Delph Vermin - The Extermination Mission

Summary

GM: Michael Young
Time: Summer 812 WK
Day: Wednesdays
Level: The High Side of Medium

The Party

Veor – Ice Mage. A close look at the eyes will reveal a hint of madness, so naturally he is our leader (Party Leader)
Dirk – Dwarf (Military Scientist)
Zanak - Former Human pirate, now a warrior priest of Ahura Mazda (Scribe)
Elenna - E&E Mage. A shy human, not very pretty but quite practical
Dwork – orc body guard, male prostitute and wielder of a massive flaming glaive. Over-powered, over-sexed and over-here
Robert – Pretty boy human adventurer with a dark look and a multitude of weapons & battle axe. Mind mage in black leather armour
Garrick – A dwarf Illusionist, thief and alchemist
Robinton – Human, Illusionist, Troubador, and entertainment master
Djulius the Witchboy – Dark robes and a youthful face with an evil smirk. Falcion always at his side in leather armour covered by black robes

Employer

Julius - Estate owner and Alchemist

Mission

The estate is overrun by vermin (Orks, Goblins, Ogres etc). Remove them from the estate. Kill them if necessary (or if you just enjoy that sort of thing).

Payment

Alchemical agents and some money. Advanced 30,000 SP

Scribe Notes

It is a large group of adventurers who meet with Alexander in the Guild meeting rooms. Alexander is the representative of Julius, an estate owner in the island of Delph. Alexander, in his mid 40s and balding, wore simple clothes which was unusual for an estate representative. It took us a while to cotton on to the fact that he was a slave.

The estate is south east of the major city of Athens but still within its borders. The estate is surrounded by forest/jungle and hills but has an area of several thousand acres. It can take several days to ride across the estate.

The State army is not available to remove the vermin as they are busy on other matters. From all accounts there are hundreds of vermin setting up camp in the estate area. There are some elementalist spellcasters in the group. Julius is happy for them to be "dead or dead". We can help other infested estates but we would need to seek recompense from their owners.

We spend the first few days shopping for healing potions and restoratives. Garrick gives Dwork an illusion so that he isn't mistaken for vermin. Garrick also creates some witchsight potions for Veor and the party. We leave on day 4 with the expectation of the trip taking a week.

The Chaos Storm

On Day 6 we see a storm approaching from the north. Veor creates an iceberg behind the ship (between us and the storm) which has the effect of lowering the wave height near it. He also puts up a spell barrier around the ship. Dwork firelights the iceberg so it can be seen.

The storm catches up to us within a few hours and blows us about till day 12. Dirk divinates the storm on the first encounter and finds out it is a Chaos Storm. It was created as a magical construct several weeks ago south of Destiny (a naval power north east of Seagate). This gives us some comfort that it wasn't aimed at us.

Early evening on Day 9 Veors iceberg moves away. This wasn't something he did so he creates a new one. It very quickly changes colour and sinks. We notice steam rising from the water around the ship. Dwork fireproofs the boat and sails. Dirk casts a Chaos counterspell on the boat and the steaming stops.

We realise there is a Fire elemental and an Earth elemental in the storm. Dirk tries to banish the earth elemental but is hit in the head by a small rock. Garrick and Robert see an imp by the base of the mast. Robert throws a spear overboard (he claims he was aiming for the imp) while Garrick gives the imp a good smack. It scampers up the mast. Z casts a true seeing spell so the rest of the group can see it.

Garrick keeps smacking it while the rest of us wait for a bit of clear combat space so we can cast destructive spells against the imp. Dirk tries banishing the imp about a hundred times with little success (he is constantly reminded by the party to rank these counter spells).

Eventually the imp climbs up the mast a bit more to escape Garrick. The rest of the party blast the imp and it vapourises.

With the imp gone Dirk is better able to banish the two elementals (much to the parties surprise). We are getting concerned that we might crash into the island of Delph so we attempt to slow the boat down a bit.

The storm finally clears on Day 12 and we figure out we have overshot the island by 200 miles. We head back, staying well clear of the southern tip where the Drow are known to live. We practice skills, spells and tactics.

Pirates Attack

On Day 14, as we approach the north west corner of the island, we see a ship to the south east of us. It is likely to be a pirate ship and they will reach us in about 4 hours. Robert does a precog and sees other pirate ships approaching.

Veor creates an iceberg to ram the ship and hides it in our wake. He also ices the deck and gives us (and the crew) ice traversal. Dirk puts up some forbiddings against Drow as they are the most likely enemy on the pirate ship. Robinton will use his bardic fear ability to hopefully convince them to leave us alone once they get close enough.

It doesn't take long for another pirate ship to appear on an intercept course. We maintain our heading and hope to round the edge of the island before they can catch us. We also maintain our battle readiness. Just as we turn and head due East we see another pirate ship on a collision course with us. We had planned to use Illusionary Fog to obscure the pirate spell casters distance capabilities but this third ship is too close to bother with the 30 minute cast time. Garrick does cast an illusion of the ship deck being 3 feet higher than it really is though. This will cause the boarders to land awkwardly, giving us an advantage.

Moments before the ship comes along side us a whale attempts to ram us. It is being mind controlled but Veor manages to put an ice wall between the ship and the whale which deflects most of its attack.

The battle starts. A mage on the front of the bow throws streams of corruption from an item. Garrick does a few flashes of light which blinds about 60% of the invaders. Those that do leap about almost all fall prone (Garricks illusion of the deck height). Veor and Robinton battle them in the bow. Dirk, Garrick and Elenna throw grenados. Zanak does a few thundrclaps on the pirate ship decks. Veors iceberg comes up and slams into the pirate ships bow, ripping a huge hole in the ship as it continues down the side.

At this point the pirates get a bit desperate and throw wave after wave of boarding parties at us.

Surprisingly we do very well against them. Veor, Robinton and Robintons "Windy Knight" (like an air based phantasm) hold the bow of our ship. They are forced to the put their backs to the railing but a mound of dead bodies piles up before them. Dirk, Garrick, Djulius and Robert hold the center of the ship. Dirk and Robert are almost leaped upon by the boarders but they deftly avoid most of the entanglements. The few that do get in close with them are quickly despatched. Djulius comes to back up Garrick, not that Garrick really needed it. The illusion of the closed hold tricks almost a dozen of the attackers and they fall through to be trampled and bitten by the two war ponies, a war dog and an illusioned sabre tooth tiger. The rear of the boat is held by Elenna, Dwork and Zanak against a few phantasms. They do manage to throw a few spells to confuse the pirates.

There is a mind mage on the pirate ship (though we never see him or her) who as a last resort commands a Kraken to attack us. Djulius is grabbed by a tentacle and as we focus on freeing him the pirate ship disengages and retreats. The ship limps away while they attempt to repair the gaping hole the iceberg made.

Dirk wants to chase them down and make them pay for the boarding attempt but Veor sees sense and we continue on our way to find safety at the port of Athens. After all there are still 2 more pirate ships trying to close with us but they are a few hours behind us.

On the horizon we see a small fleet of naval vessels. Before handing over our prisoners we decide to offer the single drow an opportunity to escape certain death. If he tells us some useful information we will set him adrift a few miles off the coast. He refuses so Garrick gets stuck into some more traditional forms of "information extraction". He resists for several hours then as the Navy ships get closer he finally relents.

It appears the pirates had a magical compass which directed them to Seagate Adventurers (not us specifically though). Veor thinks it might have come from the demons of Haven.

The Drow promises on his fellow pirate mages behalf to "leave us alone for the season" before we let him go free.

The mundane items we hand over to the captain and his crew, keeping the magical items for ourselves. The remaining pirates are handed over to the navy.

Julius's Estate

On the afternoon of day 15 we arrive in Athens by the Sea. We go to Julius's townhouse in the city. He is a jolly old chap in his 50s and seems quite forgetful. It becomes clear that his younger wife is the true "power behind the throne". Her name is Julia. She looks like she is only in her 20s but she bats her eyelids and professes to being slightly older. We think in her 40s.

We stay for dinner and a peaceful nights sleep. Julius supplies us with some new potions and grenados. Of particular interest are some Mana potions which give 10 spell fatigue back and increase the cast base chance by 10 for an hour. There are also selections of anti-venom potions.

Alexander says he will be staying with Julius while we head off to solve the vermin problem but he arranges for an overseer called Albert to accompany us. We stay in Athens by the Sea till day 19 arranging for even more potions (12 Waters of Strength and 12 Waters of Healing) and how to learn the wards of protection from the demons (Albert will teach us on the journey). We also are supplied 12 horses and 6 donkeys. We practice riding them (the horses that is). Garrick makes some Methane Grenados and Elenna makes some Crystals of Vision.

We ask about for any information on the area and the vermin. We learn 2 items of interest. There is a silver mine on Julius's estate (north east corner) and the estate slaves have likely been taken there. We commit to rescuing them. Also some elementals are possessed by demons.

The Rising Taint

It takes us several days of following the river to get close to Julius's estate. Mid-afternoon on Day 21 Albert stops us as a vast forest is encountered. This forest wasn't here a month ago. Zanak can virtually feel the taint emanating from it and warns the party. Dirk does a divination and finds he is suddenly tainted. He is now rank zero for divination. Zanak does some taint healing on Dirk but it is a lot harder than expected. We do learn that this part of the jungle wasn't here yesterday though so we plan to retreat a few hundred feet before setting up camp for the evening.

Robinton uses a crystal of vision about 500 feet in the air. We quickly figure out the tainted forest is centered on the silver mine. It sounds like they have dug too deep and unleashed a major problem. We consider what our next steps will be.

We hear drums in the distance but it doesn't really panic us. Instead we beat a hasty retreat and set up camp about a mile back down the river, about a hundred yards inland. The area looks defensible with a clearing in the forest. On the short trip we plant some stakes in the ground at regular intervals so we can measure the forest growth in the coming morning. We retire for the evening with our usual wardings and buffs.

Shortly after midnight there is a small earthquake which is strong enough to frighten and scatter the horses. The rest of the group is jolted awake as we are bounced about by the rolling earth. As we begin to gather our wits we find ourselves suddenly surrounded by a dense chaos tainted forest. The party members on guard blink in surprise. A horde of monkeys make a racket as they leap all over us from the forest canopy. The noise is deafening but this is just a distraction. The entire area erupts with hands of earth and we are all entrapped, struggling to break free. Each step free lands us in yet another hand. Veor, Dirk, Dwork, Garrick and Robert manage to break free early on and are pelted with diamond tipped javelins.

From the edge of the jungle we can see about a dozen goblins casting spells at us. The monkeys prove to be only illusions aimed at distracting us. The giant lizard creatures are not though. One of them grabs Dwork and shakes him about after he fireballs some of the goblins. Garrick goes invisible and sneaks up behind it and with one incredibly violent attack the creature falls to the ground dead. The other lizard races off around the party to get some room between it and Garrick. On the other side of the party Robert is just getting free of the cluster of hands and steps out into a bit of space, only to be scooped up in the lizards jaws and almost bitten in half. He plays dead while Zanak, Dirk and Robintons tiger attack it from the rear. Dwork chases after the lizard too but manages to get some more fireballs onto the remaining goblins before catching up.

While all this has been occurring Veor has been using his strength to help Zanak and Djulius to break free of the hands. Djulius was also in a pickle when the earth below him changed into lava but Veor just shrugged the effects off. Garrick has been confronting and killing every goblin he can get close to. One of them gets stuck on Garricks claws (it is an effect of being in the chaos forest for extended periods of time) so it takes a few seconds for him to magically unstick and remove the smelly creature. Robinton has been successfully blinding the enemy when not engaged in chasing lizards.

Veor, having successfully freed the weaker members of the party from the hands of earth, lays about the immediate area with some nifty blizzard spells, wiping out whole chunks of the chaos forest and startling the goblin mages.

At this point the remaining goblins (not that there are many left) start to scatter. Garrick, Zanak and Dirks wolf capture a goblin each.

It takes the rest of the night but we question them, examine the treasure from the dead bodies and regather the horses. We also move the camp a bit further downriver.

Planning the Next Encounter

One of the goblins speaks freely with us in exchange for its live. The other 2 are taken aside by Dwork and when he returns he has a few new scalps hanging on his belt. There are 2 or maybe 3 elementals being controlled by demons. The goblin knows about the Fire and Earth ones. We suspect there is a wood elemental involved too. The most feared elemental is the fire one and it is based in the depths of the mine. There is weird stuff happening in the mines. Tunnels appear, disappear or simply take you somewhere else. The quarry has nothing useful but the main estate house is the new base for the orcs.

The 3 goblins have been affected by the chaos forest in different ways. One is sticky to the touch, one is able to pass on some damage to other beings and the third is lucky. Clearly it is the lucky one that agreed to talk to us. We let him go free.

We spend day 22 resting and healing. Dwork and Robert had both been poisoned so Robinton and Zanak are kept busy. We also plan out a raid on the orcs in the estate house. We need to gather more information about the mines and the elemental demons before confronting them. The plan is simple. We fly in, Garrick and Veor first. They will start taking out the guards on the 5 towers (one in each corner of the estate house and one in the central open courtyard). Robinton will fly around blinding everyone while the rest of the party lands on the roof and we go on a killing spree. We think the orc leaders will be in the north east corner as that is where the master bedroom is. Capturing them alive would be preferred but is optional as we can talk to the dead.

We travel back a few miles and rest at the last village for the evening. We leave our horses stabled there as we will be flying the next morning.

On the morning of day 23 we put illusions of being orcs on us all. Robert does a limited precog and sees a big battle (no surprises there) but also sees a set of angelic wings. We hope they are assistance after a victorious battle but it could mean a soul being returned. Zanak says his prayers even more fervently as he has managed to go for a full 3 weeks on an adventure without being killed.

Battle for the Estate

10am we fly off and the raid commences.

Despite coming in at speed with starwings which are virtually invisible at this time of day we are spotted and horns are blown to alert the orcs. The first part of our plan works even better than we expected. We land on the roof and begin demolishing the defences. Some fireballs from Dwork and some deftly placed ice constructions from Veor quickly take out the towers. The crossbow bolts that do come our way more often than not strike a multiple image (thanks to Garrick) or are shrugged off with the corruscade shields (thanks to Zanak). Veor needs a little help from Zanak to take a bolt out of his back. The blinded orcs on the balconies make the mistake of sticking their heads out too far and are targeted by Djulius, Robert and Dwork.

We gather on the northeast corner of the roof and use the holes Robert and Robinton created on their less than smooth landings to get into the attic. We make a hole through the attic to the room below but find it to be slightly south of the master bedroom. Dirk, Dwork and Robinton drop in to an empty room, with Elenna to follow next. A door to the balcony/corridor opens and an orc enters. Dirk batters him backwards and the orc falls to the ground. Before we can react further another orc steps into view and crossbow bolts all 3 at once. He then quickly steps back out of sight. This shows true military initiative and gives us a heads up that the hand to hand fighting is likely to be more intense. Garrick, Veor and Zanak decide to go slightly west before dropping through the roof to land on the balcony, hoping to gain an element of surprise on the cluster of troops outside the room. Robert and Djulius do the same but head south to the next room before dropping through. Dwork blasts some fireballs into the corridor area and is rewarded with the sound of toasting orcs. We can hear someone calling for the goblin fire squad to arrive.

Garrick, Veor and Zanak create a hole across the room wall and the balcony. From here they can see into the master bedroom as well as the balcony. There are 4 orcs in the bedroom preparing to enter the room with Dwork, Dirk and Robinton (and Elenna by now) so they decide to drop into the master bedroom instead and engage them from the rear. Garrick is heard to say "I love taking them from the rear". Of course he is invisible at the time. Their plan works well as Garrick assassinates one while Veor and Zanak keep another 2 engaged. Zanak appears to be having a "fit" as he can't hit a huge orc right in front of him. 2 more enter the room from the west door and Garrick keeps them busy for a while. 2 have managed to break free and enter the room with Elenna and Dwork. Dwork makes short work of them while Elenna fumbles about.

In the mean time Dirk and Robinton have stepped into the corridor and are busy engaging a bunch of orcs. Robinton does some flashes of light and summons his "windy knight". As the Goblins rush up from the ground floor he creates an illusion of the balcony floor in front of them crumbling away. Along with the blindness this causes them to pause. Dirk gets a moment of respite as Djulius and Robert enter the fray from the next room to the south but things swiftly go from good to bad when another wave of orcs appear on the balcony just behind them. After a few chaotic moments Veor is able to create an ice wall separating the main group of orcs from Djulius, Robert and Dirk. The orcs succumb quickly and one explodes as it dies, blasting Djulius off the balcony to the courtyard below. He is hurt but manages to fly back up to the roof.

This moment of respite is well needed as earlier in the fight both Dirk and Dwork hit the same orc. Both felt the sweep of cold up their arm. The damage appears to be building each round. They realise they need some taint healing from Zanak before they drop dead. Dwork gets to Zanak first and the taint is removed on the first try. It takes a moment longer for Dirk and Zanak to get close enough to try the healing spell. It fails on the first attempt.

Despite this the group has done quite well so far. There are at least 15 dead orcs and the possibility that some of the ones in the master bedroom were the commanders.

Zanak finally gets Dirk cured and notices that Garrick needs a little taint healing too. Not to mention having new wings for our escape. We grab the 3 most likely to be in charge and fly off. Dirk also grabs 2 reloading crossbows from the dead. As we depart we hear drums start up, no doubt passing on the message of the massive invasion force that just assaulted the estate house. Dwork pauses for a moment to ignite as much of the house and contents as he can. Lets face it, Julius will need to rebuild the house anyway with all the damage the vermin have done.

We spend the rest of the day back in the village questioning the orc prisoners before killing them. We only learn two things of note. Firstly the orc leader who goes by the name of Zug was not at the estate. He spends a lot of time at the mines. Secondly there isn't much sign of Silver coming out of the mine. That makes us wonder what are they really doing down there. We have elementals and demons involved so there can't be anything good involved. We ask the village mayor to send word back to the city about the orcs being well organised and more dangerous than normal.

Mine Assault - Part One

Day 24 rolls round and we use a crystal of vision to have a quick look at the quarry area. It is deserted. It is either a trap or there is no one to capture for more questioning. We don't have enough information to assault the mine yet so we decide to do a quick flyby of the mine entrance, grab a few captives and take them away.

It is midday as we approach the mine. From high up we can see a primitive settlement in a state of disrepair. There are 6 long houses, some fire pits and 3 spaces big enough for us to land, albeit carefully. There are 5 tower stations but again everything looks quiet. Dirk and Dwork land first while Garrick and Robinton do flying flashes of light. Zanak, Robert and Elenna land on the next pulse with Garrick, Robinton and Djulius in the last wave. (Veor stayed in the village as he wasn't feeling well).

From out of nowhere Zanak and Elenna and struck by huge ballista bolts and instead of landing gracefully they both crash to the ground. Elenna does it in style and almost obliterates a house on her own. It could have something to do with the methane grenados and other dangerous items in her possession which explode on impact. There are sounds of screaming survivors exiting the building. Robert informs us Elenna didn't survive the plunge and we mourn her loss (and her quickness spell) while we struggle to repulse a huge number of Orcs and Goblins. They seem to come from every house in waves of 3 or 6. Within a few pulses there are more than 50 assaulting us.

Robinton moves to Djulius and wants to help him off a tree that he has managed to impale himself on but can't spare any time except to continue with flashes of light. Dwork does some truly massive fireballs and toasts a bunch of orcs who are bunched together between 3 buildings. Lucky for us as that group could have swarmed us within another pulse or two. Dwork also had fireballed the 2 hidden towers above the mine entrance that dropped Elenna and Zanak. They burn like they were made of tinder.

Dirk throws a methane grenade at one wave and then retreats when he realises all they do is knock the orcs to the ground for a pulse. He steps back to help Robert get free from a set of hands of earth and conveniently uses him as a shield when one wave of orcs gets close enough for melee combat. Garrick, who has been invisible the whole time and sending out more flashes of light, sneaks to Robintons side and destroys the few orcs approaching from the rear of one building. This frees up Robinton a bit to start stabilising Djulius.

Zanak takes a few turns to activate the healing runes on whoever needed them while Garrick confuses the enemy when he shrugs off diamond tipped javelins and fire arrows. It appears he is as tough as he says he is. A goblin pokes his head out from the roof that Elenna crashed through and drops a grenade next to Zanak. It misses by just enough for Zanak to realise the new threat exists. He turns and throws his war hammer at the goblin head and gets a very satisfying hit on it. Zanak then climbs in through the windows and searches for Elennas body.

Garrick engages some orcs and uses them as shields. They prove to be quite effective as shields.

Dwork struggles with an over sized orc and they both retreat from each other after doing some significant blows. He takes a potion and selflessly throws himself into a small group of orcs. During the battle he is hit by a grenade from a goblin. He is covered in soot but it has no effect till he tries to cast spells. He fails some fireballs when he swears he should have succeeded.

About this time a second wave of Orcs and Goblins appear from all sides. There must be another 40 or more of them. Dirk changes to Gorilla form and batters his way through one group. Garrick throws a lust potion at the largest group which keeps them 'occupied' for the rest of the engagement. He then combines Robinton to flash the rest into blindness.

Dirk also takes care of a pesky Orc with a lightning spear. It manages to bolt Dirk, Dwork and Garrick before having its head ripped from its shoulders.

Knowing Zanak will be back in a short time with Elennas body the party focusses on clearing the vermin from the closest place where we can take flight. Robert kills the last one blocking that particular area which allows Djulius and Robinton to soar into the air. Robert tries to fly but can't seem to avoid the cliff above the mine entrance and the densely forested are on top. He manages to skewer himself as he crashes and pays the ultimate price for his clumsiness.

He could have really used the extra death buzz before crashing.

Dwork finds himself a bit outnumbered and goes 2D. Now he can take off with ease. He recovers Roberts body as the last members of the party, including Zanak with Elennas body, take to the skies. The group flies to the quarry and performs some emergency healing on Djulius and Garrick. Djulius hadn't been stabilised enough before and had started bleeding again. Garrick had a taint effect which needed to be removed.

We then fly back to the village with a few dead orcs as passengers.

Mine Assault - Part Two

The whole party meets at Julius's city townhouse again where we still find him a bit absentminded. His wife and head slave (alexander) prove as useful as before though. We organise for a batch of new potions to be created by Julius's apprentices and Garrick. We search the orc bodies and find the usual potions and weapons. The only unusual thing is a small stone box. It purposes is "protection and confusion".

Alexander advises we visit the temple of Athena to get our party members resurrected so we head off with the appropriate "offerings" to ensure we can see the top priest. He seems amenable to helping us as we tell him the store about the demon possessed elementals but flatly refuses to resurrect Elenna and Robert. He insists we have the means required to achieve this already. We look at each other puzzled for a while till someone remembers the stone puzzle box. We didn't take the time to investigate it properly. We decide to head back and try it. Alexander has a quick word with the priest in a foreign language which results in the priest offering to give us a blessing if we come back when the dead are whole again. We assume that Alexander and his master have more sway in things than we had anticipated. There is obviously some other political intrigue happening that we are not privy to. We take it in our stride as it isn't the first time, and it certainly won't be the last time, where we are not being told the whole story.

The box reveals all after a divination. It can be opened by a woman or a Thaumaturgist. It is of Dwarven origin which is very peculiar for an item in Orc possession. Fortunately Dirk is a dwarf, of a thaumaturgist college and also currently a woman so he/she decides to brave the item and opens it. Inside is a golden bottle in the shape of an apple. He shakes it gently and is rewarded with the sound of an item rattling around inside. He pulls the stopper off and sees a golden liquid, which turns out to be a "restore life elixir", and a jubjub nut which has started sprouting. It DAs with rapid growth but is otherwise just a normal nut. We decide to plant it outside the temple as no one objects. We decide to patch both Robert and Elenna up as best we can before using any of the elixir. No point reviving them only to have them die again of the original injury :). Alexander disappears for a moment and returns with a salve to help with Elennas burns. We successfully bring both back from the land of the dead and the priest gives us his blessing. There are a few drops left in the bottle so Dirk closes it up and tucks it back into the stone puzzle box for safe keeping.

Day 27 rolls round and we sort out who has what potions/grenades before departing the city. We have invested in over 40,000 SP worth of items. There are potions of flash of light, feather fall, greek fire and methane. We have also invested an item with Zanaks Heal Taint spell. It has 5 charges and is given to Robert for safe keeping.

We decide on several plans.

Plan A

First we land at the quarry where Dwork uses an Aura of Alteration to give him the correct "pacted to demon" aura to avoid any wardings on the mine entrance. He walks in, finds the orc leader and uses one of Roberts items to switch minds with him. In the leaders body he orders the orcs on a forced march to the old estate. The effect will last for an hour which is more than enough time to keep the orcs out of our way.

Plan B

Arrive just outside the forest and buff up then immediately fly to above the mine entrance where the hidden ballista were (they were toasted by Dwork a few days ago). Clear the area of vermin and then bombard the area below till it is safe to land and enter the mine.

Either way we will all be disguised as Orcs. We use a crystal of vision to checkout the quarry and mine entrance. The quarry is more overgrown than we saw a few days ago. Again we suspect a trap. The mine has orcs and goblins hiding in the trees exactly where we had planned to land. We decide on Plan B with a slight modification of Veor withering the forest and covering it in ice, quickly followed by Dwork fireballing the area we want to land in. our only concern is the landing abilities of some of the party.

Between flashes of light, kamikaze illusionary eagles (thanks Garrick), withering and fireballs the first part of Plan B goes off flawlessly. We all manage to land with little mishap. Veor throws up a wall of ice to block some archers from the far side of the mine entrance while Dwork clears the space with some impressive fireballs. Elenna quickens us again.

The Battle Commences

It takes a fair bit to clear the top area. The orcs and goblins aren't too much of a problem, despite their numbers. A few well-placed ice walls to funnel them in and some potent fireballs work splendidly. Dirk plays crossbow bolt dummy for a bit till Robert mental attacks the rogue bowman. Just as we think we are getting the upper hand we hear 2 spells being cast. They sound like animal growth spells and sure enough a huge black rhino appears and batters its way through an ice wall. Robert stands his ground and manages to knock it unconscious, which is lucky for him as he was about to be trampled and gored to death. He takes a bit of "squishing" damage as it falls over him but he survives. Robinton senses a second creature coming from the same area but it is invisible. Zanak casts a true seeing and we can all see it as a huge blue hippo. Dirk and Garrick skilfully engage it without being trampled. Elenna then does something hilarious. She quickens it and the sudden burst of speed sees it skid off the edge of the cliff and it crashes into the campsite below. Veor continues to provide small ice wall protections from archers while creating blizzards and withering the plants in the mine camp. Robert, Elenna, Dirk and Dwork are standing near the edge of the cliff raining destruction on the orcs and goblins below, when suddenly the ground below them turns to magma. Dirk and Robert can't control themselves and begin sliding down the cliff face. Robert manages to grab a tree root and swings to safety. Dirk slides to the bottom and comes face to face with the goblin earth mage who created the magma. The goblin is panicking as Dirk slashes the vermin into pieces. 3 orcs step up to battle Dirk so the group on top of the cliff support him with magic. Garrick and Zanak go invisible and climb down the cliff face on some vines. Garrick gets to the ground a step before Zanak and rushes forward to assassinate the remaining orcs. Dirk kills one of them in a mighty blow but it explodes and drops Dirk to his knees. Dirk gets his rune healing activated just in time for a phantasm to start nibbling on him. Robert bravely ignores the orc clambering to him and casts the counterspell on the phantasm. Veor does an icepack to bring Dirk back to zero endurance which was very timely. Garrick throws some darts at the orc about to skewer Robert. Dwork begins to climb down as Robinton leaps off the edge and feather falls down. What Robinton forgot is the speed of featherfall is very slow and so it takes him most of the battle to get to the ground.

Robert gets hit by the orc and a swarm of bees erupt from its arm to attack Robert. Garricks next dart throw is very successful and severs the orcs aorta. Robert thanks Garrick and leaps to the ground behind the now dead blue hippo. Elenna slows the remaining orcs while Dwork fireballs them. The battle is going well.

From the mouth of the mine entrance the orc leader appears. He has an axe in one hand and a crossbow that appears to be almost built into his plate armour. Robinton gets hit twice as he gracefully drifts down to the ground till Veor puts an ice wall in between him and the orc leader. Another phantasm appears to be attacking Dirk. Both Robert and Dirk try to get rid of it and we think it was Robert who succeeded. We threaten the orc leader as we approach the edge of the clearing before the mine entrance. He laughs back at us and continues to taunt us while staying in the safety of the mine entrance. Elenna leaps into the air from the cliff top and lands on the roof of a building next to where she previously crashed so spectacularly. From here she can keep an eye on everything and warn us of any sneaking vermin. Zanak gets a quick DA on the orc and gets major weakness of death and major chaos effect of strength stealer. We play things carefully and remain at the edge of the clearing. We trade grenados with him while trying to find the mind mage who keeps targeting Dirk and Zanak with phantasms. Elenna tries to slow the orc leader but the spell reflects back to her. Fortunately she resists it.

At this point we decide to switch back to the original plan of trading minds with the orc leader. Dwork moves close to Garrick before trading minds. Garrick quickly saps him and we unexpectedly have control of the situation. Dwork, in the orc leaders body, shouts out that he surrenders and commands the remaining orc vermin to "run for their lives". Elenna confirms the ones she can see are turning tail and running. Dwork, in his exuberance to check out the new equipment, accidentally fires the crossbow at Garrick. Garrick gives his real body another smack to the back of the head.

Dwork steps forth from the mine entrance into the clearing as he continues to bellow to the retreating vermin, only to find himself falling into a well hidden pit. He takes some serious damage and we begin to wonder what will happen if he dies in the leaders body. Thankfully Robinton is a skilled healer and Dworks new body doesn't succumb to the sweet but final embrace of Death.

Vero lands safely and drops some more ice walls into the clearing which helps show the many pits laying in wait for us. There is only a safe passage hard against the cliff wall to the mine entrance. We know there is still a mind mage in the area and he/she is likely to be inside the cliff walls (the earth elemental is no doubt helping it to stay hidden so it can cast against us). Veor tells Zanak to think hard about "we are coming to kill you unless you surrender" knowing full well the mind mage will get the message on telepathy. It doesn't seem to phase the mind mage as more phantasms appear till Veor casts a snow storm which will also appear in the tunnel the mage is hiding in. The spells cease for a minute so we hastily retreat to the building Elenna is perched on top of and we fly off. As a parting shot Robert sticks his dagger into his eye. We presume the mind mage made him do it.

We get back to the city and hand over the orc leader to the authorities and collect a reward. Julius is pleased to see us but he can't remember why. His wife steps up and gives us a part payment for the mission done so far, although she expresses a desire to have the silver mine returned to her control. We agree to return to the mine and get rid of the elementals, but not till we have rested up and gathered some more resources, including finishing learning the ward to protect us from the elementals.

The Silver Mine Battle

We wait 10 days to get the ritual of Elemental Warding learnt correctly. We come up with a basic plan to sneak into the mine entrance and put up 4 wardings (up, down, left and right). This means the elemental can only get to us from the front or behind. This seems clever because we will entice it into the tunnel and then when it tries to slip into the cavern walls it will strike the barrier and not know what has happened. We get some talking sticks that will tell us when the elementals are near, as well as rank 20 fire armour (100pts) in potion bottles and a few mind shields/cloaks. Robert and Djulius come down with a bug at the last moment and stay at Julius's place while the rest of us enact the plan.

We get to the mine entrance with no hassles, asides from Dirk crashing through the roof of the designated building which was our safe landing area.

Garrick makes us invisible in the mine corridor when we sense an elemental. The wards go up and we step forward as the bait. Dwork summons his trusty Jaguar. The jaguar bounds forth and begins hunting the elemental. When it pauses Garrick takes an ESP potion and senses alarm from it. Then the mood switches and it is clear it is now under mind control as it turns and races towards Dwork. Dwork and Robinton retreat into the warded area while the rest of us remain alert for the elemental mind mage. Garrick senses it but it drops into the floor just after unleashing a TK Rage where the jaguar had paused. This blasts Elenna backwards into the warded area and blinds Zanak with the dust from the corridor. Dirk valiantly sweeps Zanak off his feet and the party pretends to panic and run back down the corridor (for the benefit of the mind mage).

Robinton makes a corpse illusion which the jaguar attacks. We get a mind counterspell down in the corridor and Veor creates an ice wall over the cave entrance to make sure we don't get blown out into the pits with more TK rages. Veor even pretends it was a backfire that placed the ice wall behind us, again for the mind mages benefit.

We keep bluffing to lure the elemental out. There is another TK Rage and a phantasm befreo Robinton and Dwork hear a voice in their heads saying "there you are". They immediately fall to the ground unconscious from a mental attack.

Veor tries a different approach and looks for a fracture into the spirit realm. He and Elenna go limp. The rest of us assume they stepped through into the spirit realm. Zanak tries but fails. Garrick and Dirk pick up Robinton and Dwork and defend their bodies.

In the spirit realm Veor and Elenna turn into their totems (a minotaur and a beaver) and rush the elemental. Elenna slows it as Veor hits it very hard a couple of time. The elemental vanishes and an imp is left behind. It screams its outrage as it realises its physical body is trapped in stone (the earth elemental has left it) and rushes at Veor, only to find itself dead on a minotaur horn.

Veor and Elenna search for any fire anchors but when they come up short they slip back into the physical realm. The party moves on and eventually comes to a silver cavern. There are 3 pools of liquid silver near the entrance and a huge river of silver flowing through the middle. In the bottom corner of the cavern is the fire elemental. Veor casts a snowfall which helps to solidify the top few inches of the silver pools so we can cross them. As we approach the entrance the elemental calls out to Garrick (with his Individual True Name) and asks him to "come in, and bring your friends". Garrick says no thanks. Dwork and Veor try spells to reduce the fire elementals effectiveness but they appear to have no effect. There is a shimmering magical barrier at the entrance of the cavern so we are very wary. The elemental asks Garrick to enter again. Garrick refuses. A wall of fire erupts behind us and washes over our party. Dworks counterspell helps reduce the damage. Half the party stay in the cavern (Dwork, Veor and Robinton) while the others step through the barrier into the cavern. Veor warns that he can see other spirits (goblins) in the spirit realm. They appear to be casting at us. He tries to break into the spirit realm and fails. Zanak also tries and fails. Zanaks lizard pipes up and says he can teleport Zanak to the other side of the fire elemental. Zanak says no thanks. Veor finally manages to break through and can clearly see the goblin spirits casting at Dirk and Garrick. The fire elemental exists in both the physical and spiritual realms at the same time. Dirk puts up a wall of forbidding around the fire elemental and Zanak crazily decides to accept the lizards offer and teleports behind the elemental. While the rest of the party engages the elemental Zanak smacks it from behind. The elemental moves to encase Zanak but the lizard teleports him to the other side of the cavern. In the spirit realm Veor hits the elemental and Robinton kills a goblin mage.. Back in the real world Dwork finally figures out which spell to use on the fire elemental. A well placed Slow Fire sees it shrink by 20%. The fire elemental strikes at Zanak with a glaive but he manages to dodge out of the way. Dirk assaults it but can't seem to land a blow. Garrick hits it very hard at the same time as Veor, in the spirit realm, also hits it hard. The elemental dissipates leaving a demon behind. The 3 main fighters (Garrick, Veor and Dirk) lay into it and make short work of it.

In the distance we can hear the wood elemental running away.

With the silver mine freed we head back to Julius and his wife for the required update and congratulations, before heading back to Seagate.

Administration

Comments of the Day

Calendar

Summer: Meadow (1)
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Beltane		1	Guild Mtg, Seagate shopping	2	Seagate shopping	3	Seagate shopping	4	Depart on boat to Delph	5	Sailing	6	Storm approaching
	7	Caught in storm	8	Caught in storm	9	Attacked by imp	10	Slow boat to get out of storm	11	Still in storm	12	Clear of storm	13	Sail back to Delph
	14	Pirate ships	15	Athens by the Sea	16	Provisioning	17	Provisioning & training	18	Training	19	Depart for Estate	20	Following the river
	21	Encounter the Tainted Forest	22	Tainted Forest attacks	23	Battle for the Estate	24	Mine Assault Part 1	25	Heal Party	26	Restock Items	27	Mine Assault Part 2
	28	Return to City	29		30
Summer: Heat (2)
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
							1		2		3		4
	5		6		7		8		9		10		11
	12		13		14	Midsummer Eve (Faerie Day).	15	Solstice.	16		17		18
	19		20		21		22		23		24		25
	26		27		28		29		30
Summer: Breeze (3)
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
											1		2
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21		22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30

Combat Order

Front – Dirk and Dwork
Middle – Zanak and Elenna
Middle – Veor and Robinton and Djulius
Rear – Garrick and Robert

Watch Order

Robinton, Robert and Dwork
Dirk and Djulius
Garrick and Veor
Zanak and Elenna

Death Register

Day 24

Elenna obliterates an Orc/Goblin house. Shame about all the exploding items she had on her
Robert flies like a rock.

Experience & Other Awards

Dirk	Djulius	Dwork	Ellena	Garrick	Robert	Robinton	Veor	Zanak
43550	22200	33075	40200	40275	35700	42750	35550	41625
After racial tax:
39591	22200	30068	40200	36614	35700	42750	35550	41625
After bonuses (Scribe etc.):
47591	22200	40318	47200	44864	36700	48750	43550	53275
After Loot Auction:

Income:
38,040	38,040	38,040	38,040	38,040	38,040	38,040	38,040	38,040

Treasure

Day 14 from Pirate Encounter

2 x 17pt Healing Potions
1 x RK 18 Cleansing Flame Potion
14 x 10pt Mana Potions
2 x RK 14 Waters of Healing
Grenado of Shadow Warriors
Grenado of Extinguish Flame
Amulet of Lesser Resistance – negates an Elder Flowers amulet on target of E&E Evil Eye and acts as a Lesser Enchantment

Day 22 from Tainted Forest Attacks

5 x Amulets of Lesser Enchantment
2 x Mana Amulets (elemental)
5 x Goblin Healing Potions – 15 points
3 x Thunderclap Grenados
27 x Jubjub Nuts – Can preserve a potions contents or make the shelf life of the potion permanent

Day 23 from Orc Captives and Scouting during the Estate Battle

9 x Jubjub Nuts – Can preserve a potions contents or make the shelf life of the potion permanent
Armband that bestows Waterproofing on the wearer
Orcish Snug Boots
2 x 3 shot Repeating Heavy Crossbows
3 x 1 dose Distilling Toad's Sweat
3 x Luck Amulets
Mirrored Luck Amulet
3 Goblin Healing Potions
Fertility Potion (Rank 9)
Amethyst Amulet
3 x Aquilegius Amulets
3 x Bloodstone Amulets
Beryl Amulet
Orc Blood Band
Blending Potion (Rank 7)
Detect Traps and Snares potion (Rank 10)
Goblin Tracking Potion (rank 10)

Day 25 from Mine Assault Part 1. Items on the orc bodies we recovered

2 x Goblin Healing Potion - 15 points
2 x Grenado of anti magic
Dwarves Stone Puzzle box with "Restore Life Elixirs"
2 x Amulets of Lesser Enchantment

Day 27 from Final Assault

From the Orc Leader
- Axe
- Plate Armour
- Mace
- Dagger
- Lesser Amulet
- Mirror Luck Amulet
- +2 Initiative Amulet
- 4 x Goblin Healing Potions
- Crossbow - 5 shot. Neecd to be a giant or high strength
- Grenado - 2 x Goblin Iron Sands
- Grenado - Thunderclap
- Crossbow Bolts - 4 x Exploding
- Crossbow Bolts - 15 x Normal
- 56 x JubJub Nuts

Learn Thaumaturgy spell (out of college) or learn a variation of existing spell

Treasure Rolls

Dirk	Djulius	Dwork	Elenna	Garrick	Robert	Robinton	Veor	Zanak
24	90	80	36	30	09	07	89	65

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