View source for Kaith Tax Collection

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[[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Scribe_Notes#Winter_801_WK|Scribe Notes]]<br>
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Kaith Tax Collection<br>
'''GM''': Julie<br>
'''Season''': [[Winter]] 801 WK<br>
; Party
*[[Michael (the adventurer)|Michael]] -  Mighty warrior and prince amongst men, accompanied by his three capable guards Dean, Alan and John
*[[Viola]] -  Beautiful sorceress with exquisite taste in clothes, graceful, elegant and lethal. Party leader
*[[Jonas]] -  Unarmed combat master from the far north, strong of morals and courage
*[[Anooke]] - Halfling from further north than the far north, beyond where the land meets the sea and the sea becomes as land. Master of dangerous beasts
*[[Arnaud de Montfort Esq]] Scribe
;Time on adventure
:1 Frost 801 WK to 29 Frost 801 WK
; Employer
: Count of Kaith (Brandenburg)
; Mission
: Collect taxes from one of his Barons.
;Original Scribe Notes
:[[Media:Snwi0101.zip]]
:Well worth a look, many images.

==Scribe Notes==
===1st Frost===
Seagate, city of beggars, guild meeting.

We have been hired by Able a minor functionary of the county of Kaith in Brandenburg on
behalf of the count to get the taxes from one of his barons. This year three groups have
already been sent one after another and disappeared without trace

* The first was two tax collectors and their three guards
* The second was a troop of eight soldiers and a sergeant which was sent by the chamberlain
* The third was a group of four amateur non-guild adventurers from Erin sent by the count

He has agreed that the count will provide all equipment however we must bargain with the
count for payment and he is unsure of the ransoms available for the missing men. The barony
in question is located upon a cold plateau. He will pay for and arrange all transport.
===2nd-3rd Frost===
Party Trains and equips themselves, waterproofing from the guild is generously paid by
Michael, with Viola's lasting till 19th of Seedtime
===4th Frost===
We board the ship ''Gentle Anne'', a slow but comfortable coastal hugger which trades up and
down the kingdom, with two bunks per room. Viola is evidently extremely experienced in
shipboard life and boldly states "I've wrestled with sailors before", she has apparently
vanquished many a pirate.
===4th - 8th Frost===
Uneventful travel training on board
===8th Frost===
The ship was assaulted by six fishmen who swarmed upon the ship while their orange shark
allies swim about eating the fallen.

Never have seen such as display of combat prowess, the fight being over so rapidly that I
never had time to even draw my sword. Michael called down the power of light and hewed
left and right with mighty blows like death incarnate. Jonas engaged one in unarmed combat
where he disarmed and slew it with contemptuous ease. Viola attacked another slaying it with
cat like grace with a sinister weapon of darkness. Anook created a wall of fire then killed the
injured as befits his halfling heritage while Michaels guards slew yet another of the foul
creatures. The final two of the creatures were so overcome by the furious assault that they
quailed in fear and fell unconscious rather than face the party's wrath.

The sailors as befitting their serf like breeding fled like frightened children and only returned to attempt murder and theft upon the captives, fortunately the party inspired by the moral fortitude of Jonas stopped a massacre. The captain, when he had emerged from hiding behind frighted women and children decided that rather than attempt to ransom the fishmen we should release them so they can spread the word not to attack ships.

To assist this I taught one the phrase "Don't attack Shipping" by repeating it ten times using the proven `doigts cassés' teaching method to ensure it becomes part of their verbal history, similar to how one teaches bards.

;Profit
:Six nets and Six Tridents (72 pennies, 42 pounds )
:GTN ‘Sahugan’ (Fishman) long lived sentitent,social class = soldier
;Loss
:One sailor killed by sharks after valiantly standing before the assaulting fishmen while women, children and rest of crew fled.
:One sailor injured after leaping from rigging into sea in his haste to flee, rescued but somewhat chewed upon

===9th - 11th Frost===
Uneventful travel training on board
===12th Frost===
We arrive in the port, seat of count Connell of Kaith. It is a well organised, rich trading
town with cranes on the docks to allow movement of heavy goods and very few pubs. At
the castle we where met by Alfonse the steward, he arranged miscellaneous travel goods,
accommodation in town and a meeting with the chamberlain. He seems to think that the
taxes may have been stopped deliberately to make the count look bad.

After waiting the normal hour to meet the chamberlain, Shawn McGunnan we were ushered
into his office for lunch which was sumptuous and greatly appreciated after shipboard fare.
The mission objectives were laid out as being to find out what was stopping the taxes, fix
the problem and if possible return with them. We were asked to be discreet so as not to
embarrass the count.

Payment was to be whatever remained of seven and a half thousand pennies worth of rank
one invested items ( guild valuation ) provided to us in advance and five thousand silver
pennies upon completion. All travel goods will be provided and the armour and weapons of
any soldiers found is to be their ransom. Other ransoms may exist for the tax collectors,
sergeant and adventurers from their respective families. We have been also provided with
two potions of whispering wind to inform the chamberlain as soon as we find out what is
occurring.

Court gossip is that the count who is twenty five years old and has only been in power since his
fathers death for two years is considered too inexperienced to run the county by some of the older
nobles and that running the county should be handed over to Duke Brandenburg.

We were invited to dine with the count and nobles that night, Viola dressed in her glacier dress, as
Anook aptly describes it. Jonas considered coming in his best matching furs however was
convinced otherwise as it may have been inappropriate to wear at this conservative court. The
festivities were superb, with abundant rich fare, enough even for a hungry hobbit. At court were
the barons Dearwood, Taks and Fordham, where the missing taxes are from.

Michael looking ‘richer than the gods’ enjoyed the evening discussing the spice and beef trade with
Clive and Catriola Hartley. I was introduced to several merchants daughters, found one I liked and
proposed, we shall be married after I return from the adventure.

Viola made the acquaintance of a limp wristed troubadour named Abriham who spent the evening
making blundering attempts at seduction while staring down her cleavage. Some half an hour after
proposing to Aslyn I was forced to leave her as Annook and Jonas approached me with a tale of
woe, it appears that Viola had been drugged, abducted and taken over the back wall of the castle
by Abriham.

While Annok and Jonas asked about outside the castle and found out that a wagon with a page
boy and possibly Abriham and Viola had been seen leaving, discreet explanations to the
chamberlain about what had occurred and where Abriham might be found allowed us to
eventually locate Viola and Abriham leaving a gentlemans club together, we were rather annoyed
at Abriham and he hastily departed.

Later that night Viola tearfully explained that this blundering fop is in fact a pacted demon
worshipper, the page boy his half devil lover and that he was attempting to seduce her to the
powers of darkness, it appears his master likes pretty boys and girls, he obviously doesn't choose
them for their intelligence, and is a master of illusions. She forgot to mention the EVIL bit, but
did mention between choking back sobs that a previous guild party had sold her to eighty men
to “do as they wish” with while she was unconscious and that the father of her child, a guild
necromancer, had deserted her.

Viola asked us as party leader not to inform on Abriham, however Michael explained in no
uncertain fashion to the chamberlain what we thought of him. Hopefully this wandering
troubadour will get the message and leave quietly, wander elsewhere and never wander back
without requiring more blatant blackmail or force to get him to depart the county.

===13th Frost===
Visited Aslyn and family in morning, left letters for my father and got formal permission to
marry from her father. Party equipped with three mules, one horse for Viola leave the city
heading north to the town of Fordham some forty miles distant, there we hope to meet the
mayor who knows more about what is occurring and how much tax is in arrears. As we travel
north the weather becomes very cold with sleet starting about four hours out of town, spend the
night in a roadside inn.

;Profit
: Aslyn agreed to marry
:10 * R1 Windwalk, 10 * Walk unseen, 15 * R1 Wings, 10 * Blending, 2 * Catvision, 5 * Opening, 5 * Wall of Bones, 5 * Control Animal, 8 * Water breathing, 2 * Storm Calling
:Several assorted counterspells
;Loss
: 1 * Net traded for lunch 
:49 SP two nights in inns

===14th Frost ( Full Moon)===
Travel onward through the day with resist colds on, about half way to
the next inn it seems to drop dramatically in temperature, DA shows
magical aura of ice mage weather control at rank15 is in effect, second
half of the day is very hard going on all the party. Stay in wayside inn
where the innkeeper tells us that there is a day and a half to the next inn
and scares us with stories of giant wooly mammoths and such with
glowing red eyes.
===15th Frost===
Travel north under thick dark clouds and increasing cold, without resist
colds we would certainly be doomed, about an hour after lunch stop
due to exaustion and Annok creates a huge sentitent bound ice dome
which we camp under for most of the night, with a door which opens
when you say “open seasame”

===16th Frost===
Anook turns the bound dome into a giant ice sheep with mules, horses and party inside and has
it carry us slowly out of the affected area so we don’t freeze. About midday a wingless cold
breathing ice drake attacks our sheep, throwns it to the ground which shakes the horses and us
up. We burst upon it like disturbed ants from an overturned teacup and as per usual within
seconds I am unconscious as it tramples and strikes me with its huge tail. I come to amongst
numerous empty healing vials inside the sheep, the party was very badly hurt by its breath and
trample attacks. Viola pays it off with a whitefire invested and we learn that another group
brought it down from the mountains and taught it how to raid for cows. It is responsible for the
magical cold which has made over six hundred square miles of land uninhabitable and eats a cow
a day from raids on the surrounding land, nearly forty thousand pennies per year. Sneaking up
behind it shows it is rather badly wounded so I somewhat foolishly hit it as it leaves, fortunately
it runs off rather than turning and ripping me into wee little pieces, a scary monster. Magical
cold seems to have been dispelled, perhaps the cold ritual is concentration based.

We decided to track down the drake as Jonas puts it “I consider it in societies
best interests to rid the world of this monster”, we could also get its loot.

The horse was put out of its misery as its leg is broken and we have no
healing available, in hindsight this should ideally be done in the open air and
not in the close confines of an animated ice sheep. Expert tracking by Jonas
across ever colder land covered in slippery ice and slushy snow allowed us to
find it in a large series of caverns within an outcropping of rocks. After a
pleasant if non scenic lunch stop we prepared for combat using some magical
drugs of Michael’s and entered the caves where a epic battle occurred. After
much chasing of the drake through caverns it was brought to bay by our
brave feline who caught it by the tail where we proceeded to hack it to death
as it trampled, clawed, bit, breathed cold and gaze attacked us in return. The
remainder of the day was spent skinning it, cleaning ourselves up and
collecting its loot, and mighty fine loot it was, we recovered Viola’s Whitefire
and stayed the night in its cold underground streambed lair.

;Profit
:Found reason for cold / reopened road
:GTN: Palrujak long lived sentient ( wingless ice drake)
:7 large nuggets of Gold (thousands of pennies worth)
:Amulet of Amethyst ( Bad Dreams)
:Amulet of Aqulaegus (Fear)
:Skin, head, claws, heart and large bones of the drake
;Loss 
:Horse converted into trail rations
:Numerous healing potions & wounds
:Tulwar damaged

===17th Frost===
Travelled back to, then up the road where at midday we espied a deserted watchtower,
exploration and checking the hay’s aura showed it had been deserted since the war, some
six years ago. We found very little until Anook entered a room on the top floor which
contained a rubbed out chalked pentagram and triangle, tentative and cautious looting
with much aura detection for wards and curses allowed us to retrieve from the desk a
beautifully illuminated tome about demonology, of soft white elf skin vellum and written
in ancient elven, some chalk and a pencil, five foul candles of human fat and in a hidden
compartment a magical quill with a personal seal on the end which takes the form of a
severed lions head. The candles had been lit two and a half years ago. While investigating
the basement myself and Dean in his plate armour fell through a rotten stair fortunately
neither of us were badly hurt, a barred up escape tunnel seems to lead out of here.

Shortly afterwards on the road we meet up with a scarred thirty something unpacted holy
mage of the raphaelite order, Father Peter. He is travelling to Fordheim after to replace
the previous Brother who has died, he blesses and thanks us for slaying the drake.

The father and ourselves then proceeded into a small hamlet a day from Fordheim where
we came across some “countrified” gentry boorishly arguing over a ram which had strayed
upon one of their properties. While most of us politely ignored them, Jonas and Viola
decided to sort them out tracking down the real culprit to be a mistress Dorothy who was
trying to leave the ram on a Captian Belish’s land but was seen so left it upon a Mr
Bochner’s land and fled.

Mistress Dorothy is the pregnant twenty something wife of the sixty year old retired ex-military Mr
Gentispan, and is having a ladies fued with a Mistress Marietta Vetteringling who is also pregnant and
married to Captian Belish with gardens salted and rams moved to start fights. Evidently Mistress
Marietta hired her seamstress away and is now the best dressed lady at the fortnightly dances which
annoys Mistress Dorothy to no end, or at least this is the reason given to Viola, she may also be aiming
for widowhood by getting her hot tempered husband into duels.

Gossip is that Baxters wife has died and left him with nine children to look after and the Blacksmith,
Alterten is a foreigner and fancies one of the alehouse servants Sara who has a six month old child.
The Mayor of Fordham the Worshipful Jonas Honagan Esq is fifty and has a wife of similar age, he
has had the local lady of the ill repute move in with him who rumour has it is pregnant with his child.

Count Connor’s father was previously married and had a son who was lost when a baby and should be
count, his second wife after his first wife died was a witch who gave birth to the current Count.
Count Connor is VERY unpopular in this area with claims of baby eating and such laid
agaist him and open opposition to his rule. Unfortunately Viola mentions we are in his
employ, which goes down like a sack of salt in a nixie pond, fortunately she doesn’t say we
are here to collect the taxes. Jonas leaves the drake skin to be tanned with the local tanner,
who he judges to be capable, we studiously avoid the area.

While having a meal and drinks at the extremely appreciated and quality inn we decide to do
some random aura checking of the men and find they are under the effects of an
uncolledged MA29 infatuation curse which was laid down between two and two and a half
years ago, one also had been charmed at some time. This is the same curse that had been
noticed but not really worried about on one of the gentlemen at Count Connors court.

===18th Frost===
We travelled to Fordham, a nice walled town and made an appointment to visit the mayor.
While waiting checking aura’s showed lots of cursed individuals and general observation
showed lots of pregnant women including many who are unmarried or older than would be
usual. We have dinner in the tavern where we meet a rather nice uncursed lady, however
upon leaving we find we have been drugged and so rather undecorosly rid ourselves of the
food we had consumed rather than fall asleep and flee to the church. On the way Viola is
petrified and has part of her foot broken off, using a nearby wagon we put her into a stable
next to the church with Alan, Dean and John to guard her.

;Profit
:A Fine Tome on Daemonology
:Five evil candles of human fat / chalk and pencil
:Magical Pen
:Blessed and Thanked by raphaelite priest
:Discovered curse

A hound of light appears when we enter the church and gives our weretiger some grief due to the cat dog thing however we finally calm it down and it leaves. Meanwhile Jonas and Anook decided to
follow a man dressed in black who was acting suspiciously and trail
him into a copse of trees just outside town where Jonas is captured,
fortunately Anook manages to flee over eight attackers as magic
begins to impact upon him from hidden casters and returns shaken
to the church.

That night Michael and myself receive absolution for our latest batch
of sins, or at least those that you would tell a priest, evidently as long
as we don’t break the Raphaelite commandments we should be
protected from evil.
====The Ten Commandments====
#Thou shalt not worship other than Raphael.
#Thou shalt not worship any graven images.
#Thou shalt not take the name of Raphael in vain.
#Remember the high holy days.
#Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long.
#Thou shalt not kill.
#Thou shalt not commit adultery.
#Thou shalt not steal.
#Thou shalt not bear false witness.
#Thou shalt not have evil desires.

===19th Frost===
I send a message to Shawn McGunnan, the Counts chamberlain using a windspeak
potion “Road clear, townsfolk love cursed ma29, demonic influences, most women
pregnant, forham has delared itself a freetown, some mages on otherside, priest pure,
holding out in church, will investigate further”.

Father Peter speaks to the mayors wife, Cath Morrigan and starts to arrange for
baptisms of the children born in the last two years, she has been having visions and
painting them in the church. I have some reservations after someone says they may be
half devils, however michael claims “we are in no danger of being overrun by daemonic
babies”, I leave him discussing theology with the priest and make my way to the stable
where I gently wipe down Violas marble like flesh which someone had befouled the
lower regions of while she was petrified, I also read the tome on demonology and gain a
few demonic lords true names although the other contents I cannot comprehend. True Name of Sallos

Viola arises in the afternoon and we tell the priest all we have discovered to date,
he advises us to go to Chantel Abbey some fifty miles away and seek aid, he gives
me a letter of introduction to help convince them, Ventford Abbey is also nearby
but father Peter tells us he doesn’t know that order and that the Michalites are
best when dealing with deamons.

This typical Michalite order are probably petinent pruitans as the priest, Peter
advises Viola to leave town before they arrive, no doubt in case they are
overcome by her beauty and have to whip themselves. She leaves but
unfortunately since she was petrified the night before the sleep potion kicks in
and she falls asleep and is captured by the enemy while lying in the grass and
flowers by the side of the road just outside of town
Michael, Anook and myself ride on horses loaned to us by the faithful of the town, leaving them with Alan, Dean and John who
are to try and escape on horseback. We fly away using wings, however about three quarters of an hour out of town are forced to
land as five figures with faster wings catch us up. Landing is frightful at night with the open piece of land we choose being filled
with jagged rocks, my arm is ripped open and with no healer I begin to bleed to death while lying on the snow covered ground.

Anook breaks his arm and crawls into some bushes, even Michael stumbles but manages to avoid serous injury and gets under cover.

At this point one of the pursurers is revealed as a half devil who carries me off and
heals me, fortunately It appears I am unprotected from its magic, saving my life as
conciousness slips from me. Michael and the one armed Anook slay a human mage
on the wing while the three remaining non-mage attackers, like us discover the hard
way that this “deadly ground” is a poor place to land, especially when defended and
are dealt with with ease.

Michael and Anook travel onward on foot through the night and arrive at the
Michaline abbey at four in the morning, Anook has his collar bone brutally set.

Meanwhile I awaken a captive of Sallos and his minion, I am healed but they
maintain a close guard on me so I cannot escape.

;Profit 
:Completed first part of mission to find out what has been occurring and sent message to employer
:ITNS of Dukes Aim, Astaroth, Berith, Furcas, Gremory, Sallos and Valefor
;Loss
:Jonas, Viola and Myself captured
:4 Shadow wings and 1 Windwalk invested used

===20th Frost===
Michael and Anook meet abbot at lunchtime and arrangements are made for the
army to gather and march the next day. These zen like knights are very calm, they
tell them that im “in the clutches of evil”. The other two nearby abbeys are
Gabrealite and Uralite. Anook is nearly caught out worshiping the false idol “food”
when they say grace, pronounced “We would like to thank Michael for his bountiful
harvest”

Meanwhile I meet Sallos for lunch. I have only met two avatars and he is
definitely nicer and more human like than Anubis - the god of the dead, he
doesn’t kill people and is more interested in drinking and wenching, he hardly
seems evil at all. He charms and throughly questions me on what is occurring
and reads these scribe notes which is to be expected given the circumstances.

He tells me that the Michalites are on their way and seems more amused than
worried. I am moved out of Fordham to an unknown location with six guards.
Meanwhile Viola is charmed and leaves to kill the local priest, however when
she fires her arrow she is overcome with remorse and manages to break the
charm, she then rescues Jonas who is charmed and cursed to love the wearboar
Joan by sleep dusting and binding him so he cannot escape. She flies to a
nearby costal city with him and hires a namer to remove the enchantments.
===21st Frost===
Michael and Anook march with michalites and are attacked by a half dozen
succubus, they remain safely within the middle of the footmen while Anook
discusses alternative theology with fanatical warrors, that is till his toes are
stepped on by Michael.

I remain a captive and co-operative in the hopes my guards will become
complacent, I am treated well with good food and wine and believe they may
be having second thoughts and/or coming out of charms themselves as internal
conflicts are beginning to appear in their ranks.

Viola rests and Jonas finishes having all his curses
removed, an eighteen hour plus marathon then they fly
down the coast to the port city nearest Fordham where
they rightly figure that they may be able to rejoin the
party. They make an impression on the camped
michalites as they see as a heroic tiger bound across the
sky carrying a beautiful woman in white back lit by the
moon, many prayers and self flagellation occurs that
night.

;Profit
:3 doses poison dust, 2 doses sleep dust
;Loss
:Two shadow wings invested
===22nd Frost===
Michael and Anook march at dawn after praying over their food, something like “mumble ..mumble.
.please michael give us something other than runny porridge to eat”. That morning the baggage train
catches fire as hidden imps upon a grassy knoll summon salamanders into the carts, manically brave
Anook volunteers Michael and himself to fight them and despite taking hideous burns, they manage to
smite them as the michalites save the provisions. The michalites then comment unfavourably on the
small size of Anooks weapons and have him carry some of the goods saved until he falls to the ground
unconscious, he is then treated to a lecture on the sin of gluttony from within the infirmary wagon and
is given only half a cup of foul smelling tea for lunch to harden him up.

My guards return my possessions, apologise and release me very early in the morning. I head to the
coast away from the approaching battle which I don’t wish to get involved in. I send a message using
the last windspeak potion to Dean to attempt to reform the party “Arnaud here, Michael and Anook
got to Michalites, I was captured but have escaped, Whereabouts of Viola and Jonas unknown.

Regroup at inn in town on the coast half a day to the east of Fordham.” I travel to the coast and find
Alan, Dean and John who have been drinking, wenching and fighting at the frisky ferret and send
messages to the michalites and the chamberlain informing them of what I know. After a pleasant
morning tea at the local Raphaelite church I hire a dwarven weaponsmith to straighten and derust my
tulwar.

Evidently Alan gave the elf skin book on demonology back to Michael and the inkeeper has seen me
before, which is worrying, obviously some some illusionist “succubus” is out and about impersonating
us.

At lunch time I return to the good quality Soldiers legs inn to find Jonas and Viola, we
enjoy a pleasant lunch together and decide to wait till the battle, rapine and pillage is
over before returning to Fordham.
===23nd Frost===
Meanwhile Michael wakes up and notices an extra footman in their tent, checking his
aura gives “succubus” after a cloud of fog forms and many screams and running hither
and tither the michalites eventually banish it. Several guards die including one as they
have no healer capable of healing poison in the army and seem to rely only on herbs,
surely there is taking this anti-magic crusade a bit too far. The michalites tell Michael
not to worry about poison as by praying over it any poison of unearthly origin in
neutralised, common poisons still work however, how useful. The morale of the
footmen, including Michael and Anook is beginning to suffer as another ambush is
avoided and they camp for the night near a fort close to Fordham where Sallos has
chosen to hold out for battle at dawn.

Viola, Jonas and myself train while Alan, Dean and John get into serious drinking
games. The indiscreet and gossipy innkeeper tells us that other refugees have fled this
way including a merchant and his son who said that the townsfolk were worried about
“bad men” coming with tax collectors, which would be us. Both Viola and Jonas seem
to think this was Sallos and a greater summoner as they saw a young boy who claimed
to be “in charge” when they were captured.
===24nd Frost===
In the morning the senior michalite knights move about the troops boosting morale with holy
prayers and seeking the suicidal. Michael out-volunteers Anook and they become “catapult
fodder”, showing outstanding bravery to lead the ram crew against the tower in which Sallos has
made his stand despite being unskilled with using a shield which is required to stop the burning
oil and red hot sand which the defenders have prepared. An angel turns up to ornament the
battlefield, capture the souls of the pacted and generally be of little real use.

The awesomely brave charge scrambling up the hill to the tower is horrific with the Abbot and
multitudes of holy warriors going down under fusillade’s of arrows, the ramming crew is doused
with burning oil, however fortunately Michael sensibly ignores foolish religious protocols and
opens the door hastily using an invested opening to get inside the tower alive.

Michael and Anook then leave the first wave of defending devils to the squires and step into a
side passage to covertly cast more “michaline miracles”, namely sword of light and corriscade
spells on themselves, luckily the michalites don’t take issue with this magic use. Anook and the Salamander
Rejoining the forefront of the battle our brave companions came upon some
women prisoners chained to a wall, michael checked their aura and lets the
squires know that two of them are succubus and one human, however the
misogynistic puritans are unimpressed having encountered illusionary aura’s
before and taking no chances sensibly slaughter the innocent and succubi alike
under a hail of sword blows, fortunately it turns out she was no-one of any
significance.

The battle continues to the second story where devils and half devils are slain and
most of the squires who have been leading the charge up to now go down. A
horrid chaos knight, sword master is fought and single handedly forces all the
attackers back before retreating when all his side have fallen.

At this level Anook gathers several items from a table before they can destroyed
for being magical, demonic or some such insensible reason as screams of troops
falling from the walls are heard, evidently climbing ropes and ladders against a
defended fortification is shall we say casualty prone. Meanwhile the knights take
the lead charging into the third floor where they detect ward the old fasioned way,
being torn limb from limb by a whirlwind vortex ward.

On the fourth floor His grace, duke Sallos joins the battle with his major force, wearing
a copper crown and wielding a dark sword he devours the souls of two or three Chantel
michaline knights despite the obviously less than competent angelic presence and sucks
the luck from the battlefield. Michael and Anook hack their way through numerous half
devils until finally they confront Sallos. Overcoming the fear that they must have felt for
their very souls they bravely engage him in melee with the sole surviving michaline
knight, surrounding and somehow managing to destroy his avatar.

Anook then took the surrender of the knights on Sallos’s side who had been charmed,
taking their gear them captive, very well done Michael and Anook.

Definitely a pyrrhic victory for the forces of light with the Abbot, 19/20 Knights, 15/20
Squires and 40/60 Men at arms from Chantel Abbey being martyred in return for Sallos
being banished for at least a month.

After the victory a bit of a standoff developed with the grasping michalites trying to
claim all the loot, Anook eventually handed over the armour and weapons to them but
secretly manages to keep all the easily hidden items. They return to their Abbey and let
Michael know that a Urielite Inquistior ( Judge ) is on the way to Fordham to root out
any evil remaining.

;Profit
:Sallos banished allowing tax collection ( second part of mission complete )
:Crystal Ball, Helm and Armlet from second floor table
:Gear from Captured knights
:Holy water
;Loss One
:innocent woman prisoner mistaken for clever succubus
:Our book on summoning the dukes of the seventh plane
:Souls of several michaline knights
:13 Sp for sword repair, 40 for accomidation
:1 opening invested

Taking two wandering michaline horses Michael and anook then made their way to Fordham and
noticed the place was locked up with guards on watch. Sneaking in to the church they speak to the
priest, Peter who tells them that the mobs of townsfolk believe that the count was paid alot for the
towns freedom and now he is about to try and tax them again. Peter believes he can break the love
curses and sort out the resulting social chaos. They stay the night in the church.
===25nd Frost===
Jonas, Viola aka Jane and myself bluff our way into Fordham and meet up with Michael and
Anook at the church where I get to pet the nice heaven hound, plane of origin “Heaven”. We then
wander out to the Vetlingling manor house where Sallos was living where we find some freetown
adventurers Joan (leader), Antony, Daniel, Paul, Simon and Luke and ten of the counts missing
men who agree to return with us. We thoughtfully remove all the wards and potentially demonic
items from the house and stay the night with good food and company.
Gate into Fordham
===26nd Frost===
After due consideration it is decided to use an immense show of force to overawe the peasants
and so stop undue amounts of carnage which would occur should they decide to attack us.
We enter Fordham en-masse, opening the gates with ten guards plus the party fully
corriscaded and lead by a ten foot across ball of bound ice which smashes through all
opposition. We break down the council room door and scare the townsfolk badly, remove the
demoic wards in the council house and get the taxes, books and charter from the town
records. The mayor resists but is squashed dead by the 35,000 lb snowball, we then leave with
the money. A unexpected and wonderful bonus is that we may have managed to convert many
of the townsfolk as they flee shrieking to the church of Raphael.
===26th – 28th Frost===
Travel back to Kaith with rescued guards.
===28nd Frost===
We arrive in Kaith and meet the count in person who thanks us for a job well done, takes
possesion of the goods from the manor so they may be checked and returned to their rightful
owners and pays us 4000 sp with the other thousand being a donation to help the people of
Fordham. We let the guards go without ransom for their rescue as an act of friendship, besides
they helped us collect the taxes in the end.
===29nd Frost===
I get married to Mistress Aslyn de Montfort and a few days later the party returns to the guild