions his bone and he goes back in. Yon looks to Zahatal and senses no evil. Yon then looks to Felix and can’t determine much.

Zahatal jumps out the window because he sees a body, and Liam jumps and tumbles after him. Yon shakes his head at the people that just jumped out, and Felix follows the other two and so does Harold extremely acrobatically. Gabrielle pokes her head down and says “Hey what’s… ohhh… yuck..” and comes out of the rope trick. Gabs asks Yon what’s going on. Zahatal says “pretty” to Harold’s acrobatics and Gabs says “That’s my brother.” Zahatal follows some tracks, Felix Liam and Harold run after him. Yon runs out of the inn the normal way. In the back of the Inn, Many bodies are dropped back there with much blood and guts – some mauled, some sliced open. Zahatal thinks they’re from a bear, and notices three different sets of tracks. Boots, bear, and human foot prints. Yon makes it back there. Yon asks if they are to chase the tracks. They lead to… an indeterminable location. We ask about a large creature (besides horses) and bloodied people, and find nothing. Liam goes back to get the parchment on the floor. He reads it and it has a one eyed snake on it. it reads “Gather 10 of your best men, converge on this room at this inn, this is where the doom bringers are staying.” We’ve only found 8 bodies, so more than two must be left. Yon realizes there must be some on the other side as well since there are three tracks. Liam notices his ring has many colors on it, and everybody checks theirs and finds theirs are multicolored as well. Yon suggests we follow up on the farm. We hear whistles in the distance and we see town soldiers heading toward the whistles. We hurry our pace toward the farm. There are bovines out in the fields. We go and knock on the door, but we hear people calling the cows. Farmer brown is calling some cows to be milked. Yon approaches the farmer and asks if the presence is gone, and the farmer says it is. (the reward will be given from the person from the inn)

We remember about the tunnel that we tried to excavate to find evil. The twisted gnarled mass of trees which makes up a hole in the descending ground is still there. It’s evil inside, and dark. Liam illuminates the place, and Zahatal gets upset. Yon reinforces the fact that not all magic is evil. Zahal lights a torch. The previous blockade is gone, and Yon lets Liam lead. Zahatal takes the rear. Marching order: Liam, Yon, Felix, Gabby, Harold, Zahatal. Liam goes down the tunnel and pops. The sound of a pop is heard and Liam apparently disappears. Yon stops and tells the others to stop and that liam has disappeared. Yon searches and liam pops back in front of him and Yon says what sort of magic is this? And Zahatal says “Told you.” Yon notices that if he can come back then we can be safe. Zahatal protests, and once through he knows magic did something to him. The walls are different, the floors are different, whatever else was around us is not there anymore. Liam warns that we should be on our guard. The walls are bone white and dirty, and are indentations of where things such as skeletons may have resided. Yon scratches an arrow pointing away from the portal and an X to mark where the portal was. 100 feet ahead of us there is a light. We get closer and we see the inside of a chamber. Liam takes a peek inside. Gabby feels a moist wind, and the rest of us just feel a breeze. Gabby protests. Small blond monk is sitting on the ceiling, with red eyes, and looking at Liam. “You dare interrupt my sanctum, mere mortals? At least your soul belongs to me.” Yon shouts back “Who are you?” “I am Thantor.” “I do not recognize that name.” The floor upercutted Liam, who was ahead in the room when the rest of us were back in the hallway. A bony construct that looks part bovine and remains of other bones strung together to make a large creature are both in the room. Yon sees something which must be evil, and runs forward, as does everybody else. Liam is hit again. Gabby continues to protest. Yon is attacked by the giant skeletal construct which hit Liam and missed. The monk is on the ground and his staff is beginning to glow. Gabby moves and tumbles to attack the construct while moving toward the wizard. Yon steps up afterward and slices, then Liam does some sexy damage. The barbarian slices and dices, and Yon is hit. Then the Barbarian is hit. Then Gabby is hit, and Liam hits the construct. Harold whiffs, BBEG Smacks Liam. Yon smacks it. There’s a lot of bone shards on the ground next to it. Zahatal, Gabby, and Harold wail on the wizard. Yon has been 5-foot stepping toward the wizard as he hits the construct. Felix mind-blasts the mage, and Zahatal kills it. Harold is whacked. Yon shatters the large creature with a final cleave. Zahatal is healed. The mage had a robe, ring, and staff. Liam grabs them before Zahtar torches the body. Felix dog-forms and finds a bone, chewing on it. Harold tries to take the ring from Liam, but doesn’t. Zahatar wants to destroy the ring. Liam wears the ring, and gives Harold one of his other two rings. The adjacent rooms have treasure… Harold opens it and finds a good looking chalice. Yon offers to carry it and sell it for equal portions to the rest of the group. Zahatar wants to destroy it. When Harold puts the chalice to the side, the room visibly darkens and a chilled fell scream make us feel the ooze of pure evil around us. We all see the surrounding countryside in our head. The clouds roll in pitch black, red lightening and hailstone hit the ground and undead are clawing out of the ground all over the area. A malevolent evil has been awakened. Z says “MAGIC BAD!” and the chalice that was all nice and pretty is no longer nice and pretty.

Gabrielle figures out that everybody except Felix saw the event. Yon suggests armor for Zahatar. Yon detects evil from the book. A standoff begins because felix wants the book and Yon wants him to leave it. It is agreed that the book will be brought to Merrick and he will dictate what happens next. Zahatar wants to destroy the ring too (IT’S MAGIC!) Felix heads out, and the rest of us follow. Gabby got a cloak out of the chest. We all head back to the inn to rest. The sky is Dark, it’s cold. Liam receives a mental message “we await your command, commander. We are under attack.” and Liam messages back “Retreat.” Six zombie like creatures are shuffling out of the forest for us. They stop and stare and bow. Yon ‘told-you-so’s Felix. Liam tells them to retreat, but they come back. Yon readies his weapon. The ring Liam is wearing shines and the undead shrink from it. Gabrielle notices and asks him if he wants to tell us anything. He admits he has a link with the zombies. Yon forces Liam and Felix to walk in front until they reach merrick.

end session

This is a Mix Session as it’s a mixture of A and B groups.

Began at 12 noon and went till 2pm, then resumed at 6p and ended at 2am

We picked up with the ‘b’ team finishing up with the cow watching. Harold discovers a black furred dog licking his face. Much time is taken trying to determine his owner. The group decides to then track the undead from whence they came. They follow the tracks to a tunnel deep in the forest. Inside the tunnel Harold gets into trouble as he is attacked by undead. Liam comes to his aid, but has used most of his magics on a dog. When they both discover the main villain, they decide a withdrawal is in order.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in time and space – Iridius Senior came in from gathering firewood, Mrs. Iridius had roast Beast and Spiced Cider ready for the party when they awoke. Arky goes and buries a ‘time capsule’ filled with pottery and odd trinkets hoping they’ll be worth money in the ‘future’. Returning to the TARDIS, they discover the Eagle is not present and Arky decides he can control the ‘time machine’. Messing with the various crystals yields painful bruises and bumps for the party, and almost ends Malcolm’s life as he get’s sucked out into the vacuum of space. After sensing some futility, Arky and Malcolm explore the device, finding a bed room in the first door, they continue onward, Arky is sucked through the next door, and Malcolm shrugging goes in after him.

Malcolm and Arky find themselves in a dark with kids running towards them, and with skeletons in pursuit. A battle ensues in the tunnel when Arkansas Jones and Malcolm, lend their aid.

They all meet out side the tunnel and discuss things, it’s finally decided to return to Harrowdale for rest, when they notice that Liam has disappeared. Meanwhile, up a tree, Liam is haunted by the Necromancers’ voice and then attack by a strange bird that drains his very life away. Liam feels the cold hard panic set in when a mere moment later the bird is impaled by a small knight on a strange mount. The Knight is introduced as “Sir Frodo” who looks like a small elven child.

They travel and meet the group who is returning to Harrowdale. Gabby notices a beggar leave after Arky has declared his intention is to stay at an inn and he has gold to pay for it. They find the beggar finishing up using the alley as his personal latrine, when Arky takes the man prisoner and threatens him in unpleasant ways. Sir Frodo realizes that Arky has not so nice intentions towards the mans procreative equipment and steps in to stop him, and then wonders why he’s making a fuss when they’re obviously surrounded by men on the rooftops. Harold and Malcolm deal with the men on the rooftops with a bribe to leave them alone. Arky and Malcolm go to a tavern to discuss the details of the wanted posters out on their new companions. They don’t discover much about the “kids” and finally return to the designated inn after several hours of fruitless information gathering.

Meanwhile, the other group goes to an inn where the Knight somehow gets a rope trick set up. When Malcolm and Arky get to the inn, they discover Sir Frodo enjoying a meal, when asked where the others are he says safe in their room and then proceeds to lead the to the room. Inside the room Malcolm and Arky suspect a trap when they see the room is empty. Frodo enters in and a rope reveals the rope trick. Malcolm and Arky go up and find themselves back in the TARDIS hallway where this all started. Shrugging they return to the main console, not sure whether to mention this strange day to the others…

Meals – Subway Sandwiches & cookies. Pizza.

Started at 12 noon, ended 8:15pm.

GM recap:

Mike did a recap. Merrick questioned about a hidey town… Liam got a Ring of Pro +2 from the Captain of the Guard in recognition of his service for rescuing the kidnapped girls. Party left Hilfar for Harrowdale (South and East through the Forrest, near Myth Drannor). Third day they encountered a knight who got attacked by some sort of shadowy demon. The party was gifted with jewels and money. The party pressed onward and made it to Harrowdale. They looked at the ‘help wanted’ posters and saw and interesting ad for assistance in locating a Cattle Thief. Harold was accosted by an old lady and given a cryptic message “In the time of the ageless ones; undeath shall walk unfettered”. And not too much later, Liam and Felix get met by a stranger who offered ‘Jelly Babies’, he warned them to avoid the ‘one eyed snake’ and then left. Some met Greg Brown, Alliance associate for the local farmers, regarding the missing cattle job. The rest went to the Bazaar, which on the banner had a one-eyed snake. Liam boldly strode up to inspect the banner and promptly got run over by an out of control horse drawn cart. Afterwards, they went to a soothesayer for a reading. Liam and Harold got read. Each had a cryptic meaning – Harold saw a red dragon head for a brief moment; Liam saw a picture or tattoo of a One-Eyed Snake (Different then the one seen on the banner). Meanwhile, Yon had wandered off. A whisper of ‘You bring an evil plague to the land with your presence’ as a paralytic poison overtakes his body. The group realizes Yon is missing and go to search for him, eventually they track him in a warehouse with illusion covering the basement entrance along with an elf. They take them both to a temple to get the poison purged from them. They relocate to an inn, where the elf, relates information pertinent to Harold and Gabrielle. After much discussion the two discover the names of their parents, the name of their parents old arch-rival (A Red Dragon), and the fact they’re both dragons themselves and have lived for approx 170 years. The elf, Landros Felion, then departs.

The group learns that the One-Eyed Serpent Assassin Guild is out to get them and decide to leave town. Leaving town, Felix is hit with a precognition of flames, fire, skeletons. They require a GM inspiring moment to help them decide that fighting or attempting to deal with the assassins is not a good idea and not the correct course of action (Though they may attempt to do so if they wish). They instead decide to find the missing cattle. They meet the farmer, and set up watch over the herd. In the night a disturbance is detected, cattle disappear right before their eyes. A small skeletal creature is discovered, and they slay it. A volley of magic missiles hits Liam, and a Undead Bovine group attacks the party. They manage to slay the undead bovines, but not before Felix becomes an Uber Wolf and attacks Liam. Liam puts him down and then revives him.

We ended there at the close of the battle and the recovery of the party.

Mike Recorder Recap:

When last we left the merry gang, the group slew the morphed Liam-look-alike and resurrected the downed Merrick after a crystal chase. Merrick says we need to leave town because Gabby and Harold have someone after them.

The party reluctantly leave town after Liam gets his gift from doing good – a ring of protection. Off to Harrowdale. (100 miles) Takes us 5 days. In the forest, During the 3rd day at noon, we’re eating and Gabs points out an armored person with a yellow radiance (A ka-nig-it). No evil. After, a large wispy shadowy evil creature attacks the yellow glowy knight. The party run and charge to attack the evil creature. After we all work to kill it, the glowing knight throws a pouch (with jewels and coins) at Yon, and takes their helmet off, revealing femininity. Liam tries talking with her and apparently she’s mute. She does sign language and we give her paper/pen. She mindlinks with Felix and Felix hears angelic voices, and he figures out that her name is “K.” She’s on patrol from Elysium and is trying to contain evil in this world. We ask if she wants help, and she says no. So, the link is broken and we continue over the river to Harrowdale. A port town. There are guards who let us in. A toothless white haired short old woman grabs harold and says (in a raspy and otherworldly voice) “In the time of the ageless ones undeath shall walk unfettered” and shakes her head like an etch-a-sketch and asks for change. We find information that there will be a bazaar later. At the town hall we see information that there is a farm with livestock disappearing. Felix and Liam go find the one who posted it. A man approaches them wearing a scarf, hat, and trenchcoat offering them jellybeans. He says “Watch out for the one eyed snake. and by the way, don’t lose track of the ageless ones.” And he wanders off. At the inn, Liam and Felix find the man who posted the sign about the farms with disappearing livestock. 25g per head of livestock returned. At the bazaar there is a banner with the side view of a snake (one eye.) Liam goes toward it. Felix thinks Liam is being Stupid. A cart heads toward Liam (out of control horse!) Liam asks if the rider is okay, and the man says yes. The banner is the harvest banner. Liam then looks for a fortune teller and he finds a soothsayer. She’s got a flowerchild braid crown and green robes. He describes the Eagle and she pulls out a ball. She rolled it to him and as he catches it he has a vision of a snake, frontal this time, with one eye missing from it’s socket. Liam asks about it and she says the one eyed snake intends you harm. He gives her 2s. Harold asks about danger for him. He sees a flash of a red reptillian head. And Harold pays her. Felix is next, asking about a problem in the future. She says he’s afflicted by the moon, cursed, and marked by evil. Yon is wandering, and feels a little prick as if bitten by a fly, and he goes numb. Someone whispers in his ear “You caused the evil to come” and eases him to the ground, but he has a tattoo of a cobra missing an eye on his neck. And Yon blacks out.

The others use their rings to find Yon and they find him in a back alley with a pungent odor of “eww.” There’s a door and they open it. Liam casts light on three rocks, and tosses them different directions. It seems to be a storage room with barrels. In the center of the room the ring stops pointing. Liam checks the floor, to no avail. Gabby and Harold check from the roof. Felix senses the minds of a few people in the room. They break up to search for him and Gabby feels a handle on the floor that shouldn’t be there. She opens it. Going down reveals a hogtied Yon and a blond male with pointy ears, medium build. Yon doesn’t wake easily because he is poisoned, and Liam casts suppress poison, wakes Yon, and takes a sample. Yon wants to go to the church to have his poison removed and does so. The blond pointy eared one is put back to health as well and thinks Harold and gabby are other people because he keeps calling them by other names. He was shopping and was hit on the back of the head. It was about 200 years ago. Apparently this Elf is 600. Harold/Gabby prove they don’t have the birthmarks of the ones he was calling them. He mentions the people he’s talking about ran into an archrival Grimfang the Red. He looks at the two with spectacles saying “Very odd.” He pulls out a spellbook, asks for blood. He says they’re siblings. They take him into another room and talk amongst themselves while Liam Yon and Felix stay in the same room. They learn that they’re dragon descendants and Landross thanks us, we thank him for his information. We go to the inn, with posters of us being “wanted” and we take them down. The man who wrote it resides at the snake eye Inn. We sleep the night, and when we wake up with a letter which reads: “You are the cause of the plague of evil which will descend upon this area.” and it has the one eyed snake symbol on it. The mostly undecided vote and largely “no” vote to going there causes the players to eventually leave town. Felix gets a premonition, falling over and twitching. He gets back up and keeps walking like absolutely nothing happened until nobody else was in sight and changes back to human. He explains the seizure was a premonition about fire, flames, and skeletons. We decide not to go back to Hilsafar, instead they find out why they want us dead. Gather information checks! Gabrielle verifies there is an assassin’s guild, and they’re after us, but we can’t find any more information so (due to GM Insight) we remember the farm with the cattle that are disappearing. So we go visit one of those farms.

Sporadically the livestock are disappearing. We wait until nightfall and patrol variously. Felix bounds to Yon, turns around, does a ‘dog point’ and goes off, Yon follows. Felix smells rotting carrion, and a cow disappears out of nowhere in the field. Yon detects evil and moves towards the strongest level. There’s a tiny skeletal thing (1&1/2 ft) tall with rotting flesh. It’s right underneath a cow and the cow disappears. After a bolt and some rapier damage by Harold, it falls apart. Liam gets hit by 5 magic missiles. Harold hides behind a cow. Yon charges. An icky black thing surrounds Yon and burns him. 5 red glowy eyed steer charge us. Yon dodges but Felix gets trampled and is bleeding before there’s a guttaral Growl and he gets up in wolf form looking very viscious. He bites one bull. Yon charges and downs one, Liam downs one with a Hado-ken, and Harold attacks the bitten one. The cows attempt to gore Yon and charge Felix and miss. Liam downs Harold’s, Yon slices one of the last two cows, Harold misses, and Yon evades an attack. Felix downs the other bovine. Liam charges it. Yon finishes the last one off and detects no more evil except for slight evil from the direction of the dead cows and Felix who is eating them. There’s a small pendant where the tiny skeleton was. The necklace has the aura of Invisibility and Levlitate. Felix is still in dire form, and when Liam tries to status and a fight ensues, Liam knocking Felix out and the wolf form goes away. Yon heals Felix.

Matt’s “Felix Journal”

Travel is rather boring. And tiresome. I wish we could go faster.

The forest is big, which is probably why we haven’t seen much besides ourselves.

Hey… someone that looks like Yon! And… he’s glowy? Why is he all glowy? Yon doesn’t know what it is, I think. I wonder what he is and where he’s going. Never mind that, it seems that there’s a larger thing. We should help them! That shadowy creature can’t be good.

That shadow stands no chance against us! It finally was beaten, and the glowy person… she doesn’t seem to be able to speak to us. She’s from Elysium, patrolling to contain the evil from Myth Drannor. She tossed a bag to Yon… And after a few questions, we decided to be on our way.

Well, not much else happened, and we’re at Harrowdale again.

Just after we’d gone through the gates, an old lady just grabbed Harold. “In the time of the ageless ones, undeath shall walk unfettered”. Weird. I think that she’s crazy, and that strange, deep voice should never have come from her. She’s kinda scary. I hope that’s the last of the weirdness. I’m going with Liam to the town hall to see what’s going on.

Hm, it looks like some of the livestock here is disappearing. Liam and I are going to see if it’s perhaps the Big Bad that’s at fault here.

Mmmm, jelly beans! They’re really good! I need to go find out where I can get some.

Watch out for the one eyed snake? What does that mean? A warning, yes, but I don’t see what kind of threat a half-blind snake could be. Perhaps something else? I don’t know. Things here are just weird so far.

After talking to the one requesting help with the cattle mystery, it looks like the cattle are just… disappearing. No struggle, no blood, just vanishing. That’s hard to do. Even I would have trouble teleporting a cow. For now, though, we’re going to the Bazaar to go see what we can see, and find Gabby, Yon, and Harold.

Hey! The group! Yay! And so here we are… and there’s a snake painting on the wall, facing so there’s only one eye… Now I’m worried. LIAM, STOP BEING STUPID. Figures. The idiot gets run over by a cart. Perhaps the snake is misfortune. That looked painful. At least Harold agrees that Liam’s a looney. Yon too.

A soothsayer was mentioned. That sounds like a plan; I have my own question to ask them, because I’m worried. Let’s see what we (And the soothsayer) can see. After all, I’d like to know what’s going on with all these weird cryptic things. Looks like some interesting things. A snake wants to hurt Liam. That’s not surprising. And apparently Harold is old. Haha, I can call him an old man now!

I asked the soothsayer about what’s been happening with my changing body. It worries me that I keep getting strange urges to do things that normally would never cross my mind. I just want to know if it’s going to cause problems, so I can prepare. She says I’m cursed by the moon, and marked by evil? That’s worrying… I hope that doesn’t cause too many problems, or ones I can’t handle. I don’t want to be a burden to my friends. But I’m afraid I will be, and that I’ll cause problems… I wonder what that plant was, and why it burned?

Now we need to find Yon, since he’s apparently gone and gotten himself lost. Using the rings, we follow him, and get led into… a back alley in a storage room? Why would Yon be here? We need to find him now. Getting inside was easy enough, but it seems hard to find Yon. This is weird… I’ve sensed that some people are near… but I need to find a way to get under the ground. That’s where I sensed two minds, and I can only hope that Yon’s okay.

And there it is. Thanks to Gabby, we found that the room’s an illusion, partly. There was a trap door in the corner of the room, hidden by an illusion that was quite good, all things considered. But we’re down under the house now, and there’s Yon! And some other person? I’m going to try waking Yon up. Looks like he’s not just unconscious. Poison, it seems. Liam seems able to help a little bit. Well, at least Yon’s up, albeit with some magical help, but we need to get him some help, and get some help for this other guy too. The church seems good, and Yon’s not going to agree with anything else anyhow. It’s a good thing that the Clerics know what they’re doing.

We get to the church, and Yon and the other guy look fine after the Father removes the poison from them.

This other guy thinks that Gabby and Harold are some other person? Hm, odd, it seems that it’s quite coincidental. He says that the people that Gabby and Harold remind him of wanted children named Harold and Gabby. This guy is WEIRD. And he’s able to cast some strange magic.

Gabby and Harold are siblings, and NOT human? I don’t know. They seem human enough, though they did mention something about being 15 for a long time. Perhaps they’re elves? That might explain a lot, though wouldn’t they have the pointed ears?

The weird guy gave me a bone! This is a YUMMY bone. Must… nom… mmmm…

Looks like Gabby and Harold are going somewhere! I think it would be okay to walk around with them, hopefully no one gets scared of me when I’m a wolf. That wouldn’t be good. It seems that people are fine with it, though. They probably think I’m a pet or a companion to Gabby and Harold. It also looks like people are looking for us, and from the description of the inn where they want to be met, I don’t know if I want to know why they want information on us.

Sleep time. Nothing happens at night, but in the morning there’s a letter, saying we’ll be the cause of a plague of evil that will come upon the area. That’s a bit creepy, I’ll admit. I don’t really like being here anymore, to be honest. People seem to be out to get us. Assassins, at that, and I don’t like assassins at all, especially after what happened to Liam. I’m glad that everyone agrees that we should leave the city though. I think it will be safer.

As we leave town, I get a terrifying vision. Fire… death, skeletons. Scary visions… Where are they happening at? Why did I get this vision now?

We decided to return and work out the mystery of the disappearing livestock. We decided to stay with the herd a night to see what we could see, and hopefully find the cause. I noticed the smell first before I got Yon and Liam. We found the source, it seems. Looks like a small, skeleton ferret is somehow causing the cattle to vanish. I hate undead. It must be what’s causing all the disappearances!

Let’s kill this thing!

It’s wasn’t very durable. It barely took us an effort to destroy the little undead, which I guess is a good thing.

Ack! Looks like that wasn’t all. Liam was just hit by some magic missiles! There’s a lot of red eyes out there in the darkness. I think it’s time for another round. I hope Liam’s okay. At least Yon and Harold are here to help.

Undead cows? I don’t think I’ll be able to fight much longer. I hurt all over, bleeding… I can’t stand anymore. I think that my end is near…

Or not. I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m healing, and I feel so much larger and stronger than I ever have been. All I want now… is to destroy those things.

THEY MUST DIE! I feel invigorated! I want blood! Destroy these things!

Victory. Those things were weak, and I’m amazed that I was ever scared of these things. I must destroy them entirely. I don’t know why, but it makes me feel better as I dismember the undead one by one.

Who dares to interrupt my moment of victory? Another enemy! I will see you dead too, torn down by my own power!

It seems luck isn’t on my side, as the enemy defeats me with embarrassing ease. I swear my ghost will return to haunt you. I’m growing smaller, I feel so weak now. Is this death?

Ow… my aching body. Yon and Liam… thank the gods you guys know how to heal. I swear I felt like I was going to die.

Liam’s Journal Entry

God this is such a drag. I like the fact that were out of the city and by trees with good places to look at clouds but we now have no tome to look at them! Wait, what’s that glowing thing that is coming near here? Oh well yon seems to have no big problems with it. But that thing I do have a problem with. It seems way to weird like a shadow creature. I don’t know why it’s here but it’s attacking the glowing guy so we might as well help. Hey guys, use mag- right, me and Felix are the only ones. Nice shot goldent guy, I really don’t wann mess with him, his physical attacks were much more affective than me and yon combined.

Pheuf. Well that was a good sparing match, anyone need healing…. Oh I guess i’m the only one hurt. Well this glowing guy is kinda strange. He doesn’t make any noise as he talks. Well for some reason Felix is acting like he is hearing something loud in his ear. Ugh, well, we might as well keep going.

Hmm this city doesn’t look to bad. Hey! Oh, it’s just an old lady groping Harold. Something about how the dead will walk in the time of the ageless ones, either way, let’s see what there is to do to get info around here. Ah! Perfect, a bazzar at about 2:00. Well in the mean time let’s go check out why these peoples lifestock are going missing Felix, might as well try to establish some kinda link with these guys, especially since me and Felix haven’t really been getting to much along. Ah there is the tavern the guy is…? May I help u? What is a jelly bean? Well, it might be the fact Felix is part dog but he seems to like them, I guess it tastes okay, odd though. What? What do you mean a one-eyed snake is after us? Now Im starting to think something is up, either way, let’s continue.

Hmm no traces of struggle or blood, yet the livestock is missing, it must be some sorta magic. I wonder if the ageless ones and/or the one-eyed snake is apart of this. Very interesting. Well, time to head to the bazzar.

Hey guys, we found something strange about the far…, Is that what I think it is? A picture of the one-eyed snake! Hmm I wonder if there is something on this panti-AHHH! Who the heck drives their cart at 35 miles per hour with all these people here! Grrrrrrrrrr I try to establish more of a connection bettween us yet you riddicule me and call me stupid, if it wasn’t for Merrick I would have left this band of misfits a long time ago. Ugh, not a time to have unneeded feelings, I’ll just get up, shrug it off and see if the guy is okay.

Well at least the guy is okay, what’s that? Some kind of fortune teller is here? Let’s go check it out. Maybe it will tell me more about the one-eyed snake.

Oh well I didn’t get to much just an image. What? Harold saw a dragon? How does that relate to his age? Could it have to do with, naw, that’s just plain stupid. Oh well. Hey gabby, where is yon? Oh he went off alone? Well at least we got these rings. It’s pointing to this grangy looking storage building, I hope yons okay, even after insulting my intelegence. Hmm it stops pointing at this area in the middle. Hmm what to do? Well yon’s out of the picture, I might as well take charge. Hmm nothing around or inside what could it be? Wait gabby! Stay where u are, and try pulling that lever. Ah very tricky, it was all an illusion, I need to be more aware of these sorta things.

Hmm, I see yon and a very efeminant elf, hmmm I wonder how he got here. Well, it’s obvious, they have been poisoned. I can at least stabilize yon for now, I don’t know if this other man, I think, is friend or foe.

God yon stop your squirming, instead of going to go see the flower GIRLS to get you help, were gonna go to the church, geez, we hunt down one hooker and now he has a scar to now think most women are prostetutes.

Well the good news is yon is gonna be okay. You guys go inside, I’ll wait out here.

Dang they are taking long. Oh here they are and the elf is well as well. Hi I’m liam, are you feeling better? Oh, that’s good. Wait? You think Harold and gabby are brother and sister? Well they do act like it. Let’s go to the inn first, especially with a guild on our head.

Well, Felix has this guy in his favorite book, he seems to be om nom noming on a bone. Wait? Now you also think Harold and gabby are 150 years old? I thought I was the oldest! But more importantly they act like their friken 7! Oh well, wait if this guy has info, maybe he knows about “Him”(remained unknown).

Darn! well I know he’s not here, and that is VERY good for us now, let’s get some rest and think of game plan for tommorow.

Well now there are flyers with our descriptions on it, and that’s not good. Let’s try to leave town. God more trees, if only something were to happen, oh my, are you all right Felix? What? Flame, undead, glowing eyes? What does this mean? Either way we should get… Hmm. Guys, let’s stay here for the night. As much as dangerous as it is, there must be something important we need to… CRAP! The livestock case! Let’s check that out.

Well, we got all the animals in a specific area. I wonder what that smell is, oh well. Seems like gabby is sleeping, oh well, if something happens she won’t have to worry about it. I really need sometime to relax, this whole time we have been going non-stop. Tommorow I am gonna take some time to just stare at clouds even with all these assasins.

Strange, that smell keeps coming over here, and now the cattle are being very restless. What the, one of the cows dissapeard! That little skeleton thing must have done it. It stands no chance against my copyrighted moves! Hidoken(apperently to mike)! Well we know what has been causing the missing liveAHHH! Urg, I got blasted by missles?! Guys! Be careful of casters! Well I’m gonna heal myself and hide for now. Oh no! Yon and Felix are being targeted?! Hey! Lay off them, coward! No! Felix just got ran over and isn’t moving, he must have killed Felix! No, not anouther death. I shall defend the rest of us then try to bring Felix to safety, there is always a chance he is alive. Dang these undead cattle drop like sheep. Wait, is that Felix? No, there is something wrong with him, he has never become this tall before, and he is raging against these beasts. No time for it now, we gotta deal with this. Well the Mage is gone and the beasts are slain, but Felix is still raging against the carcuses. I must figure out what is happening to him.

Yes! The touch spell worked! But this isn’t good. It says he is beserk, which I kinda knew, and it says he is possesed. This isn’t good, and he is starting to come at me and bite me. He seems to strong for me but I must try. Sorry Felix, I gotta do this, just call it payback from the psychic blast.

Dang, he went down a little faster than expected. I better heal u fast before he starts bleeding to death. Cur- ... Yon why do u always run up to heal the guy I’m about to. I’m still gonna have to heal him. Oh well, all that matters is that Felix is concious. He really needs to learn to control himself, first, something about a girl makes him mad and then now he is raging because I try and help him. Now I really wish gabby was helping in this battle so we could have tried to avoid this.

Party Recorder Notes – by Mike.

When last we left our merry group…

Liam said no to the marriage of dutchess Chi, and someone just like him married her after an assassination attempt on Liam the double. Afterwards he received handwraps and the whole group parties. Yon learns that Chi’s husband is an ambassador from the country of Kara-Tura who knows the Emperor. It was sort of a political wedding for the Kara-Turians here. Liam is only slightly smashed at this party. Harold finds someone new and toasts to “long life” and passes out. Yon distances himself and notices others distancing himself like an old guy with a ruby encrusted walkingstick, and some weirdos from inbred houses which don’t get out much. Gabby is dancing with the hot guys but didn’t have time to get drunk. Yon notices Liam Harld and Felix have disappeared so Yon goes looking for them. Felix and Harld are outside. Yon goes back inside with Harold over his shoulder and with Felix he convinces Gabrielle to leave (amidst disappointed suitors) Gabrielle uses her ring to try and find Liam and fails, Yon looks at her ring and follows it’s trail to a park. Felix goes running off, Yon calls after him, there’s no answer but there is barking coming from the direction he’s running. Yon tries to figure out Liam’s motivations for being in a tree while Gabs goes up in the tree with Liam. The barking stops as Liam asks about it. So we go look for Felix and find a wolf “nom-ing” on something which looks to be a mouse. He bounds toward Liam and Gabrielle. Liam asks the wolf if it knows where Felix is, telling it to bark once for yes and twice for no. It barks, and they ask it to take them where Felix is. The wolf sits. Eventually They figure out the wolf is Felix. Harold starts to come around, groggily, while walking to an inn. Along the way theres a piercing scream. Liam runs toward it, Yon follows, and the Big Bad (coward) wolf is there growling at the woman. We all rush in to attack as the woman flees, Gabby fumbles, Felix missed biting, Liam flippy trippy dippy kicky thingy’s the wolf and hits, forcing it to yip. Harld slips off of Yon’s shoulders and flanks, hitting! Yon runs up and swings, hitting. It drops to the ground, appearing perhaps dead. Within seconds the body changes to an asian version of Liam. And the whistles of the guards happen from the streets. The guards think that the wolf form of Felix is the wolf that the lady was complaining about. We are all escorted. Hours later the detective Caruso shows up and Felix says “someone let me out of this cage?” Someone puts Felix into the cell, Caruso questions everybody about the situation and gets our statements but can’t release us yet. A high muckity-muck shows up – Chancellor to the king (who Yon answers to) pulls Yon aside and questions him. He explains that they must find and identify the “lady of the evening” which ran from the situation. Great. The paladin needs to find a whore.

Harold uses his knowledge to try and find a brothel… and chooses to go to the upper class areas that had good pot pies that he stole every once in a while. The local matron calls herself Momma Dee (she has a reputation of being fair and abrupt.) Yon is the only one brave enough to go first. The place has a heavy aroma. The lady in waiting shows up and we question her, learning she knows what actually happened. Yon tells the madam that under the authority of the king she is to be questioned by the chancellor and they take her to the chancellor. Gabby asks her name. It’s Karna. We get to the chancellor and tell him the woman has evil within her, and one of our group is acting funny ever since she met her. Karna reaches across Liam to show Gabs her nails and somehow Liam is enchanted as well. The chancellor calls for some colleagues and when they arrive they cast something and ask the two how they feel. It seems the casting didn’t work. They come out with a bracelet and try to put it on her. The casting continues, and Gabs and Liam cease their “bff” status. When the bracelet finally is put on she turns into a purple skinned pointy eared exotic creature. Liam figures out she’s evil now. They identify her as a dark fey, and are surprised she is in this world. She enticed the ambassador out and caused him to change form through magicks and we were mistaken as his killer.

We get out the castle gates and onto the street and head toward that abandoned building we were thinking that we could use for shelter. The sky turns dark and our rings start to glow. A barrier like effect happens over the city. The rings get brigher as we get closer, and we put the rings together and a ball of “red” forms inbetween and a big onyx black arrow is pointing somewhere. Eventually it leads toward a different park and eventually a tree. Felix tries to touch the tree with his fist and his hand goes partially into the tree. The tree is an illusion of a pedestal with a hollow core and a diamond ore quartz. Liam goes to touch it, and ceases to do much… beginning to drool. Apparently a million years (give or take) go through his head and Merrick is one of the last memories. He says that there are four more crystals to find, and they must be arranged in an obelisk to help bring Merrick back. Bringing the rings together, the arrow appears again to give us the direction of a wall. Felix appears to prod and poke the wall, and is punched and throws him back… by the wall. Yon detects no evil. All five of us approach the wall with our rings, Liam saying we were sent by Merrick. The wall parts. There is a red crystal. Harold goes for it. Harold grabs it, but nothing happens. We step out and the wall closes. The next arrow points to a pond. Liam goes into the pond, and is ejected. The pond morphs into a cohesive rectangle with arms. We are attacked. We attack back, And it goes sploosh. Gabby goes for the blue crystal. Gabby is in pain. The next arrow takes us to a shrine of an elemental lord. There is a pit of fire. Gabby has a protection from fire ring. She goes down to the bottom and thanks the lord of fire elemental-ness. She takes the black crystal and heads back up, giving it to Felix. The next arrow takes us to a mound in the middle of the park we found felix change into a dog in. Yon lifts the cloth disguised as a mound and sees a small stone with indentations on each corner. The crystals are inserted and a green crystal appears. Yon takes it, and the group puts the cloth back on the ground and it looks like a mound again. The arrow points to the center of town and a 4 sided obelisk which has slots hidden within it’s inscriptions. The fifth slot is on the horse of the statue. The monument glows, and felix opens a door which appears. When opened, it looks to be pure darkness inside. All five step inside. We are home… it’s the foryer of the mansion.

Merrick is laid out in a room in the mansion. We all step on spots correlating with the colors of the crystals. A bell gongs, and the scripts turn fillagree? with magic, and the symbols line up, and shoots a crystal rod into the coffin. The body is surrounded by a white mist, and the cover of the coffin is no longer there. The mist is clearing and the body has a rosy look to it. Harold looks to the coffin and Merrick awakens. Everybody says their hellos, and Yon smiles. Merrick looks to his ring, which is gone. He snaps his fingers, calling Jeeves, and the butler appears. He calls for a status report, and nods. Gabby recaps to Merrick.

Apparently Jeeves is the reason Liam did not die… Jeeves is the one that repaired the damage to Liam’s heart and pulled the spirit back into Liam after it was leaving. Liam explains about the Big Bad wolf and Merrick cannot summon him to the city. Merrick notices that we’re under attack. Merrick tells us to shower, as we smell like a brothel. He tells Gabs and Harold that they need to be relocated because their enemies have found them. He requests we all leave the city while he deals with the problems. He puts his hand on Liam’s forehead, and Liam sees a vision of the red dragon with other dragons cohorting with evil and casting dark magicks over the city of Hilsofar. So we’re leaving the city.

and then…

Felix Journal

Another night passes. Harold’s asleep. I think he had too much to drink. The moon, that beautiful, terrible wretched glowing orb in the night keeps me up still. As tired as I feel, I can’t sleep. I mustn’t sleep, or I’ll dream of her again, as I always do on these nights. I miss Merrick. There was never a full moon outside my window at night at the mansion… but here I’m still subject to its terrible face.

Yon found me, and we gathered everyone and went to find Liam (Big surprise. Can’t he just stick around?). It was a boring walk, really, but on the way, I saw something that looked DELICIOUS run by. I couldn’t help myself. I ran after it, and finding that it was too fast, willed myself to be faster. The world blurred, color draining as I found myself suddenly quickening. It was joyous! I felt free! I couldn’t help myself, I barked and barked and barked, pursuing my tasty quarry with a newfound energy.

Mmmm, mm, it was YUMMY. Perhaps I was just starving though. It was only a mouse, after all.

My meal was almost over when I heard them. I didn’t care much, I was finishing up when I saw Gabby, Yon, Liam, and Harold. They seemed surprised to see me. I couldn’t tell why, I mean, I’m not THAT strange-… ah, yes, this change.

Luckily, they didn’t attack me. I should be thankful, considering that I looked to be a wolf, the same thing we’d been fighting for some time now. It wasn’t hard to identify myself, but they didn’t believe fully. I wouldn’t have believed it myself either. So I followed them, wondering what to do about my new predicament.

A scream shattered my thoughts. Immediately, I’m after the scream, knowing that the others were going too.

Another wolf… great. He’s bigger than me… and scarier. Honestly, I didn’t know what had gotten into me when I lunged wholeheartedly into battle with the beast. I tripped over myself trying to fight, showing just how unused to myself I was. This new body thing is only easy insofar as perhaps walking, not fighting. It mattered not, though, as he finally fell… and became the ambassador we’d seen marry just earlier.

Why do these things happen to us?

On that note, I now sympathize with domestic dogs. Getting dragged around by someone, and locked in a cage, is not fun. At all. Especially when it’s the town guard that’s doing the dragging and locking. I wanted to change back to myself, but couldn’t will it. I stayed up the few hours until dawn summoning my will. Thank the gods that I managed to change back. I like seeing in color.

PRAISE THE GODS, MERRICK IS BACK!

It took some work and some things that I don’t understand, but he’s back! YAY! I could die of happiness now! But I won’t, that would be bad, and I’d rather not have the Butler need to deal with me after what he did for Liam.

Uh oh. Merrick doesn’t look happy. Enemies of Harold and Gabby? What enemies could they have?

Leave…? My books, the library, my guide?

But then again… what are those, compared to my friends?

Session 5

Recap by Mike Mason. Food Hamburgers.

Players present:

• Mike
• Bekah
• Conor
• Nick
• Matt

We picked up walking down the strange road. An eight inch tall man stepped forth to block the progress of the party. In a rhyming speech, he told them they had to answer his riddles three. They accepted the challenge, and answered the riddles with nary a pause. They pressed on and met a strange cloaked figure. She never gave a name, nor was asked, but in exchange for 10 gp per character, guided them to the dark fey realm and back to the fey road.

The characters came upon an in-progress ritual, neither knowing nor caring about it’s purpose they decided to put an end to it. Against eight wolves, the Big Bad Wolf, and apparently the Dark Fey Queen, the party fared not well. Things began looking grim, but after the completion of the ritual the dark queen disappeared, which apparently signaled the wolves and BBW to depart, not caring about the group… Though BBW did something to Felix before leaving. Inside the ritual circle Gabrielle recovered a Longsword with a crystal or diamond in the hilt, and some treasure from an altar.

The group, counting their blessings, recovered the seven young girls, and returned henceforth to town.

Upon clearing the forest, they saw Merrick in an epic battle with a fearsome colossal dragon. The dragon won apparently by crushing and then suffocating the old man before flying away, possibly in confusion, or meandering…

The group knew something was amiss, when they couldn’t find the manor with their access rings. Liam departed to contemplate this deep loss, while the rest delivered the young girls to the church to heal them and return them to their folks. The group was rewarded handsomely for their troubles. Yon was given a suit of Masterwork Full Plate; Liam never collected his reward; Harold was given a bandoleer of daggers (two of which are masterwork); Felix was given a masterwork chain shirt; Gabrielle got two masterwork daggers, and a masterwork short sword.

Deciding to let Liam in on his share of the reward, they tracked him down. They were met with a page with a letter to have them all join Duchess Chi for dinner and preparations for the upcoming wedding. A partial message of foreboding was delivered by the Insubstantial Butler. They met at Duchess Chi’s. A strange sight of white small simians piqued Liam’s curiosity. After dinner, Liam returned upstairs to his suite, but with a feeling of trepidition turned around, only to find a dagger buried in his gut. (Liam dropped to 1 HP and stunned for three rounds). Felix came upon this strange sight, and seeing blood accosted the assassin before he could finish off Liam. A warning from the Butler sent the group scrambling, and Felix brought Yon directly to the fight. With Gabrielle and Harold showing up, the battle quickly turned against the apparently inept assassin (WHO KEPT CRIT FAILING). Harold and then Gabrielle finished the poor fellow off. The rest of the estate guards appeared. Liam bent over and searched the fallen assassin; meanwhile, another guard cries out in pain and then pointing to a group on a roof, shouts ‘Assassins!’ and then the present guards leave to chase down the criminals (READ: the other party – group A). They are ushered to a safe room and then return later to find the suite has been robbed in their absence – the drapes, silverware and other valuables.

Liam pulls Gabrielle aside and confesses his lack of love for the duchess. Realizing he can speak freely, he figures the duchess is dead and barges in on his sleeping “wife”. She assures him everything is okay, and puts off his confession of not loving her. She manages to convince him to at least attend the wedding to say no.

The next day, the public wedding is held. Felix spots an assassin in the rafters and kills him before he can kill the duchess. Liam says no to the “I do” spot, and is surprised when Chi says “No, I choose him” and points to a guy that looks similar to Liam. She is wed, and there is a reception. Liam is given a gift of Wrist Wraps from the now married Duchess.

We end at 5:30pm and commenced leveling everyone to level 3.

Player Recap

By Mike Mason:

When last we left, we were entering the archway, and the scenery changed.

As we walk down the road, a diminutive guy with a piping voice blocks the road challenging us with three riddles. They are answered, and an archway appears. Another change of scenery, this time to a forest with sparkly! berries and dewdrops on pristine foliage. There is a dark robed figure to the side of the path. Felix greets the figure, who turns out to be a woman. She explains the path is hard to find without being on it, and that the man with red eyes is the servant to the dark one. She asks 10g each to guide us to him and back to the path afterwards. Small red eyes follow us from the canopy of the forest. She stops and says she’ll wait for us. We hear chanting. Yon requests the sneaks sneak.

There is a circle of wolves around a circle of seven young girls standing on arcane symbols headed by a thin lady who looks Russian. The big bad wolf is behind them. The kids have had their wrists slit. Gabrielle throws a dagger which misses the woman.

Initiative! Gabrielle moves west, and the wolves (and Harold) follow. Liam, Felix, and Yon move north to approach wolves. The wolves attack the two groups, Yon breaks free to go north and grab some girls, as does Harold, but Felix and Gabrielle are downed. Yon moves back toward Gabrielle with some of the girls, and Harold follows. Liam moves to the girls but the Big Bad follows. Yon stabilizes Gabby, gives her two of the girls, and moves to Felix, healing him. Liam investigates a wolf while the rest head toward the guide. Gabby sees something shiny, so she goes to try and pull it out. She tries to dig the white gem, and digs the rest of it, it’s a sword with a gem on the hilt actually. She pulls the sword. Liam kills the wolf he investigated by burning it. We found a coin pouch with 300 gold and a couple of jewels. Yon coup de grace kills the other wolf.

The guide asks “are you ready to return?” and Harold describes the woman we saw. The guide calls her the “Dark Queen.” She leads us back to the gate, we appear back on the path, and go back to the mushroom ring.

The team sees the fight between a huge dragon and Merrick, where the dragon falls – onto Merrick. Gabrielle shouts “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” And there’s no more Merrick when the dragon flies off.

Everybody’s trying to take the girls to the church. Everybody is healed. Liam walks off. The captain of the guards rewards us with full plate for Yon, Harold got 10 daggers, Felix wants masterwork chain shirt, Gabrielle wants some masterwork daggers and a masterwork lock pick set. Liam is found later, and we tell him about the rewards and his chance to get one. Duchess Chi summons Liam by messenger. Liam tries to tell him to bugger off, but he cries instead. Gabrielle says “I’m gonna read your mail!” She reads about the “special day” and is indignant about the fact that it’s been too soon since Merrick left us. A wispy figure kinda like the butler gives us a message we think is from Benley, and it says “you need to leave” but is cut off afterward.

So, the party reluctantly go to Chi’s estate. At dinner, the butler materializes after Liam and Felix leave and says “danger” then disappears. As Harold searches for what happens to the monkeys he is stabbed by a man with a red goatee… and dropped to 1 hit point. Felix finds Liam, and teleports Yon to the scene, as the goateed man throws a dagger at Yon but missing badly. Yon charges him. Gabrielle and Harold make it upstairs, and charge the man, Gabrielle taking him down. As everybody is inspecting the downed man, and the hurt Liam, a guard in the room is hit from a force attack. A special dagger is found on Liam’s attacker. Everybody is shunted to another room, and we find a note that says “there is an assassin in your midst.” Liam pulls Gabby aside and tells her he can’t go through with it. Then he realizes she must be dead because he CAN say she can’t go through with it. He runs to her room and strikes the door in, goes in and sees a veiled woman, who won’t let him lift her veil. He tells her he won’t be at the wedding. In the morning, he tells everybody he won’t be in the wedding. The chinaman tells Liam that if he goes to the ceremony and participates he can say “no.”

At the performance, Liam asks Yon to stand by him at the wedding. A crossbow sniper fires and misses someone near the walkway to the wedding. Felix notices, and psychic blasts the sniper. Gabrielle darts up to the rafters to find more people. Harold follows, and identifies the body as a young asian guy. The wedding continues, and Liam says “no”, then chi says “no” and points to a man that comes forth from the shadows, and excuses liam. (he looks just like him) And the rest of the wedding goes off without a hitch. Liam gets a present, some handwraps with a light enchantment on it.

We gain level 3! WOOT WOOT!