No Holds Bard

Three weeks ago…

Hawkmoon is searching idly for more diamonds when he hears a noise nearby…

“Are you alone?”

Looking around, Hawkmoon can see no one but knows Estaban’s tricks well enough to recognise this as being one of his.
Durin’s in sight but too far away to hear anything.

“What do you want Estaban?”

“I need to hear your report. I need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your travelling companions. Their favoured spells and tactics. Their vulnerabilities and defensive shortcomings. Everything I need to know to defeat them when the time comes!”

Hawkmoon sighs and, while making sure he’s out of sight, tells Estaban everything he wants to hear.

“Very well - though I don't approve of your underhand tactics to influence the others. Am I not insurance enough?
Overall the Party are a disparate bunch. Different aims and goals. They don't act together, but somehow manage to salvage most situations. Usually through the use of powerful magics.

Bodush should probably be your first target. His firepower is unprecedented, but catch him early on and he would be an easy target.
After a few seconds, though, beware. He will fly, become invisible and also likely create a number of fake images to confuse your archers.
There's even a chance that he’ll pre-empt an attack and protect himself in advance.

The Werebear is nothing special in his human guise, but beware him once he changes. He becomes extremely strong. I would suggest avoiding melee with him if you can.

Next you may wish to focus on Thesis: the lizard-man. He and the Dwarf are both good close combatants, but the lizard has the slight edge. Being a barbarian, Durin's tactics are often baffling but once stuck in a combat he will quickly become angry and become a whirling dervish of axe! Be prepared for healing against these two. Split them up; Divide and conquer.

The pedantic Cleric: Eolar is more an annoyance than anything. He’s self serving and almost as shambolic in combat as the Dwarf. He will probably be called on to heal the others, but instead will try to damage you himself! He may call down the fury of his God, but catch him in melee and he will drop quickly.

Mara'ch, the new Kobold, is a tricky one. Keep your fighters away from him. He can't fight himself but is somehow able to sap the strength of others.
If you are looking for an easy kill, then shoot him. Be quick, though, as he will likely disappear like Bodush.

Use the element of surprise to your full advantage. Act quickly decisively. Concentrate your attacks against one target at a time.

I have no loyalty to these adventurers - but make no mistake. Turn on me as you would turn on them and I swear I will return from the very bowels of Hell to take my revenge upon you...”

There’s silence for a moment before Estaban speaks again.

“Good work Hawkmoon. You’ve confirmed my thoughts and given me everything I needed to know. When you arrive back here, do nothing until Bodush and Eolar have handed over the diamonds. No doubt my youngest son will try to speak up for his friends. As soon as he starts talking, shoot Bodush in the back.
As for me turning on you… save your oaths. A deal is a deal."

Survival of the Fattest

Roly sneaks a peak through his fingers. The psychopathic tiny man has disapeared and all his children appear unharmed.
Looking around himself he sees the carnage of the furious but short lived battle.
Every single one of his ‘rescuers’ lie dead or dying.
He feels mixed emotions. He actually liked the Dwarf and the Were-bear and he felt a debt to the teenage Sorcerer. Ashamedly though, he's glad that the Elven Cleric Eolar was killed.
He spies Mendez craddling the massive Lizard-man Thesis in his arms. It looks like he’s trying to bind his equally massive wounds.
As quietly as possible, Roly ushers the boys, girls and Siren children back to the gate.
He is grateful when the two servants open it without fuss.
Without a backward glance at the mansion, wagons or treasure, Roly wobbles away back towards the city of Shalalah as fast as he can.
Reassured by the weight of the bulging purses on his belt, the multiple necklaces, broaches, bangles and the rings on every finger, Roly knows that he’ll have enough money to ensure a comfortable living for himself and a future for all of his charges.

The Speed of Fought

Happily Bodush and Eolar walk through the open gates into the courtyard of Estaban’s mansion.
There are many guards, but that’s to be expected, as they’ll be needed to protect the diamonds.
Thesis and Durin seem still baffled by their companions generosity but still follow them into the walled off courtyard.
Hawkmoon enters behind them but moves around unnoticed to the other side of the walled in area.
Mara’ch, still disguised as one of the children, enters with the entourage that the Party have accompanied or collected along their journey.
Ragnar, the surviving four sailors, the two Hamster-men, Roly and his adopted children, the Lizard-folk slaves and the Siren children.
Waiting by the far gate, Estaban calls out, “Welcome friends. Leave all of the diamonds by the fountain”.
It’s then that the Party notice Mendez and his brothers lining the walls. These walls aren’t particularly tall. 10’ at their lowest, 20’ at their highest.
The Party notices Mendez because he calls out through gritted teeth, “Half! Half is fair. My friends deserve somethi”.
Unfortunately he doesn’t get to finish his sentence before being interrupted by Bodush’s gasp of surprise as an arrow fired by Hawkmoon glances off the back of his head. Luckily this is due to the protection of the ‘Stone skin’ spell that was still in effect from the previous battle.
Suddenly Eolar and Bodush find themselves free from Estaban’s enchantment.

The Babies on the Boat go Whaaa Whaaa Whaaa

The journey back is surprisingly uneventful. This is lucky because there’s scarcely room to swing Hawkmoon’s cat.

The Elven Box-Ship contains:

Thesis the hulking Lizard-man.

The two Lizard-folk slaves.

Durin the stout Dwarf.

Eolar the tall Half Elf.

The (thankfully) human sized Ragnar.

Bodush the Sorcerer.

Gajapan the tiny viper.

Mara’ch the slightly larger Kobold.

And his unnamed rat.

Hawkmoon the Elven Archer.

Rou the cat.

Roly (the annoyingly obese) cleric.

The two Hamster-men.

The four Sailors.

The three boys.

The four girls.

The three Siren children.

A Riding horse.

And last but not least: Meldo the donkey.

A total of thirty-one creatures in a ship designed to hold fifteen.
Still if you get hungry…

Evolar

Ragnar, Thesis and Durin struggle for a while to free the magical ship from the rocks.
It’s only when its free and everyone’s onboard that Bodush finally reappears.
He can’t help but smile as he asks, ‘Why didn’t you just turn it back into its box form?’
The group decision is to take the two Lizard people and the three innocent Siren children with them.
Only Eolar seemed to have any objections.
Although the Siren children are scared, Roly is happy to take responsibility for them. The two Lizard people are also glad to help keep them calm.
When Roly hears of Eolar’s desire to kill them, it just confirms his low opinion of the Elven St Cuthbertian.

Salve Nauta Interruptus

Standing on the rocky island, Durin looks around at the bedraggled band.
Something’s wrong.
Someone’s missing.
Slapping his hand to his forehead, he signals Ragnar and dives back into the water filled passageway.
Ragnar looks confused for a moment but then realisation dawns and he also dives into the natural well.
They both take the third tunnel and after about half a minute surface in the air filled cavern.
It’s filled with a soft light and softer furnishings: Fur rugs and silk cushions.
It also contains the bodies of three of the slain Sirens plus (the very much alive) fat Cleric Roly and the four (now dressed) Sailors.
Roly seems happy to see them but the Sailors are looking a bit miffed.
‘They were so beautiful. Why did you have to kill them?’
Despite this they’re all glad when Ragnar and Durin carry them back up to the surface.

Alternative Alignments

After the last email, I thought about what are Party would be if we used a combination of traditional and personality based alignments…

Mendez: Flamboyant Good
Thesis: Chaotic Selfish
Eolar: Lawful Rigid
Durin: Erratic Good
Hawkmoon: Cynical Neutral
Bodush: ‘I swear I’m Neutral’ Evil
Mara’ch: True Newt-ral
Ragnar: Awful Hairy.

:)

The Children are the Future

Roly gathers the seven remaining children around him. Despite the abundance of food and wine and the absolute safety of Bodush’s mansion, Roly doesn’t feel safe.
These adventurers seem oblivious to the suffering of others. Hawkmoon seems the coldest, treating the Hamster-men and Sailors as servants or worse.
Although the adventurers rescued all the children, other than poor Daniel, it seemed more out of challenge than concern.
Still the Were-bear, the Lizard-man and the Dwarf, did try to help.
Eolar the Half-Elf seems the most aloof. Roly has heard of St Cuthbert; He can even still remember the stories of its great navy from when he was a boy. They believe in order above all else. Order but not kindness.
Still the diamonds he’s found will partially make up for the loss of his treasure chests.
Rocking the little ones back and forth across his massive belly, Roly decides that he should stick to the Dwarf. Barbaric though he may be, at least he has a conscience.
He is also worried about the journey back to Shalalah. The Sorcerer’s spells leave him and the children unsettled and disorientated. It’s almost as if he is torn into strips while travelling through the nothingness.
The Kraken has been fed recently. Perhaps it’ll leave a ship alone?
If only they had one.

Moradin then Durin can Stand

After a few days of living in fantastic luxury and sleeping on the softest beds, Durin ironically begins to feel uncomfortable.
Despite the earlier loss of his backpack, he has gathered up more diamonds then he can count, but it all seems too easy.
In his sleep though, he hears Mordin, All-Father of the Dwarves, calling to him…
“Why have you failed me Durin? Why, when you had the chance to battle our hated enemy, did you allow your callow friends to take you from your rightful glory?”
Upon waking, Durin knows what he must do…

Thank the (wrong) Gods!

Eolar, Ragnar, Hawkmoon and Durin finally reform from their gaseous forms and join Bodush, Thesis, Mara'ch and the others just inside the main wall of Ape city.
They are just discusiing what to do considering the deserted state of the city when a corpulent figure emerges from one of the buildings and waddles towards the newly arrived group.
“Pelor be praised, salvation is at hand!”
Though caked in dirt and looking like he hasn’t washed in years, Eolar easily recognises the vestments of a Cleric of Pelor.
He is leading eight smaller figures who turn out to be children. The eldest is a girl around eight, the youngest, a boy of four.
The fat priest looks at Eolar joyfully. “I’d almost lost my faith! How did you find us?”
The Cleric introduces himself as ‘Roly’ and though well into middle age, has a naïve look about him.
Perhaps it's the sight of the poor orphans that causes Bodush to surprise everyone by conjuring up a magical mansion, filled with delicious hot food and staffed by invisible servants.
Everyone soon forgets their immediate troubles and despite it still being early, they all relax in safety until the next morning.

Four’s a Cloud

Eolar leads Ragnar, Durin and Hawkmoon across the twenty-five or so miles. They travel high above the treetops but fail to see a single sailor or Hamster-man.
They do see several of the strange clearings that Hawkmoon had described after his scrying spell. About a hundred feet in diameter with single trees at their centre.
At the tremendous speed they’re travelling, it only takes them about half an hour before they arrive at the walled city.

Beaten by a Bunch of Damned Dirty Apes

Driven back by the baffling magics of the disgusting ugly man-things, the huge apes prepare themselves for another assault.
Disconcertingly though, the Party take this opportunity to make good their escape.
Eolar calls to the heavens and transforms himself, the massive Ragnar, Hawkmoon and Durin to smoke and they drift off into the air.
Bodush smirks to himself. “Only four?” he mutters under his breath.
Looking around he does a quick head count: Thesis, three sailors (two alive, one dead), and one of the freakish Hamster men.
He can do that. Just as he’s casting the spell however, the little blue Kobold, ‘Mara’ch’ sprints back into view from his hiding place.
Unable to take an extra person (regardless of his tiny size), Bodush is forced to abandon the dead sailor.
At least the apes won’t let his body go to waste.
With a flash of arcane light, they are gone.

Pellet of the Apes

Considering the standard of the opposition, the situation is actually quite grim.
The Party (Eolar, Thesis, Bodush, Durin, Hawkmoon, Mara’ch and Ragnar) have nursed the stricken Sky-ship to Ape island where it is currently beached.
They have moved inland into the jungle interior searching for any surviving crew-members (who bailed out using assorted two-floating or singular life saver balloons).
Hawkmoon used his arcane powers to discover the locations of a few of them and the Party have so far found three Human sailors and one of the Hamster men.
When they came to the fifth location, they found a ripped harness hanging from a tree and just as they were about to start searching they came under fire from at least a score of apes throwing rocks from the tree-tops.
Despite their crude tactics of whooping and throwing, the cover from the foliage and distance grants them quite an advantage.
Only Hawkmoon seems to be making it difficult for the apes so far.
Most everyone in the Party is injured and two of the Human sailors are unconscious or worse and so is the Hamster-man.
There is a city on the other side of the island but it’s at least 25 miles away!
Also, there are still 6 humans and 9 Hamster-men missing.

Current Hit points:

Mara'ch 37
Eolar 97
Thesis 171
Durin 154
Hawkmoon 61
Bodush 47
Ragnar 104


Initiative Order:

Bodush 23
Thesis 21
Fapes 21
Dapes 20
Napes 19
Mara'ch 19
Hawkmoon 14
Ragnar 14
Durin 7
Eolar 6

Good luck!

Short on Thought

Durin futilely rushes to the base of a tree and throws another of his new javelins. The Apes are simply too big to be felled by a single javelin, regardless of how hard he throws it.
His thoughts dark, he starts to conjecture…

Would a three-legged dog fall over when it peed?

A Debt Settled

Despite Mendez and Thesis’ lack of faith, they are well regarded by the St Cuthbert Paladins and are quickly ushered in to see Lejon.
“How can I be of service?” inquires the extremely tall and equally good-looking Paladin.
Mendez answers quickly, “My Dwarven friend here needs bringing back from the dead.”
“Surely the Elf Eolar can do that for you?”
“True, but I’d rather he was raised without any lose to his memory or essence.”
“Ah, I see. You want me to organise a ‘True resurrection’. But why should I do that?”
Mendez grimaces. He knew Lejon would be difficult but he ploughs on anyway.
“Because I will pay your church 27,000gp and because you personally owe us a debt for saving High Patriarch Rothgart.”
Lejon squirms in his seat.
“True enough. If I organise this for you though, I expect you never to mention this debt again. We shall be square.”
Mensez nods. Although often unsung, the Dwarf had steadfastly protected every one of them. Durin was owed a debt by his friends and this was a suitable act of gratitude.
It takes three days to organise and carry out the spell.
Neither Mendez or Thesis are allowed to be present during the ceremony, but trust is not an issue here.
On the fourth day, a grinning and surprisingly clean Durin is returned to them.

Modern Dwarfare

Asking for Thesis’ help to carry the fallen Dwarf, Mendez leads them to the Paladin Quarter in the St Cuthbertian city-within-a-city.
It’s a long walk and Thesis and Mendez muse about their Dwarven companion.
“I thought Dwarves were supposed to be clever with tactics” rasps Thesis.
Mendez thinks for a while and then responds, “It’s true. From what I knew, Dwarves are supposed to be well versed in Combat strategy.”
Thesis smiles for a moment and then laughs, “Perhaps that was the lesson directly after Reading and Writing?”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mendez can’t help but join in his lizardy friend's laughter.
After a couple of hours they arrive at the well-guarded gates.
“We’re here to see Lejon.”

Everyone relax, Mendez is here

Mendez strolls back up the hill, warm with brandy and the knowledge that he is heading back home soon.
He had found a message from his Father waiting in his favourite tavern inviting him and his friends back to the city of Shalalah.
At last his Father has accepted his choices and his friends.
He’s half way up the hill when he sees smoke rising from Bodush’s secluded mansion.
Suddenly sober, Mendez sprints the remaining distance.
There are bodies everywhere. A macabre mess of Orc women, giant skeletons and weird stitched together grotesques.
He runs around the still smouldering building until he finds his friends… and a grim looking Elf.
“Is everyone alright? What happened?”
In silent response, Thesis gestures to the ground at his feet. There lie the cold bodies of Durin and Elogyn.
“Sweet Ehlonna, can’t I leave you guys alone for one evening?”

Get off my cloud

Yes more Stones and Stone Golems ;)


The party readied themselves, knowing that the Necromancer and his creatures must be behind the stone door. Preparing spells to buff themselves up, Durin opened the door. Immediately he launched himself at the largest of the 2 golems in front of him. Amazingly, Mendez decided not to fire his deadly 5 a round arrows and charge in to engage the two-weaponed fighter at the back of the room. And crazily of all, the party decided not to wait until Eolar and Elogyn were fully substantial.

The battle however quickly moved in the adventurers favour. Despite being severely injured and having the finger-of-death pointed in his direction, Mendez, with the help of Chen killed Krael. Wer had summoned 3 Dire Bears to deal with the golems and they and Durin were slowly (!) wearing them down.

Bodush was able to detect the lurking necromancer and fired off a deadly blast of destruction at him. He saw him falter and was sure he had got him. 83 HP damage against a Mage, surely that would be enough to kill him twice!

But, against all odds, the mage had used the time while the adventurers moved through the secret tunnel to prepare himself with Invisibility, Protection from Arrows and Bears Endurance.

And so, with the fight delicately balanced we pause for two weeks ....

Mine, all mine

It was all clear to Eolar, Bodush, Chen, Durin and Elogyn. The problems in the town and the mine could be laid at the feet of the so-called General Sutter. In an insatiable thirst for power and wealth he had systematically destroyed the Eagle mine and Guthrie Wrigley and his dwarven work-force with it.

But, it seems he had to pay a high price. To consort with a creature as powerful as Tagati the Necromancer was surely a recipe for disaster, and if it ever came to an ultimate struggle for power, there could be only one victor. For now, Tagati was happy to play his part, but for how long?

They were also surprised to have seen 2 of those immense creatures who were carving out wealth and destruction for the General in equal measure - the Stone Golems. A creature so powerful it is said that they are un-affected by magic or weapons. One would have been a challenge, but 2? Surely suicidal.

Thanks to the wonder of Eolar's Wind-Walk, they were able to get out quickly and regroup. Maybe they were wise to to do so, but who knows what Tagati might have in readiness for our adventurers when they return? Clearly, the necromancer was not in evidence in the caverns underneath Eagle mine but his zombies and monsters certainly were. Maybe he was somewhere in Sutter's Hill mine? But, the only way across from the Eagle mine to Sutters appeared to be a water-filled tunnel. Would they brave that entrance or simply wind-walk in through Sutter's Hill?

While they contemplated this in the valley a safe distance from the mines, lady luck seemed to be smiling on them for in the distance they could clearly see the familiar form of an Eagle flying towards them. It was Wer! Now he and his Mud to Rock spell might prove very useful indeed!

Wer explained. She and Mendez had stayed behind for just three days longer in Pearlglen, helping to restore some of the woodland creatures and their devastated habitat. Then, they had traced the party's route to Mausolith and there had found out from Tom Mix at the Platinum Piece what their friends were intending. So, with appropriate haste they set out to find them - Mendez would be with them in a matter of hours.

The party had reformed, holed up in Bodush's magnificent cottage, they contemplated what lay in front of them.

For Evil to Triumph…

Mendez stares in awe at the enormous blue dragon that strides through the magical portal. He’d seen a much smaller black one before and even assisted the fearless Durin in killing it…
But this terrifying creature is so much more.
Dragging his eyes away from the massive lizard, Mendez’ heart turns to ice. The creature that follows it can only be a Prince of Baator.
Twelve feet tall and wreathed in flames, it keeps its leathery wings curled around itself like a cloak.
Mendez curses himself under his breath. Why didn’t he take the shot he’d been yearning to?
Why hadn’t he disrupted the summoning spell?