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.

Buried in Experience

Whoopsy.
After two years of giving the Party soft encounters I finally pitched an equal force at you.
We can pull apart the encounter later but I think our arrogance was our undoing.
Despite knowing that Estaban was prepared the Party still just ran around individually and hit separate targets.
Eolar actually did more harm to his own Party than the enemy!
Only Mara’ch showed any trace of self-preservation and so unsurprisingly he was the only one to survive.

The final scores (In experience order):

Mendez: Level 18: 153,026xp (Guilt ridden)
Eolar: Level 17: 147,998xp (Dead)
Thesis: Level 17: 143,195xp (KO’d but saved by Mendez and the Lizard lady)
Chen: Level 16: 127,436xp (Plotting against the Dragon)
Bodush: Level 16: 120,199xp (Dead)
Durin: Level 14: 105,213xp (Dead)
Wer: Level 14: 102,312xp (Plotting against the Pit fiend)
Hawkmoon: Level 14: 93,396xp (Guilt free)
Mara’ch: Level 14: 93,199xp (Still plotting how to get the diamonds back)
Ragnar: Level 13: 86,420xp (Dead)
Elogyn: Level 12: 74,556 xp (Saving the world regardless of if you want her to or not)
Ned: Level 6: 19,264 xp (Married and happy)
Kruddo: Level 6: 17,668 xp (Went back to the family mining business)

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.

Last Moments

Estaban strides out of his study to find Mendoza waiting for him.
“The diamonds are just hours away little brother. Is everything prepared?”
Mendoza mumbles in response.
“Yes Estaban. Everything is how you wanted it.”
“And the men?”
“Yes Estaban. The men will be waiting at the dock.”
“Excellent. Good work Mendoza.”
With that Estaban turns and walks off down the corridor, leaving the despondent Mendoza alone with his guilt.

Yet another diary excerpt from Bodush' Infernal(Linguistically speaking) Diary

Dear Diary,

This philantrophy is a funny business. I must admit that I have at times questioned my judgement in leaping to the aid of Mendez' father in his, what I suspect(although my drunkenness on that has clouded my memory), quite dire financial circumstances. Hopefully the sacrifices that we( but mainly the sailors and the hamsters) made will allow him to keep his mansion, his servants, his stables and his luxurious lifestyle. Still, this whole adventure is making it painfully clear that my time in this group should come to an end. Even if we discount the whole Pit Fiend/Dragon debacle, I do feel as if our impact as a group has been a rather negative one on the world as a whole.

Our unilateral interventions in various conflicts have had unforeseen consequences that have come back to haunt us. Even such a semmingly innocent endeavour as defending a gnomish village against orc raiders led to an upset in the local powerstructure that left an entire region at the mercy of the whims of a giant warlord. I hope that region appreciates what we had to do to rectify that situation.

On the other hand, our current quest has done some good. Roly and his charges will soon be safe in civilisation, and we will finally have the chance to show Mendez that despite his incessant self-aggrandizing tales, we do seem him as a worthy member of our group. Still, I am getting more and more uncomfortable with my place in the group and the consequences of our actions. I think I will seriously consider the offer I have had from Szandor.

Anyway, I have to go. My fellow travellers are concocting another crazy plot to extract liquour from a Magnificent Mansion on board a moving ship. I can't wait to get back Esteban.

Worst Father Ever!

No not Estaban...
Me!
It's my Boy's birthday on Tuesday.
Game date change to Wednesday 28th.
I hope no-one minds and everyone can make it.
Please, please. Pretty please.
So sorry.
Everyone make it and I promise this'll be the last session of this adventure.
I'll also bring jelly snakes as well as the beer.
Oh and sorry!

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…