The game thus far:

The Game Thus Far

Game Session Sixty-One...February 27/01

Game Session Sixty-Two...March 6/01

Game Session Sixty-Three...March 13/01

Game Session Sixty-Four...March 20/01

Game Session Sixty-Five...March 24/01

Game Sessions Sixty-Six Thru Seventy

Game Sessions Seventy-One Thru Seventy-Five

Year Three of the Game

Year Four of the Game

Year Five of the Game

Current Gaming Sessions

Session Sixty-One

Experience: Using the handy-dandy Encounter-O-Matic © that John sent me, both of the encounters with the given party power were worth 1,463xp. That's 2926xp for the two together. Divided by all members of the party, that is 488xp each.

Roleplayer of the week:
Player's Choice (100xp):

Two votes for A'Ha, "...partially for his approach and subsequent retreat from the Minotaur and also for his all around good character portrayal...; ...His running at the minotaur, then directly away was priceless. Good action game..." but despite the long extension on the vote limit, we did not get a vote from Murray (until too late), so A'Ha cannot win. There was one vote for S'Part, but the accompanying comment (although honest) distresses me: "He needs all the help he can get to regain his level. And we really miss those good cures."
The role-playing vote should not be used to try and get the lowest character up in levels. The whole point of it is to reward good role-playing. If the problem has become that everyone keeps voting for El'Fross because his character tends to be the most memorable of any game session, and you guys are finding you have to vote for others just to be fair, then we can discuss a different way to do role-playing experience. Maybe we need to remove it as a contest, and just have the DM reward excellent role-playing on his own.

No Player's Choice award this week!
DM's Choice (50xp):

I am not giving a DM's Choice this week. All role-playing was at a bit of a low, but the increased monster experience shows why. The characters were too busy fighting!

A'Ha - 488xp - was at 7,495xp - puts him at 7,983xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
El'Fross - 488xp - was 16,492xp - puts him at 16,980xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
Snf'L - 488xp - was 16,274xp - puts him at 16,762xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
S'Part - 488xp - was at 8,000xp - puts him at 8,488xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
L'Wehn - 488xp - was at 7,912xp - puts her at 8,400xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
Siroth the White Dragon - 488xp - cannot earn experience, but alters the level of the group and takes 1 share away from party (when with them)

Grinbeard - ?xp - was at 6,907xp - puts him at ?xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
Daranel - ?xp - was 6,465xp - puts him at ?xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
Tikkel the spider - ..DEAD..
X'Ylo - ...DEAD...

24th Harvester

In the morning, the party decides they have a new quest - to find the body of their old friend X'Ylo. If this pool brought back the Buckawn in its original form, what has happened to the spirit of their friend? Before they leave the area of the pool and the company of the Centaurs, S'Part asks one more question of the pool, thinking of the hundreds of K'Needian Elf villagers who died defending K'Nee. Could they all be brought back? The Centaurs again remind the group that they do not know the limit of the sacred pool, but they do know that the only dead it cannot raise are those whose bodies are burned. Unfortuately, this disqualifies the K'Needian Elves, since most were killed by fire, and those who weren't had their bodies burned by X'Ylo out of respect and to send their souls on their way.

The Centaurs have one more warning about the pool: They reveal that behind some bushes is the perfect stone replica of a Centaur, with one of its hands in the pool. They warn not to touch the water.

Bidding their new friends good-bye, the K'Needian Elves set off in search of the encampment area where they stayed the day X'Ylo lost his life. They recall it was two days of caravan travel to the east of Berole's Crypt (less than a day as the K'Needian Elf "flies").

Snf'L takes the opportunity to do some studying of the language of Slyvan creatures as he takes point. In his head, he communicates with Mac, learning some of the nuances of the language. He is sufficiently distracted, however, to miss some important movment up ahead on the side of a hill in the rocky area they are moving through. Suddenly he is struck with an arrow!

A battle ensues, with the sharp-eyed A'Ha spotting a Minotaur (what! in the forest!) behind a bush on the side of the hill, popping up and firing arrows at the group. After a half dozen arrows, the Minotaur does not pop up again. The party prepares spells and positions. Then they are taken aback as the Minotaur charges out at them and tries to gore A'Ha with his horns. Then the thing attacks with a huge axe. L'Wehn and Snf'L are hurt (the latter as he charges in to help), but the party takes out the creature. They find a few odds and ends, but nothing of great value (except, perhaps, the weapons, which although not magical, are quite good quality).

The party decides they can travel no further today and rest under the minstrations of the good cleric S'Part, who treats their wounds as best he can.

25th Harvester

The party continues to heal. A'Ha's hawk spots a cave, but A'Ha decides not to mention it to the rest of the party until they are quite healed up. Before they get a chance, however, the hawk warns A'Ha that a "six-legged thing" is coming out of the cave and headed the party's way.

The party ends up fighting a Displacer Beast, a horrid thing that looks like a malnourished panther with six legs and Otyugh tentacles coming out of its back. It was a fairly even fight.

26th Harvester

The party spends the day once again under S'Part's care. Snf'L skins the beast and has El'Fross dry the hide so it will not rot as the party travels. Snf'L has an idea that the pelt of this creature could be valuable.

From the diary of El'Fross:

Upon discovering that the Buckawn that stood before us was not X'Ylo we immediately set off for the spot where we had left our comrade's body months before. Unfortunately before we had traveled even a day, we ran into trouble. S'Nfl walked ahead – seemingly distracted and didn't notice the ambush until an arrow had slammed into his shoulder. It took us several seconds to get our bearings and find our attacker, an odd creature with horns on its head and an attitude. Later we figured it to be a minotaur.

The minotaur damaged most of us before we managed to defeat it, with L'Wehn taking the bulk of the damage. During the battle, I had the urge to try the magic stone I had been carrying for months. As Siroth threw it to me, I was distracted momentarily and the beast gave me a good shot. It didn't seem to help anything, though later L'Wen said she thought it made me look better, so I'll probably keep it.

We decided to camp at the spot of the attack while we waited for healing spells as well as time to heal us naturally. Sometime the next afternoon an argument broke out among the group, having to do with when we would actually be healed (naturally) and suddenly, as if by divine intervention we were attacked by a creature that S'Nfl recognized as a displacer beast. S'Nfl alertly (he seemed less distracted for some reason) threw a fairie fire at the beast. He seemed to know that this would make it easier to hit….

Again, we managed to kill the thing without any casualties. Oddly the beast had a stone circling its head also. S'Part, seeing L'Wehn's reaction to my stone, decided he would use this one – hopefully she doesn't find it as attractive in him as she did me. S'Nfl skinned the beast and began the tanning process (thinking the pelt may be worth something). He asked me to use some magic to speed the drying process – I reluctantly agreed.

I just hope that this two day delay doesn't prevent us from finding the fate of our lost friend, X'Ylo.

Session Sixty-Two

Experience:

No experience for this session as we are in the middle of an encounter. Experience for the critters fought this session will be handed out next session, so don't sweat it.

Roleplayer of the week:

An excellent combat week. No especial role-playing stand-outs: Everyone did great considering the tension. There will be some role-playing experience handed out next session for this session.

Experience coming next week...

26th Harvester (cont...)

Snf'L skins the Displacer Beast because he remembers hearing somewhere about the skin of a Displacer Beast being an ingredient in a cloak of displacement. El'Fross reluctantly uses prestidigitation spells to help dry the skin, and Snf'L packs it away. This takes the rest of the afternoon.

27th Harvester

The party feels ready enough (after some healing spells by S'Part) to explore the cave where the Displacer Beast came from. They walk over to where A'Ha's hawk says the entrance is. As they approach, Snf'L spies a monolith near the cave entrance, by some shrubs. The party approaches this to examine it. It has three runes upon it, and A'Ha, El'Fross and Snf'L immediately recognize it as being the monolith that was in front of Berole's Crypt. They move to the front and look back the way they came and realize that they are indeed in front of that foul place. There are bones in front of the entrance now, however.

They move back to the crypt entrance, and El'Fross examines the bones, accidentally stepping on a few. There are several skulls of deer there, as well as two skulls of some sort of smallish humanoid, some sickly green skin still clinging to the skulls.

Snf'L and El'Fross tell the others that there are obvious tracks of some very large humanoid around the entrance, as well as tracks from a big cat. Perhaps the Displacer Beast lived in harmony with some giant? Or was the giant merely passing through? More examination of the area shows that the giant has gone into the cave frequently and come out again.

After some heated discussion, the party decides to go in and check out the crypt. They only get to the top of the stairs before El'Fross recalls the devious collapsing ceiling that almost took their lives earlier that summer. He calls back to the group that maybe they should not do this after all. As the party moves away from the entrance of the cave, Snf'L hears a noise from the entrance, a muffled sort of grunting noise. He shouts, "Incoming!" but it is too late - a huge, hideous, foul-smelling two-headed giant is pulling itself upright at the cave entrance.

It growls as Siroth flies around to it's right side and breathes a cone of icy cold on the giant. The giant has a club in each hand and attacks to either side of itself, a head facing each direction. Siroth is hit and his wing is injured, but he is still in the fight. S'Part is knocked unconscious by a glancing blow to the head.

L'Wehn, A'Ha and El'Fross rush to intercept the Ettin as Snf'L moves to a better position for firing his bow. L'Wehn and A'Ha are hit glancing blows, but these wounds are not enough to quell their determination. Snf'L fires his bow at the Ettin, but the arrows goes wide of the mark and hits poor little Siroth. His wound from the Ettin club had already weakened him, and he slumps to the ground outside of the crypt, Snf'L's arrow sticking out of his neck and blood pouring from the wound.

L'Wehn and El'Fross renew their attacks but L'Wehn fails to fend off a wild swing from the Ettin and she is knocked to the ground. She takes one last flailing (but unsuccessful) strike at the Ettin as she falls. She does not get up. El'Fross and A'Ha intesify their efforts, keeping the Ettin guessing by staying on both sides of it. Even Snf'L decides that arrows are not the way to beat this creature, and he wades in with his greatsword.

Finally, the Ettin is taken out, after a grim and dirty battle.

A'Ha, El'Fross and Snf'L gather aroudn the bodies of their fallen comrades. Siroth is examined, and Snf'L is horrified to find that the arrow he hit the dragon with has killed it. Lukcily, S'Part has stabilized and is in no danger of dying at the moment. L'Wehn is in rough shape, and El'Fross tends to her. But she is dying in his not-quite-capable hands. Snf'L steps in, barking orders to El'Fross for bandages and poultices for the bruise that is swelling on her temple. "If only we had S'Part functional," Snf'L mutters, gritting his teeth and taking the proffered bandage from El'Fross and applying it to L'Wehn's cracked skull. He manages to stabilize her and keep her from heading further along the path of death.

A'Ha, always the prgmatist, immeidately begins to demand where they will hole up until S'Part will be ready with his spells of curing. The ensuing debate is short-lived (perhaps because only 3 K'Needian Elves are involved instead of the usual 5) and the conclusion is clear - they must head into the crypt. El'Fross is obviously pleased, and Snf'L shakes his head sadly and sighs.

They prepare to move the bodies, and Snf'L carefully removes 4 Ettin eyeballs and places them in a small belt pouch. The quest for the Unicks wizard is almost over. Their debt for A'Ha's transformation from unintelligble bear to unfamiliar K'Needian Elf will soon be paid in full.

After a brief discussion, it is decided that Snf'L will investigate the crypt areas nearest the entrance to see if they are suitable to hole up in. The three elves agree that there was a trap of falling stones the last time they were here. They are convinced the trigger was the third step from the bottom. Snf'L leaps lightly down from the fourth step to the landing, but the dark conditions betray him and he lands poorly, twisting an ankle. Gritting his teeth against the pain so he does not cry out, he pauses for a few moments to let the worst of it pass. Then he limps forward. He largely ignores the murals on both sides of him - murals which feature a figure in black plate mail.

Snf'L come to the junction of two hallways, but it is clear that the one is completely caved in. The memory returns that the collapsed corridor was the trap they recalled and it was triggered at the far end near a room of skeletons. Snf'L turns North and travels a few feet, his way magically lit by the lights he conjures from the ether.

Snf'L finds the lair of the Ettin, littered with dirty straw and refuse. Some rotten food is here as well, and a bed that is much smaller but surrounded by big cat prints.

Looking around, Snf'L makes sure he is satisfied that no other Ettins or creatures dewll in this chamber before going back and helping El'Fross and A'Ha to bring in the injured elves and the dead dragon. They leave the Ettin's corpse where it lies.

After the wounded (and the dead dragon) are transported into the chamber, El'Fross sets about using prestidigitation to make it a little more habitable. Snf'L finds the treasures of both the Displacer Beast and the Ettin. Using his ability to determine magic, he notices that a suit of chainmail, a game piece used by humans and a turquoise potion all glow of magic.

Treasure list - links are for DM ONLY

A small belt pouch containing a brown-green garnet, a Magical white knight chess piece, and a a rose-colored quartz.
A magical suit of chainmail
Turquoise Potion
Scroll of Summon Swarm
Large sack with lots and lots of copper (ignored) and 78sp
A carved ivory chess piece (non-magical) queen - carved elven woman with crown
There was a dusty rose prism stone circling the Displacer Beast's head, but S'Part had it circling his own. Once he fell to the ground, it stopped revolving around his head. I wonder where it might be now? :) This little entry serves to be the only reminder the players will get about this stone until the next time S'Part (or any other character) happens to mention it. Call it a little test to see if anyone is reading the website. What you do with this reminder is up to you.

Snf'L detects magic

28th Harvester

Still in Berole's Crypt - resting from Ettin encounter.

1st Brewfest

Fight vs. three hideous undead-looking creatures. Originally only two, but one seems to have used some sort of "call a friend" summoning ability to bring another in. This third creature dissappeared when it was killed, unlike the other two. The party wipes the greenish ichor off their weapons, and proceeds to the next room.

Here they see the great well, just over 10 feet in diameter. There is nothing but the rim around the well, and this one foot high rim is carved with arcane symbols which seem to writhe and defy taking on a shape for long enough to soldifiy in the elves' minds. The stones which make up the 1' high rim of the well are made of a greenish-grey rock.

As they examine the well, Snf'L looks around for something, anything to distract El'Fross from his suicidal plan to go down the well. He spots an anomaly in the East wall, and realizes that this room contains a secret door not noticed heretofore.

"El'Fross, if I told you there was a secret door in this room, would that change your plans?" he asks his friend.

"A secret door? Where?" El'Fross responds.

"I thought you guys said you searched this crypt completely for secret doors," drawls S'Part, looking toward A'Ha.

"We did," replies A'Ha, in his don't-argue-with-me-about-this-or-you'll-regret-it tone (probably his favorite).

Examine Berole and the setup with the rod. Discussion - is he good or evil.

Back to murals to examine

For a picture of what is on the shield the figure in black plate is carrying click here

Human and elven sacrifice mural makes all feel sick. They leave the crypt and cannot bring themselves to return that day.

2nd Brewfest

Spells gained and party returns to crypt. They go to Berole's room and make their plan. El'Fross is to cast his expeditious retreat spell (his favorite) and grab the rod and the sword but leave the plate and shield (for now).

Party sets themselves up. If the guy gets up or if anything comes out of the well, they have the advantage.

El'Fross grabs the rod and does not run, as was discussed. He instead turns to look at the black (plate) mailed figure and steps over to it. The party does not have time to react before El'Fross touches the figure and mutters a two-syllable word. He then looks back toward the party and tells them he has changed his mind about running. He has realized that Berole is obviously good after all, and that they should use the rod to resurrect him. S'Part and A'Ha enter the room, but Snf'L stands in front of the entrance, not allowing L'Wehn to enter. The group realizes that there is something wrong with their friend, and do not co-operate. El'Fross tries in vain to get S'Part to take the rod from him. He even throws it at him and tries to wrestle it into his hands. The others mill about uncertainly. Snf'L tries to even the odds a bit by taking away Berole's Greatsword. Finally S'Part flees, but the fleet-of-foot El'Fross moves around behind him and puts the rod directly into the cleric's hands. S'Part immediately tries to get to Berole's body, but A'Ha and Snf'L try to block this move. A'Ha is struck by the rod after several attempts to knock it from S'Part's hands, and Snf'L is pushed aside by El'Fross. S'Part strides over and touches the rod to Berole's body, speaking a two-syllable word that only Snf'L and L'Wehn are close enough to hear...

Possible Entry From the Diary of Berole (please note this is fanciful, but good, fiction on behalf of El'Fross' player, and may or may not be entirely or partially true or false. Players should be expected NOT to act on this information, nor should they assume this to be a true account of what is happening to El'Fross. Any resemblance to copyrighted creatures or persons living, dead or in stasis is purely coincidental, and the DM accepts no responsibility for copyright infringements that would be completely unintended.):

The thing a guy does to keep a zealous paladin from scrying on him…. I pillage and raze one Good temple and all of a sudden I had a mortal enemy that swore he wouldn't stop until I was dead…. So I gave him what he wanted.

Clearly the plan (it was a good plan) didn't work and my evil minions weren't able to resurrect me after William "The Just" died or went away to find a new mortal enemy. William, just a pin-head……

However, 110 years into my exile of death, I had a stroke of good luck. A group of dim witted white-skinned elves entered my crypt and triggered my contingency plan. It seems that they had decided they wanted MY rod for their own purposes and now they are paying for their greed. (I love it when a plan comes together)

One of the dimmer of the dim-witted elves grabbed MY rod with the intention of running, but luckily I had predicted that possibility. Possessing him was absurdly easy – clearly he has the wisdom of a table napkin. I tried to convince the cleric in the group to raise my body, however he wouldn't go for it. I wasn't thinking real clear – I guess lying dead for 110 years does that to a fellow. The cleric ran away from me, just as another of the elves grabbed my sword from the grasp of the cold dead hands of my body. Is nothing sacred anymore??? It pissed me off, but I figured I'd gut him later, once I managed to raise myself. Another of the elves – a female, gaped at the situation seemingly dumbstruck by the events. Clearly, she is fond of the person I have possessed and reluctant to do him damage – an advantage to me, since I don't care about this form at all.

It took a bit of doing, but I finally managed to put the rod (MY rod) into the hands of the pathetic cleric in the group and he struck down one the fair skinned idiots. I tackled another of the fools with this pathetic body I now inhabit, giving the cleric a free shot to my body. Oooh, this is going to be good.

Once I'm raised, I'm going to take back my sword and ram it down the throat of the cretin who dared defile my body. That will leave me and the female. 110 years dead, has left me feeling a little randy……Once I am done with her, I shall seal these idiotic creatures inside my tomb. As thanks for bringing me back, I shall allow them the use of my crypt....forever…..who-ha-ha-ha……oooooh – I just gave myself goose bumps – I'm so evil – Ma Berol would have been proud.

And then its off to the nearest temple of widows and orphans for some good old fashioned fun.

Session Sixty-Three

Experience: OK, now we can deal out the experience for the last session and the new experience for kicking the ass of the cleric of Iuz! (OK, barely surviving the encounter, but it were a tough one!)
For the Ettin, the party gains 2182.6xp, or 437xp each for everyone but Siroth (who died). For the Slimy Bloated Things&#reg; the party gets 1637xp, or 327xp for everyone but Siroth.

For the encounter with the tough but not quite tough enough cleric of Iuz, the party gains 8,730.5xp, or 2183xp (!!!) for each surviving member (sorry A'Ha!).

Roleplayer of the week:

Some very good role-playing despite being in battle. I don't know if Snf'L is doing the self-preservation thing or if Fred is just doing it because all of his characters are similar that way - but it works. Somebody pointed out that A'Ha immediately starts blaming others when things go awry, which I hadn't noticed but is certainly true. S'Part is doing his role of healer and spell-support guy very well. El'Fross, is, well, still El'Fross. A bonus 100xp to all for good role-playing (but not exemplary). El'Fross gains an extra 200xp for his most excellently detailed family history and S'Part gains an extra 100xp for his write up of S'Part's family tree.

A'Ha - 437+327+100=864xp - was at 7,983xp - puts him at 8,847xp - ...DEAD...
Coderick the thief - 0xp - was at 18,450xp - puts him at 18,450xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
El'Fross - 437+327+2183+100+200=3,247xp - was 16,980xp - puts him at 20,227xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
Snf'L - 437+327+2183+100=3,047xp - was 16,762xp - puts him at 19,809xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
S'Part - 437+327+2183+100+100=3,147xp - was at 8,488xp - puts him at 11,635xp

Congratulations on 5th Level!
L'Wehn - 437+327+2183+100=3,047xp - was at 8,400xp - puts her at 11,447xp -

Congratulations on 5th Level!
Siroth the White Dragon - 0xp - ...DEAD...

Daranel - ?xp - was 6,465xp - puts him at ?xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
Grinbeard - ?xp - was at 6,907xp - puts him at ?xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
Tikkel the spider - ..DEAD..
X'Ylo - ...DEAD...

2nd Brewfest (cont...)

The figure in black platemail sits up, swinging its legs off of the bier. It says, in a dusty, sinister voice, "I thank thee, pitiful elves for bringing me home. Prepare to feel the full force of my gratefulness..." He then utters an cyptic phrase and the mage flame on the end of S'Part's hat goes out. El'Fross feels his mage armor disappear as well. The characters are plunged into darkness. Quick-thinking Snf'L summons a dancing lights from his inner being, and the room is lit again. Then Berole (since this figure must be he himself) strides over to L'Wehn who holds his buckler. Snf'L and El'Fross take ineffective swings at him as he passes them. Berole plucks the buckler from her shaking grasp and pulls an object from within a pocket in the inner shield. It is a grinning, bloodied skull. It is on a chain, and he holds it reverently for a second before placing it around his neck so it dangles there on his chest.

A'Ha recovers and gets up. He runs over to Berole and attempts to strike at the symbol Berole now wears. Snf'L and El'Fross move in to the attack. S'Part casts a magic missile at Berole. Berole seems to be enjoying himself. Laughing he turns blow after blow. But now he quests after the sword that Snf'L holds, and he casts a spell at Snf'L, freezing the poor elf in place. S'Part casts more magic missiles at Berole. El'Fross grabs the sword from Snf'L and runs over to the well, tossing it down. Berole moves around behind Snf'L, jumping up on the bier as he does so. L'Wehn and A'Ha harry him and try to keep him from his goal, but he grabs the sheathed sword from Snf'L's back and swings it about, laying open wounds in all. Oddly, he sheaths it not long after gaining it and casts another spell. A wave of dark energy blasts out from him. Berole seems to grow stronger as all of the elves feel weaker. El'Fross shouts to S'Part, who still holds the black rod to dump it down the well. Berole moves quickly over to the doorway and tries to block it. The elves move with him. El'Fross attempts to shove Berole backwards and into the well, but his attack in not effective as Berole braces for it and easily shoves the elf back. A'Ha pushes El'Fross from behind, but the two of them are no match for Berole. Although his black-helmed face frequently turns L'Wehn's way, Berole has made no attempt to damage her as of yet. S'Part moves forward to cast a divine spell of healing upon A'Ha, and then to harry the cleric of Iuz with ray of frost spells. El'Fross, who was briefly possessed by the cleric and knows something of the way he thinks, has a faint idea about the things Berole has in mind, and they are very unpleasant. El'Fross is making every effort to take out Berole, and Berole is finally irritated enough to take care of the problem. With a gesture at El'Fross, El'Fross is suddenly struck motionless as Snf'L still is, and can do nothing. S'Part has dropped the rod in the corner within the crypt to do his spellcasting, and now Berole moves through the elves and stands over the rod, ready to grab it. S'Part runs back, risking an attack by Berole as he reaches for and grasps the rod. Furious, Berole raises his sword to attack S'Part, but A'Ha is there in a flash to block the blow. Berole sheathes the sword and casts one last spell, touching A'Ha in the chest. With a strangled cry, A'Ha drops to the floor, dead, turing back into his true reincarnated bear form as he does so. S'Part casts yet another ray of frost, which drops the badly injured Berole, but seconds late. L'Wehn drops her weapon and throws herself on her brother's dead body.

Some heated discussion ensues. Shouold the party use the rod of resurrection on A'Ha? On Siroth? Neither? Both? L'Wehn insists that her brother be restored to his former self, and is beside herself with worry that now that he is a bear, the bear will come back and not A'Ha as a bear. L'Wehn eventually convinces S'Part to let her try the resurrection with the rod, but nothing happens as she speaks the word "Igwill". S'Part is convinced to try the rod on Siroth's dead dragon self and says, "Igwill" as well. Nothing happens. They must take A'Ha to the Restoration Pool of the Centaurs. L'Wehn is concerned that this will not work and will only bring the bear back, not her brother. It is decided that since they were originally heading to find the body of X'Ylo, they would also look for a piece of the body of A'Ha and take them both back to the pool for resurrection.

The party removes the skeletal body from the black plate mail and tosses it down the well. They plan to do the same with the plate mail, shield and helm of the foul cleric, but a curious S'Part uses his dancing lights to go down as far as he can to see what lies at the bottom of the well. A horrid growling echoes up from the very deepest depths of the well and a ringing sound of steel upon stone is heard. The sound is extremely rapid, as if 5 warriors were each banging away with two weapons upon the walls of the well. The sound grows louder with each passing second. The party exits the crypt (L'Wehn pausing long enough to hack off a paw of her brother the bear and a piece of tail from the dead dragon) and heads out at a full run.

Near the crypt, leaning up against a tree, is the thief who "helped" the party against the Green Dragon, Coderick the Halfling. Grinning at the party he asks where they are going in such a hurry and is given a hurried explanation. The elves keep moving, slowing down slightly for the Halfling's bandy legs. Snf'L even picks the little fella up for awhile and runs with him until Coderick threatens to "stick him" if he doesn't put him down.

Late that afternoon as the party travels through a slight depression in the forest, a sound is heard...

From the diary of El'Fross:

The tragedy that is the existence of A'ha took yet another turn today. As we faced with perhaps the most dangerous fight of our lives to date, fate stepped in and dealt our unlucky friend yet another blow.

In Berole's crypt we came across none other than Berole himself. He cleverly possessed the most daring and brave member of our party (that would be me) and managed, through me, to raise his grossly mummified body. We could have died easily if not for a little good luck. Having briefly shared his mind and thoughts, I cringe at the plans he had laid out for our little group, particularly the fair L'Wehn. The murals on the walls of his crypt did not do justice to what might have transpired, but for a bit of good fortune. Unfortunately, the good fortune did not extend to A'ha. Not only did he die….but he transformed back into a bear….the polymorph spell ending with his death. All this but moments before Berole went on to his just rewards….

After the battle we managed to awaken another hideous creature deep within the well inside the crypt. We didn't stick around long enough to find out what it was. Unfortunately we abandoned a lot of our stuff in our hurry to leave. This included the body of the young Siroth and many of my belongings that the dragon had been so graciously carrying for me. Including my lute….sigh.

And who did we find just outside the crypt? Coderick the unfortunate halfling we freed from the centaurs was leaning against a rock, looking rather lost. As we hurried past, he decided to join us, apparently thinking some companionship was better than wandering through the forest alone. He slowed us down substantially, but I didn't complain….after all a stroll is better than a brisk walk in most situations.

Back to A'ha….we travelled in the general direction where we first came across the camp of Lillpuddin and his merry gang of righteous warriors, just shortly before they wandered into Iuz and were slaughtered by demons. We hope to find some sort of remnants of A'ha's and X'ylo's original bodies. If we manage to find them, we might be able to bring them back in the pool the centaurs showed us. Although, I'm beginning to think that it is Sehanine's intention that A'ha remain dead. Something about the prophecy perhaps. ….the death of the one (S'roth) and the two (A'ha????). I had always thought the two referred to S'Rang, though I really didn't want to mention it to the guy….it would be a downer thinking that your death was somehow pre-ordained by some higher power simply as some sort of twisted plot device. But perhaps the two refers to poor, A'ha. The man who lost an arm, then died due to the shock of growing it back, only to be raised and die because of the shock of that, to be brought back yet again as a bear, polymorphed to an elf, turned to stone and then killed again by an evil cleric who had been lying dead for who knows how long…..it makes one wonder if he is meant for this world.

Session Sixty-Four

Experience: The Battle with the "Box" was worth 1,365xp. That divides out to 273xp each for El'Fross, Snf'L, Coderick, S'Part and L'Wehn. I have to admit I botched the battle slightly. I had the thing turn sharper than it should have been able to and had it doing double moves while still being able to trample and I'm not sure that's correct. I threw this encounter at the group to see if we couldn't get some puzzle-solving going on after so many battle encounters (and to complete the cycle of Fred mirror encounters *grin*).

Roleplayer(s) of the week:

A good role-playing session, which we haven't had for awhile. There were some comments on the role-playing, such as Murray's ability to seemingly seamlessly slide sideways into Coderick's "I have no idea what these elves are talking about" from A'Ha's familiarity with the group. Snf'L inpeccable, unstoppable honesty was mentioned, as was S'Part's obvious dismay at Sehanine's apparent dissatisfaction with his performance. El'Fross' tree-climbing ability was pointed out as well. All-in-all, I was happy enough with the experience to give each PC (and even L'Wehn, who had much to say about the party's next move) 100xp for it.

Coderick - 373xp - was at 18,450xp - puts him at 18,823xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
El'Fross - 373xp - was at 20,227xp - puts him at 20,600xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
Snf'L - 373xp - was at 19,809xp - puts him at 20,182xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
S'Part - 373xp - was at 11,635xp - puts him at 12,008xp - needs 15,000 for 6th level
L'Wehn - 373xp - was at 11,447xp - puts her at 11,820xp - needs 15,000 for 6th level

Daranel - ?xp - was 6,465xp - puts him at ?xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
Grinbeard - ?xp - was at 6,907xp - puts him at ?xp - needs 10,000xp for 5th level
A'Ha - at 8,847xp ...DEAD...
Siroth the White Dragon - 0xp - ...DEAD...
Tikkel the spider - ..DEAD..
X'Ylo - ...DEAD...

2nd Brewfest (cont...)

The party travles most of the day, heading in the direction the army originally came from when they approached the crypt. Just before dusk they find a spot which is likely the one that the army camped in three months ago. It is difficult to tell if it is the correct place because the plant life is abundant here and the leaves have begun to fall off the trees. It becomes obvious very quickly that the failing light is not sufficient to search efficiently for the bones of X'Ylo. The party turns in for the night.

The elves are surprised to learn that Coderick thinks he needs 8 to 10 hours of sleep! L'Wehn thinks the halfling is just lazy. El'Fross admires the little guy's ambition. Discussion begins on the party's next move.

The discussion continues, getting more and more heated (and without A'Ha even!). A few things are found in the area, and L'Wehn finds a skeleton under a tree. S'Part examines the skull and determines that it did once belong to a n elf, and has been dead a few months. Further examination of the skull reveals that there are minute scratches on the inner jaw that might be consistent with the mortal injury X'Ylo received. Further, a scratch is found on the inside of the top of the skull. El'Fross chuckles at the revelation, somewhat disrespectfully, and L'Wehn gives him a look.

Now the discussion begins in earnest. S'Part is dismayed that one of the spells he prayed for did not come to him and when he had tried to cast a spell of curing it did not function as well as he thought it should. El'Fross points out that maybe priests of Sehanine should not carry about evil rods of Iuz. S'Part spends some time trying to destroy the rod. The rest of the group argues about their next step. They have the bones of X'Ylo - do they head to the Restoration Pool and bring him back from the land of the dead? Do they go back to the castle and search for A'Ha's arm so they can bring him back as well? Do they go to the try and find the encampment where A'Ha (and several other elves) died to find a bone of A'Ha? How woudl they know if one was his or another elf's? If they go back tot he castle, Snf'L feels he must tell Pall that her baby dragon is dead, killed by Snf'L himself. Others protest on the one hand that that is suicide, and on the other hand that she never cared about her baby after it was born anyway.

Suddenly the Ettin eyeballs are recalled. They have to get them back to Unicks before they start to decay. It is settled - the party sets out for Unicks after breakfast.

JUst before noon, as the party travels through the forest of red and gold, Snf'L spots something very large moving through the trees ahead. He makes hand signals at the party and as a group they hide among the trees. Suddenly, lurching into view is a large metal box, rolling along on large wheels. It tries to run over the party one by one. L'Wehn seems to have the worst luck in not getting out of the way in time.

S'Part gets a good distance away and waits to see if anything comes out of the box. Snf'L, much less patient, leaps onto the box and tries to see inside. The top of the box is made of a glass panel, which Snf'L stands on while trying to smash it with his sword. The panel breaks and Snf'L falls into the machine. He gets pinched between a gear and a lever, causing him much pain for a few seconds. Then he tries to stop the thing by smashing one of the moving metal rods. Coderick, having taken cover, is trying to catch a glimpse of a hand-hold underneath the construct. As the thing rolls over a slight hillock, he catches a glimpse of the undercarriage. He holds his breath and prepares himself for a tumble underneath the wheels, where he hopes to be able to catch the undercarriage before he is squashed. Fortunately, just as he is ready to roll out from the pine tree he is hiding in, the box shudders to a stop, grinding and shaking. Snf'L has jammed his bastard sword into the gears and has stopped the thing. It still inches forward, shuddering and convulsing, but is obviously still functioning. Coderick rolls under and looks quickly at what there is to see about the device's operation. He determines that there are some vital gear above him in the hollowed-out stone bell shape in the center of the thing, and he smashes these with a little finess and a lot of force. The thing shudders once more and then stops, a sound not unlike a sigh escaping it as it settles down on the wheels.

From the diary of El'Fross:

Travelling for the rest of the day, slowed somewhat by Coderick's sloth-like pace, we finally found what we thought might be the camp where X'Ylo had skewered himself by accident almost two months ago. We looked around a bit, but as darkness approached we set up camp, deciding to search the next day.

I spent some time grumbling about not being able to celebrate brew-fest properly when S'Nfl, bless his soul, broke out some yummy cheap wine from his backpack. We sat and drank a toast to our, once again, dear departed friend, A'ha. L'Wehn was despondent and I tried to comfort her, to little avail. I couldn't bring myself to tell her my suspicions of A'ha's destiny, and assured her that we would bring him back – somehow.

The next day, it took some searching – probably due to the cheap wine headache, but we managed to find what we thought to be X'Ylo's skeleton. Upon closer examination, we were 99% certain that it was X'Ylo. The skull had markings that looked curiously as if the cause of death was a javelin placed into the skull, starting just below the chin and intersecting the skull to the top, almost perfectly. Good old X'ylo.

We each took a piece of remains; I claimed the skull. After much debate (why do we do this) we decided to head back to Unicks – drop off the [Ettin] eyeballs and confirm the skull's identity. S'Nfl was being overly cautious about this and I silently decided that I would attempt to raise our friend on the way back to Unicks if we approached close enough to the pond. I think I could slip away, raise him, and be back before anyone noticed, given the speed, or lack thereof, of our new companion.

Soon after we left for Unicks we were attacked by an odd looking construct, that seemed nearly impossible to damage. S'Nfl managed to stop its progress for some time, and Coderick disabled it absolutely after that, but not before it had dealt a fair bit of damage to me and even more to L'Wehn. It is a good thing that Coderick was with us. I was at a loss, and spent much of the battle in a tree, trying to formulate a plan, that never did manifest itself. Come to think of it, I was acting sort of like Snf'L does sometimes. Note to self – don't do that again.

After a brief examination of the thing, we set off back to Unicks. I will now look for the opportunity to raise our friend, repay the Wizard and continue our quest.

Session Sixty-Five

Experience: Sorry this took so long, but I've been working on my Income Tax. Here's the experience for the game last Saturday night. I'm tempted to give Fred 800xp just for the supper, but then I'd have to give John 500xp because it was his birthday and because he let me drink an entire bottle of his red wine, then Murray some for stealing some of his beer, then Darrel some because he's gonna lend me some movies to watch...
So, let's stick with game xp: I'm giving everyone 100xp for the role-playing. We had a good time and got some good argueing done about S'Part's situation with his God. Darrel did an excellent job of not acting on game info, as he had run that encounter with the Gray ooze himself. I was convinced he never read it, that's how well he played it.

For the critters, we had a Rhinoceros which was not beaten but definitely put the party at risk. He was worth 193xp per character. Then we had the CR4 Gray Ooze, which with it's "special ability", I would say makes it CR5. That's 273xp per character. I am giving Coderick a bonus of 50xp for losing his +2 shortsword (that's gotta hurt!)

Coderick - 100+193+273+100=666xp - was at 18,823xp - puts him at 19,489xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
El'Fross - 100+193+273=566xp - was at 20,600xp - puts him at 21,166xp

Congratulations on 7th Level!
Snf'L - 100+193+273=566xp - was at 20,182xp - puts him at 20,748xp - needs 21,000 for 7th level
S'Part - 100+193+273=566xp - was at 12,008xp - puts him at 12,574xp - needs 15,000 for 6th level
L'Wehn - 100+193+273=566xp - was at 11,820xp - puts her at 12,386xp - needs 15,000 for 6th level

3rd Brewfest to 4th Brewfest

S'Part is granted a spell he cannot possibly access and is denied others he has specifically prayed for. Getting an idea that perhaps he is supposed to use the spell to solve the problem about the rod, he asks, "Sehanine, what would you like us to do with the rod?" and gets the response, "A hiding place is what you need, look to the knight who does not bleed."

A cryptic response at best...

5th Brewfest

On the way to Unicks, the party stops in Agald to visit the elf who they turned to flesh. She produly shows that she had "Rave" restored. S'Part is grateful. The party continues on to Unicks.

Arrival in the evening. They stay at the "Whetstone". Snf'L gets very drunk.

6th Brewfest

El'Fross and S'Part go to the Wizard's Tower. Jenelle is the assistant working today. Neumann is "on an errand". The wizard grants an audience with S'Part and El'Fross and accepts the Ettin eyeballs. The wizard has no suggestions about the party's problem with the Rod they got from Berole's crypt.

From the diary of El'Fross:

Our trip back to Unicks was uneventful. Perhaps the entire forest was taking some time off to celebrate BrewFest. Upon arriving in town, we went straight to the Wizard's Tower. To my surprise, Neuman was not in the tower, and instead we were greeted by a rather sleepy looking female elf, who was barely half our young ages. She said Neuman was on assignment; we would later catch a glimpse of his "assignment, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I asked to see the Wizard and was immediately granted an audience, which seemed to surprise everyone but myself. I think the Wizard senses the power that I have yet to unleash within myself and grants my requests for an audience out of professional courtesy. I took S'Part with me, since he had the closest connection to the matter I wanted to discuss with "Spooge" as she/he/it later referred to herself.