Prelude to Marriage

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Prelude to Marriage
GM: Terry
Season: Spring 823 wk
Night: Thursday
Location: Online
Level: Medium

Party

• Uthgard - Mill Sci (?)
• Zardoz - Scribe
• Mirage - Party Leader
• Argus Ramhammer
• Lady Arcadia
• Belladona

Employer

Sabastian

Mission

Help a nice young lady complete some quests. She must NOT know the help has come from Uncle Sabastian.

Pay

A combination of Investments, art and silver plus neg loot options

Scribe Notes

Seagate 1 Thaw (Duesday)

We met the day of the Guild Meeting and were directed to an interview and meeting room. There was a suspiciously good wine and cheese provided - I thought perhaps we'd either been directed to a room intended for a senior party, or that the comestibles may be the entire payment. After a while Sabastian appeared and provided both more food and a comprehensive background to the mission.

Sabastian has a niece, a human niece, so I think the relationship is more customary than biological. This niece, one Philippa by name, wishes to marry above her social station. She comes from a very rich but middle class (merchant) family and seeks the hand of a young man who is the fourth son of the Viscount of Westmarch. In order that his family might smile upon this union she wishes to make a "name for herself", by which we understand she wishes to become a famous hero of the realm, or otherwise distinguish herself in some fashion such that his family will view her as a better matrimonial prospect.

Personally I would have thought the pots of money that her family has would have made her a sufficiently suitable matrimonial prospect for a fourth son, as most noble families have a tendency to be land rich and money poor and generally you can't eat the old castles, but anyway this apparently is the course that the young lady has decided upon and her uncle wishes to aid her in this, despite I might note, the young lady having decided that she doesn't want any help from Uncle Sabastian.

Sabastian, not being one to take no for an answer, is seeking to employ a Guild party to go undercover and pretend to not be a Guild party and to not be sent by Uncle Sabastian in order to aid his niece Philippa in achieving her goals.

[Aside: I'm really not sure this is a good thing as it feels like he's deliberately undermining her hero's journey in order to feel like he is being helpful, or perhaps he has issues with relinquishing control. It would be interesting to find exactly why he feels compelled to intervene.]

From our perspective however, our motives are that he's prepared to pay us handsomely, to loan us all sorts of items, and to provide us with quite a few other mundane items that we may require for this undertaking. Sabastian took from us quite a laundry list of things which required an entire week to arrange. So far, he's been remarkably generous, so we should perhaps overlook avuncular eccentricities.

We asked a number of questions of Sabastian to determine how we might go about aiding Philippa, and Sabastian clarified a number of things including: famous is not the same as infamous, he would prefer that we did not involve ourselves in regime changes, and that he would be displeased if Philippa came to harm. Based on this we discounted some potential courses of action.

The current plan is to take ship to Freetaun, and then journey north to the capital of Hurrell where we can likely locate our nascent heroine. We then need to (somehow) ingratiate ourselves with her, becoming the sort of useful companions who will appear as small background figures when the official portrait of her is made as a great hero of Aladar. We expect to fine tune the plan and introduce some specifics into the gulf between "meet Philippa" and "Philippa is famous".

Since we cannot be known to be from Seagate, as this would associate us too closely with Uncle Sabastian, and since we need to explain our rather unusual group comprising a giant, human, dwarf, two elves, and a halfling, along with sundry hangers on, we've had papers drawn up that show us to be members of the Adventurers Guild of Freetaun. We don't know if there was an Adventurer's Guild in Freetaun, but there is now, and we are it.

After loading down Sabastian with our requests we agreed to meet back a week later at the docks. Sabastian and Uthgard headed off to Brastor, the rest found things to occupy them around Seagate.

On Ship 8 Thaw (Duesday) to 10 Thaw (Th'rsday)

We boarded the ship "Silky Dawn" and met Sabastian's associate, a water mage by the name of Riptide along with the captain of the vessel (Thorne Blackwater) who made some rather undistinguished cabins available to us and advised us to stay clear of the crew and not get in the way of their maritime activities.

On the first night out around 2:00 AM an alarm was raised on the ship and our party member on watch Lady Arcadia raced downstairs to summon the rest of her group.

While I must commend Lady A on her alacrity, the amount of detail supplied was somewhat lacking as she roused us and the sleeping crew, and as we prepared to head to the deck, we were unsure of the nature of the threat.

Making hurried preparations we headed up from below-decks to discover that ship had been boarded by quite a number of pirates. These pirates were rather smellier and more disagreeable than is usual even for members of their unsavoury profession and appeared to be already dead and overgrown with barnacles and other sea life.

Mirage decided to give the attackers a sporting chance by blinding most of our crew leaving the party to bear the brunt of the fighting. Fortunately, the pirates' decomposing undead nature slowed them and despite their considerable advantage in numbers the party were able to hold their own.

The pirate captain cast a mass fear that affected several the party along with quite a few of the already blinded sailors who took this opportunity to shuffle further away from the combat. On a command from the captain several of the putrescent pirates attempted to close with party members to varying degrees of success but this was not enough to shift the balance and as the number of invaders inevitably dwindled the captain withdrew to a corner of the main deck adjacent to the forecastle and barricaded himself behind a wall of bones.

With the rest of the party still fighting in close, drenched in the effluvia of leaking and decaying pirates, Mirage, Lady Arcadia's wolf and your humble scribe charged across the deck to the fo'c'sle and prepared to engage the captain.

Luna, the wolf, took the captain down in close combat and Mirage and I finished him off. He didn't go without a fight and his chilling touch drained anyone who struck him. With his final breath he whispered words of a curse on Mirage. I wasn't entirely sure what he said, something about "I go down to the sea" or "see you later".

On investigation we discovered that Mirage has been cursed to be "hunted by the sea" and while we're not sure what this means I am concerned about being on the same ship as him.

With the pirates dispatched we looked around for where they had come from and observed an upturned hull floating beneath the waves near our ship. As we watched it began to lose position - we think it must have been keeping up with us while the pirate captain was still around and now it was slipping away into the dark. We briefly considered whether we should go diving to investigate the wreck, but we decided that it was not something for which we were well equipped.

Various small items of value were retrieved from the undead pirates - serious washing afterwards was required - and certain items from the captain were put aside for investigation: a hat, a coat, and a compass. The hat at least has a curse on it and should be avoided until we can get it dealt with.

All of the excitement now over the party headed back to sleep and I took over from Arcadia on watch.

The next day was must less entertaining though a sail tore and needed to be mended and the following day rope lines broke in the rigging under a sailor. I'm not sure whether these were just normal day-to-day occurrences on board this ship or if it was an effect of the curse on Mirage.

On the evening of the third day's sailing, we arrived in Hardock and were put ashore in a dinghy. Our ship departed but will be coming back this way to pick us up. We stayed the night in an inn named the "Thoughtful Dwarf" and while there was some concern about stabling Brutus the boar palms were greased with silver and the problem went away.

Westmarch 11 Thaw (Frysday)

The next morning, we used Wildfires to run north, stopping some distance out of Hurrell to let the spell fade and to have lunch before heading into the city.

For some reason the party decided to split in two and pretend that we didn't know each other until later on when we would meet and then we would know each other, and it was all rather confusing. Arcadia, Belladonna, and Mirage went in the first party (because they looked rather more normal for this sort of place), while Uthgard, Argus (and Brutus), and I made up the second.

The "A team" investigated the large, two-storey, well-appointed inn named the "Dancing Violin" and discovered that Philippa was not going to be performing there today. They booked rooms for themselves, and we continued on and investigated the second inn whose name we had been given.

The "Whispering Parsnip" turned out to be a solidly built single-storey dwarf bar. Argus questioned the barkeep, Uthgard got concerned looks from the patrons, and I sampled the very acceptable ale. Philippa was not there either.

Finally, we made our way to the slightly less salubrious "Dead Crows" where a young woman fitting Phillipa's description was entertaining an afternoon crowd. While the "A team" went in to meet Philippa the rest of us remained outside, eating bread, and looking as inconspicuous as you might expect a 9-foot hill giant, dwarf, great boar, and halfling to be.

While we were waiting, we were joined by a suave and debonair gentleman whose sudden appearance and manner made me immediately suspicious. Argus identified him as an Avatar of Seir "the Willing Prince" (a demon well known to the Guild). Seir recognised us as adventurers from Seagate and told us that he was seeking someone to take part in some form of combat sporting event on which much money was being wagered. Dismissing Argus and me Seir gripped Uthgard's arm and vanished, much to our consternation.

Alerting the rest of the party over mind speech they came outside, and we discussed what had just happened. Acadia decided to alert Sabastian by way of a sending stone, a magical device that can send short one-way messages. In her rather nervous state Acadia managed to send the following:

Hi Sabastian, we have a problem. Uthgard was kidnapped by a demon for a fight and we don't know how to get her back. Help
<long pause>
Please. We found your niece at the Dancing Violn. So we are doing our job too, but I think we would die if we
<pause>
Went to save her. I'm being told to tell you it's a bad demon, what's the title, willing prince. Oh we are at the
<pause>
Dancing crow, that's where she poofed away. but if you could help us please that would be great.
<pause>
oh yeah its Arcadia speaking
<pause>
I hope things are going well for you too

As this veritable salad of verbal confusion was being tossed into the aether, I could only imagine how badly the rather unfortunate sequence of messages was being received by Sabastian.

<CUT SCENE>

INT. GALLERY

Sabastian is standing in front of a partially completed painting. Sipping on a glass of wine, with brush in hand he makes delicate brush strokes on the canvas. His concentration is broken as a look of puzzlement and then panic appears on his face. In large letters he quickly writes the words on the canvas

"demons kidnapped uthgard"

He stares intently at the words on the canvas, then start quickly writing on the canvas again with his paint brush

"found niece think we would die",

"went to save her bad demon prince"

"dancing crow, help us"

Sabastian stands back from the canvas and stares at the words he has written. He drops his paint brush; it falls to the wooden floor with a thud as he rushes out of the gallery.

My concerns proved unfortunately prophetic when not long afterwards we received messages in return from Sabastian:

Sitrep. What plane, continent, town are you in.
Investigating missing Uthgar.
Extraction party in flight, help on the way.
Detail enemy forces, as much detail as possible.
Provide codeword confirmation.

Argus and I asked to borrow Aracdia's sending stone, and Argus quickly sent messages to allay Sabastian's fears and get him to stand down the rescue team:

Don't worry we are fine, Uthgard was taken by the Willing Prince
Stop. We do not need extraction. We are safe.
Zardoz says "pain au chocolat". No idea what that means.
Please keep an eye out for Uthgard, and Arcadia says she's sorry.

We suspect that we are not getting any cash bonuses from this job.

The "A team" and Philippa have arranged to busk on the Morrow. I'm hoping that they draw a crowd; it's always easier to dip pockets if the marks are looking elsewhere.

We retired to the Dancing Violin where Argus and I rented another room - apparently now being allowed to be known by the rest of the party - and enjoyed a wonderful night's entertainment of yodelling and throat singing.

In Hurrell 12 Thaw (Reapsday)

After the excitement of yesterday we planned a quiet day to let Sabastian's nerves settle.

We spent the morning doing general sightseeing and information gathering around the town, with further muddled discussions on the goals of our mission* (and avoiding regime change), and then the "A team" met up with Philippa for an enjoyable lunchtime eating and lying to her.

*The mass-use of love potion was discussed which I was vehemently against. Having grown up with stories of "that event" and the oft-repeated refrain of Flytrap's "Are you sorry yet?" this option presents the possibility of too much chaos, even for me.

Philippa was particularly impressed when she learned that Belladonna was a fire mage and became positively animated discussing her desire to have learned that college and how her family required her to learn Bardic Magics as a safer option. It came out that she has some experience with the more energetic pursuits of an adventurer and has been involved in taking down bandits.

The group headed off to a town square and began practice their playing and discuss different tunes that they knew, getting familiar with each other as musicians and the like. After a while Argus and I joined them, hailing our companions and making ourselves known as guild-mates. We joined in by passing around a hat and attempting to elicit donations for the musicians. We only collected enough for bad beer.

Afterwards we retired back to a tavern and discussed Philippa's plans for the future. We discussed the possibility of joining forces and Philippa became more than a little excited when we suggested making her a probationary member of the Adventurers Guild of Freetown. We talked about options for quests, what she knew of events in the local area, and where we might find bounties.

We decided to check these out with Philippa heading off to the river dock to talk to the merchants. We returned to our rooms where Belladonna set to work on a Guild membership document for our newest recruit. Arcadia, Argus, and I wandered out to discuss bounties with the Viscount's guards, compiling the following:

• Bandits, East of Zebrin, 10sp each (noses to be collected as proof);
• Giants in the Taldreyn woods, 50sp. Attacking boats, merchants may offer additional;
• Harpies near Baryd Vale;
• Haunted Mine south of Laserfeld
• Two older wanted posters for: Three-toed Stanhope, for dealings with undead near Wesmarch, and Lunatic Thurmon, a murderer and graverobber near Xarl on the Brandenburg border.

These bounties aren't what we'd usually look at, but they are perfect for the cover story. The bandits and giants have the advantage of being in proximity of each other, and giant slaying could certainly be spun into a fine heroic tale.

We headed back to our inn and expect to meet up with Philippa in the morning.

Hurrell - Sursan - Aradoc 13 Thaw (Sunday)

Morning brought a pleasant if unremarkable breakfast at the Violin and a meeting with Phillipa who had secured a bounty of 1,000sp from the city merchants for resolving the giant problem, and who was delighted to receive Belladonna's expertly crafted and entirely authentic certificate affirming her as a probationary member of the Freetown Guild. We also provided her with a small "starter kit" comprised of items from Sabastian likely to help keep her alive.

While we breakfasted a page from the castle delivered Phillipa an impressive looking sealed missive from her beloved. The lovingly scribed scroll proved to contain a poem of such effulgent ebullience that the party were shocked to silence.

 Every time
 I see your face
 It reminds me
 Of you

After recovering our senses, we checked Phillipa's equipment (a magic sword and armour) and she showed up some one-use items provided to her by her "Uncle Sabastian". There may have been surreptitious shuffling as the party tucked away similar items - I hid the ones I have, while considering that both my shoes and gloves bear the Sabastian Silverfoot imprimatur should someone examine them closely.

Having agreed that bandits and giants were our best options for bounties - and that giants could lead to epic songs - we considered transport options towards Zebrin and the eastern woods, with some of the party complaining about their amount of baggage and the great distance of some 20 odd miles to travel. We settled on hiring a wagon to carry us as far as Sursan and engaged an available driver.

Ilric the waggoneer was questioned at length about the giant attack and having absolutely no first-hand knowledge of the event or any specialist military knowledge confidently informed us that there were dozens of huge giants, armed with "weapons" and accompanied by other smaller (and unidentified beings), and that a fierce battle that lasted for hours was fought between the attackers and many valiant merchants and guards.

Phillipa, who has heard many of the various stories about the event, confirmed that this was one of the more embellished accounts.

For reasons of purely philosophical interest, I suggested to Ilric that "we had heard" that the leader of the giants had an eyepatch, and that when he removed it his baleful gaze struck his victims dead. I'm curious to see if this gets added to the collected giant attack story canon.

With the party a captive audience on a slow-moving cart our "musically inclined" members then decided that this would be an ideal opportunity for practice. While from memory the traditional collective nouns would be a troupe of minstrels or a melody of harpers, speaking from experience I rather feel that a cacophony of troubadours or a discordance of bards may be more appropriate.

Our journey to Sursan took only a few hours, though it felt longer.

Sursan - Aradoc

Having reached the town, we bid Ilric farewell - leaving him seeking passengers back to Hurrell, and set off directly towards Aradoc, in woods east of Zebrin, lunching en route.

By early evening we reached Aradoc, a small town (or large village) where townsfolk were busily doing various mysterious forest-related things. We secured a single room at the only inn - the Charging Pony - an apparently lower end establishment that nonetheless proved to offer very acceptable ale at a more than reasonable price.

We spent the evening quizzing locals about the location and habits of bandits and discovered that much of the trade here involved herbs and gems from ores in the mountains further to the east. The locals proved unsurprisingly rustic, a good example being Lorian, who had moved here to escape the overwhelming hustle and bustle of Zebrin.

Local law was enforced by "Old Imilmar", known as "The Bandit Hanger". It was unclear what official position, if any, this individual held, but we were warned that should we start trouble it would be him who finished it.

The most notable local outlaw was agreed by the locals to be one "Bloody Gavric", a dwarven ex-miner who had turned to banditry, claim jumping, and general mayhem, and who had attracted perhaps 20 to 30 followers. Soldiers (from the Viscount?) had attempted to run the gang to ground but were unable to locate most in the heavy forest.

Aradoc and environs 14 Thaw (Moonday)

We had a quiet night's sleep, and in the morning the inn offered an absolutely fantastic and cheap breakfast. As we headed out of town busy folk were doing town things.

The morning was spent wandering in the woods, generally heading east towards the mountains. We began to gain a sense of being watched from the trees and applied some pre-combat spells.

Our path was suddenly blocked by the looming form of a 7-foot-tall dwarf, bones bound in his beard, and armed with double battle-axes who bellowed for us to leave our goods and flee. Disinclined to acquiesce we prepared to fight. As the dwarf repeated his demand and then breathed fire, Argus identified the whole thing as an illusion as unusually small arrows flew in from the left, striking Belladonna and Phillipa. I put a tree to my back, drew weapons and blended.

That the arrows caused confusion confirmed my suspicions that we were dealing not with bandits but with fey fu... err... foolery.

Belladonna created a wall of fire just beyond the trees to the left and Arcadia threw a wall of darkness behind us to prevent us from being flanked. The fire caused a cloud of small invisible shapes to rise from the trees to the left. (Note to self: remember to improve and actually use Witchsight.)

Rather than escalate the conflict we decided to try to and negotiate with the giggling psychopaths, and after bribing them with hard liquor, large meals, and silver we were able to extract the story of how they were now pretending to be Bloody Gavric.

Phillipa also attempted to trade them another "epic" love poem from her beloved. The poem was read out, it had rather more words than the first one and some of them even almost rhymed, but I have successfully blocked the details of it from my memory. The pixies promptly engaged in literal literary deconstruction, and accounted it as a negative-value gift. Perhaps they do have some taste and culture despite appearances. 

It appears that one day the bandit leader wandered away from his camp in confusion and entered a cave where he drowned in a pool. The fey reiterated that he was a bad man and that they don't know how any of this happened. Further negotiations involving more food and teaching them bawdy songs saw the perfidious toerags leading us to the cave where the terrible accident in which they were not involved occurred, after which they departed.

We entered the cave and explored its dark reaches, finding some distance inside a pool of water from which dwarven feet protruded. The body of the former bandit leader still had one axe strapped to its back and another had been dropped into the pool. Investigation showed that the submerged axe was magical, and Argus waded into the water to retrieve it.

As soon as he lifted the axe a spectral figure appeared in the cave. The undead shade of Gavric exclaimed "My Axe!" and drifted towards Argus where it thrust its hand into his chest bypassing all armour. Its chill touch drained life from Argus who hastily withdrew. The being's aura revealed that it was a wraith, a creature largely impervious to weapons even those of magical nature. Argus dropped the axe, but the wraith continued its attacks and Brutus grabbed the axe in his mouth in the hope of leading the wraith away and began to run for the cave exit.

We did suggest to Argus that he try striking the wraith with its own magical weapon, but it appears that Argus does not know how to wield an axe. This came as a considerable surprise to me as I thought they were given to infant dwarves as cradle gifts, much as a human child might be given a rattle, or a halfling baby presented with teething lockpicks. I wonder if it would be insensitive to inquire of Argus whether this deficiency is why he is out adventuring rather than still in dwarven society.

In the ensuing melee the wraith struck down Arcadia and then Philippa when she bravely raced to revive her. The wraith finally dissipated after being struck by several bolts of fire from Belladonna, a lightning javelin from Mirage and another lightning bolt from one of Sabastian's magical traps.

We retrieved the axe and exited the cave into welcome afternoon sunlight.

Putting some space between us and the cave we settled down to heal those who had been injured, and to find suitable lies to tell Philippa before bringing her round. We spent more than a while discussing Argus's genie lamp that can be used for shelter but not moved.

We spent the afternoon heading back towards Aradoc before enduring a poor night's sleep in the wilderness.

Aradoc and environs 15 Thaw (Duesday)

Entering Aradoc around lunchtime we returned to the Charging Pony and enjoyed their hearty board of fare, gave the locals news about Garvic and Pixies, much of it to the sheriff, a truly enormous man. We considered moving on but, in the end, planned a night of entertainment at the inn, putting on a big performance and playing up our role in ridding the woods of Bloody Garvic.

Aradoc to Zebrin 16 Thaw (W'nsday)

After a great night's sleep and enormous breakfast, we set off along the walking path west to the river near Zebrin, reaching it around lunchtime.

Unfortunately, the ferry was on the other side of the river, and the ferryman asleep. Mirage sent his image across the river to raise the ferryman. I am not certain exactly what happened next but soon afterwards the ferryman cried out and fled towards the town, and Mirage returned to let us know that the ferry would not be coming for us.

Argus created a small boat using his magics and a few of the party went across the river, retrieved the ferry, and brought it back to load up with the rest of the group. After some argument we left a single silver penny for the ferryman for the use of his boat.

Zebrin proved to be a larger settlement boasting three public houses. We stopped at the "Regular Panther" (apparently a pun or play on words in Elven, though not one that I claim to understand). The barkeep, an elf named Steflan seemed a little sweet on Arcadia and provided her with wine of a superior vintage. We got food and spoke to the locals to gain more information about the boat that had been attacked on the river. We briefly investigated the other two pubs (the "Singing Shark" and the "Jester") before having a meaningful conversation with Pevor, Captain of the Guard.

The Singing Shark proved to be a low class gambling den in which various card games were being played. I should like to investigate it further if we have the chance.

We now know that the attacked boat had pulled up to the side of the river and stayed there for as much as half a day. It's still unclear what they were doing but shady dealings seem more than possible. The boat was attacked by several giants supported by large humanoids firing bows from the trees. The crew and passengers were driven away but not pursued. The attackers raided the craft for anything that wasn't nailed down and much that was, taking most of the metal fittings before disappearing back into the forest.

We let Pevor know that we are planning to investigate and headed back to the Regular Panther.

We remain curious about the name and Arcadia attempted to find more information from the barkeep who played coy, hinting at that she may tell Arcadia more on a future trip. I have concluded that the only thing interesting about this inn is its name and that the barkeep has no intention of explaining.

I had a moment of concern when I was suddenly met with a hearty salutation in an indescribable accent and discovered that an acquaintance from my earlier trip to Aladar was at this same inn. The speaker, one Liam Hemsworth by name, is one of a number of brothers, all of them boatmen, and all possessed of the same bizarre accent of unknown origin. Unkeen to have someone from my previous "Seagate" outing collide with our "Freetown" group I put some silver on the table for drinks and managed to keep him and his companions away from the rest of the party.

Our troubadours performed at the inn that evening but were either having an off day or their repertoire was just out of step with the tastes of the Panther's regulars. Either way the performance was competent but not greatly appreciated, and in the morning, we set off north towards the woods.

Zebrin to the Taldreyn Woods 17 Thaw (Th'rsday)

After a few hours walk we found the remains of the barge that had been attacked. Investigating the wreck confirmed the stories that we had collected: an arrow was recovered, and axe marks in the gunnels were examined.

We discussed how we might draw out the attackers, setting in ambush for them, but as we have no barge, and our illusionist demurred to create the seeming of one we decided that we would need to head into the woods and find the giants ourselves.

The Taldreyn woods proved to be a trackless wilderness packed with uncountable trees that all look the same, though the rangers cannot be stopped from waxing lyrical about the "interesting differences" and "charming peculiarities" of what they claim are pine, beech, birch, silver fir, oak, elm, spruce, and linden.

They also claim to have seen unmistakable signs, spoor, and markings of goats, deer, hares, rabbits, squirrels (both red and grey), grouse, quail, shrews, weasels, badgers, raccoons, foxes, wolves, and various wild cats.

I have seen none of these.

During the second watch, I was awoken by Brutus standing on me, though the boar cannot be blamed as I was blended while sleeping. Arising it turned out that our camp had a visitor; a small girl child had appeared at the edge of the camp asking for help.

The child claimed that it was lost from the farm where its younger sibling lived. This story was somewhat at odds with us being in a trackless wilderness far from any civilization and farms. As this all seemed rather suspicious, and looking at the child's aura I discovered that it was a Wisp-Willow. I concluded that it was some form of fey or other lure that would encourage travellers off the path and most likely to a grisly end.

The small girl approached our fire and asked for food, which Arcadia offered. The child then put out her arms asking to be picked up, and despite our admonitions Arcadia lifted the child into her arms. The small girl confided that she was afraid but when asked what she was afraid of coughed up a spider and handed it to Arcadia.

Arcadia: I yeet the child!

Acadia recoiled in horror, but before she could react, the girl's mouth opened wide and thousands of small spiders rushed forth to cover our kind-hearted but incautious colleague. Arcadia immediately threw the girl away from her across the camp. Argus resolved the spider situation by flinging a grenado at Arcadia as Belladonna rushed to protect her from fire. The grenado won. But with the fire protection now on Arcadia used the campfire to remove the few surviving arachnids.

The small child ran for the edge of the camp, but it was brought down by a javelin from Mirage, and a dagger that I threw. The child like figure disappeared into a ball of light which was then extinguished. Acadia claims to have learned a valuable lesson.

The Taldreyn Woods 18 Thaw (Frysday)

A second day was spent traversing the wilderness with no sign of our prey, however as night fell, we detected faint sounds of distress that led us towards an encampment in some ruins.

We began to scout the ruins and caught sight of an Orc or other large goblinoid. Phillipa created an heroic song and cast a bardic magic that inspired all of us.

In realms where magic weaves its dance,
Arcadia, a celestial Mage, enchants,
With starlight whispers and cosmic grace,
She paints the skies, a celestial embrace.

Beside her strides Argus, sturdy and bold,
A dwarven warrior, his story untold,
In armor of stone, his axe a gleam,
He dreams of glory, a dwarven dream.

Mirage weaves illusions, a master of deceit,
In shadows and light, his tricks discreet,
A dance of phantoms, a kaleidoscope,
In her hands, reality and dreams elope.

Belladonna, a fire mage fierce and bright,
Flames that dance in the heart of the night,
Passion ablaze, an inferno's song,
In her gaze, the flames belong.

Zardoz, the halfling, celestial and small,
In his heart, the stars enthrall,
A guardian spirit, a celestial guide,
In the vast cosmos, he does confide.

Together they journey, a fellowship rare,
Through challenges faced, a bond to declare,
In the tapestry of magic, their destinies entwine,
A tale of courage, where celestial spirits shine.

Concealed by Walking Unseen, the party divided into two forces and moved eastwards into the ruins. Belladonna, Arcadia, Mirage, and I headed over walls to the north, while Brutus, Argus, Philippa, and Arcadia's wolf Luna made use of the more open ground to the south.

Dropping into an area between walls the north group encountered a Whisp-willow that was given no chance to expel arachnids but did exclaim there were visitors; surprise it seems would not be happening.

In the south Argus and a massively muscled green figure caught sight of each other. The tentatively identified hobgoblin swigged a potion and disappeared.

We subsequently learned that these beings were Ogres and they are so described hereafter.

A well-known maxim from a famous Aquilan general may be translated from the Reichspiel as: "there can be no certainty in a battle plan beyond initial contact with the main force of the enemy", or, as an old tutor of mine put it, "everyone has a plan until they are stabbed in the back".

I found this aphorism particularly apropos as I scrambled over a wall, dropped into open ground with no enemies in sight, and was attacked from behind by an invisible opponent, presumably Argus's potion swilling ogre.

Within moments multiple ogre enemies moved into view to add to our troubles. I spent precious seconds somewhat addled after being struck and would perhaps have suffered further damage had not Arcadia rushed in and similarly stunned the enemy.

Further to the east we continued to hear sounds of distress, and now the noise of a whip cracking could also be made out. A strange fog bank emanated from the area and when it fell upon Argus, he felt his joints stiffen and pains begin - I do not think this is an area in which we should tarry.

A general melee ensued as from the east side of the ruins an enormous giant strode into view. This monstrosity towered over the ogres, easily twice their height and hugely broad. Argus detonated a grenado on multiple ogres and the giant, arrow fire fell among the northern group, a whisp-willow became fixated on showing Belladonna her spider collection, and despite that distraction the valiant mage created a wall of fire that scorched ogres and the towering giant.

Mister Bunny

Enraged by the fire attacks the giant simply rolled over Argus and Brutus before slamming axes down on me, one of which returned me to an addled state. Luna leapt into combat with the giant, combining her attacks with those of the dwarf and boar as they savaged the behemoth's ankles. I recovered sufficiently to withdraw a little and stab a stunned ogre.

Arrows continued, wounds were taken and given, an ogre finally succumbed, and Belladonna exulted (despite being covered in spiders). From the ruins a second giant strode forth, and though this one was thankfully smaller, the situation appeared grim.

The tide of battle began to turn as the large giant was stunned, and a whisp and ogre slain. Philippa struck a thunderous chord and another ogre tumbled to the ground bleeding from its ears. Belladonna doused herself with Greek fire, incinerating arachnids, and Mirage cast his lightning javelin through the titan's head, causing it to crash to the ground, narrowly missing the party members beneath its feet. The whipping and cries or torment continued from further within the ruins and the cloud of pain expanded further.

The second giant quaffed a potion and suddenly grew to great size. Wary of its charge Arcadia and I withdrew past the end of a wall, closer to Belladonna. I raced for the archer on the wall while Arcadia engaged and destroyed another whisp. I clambered over the wall, briefly surprising the archer who discarded his bow and began to prepare weapons as I dropped over the other side of the wall and attempted to reach and interrupt the ogre with the whip. From this side I could see that the figure bound to the stone altar was yet another ogre rather than an innocent awaiting rescue.

The fallen giant suddenly rose from the ground, much to our consternation, and charged back into the fight while the second giant attempted to attack Arcadia over the wall to little effect.

Before I could impede the torturer, a horrifying apparition appeared before me, a phantasm conjured by the ogre mage that we had not yet engaged. This vile aberration took the form of a childhood nightmare and struck me with considerable force. Unable to counteract the spell I fled towards Belladonna who prepared the appropriate counterspell. Belladonna cast beneath my feet as I approached, and the terrifying visage of Mister Bunny was most thankfully dispelled.

I do not intend to delve in these guild scribe notes into minutiae concerning my dread of a particular stuffed rabbit save to note that my siblings and I had anything but a normal halfling childhood. My father is a warlock, an obsessive bibliophile besotted with empiricism who trialled innovative restorative flavours on us - and should you entertain the notion that "lemon and lime" isn't decidedly unpleasant then you have presumed the wrong kind of "lime" - my mother is a shape changing half-human witch and the child of an extra-planar entity that might be called fiendish, my favourite "Aunt" may be thought a life draining wraith, and my beloved childhood animal companion was my father's Nightmare.

The ogre leader now changed his torture ritual - instead of further expanding the cloud it began to inflict magical damage upon all of us within it.

Arcadia engaged and slew the wall archer before attacking the whip wielding leader but was pursued by the second giant and struck unconscious. Mirage felled the ogre leader with a lightning javelin and received another death curse and a phantasm in return from the mage. He escaped on wind walk pursued by the apparition.

In the meantime, the remaining ogres and whisps had been dispatched, Phillipa getting fully into the swing of slaying whisps masquerading as small children or geriatrics, though the revived giant had managed to strike down Argus.

Both giants were badly wounded and the one that had felled Arcadia began to retreat but was torn down from behind by Luna, who was racing to her mistress's aid, while Brutus finished off the one that had laid low his master. Philippa cut the head from the revived giant to ensure that it did not rise again.

The ogre mage attempted to flee the ruins, but the beasts and I ran him down and put an end to him. We removed the bound ogre from the altar after subduing him with a sap and slew him away from the sacrificial stone that we determined was dedicated to "The Savage Duke", which rather explained the ritual torture and zone of pain. Since they'd started the whipping before we got involved I can only surmise that we interrupted evening services or a morale improvement workshop.

We revived our fallen companions and took a well-earned moment of rest.

While we pause here a moment, I suggest our troubadours should add a stanza to Phillipa's heroic poem for Phillipa herself (when they turn it into an epic performance commemorating the battle). Perhaps something like...

In valor's song, brave Phillipa wove her tale,
A bard whose courage did not once grow pale.
Against a giant, coursing with undying might,
She stood undaunted, and triumphed in the fight. 

I'm sure our professional entertainers can improve on this... perhaps weaving in impressive details about err... "Skollgrim the Twice-Slain"?

After some healing, and time to recuperate, we examined the ruins and the aftermath of the battle, retrieving various items only after determining that they were safe enough to gather up. The remains of the spiders showed connection to the demon Berith, as did the stone altar. We severed the heads of the ogres and giants, those of the latter now sadly shrunk back to hill-giant size, and Argus itemised them, both the reduce their weight and preserve their freshness.

By way of her bardic magics Phillipa caused the enchanted stone block to resonate, and slowly deep cracks spear across its width. This took some time, but eventually the altar was sundered, and its magic fled, though some sort of magical backlash impacted Philippa and we realised that she too had been cursed.

With the evening now full dark we spent the night in the noisome ruins of a building that had been occupied by the ogres wherein we found the spoiled remains of their plunder from the boat. That evening, Phillipa took time to compose a ballad commemorating her victory, and while Belladonna may have kvetched that we were not named, the whole point of this painful undertaking was to raise Phillipa's profile with the Westmarch nobs, in order that she might arrange her nuptials.

The Ballad of Phillipa

(Or, "The Battle Against Skollgrim Twice Slain")

In valor's song, where shadows coil and writhe,
Phillipa stood against a leader cloaked in blight,
A bard of spirit, heart untamed,
'Gainst Skollgrim's dark cult, she unchained.

(Chorus)
Oh, Phillipa, with a blade of gleaming light,
Against the shadows, you stood to fight,
In the echoes of your brave refrain,
A hero rises, breaking every chain.

Skollgrim, the Twice Slain, his cult amassed,
Demon worshippers in shadows cast,
But Phillipa, with fire in her eyes,
Faced the cult with courage that defies.

(Chorus)

(Bridge)
Through the twisted rites and unholy prayers,
Phillipa weaved through cultist lairs,
In the heart of darkness, where legends are born,
She vowed to shatter the chains of scorn.

In the moonlit glade, where shadows fall,
Phillipa stood, answering the call,
Against the cult, her spirit ablaze,
With every strike, a defiance ablaze.

(Chorus)

With every battle cry, the demons cowered,
Against Skollgrim's cult, Phillipa towered,
To break the chains of the Twice Slain,
She emerged, triumphant, her victory gained.
 
(Chorus)

(Outro)
In valor's song, a tale of redemption sung,
Of Phillipa, who faced demons among,
A hero's anthem, in triumph strung,
Against the darkness, her victory won.

Taldreyn Woods to Zebrin 19 Thaw (Reapsday)

The night passed uneventfully, and in the morning light we headed back to Zebrin, arriving in the late afternoon.

I could not face another visit to the Regular Panther and suggested that we stay instead at the Jester.

The inn was pleasant, the baths glorious, and that evening our troubadours premiered of the epic "Ballad of Philippa", with the rest of the party providing support in the form of acting. The performance appeared to go well, though I noted our experts comparing notes on improvements.

Zebrin 20 Thaw (Sunday)

We spent the day resting and relaxing in Zebrin and a second night at the Jester, enjoying the luxury of beds without roots, stones, and spiders.

Zebrin to Hurrell 21 Thaw (Moonday)

In the morning we caught a boat to Hurrell giving the other passengers an unexpected performance of the epic at no additional charge. Our captive audience seemed to appreciate the entertainment and indeed there was cheering from the passengers when we disembarked at Hurrell.

On arrival, we headed to the Dead Crows, a favourite haunt of Phillipa's and inquired about performing the Ballad there, which we have arranged in two days, the inn having a drummer this night and some violinists already booked for Duesday.

We began discussing options for curse removal, both the one from Philippa and the two from Mirage. As we have no contacts for this in the area, we asked Philippa about her resources. She was reluctant to call on her father as he disapproves strongly of her adventurous activities, and we suggested that she contact her beau Logan and see if his family knew who me might approach.

A message was sent, and Logan arrived in great haste swearing vengeance on the curs that had harmed his sweetheart. He was I feel somewhat disappointed when he was told that they were already dead.

He presented Philippa with another of his unique poems that I hope you will forgive me for reproducing here:

I love to love my love
My love is like a dove
A dove is like my love
Because a dove is love

His use of repeated simile then subverted by metaphor leads me to believe he may be a dangerous literary wit.

Philippa and Mirage departed with Logan to see a curse specialist. I murmured an aside to Argus that I was thankful Arcadia had not attempted to contact Sabastian about this. Acadia excused herself from the room and I felt an overwhelming sense of dread.

Although I did not know this at the time Arcadia had indeed used her sending stone to message Sabastian, and once more Sabastian had reacted rashly, but this time he contacted Philippa directly, and at that point the wheels came off.

On returning to the inn Philippa peered at us suspiciously and asked how it was that we knew her Uncle Sabastian. She had been contacted by Sabastianwhile seeing to the curses and was informed that he was on his way with all haste. Since she had not informed him of any problems, she surmised that one of us must have, and as we extemporised and attempted to allay her suspicions I was tapped on the shoulder by a wind-swept and dishevelled young halfling woman with angry eyes who was accompanied by several half-height enforcer types.

I was unceremoniously bundled outside where a rather peevish Sapphire Gold demanded a sitrep, and though I doubt it will get us a bonus I insisted that the blame for this latest debacle lay squarely with Sabastian. Sapphire departed in high dudgeon with her party leaving a sole informant behind.

At this point I felt we had endured quite enough of Sabastian's fun and games, and that to continue the charade would only betray the trust of our adventuring companion. I gave Philippa my card from the #1 Hobbit Detective Agency , and we also confirmed with her that we were indeed from Seagate.

Philippa was understandably unimpressed but after some discussion where we argued that our mission had been only to support what she herself wanted to do her ire cooled somewhat.

The rest of the afternoon passed in discussions, and we agreed that on the morrow we would take the severed heads of the demon cult to the merchants of Hurrell and claim the bounty.

Hurrell 22 - 29 Thaw, Hardock 29 Thaw (Duesday)

The next day we presented our collection of giant and ogre heads to the Hurrell merchants and recounted our adventures to them and the town guard. The heads were made into a trophy pole and paraded through the streets to the guard headquarters where we provided detailed information on the cult.

We spent the next week giving increasingly embellished performances of the epic tale to appreciative crowds, and a final matinee for various wealthy merchants and nobles before leaving Phillipa with our very best wishes for her future and heading back to the coast.

Just as we arrived, the Willing Prince appeared with Uthgard, who now sported an impressive scar across her face. He made ominous references to seeing us again and then departed, and we filled Uthgard in on the events of the last couple of weeks.

On Ship 29 Thaw (Duesday) to Arrival in Seagate 2 Seedtime (Frysday)

The sea voyage home was without major incident, though minor issues plagued the ship (the result of one of Mirage's curses). A flight of figures on shadow wings was sighted returning from Westmarch.

Arriving back on dry land we met Sabastian and debriefed with him, tactfully omitting Phillipa's discovery of him as our employer due to his poorly considered message. He agreed that we had fulfilled our contract satisfactorily and authorized payment. He let us know that Phillipa has arranged for the Freetown Guild to become a real organization, independent of, but loosely allied with the Guild in Seagate. Those of us who had travelled with Phillipa all opted to be recorded as founding members.

We made our fond farewells, and I have every hope that we might adventure again in the future.

Mil Sci

Watch Order

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Uthgard				Arcadia				Argus
Zardos				Mirage				Belladonna

Skirmish Formations (Front)

Default

Double File

Single File

Buffs

Long Duration Buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Ut	Za	Mi	AR	LA	Be
Disguise Illusion	12	change height, weight, voice or clothing	13 hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Illusionary Aura	6	Partly obscure aura	7 days	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fire Armour	8	Absorb (36 points magical) fire damage	9 hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fire Proofing	7	Protect vs normal fire	8 hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Short Duration / Situational Buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Ut	Za	Mi	AR	LA	Be
Shadow Wings (Za/LA)	6	36 mph	3½ hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Witchsight (Za)	6	150' dark, see invisible	3½ hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Shadow Form (Za)	10	22% DEF Melee, 11% Close	5½ hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Multiple Images	10	Three extra images of the target, which can absorb attacks	11 minutes	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Wildfires	10	Burny speedz! (40mph)	220 mins	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Weapon of Flames	11	+12% SC +6 DM (+11 DM vs vuln)	16 mins	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Self Only Buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Ut	Za	Mi	AR	LA	Be
Ice Armour (Ha)	15		9 hrs	Y
Project Image	20	become invisible. Can move, hear, see, talk thru image	n/a			Y

Calendar

Spring: Thaw 823 (10)
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
		Candlemansa	1	Guild Meeting Seagate	2		3		4		5		6	.
	7		8	Sailing Day	9		10		11	Westmarch	12	Hurrell	13	To Aradoc
	14	Aradoc woods	15	Aradoc	16	To Zebrin	17	Taldreyn Woods	18	Ogre & Giant battle	19	To Zebrin	20	Zebrin
	21	To Hurrell - The wheels come off	22	Performance week starts	23	Performances	24	Performances	25	Performances	26	Performances	27	Performances
	28	Performance week ends	29	Matinee for merchants and nobs, to Hardock and ship	30		1		2	Arrival in Seagate. Fini.	3		4
Spring: Seedtime 823 (11)
	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		1		2
Spring: Blossom 823 (12)
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21	Floralia	22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30	Walpurgisnacht