Hubble Bubble and Rabbits

Return to Scribe notes

This adventure takes place on the plane of Alusia.

Summary

Adventure: Hubble Bubble and Rabbits
GM: Bernard
Session: Winter 812
Night: Wednesday
Location Town
Level: Low Medium/Medium

Party:

• Mave – Female Human Bard – Played by Julie
• Koffi – Male Gnome Binder – Played by Miles
• Pug – Male Goblin Ice Mage – Played by Glenn
• Tallima – Female Giant Goblin Namer – Played by Alan
• Mîm the Pilgrim – Female Elf Dark Celestial – Played by Jeff
• Djulius the Witchboy – Male Human Wicca – Played by Dylan
• Ahiga – Male Human Rune Mage – Played by Miles

Employer:
A lovely young wiccan from slippery rock is looking for some assistance to get her grandmother a new cauldron for brewing potions in. Unfortunately the best of these cauldrons have to be brought the slow way, without magical travel of any sort, or they get weakened. Lady Thorn of Bolton Bay has also been having Rabbit problems and would like this solved. The Guild has decided that neither of these tasks should be overly time consuming, so assigned them both to the same group of people.

Pay:
Grandmother is offering some witches brews for body or mind and possibly some silver. If the cauldron arrives blessed she will give us both. She may give us some potions freshly brewed each month if we please her. Lady Thorn is offering bounties. 1,000SP per rabbit skin, 5,000SP if the skin is horse size or larger and 10,000SP if we can prove the warren has been destroyed. And of course any items that do not have an insignia can be looted.

Briefing and Knowledge

We meet with Matilde first, a very pretty young female wiccan. She is the grand daughter of the wicca requesting the new cauldron. All the males go a bit google eyed at the sight of her. Even the girls are a bit taken by her beauty. Pug and Koffi recover quicker than the rest and begin asking her questions about why the cauldron can't be transported back by any magical means. Matilde, despite her beauty, doesn't appear to be the sharpest tack in the cupboard. Either she doesn't know the exact answers to the questions or she believes the answers are so obvious that any idiot should know the answer. It takes a while for Pug and Tallima to stop asking the same question in different ways. It seems like it will be a long journey on the way back without any magical help. We aren't in a rush to get there though as the cauldron won't be ready till the Equinox which is over six weeks away. Pug does enquire if there is anything we can do for Matilde while we are on this mission. She smiles and tries to charm him with her beauty while she says "bring me the secret to making these potions". Pug thinks hard about it but Koffi pulls him aside and says our chances are slim on getting that secret.

When Matilde leaves we meet Sir Borric. He is a middle aged soldier with impeccable manners. He describes the rabbit problem in Bolton Bay. The rabbits are the size of a large boar and are ravishing the crops of the villagers each night. The peasants are too afraid to go out and scare them away at night. We ask how they know they are rabbits and Sir Borric tells us about the giant paw prints. Pug is not 100% convinced they are rabbits but he is willing to investigate anyway. At the mention of the bounties the party quickly agrees to the mission.

Diary

The Trip to Bolton Bay

Knowing that there is a food shortage in the western realms Koffi spends the rest of the day itemising food so we don't starve. The party rests up in a tavern that night.

We are an odd bunch. Mave is a bard but she doesn't feel like entertaining. Pug is really ugly, even for a goblin, and refuses to drink. Koffi gets drunk (it takes 2 glasses of beer). Tallima wanders about looking for herbs (a strange thing to do indoors). Mîm is quite pretty but spends the evening toying with her daggers every time a male looks her way. Djulius spends the evening making potions. Over the next couple of days the group observes that Koffi and Pug are baiting each other with the aim of getting the other one in trouble. What a group...

We expect the trip to Bolton Bay to take 7 days on a horse drawn cart.

We depart on day 2 with Pug being the driver and Koffi trying to get some sleep in the back with the rest of the group. The party is jostled a lot and Tallima has to convince Koffi that Pug isn't finding every pothole on purpose (he is of course knowing that Koffi has a hangover). Tallima really wants to go hunting for herbs even though we have barely left Seagate. Koffi and Pug share some quiet derogatory comments about Tallimas need for herbs and a friendship begins to form. Of course that friendship won't stop either one trying to put the other in harms way. What a crazy pair of short creatures they are. When Tallima isn't thinking of herbs she is usually hungry and eyes up the sheep in the paddocks. The party takes some time to explain that stealing sheep this close to Seagate is a bad idea. Tallima responds with "Sheep? Those are paddock Lice. They are free for the taking." We roll round in laughter for a while till we realise Tallima doesn't actually know the difference. SIGH.

We reach the town of Masks Corner and rest up with a nice parsnip dinner. Mave again refuses to perform claiming she is under the weather, although we saw no sign of it during the days trip. On day 3 there is more bumpy travelling in the cart and Koffi is convinced Pug is doing it on purpose. Pugs evil smile does nothing to dissuade this notion. We reach Gogeners Hope and ask for directions to the inns. The gate guard looks us up and down, snears and sends us off to the poor district. As we approach the inn two burly orc bouncers demand an "entry fee". We refuse and Koffi tries to convince us to fight our way in. Of course it should be noted that Koffi doesn't actually fight and relies on his golems for that sort of thing. Surprisingly it is Pug who steps forward and convinces the party to ignore Koffi. We try to make camp on the side of a street but some guards come along and hurry us out of town. We camp outside and pass the night peacefully.

Day 4 sees us entering the wilderness where the highway turns into a road. Nothing untoward happens (asides from the bumping in the cart) and we reach the village of Amber before dusk. It is a small village of about 120 people with some buildings surrounding a small manor house. The villagers greet us warmly and offer Clementine's house for the evening. Koffi says he has heard of Clementine and the house is frequently used by Seagate Adventurers for a restful night. As we approach the house 4 small straw dolls look at us. This is a little unnerving so do a few DA's . They are guards who will curse anyone attacking the house. We have a very peaceful night. Is it too peaceful or are some of us too paranoid?

We wake in the morning and continue on the journey. The road has now turned into a track in the scrub. We decide to send Koffi into the air with his flying bathtub (silly gnomes, what else will they think of) to do some reconnaissance. He flies up a few hundred feet and circles around for a few minutes before rushing back to the ground. Did he see anything? No. he was feeling like the wind was following him. No second guesses as to the paranoid one from the previous evening. A storm is approaching so we travel to just before dusk and move out of the plain to the edge of a ravine where we set up camp. Tallima puts up a scry shield while the rest of us affix a tarpaulin to the cart for some cover. The storm intensifies in the night and the horses get a bit nervous. Pug steps out to calm them just as the tarpaulin blows loose and disappears into the night. We do our best to rest but when the sun comes up on day 6 we are all feeling worse for wear. We have a cold breakfast and then trudge along. It is slow going in the wet scrub and we all feel miserable till Djulius spreads around some restoratives. That helps maintain our wellbeing.

Because of the sludge and generally being soaked through all day (the sun wasn't hot enough to dry us out) we don't reach the next town till after dark. As we approach some riders come out and demand our identification. Koffi shows the guild charter and they guide us into town. Pug thinks to himself that Mave (being the most congenial of the party) had the charter and how did Koffi get his hands on it. He resolves to check his bags in the evening to see if anything has "gone missing" but all seems to be in its place.

The town is known as Hope and has about 1000 people, although the buildings look to be easily moved (tents and vans) so we take them to be nomadic. The 8000 cattle grabs Tallimas attention and we are offered some fresh beef for dinner. Tallima asks about the rabbits as we are only 2 days away from Bolton Bay by now. We don't get much, other than "they are rabbits" and "damned big critters from what I have heard". No one has seen them but they all believe they are out there.

Day 7 dawns. The sound of cattle all around is a bit deafening. Koffi traipses around the town in search of items for his rabbit traps. It takes a while to get everything he needs so he decides to make them up later. In the meantime Pug has summoned his spirit polar bear and he calls it Thistle. Tallima eyes Thistle up but decides not to waste her time fantasising of bear chops when she realises the bear is in spirit form.

About mid morning the party leaves and the path gets bumpier, or at least that is the reason given by Pug when he drives the cart into a ditch, breaking the axle. Tallima gets out a cloth and begins rubbing the broken axle. After a few minutes of this we ask what she is doing. Tallima says the cloth is magical but we see no proof of this. Koffi wanders over and uses his binder skills to repair the axle, scoffing at Tallima all the time. Tallima starts eyeing up Koffi and we all imagine she is seeing gnome steaks. The party gets back onto the cart with Pug driving once more, except for Koffi who sees some wisdom in riding his bear golem instead. The rest of the drive goes a lot smother. The party thinks Pug has been humbled by the earlier crash, but he really doesn't need to find each pothole now that Koffi isn't riding in the cart.

The rest of the day passes peacefully and party camps for the night in the open plain.

Djulius and Tallima are on the last watch. The breeze picks up, Djulius sees nothing untoward in this. Tallima thinks it is unnatural. Djulius wakes up Mîm. Mîm is only partially awake and declares it to be only a wind. Tallima insists it is unnatural so Mîm pays more attention. After casting witchsight and blending and standing still for a while she decides there is something invisible on the wind. Mîm tosses a rock at Mave to wake her up. Mave has the good sense to wake the rest of the party (Koffi and Pug). Djulius trips over his own two feet but claims he was tripped. Pug stokes up the fire and calls out "come join us for breakfast". The wind increases and blows the fire out. Pug restarts the fire but nothing else happens that night.

On the morning of Day 8 Pug awakens to find Thistle missing. He is somewhat displeased when Tallima and Djulius claim to know nothing of his disappearance. Pug manages to talk Mîm into casting shadow wings on him. He also convinces Koffi to use his flying bathtub and the two of them search for Thistle in the north west. This is the direction the wind came from last night and Pug suspects the bear has sought out the source of the wind. This turns out to be completely wrong. After returning to the camp with no sign of Thistle Pug again convinces Mîm and Koffi to help him. Koffi and Pug try going south east then east as they track the breeze. A downdraft forces them to land in a valley and as they trudge in they see Thistle sitting at a campfire with several other bears. They are all eating freshly roasted salmon. Pug tries talking to Thistle but only gets messages about hungry. Thistle does toss them a whole salmon though and they join the campsite for a thoroughly scrumptious lunch. Pug keeps talking about checking that Thistle is ok and he is welcome to rejoin the party when he has had his fill. As Pug and Koffi leave, Thistle wanders over and flies beside them all the way back to the party.

In all this time the rest of the party has only managed to cover 4 miles so Koffi and Pug suggest they stop for lunch. They generously offer to share their rations with the remaining 4 party members but the smell of salmon on their breath gives away the game.

Hunting the Rabbits

As evening approaches we get to Bolton Bay and talk to Lady Thorn and her earth mage Basilik. They confirm that rabbit tracks have been found all the way up to horse size but that no giant rabbit has actually been seen yet. Neither has a large burrow been found. Pug, Koffi and Mîm have been voicing an opinion that there aren't any giant rabbits. The tracks are being left by opportunistic thieves. They remind the party that there is a food shortage and people will stoop to low levels. Lady Thorn presents a tuft of rabbit hair as proof so we gracefully accept her assertion. We talk a bit more and make a plan to place magical wards in select paddocks. Koffi puts bound speech in some items which will activate when rabbits come near them. In the meantime the party will take turns flying in the night keeping a lookout.

The night passes with nothing being spotted. In the morning of Day 9 some irate farmers complain that the warded fields had nothing stolen while the field next door was pillaged. We plan to enlist the aid of some owls and cats for the evening to keep an eye out. The owl we meet is a shrewd bargainer and Pug ends up having to groom it, not that he does a very good job. In return the owl says he will keep a look out. He also confirms there are giant rabbits but they are sneaky and too big to eat. The cats are too afraid of whatever is outside stalking the fields at nighttime. They all stay inside where it is safe. We try a new tactic that night of putting magical traps in 1/3 of the fields, mechanical traps (like tripwires) in another third and leaving the final third unwarded. We continue to fly overnight. In the morning the fields with the magical traps are all undisturbed, the mechanical traps have been disarmed (no rabbit could do this so it must be people) and the unwarded fields are raided. Again we see nothing.

Day 10 sees us discussing going to the fastness of Gwillion as any magical rabbits must surely be based there but we decide against it as this would be just random flying around hoping to find someone who wanted to talk to us and not eat us.

We plan to add some blueberry die traps to the mechanic traps in the hope of coating anyone who has been thieving from the town. Despite Koffis best efforts nothing seems to go right that day so we get a good nights rest instead of patrolling.

We try again on the next night. On the morning of day 12 we find some traps have been sprung but only footprints of giant rabbits are nearby, and only for a few passes. Then they disappear. Tallima divinates the area around the footprints but finds no magical influences. We decide the skills being used to evade detection must be innate to the creatures. Pug still insists the rabbits are a ruse to confuse us.

Mave casts a talking spell on Thistle. He says he hasn't seen any powerful spirits in the last few nights. He is hungry though and would like to go back and visit the other bear spirits for another feast of fire roasted salmon. Pug asks him to stay and Thistle reluctantly agrees.

We come up with a new plan for the 12th night that involves Koffi flying around the boundary of the fields and laying down some mist. This might allow us to see the creatures entering or leaving, giving us the first bit of information of any value. Mîm casts a circle of darkness on a small area and hides in it. Maybe this will allow her to see the creatures passing in the night. Djulius will turn to mist with the same aim. Tallima will turn into mud and sink into the ground seeking to pop up when she hears a noise. Pug and Mave take the more mundane route of hiding in covered holes with the same objective.

The plan goes without a hitch right up until we actually hear some noises in the night. Pug springs forth from his hole only to be skewered by 5 crossbow bolts before collapsing onto Thistles back as the bear soars into the air. Once he regains consciousness he screams at the top of his lungs to get the rest of the parties attention. By the time Mave arrives the 10 humans have disappeared. Pug tells her that 5 were raiding the field and 5 were on guard. The party reforms and discusses what happened to pug. It takes a few minutes but we finally notice Tallima is missing. We race to where she was hiding and find her body severely ripped and mangled. When she is revived she tells us the Giant Rabbits were waiting for her. As she poked her head up to investigate some noises there were 2 rabbits foaming at the mouth waiting to rip her to shreds. She retreated into the ground but they clawed their way down to her. She passed out and the rabbits appeared to have lost interest in her.

So now we know there are people taking advantage of the townspeople's fear as well as mystical giant rabbits.

Lady Thorn reviews our nights accomplicements while she helps heal Tallima. She suggests we focus on the rabbits while she deals with the humans. The humans are much less of a threat and will be found sooner or later.

We adjust our plan and this time have Tallima, Pug and Mave in the same paddock, each hidden in a hole with no magical effects. Djulius will fly around with Koffi. We are relying on Maves enhanced hearing to alert Tallima and Pug to any incursions in our paddock. Mave will start playing her flute and try soothing the savage beasts. Pug will try refrigeration. Tallima will try nightmare illusion. When we call out for help the fliers will speed over. Mim will cast fear, Djulius will try harm entity and Koffi will direct his golems.

The plan goes well until Mim crashes into some trees about 2am. It seems she fell asleep while flying.

As the sun rises on day 13 Mave and Tallima emerge from their holes to find the field almost fully stripped of plantings. Pug is still snoring in his hole till Koffi wakes him with a "golden rain". Everyone but Pug is laughing about that.

We decide that sleeping during the day might be a good idea if we plan to stay awake and alert all night. For tonights effort we pick a new paddock and this time bury Bruno (Koffis huge clay golem) in the centre of the triangle formed by Talima, Pug and Mave.

Thistle gets hungry again and wanders off to feast with the spirit bears he met a few days ago. Pug hopes he will return.

Somewhere in the middle of the night the party is surprised by a brief snarling sound followed by ripping sounds. Within seconds Bruno is shredded. Mave starts playing while Pug starts preparing his spell. Tallima tries for a quick DA but this draws the 2 rabbits attention to her. She quickly turns to stone but the rabbits are unphased by this and batter her into unconsciousness before she can do anything else.

The battle is joined. Koffi summons a golem called Bill who manages to make one rabbit scream in pain as they fight. The rabbits resist all our spells till Mim gets a fear going. This enrages the screaming one and it goes berserk. Mave gets her soothing beasts spell into effect and it halts the unengaged rabbit but drives the other one into an even more berserk rage. A DA shows they are hurt by magic. Mim looks stunned as the berserk rabbit leaps into the air right at her. She is 60 feet up and manages to dodge out of the way, only to watch the rabbit crash to the ground, snapping its neck.

Finally we have killed a rabbit

We stabilize Tallima again (seems she makes a habit of upsetting rabbits) and she DAs the live rabbit. It is a short lived sentient. The sentient bit worries us. The rabbits have an allergy to magic but a very high active resistance.

We move the dead rabbit away and then let the other one go. Mim flies up and starts tracking it but she looses it in a nearby copse of trees.

As the sun rises on day 14 we get Tallima to do an ancient divination on the dead rabbit. Asides from being a natural creature from Alusia we get very little. Djulius does his "talk to dead" bit and we figure out there is only 1 burrow of giant rabbits that this one knew of. The burrow is a cave with a stream running through it. The cave is in the side of a ravine and is sun warmed so not very deep. The rabbit burrow holds a mother and father and 12 children. This rabbit was one of the children.

Where the rabbit comes from there are creatures that eat them so we deduce the Fastness of Girwyllian as a likely place. We also assume that these rabbit eaters are in the area where the rabbits would normally feed so they have come to this area as it is safer.

We decide to wait for the day while Koffi recreates some clay golems (Bruno and Bill were quite damaged). Tallima and Pug discuss using the skin of the dead rabbit to do a skin-change and to sneak into the rabbits lair. It takes a while before Koffi reminds us that skin-changing is magical and the rabbits hate magic. Not a good plan... As day 14 ends Koffi objects to killing the rabbits because they are sentient and they aren't evil. Pug agrees as the beasts aren't actually doing anything wrong. We consider going to the fastness and getting the creatures that are in their natural feeding area to move on. His would solve lady thorns problem and keep Koffi and Pug happy. Tallima just wants to kill the rabbits for the bounty. Clearly Pug is the only enlightened goblin in the party.

On day 15 we fly around and look for tracks. It is a good assumption that the rabbits are very stealthy around human habitation but wouldn't need to be in the wide open areas. Despite our best efforts we find nothing.

We discuss our ideas with Lady Thorn and she suggests talking to the rangers at Candle Stone Farm on the east of the fastness.

On the morning of day 16 we find our usual traps have been left unsprung but a field with magical wards on it has been decimated, except for the bits by the wards. It would appear that the rabbits now find the magical fields less threatening than the normal fields where we killed one of the litter.

We petrify the dead rabbit and leave it in Lady Thorns care, in case we need to resurrect it later as a peace offering to the parent rabbits.

We fly off to a town called Amber on the northern edge of the fastness. On the way Koffi and Pug stop by the valley where Thistle had been before. There is no sign of him so they create a small bear totem and put Pugs scent on it, hoping Thistle will find it and know we have been looking for him.

We go into the tavern with the orc bouncers but we have no problem getting in this time. Asides from Pug and Koffi having some money filched by some quick fingered thieves we find nothing useful. We had heard before about large sheep from Amber so we visit a farm to find out how they get so large. We find a young teenage boy guarding a paddock of sheep. Mim promises him favours but holds out so he sulks and we depart.

We get to Candle Stone Farm and start asking people about the fastness. We get the cold shoulder from everyone so we fly off to Tiana Falls to make camp. From there we hope to locate some sentient beings (hopefully friendly) and gain some information about the home area of the rabbits. The night passes with no mishaps.

Death from the Lake

Day 17 dawns to a clear sky. We have a nice breakfast while Mave plays her flute but it doesn't attract anyone. We head west and it isn't long before we come across a large group of footprints (goblin size?) heading north toward the green lake. We follow and make plenty of noise so we can't be accused of sneaking up on them. After 5 miles we reach the lake shore. It is indeed green and we have heard of herbs that have miraculous healing properties growing in the waters of the lake.

We scout around a bit and then Tallima sees some exotic herbs growing just 10 feet off the shoreline. We discuss tying a rope to her (better to be safe than sorry) but she refuses twice. After all she isn't going into the water, only close enough to DA them. About 10 feet from the edge she does a DA and finds out some of them can cure burns and bleeders. Before she has a chance to wade in 2 huge tentacles snake out of the lake and one grabs her, tossing her about in the air like a doll. She tries turning into rock form but it will take 3 pulses. In the meantime Koffi sends his suicide golem (detonates with greek fire) in to assault the tentacle. Pug and Mave stay close to the edge and fail some spells. Mim, Djulius and Koffi retreat a bit and try their own spells. Pug also calls out "goblin in danger" in case the band of goblins are nearby and will aid us.

It turns out they are nearby but they certainly aren't here to help.

New tentacles reach out and grab Pug and Mave. Before the other 3 can react the goblin band steps forth from the treeline and aims crossbows at them. The leader steps forth and demands Mim, Djulius and Koffi surrender.

They plead for help in rescuing their trapped and dying party members but the goblins just laugh at them. Tallima, Pug and Mave breathe their last breaths.

These goblins are a nasty piece of work and force Mim, Djulius and Koffi to strip naked. They take all the possessions and force Koffi to fly back to Seagate to get a ransom. He comes back with 5000sp each (30,000 in total). The goblins free us but we leave naked and still with 3 dead party members. The humiliation is downright palpable.

We get back to the guild and they resurrect us with a warning to stay clear of the fastness. It is too dangerous for young inexperienced adventurers. They commend us in surrendering and waive the ransom repayments. They also suggest we spend some time in the company of more experience warriors and learn about group melee tactics before adventuring further.

On day 18 we fly back to Lady Thorn and report our poor showing. We earn a little respect when we tell her we are too junior for this mission and she should seek some more seasoned adventurers from the guild. She offers us a meal for the evening and we return to the guild on day 19. Koffi starts some negotiations with the goblin for ransoming his items back, which includes some period of immediate service. The rest of us are really beginners and haven't actually lost much so we wish him well and hope to meet him next season.

Finding the Cauldron

Realising our ineptitude we stay in Seagate for a few weeks and train. We also encourage a new adventurer to join us. His name is Ahiga and he is a warrior Rune Mage. We also take some time to research the kingdoms we are likely to pass through and gather the following information: Once we leave Flugenheim we will pass through Ettrandor, Brandenburg, Alador, Ranke and finally back into Carzala. Ettrandor – It is run by the knights but the political situation is split between those following the new king, and those who aren't. Brandenburg – very similar to Ettrandor Alador – The knights are still in control but it is a high land so their areas of effect are interspersed with wilds where each village lives for itself. Ranke – This is a Church run state but there are definitely some internal squabbles. Ranke is split into several parts and one is run by a duke/bishop whereas the others are more wilderness.

On Day 42 we head out on a boat to Flugenheim. We arrive at Flugenheim on day 45 in a coastal town called Sumpheim. The witches live north of Rhigelheim which is about 50 miles away. We buy some oxen and a large cart (and a few larger bits of furniture) from a shady dealer. We are reasonably confident the whole lot is stolen so we make haste to vacate the area. On our way we pass a church of Michael and we enter to make ourselves known and possibly to get a blessing (and so as not to be seen as impolite). The idea was good except Pug should have remembered Flugenheim has recently had issues with ice Demons and when asked what form of magic he practices he admits to ice without thinking. While the rest of the party receives blessings and some minor restrictions to controlling/binding magics Pug is completely shutoff from Mana and can't cast till the end of the season or it is lifted by another priest. Ahiga seems to be in high favour with the priests and doesn't need a blessing at all. We each get a small star pinned to our vests. Pugs is deep black, the others are black except Ahiga whose is bronze.

We leave town and head north.

It takes us 5 days but in the late afternoon we reach our destination, an old farmlet where turnips appear to be the main crop. We are greeted by a middle aged woman who invites us into the log cabin. All but Mim venture in. The atmosphere inside the cabin is warm and cosy. We are introduced to the other ladies and offered a hearty meal or meaty broth and apple pie for desert. Talima offers to take a meal outside for Mim (who still refuses to come inside despite the cold). Tallima is a goblin and of course eats half of the meal on the way out, only to find her luck is running very low as she stumbles and falls into a pile of camel dung. The ladies inside laugh as her greed has caused a major curse to be inflicted. Needless to say the rest of us laugh too as Tallima stands up, only to fall over again into another steaming pile of camel dung.

Mave entertains the group (still minus Mim who is freezing her butt off outside) and we have a restful night. Pug asks about removing his curse but the ladies decline.

On the morning of day 48 we are supplied the cauldron and some safety instructions. These consist of avoid trips on ships which are magically propelled (short trips though might be ok), and don't use any form of magical mending (get a tinker instead). We ask about enhancing the cauldrons blessing and are told to perform a blood sacrifice ritual on the first full moon after its creation. This is only 22 days away on the night of day 70. The better the blood we use the better the blessing will be. We need to coat the inner walls of the cauldron. Our blood would be acceptable if we can't find anything better.

We put the cauldron in the middle of our cart and cover it with some sacks. Djulius is rather protective of it and can be heard muttering under his breathe "my precious". We discuss our plan to head back to Rhegalheim and then onto Artzdorf to look for other caravans , after all, there is safety in numbers. Tallima, not being cursed enough, asks the ladies about skin changes. They oblige and immediately turn him into a skink. We are reasonably sure this isn't what Tallima was after but Djulius offers to turn her back to normal by casting a counterspell. Djulius shows his twisted side and puts the Skink in a jar before returning her back to her normal giant goblin form. We all sit back and watch as the jar explodes, cutting Tallima (not seriously though), and laugh at her stupidity.

The Journey to Freetown

We get to Artzdorf on day 52. There doesn't appear to be any active trading caravans about so we talk to a tinker about the northern pass into Eltrandor. He says it might be open and this is the best information we can find in this town. We are attempting to take the land passages to avoid using a boat but it is adding weeks and months onto our journey. We head north and reach the pass on day 63. It looks to be open but as we get in the middle a storm brews. Djulius tears himself away from the hidden cauldron long enough to cast circle of season which helps protect us from the cold. We wait out the storm which only lasts the night. At the end of day 64 we reach a small mountain fort. A voice shouts down at us and demands to know who we are and our business. Mave sweet talks them and tries to get us let into the fort. She plays the part well and we get refused entry (this as our plan all the time) and we spend the night in the stables with the cart and cauldron. On the next day as we enter Eltrandor we head north then east to avoid the capitol city where we were briefed of strive and conflict by the ruling peoples. Another 5 days pass and we reach the night of the ritual. So far we haven't seen any other magical creatures we could have sacrificed so we offer our own blood. Djulius and Mim only offer the minimum amount and only suffer 1 endurance point loss. The rest of us offer more and suffer 2 endurance points loss. The ritual is followed and we go to sleep. The next morning shows no blood in the cauldron so we presume the ritual works ok, although we have no way of knowing otherwise.

We carry on to Vankrem on the eastern border of Eltrandor and Glissom. On day 81 we get there and meet a tinker with 2 teenage boys (one is an earth mage) seeking to cross in the same direction as us. We band together and leave town. Mid day on the next day the tinkers cart throws a wheel (we were leading). We are in a rocky ravine so we apply caution. This would be an ideal place for a trap. Ahiga, Pug and Tallima head back to help the tinker. Mim, Mave and Djulius stay with our cart keeping an eye on us all. Mim glances forward after a few minutes and sees 4 human brigands with crossbows. She raises the alarm and immediately prepares to cast. The four crossbowmen are surprised by this and all of them firs their bolts at her. She drops like a stone but this gives the rest of us time to attack. Mim and Djulius start casting as the crossbowmen begin a hasty retreat. Ahiga, Pug and Tallima see the tinker hand his 2 boys retreating so Ahiga fires range weapons and spells while the party reforms around our cart (the cauldron must be protected).

We decide we have won the day and look at the horses left behind on the tinkers cart. Pug approaches them only to be fired upon by a scoundrel in the rocks. Ahiga takes the lead and starts using ranged weapons to kill the horses (if we can't have them then no one can). We also fire the tinkers wagon. We suffer only some damage to one of our oxen. We limp along to Glissom town (in the duchy of Glissom) on day 85. We tell the guards but they don't appear to have any real interest in the bandits.

We rest up for 2 days and allow the wounded oxen to get better. From Glissom we plan to head across the river on the ferry then follow the main route to Axebridge. From there we head east passed Saxton, Korrickbridge Surdum onto Freetown

All goes well and we get there on day 96.

The Freetown Crossing

Mave figures out the season has finished and the blessings/curses have worn off. The rest of the party feels suitably dumb for not noticing. The guards look us up and down and point us to Axe Tavern. We pleasantly surprised to find it is middle classed. We were expecting to be pointed in the direction of the poor quarters. Pug Mim and Tallima stay with the wagon in the stables during the night. Mave, Ahiga and Djulius spend the night in the tavern entertaining and seeking information. We are pointed to John at the docks for information on acquiring a boat as we plan to take one across the ocean to Bolton Bay. This is deemed to be risky but less risky than taking the land passages through Alador and Ranke. We have quite a long debate about this on the morning of Day 97 before heading to the docks.

John is easy to find. The problem is we never asked for a proper description and there are plenty of Johns. We end up talking to a sailor who takes us to his ship and the captain comes out. We insist on knowing if he uses any mages to power his boat and along the way insult him terribly. He orders us off his boat. The verbal curses that follow us can be heard for several hundred feet.

We retire for a few hours and come up with a better plan. On the afternoon of day 97 we approach the same captain and offer him 500SP up front and 500SP at the completion of the journey if no travel magics have been used. The captain comes up with a ridiculous price and we haggle. He eventually accepts our offer but only after we tell him the truth about the cauldron. We will do everything we can to safeguard the cauldron. We discussed sealing the cauldron but having something easily locatable inside first. We would then attach floatation devices to it (empty barrels) and seal it in ice. Djulius will calm the local weather if we are threatened. Mim will be our lead scout as she can fly. She can also cast a wall of darkness if we are attacked which will reduce the enemies ability to target us or the ship. She can also cast fear as needed. As the afternoon draws to a close Pug wanders off to the mage guild and begs for a greater enchantment. He is invited in and has a few drinks over dinner and wakes up with a very sore head the next morning. There is a mage standing over him (they are outside by the entrance to the mage guild) and he tells Pug he has a greater enchantment on magic and stats for the next 5 days. It seems Pug had told some amusing tales the night before about his adventures with giant rabbits, a kraken and some unfriendly giant goblins.

Pug stumbles back to the boat and meets the rest of the party as they board. The captain had already confirmed our story was true by the use of a Namer who checked out the cauldron. The boat is a cog about 80 feet long and the non magically enhanced trip to Seagate will take 5 days instead of the normal 2. We depart port.

Gargoyles Attack

For the first 2 days we practice our defensive plan and all goes well. We chat to the crew and find there are 5 mages on board. The Captain is a water mage, his first mate is an air mage, and there are 2 fire mages and a necromancer.

On Day 100 just before dusk Djulius spots some flying figures approaching from the starboard side. They have managed to get to within 400 feet unobserved and will be on us in seconds. There are 2 dozen gargoyles and 2 black cloaked humans (barking orders by the sound of it). Our magics have little effect to start with (we suspect their resistance is high) so we engage in hand to hand combat. Tallima, despite being the biggest of us, is felled very quickly. Pug and Mim change forms to gain some endurance bonuses but the battles are going very even till the very end. Djulius manages to free himself from his opponent and helps Mave. Ahiga has a truly stunning display of swordplay with his opponent. Short swords and tulwars are dancing between them with cuts appearing on both. If we had time we would have paid for a display of combat prowess like this, but of course we are all busy so we barely notice. It takes almost a full minute for the crew and ourselves to best the invaders. Thankfully there is a healer on board who fixes Tallima and repairs her broken bones and muscles.

Mave checks on the cauldron but it is all safe. As we search the bodies we find a message in a pouch on one of the humans. It reads 'Seagate adventurers seen leaving harbour. Ambush them.' We wonder if they were after us for the demon rewards or the cauldron. Only time will tell.

Grandmother is Grateful

We keep an eye out for the next 2 days, expecting another assault. Miraculously we make it to Seagate with no further problems on the evening of day 102. Mave takes the message we found to the guild authorities. They tell us to pass it on to the librarians for further scrutiny. The results are inconclusive but the author could be an air based lesser demon holed up in Haven. We rest up for the evening and proceed in the morning on the 50 mile cart journey to Slippery Rock. On day 105 we finally make it and we are greeted by the lovely Matilde (she sent us on the mission in the first place) who tells us to head around back to grandmothers place. Grandmother greets us and seems very pleased to have her new cauldron. She lifts it in one hand and hobbles back into her shack. That's right – she lifts it in one hand. This thing needed four of us to lift it onto the cart so we are mightily impressed and any scepticism on her abilities is quickly dispelled. She thanks us and starts making some potions. There is no mention of collecting our rewards from her so we wait till the morning. Tallima almost does a very stupid thing while we rest that night. She does an ancient divination on the area around the hut because there is a feeling of things not being quite right (which has always been here). She gets the impression there are words of power in the area but she doesn't delve any further. The rest of us had retreated well back, waiting for the inevitable explosion of Tallimas head. Some of us are disappointed we didn't get to see that.

In the morning Djulius asks about the reward and he is politely told to wait till the brew is finished. 'Good things can't be rushed'.

On the morning of Day 110 grandmother hands each of us 2 potions. She tells us the first will increase our Endurance by 8 (including our maximum capability) and will remove our Fatigue cap. The second will increase our Willpower by 6 (including our maximum capability). As we drink we feel invigorated and a blessing is also bestowed on us. The blessing has several bonuses including the ability to learn languages more easily.

We get to grips with our new abilities and begin the journey back to Seagate.

FOOTNOTES

Power-ups

Players please put up details.

Standard Buffs

• Mîm: blending - on self and anybody elese who asks (lasts 9 hours)

The Contract

Details that may trip us up, or predecate our choices.

Loot

Mundane

Day 100 - Gargoyle Attack

• 20 gargoyle horns
• 2 chainmail armours
• 4 shortswords
• some silver

Calendar

Winter 812wk: Frost
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Samhain		1	Guild Meeting	2	Journey Begins	3	Gorgeners Hope	4	Amber Village	5	Koffi Afraid	6	Riders Approach
	7	Broken Axel	8	Thistle Missing	9	Split the traps	10	Blueberry Traps	11	Plans Fail	12	Tallima Assaulted	13	Look for Rabbits
	14	Full Moon	15	Look for Rabbits	16	Candle Stone Farm	17	Kraken	18	Rabbits too tough	19	Seagate	20	Training
	21	Training	22	Training	23	Training	24	Training	25	Training	26	Training	27	Training
	28	Training	29	Training	30	Training	1	Training	2	Training	3	Training	4	Training
Winter 812wk: Snow
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	5	Training	6	Training	7	Training	8	Training	9	Training	10	Training	11	Ahiga Joins
	12	Full Moon	13	Sail to Sumpheim	14	Sail to Sumpheim	15	Solstice	16	Church Blessing	17	Witchs Farm	18	Yultide
	19	Days of Chaos	20	Travel to ArtzDorf	21	Travel to ArtzDorf	22	ArtzDorf	23	Travel to North Pass	24	Travel to North Pass	25	Travel to North Pass
	26	Travel to North Pass	27	Travel to North Pass	28	Travel to North Pass	29	Travel to North Pass	30	Twelve Night	1		2	Travel to North Pass
Winter 812wk: Ice
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	3	In Pass	4	In Pass	5	Travel in Brandenburg	6	First Plough	7	Travel in Brandenburg	8	Travel in Brandenburg	9	Travel in Brandenburg
	10	Full Moon – Blood Ritual'	11	Travel in Eltrandor	12	Travel in Eltrandor	13	Travel in Eltrandor	14	Travel in Eltrandor	15	Travel in Eltrandor	16	Travel in Eltrandor
	17	Travel in Eltrandor	18	Travel in Eltrandor	19	Travel in Eltrandor	20	Travel in Eltrandor	21	Tinkers Join Us	22	Bandits Attack	23	Travel to Glissom
	24	Travel to Glissom	25	Travel to Glissom	26	Travel in Brandenburg	27	Travel in Brandenburg	28	Travel in Brandenburg	29	Travel in Brandenburg	30	Travel in Brandenburg
Spring 812wk: Thaw
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	1	Travel in Brandenburg	2	Travel in Brandenburg	3	Travel in Brandenburg	4	Travel in Brandenburg	5	Travel in Brandenburg	6	In Freetown	7	Offend Captain
	8	Sail to Seagate	9	Sail to Seagate	10	Gargoyles Attack	11	Sail to Seagate	12	Arrive at Seagate	13	Off to Slippery Rock	14	Off to Slippery Rock
	15	Grandmother Grateful	16	Potions being brewed	17	Potions being brewed	18	Potions being brewed	19	Potions being brewed	20	Potions drunk	21	Back to Seagate
	22		23		24		25		26		27		28
	29		30