Doing the Rounds

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: ?
GM: Jacqui
Session: Autumn 821
Night: Tuesdays
Location: Smiths
Level: Bunny/Low

Party

• Reiner Frosthaamer - Earth mage. Male dwarf. - played by Paul
• Galantha Nival (Snowdrop) - Ice Mage. Female hobbit - played by Keith (Scribe)
• Marcus - Namer. Male human - played by Michael (Leader/Mil Sci)
• Phos Mathin - Binder. Male orc - played by Chris

Employer: Witches of Ranke
Mission: Resolve or Research Cause of Sickness
Location: Ranke
Pay: Amulets (Prepaid)
Days on Adventure:

Scribe Notes

Session One

Day 1
Not having an adventure, those of us remaining went our separate ways although most of us gravitated to the Guild Pub. A few days later, I along with the few who were still there, were dragged out of the pub and deposited in Meeting Room 1. Seems there was a late coming employer.

The employer was a young lady with a black pointy hat, She told us her name was Heggity and there was a problem at the village of Shepperton-Ashwick, People were getting sick of some strange disease. She provided us with some amulets which it was hoped would protect us: Luck; Bloodstone; and Elderflowers.

My companions were: Reiner Frosthaamer – dwarven earthmage
Phos Mathin – Orcish khan who makes strange things
Marcus – Human Namer who was also a Centurion from the Lunar Empire

and I'm Galantha Nival, but most people call me Snowdrop or just Snow. The reason for that is that my name is actually elven and translates to Snowdrop.

I told the party I was from way up north and had wandered my way here finally arriving in a group of 500 plus hobbits at Seagate. For some reason, my story of stealing a sausage from a merchant, then throwing it back at him got a whole lot of laughter which confused me.

   "Males don't like having their sausages stolen" - Phos

Marcus became the Party Leader and Military Scientist while I got the job of Scribe.

Day 2
It was a really early start the next morning with porridge for breakfast before dawn, then we headed for the docks where our ship was waiting. I waved to Sol when She appeared. I then got pushed off the docks by Marcus. Dunno why but it was a good dip. Our ship was the ‘Cry of the Serpent’ commanded by Captain Ramsey. During the trip our Orc was appointed the purser and party accountant.

It took us all day to get to Dar, which had a triple port; big ships, fishing boats; and canal barges. After watching cargos being transferred from ship to barge – and vice versa, we headed for the Barge Inn. Arranging for our barge trip the next morning wasn’t too hard, after we detoxed the harbour master.

Day 3
The barge we ended up going on was the ‘Rosebud’ which was easily recognizable by all the rosebuds painted on it. This was to be a two day trip to Silverstream and we stopped at an inn at the halfway point. Breakfast the next day was porridge and apples.

Day 5
Finally reached Silverstream at a fork where the Blue Water flowed into it. The town of Silverstream was between the two. Here we got off and met the other three witches: Margurite; Fanny; and Granny. Granny was obviously in charge as she had a commanding presence which entered the room before she did.

We were told that the disease was most prevalent in humans but that might be because that there were lots for humans. The village was sixty miles further up the Silverstream and we spent the night at the ‘Pig and Whistle’.

Day 6
Breakfast was porridge. (Anyone see a trend developing?). Horses and donkeys were provided for us to ride. Brutus(Phos), Sanchez(Reiner), Julius(Marcus), Jenny /Cranky(mine) and Celia(Hagity). There is also a bounty on bandits. To claim it we had to produce the right ears of each one.

Session Two

The trip started off through farming lands, starting with crops, then orchids, grain fields - well - what's left of them, then into cow and sheep country. That started turning into swampy country as the road ran next to the river. A short while later, we heard a commotion up ahead from around a tree covered corner.

What we saw was a barge that was under attack by a bunch of orcs - five in total, one of which was larger and better equipped. The barge was called the 'Daffodil' and it was stuck on a sunken log that the orcs had put there. They were on land, on top of a small hill overlooking the river, shooting arrows at the three occupants of the barge who were trying to defend themselves by shooting back. So Marcus charged up on horseback and smacked one of the orcs rather hard. The resulted in a cheer being raised by the boat crew. The rest of us weren't too far behind, so the orcs turned on us.

The battle was short, brutal, and, in some cases, messy. Phos brought one orc down by damaging it's shoulder severely then smashing in it's skull a split second later. Marcus was impaling orcs right, left and centre with his javelin while I was providing covering fire with my bow before going in and providing flanking support with my short sword.

Finally we vanquished them, but not before we took some damage. The barge had to shifted off the log so I did quite a lot of diving to break the log down, with the help of Hagity's Decay spell to soften the wood. With that we were able to carefully back the barge off the log without ripping out the bottom of the barge.

The orc lair was then searched for and found. Inside was a lot of stolen trade goods which were transported back to the barge for them to sell. We just kept the orc's gear, including five sets of brigidine armour, better than we were wearing, a silver well made battleaxe, four composite bows and a big orc bow.

That evening they invited us to stay the night with them as thanks and we shared our food. I even went fishing and tickled some trout for dinner which were served up with taters.

Day 7
Breakfast the next morning was eggs (they had a chicken on board) and sausages. OK, I wasn't that much off sausages but I certainly wasn't planning to steal any more. The barge then set off as we mounted our mounts and set off. The plan was to reach Hunstanton by that night. On the way, we were told that the Mayor's name was Beorne

Session Three

We're definately in frontier country. When we arrived at Hunstanton, it reminded me of the Trading Post in Pasifika, surrounded by a moat and palisade. Seems they got a lot of problems with mauraulding orcs and goblins around here. We entered through the gate, past the guards, and made our way to the 'Merry Mandolin Inn'. A really tasty lamb dish was dinner and we were introduced to the staff, Molly & Richard who ran the place, Sally the waitress, and and Peter the mandolin player. I was tempted to play a duet with Peter but the chance didn't occur.

Day 8
We got a room for the night but our hope for an uneventful night was in vain. Early that morning, before the sun came up, the alarm bell tolled and there were cries of 'Fire'. I looked out the window, since I was on watch, and saw gobliuns running in the street. After waking the others, I ran downstairs and discovered goblins in the bar, trying to set the place on fire. So, we all set to work putting out the fires and beating up the goblins. Richard slew a goblin with a meat cleaver then went to aid Molly who was being attacked by another one. Between the two of them they killed it. During the fracas Phos was killed, well that's what we thought at first, but Hegitty was able to bring him back. A grenado hit the bottles behind the bar but I was able to put out the fire before the heat exploded the bottles. Even the drunk guy who followed us down got in a good hit.

Anyway, we vanquished the goblins there then Marcus and I went around town beating up goblins and putting out fires. Because Phos was still recovering from his 'near death' experience, it was decided we would stay another night here.

Session Four

Phos got fixed up that morning but it was going to take a few days for him to recover properly. When I went to visit him, with a gift of grapes, he said he felt like ... well .... ew. Reiner ended up sleeping all the morning while I was arranging to get some of the goblin brigadine armour adjusted to my size and shape. Marcus and I went investigating that afternoon and discovered that the goblins had managed to sneak over the wall. It was unable to be ascertained where they had come from but we were sure not many of them had escaped.

After visting Phos, I wanted to know if anyone had recently come in from Shepperton-Ashwick. As it happened, there was one. He was suffering from this 'apathy disease' but was slowly recovering. He told us there were a lot of people up there suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and it had been going on for about a month now. Since coming here about a month ago he was feeling better. According to DAs he was a short lived sentient, definately human. He seemed to be suffering from some sort of magical impedement, faint, but present.

Meanwhile the bodies of the goblins were being burnt in a big bonfire outside the walls.

Day 9
The armours were still being refitted but everyone else's would be ready this afternoon. Mine wouldn't be until tomorrow. I tried making icecream with cream, mushed berries and honey but managed to backfire myself silly. Did visit Phos, he was getting better and told me he'd prefer meat than grapes. Haggity was enjoying them though.

Day 10
Finally headed off with new armour. Armourer had done a really good job too as I was pleased with the fit and comfort. Worth every silver penny we paid. We did a lot of riding and I found out that Reiner didn't like elven singing so I shut up. Finally arrived at a hut where we spent the night. It bucketed down that night so I was glad we were indoors.

Day 11
Fortunately it wasn't still raining that morning even though it was rather damp. Finally got out of the hills and into sheep farming territory. We then reached a black stone bridge that spanned the Silverstream. It was very well made, most likely been there for hundreds of years and built by dwarves. To the north was more hills and to the south was a lone hill that was locally known as the Lonely Hill.

Shepperton-Ashwick turned out to be two towns seperated by the river, and it was the Shepperton side we were approaching. Two dwarves guarded the gate, one of which was Ludwig Silverstein. He told us that we needed to go to the Blackbridge Tavern. When we got there, we discovered that Mrytle Button, a halfling, was standing in for the regular propriator, Osward, who was suffering from the chronic fatgue syndrome. We found out Shepperton was mostly inhabited by humans with the dwarves and halflings occupying Ashwick. Myrtle would be returning to Ashwick once her work was done for the night. We also found out that the Lonely Hill contained a silver mine run by the Silverstein Clan.

When we asked about strange events, we were told that the stream from the north ran brown for a while. Something similar had happened around seven years ago around the time the sun went out.

   Reiner - "Maybe they're so tired from all the breeding they do"

Day 12
For some reason, both Phos and Marcus were feeling grumpy this morning. We went to meet the Shepperton Town Council which consisted ofr two very tired humans (man and woman), a dwarf and a halfling. We had already came to the conclusion that it was most likely something to do with the Shepperton water supply. The townn had four wells and the worst affected area was the eastern area so that was where our investigation started. I was wondering if we were going to have to rig up some sort of distillation system.

A sample of water was drawn from the well and a very faint magical aura was detected in it. Nature of Magic: Contagion, College of Magic: Earth (or a hint of it anyway), Name of Spell: No answer. I tried freezing some of the water but the contagion was in the resulting ice as well. So much for that idea.

   Snowdrop - "Some contagion from the brown stuff that contaminated the stream?"
   Marcus - "That's why it's magical shit"

So we started following the stream towards the northern hills. It didn't take long before we had to bushwack our way through ... well ... thick bush. Just then we heard the sound of angry pork on the hoof.

Session Five

Well ... I'm not sure that the Battle of the Angry Pork would ever make it into a bard's repetoire although it was certainly rather spectacular from my point of view, i.e. near the ground facing down an angry beast that stood as tall as I did. My first instinct was to hide while the rest of them confidently faced the charging beast. Phos ended up under it while Marcus was complaining he should have brought his boar spear. and been on horseback. Reiner charged in with his battleaxe/hammer combo while my first arrow shot hit the beast, but bounced off it's thick hide. So did the second one. As for the third, well I guess I'm not going to see that arrow again. Hegitty had to fend off the boar with her sword but the others came to her rescue and, after a fierce fought fight, the beast lay dead.

Much meat preparation and hanging later, as we couldn't take the whole thing with us, we set off again. That evening, we found a good place to make camp. While doing that. Reiner found a left foot sandal that had been here for a long time. So he asked the DA question "Where's the other one?" He got no answer (obviously) but did discover it was at least 6 years old, made of common leather, and was native to this plane. Phos went scouting around and finally spotted the other sandal in the stream. Neither were magical.

During the night, we heard wolves so the fire was stoked up.

Day 13
It was a grey gloomy depressing looking day as we kept following the stream north looking for clues.

   Marcus - "At least it's not raining"
   Snowdrop - "Don't jinx it"

It started raining that evening as we reached a tributary flowing into the main stream. So, we set up camp.

During the night we were attacked by wolves. Wolves that looked hungry and hadn't had a proper meal in a while. Again my arrows just bounced. Phos managed to break his mace and the head bounced into the stream. In contrast, Reiner bashed a wolf in the head really really hard.

   Snowdrop - "That's going to leave a mark"

When it was over, I was contemnplating a wolfskin cloak - or something briefer.

Session Six

Tests showed that the contaminant had come down the main stream so we continued going up the bank we had been. Later on. we heard goats and the sounds of flying insects which turned out to be bees. A bit later on we found an apple tree so I took the opportunity for a bit of scrumping. Another fifty feet on was a large clearing with a massive oak tree in the middle. A treehouse was in it's branches and, as we approached, a grey skinned male elf, roughly six foot tall, came out to greet us. His elven was strangely accented as well. His name was Devinatratel Dervit, but we could call him Devintra. The apple tree was his so I admitted my scrumping but he said it produced more apples than he could use. He also grew potatoes which had me wondering what could be made with just apples and potatoes. The bees had told him we were coming.

He invited us inside for tea and lunch. The place was ... slightly disorganised and smelt of alchemy but it wasn't him that had contaminated the stream. We also discovered he was an Earth mage and Beastmaster. With those skills, he was able to keep the wolves at bay.

During lunch, which turned out to be a rather delicious vegetarian stir-fry , he told us his story. Turned out he had been part of the draw invasion but had deserted. Those old sandals we had found were his, lost during a trip down to Shepperton for supplies.

  "One can read the bees" - Devintra.
  "Fascinating" - Phos

In return he wanted us to collect some giant spider eggs, and not for an omlette. They're located further up the stream and the eggs are for research purposes. These spiders had come over with the drow and had been used as the equivalent of war dogs. They're also extremely poisonous so we were given the equivalent of a Rank 6 Waters of Healing antivenom each. What we didn't use, we could keep.

So we headed up the stream and into the bush and found where the spiders were colonising nearly a couple of hours later. Of course battle was joined. Reinar was rather unlucky and was nearly brought down by a spider but Hagitty managed to apply an antitoxen while Phos kept the spider at bay. I was wondering if I was going to have to invest in armour piercing arrows while trying to shoot the one Marcus was fighting. Fortunately Reinar was soon back in the fight, just as more spider reinforcements turned up. After a short while I gave up using my bow and arrow and went in to help with my sword, which it turned out, I was having better luck with especially when helping Reiner with the last few spiders. Meanwhile Phos and Marcus had their hands full with the gient spider queen who was shooting webs at them. Fortunately one swipe of an axe or sword was enough to deal with that annoyance and soon, Mama Spider was being assaulted by both of them while Reiner and I mopped up the last remainding spider.

Once they were all dead, we hacked our way into the webs and found where the eggs were. We also found some dessicated corpses. With them was a magical short sword and a magical quiver, both of which I literally called dibs on, There's also the magical wood axe and machete which were eversharp as well as magical boots, identified as Boots of Pleasent Walking. And we still had one of those antitoxens left.

We brought back the eggs, a bit of webbing, and various spider parts including the poison sacs and the spinnerettes. As a reward for all of that, we got another antitoxen. He also made us apple pie, with a potato crust. Apparently we managed to score a second antitoxen, for a total of three, by me employing my halfling charms and "kitty-kat' eyes.

Session Seven

Day 14
We camped nearby then, the next day, set off north again. After passing the reamins of the spider lair, the ground started to get more boggy. Phos had to keep pulling me out of the mud so many times, that I ended up being carried. That was after the suggestion was made was that I be tossed in the stream and left to swim. Now I love swimming and freediving but I wasn't sure it would be a good idea to swim upstream in contaminated water.

A bit later on, I could hear a waterfall up ahead, and that was when a snake slithered out from under a bush, with the full intention of having a halfling for lunch. Fortunately it didn't get a nibble in the initial strike so I was able to get at my maingauche to strike back while it was curling around me to put the squeeze on as well as biting. Phos dogpiled on it as a second snake went for Reinar.

   "I HATE corsets" - Snowdrop.

Fortunately it didn't take too long to dispatch the snakes so instead of snake eating halfling, it was halfling eating snake for lunch. We also attewmpted to preserve as much as the snakeskin as we could as it could be worth something.

The sound of the waterfall got louder as we trekked on and soon we could see the waterfall up ahead, falling forty feet into a rather inviting looking pool. That was when the mossies attacked and there was a lot of stabbing and slapping to get rid of them. Reinar was able to cleave one in half with a single axe stroke. I was having difficulty with the one having a go at me until Reinar splatted it into the swamp First I thought the two giant frogs that turned up were there to help us as they were also catching mossies but, after catching the last one, they then decided we were 'good eats' too as one went to Phos and the other for Marcus. Phos nearly got swallowed head first, but Reinar killed it before it could do so. The rest of us finished off the other one. Guess dinner tonight is frog's legs.

Phos tried to stand up with the dead frog still on his head but failed miserably. Meanwhile my attempt to go for a swim in the pool wqas met with a loud and resounding NO! from everyone else. Yeah, I suppose it could be risky, especially if there is another giant frog in there.

The next task was to climb the cliff. Fortunately there was a fifty foot tall tree nearby so I did a demonstration of Pasifikan palm tree climbing, even though I'm not very good at it, but managed to make it look easy before dropping a rope to the ground below so the others had help getting up.

The next thing was to get from the top of the tree to the top of the cliff. So Phos cast Adhesion on one end of a rope and tossed it at the top of the cliff. As I suspected all he got was a layer of loose dirt on the rope. That was worth at least one facepalm. However that did clean the rocks enough to allow the next attempt to stick properly and allow us to slide over. Of course, while Phos was trying to get his rope adhension plan to work, suggestions of halfling tossing, which I was actually okay with, as well as dwarf tossing, were raised.

   "You should have tossed the golem" - Marcus just after Phos finally managed to get the rope to stick.

Session Eight

It was swampy behind the waterfall but we found some high ground to camp on. Hegity was able to see a tower in the distance. It looked like a Black Tower.

  "If it's got a flaming eye on top of it, I'm turning around and going home" - Snowdrop.

Night passed. As it did, we could hear the unnerving sounds of insects buzzing in the night.

Loot and Expenses

SP & other cash value loot

• Some quantity of Silver (orc ambusher camp)
• Smallish quantity of sellable weapons
• Right Ear of an Orc Bandit x 5 (preserved) (Bounty: 200sp each)
• Wolf pelt x 3
• Entire Boar and Pelt
• quantity of low quality weapons from swamp

Significant Items

• Brigandine (size 6) x 5
• Silvered MC BattleAxe - 5SC 1DM
• Orcish Bow (composite bow) - improved draw weight - req str20
• Composite bows x 4
• Brigandine (size 3) x 5 (4 sold? - 1 refitted)
• Shortsword x 5 (sold?)
• Giants spider Fangs x 3 (preserved)
• Giant Spider Venom Sacks x 3 (preserved)
• Slightly magical Quiver
• Eversharp Machete
• Eversharp Woodcutting axe
• Slightly Magical Shortsword
• Shiny Rapiers x 2
• Shiny main gouches * 2
• Weird blackend Armour - (from zombie elves)* 2
• Elvish styled longbows x 2 (one need repairing)

Gifts

Amulets

• Amulet of Luck each
• Amulet of Elderflowers each
• Amulet of Bloodstone each

Potions

• Potions of magical healing ((D-5)+6) or cure poison) x 7 (4 used)

Spells

• Lesser Enchantment each

Mil-Sci

Daily pattern

• 8 Hours travelling
• 3 Hours meals
• 2 Hours making Camp
• 1 Hour breaking Camp
• 2 Hours Rituals
• 8 Hours Sleeping

Travel Magics

‘’What travel magic options does the party have, how far per cast/or per day if duration is longer than usual travel time.’’
‘’Can the party eat/sleep/etc on the mode of transport.’’
Horse go Fast; +7 miles / hour to Horse or People overland speed. Reduces Ft / hour by 3 to minimum of 0.

Watch Order

Day Watch. ‘’Used when stationary, or on a larger transport such as a ship’’
As per night watch.

Night watch

Healing & Ft Recovery

Daily
Healing Options

Buffs

General Buff Notes

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also

Long duration buffs

Magic	Rank	Effect	Duration
				Y	Y	Y	Y
Name (??)	##	????	? Hours	?	?	?	?

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rank	Effects	Duration	??	??	??	??
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?