Player’s Present: Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross
NPCs:Charles Oliver O’kane, Lord Mayor, Lady Lauren Devillars, Lord Calvin Longbottle, The Circle of Four
Run by Joe
Submitted by Clearice

The longest day was brought to a close after one last bloody battle. We found ourselves exhausted after our clash with the circle at the Cresent Moon inn but our day had not been up we still had the meeting we had heard about at the 7 Tigers Inn. We had no other leads to go on so we decided to head straight there. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the friendly and familiar face of Arthur Wilde and his daughter Bournetel. We made it towards our table as per usual and ordered a meal to eat as we waited for the evening to advance.

After a moments respite from the coming storm and no sign of the storm in question, we decided to look around the bar for the individuals who were said to be disguised members of the circle. I looked around the bar to no avail and thus approached the bar after hearing Pim talking with Bournetel about a large section of the Inn that was rented out by one group. I found myself at the bar conversing with Arthur Wilde where he told me of the group who rented the rooms above was no one he had ever met and that he had not seen the lord mayor or Lord Calvin Longbottle.

While I was perusing the Inn Pim snuck his way upstairs in disguise no less. I had only found this out when Omega called out to me and Xavier from across the bar claiming to have someone who kidnapped Pim. Upon closer inspection, it was Pim after all as he was claiming. He said he heard cries of pain upstairs on the third floor and came to get us. We all decided to head upstairs to the room.

As we proceeded down the Hall to the room Omega decided to listen into one of the nearby room smashing his head against the door in the process. As he realized what he did he decided to yell out Room service at the top of his lungs. Every door in the hall opened at once as we were surrounded by familiar faces ready to kill us. We begin battle taking note of Angelica of the circle in the far room with Lady Devillars other child Anabelle. As the battle progresses Xavier gets surrounded but that was the least of his worries as Angelica casts something on him making him erupt in blood covering me and everyone else nearby. He somehow remained standing and I healed him as best I could. Angelica tried to flee cutting off the way with a blade barrier leaving Xavier to take her out as she tried to fly through the window. We were greeted by the sight of a massive individual clad in armor who came to help us as well killing those who tried to run. As we freed all of the cleric circle capturies and found that Lady Anabelle and Spellswift Sunriver had died before we had gotten here sadly(May Waukeen watch over them). We brought Angelica before us and spoke to her beyond the grave. She gave away their plan and that it should be too late, of course, she was most likely lying but we did find that Maurice was still on another plane of existence. We surmised he must still be in his stone world and thus headed there promptly.

We arrived at the hole in the ground of the Devillars estate and proceeded down into the portal. Inside we found nothing but a bunch of half-dead, but mostly dead, enemy soldiers such as we met before who gave up immediately praying the man with the 2 swords did not kill them. We led them out after healing them enough to walk and Omega took them to the nearest watch post.Xavier and I headed inside to find Lady Devillars alive and well inside her study rescued by her son the 2 sword man also known as the Black Knight. She thanks us for our help in rescuing her and she lets us know Maurice escaped but we let her know we managed to kill Angelica. Again she thanks us and unpetrifies Shadow for Xavier. We, of course, refuse any reward for it was our honor and duty to save the Lady of the city.

Loot:Ring +3, Dagger +2, Cloak +2
Bracers of Unusual Defense – They are bracers of Armor +4 when not in combat. When in combat they start as Bracers of armor +0, and get better by +1 each round in combat until they reach their max bonus of +6 on Round 7.
bracers of Armor +4
1 Harper recognition point
9750 XP

Player’s Present: Morrin Telemnar, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Omega
NPC’s: Taylin, Dunsil, Berl Barrel Master, Sherry, Master Bard Arulis, Sunlord Tris Dawnwatch, KING
Run By: Mok
Player’s Missing: Clearice – Was known/work related travel
Submitted By: Pimfire

Dear Journal:

So far no sign of the Triad, will continue to keep looking and posting wanted signs up around town offering 100 gold towards tips as leading to the arrest of the Triad (the city put a 500g bounty on their arrest each). Morrin checks with the wizard guild and finds out Mr. Pointy is checking through a thing called the “familiar network” something no one has ever heard off. Xavier is praying for Shadow. Omega posts an offer BY Dolly of three casks of ale for tips down by the harbor and a favor from Dolly.

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Our Adventure

A summons one morning to Ironleaf Manor to met Taylin brought us upon a strange quest, for you see it was his wife who pregnant was subject to strange cravings that was deemed magical or a curse and in order to break we’d need to solve a list of 10 riddles and gather the corresponding items.

We immediately recognized Riddle 7 as being some blood from KING the noble dog who wanders Raven Bluff and that Riddle 2 refers to Sharkey’s Bar and Grill. Xavier figures Riddle 1 has something to do with a druidic grove, while Morrin manages to figure out Riddle 4, 6 and 8 being various locations one of which involves the gaining of a midwife. Out of all the items we had to collect that one probably made the most sense.

We headed off to the Briar Patch and there was greeted by a young fellow named Dunsil who seemed enthralled by having Xavier, his hero, to talk to. Thanks to Xavier’s fame, he gifted us with some acorns, berries and pinecones that were required for helping Taylin’s wife. We then decided to check out the marketplace while searching for some of the other stuff on the list as I kept a handy ham bone for trying to find KING.

At the marketplace, we spread out with Xavier and Omega checking for a quilt (riddle 5), while Morrin and myself approached a dwarf to see if he could help us figure riddle number 3. Berl Barrel Master, a tinker by trade, informed us we would need a beard and immediately refused to offer any part of us for nothing less than an outrageous amount of money. I managed to get him to offer us part of his beard if I could convince a lovely woman named Sherry who attended the Baker’s Stand across the way to kiss him. Using my good old charm and simple logic on how she could humiliate the dwarf by having him shave his beard all for a single kiss on the lips she agreed. Berl was stunned when Sherry kissed him and unwittingly cut far more of his beard off then he intended. Prize in hand we rejoined Xavier and Omega who managed to find a quilt.

Those two knuckleheads sent me on a fool’s errand to Miss McGee’s shop where I was chased by an old lady with a broom through a marketplace for simply being a halfling. The crowd loved it and I started playing up to them dancing comically away from her. I even went so far as to purchase some more cinnamon tarts from Sherry to share with Omega and Xavier but somehow slipped tossing them directly into both their faces as I went to give them theirs, needless to say everyone had a good laugh.

It was not until we were leaving the marketplace and heading for the temple of Lathander to find a midwife that Omega dropped to the ground as a small halfling stabbed him, grabbed dolly and took off running. I chased after him but bumped into Master Bard Arulis, feeling a fool I asked him which way my quarry went. Following his riddle based direction I sprinted through the alleyways and out onto a scene of KING attacking the halfling only to see KING stabbed by a poisonous dagger. I immediately drew a bead on the culprit ordering him to throw down his weapons and dolly, at which point the rest of my companions arrived. Omega got dolly back and the culprit gave up the antidote, which I used on KING, healing his wounds while I collected a sample of his blood off the streets for our scavenger hunt. It was at this point the city watch arrived and seeing KING place his paw on top of the small halfling they took him into custody as that is a sign of KING placing someone under arrest. It turns out that Riddle 9, which was near impossible to figure, became clear in the form of the Halfling’s antidote. Lucky for us he had several dosses enough or Omega and the wife.

We arrived at the temple of Lathander without further incident and convinced a midwife by name of Sunlord Tris Dawnwatch to attend to Taylin’s wife later in the evening once we have collected the rest of the items needed. We then head to Morigan’s Complete Components and collect 15 gold fish as well some Blowfish Wine as I was able to put up a wanted posted for information leading to the Triad.

At the Beginning Adventurers Benevolent Equipment Society we discovered a house with a partially opened door and strange muttering sounds coming from inside. Attempts at normal knocking failed so I used magical noise to amplify the sound only to interrupt someone and unleash 4 hook horrors on us. Omega and Xavier made short work of them and inside we found a gentleman who was upset with us for disturbing his work and causing a mess of things. We helped clean up and he gave us what we came for a strange box with something inside for Taylin’s wife.

Finally onwards to the last location which we know to be Sharkey’s Bar and Grill we reach the docks near the pier closest to Sharkey’s and three men approached us. Introducing themselves as Pete, Bill, and Todd they offer to sell us potions of water breathing that last for 1 hour for only 50 gold. While we didn’t really need I took pity on their constant need to educate new comers to Sharkey’s Bar and Grill that it is indeed underwater and they really do require a method such as the one they offer to reach it by helping spread some tales around town later of where to go to get discounted potions of water breathing for short periods of underwater activities.

As we enter Sharkey’s through the middle entrance, a waiter greets us who then takes us to a table. I order the most expensive food stuffed with the second most expensive food (Crab stuffed with squid) everyone thought it sounds delicious. Omega orders the whole menu but cannot finish it all and takes some leftovers home. We hit up the souvenir shop to get some Coral, which we figure is the last item on our list. I purchase a souvenir bottle for Omega to drink underwater booze with and a ship in a bottle like Dolly’s Anger which I put the same name on for Amuka for when we are finally reunited.

With the last item collected, we return to the Ironleaf Manor and there Taylin thanks us and lets us keep any remaining gemstones from a pouch he gave us earlier to help acquire the items listed.

---

Rewards

XP 4300
225 gold each

Talyin’s Pouch of gems:
2 Emeralds valued at 500gp – Party Treasury
5 piece of Jade 100gp each – Party Treasury

Handaxe +1 – Omega bought at the marketplace

Blue Coral Necklace. This lovely piece of jewelry has platinum fittings, and is made of polished branches of sea-blue coral. Silvery pearls are strung between the branches. Value: 500 gp – Xavier takes for a gift to a loved one later

Keoghtum’s ointment (2 doses)—left over from D’Marrisau’s packet to Talyin – Omega

Quilt of warmth: Usable only by female PCs, it allows a PC to be comfortable in weather ranging from –10 degrees to 110 degrees, and gives a +2 to saves vs. cold, fire, and lighting based attacks if it is wrapped around body at that time. It cannot be worn, it must be used as a sleeping wrap. A man can only use it when a female shares it with him. – Party Treasury
Mother MaGee’s Quilts: Moon quilt. This lovingly and expertly crafted quilt has a background of midnight blue with tiny silver stars sewn into it. The 8 panels of the quilt show the transitions between phases of the moon as it progresses through the month, each so brilliantly detailed that it almost seems as though the moon has been drawn down from the sky. Value: 500 gp – Party Treasury hanging in Xavier bedroom

Rapier of taunting +1, +3 (Bane) vs. larger than man-sized humanoids. It can taunt (as the wizard spell) any humanoid of larger than man size when faced in battle. PC has no choice but to fight with it once drawn from its sheath. – Morrin

Potion of Eagle Splendor – Xavier
Potion of Resist Acid (10) – Pimfire

Player’s Present: Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Omega
NPC’s:Lord Chancellor, Arvin Kothonos, Lord Calvin Longbottle, Captain Warunsun, Steele
Run By Mok
Player’s Missing: None
Submitted By: Pimfire

Being awoken and brought to the Mayor’s office early in the morning. I will remember that moment as the beginning of my darkest days, even darker then the Underdark itself. It was there the Midnight Menagerie was tasked by the Lord Chancellor, Arvin Kothonos and Lord Calvin Longbottle with dealing with some coven of priests of Umberlee stirring up trouble with a plot of some sort to control the shipping lanes. As we were boarding Blackmantle’s Revenge we could see Clan Shado boarding Blackmantle’s Cutlass, I couldn’t resist the urge to mock them by pointing out the futility of their lengthy voyage. After meeting Captain Warunsun and making our devoted offerings to Umberlee we set sail to an underwater cave system believed to house them.

We dined with the captain and the officers of the ship the first evening out. The captain and crew had apparently heard a lot about us and our travels but I was still able to entertain them the secrets of the Bounty we had discovered on a previous voyage. Steele, one of the officers, goes over and congratulates Clearice on becoming a woman (when the tale is told) and says “good choice becoming a woman as we are the superior race” and everyone laughs while it seems this is the first Xavier has heard of this. Seemingly upset he moved away and tended to avoid Clearice for a portion of the journey. Meanwhile Steele shares a special drink with Clearice, some sort of wine I believe.

The next morning we arrived at the spot the grotto below the ocean is supposed to house these foul priests. We were then given potions of water breathing and something else, something that allowed us to communicate telepathically with one another while under the ocean. The bottom of the ocean showed us a sinkhole we believe to be the entrance to the cave system, nearby is a strange kelp bed which we eye carefully as we head towards the sinkhole.

Once we enter the caves, the lights go out! A big ball of light with two pincers and couple small eyes appears revealing an “eyes of the deep” a underwater beholder type of creature. Omega pulls out his friend of beholder coin and manages to talk our way through without trouble even though we didn’t know the password. It appears this creature was set as a guard for those inside.

We reach a chamber with two archway passages going forward and complete blackness unable to see what lays inside each, above is a plaque with runes on them over each arc. Not sure what the language is we manage to figure out it’s some sort of code, getting frustrated I asked Tymora for guidance as always and I’m told to head left. Xavier however breaks the code, seems he’s very good at that, and confirms what I already learned that left is safe while right would lead to destruction.

Heading into this darkness we are surprised to discover it’s some sort of ink forced to stay in place in the hallway underwater, we prepare for a fight against some sort of squid creature we figure might be lurking inside. As we travel down the pathway I’m eventually stopped by bumping into Morrin, a struggle ensues up ahead of me but I’m unable to see just what is going on and no one is talking. I back up and eventually hear it’s all clear as there was some specters that the group fought off just outside the inky black.

Rounding the bend we see prisoners caged up and a ritual sacrifice to Umberlee being performed. Some drow elf priests along with a Kuo-Toa and a Saughin are gathered around a pool of water which has a deep middle spot that holds a large octopus creature circling around a helpless woman. I summon the shark gang, Bitey, Chomper, Gnasher and Ralph to distract the octopus while Morrin ports Omega and himself into the fray. With a mighty blow Omega slays the octopus but in retaliation the Saughin using his trident, unleashed a blast of electricity into the water near Omega sadly turning my shark friends into fast fry food.

Omega and Morrin dealt with the Saughin, Kuo-Toa and priests while Xavier, Clearice and myself deal with a new threat as the pesky Triad shows up unleashing fireballs upon me. I never felt as good as when I dropped two of them with arrows!

None of our enemies escaped but when we checked on the Triad they were still moving somehow! Removing their cloaks we saw that two of them were young girls and one a tattooed young man.

Morrin recognized one of the young girls as a slave girl from when he and a few other older members of the Menagerie saved her from an ambassador of Thay and then gave her back to them as a slave! She smiles as she says, “Guess you remember me but don’t worry I killed my master and I am earning my own place as your death will assure my position in the red wizards”. The male Triad says “I’m sure none of you remember me but you might remember my fatherThunderhips! The Zhentarium general wearing the armor of Thay”. While the other girl with a tattoo of the cult of the dragon says “No one remembers me and who I am doesn’t matter, my master is the one you will have to answer too. Thank you for falling for our distraction. While you’ve been here we’ve taken measures to deal with you.” They then turn into snowflakes. With that 3 rings drop to the ground spent of their magical power but not before we realize they must have been rings of last request which allowed the wearers to monologue before death. Unsure if those were really the 3 Triad members or clones of them their motives are now obvious and it seems a splinter group of both the Thavian, Zhentarium and the Cult of the Dragon are working together to seek our destruction.

We free the captives feed and heal them then help them back to the ship waiting on the ocean above. We head back to Raven’s Bluff and it is there those ominous words about taking measures to deal with us are realized for we are quickly told our keep was assaulted! Rushing to the keep, we find chaos. The keeps blasted from the outside with damage to the turrets and scorch marks from fireballs and lightning blasts. Inside we see Grink being treated by a cleric of Waukeen. His face is swollen and part of one of his arms is missing. Magical healing saved his life. In the corner, we see the Blinky our baby beholder and its central eye swollen shut and unconscious with a brick nearby that someone must have thrown at him. Clearice rushes to help Blinky. We find another 2 dozen guards killed and more wounded. We find out a bunch of squads of Zhentarium and powerful mages assaulted the keep. Shadow is missing and according to a guard he was taken. Another guard rushes up to inform us that Dolly’s Anger is on fire! Clearice takes flight towards the harbor and manages to help put it out but not before serious damage is done the vessel and all the crew killed except for Clampett our cook who was aboard Blackmantle’s Revenge with us.

When Clearice returns from the harbor she is stunned as all her money and jewels fly away as she is cursed by what she drank on the ship by Lady Steele, feels the only way to remove the curse is by drinking what was previously drank on the ship. It is found that Lady Steele was found kidnapped in the hull of the ship and was replaced by a shapeshifter who gave her the drink. The same shapeshifter that started this whole mess by stealing some powerful artifacts for the priests of Umberlee to being their nefarious plans. Until this curse is lifted, Clearice a cleric of Waukeen is unable to handle money or jewels of any sort!

That was when I found out Amuka was missing with a guard telling me she was taken captive and placed aboard a Dragon via a net! My vision went blurry then red as I started pummeling the keeps walls. The darkest days have come as I vow to never rest until she is back in my arms.

We spent the next couple of days trying to get the keep back in order and seeking information throughout the city. Morrin uses the mirror of recall and finds out that Shyrrinti Icebreath an ancient white dragon whispered something “this isn’t over” as it died but no one heard during the heat of the moment. This clue may have something to do with the female with the cult of the dragon tattoo last remark about having to deal with her master. Omega checks with the harbor patrol and seems 3 mages using scroll appeared and blasted Dolly’s Anger with fire, lightning and plague at the same time. Clearice checks with the cleric circle to find her curse is Zhentarium in nature. Xavier tries to track the intruders with some help but finds most teleported or flew in. The old man who brought him back to life appears; offers to speak with one of the dead guards only to find their souls were removed, and is unsure how such a thing could have happened.

As for me, well I stand before you fine folks of Raven’s Bluff here in this tavern, telling you this tale and vowing revenge upon the Triad. Let the word go forth that there is a reward for the safe return of my daughter and this message for the Triad and all who help them “If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have much money. But what I do have are a very particular set of bardic skills, bardic skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it.”

---

Rewards

XP 6800

Potion of Cure Serious Wounds = Xavier
Pearl of the Sirens (Cleric only) = Clearice
Dagger of Speed +2 = Party Treasury
Trident +2 = Party Treasury
Wand of Wonder (15 charges) = Xavier
Potion of Gaseous Form = Pimfire

Spellbook: = Morrin/Mok divided or will divide up the spells
Snilloc’s Major Missile
Plague/Contagion
Dispel Silence
Phantasmal Killer
Baleful Polymorph
Greater Invisibility

Players Present: Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Mok the Powerful Wizard, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross
NPCs: Warhawk Starson
Run by Andy
Submitted by Clearice

We have had a bit of good luck on this longest of days. Following a lead we got after the ambush in the temple district (Those damned circle members summoned Roosters into the middle of the temple district!) we have actually found Lady Devillars kids and we have learned of others who the circle are after (Sgt Rockcrusher in particular). Of course, this came at no small price as Xavier Scraped past death twice once at the hands of an archer in the temple district and another time as we seiged the room at the Crescent moon inn inhabited by the lovely bitch Jarandella and her despicable cohort Marena.

That room was a piece of work for sure though it was 3 times larger than it should have been and must have had a failsafe against extradimensional spaces due to Mok not accidentally killing us all. Of course, they had more Roosters in this room as well with their dreaded spores, but we managed to defeat our foes even if the real circle members escaped.

I am left wondering though if those lesser members were the same ones that attacked us in the temple district. They seemed to use similar magic and even looked the same though slightly different in the face. The cleric summoned the Roosters while the mage buffed the fighters around them all. The archer seemed to know magic of his own as well but his arrows were most familiar of all and very painful. At the temple district they had been far more bloodthirsty though a few of us might have even died had it not been for Warhawk Starsons entrance to the fray. I only regret not being more helpful in that battle but I ended up stuck inside of the building due to the haste of the guard with the portcullis. I fear that the confrontation ahead of us may be the most difficult of all. The circle will be all in one place I only hope they will be as tired as we are now so we stand a chance against the power of their magic. Maybe Warhawk will be able to give us some help if he has repelled the attacks on the Roost and Griffin Hall in time. I do believe the threat and danger are rising as we ride towards the 7 Tigers Inn this evening.

400 gold on dead
magic ring(Quirky ring of water shape changing)The ring allows the wearer to polymorph into a water creature once per adventure. The new form must be the same mass as the PC in normal form. The transformation lasts for one turn. Each use drains one charge. The ring starts with 15 charges 10 minute time

Players Present:Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Mok the Powerful Wizard, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross
NPC’s:Charles Oliver O’kane, Lord Mayor, Lady Lauren Devillars, Lord Calvin Longbottle, The Circle of Four
Submitted by Clearice
Run by Andy

We were greeted this morning with a letter from the fair Lady Mayor requesting our assistance urgently. We of course set out for her abode immediately. upon arrival we find no guards and only a dense fog in her windows. This is was a definite sign of something being amiss so we used our chime of opening on the door and burst inside setting off the alarm. We clear the fog and a re confronted by The Lady’s Maid Belinda. She believes we are normal intruders till we show her the letter from The Lady. As she bursts into tears the City watch bursts through the door proclaiming we have broken the law. We explain ourselves of course and our requested help. Belinda chimes in that the fair Lady is missing and the watch go to file a report. As they leave Belinda composes her self and leads us to the Lady’s sitting room. She tells us that the last she saw the Lady she had become agitated due to something and her butler was going to bring her some tea. That was the last time she saw Lady Devillars and the butler. We search the Lady’s study and find a letter from the Circle of Four member Maurice who claimed to have kidnapped her kids. We begin the rest of our investigation immediately. I decided to stay in the study to analyze the Ladys tea cup for poison. The others find nothing in the kitchen and my examination of the tea cup yields nothing. As we ponder our next step we here noise from the Lady’s room upstairs. My companions move to investigate while us left in the study continue our search for some other clue. My companions return down stairs with the butler in tow and fill us in that some shape changers in the form of Lord Charles O’Cain and Lord Calvin Longbottle infiltrated the house stabbing the butler and taking his form as well. This of course explained how she was kidnapped so easily without a trace. They must have escaped somewhere though So we checked the backyard to find a hole dug in the ground leading away from the Lady’s house. We charged into it hoping to catch the ones responsible. At the very bottom we find a portal which we charge through before it closes and end up in and underground stone cavern with see through walls. Across a long expanse we see Lady Lauren Devillars encased in stone and Maurice sitting on an earthen throne. He of course monologues to us about how great and powerful he is and how he will have his revenge and how he plans on bringing the dead member of the circle back to life like he is a god or something. He of course reveals to us that there is a battle at the docks as the Circle Spreads chaos to Ravens Bluff. Once he finished his monologue he finishes casting imprisonment on the Lady and bids us farewell. Little did he know that he left a book we could see in the corner of his room before the walls became normal stone again. I decide to dimensional hop to grab this book but find the room was twice as far as we thought as i am shunted 100 ft to the room very painfully. I grab the book and come back to the party and read it as says,
It will be a simple matter to gain my revenge against Lauren DeVillars, while at the same time dealing a mighty blow to Ravens Bluff. Lauren was instrumental in the formation of several prominent organizations in the city, organizations like the city’s knightly orders. If anything were to happen to her the knights and the rest of the city would be devastated. Her suffering will give me great satisfaction as it is her fault that my brother is dead.
I managed to persuade the rest of the Circle to go along with my plans. Jerendella and Marina took some convincing, but the new air elementalist provided her support right from the start. It’s so refreshing to have a team player as the replacement for Mortimer. I’m glad that we disposed of him, especially after we learned that he was using his magic to influence us. I just wish that we had done it sooner, before he was able to get that limited control over us. Luckily for us he detailed his plans very carefully. I must remember not to put all of my thoughts down on paper, at the very least I have learned form Mortimer’s stupidity.
It was a little odd though that he wasn’t prepared for the possibility of his death, in the event that we discovered his treachery, especially with that improved cloning spell that he created. I mean he knew that it worked, look at all the mayhem it helped cause when he used it on that pegasus that escaped from Ambassador Carrague’s. Well enough of that.
In order to come up with the perfect plan for revenge against the high and mighty Lauren DeVillars I did some research on her. I learned that she has four children, children who will be unwitting pawns in my plans of revenge against their mother. It was simple business to locate three of them and send them messages from “their mother” requesting that they return home as she had a very important matter to discuss with them. Once the children set out to meet with their mother it was child’s play for my cohorts to capture them so that I could work on laying the foundation for my plans against Lauren.
I would have a letter delivered to Lauren claiming that one of her children was in trouble. Lauren being the manipulator that she is will summon some of the city’s adventurers to investigate this for her. She would never dirty her hands with anything that she can trick other people to do for her, even seeing to the safety of her own children. When the heroes arrived they would discover that Lauren was nowhere to be found. The heroes would be able to find out that Lauren was captured, and with a careful examination of the grounds they would discover that she was taken below ground.
While doing research to discover the perfect plan for revenge against both the city and Lauren I discovered a way to bring back my brother. I met a priest of Leira, named Illustra, who told me that she could bring my brother back to life. All I needed was a body for my brother’s spirit to inhabit. I couldn’t use his body because after ten years it wouldn’t be in the best shape, as death kind of wears a body down.
When the adventurers came looking for Lauren I could reveal my true plans to them, after all it’s not like they could do anything to stop me. I’d tell Lauren but in her present state she wouldn’t be able to comprehend what’s going on. The potion of insanity and the sovereign glue have put the old crone in the perfect position to be dealt with. It was child’s play to hit her with the potion of insanity, especially with one of our operatives posing as her butler. The butler served her some tea to calm her nerves as she was quite agitated. Since the tea came from her butler she never thought to check it out before drinking it. Once she was under the effects of the potion it was easy to overpower her and coat her lips with sovereign glue.
I decided that my brother coming back to life would be part of my plans for revenge against Lauren. As she had four children, and she was the one responsible for my brothers death I decided that one of her children should provide the necessary body. Once the Circle seized control of the city Lauren and I would be married. While she isn’t exactly my type, I will make the sacrifice knowing how much it would kill her to constantly be around my brother in the body of one of her children.
After reading his true plans we decide we should attempt to save The Lady using Pimfire’s favor of Waukeen but after jumping back to the spot the spell was cast we are informed by the Golden Lady she sadly could not assist us in this endeavor so we returned to the surface to aid in the battle at the docks. We arrive to unseen levels of destruction from all elements of nature. The dead must have numbered in the hundreds if not thousands. As we gained our bearing of just what we were looking at we spotted The Lord of Mystery Chester Demark, a High Priestess of the temple of Mystra, and Angelic Nereid the Dean of the elements battling near by us against the forces of evil. They were to preoccupied to notice the invisible footsteps creeping up behind them though so Mok springs forward igniting the steps with sliver fire and a fire ball killing them instantly. Pim decides to dive into the water to call the Tritons for help. As he hits the water more enemies of Raven’s Bluff appear behind us scoffing at us for interfering with the fight here. As we begin to fight these heathens we all hear a voice in our heads informing us we have been afflicted by Maurices Greater Malfeasance which left a gripping pain around my heart of varying magnitude and pain depending on the action i performed leaving me wounded and haggard. As we defeated some of the minions around us 3 more appeared in the form of a Cleric, Mage and an Archer. As they continued to deal damage to us they manage to turn Shadow to stone just before Morrin surrounds them with a stinking cloud. They never came back out of that stinking cloud but the damage had been done. We clean up the remaining thugs as Corporal Blank comes out of a nearby sewer grate with a prisoner he captured who we were prepared to question immediately but decided to take him to the nearest city watch barracks. Omegasun and Pim head off to question the prisoner and while they are there some prisoners had staged a mutiny and killed the guards watching them and killed Corporal Blank as he entered the prison area. They were of course beaten and captured by Omega and Pim and brought with the group to nearest barracks besides the now unmanned one. They had also interrogated our prisoner and found that the Circle planned on meeting at the 7 tigers inn in disguise and that there was a plan to attack the temple district which had already happened we found out later. Mok sends a letter to the temple district to warn them and tell them what we know. We than head Lord Blacktree’s house in the city to see what had happened there. We find a similar picture to Lady Lauren Devillars home and rush inside and upstairs to find Lady Blacktree being attacked by some of the dock thugs. We dispatch them and i heal the Lady but as we are rescuing her Maurice blasts through the roof(Or so im told i dont trust looking up into some kind of blinding magic) sees us rescuing the Lady and leaves. We decide we must hurry to the other houses to see who we can save. Mok teleports Lady Blacktree to the temple of Mystra while we head towards the Sunriver Estate. We arrive to a blown open door and a chilling quite. We enter to see a dead Lieutenant and an empty house with smell of death and burning hair.
I speak with the Lieutenant from beyond the grav and he tells us that Jarandella of the Circle of four killed him along with Marena(Other circle member) and Lord Charles O’Cain. He says before he died he saw them Attempting to lightening bolt somebody in the house but died shortly after. I write this as we ride onward towards our next objective in our fair city and Pray that Waukeen guides us through the turbulent day to victory against these heathens who would attack us and our city.

Player’s Present:Clearice Eilif,Morrin Telemnar,Pimfire Tyndal,Xavier Cross
NPC’s:
Run By Mok
Player’s Missing: Omega said would be late never showed
Submitted By: Pimfire

Memoirs of a Bard,

As the fat old mule I ride roams around a very dark forest I write what may very well be my last thoughts on this long and adventurous life I have lived. Many is the tale I could tell and have over my time here on Faerûn yet none so strange or amazing as these last 24 hours for I was but a young halfling a day ago. We had traveled on a secret mission to a place I can’t name and there came upon an ancient relic we were to investigate. It was this relic which when we solved its mystery and activated it that accelerated our aging process aging me drastically on the spot along with my companions.

I remember how very dark the room became and everything beyond a couple feet was just a blur. Even now I have to squint as my face is pressed against the paper as I write this, Stop bouncing me around! Now look what you made me right. Gesh. Sorry about that but Omega is not what he used to be. Complaining all the time about mud. I do not see any mud the ground just looks like a gray blob of concrete, stupid barbarian go eat another book! Where was I? Oh, yes back in my time we respected our elders and listened to what they had to say so pay more attention and stop getting distracted!

Now as I was saying when we came too and realized what had happened I got an urge to eat supper so badly I knew it must have been about midafternoon and this delightful meal was laid out by some bus boys I never did catch his name. Anyways after just a few bites and some horrible jokes that nice young man helped me to my room and I gave him a candy, he is so sweet if your ever visiting him tell him I said so. Now where was I? Dang it right its naptime. Don’t you know it is rude to wake up your seniors! Come back in the morning.

The following morning we set out to find somebody I cannot remember about the thing that had caused us to age. I remember along the way Omega just stopped dead cold in his tracks would not take another step and some female youngsters started getting all-uppity towards us. I gave them a good scolding about how they outta treat old folks better and if any of them came closer, I would smack’em upside the head. What do ya know but after I was finished ranting at them they ran off like a bunch of cowards because not one of them came forth for an ass whooping!

Later some guards tried to give us trouble but I chased them off too waving my trusty cane at them even to the point where I threw it! But this sweet young thing named Candy came up to me later and gave me back my cane, she was sweet so I gave her a candy and apparently Morrin said she could play with Dusk. Then some big strong guy, much stronger then Omega got in the way of a charging blob, can only assume Morrin let his Rhino out, and he was nice think his name was Brutus he listened for a while until the old mule came over put me back on his shoulders and dragged me off to a Tavern, which was nice of him to do so as I was getting thirsty. Hey, watch the door! Dang it Omega stop causing me to write what I am saying to you!

---

I would like to mention that I did not die of old age that day or for many days to come I hope. We got the curse lifted by a mage in that tavern and there was many a crowd to entertain for the couple of days we spent visiting with the locals. So many where curious as to what happened I found myself repeating the story to the point where I fear it’s grown into some sort of legend amongst the local populace. It was in front of a crowded tavern that we aged backwards to our youthful selves and that kind of thing is not seen often. For now, just excuse the above memoirs for there is many more tales to fill this journal with before such time, as I need to recount a bardic life well lived.

Player’s Present:Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross
NPC’s: Father Andreas, Sister Karra
Run By Mok
Submitted by Clearice

I began my morning as any other reading a book after my morning fitness with Blinky. Yoga is quite exhilarating as it turns out. Of course my reading was interrupted as causal by a message at the door. We were being summoned to the Temple of Illmater in Crows End to speak with a Father Andreas. We arrive and he tells us that a priest of Illmater named Brother Urik has disappeared between A local soup kitchen of Illmater named The Blessed Zinna’s Sanctuary and the temple. He tells us of a letter addressed to Urik from Sgt Wellis of the city watch. He offers us money but we decline and accept the mission deciding to check the city watch barracks in Crow’s End for Sgt wellis. We are greeted by Corporal Been who tried to turn us away till He realized we had City guard members with us as well. He tells us of an investigation into missing person’s in Crow’s End that have been abnormally high. They thought they might have had a breakthrough by finding some bodies around Crow’s End. We of course want to see them and he oblidges. The first 1st body was stabbed and hacked in the back with fungus in wound. The 2nd was bitten in half by some creature drained of blood. The 3rd was stabbed in the back and drained of blood. We used speak with dead on the the bodies and found out the 3rd victim was named Kris and was attacked and dragged into an Alley outside of the Silken Stairs were she worked. The 2nd Body was of a cook on a ship called the Blue Wind who was dragged into and Alley behind the Drunken Dryad by some large creature. The First Body however only rasped when Speak with Dead was used as if its soul was gone or damaged. The corporal tells us that Sgt Wellis was heading to the docks last time he saw him so we decided to head there. We arrive at Dock 18 were he was last supposed to have been. We bribe a dock goer who tells us he saw him go below the docks the day before but he never came back out. We thank him of course and head down below. As we decend something moves off into the sewer entrance below the dock but i was shocked to see a body stuck to one of the beams under the dock. I flew out to grab the body and brought it back to the landing. The body was one of a Halfling male. We took what was on his body so it wouldnt be looted and hired the dock worker from before to take the body to it back to the city watch barracks. We than enter the sewer to find a feral Lizard Man who we quickly dispatch. When he falls though there is a sound like a bow string snapping as something shoots into the water. We cant find what it was but we find the remains of Sgt Wellis having been eaten almost entirely. The Lizard man and the Halfling Both had wounds in there backs with the same fungus as the soul damaged corpse. I began to have my suspicions of all of this being caused by some kind of life draining parasite. As we begin to leave we are greeted by Corporal Been who tells us he has found another body so we accompany him back to the barracks. We go back down into the cellar where they keep the bodies in the Barracks to find Brother Urik lying on the table next to the other bodies. We use speak with dead to communicate with him and he tells us he was killed goiing to check up on a Widow named Talia due to him hearing of the loss of her kid. He tells us he died similarly to the other victims being stabbed in the back dragged into and alley and drained of blood. I decided that my hypothesis was likely correct and it is a parasite creature. We decide to investigate the areas were the first 3 bodies were found next. We first went to the drunken Dryad to which we found nothing odd about the sight of the murder besides a convenient sewer grate that hadnt appeared to have been moved in a while. We enter the tavern and find that the widow Talia actually works there. We request her service and inquire about Brother Urik to which she tells us she was working for him gathering info and rumors on the disappearances. She also tells us about the halfling who was trying to solve the disappearances who we found under the dock his name was Millot. After she finishes giving us this information Pim decides he is going to entertain the tavern even though people are still going missing so i decide not to entertain his musings. As i leave the rest of us leave as well leaving Pim to entertain for a few hours. We go and check out The Blessed Zinna’s Sanctuary as our last lead on this case. We find a clergywomen of Illmater inside named Sister Karra. We ask her about Brother Urik who she shows concern for but of course i break the news to her that he has died to the creature causing all of these disappearances. She is visually shocked of course and tells us she has been doing the same thing as Tailia gathering rumors for Brother Urik. she than asks us if we will stay the night at the sanctuary. She says she has a feeling that something bad is going to happen which i admit i felt in the air as well. We of course had to retrieve Pim before our nights stay. Of course we cant let Pim have so much fun by himself with no work so we devise a plan to scare him. As we called Pim outside of the Tavern Xavier hid inside the Alleyway. As Pim walked towards us Xavier came out grabbing him and pulling him into the Alley terrifying him!! (It was the best Prank Ever!!) I have to say Xavier is a bit of a shadow himself not just his canine companion. After Pim cleans his pants with Prestidigitation we head back to the Sanctuary. We have dinner together with the Orphans that live here and the Sisters. We decide to sleep in different rooms to make sure everyone is safe. I am than awoken by the sound of breaking glass and loud thuds. Through the window had jumped a Large Toad the size of a horse and 2 smaller toads with needle like teeth. All of the girls in the room began to scream as the toads lashed out biting me while the large one swallowed one of the girls whole. I quickly realize that they have the same worm like organism that must have been in the other victims backs and i move to attack them. Upon hitting the Parasite it detaches and the toad died instantly Pim comes in and sees the parasites as well and begins helping kill the 2 smaller toads. I decide he can handle them so i jump out of the window to find what is controlling the toads. I follow the tether all the way to a sewer grate were is disappears into the darkness. I than try to move the grate to little avail but my companions soon come and helped me once they dispatched what i can only assume was there own toads. We enter the sewer following the direction the last tendril had gone off in. We follow the path till we find a large crack in the wall that looked very out of place. We assume this must be were the parasites came from. We enter the Crevice and are overwhelmed by an alien feeling. we follow this new cavern that must have been a part of Old Sarbreen after a few hours we find a cavern around a turn and we see what i can describe as a Primordial Slayer of men. The cavern was Huge and filled, to the ceiling in some places, with bones. In the center of these bones was an ancient Dwarven Warrior with a thick black Tether Tentacle coming out of its back. The worst part was that if you followed the tentacle up you would see the Parasite who drained a Brother Urik of life and all of these other people. As i have said i can only describe it as a Primordial Slayer of Man. It must have been some ancient parasite who had been down here long before Ravens Bluff was even an idea. It was a huge Gelatinous slime creature that looked like a giant amalgamation of all of the coagulated blood produced by the deaths of all of these former citizens. Dangling from this Abomination were thousands of the parasitic tethers we had seen on the toads and the lizard man. The dwarven warrior seeing us seemed to issue a challenge and readied for battle. Omega of course moves to accept that challenge while Morrin flies forward as well transforming into a large gargoyle. I tried to cast multiple spells at the Slayer but most failed besides a few. Omega put up a fight to the dwarf but was ultimately almost killed due to its unnatural strength and skill its axe cutting into him deeply. I did my best to keep him alive though he almost fell. but we managed to kill the Slayer and thus its thrall. As the slayer died its bloody existence fell down upon us all. We looked around the cave for any valuables and than crawled our way back out to tell what had happened. We went to tell Father Andreas and the City Watch what we had found. We were rewarded with the following loot and were able to keep what we found inside of the cavern.

30000 Copper pieces
2000sp 10sp
100 gp 30gp
5PP
120bobbles worth 400gp
suit of dwarven full plate non magical masterwork
Hand axe +3 stoat oak with mithral blade
Golden Amulet w/ golden chain design of fire brething hell hound and frost breathing wolf and allows a casting of control temp at 10th level 10 ft radius
Well made medicine bag resists water and fire(Potion of healing 2 vials of holy water)
Dagger +2 reach extender
silver dagger 25gp
wake up with a small tattoo of a white xena flower gift of illmator 1 use allows someone else to reroll a failed saving throw can be used after the result is known

Player’s Present:Clearice Eilif,Morrin Telemnar,Mok the Powerful Wizard,Omegasun,Pimfire Tyndal,Xavier Cross
NPC’s:King, Madam Coth, Gevecus, Ambassador Carrague
Run By Andy
Player’s Missing: None
Submitted By: Clearice

Today i received an invitation to a dinner of fate with my favorite Oracle Madam Coth. As i was getting ready i ran into the the rest of the menagerie getting ready having been invited themselves to our illustrious dinner. We rented a carriage and i picked out a new dress and we were on our way to our meeting of fate. We arrive at the 7 tigers inn to find Madam Coth had not yet arrived but we did find Bournetal who told us they were quite busy lately due to The Roost being closed for renovations(Which some how Pim had no idea even though he is a Rooster himself Tsk Tsk). With Golden Roosters around every corner Madam Coth Arrives as we stand to let the Madam take her seat at our table. She sips wine with us and tells us the reason for our meeting. She had gathered us together on this day to tell us of her dreams as of late and to send us to find the Rouge of the World, a famous Rouge who is legendary in the land of Ferun even said to have stolen Eleminsters Pipe. After telling us our mission she hands us a scroll that is an encoded message to the Rouge Of the World. She gave us another scroll that told us the places of interest from her dreams and what happened in her dreams should we forget. It read as such.
Location 1: The Nevin Street Compter: Madam Coth had a dream that a new prisoner was being brought in and that the prisoners name was Forsineous. She checked there but no prisoner of that name was brought in recently. She also checked Belanor’s old room just in case.

Location 2: The Silvermoon Playhouse: Here Madam Coth dreamt about a play involving the rogue. She is not sure if this dream was not the result of overworking the situation. Although the dream had a sort of funny ending as the show did not go on, since the rogue had literally stolen the show.

Location 3: The Crescent Moon Inn: In many recent dreams, Madam Coth has remembered the Crescent Moon, although none of them involved the Rogue directly. She is not sure if anything can be found here, in fact she has had lunch there twice this week without anything occurring.

Location 4: The House of Desires: The magic traders have often been part of Madam Coth’s dreams since the mysterious owners are involved in many events in the city. She is not sure what they might have to offer, but does remember asking for a blue rose in one or two of the dreams.
Along with this scroll she gave us a coin that would glow when the Rouge of the world was near. We decided to go to the Play first (Yayyyy!!!) since it would close if we went anywhere else. As we are we decided that some if us should go in and the others wait outside. Of course i wanted to have an enjoyable night so i insisted on going inside along with Pim and Omega. So we all got in line and purchased our tickets. We enter to seethe beautiful Playhouse, Owned by Lord Lorian Darkarrow, stunned by its beautiful architecture. We order some drinks from the bar and proceed to our seats. The play tells a story of 2 star struck lovers who belong to two different warring factions in the city that they live in. It had started out as a beautiful love story but ended tragically as they both died in a heartbroken suicide. The play went on without a hitch and the coin i held never started glowing but as a final effort we went down to see the play-master Yvandolyn. We asked him if anything suspicious had gone on lately relating to a rouge but he said things were great actually and that he has guest performers quite often to which Pim offered to be one if he needed a performer. He thanked Pim for the offer and we parted ways. We met with the group outside who had nothing to report so we decided to travel to the House of Desires next to look for our elusive Rouge. We arrived to find a Lady named Donna who was watching the Shop while Seraphane was away. She said she hadnt heard of any Blue Roses but had some items for sale we could buy if we helped her with a Riddle. We agreed to help her with her Riddle of course if only just to help. It went as follows:

Two grandmothers, with their two granddaughters;
Two husbands, with their two wives;
Two fathers, with their two daughters;
Two mothers, with their two sons;
Two maidens, with their two mothers;
Two sisters, with their two brothers;
yet only six all lie buried here;
All born legitimate, from incest clear.
How might this happen?
She tells us it was found on a Mausoleum in the kingdom of Mulhorand.
We deduce that it must be If two widows had a son each, and each widow married the son of the other and had a daughter with there new husbands, all the relationships would be non incestuous. She thanked us for our help and sold Mok a wand of icestorms with 25 charges. After we finished up in the house of desires we decide the best place to go to since it was still late would be the Crescen Moon inn. We arrive outside to see a young beggar who me and Pim give a coin to. He tells us to take heed for when you enter the inn you are cleaned. Thanking him for his words of warning we enter and the magic coin glows for a moment than pops and fizzles. The head cook approached me asking what that thing was (He kinda scared me) so i replied i dint know so he shooed me out into the street. Crestfallen i sat down waiting for my companions outside. Xavier joined me outside so i wasnt alone thankfully. After what seemed like ages the others exited telling us they now know the name of thew Rouge and were to look for him so we made haste towards The Swill And Spill. On the way Omega gave me a piece of food that was much appreciated since i wasnt able to eat at the inn. We arrived at the Spill and Swill to be escorted in by some lovely Street thugs. We buy them drinks inside and are greet by a halfling claiming to be the one we are looking for named Mohammed. Pim, drunkenly i might add, calls him out on his bluff as he tries to get us to give him magical items for his trouble. Realizing he had been made he threw out coins of darkness across the room. He escaped before i could true seeing through the darkness. I cast Daylight on the room to dispel the darkness allowing everyone to see. As we decide what to do a Halfling comes from behind the bar holding up the scroll we were sent to deliver. Standing before us is the actual rouge of the world Gevecus who stole that scroll from Mohammed after he tried to steal it from us. After opening it and introducing himself he tosses it to us to decipher. We fail to decipher it faster than him so he just takes it and shows us up telling us the message inside. He tells us that King, The hero Dog, has been kidnapped. He remembers seeing a group of dogs in the sewer captured by some robed figure but hadnt thought anything of it till now. He tells us we must go down into the sewers to see if one of those dogs was King while he goes to check some other ideas. As we enter the seewer we come to a water filled room that Omega immediately begins walking across on the edge. As he reaches the halfway point a Death Tyrant floats out of the water attacking him and Pim. Pim falls into the water while Mok flanks the Undead blasting it with magic Morrin following suite. It backs into the back of the room turning Morrin to stone, though we didnt realize till later. Omega Xavier and Mok Slay the undead and than we realize that Morrin was turned to stone by the Death Tyrant. We decide to leave him for now so that we may confront the robed figure and save King. We continue on through the passage way to find a door to a room full of Ice Hounds. We are attacked by them immediately but Mok disintegrates them all with an acid ball. Whe enter the room to see King along with 5 other dogs. We than saw a now melted stairway leading upwards to trap door with which we all travel up to Mok and Omega leading the way. They open it and enter before everyone else but by the time i try to lookmup into it there is an awful cloud covering the trap door Xavier and I opt to not climb through as we dont know what the Cloud was. We begin to notice the floor charring and sagging so we flee back down the stairs to avoid whatever fire is above. Mok and Omega than come down telling us of the 2 casters who were upstairs that ran as soon as they were injured and the large fire elemental they had conjured to protect them. And if that wasnt crazy enough we were underneath the Roost all along and the Elemental almost burned it to the ground had it not been for Mok and his quick thinking using the rod of extinguishing! Than after all of that happened we returned to wear we left Morrin and he was nowhere to be seen!!! We met up with Madam Coth and Gevecus Who congratulated us on a job well done. We were rewarded with a Magical Pipe and some magical armor bracers but we still didnt know of Morrins fate till Gevecus told us to look for him where one would rest handing us a vial to cure his stone state. We followed his hint and found Morrin at his bed. We used the liquid on him and returned him to normal thus ending our wild night in the city. Though i do wonder what Madam Coth had been saying when we left but oh well Morrin is safe now and thats what matters.

Loot:
Ivory Pipe of Aroma – when smoked this pipe creates a warm, friendly scent in a 10-foot cubic area. It can produce the scent of any plant, or woodland scent including garlic and wolfsbane. This scent has no game mechanic effect—it just smells nice. Scents which would drive away hostile creatures (such as wolvesbane or garlic repelling werewolves) provide no more protection from the creatures than the actual plant would provide(Mok)
-These robes provide AC 4 protection to evil wizards and priests, AC 6 protection to neutral wizards and priests, and no protection to anyone else. The robes are permanently black with a bloodstained design. Undead are automatically non-hostile to the wearer. The robes have the permanent smell of death and repulse normal animals and reduce Reaction checks among humanoids by one category (worse) for the whole group of people with the robe wearer.(Turned in for tithe Credit)
-Bracers of Armor +4(Clearice)

Players Present:Pimfire Tyndal, Omegasun, Morrin Telemnar, Clearice Eilif, Xavier Cross(Khaotic), Mok the Powerful Wizard
Run By: Andy
NPCS: Vernon Condor (missing), Bezlamon, Lady Lauren DevillarsLady Mayor, Chimera (Roo, Billy, Scarlet)
Discussion = Started late as Andy was running behind was posted, Talked about Dollys Anger, Previous Adventures, Crafted Items
Submitted by Clearice

I was disturbed by a knock at our door at 4 A.M.. I was in the library reading a book on this new trend sweeping the city known as Yoga while Blinky floated around nearby eating his breakfast. The Menagerie was being summoned by the Lady Mayor to meet by the docks. Of course we all obliged and we set out to our place of meeting. On the way there there was a ghastly sense of dread hovering over us sending a slight chill down my spine. As we approached the meeting place 6 heavily robed figures approached us with weapons half drawn. They recognized us at once and ushered us into a nearby building.
Inside we were greeted by The Lady Mayor and 5 other city officials. We take a seat by the fire as per there offer and the Lady Mayor begins to tell us the tale of Bezlamon the evil Mage who impersonated Vernon Condor via some sort of body swapping spell resulting in Vernon Condor being nabbed by an unknown force. The man Bezlamon was apprehended but the fate of the missing Vernon Condor is Unknown to the Council and thus they called the Menagerie to find out. The Lady Mayor mentioned a portal that was opened at the place of The Vultures disappearance. They had sent 20 soldiers inside of it to scout it out but they had not returned in 3 days so the worst was to be feared. We of course agreed and set out immediately to the portal at the prison of Illwater. As we approach the Anomalous portal i cant help but feel a pang of excitement at the prospect of rescuing our friend the Vulture it sent thoughts of one day becoming a Silver Hawk running through my head. As we entered the portal, which was ironically at the front gate of a prison, we could immediately tell we were not in Illwater anymore. This realm was a pocket dimension and the portal was only one way for as we entered the portal we found ourselves in a cave with only stone at our backs. Seeing no other way to go we proceed further into the tunnel to enter a huge cavern full of lava coming from waterfalls and forming large pools. we approached an exit on other side to see a pile of ash and bits of armor bearing the seal of Ravensbluff. Pimfire Approached the monument of death and seemed to have triggered some sort of trap which to our despair seemed to have awoken an Ancient Red Dragon sleeping in the lava. I was mortified at the sight of such a beast and fled in fear as such a creature could obliterate us in a confined space. We all began to run for the exit of the cave as the Lava began to rise. the Dragon than reared back its ugly head and breathed fire on us all nearly killing me and severely injuring everyone else besides Omegasun and Xavier. As we exited the cave leaving smoke trails behind us we healed our wounds and gained our bearings spotting a trail leading to a hut in the distance. As we approached the cabin we were met with the odd sight of a skeleton with 2 pin points of light for eyes who introduces himself as the Ancient. He beckons for us to enter his shack as friends.
We enter after dropping our suspicions at the door. He than begins to explain to us that he is the welcomer of all new comers to this realm. This realm being a semi-sentient prison that torments all who find themselves here till there death. As he explained our predicament it suddenly clicked in my mind that we were actually speaking to a lich though he didnt seem to be inherently evil. Once he finished his introduction we asked him if he had seen Vernon Condor or as he may have looked when he came here Bezlamon. He tells us that he had seen a man of that description about a week ago. The Ancient tells us he has been in this land since the beginning and that all who come here must ban together for survival and must take an oath to uphold that one law. We all take the oath that we shall not attack another prisoner unless in self defense. As we prepare to part from the Ancient he gives all of us 1 healing potion labeled poison each and sends us on our way. For some reason Xavier stayed in the shack for a little bit longer but when i called for him he came and thus we departed towards the nearby settlement the Ancient told us Vernon went. As we traveled to the settlement it seemed as if the forest itself was impeding our journey even down to the blades of grass. As night time fell the sky turned purple and we begin to feel a slight rumble from the earth as several insect like Grogs burst from out of the ground. The ancient had warned us of them so we were not taken by surprise and we dispatched them quickly and decided to try to rest for the night. As we try to rest we are all troubled by visions of a red figure tormenting us and we are unable to rest for any amount of time. We continue to the village after our unrestful slumber to find it razed and burned to the ground with a single drow male sitting staring into the distance. We searched the village while Mok talked to the drow and found none else left alive. Mok managed to get the drow to talk to him and he told him the village was attacked by some foul creatures called Tuloks. He told Mok they took the love of his life and he vowed to kill them all and thus he waits for their return to the village. He also mistook Pimfire for a Kinder, like many others have, and even gave him a Hoopak and tells us he has seen Vernon Here but his body was not with the dead in the village so he either escaped or was captured. After bidding our farewells to the drow fellow we took off following the supposed tracks of Vernon Condor. We where once again met with the forest as our adversary this time blocking the path with a bramble wall that Mok makes short work of with his huge Battleaxe. as we cross throught the freshly trimmed hedge we hear a loud cry in the clearing ahead. We rush forward to find a Chimera trapped in a quicksand pit. Knowing it must be a prisoner here I must help it so i dimensional Hop onto the poor beasts back and hop it back out of the quick sand. It than happily casts a spell of tongues and thanks me for rescuing it but wonders why we would. We of course explain we are all in this together so why wouldnt we and the Chimera than introduces its 3 heads and gives me a wonderfully warm cloak made from its fur. It tells us that it was hunting tuloks due to them slaying the Chimera’s mate. It than tells us of how the tree leaves of certain trees point towards the dragon cave and that there is a bigger settlement nearby that we should go to after we find Condor. I heal our new friend before we follow the tracks of Condor once more. It isnt long before we find him being dragged deeper into the woods by the vines of the forest. Mok and Morrin rush forward unable to be grabbed by the vines and free Condor who thanks us before fainting. I heal him to bring him back to consciousness. We decide to try to rest again and are plagued by the same dreams as before but Vernon Condor sleeps deeply as we normally would so we decide to carry him t. He is a village elder here and o the settlement while he slept. As we arrive at this much more robust settlement we are greeted telepathically by a Mind Flayer named Me-low who offers us a place to rest and tells us that he does not know of a way out of this prison. He directs us to the tavern to rest where Mok and Morrin spot the Drow from the other village’s wife Anna and there child. Since we are waiting for Condor to awaken we decide to go and tell the drow the good news. Our trip there and back with him was actually uneventful and went off without a hitch. We returned to the larger settlement to find that they were going to have a large meeting about a way out. As the meeting came to order they offered us a challenge to prove our dedication to which Omega accepted before even knowing what it was for. The challenge was to read and extremely difficult poem in a certain amount of time. To everyone’s amazement Omega did so with only one stutter through out i couldnt even begin to believe he would do it but he proved us all wrong. After the klysedra was completed Me-low told us the Ancient would have the answer to what we were looking for in the form of a spell he was developing. He would need the name of the red Dragon to complete the spell but he would know how to get it if anyone would. We traveled back to his shack but this time when we entered it was a large and spacious palace inside. The Ancient immediately demanded the name of the dragon from us saying that we know what it is. We than realised that we had been told the name earlier by the diviners of Ravensbluff who tried to divine the location of Vernon Condor. They couldnt find him but they kept hearing a name and knew it was important. We were unable to remember the name so Mok used the last of the powerful ability memory recall to recall the conversation in which we heard it. The name they had told us was Gernosishstrad. Once we spoke the name the Ancient waved his hand and a feast appeared before us in which we all heartily ate as he explained his history with this realm and how we would defeat the Dragon. As his telling of our plan came to an end we heard one of the Ancient’s defenses go off killing a rat outside. The Ancient informed us that those are what Gernosishstrad uses to gather information so we must move now to the final battle. We of course set off immediately to the Dragons cave the Ancient setting an other worldly pace for us to keep up with. He tells us we must kill his minions while he will deal with the dragon. We than enter the lava filled cave of the dragon to find Gernosishstrad surrounded by fire elementals in a pool of lava. I launched a large Blade Barrier into the Fray hitting all of our enemies even the dragon who to my dismay breathes fire on me killing me instantly so i dont remember what happened after that besides seeing the Golden Lady’s beautiful Visage pulling me towards the light. I awoke in the Cleric Circles inner sanctum having been revived from my unpleasant and nearly eternal slumber. The rest of the menagerie told me that Mok destroyed the rest of the elementals immediately and the Ancient cast his spell sealing the dragon away in a red ruby. We than were brought back to Ravens Bluff as the Prison collapsed in on itself The ancient came out with us and teleported away once he thanked us for our help and told us everyone should now return to there own realms before the prison is destroyed. The Menagerie was Congratulated for a job well done. And my companions were nice enough to forgo the reward to have me brought back, Though i wouldn’t have minded the extra money either… But i am so grateful to be traveling with such a gold hearted bunch if only you could be here to see where i have ended up Father…

Rewards

5600 XP
5000g reward that we refuse in lieu of having the Cleric Circle Revive Clearice.
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds – everyone, from the Ancient
Cloak of Warmth – (Clearice) given to for saving the Chimera

Morrin went up a knightly rank

Omega switches to the Harbour Patrol as this adventure allowed such in reward. May have him use Dolly’s Anger to help patrol the harbour in exchange for its upkeep cost and keeps the vessel close to home in case we need it.

Players Present:Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Clearice Eilif, Xavier
NPC: Maskin Farthing, Briella Farthing, Devlin, Faruq, Captain Dara Nando, Clampett, Hierophant of Silvanus named Baerwald
Player’s Missing: None
Player’s Absent: Morrin (said he would be late if he showed at all)
Game Master: Mok
Posted By: Pimfire Tyndal

A meeting with Maskin Farthing of the Farthing Custom & Trade house one morning revealed that his daughter Briella had gone missing. She apparently left around 8 years ago with a priest of Waukeen named Devlin in search of an ancient artifact called the Sacred Heart of the Beast. This artifact would allow them to tame an island of strange creatures that they had stumbled upon in the hopes of opening up a thriving tourism trade by making large animals safe for visitors to come and be around. Maskin tells us that Briella is a very powerful practitioner of magic and while she’s been gone they’ve been in constant contact via a two way scrying mirror but about 2 weeks ago the mirror went black and they haven’t been able to get in contact. His daughter created a powerful gateway on the ocean that leads to this mysterious island but has kept it secret even from him until recently which he believes he’s now found. He would like us to go in search of his daughter and return her. His last communication with Briella involved someone named Prince Faruq of Calimport coming to visit the island and possibly invest.

After examining the mirror and talking to one of Maskin’s mages on the subject it’s concluded that the other mirror Briella’s must be broken or somehow disenchanted. I learn more about this Sacred Heart of the beast from the temple of Sune who tell it’s a mistake of Sune herself created when she was new in an effort to allow her followers to enjoy the beauty of nature by creating an area in which no animal could harm another. It was only after they realized how dangerous this could be on an eco-system and implore us not to return it and if possible destroy it.

The following day we get on board the Mares Milk a vessel of Maskin’s which is to take us to the island via way of the magical gate somewhere a couple days travel on the ocean. To our delight we find Clampett our chef from Dolly’s Anger to have hired himself out for this voyage. Introducing myself to Captain Dara Nando I find myself stunned by her beauty and fierceness. It is rare to find a woman on board any vessel let alone captaining one, which tells of how tough she must be to keep her crew in line.

I spend the next couple of days entertaining the crew and trying to charm the lovely Dara. When we finally pass through the nearly invisible magical gateway we see an island in the distance and at that moment we strike a large log floating in the ocean. Before it can rip the vessel apart Captain Dara gets the crew to slow and then halt her ship. She asks us if we can deal with clearing the log from in front which Omega, Clearice and myself set too leaping into the waters. Once there I clearly see the log to be the mast of a sunken vessel and drop towards the ship both to investigate it and search for treasure. Omega pulls out his sword and starts to hack away at the mast to try and free the Mares Milk from it. Clearice follows me down probably to keep an eye on me I suspect.

Inside the sunken ship we find a chest full of Calimshite coins and magical items on what we assume was the captain or owner of the vessel which is called the Reaver. Clearice manages to float the chest of coins up to the Mares Milk on a magical disk. Once topside again we inform Captain Dara of our findings who claims half the chest for her crew and seems impressed with my ability to hold my breath for over an hour and with a wink suggests I visit her later.

It was at this point the old superstition of tossing a coin overboard before a voyage comes to mind and realizing our error everyone tosses in a couple coins in the hopes that whatever creature could tear apart the Reaver doesn’t do so to the Mares Milk. As we approach the island we clearly see the docks to be nearly destroyed but useable while 2 more sunken ships lay in the bottom of the ocean next to the docks. Managing to skillful maneuver her vessel to the docks Captain Dara bids us good luck as we head out to investigate the island.

We come upon a camp that is set up to be a visitor center area for when the place gets opened to tourists. The place is a mess as several buildings appeared burnt while another is crushed by a fallen tree. We enter the main building some sort of greeting center to find the kitchen was used recently perhaps a few days ago according to Xavier while Clearice examines blood stains on the wall and finds some green flakey substance on the main door. Another building we examine must have been the temple set up to Waukeen. Upstairs is where we find Devlin who apparently committed suicide. Reading through his journal it’s apparent a druid named Baerwald was upset over their bringing the Sacred Heart of the beast gemstone to the island and interrupting nature in the process. It’s noted that Briella and two others traveled to check on the stone to make sure it’s safe guards are in place after some dinosaurs somehow managed to overcome the peaceful effect and attacked the camp!

The log revealed that a storm sunk both vessels and possibly lead to a tree falling on the building housing the mirror, which destroyed the mirror, or it was the druid who made the tree fall they weren’t certain. With Prince Faruq never showing hope fled, as things got even worse since someone was bitten by one of the dinosaurs and seemed to become infected with something that spread to others in camp. Devlin was forced to kill and burnt their bodies and with no hope of communication with anyone off the island and Briella and the others missing and not returning from the volcano housing the artifact Devlin committed suicide by hanging himself. Our inspection of Devlin revealed some green infection in his spine meaning he himself was somehow infected.

After a brief glance around we found the barracks where Devlin had killed and burned the bodies of the rest of the camp. Avoiding contact with the bodies we started to leave only to encounter a very large Triceratops that must have been 5 times larger then any we’d ever seen! Omega offered him some fish from a barrel he found in the kitchen of the visitor center and surprisingly it seemed to enjoy them going so far as to shove it’s face deep into the barrel to get every last morsel. Omega wanted to keep it for another pet or mount but we pointed out that a creature which is longer then the ship wouldn’t fit obviously.

Suddenly remembering a conversation with Maskin Farthing that Captain Dara was under orders to retrieve some dinosaurs we rushed back to her ship to try and stop them before they became infected by whatever wiped out the camp. Clearice blurted everything out to the captain as she along with half her crew was dragging 2 dinosaurs towards the ship. The crew fearing disease nearly rioted right there on the docks but Clearice promised to examine each one and while that was going Omega was getting the crew drunk as I told silly jokes and stories. Fortunately no one on board had any signs of the green infection.

We then headed back to the camp where I picked up the shards of the mirror thinking Maskin may want these in case he can repair it using magic to reenable the 2 way scrying mirror set. Then we set out towards the volcano. During our trek through we encounter a massive T-Rex covered in green slime. All our efforts to hurt it seemed futile even Clearice’s Blade Barrier didn’t bother it despite shearing off half it’s face! As soon as we cut it the slime seemed to repair the cuts. Finally remembering fire to be useful against the infection Clearice burnt the dinosaur and made it flee in terror but not before Omega was covered head to toe in green goo!

We built a fire and bade him to stand in it but while some of the slime seemed to get burnt off not all of it and finally we were forced to use his sword and scrape the rest off his body. Once done we pushed on until we reached the base of the volcano where we found what appeared to be a dried up water bed leading straight to the top and at the bottom a tunnel recently dug going deep into the heart of the volcano. Following directions from Devlin’s journal we head to the top of the volcano where the Sacred Heart of the Beast was supposed to be.

As we crest a ridge we see inside the volcano’s mouth 6 magma elementals surrounding Briella and an old druid we assume to be Baerwald. It’s clear Briella is undertaking some magical ritual as strands of the weave itself can be seen in her hands as she is somehow undoing something around a large red gemstone that is imbedded in the volcano’s crusted surface.

Omega shouts out asking if they need any help. The magma elementals and Baerwald approach him while the rest of us stay hidden. Finally we all go down as Clearice informs the druid that we are hear to rescues Briella and see the Relic destroyed as well and intend no harm. Briella finally stops what she is doing and comes over, she claims that the druid has shown her the errors of her ways and she is going to destroy the gem but will die in the attempt and accepts that as penance for ever bringing the stone to the island in the first place. I try and talk her out of it by seeing if using a favor from Waukeen would somehow help but according to Clearice who communed with her god they are unable to interfere with the relic as it’s planar locked to the prime material plane.

Xavier then starts to walk towards the sacred heart of the beast all the while talking about how much good Briella can now do in the world with her magical powers she is able to help more than he ever could and as they reach near the stone offers to take her place in removing it and thereby sacrificing himself. Baerwald wants him to make sure he has the blessings of his goddess Tymora and hands him a commune scroll which he reads and enters a trance. We see a coin flip in the air as suddenly he comes out of the trance and nods his head that everything will be okay. Satisfied Baerwald agrees to it and Briella releases the last of the safe guards and with a wave teleports the rest of us to safety on the Mares Milk. Just as Captain Dara sets sail from the island, a loud explosion is visible as the volcano erupts.

With great sadness in my heart for the loss of a friend, I found it hard to continue the romance with Captain Dara that had so quickly blossomed in just a few days on the way to this island. Captain Dara seemed to understand as we spent what free time she had talking together quietly about the future and should our paths ever cross again we agreed we would see where our hearts would take us. For now, we respect each other’s life choice. Her choice to sail the ocean in search of fame, fortune and adventure. Mine to defend the city, tell tales of adventure borne out by others and raise my daughter.

Upon returning to Raven’s Bluff we were greeted by a strange and welcome sight as standing on the docks was Xavier! Somehow restored by Baerwald and his god since what he did was a noble self sacrifice he didn’t deserve to die. It came at a cost it seems as Xavier has holes in his memory regarding his training but he’s gained a sexy new tattoo. Shadow as well seems smaller then I remember even.

Maskin is thrilled that Briella is home safe and sound and offers us the reward as promised. I hand over the shards to the mirror. I bring the signet ring of Prince Faruq that we found in the sunken ship to the embassy of Calimshan where they are grateful for its return and let us keep the scimitar we recovered in gratitude. After words I travel to the temple of Sune and spend a full day recounting in vivid detail everything that happened with the Sacred Heart of the Beast and how it was destroyed while acolytes record my words for their personal records. Xavier even decides to join me down at Valerie’s Orphanage where he decides to take up the position of cook!

---

Rewards
6250XP for all but Xavier who got some readjusting after self-sacrifice
2000g each reward
One Chiv point each
One Honor to Xavier for sacrificing himself but ANDY will decide
Treasure chest of Calimport coins = 5000g / 4 which is 1000g each + 1000g to party treasury
Broken Mirror scrying shards (in case they want to repair it gave back to them)

Monocle of Fine Appraisals: This monocle adds a +2 bonus to all appraising proficiency checks made by the wearer, and instantly reveals fake gems or counterfeit art. The wearer must have the appraising proficiency in order to gain these benefits from the monocle. Further, PCs with the forgery proficiency may employ the monocle to unerringly identify forged documents. This monocle does not benefit those without the required proficiencies, as those people do not know what they are looking for. (Clearice)

Golden Scimitar of the Seven Families: This beautifully forged blade, an heirloom of the family of Prince Faruq of Calimport, is fashioned from purest gold, magically hardened to withstand even the strongest blow (saves as “hard metal,” +4). It functions as a +3 scimitar for rogues, and as a +2 scimitar for all other classes.
Further, the blade may be employed to quell any sandstorm, magical or mundane, a process that takes one round and expends a single charge. It also may be used to avoid any single attack from an Efreet, Dao, marid, djinn or lesser genie. This use is instantaneous, and expends two charges. The blade contains four charges.
(Xavier takes this)

Signet Ring of Prince Faruq: This gold ring, emblazoned with the personal seal of Prince Faruq of Calimport (a petty noble), acts exactly like a ring of protection +1
(I offer to bring it to a diplomat of Calimshan and they are grateful for the return of this and knowledge of Prince Faruq’s demise and let us keep the scimitar in thanks)

Mark of the Hierophant: The owner of this certificate chose to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the balance of Forgotten Island. As a reward, the PC has been reincarnated by Baerwald, Hierophant of Silvanus. (Xavier)