Rabbit Adventure

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Rabbit Adventure"
GM: Darryl
Season: Autumn 797 WK

Party

• Berik (played by Craig) - Human/M, Witch, party scribe.
• Dillon (played by Steve) - Human/M, Mind Mage.
• Dimagi (played by Bryan) - Elf/M, Air Mage, party leader.
• Flynn (played by Michael) - Human/M, specialist fighter.
• Ingvay (played by Lee) - Elf/M, E&E Mage.
• Tso (played by Tim) - Human/M, Mind Mage, noble, military philosopher, party mil sci.

Time on adventure

1 Jul 96 AP to 14 Aug 96 AP (March to May 97 AD).

Employer

Farmers

Mission

hired us to stop carrot thefts.

Media:Snau9705.zip

Scribe Notes - Summary

On my honour as a scribe, none of the following is a lie, though not all of it may prove to be true.- Berik Grundenstein

A group of farmers hired us to stop carrot thefts. The farmers were human-sizes, sentient rabbits (GTN Rabbitene). Their carrots were being stolen at night, guards are found unconscious and wounded.

The situation was more complex than this, however. There was a valley, inhabited by many races, all were being attacked and having food stolen. The valley was on the Island of Nesland, on the plane called Dragon Islands. We found out that the valley was being plundered by an army of over 800 Orcs and Drazzids and other things, led by a general called Ogun.

We failed to protect the valley, being heinously overmatched (a low level party up against invisible flying ships crewed by magic using Drazzids is a bit of a mismatch) and eventually were able only to plan and execute the evacuation of the valley.

We did not find out the purpose of the army, but we did warn all surrounding kingdoms of its existence. Most of those kingdoms were pretty apathetic about the news. None wanted to help the others.

Important NPCs (!Out of game note - Try spelling the names backwards.)

• General Nodlin - Rabbitene male. Chief military scientist.
• His Highness Danny - The Rabbitene ruler. Our employer.
• Her Highness Danielle - Danny's wife.
• Kcud Yffad - Duckene male. Sgub's partner in the mission to hire us. Knows a strange form of unarmed combat called Quack Fu. Not a mage.
• Krath-Setin - Lesser Drazzid female. Healer, able to resurrect.
• NÆwod Redie - Duckene male. Quack Fu master. Considerably better at it that Kcud.
• Sgub Ynnub - Rabbitene male. Agent of King Danny, the person who hired us. Talks a lot, has atrocious taste in music. Not a mage.
• Yilew the Coyote - Wolfin male. Mechanician with a penchant for mechanical weapons that always backfired, injuring the user not the target. The blueprints for the machines came from something called an "ACME Catalogue."

Important Things

• Drazzid - Race of one- or two-headed reptilian humanoids. Very strong, very dangerous (to a low party, anyway). Each head can have a separate college of magic.
• Greater Drazzids have two heads and are really mean. Lesser Drazzids have one head and are generally less powerful and more friendly.
• Leonides - Race of lion-headed humanoids. Very strong, very dangerous. Use magic.
• Najarro - Capital of Yaruba. The ruler, His Most Eminent Dictator Mot Yrrej,

lives here. The rulers chief enforcer is His Most Expedient Torturer Wooto. The town guard are very touchy - don't hassle them.

• Nesland - The island that Yaruba is in.
• Quack Fu - Form of unarmed combat used by the Duckenes. Due to its lack of success in all combats save one, we termed it "Quack Poo."
• The Valley - Teardrop shaped valley. Green, fertile, sheltered, very good farming. Maybe 50 miles north to south, about 30 miles east to west.

There were three entrances to the valley: Pass south, to Najarro. Pass north west to another valley a days hard walk away. Small pass west to a monastery and ultimately to the coast west of the mountains.

Seven sentient races inhabited the valley:

• Rabbitenes, south-west, farmed carrots.
• Chickenes, west, produced quits and linen.
• Wolfins, north west, farmed sheep.
• Micenes, north east, produced dairy products.
• Duckenes, east, farmed watercress.
• Cattenes, south east, caught fish.
• Tasmanian Devils, south, farmed all sorts, were the main fighting force of the valley.

The Dwarves lived in caverns under the south end of the valley.

A river ran south through the valley. Two tributaries entered the valley, one through each of the northernmost entrances.

Yaruba - The country we were in. Inhabited by Humans, Orc-kin (known locally as Gnores), Drazzids, Leonides (lion-headed humanoids), and other things.

Dragons are common.

Scribe Notes - Details

Sun 30 Jun - the briefing

Sgub, party employer, explained he came from a medium sized burrow, around 3-4 families, a couple of hundred Rabbitene in total.

Their crops, carrots (big carrots, very tasty) were being stolen. They had posted guards, but in the morning the guards were found unconscious with bruises and wounds. Some guards had died from their wounds.

Sgub had a portal in a tree trunk a few days away. He got the portal from a mage in a human settlement near his warren.

We agreed, and asked what we were going to be paid. Sgub replied "carrots". After some haggling, the guild rep guaranteed us that we would be paid something worthwhile, even if the guild had to take the carrots and sell them. We separated, agreed to meet the next day.

Mon 1 Jul

After recovering from the usual night-before party, we met and left. We headed north east, travelled all day, and stayed the night at an inn in Stonesborough,

Tue 2 Jul

We left the road, travelled into the forest, walked most of the day. That night, on my watch, we noticed that Sgub had gone. We trailed him, but lost his trail not far from camp. He arrived back a little later. When questioned, he said he was lost and he was simply casting about for the trail, but not to worry he had found the trail.

Wed 3 Jul

Sgub led us further into the forest for two hours, to a large tree near a game trail. He said "walk through, you come out on my plane."

Dillon cast a limited precognition, and saw himself walking into the tree then everything going blank. He saw Sgub going through, then Sgub talking to a duck. After much worrying, we sent Sgub through first.

He walked up to the tree, put his head through, and fell over because someone hit him on the head.

Next, a duck sticks his head through and says "Sgub, is that you? Oops, sorry."

We picked up Sgub and all walked through. Sgub introduced the Duckene, Kcud Yffad.

We travelled to the town where Sgub hired the rune stick, to return the stick to the mage who created it.

We arrived at the town late, and camped outside its walls.

Thu 4 Jul

The town is Najarro, the capital of Yaruba.

Sgub and Dimagi entered the town. They returned the rune stick to Ganeth. They asked for a reputable horse dealer (is that a contradiction in terms?), Ganeth recommended Rentham.

They visited Rentham and rented a horse and cart. Good move, I hate carrying a pack.

They visited Cathlyn the astrologer, and bought a reading. It said "beware the mad pixies" and "watch out for between 7 pm and 9 pm on Saturday." We left town, headed north, passing many merchant caravans. The road eventually leads to the town of Tassilee, but Sgub said we'd turn off before then.

We camped by the road.

Fri 5 Jul

Travelled north.

Dillon got a sense of danger from a group of travellers up ahead. We formed a defensive circle and waited. The travellers turned out to Orcs and Goblins (which Sgub called Gnores). They asked us for a fight. We refused, they called us names, they left.

They did not act nearly as aggressive as typical Orcs and Goblins on Alusia. We camped by the road.

During the night we were attacked by the Gnores. After a long fight, including such heroic acts as the party healer leaping unarmed and unarmoured into close combat with a Goblin to save another party member (and achieving a grievous blow, knocking the Goblin out), we won.

Ingvay charmed a goblin using magic, and then asked "is it a female?" Personally, I don't want to know.

We questioned the Gnores. They called us cheats for using magic, and said all they wanted was a good fight. They said they didn't steal the Rabbitene's carrots, that they didn't like carrots.

Loot: 2 metal rings, no magic.

Sat 6 Jul

We left the goblins tied up, with the charmed one untied, instructed to stay there until the charm spell wore off.

We turned off from the road and headed north. We climbed into the foothills of a small mountain range.

We came across a gong next to the path. Sgub rang it. Above, a Dwarf stuck his head out and yelled "what?" Sgub replied "it's me." Sgub explained that the Dwarves guarded this entrance into the valley. Invaders had rocks thrown on them from above.

We climbed through a low pass, and entered the valley. It was a teardrop shaped valley, with the point of the tear pointing south. Sgub said "this is home."

Sgub explained that there were seven sentient races inhabiting the valley. See the section of the Valley.

We travelled to the Rabbitenes' warren. It was small and windy and maze-like, but warm and comfortable with ceilings suitable for humans.

(There were enough people in the warren to reduce a Witch's base chance bonus to 0.)

We were introduced to His Highness Danny, the Rabbitene ruler, and his wife Danielle.

There was a big feast, with lots of food (all made from carrots) and music and dancing and ale and wine. Several party members made fools of themselves. Tso and Dimagi walked around the fields. The Rabbitene sentries seemed alert and watchful.

Sun 7 Jul

Quiet, late breakfast.

We went to see King Danny. He handed us over to General Nodlin, the military expert of the Rabbitenes.

He told us the following about the attacks:

Several months ago, a corner of a paddock was vandalised. Carrots were torn up, strewn around. It happened again a couple of weeks later. Carrots were stolen, in large numbers (enough to feed a small group of people for a few days)

At first they suspected kids, but questioning has established that no-one in the warren was responsible.

They heard that other races had also had problems. Sheep, watercress, cheese, etc had all been stolen.

They posted a few guards. Areas that weren't guarded were attacked. They then posted lots of guards. Then they found a few guards unconscious or dead on the morning with sword and club wounds, and the area vandalised and food stolen. Some were found asleep at their posts, with no memory of what had happened. They have found tracks, but the tracks just stop after ten or twenty yards. The tracks have been duck prints, wolf prints, etc, boot prints, once just holes in the ground. Communication between the races showed that they weren't attacking one another, so they believe the tracks to be fake.

The attacks are major. There is an attack somewhere in the valley two or three times every week. The thefts are making a sizeable dent in the valley's production, enough to worry them about surviving the coming winter. No-one has approached the valley with offers of protection, so they don't think its some sort of racket.

We asked about mages. Nodlin told us there were no serious adepts in the valley, but many dabblers who only knew a couple of spells.

The Dwarves have not been attacked, but they are very well-defended in their cavern, it would be almost impossible to steal food off them.

The attacks always took place in the middle of the night. Sometimes they have just stolen food, sometimes they have just broken fences, damaged buildings, etc.

The attackers respond to changes in the guards tactics. They don't seem to have foreknowledge.

We asked General Nodlin to send messengers to the northern valley and to the monastery, asking them (1) had they been attacked and (2) could they help us. We also got his staff to go through all the records of all the attacks, on all of the villages, and try and find some patterns, something no-one had done up to now.

Last night the Wolfins were attacked. We travelled to the Wolfins' area. Fences had been cut, with an axe it appeared, and several sheep had escaped. The shepherds had found most of the sheep, but around six were unaccounted for.

We talked to the sheep. As usual, it had little of use to say. "Two legs came, helped us escape by breaking fence, we escaped."

We stayed at the Wolfin's village, dining on wonderful roast lamb. We decided our plan of attack would be as follows: Slept all day, watch all night, unseen, where the guards weren't, and try to see the attackers. If we spotted them, we would follow them back to their camp.

We were to report to General Nodlin each night and morning.

We stealthed around all night, spotted nothing.

Mon 8 Jul

Morning meeting, nothing to report.

Slept all day.

Evening meeting, General Nodlin's staff had the records we wanted.

The Wolfins (sheep) had been attacked more often than any others, then the Rabbitenes (carrots), then the Cattenes (fish), then the Ducks (cress), then the Micenes (dairy produce). The Tasmanian Devils had not been attacked, they were not producers of anything.

The northern valley hadn't been attacked.

Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

Saw nothing.

Tue 9 Jul

Morning meeting, nothing to report.

Slept all day.

Evening meeting, nothing to report.

Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

During the night we heard a rumble to the north. It wasn't thunder, it wasn't an earthquake. It was too far away to investigate.

Wed 10 Jul

Morning meeting, General Nodlin said the Rabbitenes heard the rumble, and at first light had sent messengers north.

We asked the General about Pixies. He said they occasionally wandered through, but were hunted down and escorted out of the valley, as they were mischievous troublemakers.

Slept all day.

Evening meeting, the messengers had returned. They said the Wolfins were attacked, and the rumble was some explosive magic of the Wolfins. No-one had been killed.

Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

Dimagi heard something to the north, Ingvay heard something to the north west. Neither were distinct enough for us to investigate.

Thu 11 Jul

Morning meeting, Wolfins were attacked again last night. One Wolfin died from wounds received the previous night.

Slept all day.

Evening meeting, there was a survivor of the attack there to talk to us. He was a Wolfin named Yeliw the Coyote. They had a machine that was supposed to harm the attackers, but it blew up (causing the rumbling), wounding many Wolfins. He's confident the next one will work. Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

During the night we heard bells to the north east, too far away to investigate.

Fri 12 Jul

Morning meeting, nothing to report. The General was a little disappointed with us, it seemed we hadn't done anything.

Slept all day.

Evening meeting, nothing to report.

Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

Sat 13 Jul

Morning meeting, nothing to report.

Slept all day.

Evening meeting, nothing to report.

Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

Early in the morning we heard farmers on the road muttering "what's the good of having heroes, were still getting attacked!" Well, we didn't feel all that good about it ourselves, but we had no intelligence, we had to sit in one place and hope the attackers came near.

Sun 14 Jul

Morning meeting, The General told us that last night the Chickenes were attacked. We told him we were getting nowhere, and we wanted to investigate some other leads for a few days.

Slept half the day. Left at lunchtime.

We travelled to the Chickenes.

They took us to the scene of an attack, a henhouse (for mundane chickens). There were axe marks in the smashed all, up to about 9 feet high. There were webbed tracks that led away from the shed, into a paddock, then stopped. We did not lose the tracks, they just stopped. Conclusion - the attackers can fly.

Same watch plan tonight, at Micene village.

We saw nothing.

Mon 15 Jul

Slept all day.

Same watch plan tonight, at Wolfin village.

We saw nothing.

Tue 16 Jul

We travelled east, to the monastery.

There we met the Quack Fu master, N'wod Redie

Stayed the night at the monastery.

Wed 17 Jul

Returned to valley.

Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

We saw nothing.

Thu 18 Jul

Morning meeting, General Nodlin told us the Wolfins had been attacked. We travelled to the Wolfins, and interviewed the survivors.

During the attack, several Wolfins were taken out using E&E Mass Enchanted Sleep, a spell the Guild doesn't have.

There was one dead attacker, an Orc wearing ducks foot shaped shoes. We questioned his spirit, and found that he was part of an army at least 500 strong, camped in small groups in the hills east of the valley. They had been raiding the valley to get food to feed the army. He didn't know enough about woodcraft to direct us to the camp, he said that they flew in flying ships.

They had around 30 of the vessels. He said that they were getting information from someone in the valley. He thought it was a Micene, a Cattene or maybe a Tasmanian Devil. He didn't know what the army was planning, but he knew it was going to take place in the next three months. He said the attacks in the valley were random.

About this time we started to think about going home.

We travelled to the Rabbitenes, and met with General Nodlin. We told him "look, this is out of our league, what do you want to do?"

We arranged to send word to nearby settlements (including Najarro) asking for military aid. He wasn't to hopeful of receiving it, he said the humans stayed out of the affairs of the other races.

Same watch plan tonight, at Wolfin village.

We got lucky, the Wolfins were attacked.

There was a big fight, it ended with us victorious, having three live Orc prisoners. We did not capture the flying vessel, as it wasn't at the attack (the invaders were to rendezvous with it.

We were helped by a staunch human, who really liked fighting. He was injured very badly, to the stage of unconsciousness.

Fri 19 Jul

One Wolfin had been killed last night. The Orcs attacked, stampeded the sheep, and were doing to Wolfins over until we arrived and some Tasmanian Devils arrived. Then the Orcs ran away. The Orcs were wearing cat foot shaped boots. No-one knew who the human was, so we put a guard on him, and took his sword away. I divinated the sword, it was magical, the effect was to do more damage against Orc-kin.

We questioned the prisoners.

There were 10 in the raiding party, all Orcs, no mages. The flying vessel was piloted by a two headed Drazzid. The Orcs helmets had small sticks with windmill shaped things on them, the Orcs didn't know what they were for.

They were dropped off, they sneaked in and attacked. After the attack they were to rendezvous with the flying machine which would take them back to their small camp. None had enough woodcraft to direct us to this camp. God I hate questioning grunts, no brains.

None knew of the informer in the valley.

The flying vessels carried 2 crew and 10 passengers. None of the Orcs knew how to fly them. The vessels were always invisible to those outside.

An army, equipped with invisible flying machines. Here we had very serious thoughts about going home.

At their camp were lots of Orcs, Drazzids, and some humanoid things that stayed hidden under big black cloaks and stayed apart from the other troops. The camps move often, about once every two days. Slept all day.

The human woke up in the evening. He introduced himself as David. He said he had travelled to the monastery. When he got there they told him of the attacks, so he came to the valley to "have a decent fight."

He had a hawk, which he could talk to using a magical ring. Currently the hawk was off chasing the flying thing.

The hawk returned a little later, saying that it followed the "big slippery flying thing" north west, but was driven off by bow fire from the Orcs in the vessel.

Stayed night at Wolfin village.

Sat 20 Jul

General Nodlin arrived at the Wolfin village. He told us that last night the Rabbitenes were attacked. Nothing was taken or damaged, five Rabbitenes were killed. Sounds like a vengeance attack.

He also said that they were looking for the informers, carefully and subtly. Dimagi talked to the air, it said that there was a camp to the north west, about 60 miles. We summoned some hawks and asked them to go investigate.

The Wolfins tortured the Orcs to death by letting Yilew use them for target practice with his next machine. One Orc was killed, four Wolfins were injured. We suggested he give the ACME Catalogue to the invaders.

Spelt all afternoon, waiting for the hawks to return.

They did at dusk, and told us the camp was deserted.

We travelled to the Rabbitenes village. On the way we noticed a glow on the horizon. Fire probably, at the Cattene village, or maybe the Devil village.

We arrived at the Rabbitenes to find no-one there.

Same watch plan tonight, at Rabbitene village.

We saw nothing.

Sun 21 Jul

We went to the Devil village at first light, found fire damage and general destruction. Many dead Devils, including the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. The remaining Devils, along with Cattenes and Rabbitenes who had helped, were pretty demoralized.

There were eight dead Orcs, two live Orcs, and one live Drazzid in cold iron chains. Finally, someone with brains to question.

The Drazzid, upon seeing us, struggled and escaped, and refused to give up so that we had to kill it.

During the combat three of our mages each tried to cast one spell. Each backfired. Don't the gamblers call that a hat trick?

Then the Orcs tried to escape, and some die in the attempt.

David turned up a bit later, disappointed that he missed the fight. He asked us where the invaders would attack next. We chose a name at random and told him to go to the Cattenes or Micenes. He left.

Two Dwarves, injured, arrived. After they had been tended by the medics, they reported that attackers had caved in the south pass and had attacked the Dwarf caverns.

Well, one avenue of escape gone.

The Dwarves had collapsed the entrance to the caverns, trapping the invaders inside. These Dwarves were on the outside, and had escaped here.

These two did know of some secret entrances, but they needed to rest before going there. In any case, no Dwarf will tell any non-Dwarf the location of the entrances.

The Devils tortured the Orcs to death. They found out the same sort of things we did, that the Orcs were grunts and didn't know anything.

Stayed the night in the Devil village.

Mon 22 Jul

At midday, David swaggered in. He said he ignored our advice and went to the Chickenes, and they were attacked, and he had a wonderful fight. He asked us where to go next.

After recovering from the backfire yesterday, I tried to question the Drazzid's spirit. No success.

Stayed the night in the Devil village.

Tue 23 Jul

We heard that a healer arrived in the valley yesterday, from the monastery, to resurrect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Tasmanian Devil village. Dimagi and Tso tried to learn Tasmanian Devil unarmed combat. "First you open your jaw 6 feet wide, then you spin at 6,000 rpm." About the only thing they got out of the day was dizziness.

I tried to question the Drazzid's spirit. No success.

Stayed the night in the Devil village.

Wed 24 Jul

Dimagi and Tso keep trying to learn spinning.

I tried to question the Drazzid's spirit. No success.

The healer arrived, and immediately went in to deal with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The only thing we noticed was that she was a Drazzid, a Lesser Drazzid, with only one head.

Stayed the night in the Devil village.

Thu 25 Jul

David arrived. The Wolfins were attacked, but he was at the Duckenes. It was good to see someone else having the problems we were, i.e. not being where the attackers were.

The healer has finished raising the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, so we asked to talk to her. Her name was Krath-Setin. She had no information about the army. She said the Orcs in the east normally fight among themselves, she's never heard of them forming an army. She told us that Greater Drazzids don't like humans.

I tried to question the Drazzid's spirit. No success.

A Cattene with a spell tried, and succeeded. Why the hell didn't she try three nights ago?!

From the Greater Drazzid we learned the following.

There are informers in the valley, number unknown. The army is over 800 strong. The army's objectives include (but are not limited to) territory, loot and pillage and killing everyone in the valley. He didn't know the timeframe of the objectives. He was a mage (two colleges, one for each head). He knew of the black-robed creatures, knew they were all mages of different colleges, but didn't know what they were. He knew the camps were kept small and moved every couple of days.

The main army was less than 100 miles from the valley.

The army was lead by Ogun, a human male Mind Mage.

We asked why they hadn't wiped out the valley already, and got some vague answers. They had the capability to do so, but were waiting for something. We couldn't find out what.

Stayed the night in the Devil village.

Later that night I summoned a Pixie, in the hope that they might be useful. Dimagi bargained with it for the help of it and its family. The Pixie agreed, in return for free entry to the valley. We suggested a Pixie area of the valley.

General Nodlin went away to discuss it with the valley leaders.

Fri 26 Jul

We were summoned to the Mayors room.

He told us that last night he had a dream, of a dragon saying he'd better move his subjects out of the valley, or they'd all suffer a horrible and gory end. He asked us whether we had anything to add. We said we agreed with the dragon. Later that afternoon all the Kings, Mayors and Leaders arrived with their entourages. We found that all had had the same dream.

Their meeting went for hours, then we were invited in.

They told us they had decided not to accept the help of the Pixies, and that they were abandoning the valley. Some would travel north to the other valley, some east to the monastery and on through the mountains.

We planned an orderly retreat, and planned to leave scorched earth.

Stayed the night in the Duckene village.

Sat 27 Jul

The evacuation started. Families, possessions loaded on carts. Refugees because we couldnÆt save their valley. Well, I've got to say that made us feel about as low as a Pixies ankles.

We moved about the valley a lot, organising defences like pit traps, poisoned food, et al.

Dillon came up with a plan of bluff to try and force the informer's hand by letting it known that we knew who the informer was. We tried it, no success. Stayed the night in the Cattene village.

That night the Duckenes were attacked, six slain from behind. There was no damage, just a sneak in and kill.

Sun 28 Jul

Slept all day.

That night the Cattenes had a party, a desperate affair, their last moments of happiness in the valley.

It made us feel even worse.

Stayed the night in the Cattene village.

That night the Micenes were attacked. Same as last night, no theft just killing.

Mon 29 Jul

Spent the day helping with evacuation.

Stayed the night in the Cattene village.

That night the Wolfins were done over. Same story.

Tue 30 Jul

Last night the Duckenes reported that something invisible flew overhead several times during the night.

Spent the day helping with evacuation.

Stayed the night in the Cattene village.

That night the Micenes were done over yet again.

Wed 31 Jul

Spent the day helping with evacuation.

Stayed the night in the Cattene village.

That night we spotted an invisible flying object moving towards the Wolfins. We followed its trail back, hoping to find the camp it came from. We took a guide of two Cattenes, mostly to help us around all the pit traps they had dug in their fields.

We travelled up into the foothills east of the valley, up into the hills proper. We found a hidden path and followed it to a deserted campsite with signs of Orc spoor. We figured that ten to twenty people camped here a few days ago. The fire sites were all shielded by rocks to that their glow couldn't be seen from the valley.

We backtracked to the main track and continued up until dawn, hoping to be able to spot campfires from high up. We didn't see anything outside the valley.

The climbing was pretty rough, we needed to rope a few pitches. The Cattenes, of course, had no problems.

Our guides said that Cattene teenagers liked to come up to places like this for romance.

Tue 1 Aug

Slept all day.

Watched all night, hoping to see campfires. We spotted nothing, which was pretty much what we were expecting.

Fri 2 Aug

Headed down the path, slowly and carefully, looking for tracks and paths. Not surprisingly, we found nothing.

We returned to the Cattene village.

We found that the Rabbitenes were attacked Wednesday night, but no-one was attacked last night. Invisible flying things had been felt by many people. The two Dwarves had returned to their caverns, where there was still fighting going on. The invaders had been trapped in a Dwarven city for over a week, and were still alive and fighting. Even more we were outclassed.

Two of David's brothers had joined him. They were just like him, violent and spoiling for a fight.

Tso had a feeling of something probing his mind from a certain direction. Telepathy showed nothing.

That evening, Dimagi talked to the wind, asked it about the flying thing. The wind said it had noticed big things, things it couldn't push. The wind said there had been one of these things "over there" a little while ago, in the direction Tso had been mentally probed from.

Later, as we were on watch in the fields, a white, jagged bipedal figure approached us. On Telepathy its thoughts were "find, find, ahhh, found them, now what do I do?"

It turned out to be some sort of ice golem or elemental , and it whomped us well and truly. It generated walls of ice which formed around us, trapping us. It could move inside these walls of ice in the same way an earth elemental can move within stone.

Then the dragon turned up.

IsnÆt it amazing how bad five words can be.

The dragon talked to us, or at least it talked to those who could speak Elvish, and High Elvish at that. It said it had seen the refugee wagons, and was curious to see what was going on. It had been the invisible flying thing that bothered the farmers. It thought we had driven the farmers out, so it "tested us" by sending the ice elemental. Now it thought we were "pathetic" and that we obviously weren't capable of forcing the farmers to leave the valley.

We swallowed out pride and asked it for help, and it refused, saying it didn't care what the lesser races did. Then it flew off.

Arrogant shit.

We heard horses, and David and his brothers rode up. He introduced them as Colin and Simon. Simon was a big, solidly built man. His armour had a stylised "7" on the front, indicating he was a member of the Seven Group, a martial group of do-gooders. Colin was more slightly built, and appeared the less bloodthirsty of the three. They knew of the Seagate Adventurers Guild, from the previous parties that had been here.

They talked briefly to us then followed the dragon.

All luck to them.

Sat 3 Aug

We went to the Rabbitenes to organise the final evacuation. At this time there were maybe twenty or thirty people left in the valley, not counting us. We arranged to leave that evening, and sent messengers to all the villages "leave one hour before midnight."

That afternoon there was a great explosion from the north.

That evening a Rabbitene arrived, told us the northern pass was now blocked and held by the invaders.

Most of the remaining farmers and fighters decided to head off to the west with David and his brothers, and fight their way through.

We headed south, with Sgub and Kcud, to try and reach Najarro and the Rune Mage who was out ticket home.

Sun 5 Aug

We continued south to the pass.

We fought eight goblins, and won, but the pilot of the flying vessel escaped.

Mon 5 Aug

We travelled all day to the pass, stopping just before the start of it. We camped, quiet and cold, in the rocks near the pass.

Tue 6 Aug

Due to some backfires, we elected to spend the day here.

We camped again in the rocks.

Wed 7 Aug

We sneaked through the pass, unseen and stealthy, avoiding the many traps and pitfalls. It almost worked.

Someone with Witchsight rumbled us, and we had a big fight which ended in Dimagi being captured. Our last sight of him was as Dillon cast Undetectibility on him.

A Dwarf joined us, a scout for the Dwarven town. They had finally defeated the Dimagi joins us, having escaped, Undetectable, from the flying vessel. The pilot of the vessel, a Leonides, had chased him all the way back, but he ran off when he saw us.

We all returned to the Dwarf complex.

We talked to their leaders, gave them all the tactical information we had, and asked to leave.

Thu 8 Aug

Left the Dwarven town, headed south. The trip was slower than last time, because the weather had closed in.

Camped by the road.

Fri 9 Aug

Same as yesterday.

Sat 10 Aug

Arrived at Najarro.

Sgub and Dimagi went in, as before, and gave all the information to His Most Eminent Dictator, who really couldn't give a stuff. I gamble he'll be more interested when the army comes here.

The Rune Mage Ganeth arranged for the portal to take us home.

We left the town and travelled towards the portal.

Camped in the woods.

Sun 11 Aug

We reached the portal, and went through. Unlike everything else that had happened, there were no complications.

We travelled back to Seagate, retracing our steps of six weeks ago.

Mon 12 Aug

Travelled through forest.

Camped.

Tue 13 Aug

Travelled through forest.

Stayed the night at the inn in Stonesborough.

Wed 14 Aug

Travelled south, reached the Guild.

Debriefing, handing over of notes, all the paperwork that keeps the scribes employed.

The Guild weren't too pleased to hear that we had failed. Sad really, their displeasure doesn't really help us in the field.